CHAPTER 16
Gunnar and Odin followed the hedge for a long way, until they came outagainst the far side of the dome. The noise of fighting still continued.It was back of them, but drawing nearer. Odin guessed--or hoped--that Atoand Val were driving the defenders before them.
They came out upon a lane that was flanked by the beautiful colonnades.Near them was one of the entrances to the tunnels below, and beside it wasone of the stone cressets with a high-flaring flame. At the end of the lanewas a dais. Upon this dais stood Grim Hagen, shouting instructions to acrew of white-skinned, soldiers below him who were trying to set up astrange machine. It looked like a model of Saturn balanced upon a tripod.Except that it had three concentric rings about it.
Grim Hagen's shirt was scorched and tattered. It was falling from his leanshoulders. His face was seamed and lined. The muscles upon his neck stoodout in cords. His hair was gray now. His left arm was gashed from elbow towrist, and blood was dripping down his fingers. He dashed the drops asideas he screamed orders. His black eyes still blazed with that old feralhate, and though the years had wasted him, his hips were still as thin asan Apache's and he looked iron-hard.
Odin and Gunnar knelt beside the railing that marked the entrance to thetunnels below. Neither Hagen nor his men saw them.
Gunnar grasped Odin's shoulders and pulled him down. "Listen," he whisperedin Odin's ear. "Do you hear anything strange?"
Odin listened. Above the tumult behind them came that same sound which hehad heard out on the plain. A whining, purring sound. The purring of atiger feeding contentedly.
Then screams drowned out the whining sound, and Odin wondered if he had notimagined it.
Nearly a hundred of the defenders came running toward Grim Hagen. They werein mad flight now. Most of them were weaponless. Grim Hagen cursed them,rallied them about him, and urged them to pick up new weapons and fight.
Now, Ato and Val and another hundred men came charging forward.
Leaving three men to set up the strange machine, Grim Hagen's trainedAldebaranians met them. They clashed head-on--blade against blade, fistagainst bone. They held there, like two wrestlers evenly matched. For amoment Grim Hagen's men were forced back. Then some new defenders swarmedout of the side-alleys and joined them. A head was poked up from thestairway below, Gunnar split the man's skull and sent him tumbling downupon some new replacements.
Now Grim Hagen spied Odin and Gunnar as they advanced to help Ato.
Standing upon the dais, his face livid with rage, Hagen pointed to them andscreamed--as mad as any of the last Caesars who had gone insane from toomuch power.
"Look, men of the Lorens," Hagen cried, still pointing. "I will giveimmortality to the men who bring me those two alive."
The first two to reach Gunnar and Odin died at the end of Gunnar's andOdin's swords.
"Your immortality does not last very long, Grim Hagen," Gunnar shouted ashe wiped his blade.
Then another man came up the stairway. Odin killed him and flung him backupon the men who followed.
But reinforcements were pouring in from other lanes. Grim Hagen and hismen now numbered over a thousand.
Seeing Odin and Gunnar, Ato swung his men over against the subway entrance.They rallied there. Grim Hagen's soldiers came at them. Ato, Gunnar, andOdin stood side by side and led the counter-attack that forced them backupon Grim Hagen's strange machine.
But Hagen's men rallied and drove them back again--almost to the stairway.
"The next drive will get us," Ato groaned. "Brace yourselves, men."
* * * * *
But the next drive did not come. Suddenly a dozen screaming wretches--theycould no longer be called soldiers--came running up the street. They joinedGrim Hagen's men and gibbered in fear as they pointed back.
From down there came a sudden burst of music. Odin's heart leaped when heheard it. It was the old song of the Brons. But the lights were burning lowback there and as yet he could see nothing.
Then they came. Nea and Maya, walking side by side. Behind them werehalf a dozen women, playing fifes and horns. One was carrying a tatteredflag. Behind the musicians came a motley crowd. Old women, young women,half-grown children, and dozens of old men. All were armed. And theycame forward like the wrack of a surviving army at judgement day.
