Escape on Venus v-4 Read online

  "What will you pay?" demanded the auctioneer.

  "One hundred kloovol," replied the man.

  A vol has about the same purchasing power as our fifty-nine-cent dollar. Kloo is the prefix forming the plural. So this creature had dared to appraise Duare, daughter of a thousand jongs, at fifty-nine dollars! I fingered the butt of my pistol longingly.

  "And who will pay more?" asked the auctioneer.

  "Yes, who?" grumbled a Myposan standing near me. "Who would dare bid against Kod, who buys for Tyros?" He spoke in a very low voice to one who stood near him.

  There were no other bids, and Duare was knocked down to Kod. I was furious. Duare was to be taken away from me; and, worse still, she was to become the chattel of a heartless tyrant. All my moderate intentions went by the board. I determined to fight it out, killing as many as I could, seize Duare and blast my way to the city gates. With any luck at all I might make it, for the element of surprise in my action would give me a great advantage.

  Vomer and the warriors were pressed pretty closely around me. I had not noticed it before; but they had been closing in on me; and now, before I could put my plan into action, they leaped upon me and by weight of numbers bore me to the ground. It was evidently the fruit of Vomer's whispered conversation with the auctioneer.

  Before I could whip out my pistol they bound my hands behind my back, and I was helpless. They did not take my weapon from me, and I knew why. I had said that whoever touched it would die, and they believed me.

  While I was down Vomer kicked me in the ribs, and after they had jerked me to my feet he struck me in the face. I don't know how much further he would have gone had not the auctioneer commanded him to desist.

  "Do you want to ruin a valuable piece of property?" he cried. I was smarting under the indignities that Vomer had heaped upon me, but I was more concerned about Duare's future. The man, Kod, was leading her away; and she was looking back at me with a brave little smile.

  "I shall come for you, Duare!" I cried after her. "Somehow, some way I shall come."

  "Silence, slave!" snapped Vomer.

  Kandar was standing near me. "Duare is fortunate," he said.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "She was bought for Tyros," he replied.

  "And what is fortunate about that?" I demanded. "It seems to me to augur a future worse than death for a woman such as Duare."

  "You are mistaken. She will serve one of the women of the royal family."

  "Not after Tyros has seen her," I argued.

  "Skabra will see her, and Skabra will see that Tyros does not get her."

  "Who is Skabra?" I asked.

  "Tyros' mate, the vadjong of Mypos—a she-tharban and a jealous one. You need have no fear that Duare will fall into the hands of Tyros while Skabra lives; she is too beautiful. Were she ill-favored, Skabra might let Tyros have her."

  Well, that offered a ray of hope; and I was thankful for even the slightest glimmer.

  Just then a man came and touched Kandar on the shoulder, and he went to the slave block. A number of Myposans swarmed around him, feeling of his muscles, examining his teeth.

  The bidding for Kandar was spirited. He brought three hundred fifty kloovol—three and one half times as much as Duare; but then he was a strong, husky man; and as he was not being bid on by an agent of Tyros, the bidding was open to all.

  After Kandar had been purchased, the man who had bought him touched me on the shoulder; and it was my turn to go to the block. I went with my hands bound tightly behind my back.

  "Who wishes to buy this fine male slave?" he droned.

  No one spoke. There was no bid. The auctioneer waited a moment, looking first at one potential bidder and then at another.

  "He is very strong," he said. "He has fine teeth. I have examined them myself. He could do a great deal of work for many years. I am sure that he is quite as intelligent as any members of the lower orders. Who wishes to buy him?"

  Again there was silence. "It is too bad to destroy such a fine slave," urged the auctioneer. Almost, he had tears in his eyes. And that was understandable, since he received a commission on every slave sold, and every unsold slave was a blot on his escutcheon.

  Suddenly he got quite angry. "Why did you touch him?" he almost screamed at the man who had laid a hand on my shoulder.

  "I didn't touch him for purchase," snapped the fellow; "I only wanted to see if his flesh was firm—just a matter of curiosity."

