Flight of the Eagles (7 page)

The strange figure took the pipe from his lips. He looked at the Snakepeople, who were all glassy-eyed and swaying from side to side. Then he said, “They won't be able to do much for about half an hour. However, I think it might be wise to move on a bit.”

He had a brown face, very white teeth, and bright black eyes.

“My name is Hamar,” he said, “but you'd better introduce yourselves later.”

He walked away, and they followed as quickly as they could.

Josh shuddered as he wiped his soiled sword blade on the grass. Killing anything was not to his liking.

They hurried through the forest until finally Hamar drew up.

Then he spoke. “They won't follow us this far. They never come this far away from their pit.”

“How do you know?” Mat asked suspiciously.

“I study them.” Hamar smiled. “Actually I study biology, but I became interested in these life-forms on my own, so I'm collecting material about them.” He nodded with a smile, then added, “They almost had you, didn't they? One bite and it's good-bye to this world.”

“Well, you sure saved our bacon,” Dave said. He stepped forward and shook Hamar's hand. “I hope there aren't any more of them ahead.”

“You're headed that way?” Hamar pointed with his flute. “Well, I'm afraid that country is the worst of all—the Snakepeople, I mean. That place where you are going is crawling with them. I'd think twice before I'd go through there alone.”

Hamar's voice sounded grim, and Josh looked ahead fearfully.

“How did you stop them?” Sarah asked.

“There was once something called a
fakir
in Old-world, a kind of snake charmer,” Hamar explained. “Well, this new life-form that emerged from the ashes of the Terror—no one knows if they're animal or vegetable. After studying them, I developed the theory that they could be stopped by music. That's what brought me out here in the middle of Serpentland—scientific hunting. That takes care of
my
story. Now, what are you doing here?”

Dave opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Josh broke in. “Oh, just some travelers who lost our way. We're trying to get to the Great Road.”

“Well, I can take you there,” Hamar volunteered. “It's where I was going anyway. I know where these creatures have their pits, and we can go around them. Wouldn't do to fall in a snakepit.”

Josh shuddered at the thought.

“That'll be great,” Dave said. “Come on, everybody, let's get out of here.”

He hurried them into some sort of order and then walked ahead, talking to Hamar as the rest followed raggedly.

The company walked for two hours, and then Josh saw that they would have to camp out for the night. Hamar led them to an excellent site with good water and cover. After a hearty meal, they sat around the fire and talked.

But they spoke only of the food until after Hamar got up and said, “I'll take a look around. Should be safe, but in this part of the woods you never know.”

He left as silently as an Indian, and they began to discuss him.

“I don't trust him,” Mat said flatly. “It's just too convenient—his being there at just the right time.”

“Oh, Mat, you're too suspicious.” Dave grinned at him from across the fire. He pressed his point. “It's the break of a lifetime! Hamar saved us, didn't he? And he can get us to the road. That's all we need. I talked to him all afternoon, and I say he's all right. I think we ought to tell him about our quest.”

“No!” Crusoe sat up and spoke in a stronger voice than Josh had heard him use since the beating he had taken.

“Let him guide us to the road if you must. But say nothing to him—or anyone else—if you want to live.”

The effort seemed to exhaust Crusoe, and he lay back weakly.

“I agree,” Josh chimed in quickly. “He may be all right, but we don't know much about him.”

Dave looked at Josh with contempt. “Josh, you're going to have to get over being afraid of everything that moves.” He turned to the others and said, “I believe we need help. We know Hamar is strong, and he's smart. Let's tell him our story. He's an adult, and he knows this country like the back of his hand.”

“No,” Josh objected angrily.

“And I say yes!” Dave retorted.

He got up and started to call Hamar to the fire. But before he could, Josh did something he had never done in his life. He drew back his fist and hit the older boy in the face.

To his surprise, Dave went down. However, Josh's victory was short-lived. Dave immediately jumped up and, with his superior size and skill, began to administer a thorough beating to Josh.

One of Josh's eyes was already closed, and he was bleeding from the nose when Volka stepped in. With a hard hand, he picked up Dave, then set him on the ground at a distance away.