Oh, there was something noble about them, and pitiful too. And somethingterrible. For before them, floating upon the air like bobbing heads wereNea's four fantoms, the Kalis, whining hungrily as they came, their copperhair trailing about them.
One caught a fugitive as he lagged behind--and he died screaming.
Grim Hagen's men writhed helplessly in the grip of theKalis' deadly copper hairs!]
The Kalis darted this way and that and Grim Hagen's men writhed. Theirmuscles clenched. Their jaws set as though tetanus had struck them. Theyslid to the marble street and died.
And the Kalis laughed and whined and screamed as they fed. Even above theirfeeding-song and the screams of their victims came the shrill, triumphantcry of Nea urging them on.
Nor was the rest of Maya's army still. One old Bron who had been a slave ofGrim Hagen for too long had found a shotgun among Hagen's treasures and wasblasting away. They were armed with everything from staves, blunderbusses,old forty-fours and Sharps rifles to machine guns. They fired and fired.Grim Hagen's men went down. But though dozens of ill-aimed shots were firedat him, Grim Hagen still lived, dodging here and there, rallying his men,and urging his gun-crew to finish setting up that odd weapon.
Few were left of the thousand that had rallied to Grim Hagen. But anotherthousand were coming through the hedges from other lanes and streets.Although it was a gallant, ragged little army that Nea and Maya led, itwould have lasted no longer than a straw in a whirlwind had it not been forthe Kalis. They appeared to be enjoying themselves, even as Grim Hagen'smen were not. They zig-zagged this way and that. They purred. They fed.They were stronger now and their movements were quicker. Their victims diedfaster.
* * * * *
And as they forged forward, Nea was growing in strength. She leaped afterthem, leaving Maya to command the small army. She screamed. She urged themon with a "Kill, kill, kill!" that froze the back of Odin's neck. Here wasno girl trained to work in a laboratory. This was a high-priestess, longderided and forgotten, come back from the stars to wreak her vengeance.
"Good God," Odin was thinking. "What unexplored labyrinths are left in thehuman brain?"
Then there was no time for thinking. The Lorens who were trying to gainthe stairway had finally dislodged the two bodies that Odin and Gunnar hadflung down upon them. They came up like a surging tide, and for the nextfew minutes Odin and Gunnar were busy.
Gunnar had never been any happier in his life. He talked to his sword andhe growled at those that he killed. He yelled at Ato's and Maya's wearyingarmies, urging them to go on and account themselves well. He stood byOdin's side, and the two hacked and thrust until the stairway was chockedwith bodies and no one was left to assail them.
He and Odin were splashed with blood. The tumult was deafening. Thetiger-screams of the Kalis, the agonized torment of their prey. Thegun-blasts from Maya's army, the cry of Ato who had hacked his way almostto Gunnar and Odin, the victory-scream of Nea, the broken music! And evenabove this, the mad curses and commands of Grim Hagen!
Some of Grim Hagen's Lorens were in flight. Most of them were dead. Buthis white-skinned warriors held firm. Not over a dozen were left at GrimHagen's side. Two were still working with the odd-shaped weapon.
There were other Lorens coming out of the hedges, but they held back.They had seen enough.
Had fortune favored Ato then, his army would have won.
But at the precise moment when the balance was swinging toward the Brons,Grim Hagen's gun-crew got the strange weapon unlimbered. The globe startedturning. Unseen motors roared within it. As though spun out like gleamingstrands of cobwebs, coils of light came flickering t
oward the attackingBrons. Like blue-white ripples they went across the fore-running Kalis.The ripples of light went on expanding. The shotgun in the hands of theold Bron suddenly burst to pieces. The old rifles fell apart. The newermachine-guns talked briefly, and then disappeared in a burst of flame thattook their masters with them.
