The Fire People Page 14

  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE RULER OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY.

  However pleased the newcomer was to see me, I had no difficulty inassuring him with equal truth that my feelings matched his. The firstsurprise of the meeting over, we took him to the living room, where Luagreeted him with dignified courtesy, and we all gathered around to hearhis story.

  He was, I saw now, not more than twenty years old, rather short--perhapsfive feet six or seven inches--and powerfully built, with a shock oftousled red hair and a handsome, rough-hewn face essentially masculine.

  He seemed to be an extraordinarily good-humored chap, with the ready witof an Irishman. I liked him at once--I think we all did.

  He began, characteristically, near the end rather than the beginning ofthe events I knew he must have to tell us.

  "I got away," he chuckled, grinning more broadly than ever. "But where Iwas going to, search me. And who the deuce are _you_, if you don't mind myasking? How did you ever get to this God-forsaken place?"

  I smiled. "You tell us about yourself first; then I'll tell you aboutmyself. You are the earth-man we've been hearing about, aren't you--theman Tao captured in Wyoming and brought here with him?"

  "They caught me in Wyoming all right. Who's Tao?"

  "He's the leader of them all."

  "Oh. Well, they brought me here, as you say, and I guess they've had meabout all over this little earth since. They stuck me in a boat, and Lordknows how far we went. We got here last night, and when my guard went tosleep I beat it." He scratched his head lugubriously. "Though what good Ithought it was going to do me I don't know. That's about all, I guess.Who the deuce are you?"

  I laughed.

  "Wait a minute--don't go so fast. Start at the beginning. What's yourname?"

  "Oliver Mercer."

  His face grew suddenly grave. "My brother was killed up there inWyoming--that's how I happened to go there in the first place."

  "Mercer!" I exclaimed.

  He started. "Yes--why? You don't think you know me, by any chance, doyou?"

  "No, but I knew your brother--that is, I know Bob Trevor, who was with himwhen he was killed. He's one of my best friends."

  The young fellow extended his hand. "A friend of Bob Trevor's--away offhere! Don't it get you, just?"

  Miela interrupted us here to translate to her mother and Anina what hesaid.

  Mercer went on: "The assumption is, you people here are not working withthis gang of crooks I got away from--this Tao? Am I right in thinking so?"

  "You're certainly right, that far," I laughed.

  I felt, more than I can say, a great sense of relief, a lessening of thetension, the unconscious strain I had been under, at this swift, jovialconversation with another human of my own kind.

  "Yes, you're right on that. This Tao and I are not exactly on the sameside. I'll tell you all about it in a minute."

  "Then, we're working together?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, all I'm working for is to get back home where I came from."

  "You won't be when you hear all I've got to say."

  He started at that; then, with sudden change of thought, his eyes turnedto Anina. The girl blushed under his admiring gaze.

  "Say, she's a little beauty, isn't she? Who is she?"

  "She's my sister," I said, smiling.

  For once he was too dumfounded to reply.

  Miela had finished her translation now, and, as she turned back to us,spoke in English for the first time during the conversation.

  "Do you know why it is they brought you here from the Twilight Country?"she asked Mercer.

  This gave him another shock. "Why, I--no. That is--say, how do you happento talk English? Is it one of your languages here, by any chance?"

  Miela laughed gayly.

  "Only we three, in all this world, speak English. I know it because--"

  I interrupted her.

  "Suppose I tell him our whole story, Miela? Then--"

  "That's certainly what I want to hear," said Mercer emphatically. "Andespecially why it is that I'm not supposed to want to get back to where Ibelong."

  My explanation must have lasted nearly an hour, punctuated by manyquestions and exclamations of wonder from young Mercer. I told him thewhole affair in detail, and ended with a statement of exactly how mattersstood now on Mercury.

  "Do you want to hurry back home to earth now?" I finished.

  "Duck out of this? I should say not. Why, we've got a million things to dohere."

  His eyes turned again toward Anina.

  "And, say--about letting those girls keep their wings. I'm strong forthat. Let's be sure and fix that up before we leave."

