Suddenly whatever it was that worked at the rear wall of the but opened a seam between two bundles of dry reeds, for a ragged slit of moonlight showed where only blackness had been. As the girl watched, wideeyed and breathless with suspense, a black form came shouldering through the opening―and whispered her name!
Book IV
JUNGLE WAR
Chapter 16
RED MURDER
WHEN Tomar crept away from the place at the jungle’s edge wherefrom Thadron and Jugrid watched the activities in the village of the River People, and began a circuitous route around the warriors of the Cave People, on his way to attempt his rescue of the jungle Maid, he was oblivious to the fact that another of the Cave People was also leaving the vicinity at the same moment.
It was Pandan, the least loyal of Thadron’s band, who now slunk furtively into the deeper brush, eluding the sentinels Jugrid had posted. But Pandan had no intention of doing anything as hazardous as striving to set Ylana free. Quite the contrary, in fact.
The one major flaw in Pandan’s character was that he thought too much. In this particular case, however, his ratiocinations had eventually resulted in a certain decision, that he now wasted no time in putting into effect.
Thadron had acknowledged the deposed and condemned Jugrid to be the rightful chief, and had yielded the command of his war-party to the former leader of the Cave People. It did not take long for Pandan to decide that this information would prove to be of enormous importance to the present chief of the tribe, and that this personage, Xangan, would reward with his favor the individual who was first to apprise him of this turn of events.
Eluding the sentinels, then, Pandan glided into the jungle on furtive feet, and headed north in the direction of the Cave People’s country, which was situated at the extreme verge of the plateau. Night had folded its black wings over the far side of Callisto, and it was easy for Pandan to melt into the shadows and vanish from his comrades’ ken.
To move through the jungle paths by night, of course, is neither a safe nor a prudent act, and Pandan knew full well the risks he was taking. For it is during the hours of darkness that the great predators awake and rouse themselves from their hidden lairs, to stalk abroad in hunt of living flesh to rend and tear.
But Pandan, despite whatever shortcomings or flaws of character he might possess, was no coward like Xangan. He was, in fact, a skillful and veteran hunter, schooled in all the jungle crafts, and the greatest of his virtues was a contempt for personal danger which, in another, would have been praiseworthy in the extreme. He well knew the ways of the beasts of the plateau, when at their nightly searches for food, and tested his cogency to the utmost now, as he eluded them, one by one.
He avoided the several small streams that ran through the underbrush, knowing that these would culminate eventually in water-holes to which the great predators would come to drink, or near which they would lie in wait for their prey. And he avoided the denser parts of the jungle, where thorny bushes grew thick and close, rendering these leafy barriers all but impassable, for there, he knew, many of the more dangerous beasts, like the mighty deltagar or the yathrib or even the great vastodon, as the dreaded elephantboars of the jungle Country are called, make their lairs. He also avoided, where possible, certain trees known to be favored by some of the creatures he wished most earnestly to evade, for on these long, heavy branches, which stretch out parallel to the jungle floor, certain of the predators lie in wait for game to pass beneath.
Even in the thick blackness of the jungle paths, where only fugitive gleams of the many-colored moonlight can penetrate the foliage, he did not lose his way. On swift, unerring feet the traitor Pandan traversed the jungle Country, guided by the instinct of the hunter and the cunning of the savage.
The way was long and difficult. Many times he was forced to seek a place of hiding, and to crouch in concealment, his blood congealed to ice within his veins, while unseen beasts ahead of him fought thunderously in that nightly warfare that is the predators’ way of acquiring their dinner. By great good luck, he evaded the mischance of supplying the main course, in his own person, at any of these nocturnal feastings.
By dawn he reached the northern margin of the jungles and made his way with all swiftness to the cave usually occupied by the chief of the tribe and his women. But Xangan was not there, he was informed by the slatternly shrew who served the chief in the capacity of housekeeper and general factotum. Before the hour of daybreak, he had been roused from his rest by the command of the Mind Wizard, Zhu Kor, who bade him attend the council of the Elders in that large and capacious cavern reserved for the uses of the ancient grandsires who were the actual rulers of the tribe.
Xangan had hurried to attend the council, the old woman sniffed, but tremblingly and with great reluctance, as he loathed and feared the cold-eyed yellow dwarf from Kuur as he loathed and feared naught else in the world. This was common knowledge, as Pandan knew, and he reflected for a moment on certain difficulties attendant upon the chieftainship to which he had never before given much thought.
If you must despise and live in terror of someone, thought Pandan uneasily to himself, it is at very least unfortunate if that someone happens to be a telepath, a mind-reader. For, of course, the dwarfish Kuurian knew full well the feelings of Xangan, and knew him as well to be a rascal and a coward, a bully and a braggart. Doubtless it amused Zhu Kor to bend to his uses so frail a reed as Xangan. The Mind Wizard, who had long ago foresworn almost all of the pleasures of the flesh, took a malignant, vicious pleasure in inspiring awe and terror in the hearts of others. It was virtually his only vice.
Pandan himself went in dread of the Unseen One who now dwelt in the midst of the tribe. The warrior would have avoided any encounter with the little yellow man if he could. Nevertheless, he made his way directly from the chief’s cave to the cavern of the Elders, to lay before them, and before Xangan, the facts of Thadron’s betrayal.
And, before the day was an hour older, there entered the borders of the jungle a mighty force of the warriors of the Cave People, led by Xangan himself, surrounded by his favorites and supporters, accompanied not only by Quone, the leader of the Elders, but also by Zhu Kor the Mind Wizard.
The turn of events reported by Pandan was exactly counter to the wishes of the Kuurian. Not only did Jugrid the chief and the boy Tomar still live, but they had gathered unto themselves a force of some strength. No longer alone and helpless, no longer the hunted fugitives fleeing from strong pursuit, there had occurred an unexpected turnabout. And, unless this rebellion were nipped in the bud, and swiftly, the hunted might become the hunters…
Especially if Jugrid were able to ally himself with Zuruk, thereby enlisting the fighting strength of the entire tribe of the River People on his side. A jungle war might then ensue, such as the great plateau had not seen in a generation. And it was chillingly possible that in the outcome of that uncertain and evenly matched conflict, the last living Mind Wizard of Kuur might lose his only refuge. The world of Thanator afforded no safer haven to Zhu Kor than this jungle plateau inhabited by superstitious savages. And he did not intend to lose his place here without a fight.
TOMAR cut Ylana free of her tether and led her out through the opening he had made in the rear wall of the hut.