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The next morning it was decided that Hanomer should return to his village and lead his people to Torburg. It was almost noon when Granomer accompanied the four companions across the lake to bid them farewell. They had reached the shore of the lake and just started on the trail when a band of Hansa came down the path from the pass, leading a stumbling, exhausted, and bedraggled Hansa warrior.
When Hanomer saw him, he rushed to him. “Danomer, what happened?”
Danomer, gulping great volumes of air, was doubled over with his hands on his hips, his tail swishing back and forth over his head in agitation. He struggled to get his words out. “They have attacked!” he croaked.
“Who has attacked?” asked Hanomer, fear edging his voice.
“Meglir has attacked,” said Danomer. “He came early in the morning.”
Hanomer led the warrior to a rock and made him sit down. Dave gave Danomer a drink from his water skin.
“Now, from the beginning,” said Hanomer.
“It was very early in the morning when ape¬men were spotted creeping down the mountainside. They did not use the tunnel, since they did not have boats, but crawled out from among the rocks like the maggots they are.
“As you told me, Hanomer, I had someone keep watch, so we saw them coming. There were too many for us to fight, so I woke the village and we began our escape. We would have been able to get clean away if it were not for them!” Here he nodded in the direction of Pam, Al, and Dave.
“What happened?” asked Hanomer.
“A small band of men also came with the ape¬men, and they had thunder sticks that could kill us at a distance. They moved to cut us off from the forest. They killed many of our people as we ran.”
Hanomer stood up and paced up and down, his tail twitching, his prehensile hand opening and closing like a fist. He came back and sat down abruptly. “What happened next?”
“We lost about twenty of our people, killed by the thunder sticks. When we reached the woods, we turned to fight. They will not pursue us so rashly now I think.”
“What happened next?” asked Dave, forgetting his place.
“Friend Rokomer, I raced ahead to ask for help. The warriors are fighting a rearguard action, but Meglir will not give up. He continues to pursue us.”
“Are you sure Meglir is with them?” asked Granomer.
“Yes, O Sage,” said Danomer, rising to bow. “I have seen Hoffstetter’s body with my own eyes, and he drives the ape¬men forward and fills the men with fear as they harry our rear guard.”
Granomer turned to one of the younger Hansa. “Call the battle chiefs. We must hold the pass to our valley at all costs.” He turned to Hanomer. “Meglir is here. Now is your chance. You must warn the people of his impending attack on the island and have them warn your home city of Halcyon. I will counsel the battle chiefs to send you with guides through the Dimroth pass to the west, and you must warn the men on the island of danger. Perhaps in his hatred for us, Meglir has made a mistake in forsaking the island to attack us.”
Dave wasn’t convinced Meglir would make that mistake.
“But my people need me,” said Hanomer.
“Your people will be safe once we get them through the pass. Danomer can then take them up the lake and down the long stairs to Lake Tor and Torburg. If you reach Rokomer’s friends and kin at the island, you can protect them from the counterstroke and warn the people from Halcyon about the danger that they face in Meglir, or Hoffstetter, as they know him.”
In the end, it was the battle chiefs who finally convinced Hanomer. And so with a guide and a band of warriors, they set out along the lake for the high Dimroth pass.
__________
Dave, Pam, and twenty of Hanomer’s fighters were lying on a hillock some 200 yards west of Fort Linderhof. They had been keeping watch since the previous night. In the daylight, Dave could see that the fort had changed considerably. A stout wooden timber bridge had been constructed across the chasm, and a plank road had been built from the main road. A steady stream of ape¬men had been carrying sand and gravel out of Fort Linderhof to improve the road. Although Pam and Dave did not understand the origin of the gravel, their alarm grew, for they knew Hoffstetter was preparing some move against City Point, and the sand was somehow bound up with Hoffstetter’s scheming.
Upon arriving the previous night, Al had paddled a hastily constructed raft across the river to the island of City Point in order to warn the people there of the impending attack. There had been no sign from Al since he had landed on the island; nor had there been any evidence that the islanders had heeded his warning.
Late in the afternoon, the work on the plank road was finished and the procession of ape¬men carrying baskets and sacks of gravel out of Fort Linderhof stopped. As the second night approached, an atmosphere of dread and doom filled the hearts of the watchers.
Pam crawled up beside Dave with a worried look on her face.
“No word from Al, I take it?”
“No. I’ve been on the point watching City Point with my binoculars, and I haven’t seen anything. Something should have been happening by now.”
Dave felt in his heart that something had gone wrong, but he could see that Pam was already desperately worried about Al, and he didn’t want to add to it.
