Maza of the Moon (17 page)

Four times, thereafter, the slave came with food, thus marking the passage of five earth days in all. Ted had used up all the available teeth in his own niche, and was working with the upper set of the last skull which Shen Ho had been able to produce and toss over to him, but although he had cut through many wires in his armor, he was still unable to reach his degravitor.

Suddenly a light, brighter than the headlamp of the slave, appeared at the entrance of the passage way. The clank of arms and the footsteps of mailed warriors resounded through the cavern.

"Where have they hidden this miserable worm from Du Gong?" asked a voice.

"The officer said he was far back in the passageway, excellency," answered another.

"I know that first voice," whispered Shen Ho. "It is the cruel Tzien, who is Khan of the Torture Chambers. With him are four of his painted tortures. Work fast, Ted Dustin, or you are doomed."

Ted scraped frantically at the remaining wires which kept him from reaching his degravitor. Several snapped, and he attempted to insert his hand, but the opening was still too small.

"Hurry!" called Shen Ho. "They are almost here!"

Gripping the skull in both hands, Ted scraped in frenzied haste while the footfalls and clanking armor grew louder. More wires snapped, yet he could not get his hand in the opening.

Before he could move, Tzien Khan, with his cruel features contorted in a grin of sadistic delight, stepped into view followed by four of his brawny, hideously painted torturers. Then Shen Ho howled and laughed, and muttered of light and life, and of darkness and death.

P'AN-KU, iris hands clasped about his ample equatorial region, leaned back in his luxuriously cushioned throne and listlessly contemplated the humped figure of his major domo who, with palms and forehead pressed to the floor before the dais, awaited permission to speak.

"Now what low person disturbs our meditations?" demanded P'an-ku.

"O, worshipful Lord of the Universe," replied the major domo, "Kai Lo, Khan of Scouts, begs leave to impart tidings."

"Admit him," said P'an-ku. Then he turned to Dr. Wu, who stood at the right of the throne, having advanced himself in the graces of the monarch he regarded almost as a god, and said: "I presume he will tell me that the white Princess is about to storm the city. I knew this five days ago when my spies in Ultu informed me of her pact with the worm of Du Gong who called himself Roger Sanders."

Kai Lo Khan, a short individual with an oval body and thin, crafty features, entered and prostrated himself before the throne.

"Speak," commanded P'an-ku.

"O, Paragon of Wisdom and Fountain of All Authority," said Kai Lo Khan, "the army of the Princess Maza is surrounding the city. With her are a hundred thousand nak-kar cavalry and five hundred thousand foot."

"Dolt!" thundered P'an-ku. "I knew all this was to be five days ago, and am prepared."

"But Majesty, that is not all. She has sent a party to the western gate of the city under a banner of truce."

"Ah! She would parley. Go then to the gate and take her message."

Again prostrating himself, Kai Lo Khan hastily departed.

Not more than twenty minutes elapsed before he returned and made obeisance.

"I have brought the message of the Princess, O Vicar of the Sun," said he, producing a scroll.

"Read it," commanded P'an-ku.

Kai Lo Khan unrolled the scroll, cleared his throat, and read:

Her Imperial Majesty, Maza an Ma Gong to His Royal Highness, P'an-ku an Peilong.

Greeting: Surrender the person of Ted Dustin, living and unharmed, and Peilong will be spared. Refuse, and my army will destroy it utterly.

Maza an Ma Gong.

"Tell her," thundered P'an-ku, "that Ted Dustin will this day be made to suffer the death of the hot oil. Tell her further, that we are prepared for her attack, and that--"

"Pardon, O just and mighty Dictator of the Universe!" It was Dr. Wu who had interrupted. The courtiers looked at him in amazement, apparently expecting P'an-ku to have him executed for his temerity, but he continued. "May your worthless slave from Du Gong suggest a plan?"

"Speak," replied P'an-ku.

"Would it please Your Majesty to have the white Princess as a prisoner?"

"Nothing would suit me better," replied P'an-ku. "Tzien Khan, here, could very quickly persuade her to become my queen, could you not, my Khan of the Torture Chambers?"

"Assuredly, O King of the Age, if she should be so foolish as to need such persuasion," replied Tzien Khan with a bow.

