Chapter
18: Kingdom of the Lizards
Selmat-mal-Zenar stood at
the entrance of the cavern, his face pale with
fear. He turned
suddenly. “Who is coming?”
he shouted. “Who is
coming?”
He was looking at Guered,
but it was Shailaja who answered.
“Best give us a blade,” your
lordliness. You will need every
sword you get.”
“Guard them,”
Selmat replied, ignoring her demand.
“See what that noise is all about.”
Several soldiers went to
the cavern entrance and peered out.
With the light of the setting sun in their eyes they could make out
little, but the sudden blaring of horns and pounding of drums announced the
arrival of the Goblins.
They charged forward and
swept into the caves with shrieks intended to paralyse their foe with
fear. To Shailaja their numbers
seemed undiminished in spite of the slaughter Guered’s men had inflicted
upon them. As before they seemed
keener on taking prisoners than killing their enemies and several of
Selmat’s men were snared with nooses and weighted
ropes. Fighting furiously they
were hauled into the ranks of the Goblins where they were dragged off into
the darkness, the cries of the captured men fading as they were carried off
into slavery.
In spite of the warning
given them by Shailaja and Guered, Selmat’s men were caught
unprepared. Had they taken even
basic precautions they could have drawn up a line of defence across the mouth
of the cavern, but incredibly Selmat had not thought to ask any details as
to who had attacked and killed so many of Guered’s
guard. Their lack of preparation
allowed the Goblins to sweep into the cavern and surround the several hundred
men Selmat had brought with him, cutting off all chance of escape through
the cavern.
There was one escape route
open, but none thought to take it; none except
Shailaja. Although still bound
no one was paying her the least bit of attention, except for the Goblin who
looped a rope about her neck and tried to drag her out of the
cavern. It was the direction
she wanted to go anyway, but not just yet, and she had already had more than
enough of Goblin hospitality. She
took two steps in the direction the Goblin was tugging; her long legs closing
the distance immediately. Finishing
her second step on her left foot she planted it solidly and followed through
with her right. She caught the
Goblin full on his bony backside and propelled him through the air and over
the balcony. He shrieked in despair
as he headed for the surface of the lake hundreds of feet
below.
Still trailing the rope
Shailaja turned and headed for the wall of the cavern closest to
her. It was there that Selmat’s
men had stacked the arms and armour they had taken from Shailaja and Vasanta
and Guered’s men. She reached
a pile of swords, spun and squatted so that her bound wrists could grasp
a blade. Twisting the sword she
forced the hilt between her ankles and clamped it as tight as she
could. She then rubbed the cords
binding her wrists against the blade until they
parted.
She finished just as Vasanta
joined her. The Nahn princess
had followed Shailaja to the weapons, pushing her way past several of
Selmat’s soldiers and booting a couple of Goblins from her
path. Shailaja quickly cut her
bonds and handed her a sword.
Vasanta took as step as if to join Selmat’s men in fighting the
Goblins, but Shailaja laid a hand upon her shoulder and pulled her
back.
“We owe them
nothing,” she shouted.
“If we fight with them we will be taken by the Goblins
again. We go our own
way.”
She picked up a pair of
swords along with a leather harness to hold
them. She would have liked to
pick up some armour, but where she was going the armour would simply have
been in her way. “Take that
if you want,” she shouted at Vasanta who had picked up a helmet and
shield, “but it’s going to slow you
down.”
Vasanta merely glared her
reply and continued to snatch up pieces of
armour. However, when two Goblins
jumped on her and began to pull her toward the rest of them she dropped
everything she was carrying except her
sword. With two quick blows she
took off their heads and then backed toward
Shailaja. “Alright,”
she conceded. “What is your
plan?”
“Follow me,” Shailaja
replied. The redheaded warrior
charged toward the balcony where she had last seen
Guered. Not surprisingly he was
still there. In the battle with
the Goblins he had been knocked over and was attempting to crawl away from
the melee. Sheathing her twin
blades Shailaja picked him up, tossed him over her shoulder and headed toward
the cavern exit.
Vasanta followed on
Shailaja’s heels, wondering what in the name of Balthar the Kaltaran
warrior was up to. “Why
take him?” she shouted above the noise of the
battle. She swept her blade cutting
down two Goblins who stood in her path.
“He’ll just slow you down.”
Shailaja did not
answer. Instead she continued
toward the cavern exit. It seemed
a suicidal choice. The area was
swarming with Goblins. At best
she faced capture and a repeat of the horror she had already suffered at
their hands. Not knowing what
else to do Vasanta followed, wondering at the strength of the
Kaltaran. She carried Guered
with seeming ease, holding him with her left arm while brandishing a sword
in her right.
The bitch must be
made out of bronze,
Vasanta
thought. She pushed and slashed
her way to Shailaja’s side, wondering what mad plan the Kaltaran had
this time. For a few heartbeats
it seemed she might be intent on self-immolation as she plunged directly
toward the Goblins. At the last
heartbeat, however, Shailaja turned and pushed her way to the edge of the
balcony overlooking the Fountain of
Dreams. Leaping onto the balustrade
she swung over the edge and began to climb down the thick tangle of vines
and shrubs growing out of the cliff.
Vasanta stared into the
black gulf. The thunder of the
fountain roared in her ears, along with the sound of the fighting between
the Goblins and Selmat’s men.
Shailaja was already some six or seven yards down the cliff, using
the thick covering of vines and vegetation with almost simian
ability. “She’s half
squirrel,” Vasanta muttered.
She whirled just in time
to duck under a net thrown at her by a charging
Goblin. A quick thrust of her
sword ended that threat, but attracted the attention of several torch-carrying
Goblins who rushed toward her.
