Lord tedric, p.8
Lord Tedric, page 8
"And I grabbed hold of Keller. That's what kept me from flying up, too."
Keller was laughing again, delighting in the recollection. "We went in," he said.
"Fortunately, the air stopped rushing once we were out of its path, and the door we'd landed near wasn't jammed like the first one-otherwise we might never have gotten out.
We went through the door and found ourselves in another little tunnel. We walked along it and heard some noise and came upon a party of diggers. We were severely punished, but the foremen never did figure out how we'd managed to go so far in such a short time." "And was that your only experience with these escape vaults?" Tedric asked.
"Oh, no, sir," Keller said. "After that, we asked around and found out from some of the older ones what it must have been. We started to go backusually when we weren't working, which wasn't very often, but a lot of times when we wanted to hide, too. We found out that one side of the tunnel carried you up, but the other side, if you maneuvered over there, would bring you down. We found all four vaults and used three of them. The west one is the oldest and we never managed to get any of the doors open. But the other three functioned perfectly and we played in them for many months, maybe even years."
"Until you went away," Jania said. "Until you left."
"And which one are we closest to now?" Tedric said.
Jania thought for a moment, then said, "Probably the east. We can't go west, as Keller explained, so it'll have to be east, I suppose."
Nolan couldn't keep quiet any longer. "East, west, north, south, who cares? Lead me wherever you want-just set me free."
Tedric wasn't quite that eager. There were a few more points he wanted settled. "Can we be sure these vaults weren't also damaged or blocked by the bombing?"
"No, we can't," Keller admitted. "Our chances are good, though, because they were dug so deep and apparently made to last as long as the mine itself."
"And I don't believe you mentioned anything about the surface," Tedric said. "I assume you never rode all the way up."
"What would have been the use?" Jania said. "If they'd caught us up there we would never have been allowed to use the vaults again."
"I understand that. My point is, we can't be sure the top isn't sealed off. The vaults are no longer used for hauling ore. Why bother to keep them open)"
"Why bother to close them?"
Tedric shrugged' "I see what you mean. The only way to know is to go up there and look. All right, then, let's do it.
"We'll have to walk," Keller said. "I've never been down this deep," Jania said, "but I do think I know the right way to go. We may have to wander, though. It may take time."
"Time is something we can spare," Nolan said. Jania glanced at the dashboard radio.
"What about the others? Should I call and tell them what we plan?"
'No," Tedric said. "If we do manage to escape, it might be wisest if no one knows."
"And if we don't?" Nolan asked, bluntly. "Then we're dead."
Keller, in the back, laughed and reached out to slap Nolan on the back. "But we're already dead, sir, so look on the bright side. We've got nothing to lose."
The long walk through the dark, damp tunnels and caverns was no pleasure, but for Tedric at least it was a moment of extended quiet that allowed him time to collect his thoughts.
What surprised and concerned him most deeply was the effortless manner in which he had assumed authority over the party of four. Why him? When a decision had to be made, whether to abandon the traincar and seek out the escape vaults, the others had stood back and let him have the final word. He had no family. He spoke Galactic poorly.
He was a barbarian, a man of action, not thought. Why not Nolan, with his famous ancestors? Or Jania?-he and Nolan were, after all, still her prisoners. All he understood was that in a time of crisis, his mind seemed to operate with a peculiar clarity. He made decisions without knowing it; he took command without expecting it. In a way, this disturbed, perhaps even frightened him. Again, it was like some long buried thing reaching out of his past to take control of his present actions. But he was in the lead. He knew that and could no longer relinquish the reins. He knew it was his responsibility. If he failed, if they died, the blame could be shared with no one.
Suddenly Jania, who walked slightly ahead of the others, stopped and swung her flashlight so that the beam struck the tunnel wall. "Here's one!" she cried. "It's a red arrow."
Tedric went over and took a look. The inscription in Galactic could no longer be read, but the arrow itself clearly pointed in the direction they were following.
"This is one of them?" he said. "You're sure?" "The arrows down here mean nothing else. It's not like there's a lot of interesting sights to see."
"Then let's go," he said.
"There should be more."
She kept her light turned to the wall and enough uncovered another red arrow. There was a third. A fourth pointed down a narrow side tunnel. "This way?" Tedric asked.
She nodded. "That's what it says."
The tunnel was so low that Tedric again had to duck his head to proceed. The steel door lay just around the first corner. They nearly went past it, but Jania stopped abruptly and cried out. "That's it! That's the vault! We've found it!"
Then she tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. The heavv steel latch gave a groan but did not move. Keller I tried but managed nothing more than she. Jania shined her light along the floor, searching for a loose rock.
"Let me try." Tedric came forward and caught hold of the latch. He set his feet, tensed his knees, and jerked up. The latch gave with a loud groan, sprinkling rust through the air. Tedric pushed the door and watched as it swiveled open. Jania shined her li ht through, but there was nothing to see but darkness.
"I don't feel any rush of air," Tedric said. "You won't. Till one of us jumps through. That's the only way to activate it."
"We won't go down? You said that each side of the vault forces air in a different direction."
"The entrances are all on the up side."
