Kiteman of Karanga (12 page)

Just after the Hrithdon passed from view, the river dropped over a huge waterfall. The mist from the crashing white water rose up into the air, and they saw their second rainbow in two days. Downstream, the river began to wind in great loops and they saw more boats. The valley widened and became checkered with cultivated fields. From what Rika had told him, Karl knew that they were planted with oja and wheat and were tended by conquered farming folk, who were forced to work for the Hrithdon just as the Eftian shepherds were. The farmers were allowed to keep half the wheat for themselves, but all the oja belonged to the Hrithdon. As they flew on, Rika pointed out the difference between the oja and the wheat. The wheat fields were rippling expanses of gold, which were ready for reaping now, while the oja fields were still as green as desert ivy. In a month's time, though, the oja plants would become a dry, brittle brown, and the beans would be ready to harvest.

Beneath them, a dozen smaller rivers joined the big river and a number of side roads contributed to the growing traffic on the main road. Caravans of donkeys and ox carts laden high with goods labored under the hot sun. Hrithdon patrols of two or three lizards were everywhere, and once they saw a column of over a hundred lizards moving swiftly in the opposite direction. The valley narrowed again, and the hills grew steeper and gave way to rugged mountains through which the river continued in the bottom of a deep gorge.

All at once they were flying over Ithdon! It happened with astonishing suddenness. One moment they were approaching another high ridge line, and the next they were suspended over a huge bowl in the mountains which contained the city.

Rika banked steeply and turned back toward the ridge they had just crossed. Lingering a moment, Karl looked at the marvelous city. Below were houses like Karanga's adobes but much larger and by the thousands; towers flying colorful banners; huge buildings of stone supported by graceful columns; parks, gardens, pools, and fountains. In the center of the city countless wharves bristled into the river, and beside them were hundreds of boats taking on and putting off cargo. Three huge bridges spanned the river, but the largest continued over part of the city and ran straight into a monumental fortress—Murthdur's castle.

For a few seconds longer Karl stared at the ominous fortress. Then he sharply changed direction and dove until he caught up with Rika. Searching the back side of the barren ridge for a safe landing place, they finally found a flat area above a grove of thorn bushes. Once their wings were securely hidden in a nearby grotto, Karl and Rika scrambled downhill through the brush until they found the road to the city.

The wide dirt thoroughfare was filled with ox carts and donkey caravans and pedestrians like themselves. But the traffic slowed as it all crowded together at the entrance to the city. Carved from the granite of the mountain, the gate to Ithdon was the gigantic head of a dread lizard, its cavernous jaws wide open. Karl and Rika shuddered as they passed under the giant teeth and through the throat of stone.

They followed a long, wide boulevard that sloped gently toward the river. Shady parks filled with flowers, and pools and fountains beckoned to them. Sleepy guardsmen, sitting on even sleepier lizards, occasionally caused them to change their steps and detour around at a respectful distance. Splendid homes with walled gardens made them marvel at the wealth of the citizens and wonder about the luxurious lives lived within them.

About halfway down the boulevard a tremendous hubbub caught their attention. As they came closer, Karl and Rika realized that they had found the market, a huge area crammed to overflowing with booths and stalls and tents. Everywhere someone had something to sell, and the vendors' shouts and claims about their produce filled the air. As they edged their way into the market Rika told Karl how Ithdon had originally been a Hrithdon military outpost, two centuries before. Later, as it gained importance as a trading center, it grew to its present size. When the Hrithdon conquered the lands to the east, they made Ithdon the capital of their new province.

Karl and Rika stayed close together as they ventured into the market. They were pushed and jostled as they made their way past shoppers and sellers of all descriptions—swarthy Hrithdon dressed in the finest fabrics, shepherds and farmers dressed like Karl and Rika in cotton work garments, tall northern hunters who sported furs despite the summer heat, and here and there a few beggars in rags. Only at the summer games in Karanga had Karl experienced anything like this exhilarating cosmopolitan hodgepodge.

"I can hardly believe this place is real," Karl gasped, it's an anthill of people."

"I've always heard that Ithdon was exciting," Rika added.

As they wandered through the market, a boy in a flashy blue tunic embroidered with silver threads worked his way through the crowd and soon caught up to them.

"You are looking for something, aren't you?" the boy said, blocking their path. "What is it? Name it, and I'll get it for you. I know you're not from Ithdon. I can save you a lot of time and trouble."