“Time to go,”
she mused. Jumping atop the wall,
she gave one last cut at a Goblin who had the unfortunate luck to get too
close to her. The blow split
its skull like a melon and gave the other Goblins cause to reconsider their
actions. Vasanta gave them no
time to recover their courage.
Sheathing her sword she followed Shailaja over the
edge.
She descended some forty
feet before she caught up to Shailaja.
The Kaltaran warrior had made her way to a narrow ledge concealed
behind the thick foliage. In
the darkness Vasanta almost missed her.
As a matter of fact she would have had not Shailaja’s arm shot
out from her hiding place and pulled Vasanta onto the
ledge.
“I don’t know
about you,” Shailaja gasped, as Vasanta settled beside
her. “But I go no farther
tonight. I barely have the strength
to swing a blade. In the morning
perhaps we can find some place better to rest.”
Vasanta did not reply, but
she heartily agreed with Shailaja’s
comment. After what she had been
through the last two days, she was as close to collapse as she had ever
been. She quickly found that
once she had settled onto the ledge that she barely had the strength to
move. It caused her to wonder
where either of them had found the strength to stage their remarkable escape
and wonder even more at the incredible feat of strength Shailaja had demonstrated
in carrying Guered.
She did have to admit that
the location Shailaja had chosen as a place of refuge could have been
better. It was dripping with
moisture carried by the wind from the Fountain of Dreams and although parts
of the ledge were deep in leaves they were thoroughly rotted and completely
unsuitable for bedding.
Nevertheless, Vasanta was so physically depleted she was able to remain
awake for only a few heartbeats before curling up on the wet stone and falling
into an exhausted sleep.
It was the same for Shailaja
and Guered. The latter had moaned
in pain as Shailaja had carried him, but had not uttered a sound after reaching
the ledge. Shailaja could only
suppose he had either fainted or had also succumbed to
exhaustion. Unable to last much
longer than her compatriots, she took the time only to make sure that no
one was in danger of falling from the ledge while asleep and closed her
eyes. Soon she too
slept.
Light and the discomfort
of sleeping in a pool of water awakened
Shailaja. It was early morning
and the roar of the Fountain of Dreams drowned out all other
sounds. A few feet from her face
a small green lizard regarded her
impassively. She would not have
seen it had it not chosen to move just as her eyes
opened. Shailaja judged it harmless
and pushed herself into a sitting position.
That turned out to be a
considerable mistake. At least
so far as her aching body was concerned.
She stifled an unwarrior-like gasp of pain and forced herself to her
feet. A yard away Vasanta still
slept, although restlessly. She
moved and moaned with her eyes closed.
Farther on, Guered sat, his eyes fixed on
her. He nodded as she looked
his way.
“Good morning
princess. Were I not in such
agony I would get to my feet and greet you
properly. As it is I think I
will save my strength for whatever you have planned for
me.”
Guered’s sardonic comment
was not lost on Shailaja. She
supposed he was referring to any plans she might have as to how to she was
going to get him off the ledge and to someplace a little more comfortable
and wondered whether his male pride would allow him to be carried the way
she had done before.
Vasanta, apparently awakened
by Guered’s words, opened her eyes and looked about in sleepy
confusion. She immediately grimaced
in pain and then masked her discomfort in the same way Shailaja
had. She looked first into the
spray-swept chasm below them and then up the cliff through the curtain of
vines. “Do we go up or
down?” she asked.
“I’ll go up and
scout the area,” Shailaja volunteered by way of
answer. “If it’s safe
I’ll call down.”
“If you’re going,
I’m going as well,” Vasanta
returned. “Anything is better
than staying on this water-soaked ledge.”
“That just leaves
me,” Guered grunted.
“And I’m not staying
here.” He grunted in pain
as he forced himself to his feet.
Without waiting any longer
Shailaja began to climb.
Fortunately in spite of the fact that the vegetation was slick with
water the woody vines provided a secure enough grip that she was able to
make decent progress.
She took her time, conserving
her strength and giving her battered body time to adjust to the activity
she was forcing on it. Behind
her she could hear Vasanta climbing almost as fast as she was, and a loud
curse showed that Guered was following as well, albeit more
slowly.
Reaching the vine-draped
balustrade she peered cautiously over the
top. Several dozen yards away
was the entrance to the cavern. She
expected to see the area littered with the bodies of Goblins and soldiers,
but to her surprise there was no sign of anything, not even a dropped
weapon. It was almost as if the
events of the battle had never happened.
But Shailaja knew that it had and the bloodstains near the mouth of
the cavern were proof of that.
It seemed quite surprising,
however, that nothing remained to show that anyone had
died. Evidently the Goblins had
carried off everything, including the bodies of their own dead as well as
all of Selmat’s men, and Selmat
himself. The only signs that
some three hundred soldiers had battled the Goblins were numerous patches
of dried blood and a few pieces of equipment that the Goblins had evidently
found of little use.
As she surveyed the situation
she was joined by Vasanta. A
few heartbeats after that a good deal of grunting and groaning announced
Guered’s arrival. He was
hardly pleased by what he found.
“Nothing,” he muttered.
“Not even a shred of clothing to
wear.” He picked up a buckle
that had evidently been torn from a piece of armour and then tossed it
aside.
“You need to be cleaned
up,” Shailaja commented, looking at the lacerations Selmat had inflicted
on the Hector’s back. The
last thing any of us need in this climate is to get an
infection.” Without waiting
for an answer she pulled Guered in the direction of the
waterfall. “Stand under
that and try to get clean,” she
ordered. “I’ll look
in the cavern. Maybe there is
something the Goblins missed.”
Without waiting for a response
she headed into the cavern, Vasanta
following. Guered stood bemused
for a few heartbeats and then limped toward the
waterfall.