  "Well, you had no business to do it. Now you will have to bid on him. You know the law of the slave market."

  "Oh, all right," said the fellow. "I don't want him, but I'll pay ten kloovol for him."

  "Anybody else crave this fine male slave?" inquired the auctioneer.

  It seemed that no one did. "Very well," he said, "this fine male slave has been sold to the agent of Yron for ten kloovol. Take him away!"

  So I had been sold for five dollars and ninety cents! That was certainly a blow to my ego. It is a good thing that I have a sense of the ridiculous.

  Chapter VIII

  WELL, AT LEAST I would not be separated from Kandar; and that was something, for he had been in Mypos long enough to become more or less familiar with the city and the manners and customs of its inhabitants. If an opportunity for escape arose, he would be invaluable as an ally.

  Yron's agent motioned us to accompany him; and Kandar started to comply, but I stood still.

  "Come, slave!" commanded the agent. "What are you standing there for? Come with me!" He raised a whip he carried, to strike me.

  "My wrists are bound," I said.

  "What of it?" he demanded. "Come along!"

  "Not until you free my hands," I told him.

  He struck me then with his whip. "Get going, slave!" he cried.

  "Not until my hands are freed," I said, stubbornly; then he struck me again; whereupon I lay down.

  The fellow became furious, and struck me again and again, but I would not budge.

  "If you want your slave alive," said Kandar, "you will free his hands. He will never come until you do."

  I knew that it was a hell of a way for a five dollar and ninety cent slave to act, but I felt that by asserting myself at the beginning I might find the going easier later.

  The agent hit me a couple of more blows for good luck; then he stooped and freed my hands.

  "Get up!" he ordered, and as I rose to my feet he swelled visibly, exhaling wind through his teeth. "I am a great slave driver," he said; "they always obey me."

  I was glad he was satisfied, and winked at Kandar. Kandar grinned. "Be careful," he cautioned. "They make short shrift of slaves who are recalcitrant, and don't forget that you didn't cost Yron very much. He could easily afford to do away with you."

  Vomer had been standing around evidently enjoying the whipping I had received. "You shouldn't have freed his hands," he said to Yron's agent.

  "Why?" demanded the fellow.

  "Because now he can kill you with that thing," he explained, pointing at my pistol.

  "Give it to me!" commanded the agent. I slipped it from its holster and proffered it to him, muzzle first.

  "Don't touch it!" cried Vomer. "It will kill you if you touch it."

  The man drew back. He was in a quandary.

  "You needn't be afraid," I told him, "you would never have touched it, and as long as you treat Kandar and me well I'll not kill you." I slipped the weapon back into its holster.

  "You've bought something for Yron," said Vomer, venomously. "When he finds out what, he'll lop off your head."

  I suppose the fellow was unhappy, for his gills fluttered. I couldn't tell, of course, by the expression on his face; as that never changed. Like all the rest of his kind, he had no facial muscles to reflect his moods.

  "Come along, slaves!" he ordered, and led Kandar and me away.

  It was not far from the slave market to Yron's house, and we presently found ourselves in a large patio in the center of which was a pool about fifty feet wide and
a hundred long. There were trees and shrubs and flowers and an expanse of lawn, all in the soft pastel shades of Amtorian verdure. Several slaves were pruning and trimming and cultivating, and there were three armed with wooden tridents standing like sentries about the pool. I noticed that these often glanced up at the sky. Naturally, I looked up also; but I saw nothing. Glancing into the pool, I saw a few fishes swimming about; but they did not interest me—then.

  Some one had notified Yron that two new slaves had arrived; and presently he came out into the patio to inspect us, much as a gentleman farmer on Earth would inspect a couple of new cows or horses.

  There was nothing distinctive about Yron, except that his trappings and weapons were more ornate than those of common warriors. He looked us over carefully, felt of our muscles, examined our teeth.

  "A fine specimen," he said, indicating me. "What did you have to pay for him?"

  "Ten kloovol," said the agent.

  "They must have paid you to take this one, then," he said, nodding toward Kandar.

  I gave Kandar the laugh, then.