The first coil of light struck Odin. There was a tingling sensation,neither painful nor pleasant. But it went through his body like a mildopiate. He did not want to sleep. He merely wanted to relax and forgetthis slaughter. He fought against it. Gunnar leaned against him, suddenlyweak and shaken.
* * * * *
More widening circles of light swept out upon them. Ato's and Maya'stroops fell back. Those who had been armed with explosive weapons had died.Odin was almost too weak to lift his sword. From the stairway below camea scrabbling sound, as men pulled the corpses away from the stairs.
Nea's Kalis reeled back. She urged them on and they advanced like corksbobbing on ripples of light. Three moved slowly toward Grim Hagen'smachine. A fourth faltered and fell back.
The Kalis were no longer screaming their frightful song. The purr ofvictory was gone. Instead they yowled a savage, tormented scream asthough they had been cornered by an enemy they could not understand.
But the three moved forward, while the fourth hesitated behind them. Asthough struggling against a heavy flood they came on. The gun-crew dieddefending their whirling weapon. The three Kalis swarmed over it--likebees smothering the enemy, Odin thought. The pulsing coiling light died.There was a burst of flame. The weapon and the three Kalis suddenlybecame one immense sardonyx that blazed huge and grand for a briefmoment. Then the jewel-blaze burned out, and a handful of ashes siftedto the ground.
The fourth Kali was undone. It tried to go forward against that jewel-fire.Then it hesitated and darted back. With a shrill cry of fear it flungitself into Nea's arms, its coppery tentacles holding her close in a lasteffort to escape destruction.
* * * * *
She had said before that the Kalis were the nearest things to human thatcould be made. She had been the poor relation, the daughter of a dreamingfailure. Perhaps something of the fear and doubt which Nea had known allher life had gone into the making of the Kalis. She screamed once--more inbewilderment than pain, as though a favorite cat had suddenly clawed her.She must have been dead before she fell, and the last Kali clung to herbosom and spread its copper-wires about her face. It emitted one weakpurr--then it stopped purring and moving forever.
Grim Hagen's Lorens who had been clinging to the hedges now came forwardtriumphantly. Strength came back to Gunnar and Odin. The attackers hadcleared the stairway again. And once more Gunnar and Odin threw them back.
By now both Ato and Maya had swung their shattered little armies over tothe subway entrance.
Hagen had retreated from the dais. Meeting the advancing Lorens, he ledthem forward.
Those on the stairway retreated as they saw that they were no longeragainst two warriors.
Gunnar rested his sword against his leg and reached out with huge armsand pulled Ato and Odin toward him. "Down there," he pointed toward thestairway. "There is plenty of room to fight, and those who have been comingup don't seem to be so strong. Force your way down there and make anotherstand. Make a barricade if you can. Up here you will soon be surrounded."
"But Grim Hagen will be at our heels--" Odin protested.
Gunnar laughed deep in his throat. "Oh, no. The stairway is narrow. Astrong man could hold the entrance for some time--perhaps a long, longtime. And Gunnar is strong. To get at you, Grim Hagen would either haveto go down this stairway or take another entrance. These entrances, arefew and far apart."
"Go with Maya, Ato," Odin said, "and I will stay here with Gunnar."
"No. The entrance is narrow. You would be in the way," Gunnar protested."Now, go! Oh, but the valkyries will be busy tonight!"
* * * * *
Ato and Odin led the rush down the stairs. There were only a dozen menbelow and they had already tired of warfare. Three fell and the othersrushed off into the shadows.
Ato's and Maya's fighters tumbled after them. There were only a few of theold people and children left.
Now they found themselves in a huge room which was filled with benches andsmall machines. It was evidently a wood-working shop. The room was lit byseveral of the high-flaring cressets of stone. It was rectangular, aboutthe size of a football field. They were fortunate that there was no heavymachinery left here. From each side, dim-lighted tunnels led off into thedistance. While Odin and the strongest soldiers guarded, Ato and his peopleshoved benches, tables and chairs to the four tunnels and set them afire.There were still quite a number of benches left, and some of these werestacked close together into one corner of the room, making a sort of rudebalcony that looked down upon the littered floor. More benches and machineswere left. These were made into a barricade a few yards in front of thebalcony.