Inside the cavern Shailaja
and Vasanta found a few torches and fragments of
equipment. But the only weapons
they found were a few broken sword
blades. The Goblins appeared
to be excellent scavengers and if anything of value had been left behind
neither of the women could find it.
They returned to the terrace
and found Guered stepping from the
waterfall. He had cleaned off
his wounds and Shailaja went to him.
“Turn around,” she
instructed. “I’ll see
if I can do anything about those lacerations.”
“Are you a healer as
well as a warrior?” Guered asked.
“Not a healer,”
Shailaja replied. “But
I’ve seen a good deal more of wounds than I would like to remember and
I may be able to do something with yours.”
“Do what you will,”
Guered replied. “My wounds
hurt like demons were tearing at them.
You can’t make them much worse.”
With this encouragement,
Shailaja had Guered stand with his back toward
her. She had already spotted
several plants whose leaves might serve to cover his
wounds. She wished that she knew
more about the local flora. Almost
certainly there must be some plants that had medicinal value, but there was
nothing she could recognize in the tangle of vegetation about
them.
She chose a few large leaves
to serve as dressing along with a few thin vines to bind them in
place. It was an extremely crude
bandage, but it would be better than
nothing. Throughout her treatment
Guered made not the slightest sound even though some of the things she did
must have been painful. A few
of the lacerations Selmat had inflicted were so severe that they should have
been stitched, but she lacked both needle and
sutures. However, she was able
to make do by pushing a number of long sharp thorns through the edges of
the flesh to bind it together.
“That will have to
do,” she said as she finished.
“When you return to Thar your healer can attend to
you.”
“When I return to
Thar,” Guered mused.
“That may not be quite as easy as I would
hope.”
Both women looked at him
and Guered continued. “Selmat
would hardly have dared to move against me had his supporters in Thar not
already taken some action. I
suspect that when if I attempt to return I may find I am not well
received.” He stopped and
looked at the two women, seemingly embarrassed by
something.
“Damn it,” Guered
growled. “I feel so utterly
foolish speaking to two of the most attractive women I have ever encountered
without a stitch of clothing.”
His tone and demeanour indicated
that he was extremely uncomfortable.
Shailaja was clad only in the harness she had managed to scrounge
during the Goblin attack. It
consisted of only a few leather straps suitable to supporting the weight
of two swords. Vasanta was wearing
less than that.
Shailaja
shrugged. Nudity in the presence
of men was not something that bothered
her. In fact it was common in
her homeland where men and women of all ages often bathed in communal
For Vasanta it was another
matter. Women were held in high
esteem in Nahn, but casual nudity was not part of Nahnian
lifestyle. “We know where
clothing might be found,” she said.
“Perhaps the Goblins will not be alert at this time of
day.”
Vasanta’s logic seemed
sound. The Goblins had to sleep
sometime and since they seemed most alert at night it was just possible that
they slept the day away. However,
there was no way of knowing without venturing into their lair, and if her
guess turned out to be wrong….
None of the three survivors
of the Goblin attack fancied being captured once
again. They had been fortunate
to escape once, but this time there would be no one to come to their
rescue. “I think you are
right,” Guered agreed, “but I don’t think we dare take a
chance. I intended to deal with
the Goblins once I have returned to Thar, but it will be at the head of the
Tharian army and only after I have dealt fully with my
enemies.”
Vasanta shrugged, as if
to say that Guered’s cowardly response was all she had expected, but
Shailaja backed him up. “I
think you are right. We can manage
without clothing for now. The
important thing is for you to return to Thar and regain
power. Can you think of any way
that might be successful?”
Guered opened his mouth
to answer, but that was as far as he got.
From Vasanta came a hiss of
warning. “Something is not
right.”
Shailaja and Guered looked
toward her. “The monkeys
and birds,” she murmured.
“They are gone.”
Shailaja swept her twin
blades into her hands. But it was already too
late. Swarming over the edge
of the balustrade that overlooked the Fountain of Dreams were creatures that
rivalled the Goblins in their fearsome appearance and there were hundreds
of them.
They were clearly some sort
of large reptile, but like nothing Shailaja had ever seen
before. For one thing they had
six limbs, two that served as the human equivalent of legs and four that
functioned as arms. They ranged
in size from a yard in length to giants that were easily three times that
size.
However, it was not just
their size and the unusual number of limbs that distinguished them, but the
fact that the larger lizards wore leather harnesses that served as both armour
and support for a variety of weapons.
The most common weapons were
short swords and spears. The
blades of the swords and the spearpoints were of bronze rather than steel
or iron, but that did not make them much less
dangerous. In fact their weapons
and equipment was far more sophisticated and deadly than that of the
Goblins.
Shailaja took all of this
in at a glance as the lizards mounted the balustrade, climbing easily with
their six limbs, and dropped onto the terrace spreading rapidly out to encircle
the three humans.
“Balthar’s
balls,” Vasanta swore.
“It doesn’t get any
easier.” She moved into
a crouch ready to defend herself.
Like Shailaja she held two blades although she lacked the level of
skill with two swords that the Kaltaran
possessed.
Shailaja stood with Guered
between her and Vasanta. Only
the Hector was unarmed, but Shailaja handed him one of her
blades. He acknowledged it with
a quick nod and moved beside her.
It mattered little so far as Shailaja was
concerned. Three swords against
the scores of lizards were still very poor odds, but she would not leave
Guered unable to defend himself even if that defence lasted only a few
heartbeats.
There were lizards on all
sides of them now and the three humans moved automatically into a triangular
formation. For some reason the
lizards held back although their posture was far from
friendly. “Why don’t
they attack?” Guered muttered.