“I guess all we can do right now is pray.”
Pam stared at him as if she hadn’t heard correctly.
“I guess you’re right, Dave; we can always do that. I’d better go back and keep watching. And by the way—thanks!”
Now what could possibly have made me say that? Well, at any rate, I guess it’s what Al would have said, and it encouraged her.
He watched Pam slowly make her way back out to the lookout point.
Well after midnight, while Dave was still on watch, he heard the tramp of many feet approaching the fort. The night was dark, and no fires were lit at Linderhof, so he could not see what was happening. Hearing feet on the wooden bridge, he made up his mind to wake Hanomer.
“They are preparing to attack!” he said to Hanomer, shaking him awake.
“How do you know?”
“They’ve brought many troops. It can only mean one thing.”
“How can they attack, friend Rokomer? They have no boats.”
Hanomer has a point. Why would Meglir bring so many troops up if he didn’t mean to attack? It is either guile or attack. Many troops argue for attack.
They were still debating what to do next when suddenly, they heard the sounds of shouts and clashing steel from the island of City Point. Fires on the island flared up, and Hanomer’s keen eyes made out the lumbering figures of ape¬men grappling with the men from Halcyon on the island.
Without further discussion, Dave began picking his way down in the dark, from the treed hillock to the bare rock beneath. When he reached the rock, he heard a sound behind him and saw that Pam was running at full speed to follow him.
“What are you going to do?” asked Pam.
“I don’t know; I’m winging it!” said Dave.
Looking back, he saw the shadows of Hanomer and the Hansa also following, but they made no sound. Dave crept as quietly as he could toward the deep cleft separating Fort Linderhof from the mountain spur. He came to the noisy creek that formed the western protection of Linderhof and began to look for a place to cross.
Dave felt a hand on his arm.
Follow me!
Dave followed Hanomer upstream a short distance, where they crossed, leaping from one large rock to the next. On the other side Hanomer cautiously led them along a shallow ravine, which brought them to within thirty feet of the new wooden bridge and the new plank road.
The east had lightened perceptibly, and Dave could see the dark motionless form of an ape¬man sentry at the other side of the bridge. He saw no other signs of life. When they were all together, the Hansa archers shot their arrows at the ape¬man and brought him down. Dave ran towards the sturdy bridge and crossed at a run, heedless of the noise of his feet on the planks.
The plateau that was Fort Linderhof was deserted, but it was much changed. In the central shallow bowl that used to be their camp, the pond had disappeared. A crude, wooden scaffolding and a winch spanned the slippery bed of the old pond. A wooden ramp descended ahead of him, and Dave could just make out the deep cleft under the winch ramp with the help of the flickering torchlight emanating from the cleft.
He hesitated only a moment to get his bearings in the early light and then ran down the ramp, stopping at the top of an irregular shaft.
A sinkhole! What happened to the water?
Crude irregular steps had been cut into the rock and descended into the depths below. Several ape¬men lumbered toward him, laboriously climbing up the steps. Dave charged, pulling his sword from his sheath. He swung the blade furiously; the bodies of the ape¬men were pitched off the steps to the depths below.
Hanomer’s voice behind him was filled with wonder. “Since the rokash, you have grown much as a warrior! Even this descent down these steps would have filled the old Rokomer with fear.”
Breathing hard, Dave stared in blank amazement. Hanomer was right. His fear of heights had much diminished, and he was quite a different fellow than he had been.
“We must destroy the bodies of the ape¬men,” said Hanomer, “so they are not carried back to the death plants.”
“We’ll do it later. We don’t have time right now. We have to hurry!” said Dave. He turned and continued racing down the stairs.
Reaching the bottom, Dave saw that the shaft ended in a small natural cavern. Ahead of him was another deep shaft, about ten feet in diameter. Light gourds cast their dull yellow light about him. A few flickering torches added their smoky orange light to the yellow light of the gourds.
Like the racing tide overtaking the unwary on the seashore, fear and revulsion suddenly washed over him. He raised his sword hand as if to ward off a blow and turned to his right. Through an opening from a second, larger, cavern, he saw the grotesque vulture-faced figure of a guardian. Dave felt nausea and despair add to the fear that already held him in its grip. He knew it was the guardian. Steeling his mind, he forced his legs to obey and tried to approach the statue, but was opposed by a will so strong it made him reel back. He staggered backwards and would have fallen had he not been steadied by Hanomer’s hand. Turning away from the guardian, he saw Pam on the ground, cowering and holding up her hand as if warding off a blow. The panic in his mind grew like a great vast cloud of despair. He wanted to flee. The part of his mind that was still clear knew he was overreacting, but he could not calm himself. It took all of his willpower to keep from bolting back up the stone steps to the open air.