"We're doing fine," Karl answered him. "Thanks anyway."

"Oh, come on," the youth wheedled, "you can't be suspicious of me. Am I dressed like a common chiseler?" He showed Karl the sleeve of his fine tunic, and Karl could not help seeing that he wore a ring on nearly every finger. "I'm just offering you my services. I know everyone in Ithdon, and you two are looking for something or my names not Rigo. Without my help you'll spend all day looking, and you still won't find it."

"We'll take care of ourselves," Rika interjected sharply. "Go away."

"Tell Rigo to go away like a dog, will you?" cried the boy, anger instantly replacing the friendliness of a moment before. "Perhaps I'll tell the Hrithdon about you. Ha, you're afraid! Give me a coin right now, or I call the Hrithdon."

Karl felt a surge of fear, and he saw Rika's face pale as she reached into her pouch and handed the boy a large silver coin. He snatched it and stared at it.

"Paugh! This thing is worthless. Don't you have any gold?"

"No," cried Rika. "Now go."

"Yes, I'll go," he replied. "You refuse my kind offer and then insult me with worthless coins. Now I'm going straight to the Hrithdon anyway!" Backing away from them with a menacing grin, Rigo disappeared into the crowd.

"What now?" asked Rika, taking Karl's arm.

"We've got to hide. The best place would be the middle of the market," Karl said.

Pushing and squirming, Karl and Rika threaded their way deeper into the market. They stood nervously in the center of the busy crowd and looked for Hrithdon guardsmen in all directions. Minutes passed, but no Hrithdon came.

"I don't think Rigo told the Hrithdon about us," Karl said finally. "He probably doesn't like them any more than we do. When he said Hrithdon, he sensed we were afraid and took advantage of it."

"Nasty little rat!" sputtered Rika. She was even angrier than Karl at having been frightened and then taken in.

"I wonder how we'll ever find Zanzu in this place?" Karl said.

"We'll just have to ask for him," Rika said.

She stepped over to the nearest booth. Karl could hear her shouting Zanzu's name above the din, but the boothkeeper shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on," Rika said to Karl. "Let's keep trying."

For several hours Karl and Rika struggled through the market, pushing and shouting in order to get the attention of the sellers. Wherever they asked, they received the same reaction, a shrug and a shaking head. But occasionally the boothkeepers threw sharp questions back at them. "Do you think I want the Hrithdon to smash my booth? Get lost!" A few times, Karl thought he saw Rigo's face in the crowd. At last Karl and Rika stopped. Exhausted, they collapsed onto a stone bench at the edge of the market.

"I don't think we're going to find Zanzu this way," Karl said at last.

"I dont think so either," Rika agreed, fatigue, sadness, and frustration on her face.

All at once Rigo appeared before them, his finger pointing at Karl and Rika. "Here, these are the ones who are looking for Zanzu."

Karl and Rika sprang to their feet. Rigo had made good his threat! But as they looked around they saw no Hrithdon, only a fierce-eyed man with a jutting hooked nose, jet black hair, and a moustache. He had the bearing of Murthdur, yet he was dressed jauntily in white trousers and a dark blue jacket trimmed with red.

"Here, cockroach," said the stranger. He flicked a coin down onto the ground, and Rigo went scuttling after it. "You two looking for Zanzu?" he asked gruffly.

"Yes, we are," Karl answered.

"Come with me then," the man said and turned to go.

"Wait a minute," said Karl. "Who are you?"

"I'm Zanzu," he answered.

"Oh," cried Rika with relief. "We're friends of Athgar and—"

"Not now!" Zanzu commanded. "We'll talk when we're in private. Come on."

Dusk was spreading over the city as Karl and Rika followed Zanzu out of the market and through the tree-lined boulevards that led toward the river. On the riverfront they walked out one of the long wooden wharves that had a dozen boats of all shapes and sizes tied up beside it. Nets hung drying above them; bales, barrels, and boxes lay piled high on the planks waiting to be loaded. Sailors and merchants crowded here and there, moving cargo, shouting, cursing, giving orders. Riverfront urchins ran to and fro playing hide-and-seek in the shadows. Zanzu brought them to the end of the wharf, where a cargo boat was tied fast. Karl noticed that its heavy square sail had been furled and along the side were many oarsmen's seats. A number of boatmen jumped to their feet as Zanzu strode up the plank.