“They’ve got us at their mercy.”
“They don’t want
us dead,” Shailaja answered.
“They could fill us with spears if they wished and that means
they want us alive.”
“I’ll not
surrender,” Vasanta said.
“Not again. Not after
the Goblins.”
There was no argument from
Shailaja or Guered. Death seemed
preferable to whatever the lizards probably had planned for
them. They watched as the largest
of the lizards stepped forward.
The creature was three yards
in length from head to tail, but as a good third of his body length was tail
he stood only about five feet tall.
Actually the term “he” might have been
inaccurate. There was no way
of determining whether any of the lizards was male or
female. However, the sex of the
creature facing them was irrelevant.
Like the other lizards its skin was a mottled green, however, a bright
red crest decorated its head and ran halfway down its
back. A leather harness supporting
sheaths for two swords and a brace of knives was crisscrossed over its
chest. Just now all of the sheaths
were empty. Shailaja judged that
if the lizard could use all four arms as well as she could use her two it
would be a formidable opponent.
The lizard approached to
within three paces of her and pointed with its sword toward the weapon Shailaja
held in her right hand and then at the
ground. Its meaning was
obvious.
Surrender.
Shailaja shook her
head. “I’ve had enough
of surrender and captivity. If
I die here so be it.”
It was doubtful that the
lizard understood a word she said, but it met with little disagreement from
her companions. “Right you
are,” Guered said. “I
never thought that my fate was to be eaten by lizards, but as you say so
be it.”
“I too will die,”
Vasanta volunteered. “Better
that than be bred by lizards.”
Shailaja wondered whether
breeding was what the lizards had in
mind. The one facing them opened
its mouth revealing several rows of needle-sharp teeth, making Guered’s
guess better than Vasanta’s.
It did cross her mind that if the lizards wished to eat them then
asking them to surrender seemed somewhat unnecessary when they could simply
have killed them on the spot.
If the situation against
the Goblins had been hopeless this predicament ranked even lower than
that. Lizards hemmed them in
on all sides, standing several ranks
deep. Even properly armed and
armoured it would have been next to impossible for Shailaja and Vasanta to
fight their way free. Burdened
with the injured Hector they could not hope to
escape. But there was no thought
of putting down their weapons. They
might die, but they would not surrender again.
The huge lizard who had
demanded their surrender hissed, a large black tongue flickering between
its teeth. Stepping back it raised
the sword it held in its upper left arm and waved the other lizards
forward. The other lizards had
remained silent until that point, eerily so; but at the hiss of command hundreds
of lizard mouths opened and roared the equivalent of a lizard battle
cry.
The three humans expected
to be filled with bronze spearheads, but instead the lizards surged forward,
intent on taking them in hand-to-hand
combat. For the first few lizards
that decision turned out to be a disastrous
mistake.
Swinging her blade two-handed,
Shailaja cut two lizards in half with a single swing and ripped open the
chest of a third. Beside her
Vasanta used her left-handed blade to block an attack and ran through the
two lizards closest to her in quick
succession. Guered used his blade
with a skill that belied his injuries, skewering two of the lizards nearest
him with two quick thrusts.
If the lizards were surprised
at the resistance of the three humans they didn’t show
it. Ignoring their losses they
swarmed forward, the shock of their attack sweeping Guered off his
feet.
Shailaja was not quite so
easy to overwhelm, her backswing decapitating two more lizards, while Vasanta
speared one on each of her blades.
But that was all the success they
enjoyed. Dozens of arms and
four-fingered lizard hands reached for
them. There was no withstanding
such numbers and both warriors were dragged off their
feet.
They continued to fight
even as the lizards swarmed over them, but the battle had been lost the instant
they lost their footing. Their
weapons were wrenched from their grip and they were pinned to the damp stone
of the terrace. In spite of the
ordeal they had suffered they put up a fierce fight, battling until their
strength gave out and their arms were forced behind their
backs.
Shailaja raged as she felt
the touch of rope above her elbows, but she was powerless to prevent the
lizards from lashing her elbows tightly
together. A similar cry of anger
from Vasanta and a grunt from Guered told her that they had met the same
fate.
Tightly bound once again
she was dragged to her feet to face her
captors. The large lizard that
had ordered them to surrender now faced them examining each of them the way
a cattle merchant examines prime stock.
It was impossible to determine from the lizard’s expression what
he thought, but he seemed satisfied enough to order them into
motion.
Pulled forward by a large
lizard on either side of them they were marched toward the far end of the
balustrade, a section that was particularly heavily overgrown with vines
and other thick vegetation.
Stopping before the thickest of the vines several of the lizards pushed
into them and then pulled them aside, revealing a dark opening about five
feet across. The first of the
lizards immediately entered with the others
following. Bending their captives
forward they forced them into the
opening.
Shailaja was the first into
the cave and then Vasanta. Guered,
weakened by his wounds brought up the
rear. They found themselves in
a narrow tunnel. It was slick
with the damp from the Fountain of Dreams and with their arms bound tightly
behind them the captives had a hard time finding their
footing. Shailaja slipped and
would have fallen full length had not the lizards escorting her kept her
upright.
The situation was not improved
by the fact that the tunnel was unlit, something that seemed to give the
lizards little problem. They
pushed on through the dark as if it were broad daylight, dragging their captives
after them. It continued in this
way for several hundred steps and then they emerged into light once
more. Shailaja saw that the tunnel
had turned into a narrow ledge no more than two yards across that followed
the wall of the great chasm that contained the huge
fountain. It was obvious from
the marks of tools that the ledge was artificial although who or what had
cut it from the rock was impossible to
tell. The outward side of the
ledge was draped with vines and other plants concealing it from anyone who
might have been standing on the terrace overlooking the Fountain of Dreams,
which explained why Shailaja and her companions had not seen
it. It also explained how the
lizards had made their way to the top of the chasm without being forced to
climb the curtain of vines all the way to the
top. None of that really mattered,
of course. All that mattered
was that Shailaja was once again a helpless prisoner being dragged off to
the gods knew where.