"After which," continued P'an-ku, "with her armies and her wealth at my disposal, I could quickly bring both Du Gong and Lu Gong under my undisputed sway. But what is your plan, Dr. Wu?"

"It is apparent from her message," said the wily doctor, "that the Princess loves this Ted Dustin. If the prisoner, therefore, or someone purporting to be the prisoner, were sent out, she would not overlook an opportunity for speech with him."

"Very likely," replied P'an-ku.

"I suggest therefore," continued the crafty doctor, "that you dress one of your white prisoners who is about the size of Ted Dustin in a suit of insulating armor and glass helmet of the kind worn by the people of Ultu. Send a note to the Princess stating that you will constitute Ted Dustin your messenger for a peace parley at a point half way between the western gate and the front line of her army, stipulating that she be accompanied by not more than ten unmounted men, and that a like number will accompany Ted Dustin.

"Men can be posted at suitable points along the wall with green ray projectors to lay down a barrage at a prearranged signal. This will prevent her from getting back to her army, or prevent the army from reaching her. In the meantime, her guard can easily be destroyed and the Princess taken prisoner."

"What think you of this plan, Kai Lo Khan?" asked P'an-ku.

"It sounds feasible, O Bright and Shining Cousin of the Sun," replied the Khan of Scouts, cautiously.

"And you, Tzien Khan?"

"I believe it would work, O Lord of Worlds," replied the Khan of Torturers.

"We will try it," decided P'an-ku. "You, Tzien Khan, will take one of the Ultuan prisoners who resembles Ted Dustin in physical proportions and dress him in a suit of the armor we took when we captured a troop of the surface scouts of the white princess.

"You, Kai Lo Khan, will go to Chu Yan, Khan of my army, inform him of our plans, and see that he has men with ray projectors suitably posted on the walls and ten men ready to accompany the prisoner to the meeting place. I will send a messenger with a note to the Princess, at once.

"And, Tzien Khan. When you have prepared a prisoner to represent the young scientist of Du Gong, you may take Ted Dustin from the dungeons of eternal darkness to the torture chambers, and there inflict on him the death of the hot oil. I had thought to delay his death and prolong his torture indefinitely, but with the prospect of the honor of a visit from the fair Princess who foolishly believes she loves him, it will be better to put him permanently out of her reach at once.

"Now go, both of you." . . . .

Seated on the back of her great, fighting nak-kar in one of the glades of the luminous forest which surrounded the city of Peilong, Maza waited impatiently for P'an-ku reply to her message. She wore a suit and helmet of shining white armor, and a sword and red ray projector depended from the belt which encircled her slender waist. Beside her, similarly armored and mounted, was the aged Vanible Khan.

Ranged before her were line after line of her foot soldiers, and more, steadily coming up from the rear, were being hurried into place by their officers as the army encircled the city. Her nak-kar cavalry had deployed for attack, and the huge supply wagons, drawn by great, lumbering, wingless dragons, were rumbling into position.

"P'an-ku ponders long over his reply, Your Majesty," said Vanible Khan.

"It may be that he does not intend to make one," replied Maza. "He seems, however, to have respected my banner of truce."

"I would not rest too strongly on the belief that Ted Dustin is alive," said Vanible Khan. "If he escaped the green rays of the defenders when he attacked the great projector it would be amazing, but if P'an-ku were to capture him and spare his life it would indeed be astounding."

"Nevertheless, I shall go on believing him alive until I have proof to the contrary," answered Maza. "I seem to feel it, here." She pressed her hand over her heart.

Sailing gracefully over the treetops, a nak-kar alighted in the glade. Its rider dismounted, rushed to where Maza sat in her saddle, made obeisance, and presented a scroll.

"A message from P'an-ku," he announced.

The Princess eagerly seized and unrolled the missive, hastily scanning its contents.

"He lives! Ted Dustin lives!"

"And will P'an-ku surrender him without a struggle?" asked Vanible Khan.

"I will read the message," she replied.

His Imperial Majesty, P'an-ku an Ma Gong to Du Gong to Her Royal Highness, Maza an Ulta.

If you care to meet him in person, Ted Dustin will tell you tire terms I propose. He will advance half way to your front lines, accompanied by ten of my guards, who will slay him at the first sign of treachery. Meet him there, on foot, with ten of your unmounted warriors, and perhaps a satisfactory settlement can be arranged.