As Dave sank further into despair and terror, he collapsed to his knees, shaking uncontrollably. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Hansa gather together. Soon, he heard the soft notes of their singing. Dave recognized from the words that it was a song of victory and triumph, praising the power of the Creator. As the notes rose in that smoke filled place, a glimmer of light came into Dave’s gloom, and his destruction did not seem as certain as before. As the song proceeded, his felt his courage returning, and the dark despair fall away from his soul. Then, as if a bar of steel had been cut, the oppression of fear vanished. Dave put his hand to his brow like a sleeper wakening from a terrifying dream. He staggered to his feet.
“Can we...can we destroy it?” asked Dave, gesturing to the guardian.
“I know not,” said Hanomer. “We have never been this close to a guardian before.”
Dave forced himself to walk into the adjacent cavern. He looked up at the grotesque statue towering above him. This cavern was bathed in the same, dim green lichen light he had encountered in the death plant cavern. The guardian was about twenty feet high. It was made of a black material Dave did not rec-ognize. He slowly walked past it, turning to keep an eye on the statue. When he finally turned around to look where he was going, he stopped short in horror. In an open space behind the guardian, in a shallow pit, bodies were strewn about. He heard Pam gasp beside him.
No, it can’t be. They can’t have killed them all.
One of the bodies stirred and looked up. It was Floyd Linder. Floyd began to wake the others. By this time Hanomer and some of the other Hansa had approached. All of the people in the pit were awake now. Dave could see they were chained together by leg irons.
Hanomer called for tools, and he and the other Hansa lowered themselves into the eight¬foot¬deep pit and with chisel and hammer made short work of the soft metal chains that bound the prisoners.
As they were considering how to free the Halyconites from the pit, a high-pitched, long, drawn¬out wail pierced the air.
The guardian!
The sound grew so loud, so intense Dave covered his ears. But the blood-curdling noise stopped as abruptly as it had started. No one moved. Then, in the distance they heard a new sound; a loud scraping, as if a heavy stone were being dragged over rock.
Pam ran back to the stairs in the first cavern and peered into the shaft descending into the depths. “That awful noise is coming from the shaft,” she called. “It sounds like some big machine coming up, but I can’t make it out.”
Dave left the Hansa to their work of freeing the captives, and raced past the guardian to the shaft where Pam was kneeling. The rumbling, clattering noise continued to come from far below. Finally, they saw the source of the noise. A hideous shape slowly came into view. Worm¬like, with a tentacled mouth large enough to swallow a pickup truck, its scales and armor clattered on the rock as it expanded its body to work its way up the shaft to the cavern. Crude wooden ladders had been fastened to the sides of the shaft. These broke like matchsticks as the creature made its way up the shaft. Dave recognized the creature; it was the same one he had seen on the wagons.
“The rock borer!” said Hanomer, who had just joined them. “The guardian has called it.”
“Can we kill it?” asked Dave.
“It’s very heavily armored. I don’t think so,” said Hanomer.
The rock borer moved toward them at the rate of a slow walk.
“We could try burning it,” said Hanomer.
“No good!” said Dave. “A big fire would plug up the passage. I think this tunnel was used to attack City Point. We need to get down this shaft to get across to the island. But you’ve given me an idea!”
Just then a Hansa warrior approached. “Friend Hanomer,” he said, “we have seen a line of torches leaving the city. They are marching down the road. Meglir is returning!”
“Whatever we do, we must act quickly,” said Hanomer. “If the advance scouts from Meglir’s army trap us here, we’ll all be lost.”
Looking at the newly freed captives and gesturing at part of the group, he said, “Half of you, upstairs! Tear down the scaffolding and the crane and throw them down the stairs. The rest of you pile the wood around the feet of the statue.”
Fifteen people raced upstairs. Within a minute someone yelled, “Look out below!”
Pieces of scaffolding came crashing down the shaft, landing on the floor of the cavern and splintering as they landed. Meanwhile Hanomer’s archers were shooting arrows at the rock borer, but with little effect. Dave and the remainder of the captives began piling the wood scaffolding around the feet of the guardian. One of the Hansa started a fire at the corner of some brush, which someone had thrown down. The smoke from the brush drifted toward the fissures in the ceiling of the cavern, and the flames billowed upward and licking at the beams of the broken scaffolding. More and more wood was thrown around the feet of the hideous statue. As the flames engulfed the stone figure and licked around the vulture head, the hideous statue looked the part of a demon from hell. Suddenly in Dave’s mind he heard a scream, more of anger and hate than of terror.