  It was not more than half an hour later when the king's guards arrived toconduct us to the castle. Meanwhile young Mercer had discovered he washungry and thirsty. As soon as he had finished eating we started off--heand I, with Lua and Miela. The guards led us away as though we wereprisoners, forming a hollow square--there were some thirty of them--withus in the center. We attracted little attention from passersby; the fewwho stopped to stare at us, or who attempted to follow, were brisklyordered away.

  Occasionally a few girls would hover overhead, but when the guards shoutedup at them they flew away obediently.

  The king's castle was constructed of metal and stone--a long, low,rambling structure, flanked by two spires or minarets, giving it somewhatan Oriental appearance. Each of these minarets was girdled, halfway up, bya narrow balcony.

  The first room into which we passed was small, seemingly an antechamber.From it, announced by two other guards who stood at the entrance, weentered directly into the main hall of the building. At one end of itthere was a raised platform. On this, seated about a large table, weresome ten or twelve dignitaries--the king's advisers. They were, I saw, allaged men, with beardless, seamed faces, long snowy-white hair to theirshoulders, and dressed in flowing silk robes.

  The king was a man of seventy-odd, kindly faced, gentle in demeanor. Hebore himself with the dignity of a born ruler, and yet his very kindlinessof aspect and the doddering gravity of his aged councilors, seemed toexplain at once most of the trouble that now confronted him.

  We stood beside this table--they courteously made way for Lua to sit amongthem--and all its occupants immediately turned to face us.

  Our audience lasted perhaps an hour and a half altogether. I need not gointo details. I was right in assuming that the king desired to help usprevent Tao from his attempted conquest of the earth. This was so, butonly in so far as his actions would not jeopardize the peace of his ownnation. He sadly admitted his error in allowing Tao's emissaries into theLight Country. But now they were there, he did not see how to get themout.

  His people were daily listening to them more eagerly; and, what was worse,the police guards themselves seemed rather more in sympathy with them thanotherwise. A slight disturbance had occurred in the streets the daybefore, and the guards had stood apathetically by, taking no part. Aboveall else, the king stoutly protested, he would have no bloodshed in hiscountry if he could prevent it.

  In the neighboring towns of the Light Country--the nearest of which wassome forty miles away from the Great City--the situation was almost thesame. Reports brought by young women flying between the cities said thatto many Tao also had sent emissaries who were fast winning converts to hiscause.

  "Do all these people who believe in Tao expect to go to our earth when itis conquered?" I asked Miela. "How can they--so many of them--hope tobenefit in that way? Aren't they satisfied here?"

  Miela smiled sadly.

  "No people can ever be satisfied--all of them. That you must know, myhusband. They have many grievances against our ruler. Many things theywant which he cannot give. Tao may promise these things--and if theybelieve his promise it is very bad."

  "He might come over here and try to make himself king," Mercer saidsuddenly. "If it's like that maybe he could do it, too, with this grandearth-conquest getting ready. Tell the king that--see what
he says."

  "He says that he realizes and fears it," Miela answered. "But he thinksthat first Tao will go to your earth, and he may never come back. So muchmay happen--"

  "So he's just going to wait," I explained. "Well, _we're_ not just goingto wait. Ask the king what our status is."

  "Ask him about me," Mercer put in. "Are those Tao men going to grab me theminute I show my face on the street, or will he protect me?"

  Miela translated this to the king, adding something of her own to which heevidently agreed.

  "It is as I thought," she said. "He believes he can present you to thepeople as men of earth who are our guests, and that they will accept youin friendly spirit, most of them."

  The king spoke to one of his advisers, who abruptly left the room.

  "He will call the people now," Miela went on, "and will speak to them fromthe tower--all who can leave their tasks to come. You will stand therewith him. He will ask that we of the Light Country allow you to remainhere in peace among us. And this captive earth man of Tao's"--she laid herhand lightly on Mercer's shoulder--"he will ask, too, that he be givensanctuary among us. Our people still are kindly--most of them--and theywill see the justice of what he asks."

  I suggested then that Miela tell the king that we had determined, if wecould, to frustrate Tao in his plans; and showed her how to point out tohim that such an outcome would, if successful, make his throne secure andinsure peace for his nation.

  He asked me bluntly what it was I thought I could do. The vague beginningsof a plan were forming in my mind. "Tell him, Miela, I think we can ridthe Light Country of Tao's emissaries--send them back--without causing anydisturbances among the people. Ask him if that would not be a good thing."