Tedric nodded, leaned over and peered through the opening. He stuck his head all the way inside the dark vault, but nothing happened. He reached below the door with a hand and hit an obstruction. It was one of the handholds Jania had described:a rubber pike as long as a man was wide. The others
crowded in close behind Tedric.
He drew back and asked Jania, "When was the last time you played inside one of these?" "Not lately."
"When? After Keller left?"
"No. Never after that."
"Then there's no sure way of knowing it'll even work."
"There's no sure way of knowing anything." She started to go past him. "If you want, I'll go first."
He held her back. "No, I will." Turning, he put a leg through the door. Nothing happened, but he knew he would not turn back. He edged forward till he straddled the opening.
Jania put a hand on his shoulder. "Remember, don't try to do it all at once. It may be kilometers to the surface and your velocity will increase the farther you rise. Make use of the handholds. Stay close to the wall. If things get out of hand, if you rising too fast and can't reach the wall, then start
try to maneuver your body to the other sidethat'll make you start falling. You do it like a bird. Flap your arms and kick your feet."
"I'll remember." He looked at them. "Choose your own order to follow me. Don't anybody go until you're sure I'm all right. I'll yell or scream if everything's fine. If it's not, I won't utter a sound. I'll meet you on the surface."
"You're an optimist," said Nolan. He started to reach back to shake their hands, but never made the move. That was too much like saying goodbye. He nodded, ducked his head, and came up on the other side. Then he swung his leg and, for a moment, sat in the doorway.
He used his heels to propel his body away from the wall.
He was falling.
For a long moment-too long-there was absolutely nothing. The air rushed past his head, screaming in his ears, but he knew he was just falling. It took all the effort of his will to keep from crying out. He tried to throw himself face down with his arms extended horizontally to present a bigger target for the up-rushing air.
Still, nothing.
Then it caught him all at once. There was a rush of air, and he was rising. It was as if the gentle hand of an unseen god had materialized to protect him. He rose slowly at first. He turned his head and watched until the open rectangle of the door appeared above. Then he yelled. As he went past, he waved.
But by then he was moving so quickly that he doubted they had seen.
But they must have heard him. And now they might be saved.
Tedric sailed. He'd never liked gliding-aircraft practice on the surface of artificial Nexus-but this was different. Here he needed no exterior restraints, no glider of wood, fiber and canvas. He flew like one of Carey's mythical blue eagles, and the pleasure he received was akin to nothing he had experienced before.
When the velocity with which he rose seemed to be getting excessive and he felt himself losing control, he began to maneuver close to the wall. His eyes by now were sufficiently accustomed to the dark so that he glimpsed the rubber handholds as they flashed past. He tried to keep his body steady until one went past, then he kicked hard, sending himself rushing toward the wall. The next handhold caught him squarely in the stomach. He wrapped around it and held on tight. The wind whistled past and for a moment that disturbed him until he realized what a good sign that was. The vault was working. There were others in the nnel-Jania, Keller, Nolan. Soon they would all tu be free.
He let go. He floated. Then he rose.
After that. he followed a pattern. The higher he went, the greater his velocity seemed, so he stopped more frequently and paused for longer intervals. The air pressure affected his ears, and he knew if he lost his sense and rose too quickly it would kill him.
The exhilaration of free flight made stopping difficult; it was like a scent of madness tempting him on. But he was patient. He knew how much he did not want to die.
The whiteness, when it struck his eyes, was like a blinding flash of fire. He cried out in pain and only then realized what he was seeing. It was-it had to be-the sun. They had spent the night underground, and now a brilliant morning stood poised outside to gre t eir return to li @e.
He sought a andhold, protecting his eyes with a hand, and when he reached it he hung on desperately while a wave of joy and relief washed over him, He uncovered his eyes and, squinting, surveyed the wall of the tunnel above him. The handholds seemed to protrude more frequently here. He decided to go up one at a time till he reached the top.
He started out, rising with the air, stopping, rising again. The last handhold, thirty meters from the circle of light, led directly to a steel ladder. Tedric climbed slowly. When he reached the last rung, he rolled up and out and fell on his back and felt the cold air of the surface rush past him.
He was alive. He was free.
He waited without moving till his energies returned, then stood up. Abandoned cars and skeletal shacks surrounded him-equipment for receiving the ore from below-but there was no indication of life. He decided to wait for the others, then investigate. He kept his senses keen but nothing stirred. High above, a distant bird cried out. Insects chirped. These were friendly signs, Keller came first. Unlike Tedric, he had neglected to take the last few meters slowly and came shooting out of the circle of the vault like a bullet from an antique gun. Tedric caught and held him and Keller cried out, "We made it, sir! We made it! Ain't I smart? We found a way!"
Together they waited until Nolan came shooting out. Keller caught him and the two men cried and howled and slapped each other's backs.
Tedric waited alone for Jania. He leaned over the broad opening and peered at the darkness beneath, where nothing seemed to stir.
Keller eventually came over and said in a nervous voice, "That's just like her, sir. She'd be the one to take her time, being cautious, not come flying up like me or Lieutenant Nolan, risking our necks because we just can't wait."