To give Dave credit, when he saw the mess he had made of the smaller boy's face he seemed to feel ashamed. “Oh, Josh, I'm sorry! I have such a rotten temper! Here, take this handkerchief and wipe your face off.” He looked around. “I guess I get so carried away I forget to consider what others think. Well, here comes Hamar.”

They all sat down as Hamar rejoined them.

If the piper noticed Josh's face, he did not mention it. “Everything seems quiet,” Hamar reported. “Have you decided what to do tomorrow?”

They all looked at Josh, who was having trouble breathing through his nose. “I guess Dave is right,” he
said in a muffled voice. “If you could take us to the road, we'd be mighty grateful.

“No trouble at all,” Hamar said. “We should be there before noon.”

They all breathed sighs of relief, but for a long time Josh lay awake. He was thinking about the strange figure of Goél. In addition, he felt humiliated at the sorry showing he had made in the fight with Dave. It brought back bitter memories of the failures he had always suffered. The newfound confidence that had been building up in him toppled and fell. He wished he were safely at home again.

Then he realized that home was gone forever. Any home he found would have to be here in this frightening place.

9

Captured!

B
reakfast the next morning was a rather sorry affair. Josh was sullen. He refused to eat or even speak to anyone.

True enough, it was raining, and cooking was impossible. But when Dave made an effort to patch up their quarrel by handing Josh a piece of cold meat between two soggy crackers, all Josh did was grunt and draw his coat closer around him.

“Better try to eat a little, Josh,” Dave urged. “Looks like it's going to rain all day. You may not get a hot meal for a while.”

“I'll eat when I want to!” Josh said mulishly. He knew he was behaving like a child, but he couldn't help it. Things had been going so well until Dave showed up!

They were all sitting around what was left of the campfire when a strange thing happened. Dave and Hamar were talking about how far it was to the road, when Sarah —she would later tell Josh—began to feel most peculiar.

Suddenly she tossed the last bite of cold meat aside, thinking that she was going to be sick. Her head was spinning a little, and the talk of her friends seemed to fade into the distance. She heard the sound of her own voice, and yet she did not understand what she was saying. It was as if she were listening to someone else, but she knew the words were coming from her own lips.

Then she felt the pressure fade, and the world came back. Looking around, Sarah saw that the others were looking at her strangely.

“What's wrong?” she asked shakily.

No one answered for a moment.

Then Dave said, “What was all that stuff you were saying, Sarah? I couldn't understand a word of it.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Sarah said quickly.

“Didn't you understand what you said, Sarah?” Crusoe asked.

“No.”

“You were speaking the dialect of Nuworld.” He waved his hand at Mat and Volka.

“We all speak it well—but you never learned.”

“But how can I speak it if I don't know it?” Sarah cried. “And what did I say?”

“I don't know the answer to the first—except that some strange things are beginning to happen. But you said, ‘The way ahead will be dangerous and filled with snares, but he that turns back from the trodden road goes to his own destruction.'”

They were quiet for a moment trying to take it in.

Then Dave spoke briskly. “Well, I don't know about all that jabber, but I do know we've got to get started. It's a long way to the road.”

They broke camp quickly, concealing their fears as best they could. Soon they were trooping after Dave and Hamar toward the south.

They could only have gone a few miles when a horse approached from behind. They dived into the bushes, scarcely getting out of sight before a troop of scarlet-clad priests rode by at a full gallop. Josh noticed that the priests were carefully scanning the forest on each side, as if looking for something.

“Whew!” Dave said as they returned to the road. “That was close! Everyone look sharp. There may be more of them.”

No other patrols appeared at once, but after about an hour, Sarah called out, “Crusoe! What's the matter?”

She knelt beside the old man, who had slumped to the ground. Crusoe's face was pale, and his breathing was uneven. He tried to say something but failed. Then his head sank forward on his breast.

“We've got to get him off the road,” Sarah said.

“Right!” Dave agreed. “Volka, will you take him over to that clump of bushes? We can rest there until he's better.”