The ledge moved steadily
down the side of the chasm. The
immense fountain precipitated vast amounts of water as they descended, so
much so that on occasion they walked by small streams that followed the downward
slope of the ledge until they disappeared over the
edge. Here and there waterfalls
splashed onto the ledge making footing even more
treacherous. It became obvious
to Shailaja why the lizards used weapons of bronze rather than steel or
iron. Using weapons of ferrous
metals would mean a constant battle against
rust.
It became apparent that
the ledge was gradually working its way about the chasm, continuing in a
long gradual spiral that would take it to the far side and near the surface
of the vast lake. There was no
way of determining what awaited them there, but Shailaja suspected that it
was something she would not like.
Whether or not it could be worse than the horror of the Spider King
or the Goblins she would simply have to wait to find out.
She slipped again, her feet
flying out from under her on the wet
surface. This time her lizard
escort was a bit lax and she fell hard, landing on her
backside. The lizards who had
failed to prevent her fall hissed their annoyance and hauled her back to
her feet and once more pulled forward.
She went as well as she could, trying to hide a newly acquired
limp. One more bruise among so
many could hardly matter, but it was infernally
painful.
Vasanta and Guered were
not having a much better time. They
stumbled also, especially Guered who was obviously weakened from the flogging
Selmat had given him. Unlike
Shailaja’s lizard escort, however, theirs proved more effective at keeping
them from falling.
Forcing themselves to keep
moving, the three captives slowly descended deeper into the cauldron all
the while moving slowly toward the far
side. Almost beyond the reach
of their endurance they staggered on moving steadily downward until they
were almost level with the surface of the lake.
The lake’s surface
was swept by heavy waves created by the enormous power of the falling water
of the fountain. Now just a few
hundred yards from it, Shailaja could truly appreciate its
power.
It was unbelievably spectacular;
a column of water at least five hundred yards high, shooting almost straight
up and then falling with a sound like that of a hundred
thunderstorms. For a few heartbeats
it almost took the minds of the captives off their
predicament. But the pain of
their bonds as well as their injuries quickly brought them back to the shame
of their captivity.
Their attention was also
distracted by a change in the path they were
taking. Just ahead of them the
narrow ledge widened becoming a broad esplanade overhung by the cliff above
them. Extending into the lake
was a large causeway constructed of
stone. It appeared manmade or
more likely lizard-made considering the number of lizards in the
area. The place was swarming
with them, most engaged in activities associated with
fishing. Several large platforms
constructed of heavy logs floated
offshore. They were occupied
by lizards of a type different from their
escort. These resembled large
newts. Equipped with long spears
they were diving and swimming about the rafts, spearing their prey and tossing
the thrashing fish onto the rafts where they were loaded into wicker baskets
by other newts.
The fishing appeared to
be very good which, was something of a welcome relief to the captives, all
of whom had wondered about the lizards’ motives in taking them
prisoner. However, they were
not allowed to take in the scene for very
long. Instead they were escorted
further along the waterfront. They
found themselves on the edge of a deep cut in the
rock. It formed a channel some
eight yards across that led directly into the face of the
cliff. Tied to stone bollards
were several boats each about three yards in width and eight yards
long. They were quickly pushed
forward and placed in one of the craft followed by their
escort. In short order they pushed
off into the canal and headed off directly into the
darkness.
The lizards used short paddles
which they plied with proficiency, propelling the boat at good speed down
the canal. For the first part
of the journey they travelled by the light coming in from the lake, but as
they got farther in the tunnel darkened until it was too dark for Shailaja
to see much of anything. At that
point a lizard sitting in the front of the boat struck a light using flint
and steel and ignited a torch on the front of the
boat. It didn’t provide
much in the way of illumination, but it seemed enough for the lizards who
kept up their rapid stroke, pushing the craft deeper into the watery
tunnel.
Shailaja and her companions
sat dejectedly in the boat. Not
only were they captives, but they were heading once more into
darkness. She had seen much more
of caverns than she ever wanted to see again; a sentiment almost certainly
shared by her companions. But
there was nothing any of them could do except wait to see where they was
being taken.
The journey through the
underground waterway went on for some
time. Without daylight or any
sort of landmarks there was no way of keeping track of how long they had
been in the boat. No doubt it
was much shorter than it seemed.
Even without being tightly
bound the journey would hardly have been
pleasant. Water dripped constantly
from the tunnel ceiling which was so low Shailaja could have touched it if
she had been able to stand with her arms over her
head. Additionally, the farther
into the tunnel they paddled the colder it
got. This did not seem to bother
the lizards who were working hard at their paddles, but the soaking wet captives
sat shivering as the temperature dropped with every boat length they travelled
into the tunnel. After the sweltering
heat of the area around the Fountain of Dreams it came as an unwelcome
surprise.
On occasion they passed
another boat going the way they had come and once they even passed a boat
laden with fish that was headed the same way that they were
going. Carrying no cargo other
than the three prisoners and rowed by six lizards their boat moved quickly
down the canal, moving ever deeper into the
mountain. With nothing better
to do and unable to escape Shailaja took the opportunity to
rest. Sleeping with her arms
tightly bound behind her was not easy, but it had happened to her so often
that by now she was almost used to it.
She closed her eyes and fell into a fitful
sleep.