P'an-ku an Ma Gong to Du Gong.

"The ruler of Peilong assumes mighty titles since he has acquired the green ray and the fighting globe," said Vanible Khan. "Emperor of Ma Gong and Du Gong, indeed! He will soon have the other planets, their satellites, and the Lord Sun under his domination, if words can do the trick. And he insultingly addressed Your Majesty as 'Ruler of Ulta,' ignoring your greater title."

"I will overlook that for the present--to save Ted Dustin," replied Maza.

"But, Your Majesty," remonstrated the aged scientist. "Don't you see that this bloated monster is setting a trap for you--a trap baited with the man you love?"

"Trap or no trap," said Maza, "I am going."

"Majesty, I implore you not to go. For the sake of Ulta--for the sake of the millions of subjects who love you-"

"Enough!" she said. "The terms are fair enough--a trap well nigh impossible. I will be accompanied by ten of my warriors, who can, if need be, account for the ten accompanying Ted Dustin. I will be within plain sight and ray-range of the advance guard of my army. They will be instructed to protect me with a ray barrage at the slightest sign of trickery."

'But, Majesty-"

"Not another word. I leave my army in your care until my return. If I do not come back--if I am killed or captured--attack the city at once, and continue the fight until Peilong is utterly destroyed. Goodbye, my worthy Khan and lifelong friend."

Grief stricken, Vanible Khan bowed his head in farewell obeisance, while tears trickled down his furrowed cheeks. When he raised his tear-dimmed eyes the nak-kar with his beloved young ruler was disappearing over the treetops.

Alighting just behind the front line of her troops Maza dismounted, tossed her reins to a soldier, and addressed a young officer who ran quickly to her side and made obeisance.

"Pick me ten of your bravest soldiers at once," she said. "They will go with me for a parley midway between my front line and the city gate. Instruct the men in the front line to be ready to throw a ray barrage around me at the least indication of treachery."

She watched the gate while the young officer selected the men who were to go with her. One by one they took up a position in a line behind her.

Presently the gate opened, and she saw a man the size and build of Ted Dustin emerge there-from, followed by ten of P'an-ku's soldiers. She had last seen Ted attired in one of the insulated suits with glass helmet which her people wore for surface travel, and this man was so attired. Her heart leaped with joy, and as she went out expecting to meet the man she loved, followed by her ten soldiers, there was not the slightest doubt in her mind that this was really Ted Dustin.

As she drew nearer to the man who was coming toward her, Maza felt that there was something about him which was not just as it should be. What is it? Ah, his gait. He did not walk with long, easy strides like those of the earth man, whose muscles, accustomed to a greater gravity pull, involuntarily carried him much further at each step than the stride of the most athletic of moon men. Besides, if he felt as she did, he would hurry to meet her, in which case she knew the mighty bounds through space of which he was capable.

For a moment she paused, doubting. Then came the thought that Ted might be adapting his stride to suit that of his captors--might indeed be compelled to do so. Furthermore, the size, build and attire were correct.

When within fifty feet of the man she strained her eyes to see his face in the glass helmet. The light from the luminous forest was quite dim at this point, and the yellow lights from the city were more of a hindrance than a help as they shone in her eyes from behind him without lighting his face.

A distance of twenty feet was reached, and it seemed that if she could not recognize the man he, with the light in his favor, should be able to recognize her.

Suddenly he called out:

"Retreat Majesty, quickly! It is a trap!"

The voice and face she recognized simultaneously. The man was one of her nak-kar scout officers she had believed slain in a battle with the flying globes.

Instantly a green ray from the projector of one of the warriors behind him cut him down.

Maza whipped out her own red ray projector and the man who had flashed his green ray disappeared in a sudden burst of flame. Not a second elapsed before her men were drawing their ray projectors, but the nine remaining warriors of P'an-ku were already on guard. The battle commenced with fencing, deadly as it was beautiful--green rays against red, red against green.

Simultaneously, a barrage of green leaped out from the city walls and a barrage of red flashed out from the front rank of Maza's army. Where the rays met they neutralized each other, but enough green rays got through to form a triangle past which Maza and her little party could not retreat, while a similar triangle of red rays made it possible for the warriors of P'an-ku to retreat.