“Don't—think he's going—to get—better,” a voice said haltingly.

Sarah turned to see Mat weaving in an alarming fashion. Then Mat too began to sag dangerously.

Josh and Dave grabbed him and helped him to the small grove where Sarah had opened a canteen and was trying to give Crusoe a drink.

“He's unconscious!” she said in a whisper. “What can we do?”

“Listen,” Josh said suddenly. There was the sound of traffic on the road again—men walking and riding.

“Everyone keep still,” Dave whispered.

Josh peered through the bushes and saw a band of men dressed in black uniforms. They wore the strange device of the Sanhedrin on their chests.

He groaned. “Oh, no!”

“What's the matter?” Sarah asked.

“They've stopped to rest!” he hissed. “Keep quiet, everyone!”

Sure enough, the troop had halted and began to sit down not thirty feet from where the little band huddled. Josh clearly heard the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle and then a coarse voice saying, “How much longer we got to keep this up? My feet are killing me!”

“You'll keep walking as long as the Chief Interrogator
tells you to!” another voice, evidently that of the first speaker's superior, answered. “You ain't no tireder than the rest of us.”

“Well, there ain't no sense to it,” the first insisted. He apparently took a long pull at his bottle. “Ain't likely them Sleepers will be out in plain sight just askin' to be caught.”

At the word “Sleepers,” Josh glanced wildly at Sarah. He saw that she was as pale as he felt.

“Ah,” the second voice went on, “but there's the reward, don't forget.”

“Sure, I've not forgotten that,” said the first. “And how much did you say it was?”

“One thousand in gold!”

“Ah, now, there's a sum a man could do a bit with! But I still say they won't be on the road.”

“You ain't a sergeant, but if you
was,
you'd know that it don't much matter where we are. Whoever sees them will hear about that reward, and they got to tell
somebody.
So if we gets told, we finds 'em.”

“But then
they
gets the reward!”

“Oh, no, they don't. We'll see that they get a nice letter from the government, and
we'll
handle the cash.”

They all laughed loudly and began boasting about what they would do with the gold.

“But are you sure that folks know about the reward?” someone asked.

“How could they not know about it when the Chief Interrogator has had a notice posted in every village within two hundred miles? Oh, they'll be seen all right enough!”

The soldiers rested only ten minutes, but it seemed like days before the helpless band heard the sergeant order his men down the road.

They waited until they could no longer hear the troops. Then they all heaved deep sighs of relief.

“I thought sure they had us,” Volka said.

Josh saw that Volka's hands were not steady, and he was a little less ashamed of his own shakiness.

“What do we do
now
?” Sarah asked. “Even if we were all well, it would be hard enough to travel without being seen, but Crusoe and Mat are getting worse.”

There was a silence, and they all looked at Dave.

Dave spoke hurriedly, “Well … I suppose …” He paused uncertainly, then must have got a glimpse of Josh's grin. He seemed to make a decision. “I'd
like
to go on, of course, but that's impossible now. We'll have to go back.”

“Go back where?” Josh asked sharply.

If Josh had been older and wiser, he would have realized that his attitude was simply helping Dave reinforce his rash decision—a decision Josh didn't like one bit. But all that struck Josh at the moment was that Dave wanted to give up.

“We'll go back to the cave.” Dave's answers came smoothly now. “We'll be safe there. There's plenty of food and water, and there'll be time for the patrols to get tired …”

He talked faster as if trying to convince himself, but he refused to meet Sarah's eye.

“Well, let's get started,” Hamar quietly prompted.

And they would have pushed on had it not been for Volka. The group had looked to him for physical help, but no one had really considered that he could make any other kind of contribution. So it came as a shock when they heard him ask, “Well, what about that thing Sarah said this morning?”

“What about it?” Dave said sharply.

Josh could have hugged the giant! “That's right, Dave. We're not supposed to turn back, no matter what!”

Dave's face grew red. He seemed to turn fiery whenever someone questioned anything he said or did. “That isn't important,” he snapped. “We didn't even understand the words, so they can't have any meaning.”