Sound awoke
her. Sound and
light. She found that the boat
was now being rowed toward a circle of light that signalled the end of the
tunnel. Beyond the light she
could hear sounds similar to those of a human city, although under the
circumstances that hardly seemed likely.
While she wondered what lay ahead
several empty boats moved past them heading for the other end of the
tunnel. No doubt they were on
their way to pick up more fish.
A few heartbeats later they
reached the end of the tunnel and Shailaja saw the reason for the noise that
had awakened her. The tunnel
opened into a large basin in which were anchored several
ships. Scores of smaller craft
moved to and fro as well, many of them boats similar to the one carrying
her. To her right was a large
stone wharf on which a great many lizards went about tasks similar to those
common in any port city.
However, it did not resemble
any city Shailaja had ever seen.
Instead of buildings that would have been present in a human city
the area beyond the wharf was a series of rock terraces in which were hundreds
of caves. That it was a city
of some sort there was no doubt.
Thousands of lizards of all sizes moved about the terraces, carrying
all sorts of burdens and moving in and out of the caves, some of which, judging
from their entrances, were quite large.
More surprising than the
city or the harbour, however, was the fact that moving freely among the lizards
were humans, most of them dressed in a manner none of the captives had seen
before. The most numerous wore
long robes bound with wide sashes and soft soled footwear with upturned
toes. On their heads were tall
cylindrical hats, slightly higher in front than
behind. For the most part they
were unarmed although several carried small daggers in sashes about their
waist. Their clothes were vividly
coloured in reds, greens and various shades of blue and
purple. The garments were well
suited to the climate, seeming to flow loosely around them rather than clinging
to their bodies.
The presence of the human
strangers among the hordes of lizards was so unexpected that Shailaja stared
at the strangers with undisguised curiosity, wondering what part of Vedra
they came from and how why they were accepted by the lizards instead of being
prisoners as she and her companions were.
She was soon to find the answer to that question, much to her discomfort
as well as that of Vasanta and Guered.
The boat pulled alongside
the stone wharf and the lizards tied it bow and stern, holding it
fast. They then took each of
the prisoners by the arms and escorted them up a set of stone
steps. Reaching the surface of
the wharf they looped a length of rope about each of them with Shailaja in
front, Vasanta second, and Guered last.
Thus arranged they were led through the crowd of lizards toward what
appeared to be a stone warehouse.
Shailaja soon saw that it was something else entirely; something decidedly
familiar and unpleasant.
She quickly saw that that
there seemed to be more than the usual number of armed lizards near the entrance
to the building. Their universal
weapon seemed to be the bronze-headed spear, but several of the lizards carried
long whips as well; something that brought up memories of past
experiences.
Slavers. The lizard-scum are
slavers. She almost laughed
at the irony of her experience. She
had come full circle, escaping the slave-pens of Thar only to be once more
returned to slavery.
Her observations were confirmed
as they stopped at the entrance to the
building. It was heavily barred
by a bronze gate. There was a
brief exchange of hisses between the leader of the escort and one of the
guards and the gate was opened. One
after the other the captives were ushered through
it. They found themselves in
a poorly lit gallery that was lined with bars on both
sides.
It was far from the clean
and relatively luxurious accommodation afforded slaves in Thar, consisting
of just two large rooms; one on each side of the
corridor. The one to the left
contained a number of dejected looking males and the one to the right was
full of women.
They stopped in front on
the door to the cell holding the men and Guered was detached from Shailaja
and Vasanta pushed through the door; then it was Shailaja’s and
Vasanta’s turn.
The narrow door was opened
and they shoved into the cell. No
effort was made to separate them or untie the ropes that bound their arms
and they stumbled forward into the
semi-darkness. They were immediately
aware of the fact that several of the women were moving toward
them.
“Well,” one of
the women drawled, her hands on her hips, “What do we have
here? Looks like a couple of
naked giants. Welcome to the
underworld beauties. I’m
Narda, and I’m in charge here.
Do what I say and you’ll survive to reach the auction
block.” The woman facing
them was probably about three decades in age and although she lacked the
height of either Shailaja or Vasanta she was strongly built and probably
outweighed Shailaja by ten or twenty pounds.
Narda was dressed simply
in a brown cotton dress that reached to her
knees. Belted at the waist by
a length of rope it extended only to her
knees. Like the rest of the women
in the cave her feet were bare.
Shailaja almost drove her
foot into the woman’s face, but held herself back waiting to hear more
before she put the insolent slut in her
place. Vasanta was less
reticent. “Who put you in
charge?” she growled. “I
see no reason to take orders from the likes of
you.”
“You talk tough for
a bitch who can’t use her arms,” Narda
snarled. “You need a lesson
in manners.” She moved toward
Vasanta as she spoke and Shailaja saw that the woman had been concealing
a crude stone knife in her right hand.
It wasn’t much of a blade, but it looked like flint and was about
four inches long and capable of inflicting a savage
wound.
“You’re not the
one to give it to me,” Vasanta
countered. She moved even as
she spoke. As Shailaja had already
noticed, the Nahn princess was lightning
fast. She placed her weight on
her left foot and struck with her right, putting the full weight of her body
into it and catching Narda between her
breasts. The blow knocked the
wind from the larger women and sent her tumbling to the floor of the cave,
the knife spinning from her hand and flying off somewhere into the
darkness.
Several of the other women
moved as if to surround them. None
of them had real weapons, but a few held heavy cudgels and
stones. Shailaja turned to face
them. “I would quit while
I was ahead if I were you,” she
warned.
At the sound of her voice
and no doubt her commanding presence all of the women backed
away. “That’s
better,” Shailaja continued.
She caught the eyes of one of the
women. “Find that knife
and cut us free.”
The woman hesitated and
then turned to look for the stone blade.