But that explanation proved inadequate. Jania never did come. Keller insisted she had left just after him. "She was sitting in the doorway when I started going up and I waved. That was the last I saw of her."
He had passed Nolan on the way up, but neither had seen a sign of Jania during their separate ascents.
Keller wanted to go back down after her. Tedric understood but said, "Either she's alive and will come up or she's dead and there's nothing we can do."
But Keller wouldn't listen to reason. He made a dart for the vault and Tedric had to hold him back. Keller tensed, then his muscles relaxed and he wept.
Tedric realized that Jania must be dead, and the thought gave him no pleasure. It was the first time he had known a friend to die. True, she had made them her captives. True, she was filled with bitterness and hatred. But he had liked and admired her and, what was most dreadful, her death made no kind of sense at all.
The effect was the same as when he had earlier killed the attacking stranger. It was like a physical blow, only stronger this time. He knew it wasn't just shock. it was grief. Tedric had never known that before.
CHAPTER 7
Wykzl Treachery
TO her immense surprise, Lady Rohann recognizes the old beggar dressed in dirty burlap and carryt . ng a long parcel who has invaded the grounds of her palace garden. "Stay back," she tells the servants who have rushed to intercept the beggar. "I want to be alone with this man. "
When they are together, seated beside a fountain where the songbirds cry above, Lady Rohann says, "Tedric, why have you come to my home in disguise?"
For your protection as well as my own. Seven times in the past three moons, supernatural beasts, creatures of black magic, minions of Sarpedium, have made assaults upon my life. In each instance I have destroyed these beasts, but you lack the strength of my sword and could be killed.
"Then why have you come to me at all? We parted and never expected to meet again. "
Lady Rohann is young, dark, slim, beautiful, as fragrant as a rose. Once, not long ago, she and Tedric were engaged to wed.
"Because, to my surprise, I am yet alive. And because, to my pleasure, I have found him again. "Sarpedium, who left his castle."
Ah, then you know of my quest."
"I have followed your progress. " She shakes her head slowly, sadly. "This means you must try to kill the wizard again."
"It does, and so I have come to say goodbye. Lady Rohann rises to herfeet, nostrilsflaring with anger. "How dare you! Haven't I suffered enough before? Hasn't my anguish been great enough to suit you? I care nothingfor your quest, Tedric. The world has long existed plagued by wizards and magic. Why must you risk everything to change, what has endured so long?"
"Because it is right. And because I have this." He held up the parcel in his hands. "My sword, forged from the rock that fell from the sky."
"But how do you know what you do is right? How do you know it will not bring more evil than good?" "I know only what I must do," Tedric says softly.
Warrant Officer John Quill of His Majesty's Imperial Navy, decorated veteran of the Wykzl War, peered at the uncertain image that showed upon the lifeboat viewscreen and said, "I think that must be it there, lieutenant."
"On this damned thing, who could tell?" said Matthew Carey, turning away from the screen and making no effort to control his fury. In a blind rage, he slammed one fist hard against the plastic wall in front of him. "If this boat was equipped to I swear I'd use it to blast those
carry a gun, monsters out of creation and to hell with anyone who said it was wrong."
"They are a deceitful bunch, sir," said Quill, who felt he knew the Wykzl well after ten years pitched combat in their vicinity. Quill was half-man, half-subman, but he had long ago adc two names as an indication of where his true loyalty lay. "You can trust one of them only to cheat and lie-they don't understand the meaning of truth. It's been a hundred years since any man set eyes on one, but they're not something a person forgets easily, I'll tell you that, sir."
Carey nodded halfheartedly and went back to his seat. Quill's opinion of the Wykzl held little interest for him right now. It was sheer frustration that was eating at him, and that was something he had seldom experienced in his life. He couldn't help remembering how well he had had things set up less than a full day ago. Then the Wykzl had intervened. He didn't want to hear about the Wykzl. Quill was starting to sound too much like one of Melor Carey's radio messages from Earth. There was an accusatory tone to his voice. Don't underestimate the Wykzl. They didn't come all that way just to fly around and watch you operate. You were a fool to ignore them. I warned you before you left the Academy. He had had enough of that for now. "Shut your mouth and do your work," he told Quill. "If I want any advice from you, I'll ask for it."
"Just giving you some background, sir," said Quill.
"Well, I don't want to hear it." The fact was, though he hardly wanted to admit it, that he had blown it, and Quill was only reminding him of that. "What do you see on the screen now
"It's them, all right-the Wykzl lifeboat. They've got their pincers out now. I suspect we'll be locking in a minute or two."
"Then let me know when it's happened."
"Oh, you'll know it, sir. You'll feel it."
And what was he going to do then? That was the one point where his father's messages had remained vague. He had tried to ignore the Wykzl and failed in that. What was he supposed to do now? One way or another, he had to convince the Wykzl to get out of imperial space. The very presence ofa Wykzl warship in this sector of space could be construed as an act of war. Was that what they intended? Could he pressure them with threats? The trouble was, he knew exactly why almost any man reacted the way he did-but a Wykzl was not a man, it was an alien monster, and how could he guess what made something like that tick? Quill, in spite of his constant babbling, was no help there.