“Why not?” Sarah asked quietly. She was looking at Dave with a different light in her eyes, as if she were seeing something for the first time.

“In the first place,” Dave argued, “it's impossible to go on. There are patrols everywhere, and we've got two sick men. We would go on if we could, but there are some things that just can't be done.”

They all tried to talk at once, and the argument grew louder until a new voice broke through.

“Would you mind if I say a word?” The travelers looked around, startled. For a moment, they had forgotten that there was a relative stranger in their midst. Hamar was sitting off to one side. He spoke with a small smile on his face. “I've tried not to notice who you are —but it's getting a little difficult.”

Dave broke in suddenly. “I told Hamar last night who we are. He's anxious to help us.”

Dave must have read the look of betrayal on the faces around him. Dave had heard, as they all had, Crusoe's instructions to keep their identity a secret. Dave hurried on before they could accuse him. “Oh, it's all right. Hamar figured out who we were anyway. And he's with us all the way. I mean, he's no friend to the Sanhedrin. Isn't that right, Hamar?”

Hamar smoothly reassured them. “Well, there's no reason for any of you to believe me, but Dave is right. I've always been sort of a rebel, and I saw at once that you were hiding from the priests. So if you want to trust me, maybe I can help you. If not, I'll just be moving on.”

He got to his feet, but before he could move, Josh called out.

“Hold him, Volka.” The giant's massive hand closed firmly on Hamar's neck.

“Well” —Hamar actually smiled— “I see your point.

It wouldn't do to turn me loose if I wanted the reward, would it?”

If Hamar had been angry, or if he had attempted to get away, quite likely Volka would have wrung his neck. However, he was so quiet and had such a relaxed look on his face that Josh had the feeling that he was on their side.

“Actually,” said Hamar, “if you would like to go on —instead of going back, that is—I can show you a way.”

“Do you trust him, Sarah?” Josh asked.

Sarah looked carefully into Hamar's face.

Then she nodded slowly. “Yes, I think I do. What else can we do?”

Hamar looked at her with a gentle smile. “Yes, at times we must trust someone—even if they fail us, perhaps?”

Then he looked at the others. “What is it to be?”

Dave nodded quickly, then Volka.

Slowly Josh nodded his agreement also.

“It's not an easy way,” Hamar said firmly, removing Volka's hand from his neck. “We'll have to carry this gentleman.” He indicated Crusoe.

Volka gently picked up the unconscious hunchback. The others agreed to help Mat. Hamar got them all up, and soon the travelers were moving slowly down the road.

They had gone less than a mile when Hamar led them off onto a path. It was a detour that Josh had not noticed.

“Where does this go?” Dave asked.

“It will take us to the Great Road. We follow it until we come to Roaring Horse—that's a river—and then we follow the river until we come to the Great Road.”

“How long will it take?” Josh asked.

“Two days usually. With sick men, maybe three. We'll camp at the river tonight and go on tomorrow.”

It was a difficult trip to the river. Rain was still falling lightly, and the path was overgrown with vines and tangles of thorns.

Fortunately, Mat grew better and was able to walk as they went slowly along. Volka easily managed the weight of Crusoe, so the group progressed steadily through the dense forest.

Hamar seemed to know every tree. He even pointed out some of the strange vegetation and rare animals that thrived in the woods.

Finally they reached Roaring Horse River, a wide, swift-flowing stream with wild-breaking whitecaps. Quickly Hamar set up camp, and soon everyone was sitting around the fire, eating steaks from a small antelope that the piper had brought down.

The fire burned cheerfully in the darkness, and there was a strange new sense of safety that all of them seemed to feel. Crusoe had begun to stir, and Sarah made him some broth that he tasted, then gulped down.

Hamar walked over to the old man and knelt beside him, looking him full in the face. After a moment's silence, he said, “Sir, you are right not to trust strangers. I will hope to show you that I am not dangerous.”

For a long time Crusoe looked at the strange figure. Then he smiled, nodded slightly, and whispered in a weak voice, “We shall see.”