It turned out that one of the other women had retrieved
it. Hesitantly she stepped
forward. “Hurry,” Shailaja
urged. “I won’t hurt
you. At least not if you do as
I say.”
Those words and Vasanta’s
glowering presence seemed to get the point
across. The woman stepped forward
and Shailaja turned to let her cut the
ropes. There was always the
possibility that the knife might end up between her ribs, but with Vasanta
standing next to her she doubted that the tiny woman wielding the knife posed
any real threat.
As always the return of
circulation to her limbs was agonizing, but she withstood the pain without
comment, flexing her arms to speed up the
process. As feeling once again
returned to her she walked over to Narda.
The woman was still gasping for
breath. “I don’t know
how long we will be together,” she said, standing over the fallen woman,
“but as long as we are I see no point in fighting among
ourselves. It is in our best
interests to cooperate if we are to escape.”
“There is no escape,”
said another of the women bitterly.
“The traders from Zeldar are
here. Tomorrow they will take
us and we will never be seen
again.” The woman who spoke
was in her twenties and rather pretty.
She was a little better dressed than Narda, but not by
much.
“Where is Zeldar and
how do you now this?” Shailaja
asked.
“The Slinn had me working
in the kitchens preparing food for the other
slaves. I have seen many come
and go. They are loaded into
ships and sail away.”
“The Slinn,” Vasanta
interjected. “Is that what
the lizards call themselves?”
“I don’t know
what they call themselves,” the woman
replied. “I have never heard
them speak anything but hisses. But
it is what the Zeldar call them.”
“Why are you here and
not still in the kitchens?” Shailaja asked.
“I don’t know,”
the woman replied miserably.
“I guess they decided I was worth more in bronze than in
labour.”
“Bronze?” questioned
Shailaja.
“The lizards don’t
know how to make metal. They
trade with the Zeldar for bronze ingots.”
That explained a few
things. Shailaja filed it away
as possibly useful information. She
looked about the cell, her eyes having adjusted to the
dark. There wasn’t much
to it. It was spacious enough
to hold about thirty women without crowding, and ended in a solid stone
wall. The only way out was through
the barred entrance and that was guarded.
Escape might be possible, but only if it was possible to fight her
way past the guards.
With nowhere to go and nothing
to do, she settled herself on the stone floor as close to the bars as
possible. From there she could
watch what was going on outside the cave and if any of the women decided
to attack her they could only come from one
direction. Vasanta thought the
same. She sat down across from
Shailaja.
By this time Narda had
recovered, but the beaten woman seemed to have learned her
lesson. She retreated to the
back of the cell and stayed there.
Nevertheless, Shailaja took no
chances. “Rest,” she
said to Vasanta. “I’ll
keep watch and when you awake you can do the same for
me.”
For once Vasanta did not
argue. She closed her eyes and
was soon asleep. Shailaja managed
to stay awake by watching the other women in the cell and by running through
various escape scenarios in her mind.
There wasn’t much to
watch so far as the other women were
concerned. They kept well away
from the two newcomers, no doubt fearing that they would be subjected to
the same violence as Narda had been.
There was even less to watch outside the
cell. The lizard guards stayed
pretty much in one position; hardly moving in
fact. Surrounded by stone, it
was cool in the cell, and it occurred to Shailaja that if the lizards were
similar to their smaller cousins they might become rather torpid if the temperate
dropped. That was something to
think about and might work to her advantage if she tried to
escape. However, there was the
matter of getting past the bars; and although they were of bronze rather
than iron they were more than thick enough to defy her
strength. She would just have
to wait and see.
A break in the routine did
occur when food and water was brought to the
cell. The darkness did not allow
Shailaja to accurately guess the passage of time, but she supposed she had
been in the cell for several turns of the glass and if the lizards followed
the human pattern of eating close to sunset or soon after then it must now
be early evening. That really
didn’t matter much. What
mattered was that she was very hungry and thirsty as
well.
The lizards bringing the
food didn’t give her any chance to
escape. One of them stood outside
the bars and motioned her away from the cell door and then waited until she
complied. The arrival of the
food had wakened Vasanta and together the two warriors moved toward the back
of the cell. The other women,
familiar with the routine, were already there, they eyed the two warriors
warily as they approached, but said nothing, not even Narda who had recovered
from the kick Vasanta had dealt her.
Satisfied that the prisoners
were at a safe distance the lizard opened the cell door and then set four
large pails on the cell floor. He
then closed the door and disappeared farther down the
corridor.
“Well, it looks as
if dinner is served,” Vasanta commented
sardonically. There was a general
movement by the other women toward the pails, but they seemed hesitant as
if waiting for some signal.
Shailaja realized that they were all looking at her, even
Narda. She suddenly realized
what being the biggest and strongest meant in a cell with only a single source
of food and water. No doubt Narda
had been lording it over her fellow captives for the entire time they had
been together. Fearing an
uncontrolled rush toward the pails, Shailaja decided to take advantage of
the fearful respect the other women were showing her.
“Everyone will get
an equal share,” she announced, “so there will be no pushing to
the front. Anyone who does will
be served last.” She looked
toward Vasanta as she spoke. The
Nahn princess gave a slight nod acknowledging the
directive.
“Are any of you with
child?” she asked.
There was a brief moment
of hesitation and then two of the women spoke
up. That brought a sneer from
Narda. “That
figures. Those two spend more
time on their backs than on their feet.”
“Their morality does
not concern me,” Shailaja replied
coldly. “They will eat first
and then serve those who follow. I
will eat last. If there is not
enough food left then someone will owe me an
explanation.”
The women shuffled forward,
following the two Shailaja had designated with a minimum of pushing and
shoving. Even Narda took her
place in line while the food was doled
out. There were no eating utensils,
not even bowls to hold the food.