All was done now that could be done. So Odin rushed back to the stairwayto help Gunnar. But his heart sank as he stood at the foot of the stairs.Up there was nothing but swirling, violet flame. Some liquid was burningfuriously at the entrance-way, and blazing rivulets were pouring down thesteps. There was no way to go through those flames. There was now no wayto go around. Gunnar, if he lived at all, must fight alone. And Odin'seyes filled with tears as he cursed himself for deserting his old comrade.
* * * * *
The attackers were almost upon Gunnar before the last of Maya's rag-tagarmy had gone down the stairs. There were high bannisters around theentrance-way. These afforded plenty of protection to his back and flanksunless someone scaled them, which he doubted. One of the heavy cressets wasburning nearby. It seemed to be no more than a huge, open lamp. Standingupon a circular base about three feet across, the twelve-inch stem went upnearly eight feet and then flared out into a tulip-shaped bowl that wasfilled with flickering violet fire. Bending low, Gunnar grasped the bottomof the stem and moved it a little closer to the stairway entrance. Ittook all of his strength, but it moved, complaining as it slid along theflagging. Now he was almost under it. The light was in his opponents'faces, and it gave a little added protection to his left side.
Gunnar braced himself, his long blade high over his shoulder, both handslocked to the long carved haft.
"Grim Hagen," he called mockingly. "Here we are at the edge of the stars.Just you and I left on top of this world. Just you and I of the two crewsthat sailed from Opal. The mad gods have made bonfires of the suns.Ragnarok has come and passed. I have no quarrel with these people, GrimHagen. Come forward now and let the two of us end what should have beenended long ago--"
* * * * *
Grim Hagen silenced his men and screamed back: "Gunnar, what I say now Ihave said before. I promised you death. But I will let you go free--andall the frightened rats below can go free--if you will give me Wolden'ssecret--"
"I know nothing of Wolden's secret. It may be nothing but a twitch in yourmad brain. The old Blood-Drinker and I know but one secret, Grim Hagen, thesecret of death. Step forth like a man now and I promise you more peacethan even Wolden's secret could give you."
Grim Hagen said no more to Gunnar. He sent four companies in the directionof other entrances to the underground city. Then he martialled hisremaining men and threw them toward Gunnar in threes.
Three by three they came, and three by three they went down. Braced onhis strong, short legs Gunnar flailed them like wheat. Screams and cursesfilled the night. And Gunnar piled the dead before him.
One by one the companies returned to Grim Hagen and reported that for thepresent there was no other way into the room below.
Grim Hagen held a short council of war. He had less than a score of thewhite-skinned soldiers left. These he sent at Gunnar in a body, and camefollowing after with the remaining Lorens.
Gunnar cut them
down, but a leaping soldier died as he buried his knife inGunnar's side. The Lorens were throwing sticks and stones when they could.They closed in like dogs upon a wolf. Gunnar reeled back and then advancedonce more as he swung his broadsword.
He cleared a path and sent his attackers back until they stood about himin a circle, their fangs ready.
And then Gunnar reached forth and took the stem of the huge torch high upin his hands and bowed his back. The lamp rocked upon its pedestal and thencame crashing forward. Its fuel spilled down and caught fire as it fell.Flames leaped up and lashed out at the Lorens.
The fierce flames drove the attackers farther back. But in falling, thegreat lamp careened and half of its liquid had splashed across the entranceto the tunnel. It caught fire. Gunnar gasped as it struck him. Then hestrode forward, like a dwarf-king advancing from Hell.
A thrown knife caught him in the chest. Gunnar took another step, andanother knife caught him below the throat. He stood there, trying to goon, and a mace thudded against his temple.
Gunnar reeled back into the flames.