  I think the agent was not very happy then. Casting about for an out, he said, "I was very fortunate. I got both these fine male slaves for three hundred sixty kloovol."

  "You mean to tell me you paid three hundred and fifty for that," he yelled, pointing at Kandar, "when you could buy magnificent specimens like this for only ten?"

  "Nobody wanted this one," said the agent. "That is why I got it so cheap. No one else bid."

  "Why?" demanded Yron.

  "Because he is insubordinate and dangerous. They had to tie his hands behind his back to keep him from killing people."

  Yron's gills fluttered and flapped; and he blew, and he blew, and he blew, reminding me of the Big Bad Wolf in the Three Little Pigs. "So!" he fairly screamed. "So! you bought a dangerous slave that no one else would have, and you brought him here!"

  "The auctioneer made me buy him," pleaded the agent; "but if you don't want him, I'll kill him and repay you the ten kloovol."

  I laid my hand upon the butt of my pistol, and the agent saw the gesture.

  "All right," said Yron. "Kill him."

  I drew the pistol from its holster, and the agent changed his mind. "On second thought," he said, "I'll buy him from you and then resell him. Perhaps I can make some profit from him."

  "Listen," I said to Yron, "this is all very foolish. If I am well treated and my friend here is well treated, I will kill no one."

  "And you will work for me and obey orders?" demanded Yron.

  "As long as we are well treated," I said.

  "What is your name?"

  " Carson ."

  "And yours?"

  "Kandar."

  Yron called to a funny-looking little man whose mouth appeared to be beneath his chin. He looked like a shark. He was a sort of major domo. "Carson and Kandar," said Yron, "will go to the ship the next time we sail; in the meantime keep them around the pool and let them guard the children; and as for you," he shouted at the agent, "if this Carson causes any trouble, you'll go to the ship;" then he came and examined me closely. "Where did you come from?" he demanded. "I never saw any of your kind who looked like you. I never saw anyone with yellow hair and blue eyes before."

  As there was no use trying to explain something to him that he couldn't possibly understand, I simply told him that I came from a country far to the south.

  "There is no country to the south," he said, "only molten rock and fire;" so that settled that. Yron, the great noble, walked away and recentered his house.

  The major domo approached us. He seemed to undulate toward us. Momentarily I expected to see him roll over on his back and bite somebody, so sharklike was his appearance. He handed us each a wooden trident.

  "You will remain close to the pool," he said, "until you are relieved. Let nothing harm the children. Let no one enter the pool other than Yron or one of his women. Be constantly on the lookout for guypals. Never forget that you are very fortunate to be in the service of so great a man as the noble Yron;" then he undulated away.

  Kandar and I walked over beside the pool where the other three slaves were patrolling, and one of them instantly recognized Kandar and greeted him most respectfully. "You do not recognize me, of course," he said. "I was a warrior in the bodyguard of Jantor, jong of Japal, your father. My name is Artol. I am sorry to see a prince of Japal here. As I served your father, I will serve you in whatever way I can."

  "We are neither common warrior nor royal prince here," said Kandar. "Let us serve one another."

  "Whatever you wish," replied Artol, "but you are still my prince."

  Kandar smiled and shrugged. "How came you here?" he asked.

  So Artol told his story.

  Chapter IX

  "WE WERE TWENTY," he said, "twenty warriors of the jong's own bodyguard. A great ship with two banks of oars manned by a hundred slaves and carrying a huge sail for fair winds was fitted out to carry a great cargo of wares to Torlac, which lies five hundred klookob to the west on the shores of the Noellat-gerloo.

  "We knew that the cargo was valuable because we twenty were sent along to guard it—twenty warriors of the jong's own bodyguard, picked men all, from the best warriors of Japal.

  "It was to be a long journey—two hundred klookob down the great Lake of Japal, five hundred klookob along the coast of the Noellat-gerloo to Torlac; and then back—fourteen hundred klookob ( 3500 miles ) altogether."

  (Note: Noellat-gerloo, the name of the ocean, means mighty water. Ellat is might, and the prefix no is identical with our suffix y; so noellat means mighty. Gerloo is water.)

