Hunters Out of Space

  CHAPTER 11

  Although Gunnar had spent most of the past four days in grumbling andpolishing his sword, there had been hours and hours when Odin had not seenhim. The little man had a secret, but what it was he would not tell. "For,"he said to Odin, "then it would not be my secret. It would be mine andyours, and I would own but half of it. Does a man give half of his flocksaway?"

  Odin was a bit hurt over his friend's behavior. He even wondered if Gunnarhad taken a liking to one of the white-skinned slave-girls--for they werebeautiful. Still, that did not seem like Gunnar. But you could never tell.After all, he found himself quoting, there's no fool like an old fool.

  Mixed up in this secret was a buckskin bag that Gunnar had brought with himfrom the ship. When Odin had inquired about it, Gunnar had replied: "Magic.A very old magic."

  That too was not like Gunnar. He relied upon his sword, since the Norsegods were usually busy with their own affairs. Those gods ate theirrejuvenating apples every day and then went out like healthy boys tosee what was happening; and though they meant well they usually weresomewhere else when they were needed. Therefore, the use of magic bagsand incantations was a lot of foolishness. But here was Gunnar fondlinga tightly-drawn buckskin bag as though it held eternity's secrets.

  "You ought to get yourself a witch-doctor's mask and a couple ofhollowbones to whistle through," Odin had told him scathingly.

  "Never mind. Never mind. Old Gunnar will be there when they put out thefire and call the dogs. Now, you stay here in this room, Odin. And don'tgo looking after any of these slave-girls. They are too pretty. And you areyoung. After all, there's no fool like a young fool. So don't go wanderingoff. Just stay here and polish your sword and wait until I return. I thinkmy magic will do a great deal this afternoon."

  "Touche!" Jack Odin thought as Gunnar departed. "So he's been worryingabout me and the girls, has he?"

  Odin polished his sword and looked at the paintings. But the entire palaceseemed to be whispering. An air of tension hung over it. The halls werequiet, where servants usually were busily going back and forth.

  Once he heard shouts and the sound of fighting far off. There was a loudshot and a scream of pain. After that, the unusual quiet returned.

  This was the sixth afternoon that he had spent on this enslaved world. Odindid not enjoy it. He tried to make plans to rescue Maya, but he had goneover those same plans many times before. The Taj Mahal was well-guarded.There was an unshaded road that went from the city to it. Also, the roadwas usually crowded with pilgrims. He never knew whether they went outthere in some strong belief that here was a goddess from outer space, orwhether they were forced to go. After all, Grim Hagen was clever--

  * * * * *

  He took a bath and changed clothes. Then Jack Odin read one of those booksthat Grim Hagen had stolen. It was a first edition of the Rubaiyat, the onewith the jeweled peacock cover, and it would have been worth a fortune backhome. But here it was just another of Grim Hagen's treasures--it was dustyand neglected, and Odin wondered if he were not the first to take a look atit since Hagen had brought it here.

  The windows were dark when Gunnar returned. Jack Odin sat by a single tinylight, and greeted his old friend in a glum and sour fashion. But Gunnarwas in a gay mood.

  "Look, I told you that my magic would do great tricks. See, the bag isnearly empty." He held the buckskin bag high and it was much thinner thanbefore. "You waited, did you? Good, Nors-King. I had to make sure that noone came here while I was gone."

  "Just myself," Odin replied. "Now what--"

  "Oh, I told you I had great magic in that bag. You shall see." Gunnarreturned to the door, opened it, and led a tall white-skinned slave intothe room. A man of about thirty dressed in white uniform with some sort ofinsignia upon his shoulders. Odin had never bothered to learn the differentgradations in Grim Hagen's slave-world.

  "This man goes by the name of Piper," Gunnar announced simply.

  The man bowed and smiled nervously.

  "And he is a Bro-Stoka among the slaves," Gunnar continued.

  Odin was about to reply that he didn't give a damn if the man were acolonel or a two star general. But Gunnar hurried on to explain. "A Stokais a captain of a hundred. But a Bro-Stoka is a captain over ten Stokasand all their men. Not often does one advance so at an early age--"

  Gunnar seemed to be buttering up the man for some reason or other so JackOdin decided to go along. "I have never seen a Bro-Stoka so young," headmitted. This was true, Odin thought, since this was the first Bro-Stokawho had ever been identified to him. And he wondered if maybe Bro-Stokawere not a local term for "Ninety Day Wonder." God knows he had seen toomany of them.

  * * * * *

  Gunnar seated himself comfortably and swung the nearly empty bag to andfro. "Ah, I told you that I carried great magic in the bag. With Piper'shelp, Maya will be ours before midnight."