  The king nodded gravely as this was translated.

  "He asks you how?" Miela said next.

  "Tell him, Miela, that there are some things that might happen of which hewould be very glad, but which it might be better he did not know. Youunderstand. Make him see that we will be responsible for this--that heneedn't have anything to do with it or know anything about it. Then, if wedo anything wrong against your laws, he will be perfectly safe in stoppingand punishing us."

  Miela nodded, and began swiftly telling this to the king. As she spoke Isaw his eyes twinkle and a swift little series of nods from the aged menabout the table made me know that I had carried my point. During thelatter part of this talk I had noticed the growing murmur of voicesoutside the castle. The old man who had left the room at the king's ordercame back.

  "The people now are gathering," Miela said. "In a moment we shall go upinto the tower."

  The king's councilors now rose and withdrew, and a few moments later theking, without formality, led the four of us through the castle and up intothe tower.

  We climbed a little stone staircase in the tower and came into a circularroom some sixty feet above the ground. A small doorway from this room gaveaccess to the narrow balcony which girdled the tower. The sounds of thegathering crowd came up plainly from the gardens below. We waited for atime, and then, at a sign from the king, stepped together upon thebalcony.

  The gardens below were full of people--gathered among the palms and movingabout for points of vantage from which to obtain a view of the balcony.Most of them were men and older women. The girls were, nearly all of them,in the air, flying about the tower and hovering near the balcony, staringat us curiously. The women were, for the most part, dressed as I havedescribed Lua.

  The men wore knee-length trousers of fabric or leather, and sometimes ashirt or leather jacket, although a difference of costume that madeevident the rank of the wearer was noticeable in both sexes. All werebareheaded, with the exception of the king's guards, who were thus plainlydistinguishable, standing idly about among the crowd.

  As we stepped out into view of the people a louder murmur arose, mingledwith a ripple of applause. Three or four girls, hovering only a few feetin front of us, clapped their hands and laughed. The king placed Mercerand me on either side of him, and, standing with his hands on ourshoulders, leaned over the balcony rail and began to speak.

  A silence fell over the crowd; they listened quietly, but with none ofthat respect and awe with which a people usually faces its king.

  Miela whispered to me. "He is telling them about your earth, and that youcame here to visit us in friendly spirit."

  There were some murmurs of dissent as the king proceeded, and once somebolder individual shouted up a question, at which a wave of laughterarose. As it died away, and the crowd appeared to listen to the king'snext words, a stone suddenly came whirling up from below, narrowly missingthe king's head. A sudden hush fell over the people at this hostile act;then a tumult of shouting broke loose, and a commotion off to one sideshowed where the offender was standing.

  Mercer wheeled toward me, his face white with anger.

  "Who did that--did you see him? Which one was it?"

  The king began to speak, as if nothing had occurred, and an instant laterseveral more stones whistled past us. The commotion in the crowd grew moreviolent, but it was evident that a great majority of the people wereagainst this demonstration.

  "It is better we go inside," Miela said quietly.

  The king was shouting down to his guards now, but they stood apatheticallyby, taking no part.

  Another stone hurtled past us, striking the tower and falling at our feet.The king abruptly ceased his shouting and left the balcony. As he passedme and I glanced into his frightened face I felt a sudden sense of pityfor this gentle, kindly old man, so well-meaning, but so utterlyineffective as a ruler.

  I was about to pull Miela back into the room when a girl flew up to thebalcony railing. As she balanced herself upon it I saw it was Anina. Shesaid something to Miela, who turned swiftly to me.

  "She is right, my husband. We must not leave the matter like this. Theycan have no confidence in you--our women most of all--if you do not dosomething now. A sign of your strength now would make them respectyou--perhaps one of those who threw the stones you could punish."

  I knew she was right. Most of the crowd was with us. If we retreated now,those against us would grow bolder--our appearance on the street might atany time be dangerous. But if now we proved ourselves superior instrength, the popular sentiment in our favor would be just that muchstronger. At least, that is the way it seemed to me.

  I did not need to ask Mercer's opinion, for at Miela's words heimmediately said: "That's my idea. Just give me a chance at them."

  He leaned over the balcony. "How are we going to get down there? It's toofar to drop."