  "But it turned out to be a short journey," said Kandar; "you came only as far as Mypos."

  "On the contrary, my prince, we completed our journey to Torlac; but not without incident. While we were lying at the lower end of the Lake of Japal, waiting for the tide that would float us through the channel into the Noellat-gerloo, we were attacked by a Myposan ship of war—fifty oars and a hundred warriors.

  "They slipped up upon us at night and swarmed our deck. It was a great battle, Prince—twenty against a hundred; for our galley slaves were no good to us, and the sailors of our ship were little better.

  "Our officer was killed in the first clash; and I, Artol, took command. The captain of the ship, terrified, was in hiding; so the command of the ship as well devolved upon me. We fought as only the jong's bodyguard knows how to fight, but five to one are heavy odds. And then they armed their galley slaves and turned them upon us, forcing them to fight.

  "Still we held our own. The decks were red with blood. As we cut them down, more threw themselves upon us—two for every one we killed; and then I saw that the tide had changed—it was running out of the lake into the ocean.

  "So far we had been able to hold the hatch leading from the fighting deck to the deck where the galley slaves sat at their oars, and I sent a good man down there with his orders; then, with my own hands, I slipped the anchor. I shouted the command to row, and leaped to the tiller.

  "The ship swung around and headed for the ocean, dragging the enemy ship with it. It was certain that one of the ships would be wrecked, and quite probably both. The Myposans ran for their own ship just as some of their fellows cut her loose from us. We were caught in the swirling rush of the waters racing from the lake into the ocean.

  "I could hear the crack of the whips on the slaves' backs as the galley masters urged them to greater effort, for only by tremendous effort could they give the ship steerage way in that racing torrent.

  "I am a soldier and no sailor, but I guided the ship through the channel in the darkness of night until it floated at last on the bosom of the ocean; then the captain came out of hiding and took command. Instead of thanking me for saving his ship, he berated me for slipping the anchor.

  "We had words, then; and I told him that when we returned to Japal I should report to the jong himself that he had hidden all during the battle when he should have been on deck defendi
ng this ship. That is why I am here."

  "But I do not understand," said Kandar.

  "Wait. I am not through. Presently you shall know. When I checked up after the fight, I found that only ten of us remained; and five of these were wounded. Also, we had eleven Myposan prisoners—eleven who had been unable to reach the deck of their ship after it had been cut loose. These were sent down to the galley masters to help man the oars.

  "In due time we reached Torlac, unloaded our cargo and took on another for Japal. The return trip was uneventful until after we entered the Lake of Japal . We lay to at the lower end of the lake so that we should pass Mypos after dark, as is the custom. Then we rowed slowly and silently up the lake, with no lights showing on the ship.

  "It was quite dark. One could not recognize faces on deck. There was a great deal of movement there I thought, men passing to and fro constantly. We came opposite Mypos. The lights of the city were plainly discernible.

  "Some one said, 'What is that—right there to starboard?' At that, I and my warriors moved to the starboard rail. I had no more than reached it than some one seized me around the waist, leaped to the rail with me, and then into the lake.

  "It was a Myposan! You know how these fellows swim, my prince. Half the time he had me under water, half drowned; but at last he dragged me ashore at Mypos, more dead than alive. When I could gather my breath and my wits I found myself in a slave compound with all my men. Later I learned the truth.

  "The captain, fearful that we would report him to the jong, had liberated the Myposans with the understanding that they would take us prisoners. As a matter of fact he had stipulated that they were to drown us, but the temptation to take us in as prisoners whom they might sell into slavery was too much for them. It saved our lives.

  "So that, my prince, is how I came to be a slave in Mypos; and I live only to return to Japal and have the life of the coward and traitor who sent ten of the jong's bodyguard into slavery."

  "Who was this captain?" asked Kandar.

  "His name is Gangor."

  Kandar nodded. "I know much of him," he said, "but nothing good. It was rumored that he was high in the councils of the party that has long sought to overthrow the jong, my father."