  Odin's lethargy was gone now. "Gunnar, old friend! What magic was in thatbag of yours?"

  "The oldest magic in the world. Pieces of gold, diamonds, and rubies. Whenwe left the Nebula I said to myself that if Grim Hagen owned everythinghere, it was quite possible that many would be eating very little. KnowingGrim Hagen, I said to myself, there will be a mad scramble for money andposition. It would be the only kind of a world that Grim Hagen couldfashion."

  Odin slapped him on the back. "Gunnar, you are a genius, a sheer genius."

  "Not at all. When I was a young man I learned such strategy from studyingthe world above me."

  Odin winced.

  Gunnar continued. "Well, it has turned out even as I figured. Only moreso. When traveling in far countries you should try to learn how the peoplelive, Odin. It is enlightening. I had an old uncle who always said thattravel broadens one. It must have, for he weighed nearly two-hundred whenhe died."

  "Please, Gunnar. When will we see Maya--"

  "So, I have been working ever since we arrived. A jewel here. A bit of goldthere. It is amazing how a diamond can make a man see just what you tellhim to see. Much better than ordinary glasses. Then I found Piper here. AndPiper is ambitious. Do you know what it costs to become head-man and chieftax-gatherer of a town of five-thousand, Odin?"

  "Gunnar, I know nothing of these matters. Tell me about Maya--"

  "Well, Piper has been paid. The town will be his if our plan works outtonight. Otherwise, I will twist his neck." And Gunnar paused to scowl atthe young man in the white uniform until poor Piper began sweating.

  "Many others have been paid. They are to stay away from their posts. Theywill see nothing and hear nothing at certain times tonight. Here, hand meyour book."

  * * * * *

  Odin obliged and Gunnar produced a ragged bit of pencil and started drawinga map upon the fly-leaf. "Here," he said, "is the city. And here is theriver. Now, if you remember, there is a deep bend in the river, and thistomb that Grim Hagen has built is within the bend of the river. There isa good road that goes from the city to the tomb, but it is guarded. TheNebula is on the other side of the bend. So the answer is quite simple. Wego up the river. Piper has a boat waiting for us--"

  "I have already paid many and have sworn them to silence," Piperinterrupted. "But it will be a dangerous business. I would not dareit at all except that it will be five years before I am eligible fortax-gatherer, and the waiting is killing me. A city of my own--"

  Piper, Jack Odin gathered, was a very ambitious man.

  The boat moved up-river in darkness. There were beacons upon the shore,turning this way and that, but they seemed to be trained a bit high thisnight.

  Once a motor-boat passed them, going at a fast clip, and somebody calledout that he saw a shadow over toward the far side of the river. And anothervoice answered. "You're always seeing things. A log, maybe. Didn't I tellyou that I found some money in the street? And aren't we going to have thebest meal that money can buy? Do you want to stay here with an empty bellyon this cold r
iver all night? Our watch is nearly over. I'm tired. Let'sget along--"

  Later, some one hailed them from the bank and threatened to shoot if theydid not pull in. Then there was a loud scream that died in a welteringgurgle. They heard a splash as something hit the water--and then all wasstill. They waited. A peculiar little whistle sounded three notes from thedarkness.

  As though reassured, Piper took up his oars.

  "That was the last guard," Gunnar whispered. "It took a ruby the size of asparrow's egg to get him killed. Oh, well, blame Grim Hagen. He shouldn'thave gouged these people so hard--" And then, to Piper: "You're brightenough, I guess, but you don't know how to row a boat. Give me the oars."

  He took them and slid them into their hole-pins. "Now, give Gunnar room."He bowed his broad head, leaning forward almost to his toes. Then he dugthe oars into the water and straightened up and bent backward like amachine. Noiselessly the oars came up again. He bent forward and dippedthem into the river again. And as he worked faster he began to count tohimself in a panting whisper: "Huh--huh--huh--huf!"

  The boat streaked across the river's surface like a water-bug.

  At last they slid into some thick cat-tails. Gunnar got a hand-hold andpropelled them forward until the prow grounded in the shallows.

  "This is as far as I can go," Piper told them in a sweating voice. "Overthere is the tomb."

  * * * * *

  Odin and Gunnar scrambled ashore. Piper pushed the boat back into theriver and was gone. Three thin sickles of moons were cleaving their wayacross the sky. A few unfamiliar stars were out. There was enough lightnow for them to see Maya's tomb not far away. It seemed to be fashioned ofmoonbeams. It was such a perfect copy of the Taj Mahal that here both deathand sleep were brothers--and a nirvana of peace hung over it in an aura ofsilver light.