  Miela spoke to Anina, and they both flew away. In a moment they were backwith two other girls. All four clung to the outside of the balconyrailing, and formed a cross with their joined hands. Into this little seatof their arms I clambered. My weight was too great for them to have liftedme up, but they fluttered safely with me to the ground, landing in a heapamong the people, who had cleared a space to receive us. As soon as I wasupon my feet the girls flew back for Mercer, and in a moment more he wasbeside me.

  "If we only knew who threw those stones," I said.

  I stood erect, and my greater height enabled me to see over the heads ofthe people easily.

  Miela laid her hand on my arm.

  "One of them I know. His name is Baar, a bad character. He has caused muchtrouble in the past."

  She then told me hastily that she and Anina would fly up and seek him out.Mercer and I were to follow them through the crowd on the ground.

  The throng was pushing close about us now, although those nearest us triedto keep away as best they could. Miela and Anina flew up over our heads,and, side by side, Mercer and I started off. The people struggled backbefore our advance, striving to make a path for us. At times the press ofthose behind made it impossible for them to give us room. We did nothesitate, but shoved our way forward, elbowing them away roughly.

  Suddenly, some twenty feet ahead of us, I saw Miela and Anina come to theground, and in a moment m
ore we were with them again.

  The crowd was less dense here, and about us there was a considerable openspace, Miela pointed out a man leaning against the trunk of a palm treenear by and glaring at us malevolently.

  "That is he," she said quietly. "A very bad man--this Baar--whom manywould like to see punished."

  Mercer jumped forward, but I swept him back with my arm.

  "Leave him to me," I said. "You stand here by the girls. If I need you,I'll shout."

  The man by the tree was a squat little individual, some five feet three orfour inches tall, and extraordinarily broad. He was bareheaded, with blackhair falling to his shoulders. He was naked to the waist, exposing apowerful torso. His single garment was the usual knee-length trousers. Ithought I had never seen so evil a face as his, as he stood there, holdinghis ground before my slow advance, and leering at me. His cheek bones werehigh, his jowls heavy, his little eyes set wide apart. His nose was flat,as though it had once been broken.

  I went straight up to him, and he did not move. There were certainly threehundred people watching us as I stood there facing him.

  "You threw a stone at your king," I said to him sternly, although I knewperfectly well he could not understand my words. "You shall be punished."

  I reached out suddenly and struck him in the face as smartly as I couldwith the flat of my hand. He gave a roar of surprise and pain, and as soonas he could recover from my blow lunged at me with a snarl of rage.

  As he came I turned and darted swiftly away. I heard a shout of surprisefrom Mercer. "It's all right," he called. "Wait."

  I ran about twenty feet, then turned and waited. The man came on, headdown, charging like a mad bull. When he was close upon me I gathered mymuscles and sprang clear over his head, landing well behind him.

  He stopped and looked around confusedly, evidently not quite sure at firstwhat had become of me.

  Mercer gave a shout of glee, and, to my great satisfaction, I heard ittaken up by the crowd, mingled with murmurs of surprise and awe.

  I stood quiet, and again my opponent charged me. I eluded him easily, andthen for fully ten minutes I taunted and baited him this way, as askillful toreador taunts his bull. The crowd now seemed to enjoy theaffair hugely.

  Finally I darted behind my adversary and, catching him by the shoulders,tripped him and laid him on his back on the ground A great roar oflaughter went up from the onlookers.

  The man was on his feet again in an instant, breathing heavily, for indeedhe had nearly winded himself by his exertions. I ran over to Mercer.

  "Go on," I said; "show them what you can do."

  The commotion of this contest had drawn many other spectators about usnow, but they kept a space clear, pushing back hurriedly before our suddenrushes. At my words Mercer darted forward eagerly. His first move was toleap some twenty feet across the open space. This smaller opponent seemedto give the Mercutian new courage.

  He shouted exultantly and dashed at Mercer, who stood quietly waiting forhim at the edge of the crowd.

  Mercer's ideas evidently were different from mine, for as his adversarycame within reach he stepped nimbly aside and hit him a vicious blow inthe face. The man toppled over backward and lay still.

  I ran over to where Mercer was bending over his fallen foe. As I came uphe straightened and grinned at me. "Oh, shucks," he said disgustedly. "Youcan't fight up here--it's too easy."