"Cast off," he commanded without looking aside. "Drop anchor out in the river."

Karl and Rika followed him to the rear of the craft. As the three of them sat down at a table on the open deck, Zanzu studied Karl and Rika carefully.

"Well now," he said, flashing a grin in the twilight, "let's have it. Who are you? Why do you want to see me?"

"I'm Karl, and this is Rika," Karl said. "We are friends of Athgar, and we have just followed a Hrithdon column from Eftah where they took Athgar prisoner."

"Yes, I know," Zanzu stormed. "I've been warning him for years not to push his luck with Murthdur. One of my men watched him being taken across the bridge to the dungeon this afternoon." He pointed to Murthdur's fortress with his thumb. "How were you able to keep up with the Hrithdon column?"

"We flew in our kitewings," said Karl.

"Then you must be the kiteman Athgar told my messengers about," said Zanzu. "They go through Eftah often," he said with a grin, "but you'd never know it."

"What can we do to help Athgar?" Rika asked.

"We'll have to work together if we're going to save him from that place," Zanzu said. "But it will be dangerous. And you ought to know that I'm a smuggler with a price on my head!"

"If you're Athgar's friend, you're our friend too," Rika said.

"Good," said Zanzu. "Let's have something to eat and then we can talk this situation over. Athgar's got to be rescued! He and I have been like brothers for years. We fought side by side during the Hrithdon conquest of Eftah."

With a roar that would have made a bear tremble, Zanzu shouted to his galley and ordered food brought to the table. As they ate, Karl told Zanzu the details of his audience with Murthdur.

Zanzu snorted. "A fleet of kite wings? I'm not surprised. I'm sure Murthdur wants you in his service badly, Karl. In fact, he wants kitewings so much that a couple of months ago he even asked me, a notorious smuggler, to find some terry leather for him." Zanzu snorted. "I reminded him of how many years he'd been trying to put me out of business. Then I accepted the job."

"Did you get the terry leather?" Karl asked.

"Of course, but I sent it to Athgar instead."

"And we made a kitewing out of it," Rika added. "But how did Murthdur ever find out about terry leather?"

"About a year ago, one of Murthdur's exploration parties managed to cross the desert to the south, and they found the Karangans," Zanzu explained. "They were amazed by the Karangan kitewings and their flying abilities. Murthdur reported this to the Hrithdon Emperor. Now the Emperor wants his own kitemen, but the Karangans have refused even to talk to the Hrithdon. So Murthdur gave the order to raid the Karangan villages and kidnap a kiteman, but so far they haven't been able to do it."

"Then Karl showed up," said Rika, "and Murthdur saw his chance."

"Right," said Zanzu. "And now he's blaming Athgar for thwarting his ambitions."

"If I gave myself up to Murthdur," asked Karl, "would he let Athgar go free in exchange?"

"Probably," said Zanzu.

"No," cried Rika. "We're not going to trade lives."

"It was just a question," said Karl. "But I should send some message to Murthdur."

"Good idea," said Zanzu. "Now we have to find a way to get Athgar out of there." He gestured toward the huge castle which was illuminated in the dark by many torches placed around its base. It towered high above the river. "Nobody's ever been rescued from there before. The prisoners are kept on the top floor, and the walls are over two hundred feet high."

"For a kiteman that could be an advantage," Karl said. He studied the towers and bartizans and battlements around the top of the castle. "If only there were some reason for Murthdur to send Athgar onto the roof."

"Then perhaps we can give him a reason," said Zanzu, jumping to his feet. "I've got an idea."

"All right, water rats," Zanzu commanded. "Haul the anchor and take her upriver." While the crew manned the oars, Zanzu walked the length of the boat, then returned to Karl and Rika.

"We'll have to talk quietly now. Voices can carry a long way across the water on a still night."

"What about the boatmen?" Rika asked.

"Don't worry about my crew," Zanzu said. "I'd have been finished years ago if I couldn't trust them. Now here's the way to get Athgar to the roof of the castle. I'll send a message to Murthdur. It will say that Karl will give himself up in exchange for Athgar's release. But to make sure Athgar is still alive, Karl will fly over the top of the castle at noon tomorrow. Athgar must be on the roof! I'll tell Murthdur we'll arrange the final details after we know Athgar is alive."