Each woman received her share by holding out her hands and having
the food ladled into them with a gourd scoop the lizards had thoughtfully
provided.
The food was some sort of
mealy grain mixed with raw fish, but Shailaja was too hungry to
care. She ate her share and found
somewhat to her surprise that when everyone had eaten there was more than
enough for her and Vasanta. It
seemed that the other women had taken Shailaja’s poorly veiled threat
more than a little seriously. They
scooped out their meal and left the rest for the others to fight
over.
Having eaten and with nothing
else to do the women retired to the part of the cell farthest from the two
warriors and made themselves as comfortable as they could on the stone
floor. In the cold of the cell
there was little comfort to be gained, but they at least had some clothing,
poor as it was. Shailaja and
Vasanta were still nude, but they took their position at the bars and made
the best of it, Vasanta standing guard for the first little
while. In that way they passed
the “night.”
Morning came with the arrival
of the guards. They were led
by the lizard who had commanded those who had originally taken them
prisoner. He was easily
distinguishable by the large red crest on his head and the ornamentation
of his harness. The guards went
first to the cell occupied by the men.
They were taken out and roped together at the neck, although none
of them were bound. The door
to the women’s cell was then opened and the women were ordered
out.
The cell door was too narrow
for more than one woman to exit at a time, a design characteristic that made
each of the women easy to control.
As each one left the cell they were added to the prisoners who were
already there. Shailaja was the
first one taken out. She strongly
considered resisting, but the number of lizards outside the cell made that
impractical. She had enough cuts
and bruises as it was. Escaping
the lizards was foremost in her thoughts, but she knew she would have a better
chance if she was healthy.
Vasanta must have thought
so too as she also meekly allowed a rope collar to be placed around her
neck. One by one the other women
were also placed in the coffle and then they were moved toward the main entrance
to the cell.
Even though they had only
been in the cell for about a day it was a relief when they once again passed
into the open air. Shailaja suspected
that she was about to be submitted to another humiliating ordeal, but almost
anything seemed better than to be trapped behind
bars. Besides, there was now
much greater opportunity for escape.
Once outside they were lined
up along the edge of the wharf, right in front of one of the ships Shailaja
had noted earlier. She knew little
of ships, having only travelled by sea once, but she had never seen any quite
like the one tied up at the dock.
It was quite large, and had four masts, but they were not the sort
of masts she had seen before.
Instead of standing in the centre of the deck at an angle of ninety
degrees these were arranged in pairs with each slanted away from the other
at a forty-five degree angle so that they formed a V-shape in the centre
of the deck. It was an unusual
arrangement and Shailaja wondered if it gave the ship any advantage at
sea. One advantage she could
see was that it made the ship easier to load and unload as just now the two
masts on the side closest to the wharf were being used to unload
cargo.
Her attention was not caught
by the ship for very long. Instead
she focused on the group of men gathered just a few yards
away. They were some of the same
she had seen the day before, but now she had a name to connect to
them.
Zeldar. She had never
heard of the place before and her knowledge of Vedra was
extensive.
The column of prisoners
came to a halt a few yards from the
Zeldarans. One of them was a
man with a short beard and well trimmed
hair. His head was crowned with
the same sort of conical hat Shailaja had seen
earlier. As a mark of wealth
or rank his tall hat and robe were trimmed with
gold. From his neck dangled a
long gold chain on which depended an emerald as large as a hen’s
egg. His gaze swept down the
line of prisoners in critical appraisal and then halted when his eyes caught
sight of Shailaja and Vasanta. He
turned to the man next to him and said something causing the man to look
at the two barbarians. Like the
first man, he was richly dressed in silk garments adorned with thread of
gold. His eyes narrowed and then
he nodded, seemingly in appreciation.
The man with the emerald
medallion gestured to the red-crested
lizard. The lizard hissed an
order and several lizard guards moved on Shailaja and
Vasanta. Once again Shailaja
considered resistance and once again gave it up as a bad
idea. Vasanta too seemed to agree
as she made no attempt to resist as the lizards surrounded
her.
They were quickly bound
once again and then detached from the
coffle. They were then Hauled
forward and pushed to their knees in front of the
Zeldarans. Held in place by the
lizard guards, there was nothing either of the two warriors could do to avoid
what happened next. As Shailaja
had feared they were subjected to a humiliating examination by the two men
who inspected them as if they were so much livestock, even to the point of
having the lizards force their mouths open so they could ascertain the condition
of their teeth.
However, there was something
about this examination that was different from the one they had suffered
in Thar. There the interest of
the merchants who inspected her had been almost entirely prurient.
This time the men who ran their
hands over her body did so as if they were appraising the musculature of
a fine brood mare or stallion. By
the time the inspection was over it was plain to Shailaja that the Zeldarans
saw something more in her and Vasanta, especially as none of the other women
were given such close inspection.
Seemingly satisfied with
the goods being offered the Zeldarans motioned to the red-crested
lizard. It was soon apparent
that from their gestures that intense bargaining was under
way. Several times the lizard
motioned to Shailaja and Vasanta as if pointing out their obvious value and
once he even touched his fingers to the jewelled collars they still
wore. The collars seemed to be
a stigma they were to endure forever.
Neither the Goblins nor the lizards had been able to remove them and
Guered, not surprisingly, had not volunteered the secret of their
release.
At length a bargain was
struck; at least so far as Shailaja could
see. The Zeldarans moved toward
their ship and the lizard escort prodded the column of captives in the same
direction. Shailaja felt her
spirits sink as she was led toward the
ship. Once more she found herself
in captivity. It seemed that
the gods had decreed that she spend her life in
servitude.
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