Dave ran to the shaft and looked down at the rock borer. The forward motion of the rock borer had stopped; the creature was making itself longer and thinner so that it slid to the bottom of the shaft. Its tentacles withdrew, and it reversed direction, moving away, retreating around a bend in the shaft.
“Come on!” shouted Dave to the others. He took one of the cables from the pulley system, made it fast, and threw it down the shaft, then raced down the shaft ladders at breakneck speed. Pam was right behind him, with the Hansa bringing up the rear. Reaching the end of the ladders, Dave swung onto the cable and lowered himself hand over hand to the bottom.
“The rock borer has become afraid,” said Hanomer. “I don’t know how long we have until its hunger for flesh will drive it to pursue us.”
“Then we’d better get moving!” said Dave.
Using what remained of the ladders and ropes, Dave and the others made their way to the bottom of the vertical shaft. The shaft made a right¬angled turn, then disappeared into pitch blackness. Hanomer appeared, leading the way with a light gourd. The shaft ran straight as an arrow toward the island. The rock borer was nowhere to be seen. It wouldn’t do to stumble into it. Afraid of being surprised, Dave proceeded at a slow walk. Within twenty paces he came to a side tunnel, where he saw the stubby tail of the rock borer retreating. It was cutting a new shaft.
Satisfied that the way was clear, Dave took Hanomer’s light gourd and raced down the long level passage, leaving Hanomer behind. Soon the passage began to ascend. Up ahead Dave saw the faint light of early sunrise. He burst out of the face of a low cliff that faced north. There were no enemies about, but it was prudent to be careful.
Hanomer emerged from the tunnel. “Hanomer, can your scouts reconnoiter without being seen in this light?” whispered Dave.
Hanomer crept up onto the low hill and looked at the topography. When he came back, he said, “It can be done safely. There is enough cover that they will not be seen.”
“Could you send out your scouts then and tell me the situation on the island?” asked Dave.
Since Dave had spoken in Hansean, the Hansa following Hanomer immediately understood and complied, without waiting for Hanomer to respond. By now all the freed captives had arrived. They were armed with clubs and other such weapons as they could find. Some had crude swords taken from the dead ape¬men, but most had clubs made from the broken scaffolding. When they were all assembled, Dave climbed to the top of the cliff, stretched out on his belly, and looked about the island.
There were fires and bodies everywhere. There were hundreds of ape¬men, but many were standing still, while others were wandering aimlessly. Looking to the south, Dave could see that the remaining free Halcyonites were still on top of the low hillock that had served as a headquarters. They were being assailed by the turncoats from the citadel who had gone over to Hoffstetter. The free Halcyonites were hard pressed, since they were throwing rocks and sticks while Meglir’s men were still firing arrows. There was no gunfire.
Seeing one of the Halcyonites fall with an arrow in his side, Dave didn’t wait for Hanomer but ran straight at the turn¬coats. Pam and the others followed. Dave ran silently but swiftly and came upon a group of Meglir’s men shooting at the Halcyonites from the cover of a grove of trees. Dave was almost on top of them when one of them saw him and, with a cry, turned to shoot. Dave felled him with one blow.
By now Dave’s companions were among them, and the turncoats dropped their weapons and ran south toward the river. Dave pursued them to the water’s edge but couldn’t bring himself to cut any more down now that they were defenseless. Reaching the shore, the turncoats didn’t hesitate, but jumped in and began to swim back toward Fort Linderhof.
Dave and his companions ran back toward the hillock where the battle continued. He saw that Hanomer had already arrived, and his accurate arrows were keeping the remaining turncoats pinned down. Dave was just regrouping his company for another charge when the remaining turncoats also broke cover and ran for the river. They passed right past Hanomer’s position, but he had too much compassion on the fleeing traitors to shoot them in the back. In they end they too escaped into the river.
Now that the heat of battle was over, Dave felt very tired. Still, he knew reinforcements would be coming, and if they gained the tunnel they could easily overwhelm his meager forces.
“Hanomer, if those reinforcements reach the tunnel, we’ll have a tough fight on our hands. If they break out of the tunnel, we’ll be lost.”
“Dave, scouts have just reported back that the many ape¬men are leaderless and wandering aimlessly about the island. If Meglir is with the relieving force or if the guardian recovers control, the ape¬men will attack. We should destroy them now!”
