The strangest space-castaways of all! The Terrans
left their great interstellar ship unmanned in
a tight orbit around Khazak—descended, all of
them, in a lifeboat to investigate that weird,
Iron Age world—and the lifeboat cracked up!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Fall 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
I
With sunset, there was rain. When Dougald Anson brought his boat in toKrakenau harbor, there was only a vast wet darkness around him.
He swore in a sulfurous mixture of Krakenaui, Volgazani, and half adozen other languages, including some spaceman's Terrestrial, and letdown the sail. The canvas was heavy and awkward in the drenching rain;it was all he could do to lash it around the boom. Then he picked upthe long wooden sweep and began sculling his boat in toward the dock.
Lightning flared bluely through the rain, and he saw the great bay inone livid flash, filled with galleys at anchor and the little schoonersof the fishing fleet. Beyond the wharfs, the land climbed steeplytoward the sky, and he saw the dark mass of the town reaching up to thecitadel on the hilltop. Dark—dark! Hardly a light showed in the gloom.
What in the name of Shantuzik was up? The waterfront, at least, shouldhave been alive with torches and music and bawdy merriment. And thenewly installed street lights should have been twinkling along the mainavenues leading up to the castle. Instead Krakenau lay crouched innight, and—
He scowled, and drove the light vessel shoreward with rhythmic sweepsof the long oar. Uneasiness prickled along his spine. It wasn't right.He'd only been gone a few days. What had happened in the meantime?
When he reached the pier, he made fast with a quietness unusual to him.Maybe he was being overcautious. Maybe it was only that the king haddied or some other reason for restrained conduct had arisen. But a mandidn't spend years warring among the pirates of the outer islands andthe neighboring kingdoms around Krakenau without learning to be careful.
He ducked under the awning in the bows which was the boat's onlyshelter, and got a towel from the sea chest and rubbed his rain-wetbody dry. He'd only been wearing a tattered pair of breeches, and thewater ran along his ribs and down his flanks. Then he shrugged on atunic, and a coat of ring-mail over that. A flat-bladed sword at hisside and a helmet over his long yellow hair completed his outfit. Hefelt secure now, and jumped up to the pier.
For a moment he stood in thought. The steady rain washed down overhis leather cape, blurring vision a few meters away, and only theintermittent flicker of lightning broke the darkness. Where to go?His father's house was the logical place, perhaps. But the Masefielddwelling was a little closer to here, and Ellen—
He grinned and set out at a long stride. Masefield's be it.
The street onto which he turned opened before him like a tunnel ofnight. The high steep-roofed houses lay dark on either side, walling itin, and the fluoroglobes were unlit. When the lightning blinked, thewet cobblestones gleamed; otherwise there was only darkness and rain.
He passed one of the twisting alleys, and glanced at it with automaticcaution. The next instant he had thrown himself to the ground, and thejavelin whipped through the place where his belly had been.
He rolled over and bounded to his feet, crouched low, the sword whiningout of its scabbard into his hand. Four Khazaki sprang from the alleyand darted at him.
Dougald Anson grunted, backed up against a wall. The natives were armedand mailed, they were war