  "That Piper is a smart lad," Gunnar whispered. "He knows what he wants.He'll go far--maybe."

  They approached. Odin knew that four guards were stationed here at alltimes. They were all gone. The two went in, Gunnar turned on a littleflash.

  Had there been time, Odin might have grudgingly given Grim Hagen a few kindwords for the work he had done and the tribute he had paid Maya. The bestof a planet's treasures and art had been brought here. But all he couldsee was Maya, lying upon a golden, diamond-set couch. A silk embroideredcoverlet was drawn over her, and it too seemed to have been spun frommoonbeams. She looked no older. Odin could see no sign of breath. But hetouched her hand and it was warm. He knelt beside her.

  "Here," Gunnar handed him the light. "Hold this while I get busy. Here now,Nors-King. No blubbering."

  He opened his buckskin bag and took out the last of its treasures--a smallhypodermic case. He filled the hypodermic from a little vial that glitteredin the light of the lamp. "Turn the light upon her forearm, now," heinstructed.

  Gunnar slowly counted to sixty after he had given her the shot. Maya'sbreasts moved. She sighed and raised a hand to her dark curls. Then hereyes opened--in fear and wonder as a child opens its eyes in a strangeplace.

  Then her vision cleared and she recognized them.

  "Jack--Gunnar--" she gasped. Then she was in Odin's arms. And Gunnar, thestrong one, was standing over them--sniffling.

  It was one of those moments that seem to last forever. And then it wasover and she drew her hand through his light hair, "What happened? Whereare we? I dreamed the strangest dreams."

  "Never mind," Odin comforted. "We will explain later. Can you walk now?"

  "Walk? Of course I can walk." But when Maya tried to sit up, she moaned inpain. "My whole body is stiff and sore. Have I been sick?"

  Odin helped her to her feet. As he did so, hundreds of precious stones thathad been heaped upon the couch rolled unnoticed to the floor.

  Maya winced as she stood up. Reaching down, she rubbed the calves of herlegs and then stood straight with a little gasp of pain.

  "Carry her, Nors-King," Gunnar muttered. "The night grows old and we mustmake our way to the Nebula."

  Odin lifted her easily. She put her arms around his neck and clung to him.The perfume of her hair was as faint as the ghost of autumn flowers. Herbreath was warm and caressing against his throat.

  Then the mausoleum turned into a blinding glare of lights. Gunnar droppedthe flash and his broadsword shrieked against the scabbard as he drew it.Odin set Maya's feet upon the floor. Still holding her with one arm, hedrew his sword and made ready to stand beside Gunnar.

  A dozen cloaked figures came into the room. The first was Grim Hagen,smiling sardonically. The others were Brons. The last to enter was carryingpoor Piper's dripping head by a handful of hair.

  "So." Grim Hagen bowed. "The Princess awakens. And here is Prince Charming.And here is the last Neebling that I shall ever kill. I would like to killyou very slowly, but I am afraid I do not have time. Hell is bubbling overin that fair city of mine tonight. I thought I paid my captains well, butsome of them wanted more. Or they wanted what I could not give them. Itdoesn't matter. Let them fight it out. We have the Old Ship with the NewDrive. Out there at the edge of space a desperate people are waiting forme. And now I have Maya. Gunnar, that was a mean trick. You used thescience that your people stole from us to cheat me of my bride and myslave."

  * * * * *

  Gunnar had heard enough. The huge sword flashed in a circle as he swung itabove his head with both hands. A Bron stepped forward and Gunnar slashedhim from shoulder to stomach-pit.

  Odin thrust Maya to the couch as he came forward to help.

  But Grim Hagen had merely stepped back. Now he was holding a deadly littletube in his hand. A cold light winked on and off. Odin felt his musclesharden as though a hundred charley-horses had struck him at once. Hefroze, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Gunnar standing like astatue, his sword still upraised, a look of agony upon his face.

  "One more flash and you will be dead." Grim Hagen mocked. "But before youplunge into the night, remember that I watched you so I could get Mayaback. You were not clever at all, Gunnar. Ato can have these worlds if hewants them. I have the ship and Maya. And space is mine to ravage as Iplease."

  Then, at last, while Maya watched with fear-struck eyes, the tube flashedonce more. Gunnar and Odin stood there for a second. They fell likeunbalanced things of stone.

  A Bron stepped forward and drew his sword. But Grim Hagen waved him asideas he bent over the two silent forms. "Put up your sword," he said quietly."They are dead."