“All right. Set six of your best archers to guard the tunnel entrance. Have the rest hunt down, and destroy the ape¬men before they become a threat.”
“What are you going to do, Dave?”
“I’m going to try to get the holdouts on the hill to stop fighting so they can help us deal with Meglir. I think they still have explosives, the materials they used to destroy the tower in the citadel, and we may be able to seal the tunnel.”
Hanomer ran off, shouting orders for the Hansa to cover the tunnel, and to begin the hunt for the ape-men.
Dave shouted to the Halcyonites barricaded on top of the hill.
“This is Dave Schuster. I’m on your side. I am not your enemy. All of the traitors have fled to the river. More are coming to attack. I need your help to stop them.”
A voice he didn’t recognize answered back. “If what you say is true, come up here to talk, but you must come unarmed.”
Dave began to unbuckle his sword belt. “Don’t go up there, Dave,” said Pam, clutching his arm. “You don’t know if you can trust them. We don’t even know what they’ve done to Al.”
“I know, Pam, but I don’t have any choice. I’ve got to convince them to plug that tunnel, or we’ll all be dead.”
He started to walk up the hill, his hands raised above his head. Pam started to follow him.
“No, Pam, not both of us. I think you need to look for Al. He’s got to be here somewhere. I’m sure they wouldn’t have harmed him, even if they didn’t believe his story.”
Pam hesitated. He could see she was wavering. There were tears in her eyes. Finally, she turned and ran to look for Al.
Dave resumed his walk up the slope, raising his hands in the air. There were bodies of ape¬men and some Halcyonites scattered on the grass. At the top, a crude barricade had been constructed, and the ugly barrel of a gun was pointed at his chest. As he came close, two men rushed out, dragged Dave behind the barricade, and threw him on the ground. Dave did not resist while they tied his hands behind his back and hobbled his feet.
“All right, Schuster, tell your furry buddies to keep their distance or you’re dead.”
“You’ve got to listen to me; you’re in danger!”
Someone kneeled on his neck and the voice said, “You tell your buddies to keep their distance, or so help me, I’m gonna kill yah.”
Just then a shout rang out. “It’s me, MacDonald. Don’t shoot. I’m unarmed, and I’m coming up.”
In a few seconds Dave heard the sound of someone climbing over the barricade.
“Commander, am I glad to see you!” said a relieved voice.
“Let Schuster go,” said MacDonald. “It’s all right. He’s a friend, and he’s rescued us.”
“But Commander!”
“That’s an order, Norgaard.”
Dave felt his hands released. He was lifted to his feet.
Norgaard offered his hand. “No hard feelings, man. I thought you’d gone over to the enemy.”
“Yeah, I see your point. ... Al!”
Al had just climbed over the barricade. Dave stepped over to him, and they clasped arms. “Man, are you a sight for sore eyes! I was afraid you’d bought the farm when you went on that hair-brained excursion to the island.”
“I knew you’d come!” said Al.
“I was going to leave you for your foolhardy decision to come alone, but Pam would have none of it!” Dave said, smiling broadly.
“It’s my fault,” said MacDonald. “I didn’t believe him. This attack would have succeeded if you hadn’t come.”
“Listen, Glenn,” said Dave, “I mean, Commander MacDonald. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we attacked there was another force moving down the road from the Dead City. If they get into the tunnel and break out, we’ll be finished. We just don’t have enough to hold them off.”
“I don’t know the tactical situation. What do you suggest, Dave?”
“Give me a second,” said Dave. He walked to the barricade and called for Hanomer.
His friend came up the hill quickly. The soldiers couldn’t help staring at the furry creature. Dave went to him and knelt down, held the Hansa’s shoulders, and asked, “What’s the tactical situation on the ground?”
In English Hanomer replied, “I have set a guard at the tunnel entrance. We must hold off the ape¬men and turncoats as long as we can, and then try to make our escape.”
“No, wait a minute,” said Dave.
He turned to MacDonald. “Commander, do you have a demolition team?”
“Yes; why? Of course! You want to blow the tunnel. Can you buy us the time?”
“Get the demolition team moving as fast as you can. We’ll take up positions in the tunnel.”
Dave raced down the hill and picked up his crossbow and sword. As Dave and Hanomer were organizing their forces by the tunnel entrance, the Hansa scouts returned and reported that all the ape¬men on the island were leaderless and could easily be destroyed. A large number of survivors from the island had also been located in a compound nearby. They had been destined for Hoffstetter’s chain gangs.