Renegade of Callisto

The afternoon had worn on by this point, and nightfall was perhaps an hour away, or a little later. Nevertheless, Taran and Koja hauled themselves back up into the treetops again, and, lying flat on his back against the branch to which the Lankar-jan was securely tethered, the young sky cadet made his repairs as best he could.

It wasn’t too difficult, actually. The control cables were nothing more than lengths of thin; tough cord which connected the foot pedals to the tailfin rudder and the ailerons on the edges of the wings. When the clumsy Fido had trod too heavily on the pedals he had dislodged them at that end. All Taran had to do, actually, was stretch them tight and tie them back onto the pedals again.

One of them, however, had broken in the middle. This one the boy had to pull together and fasten with a knot. Unfortunately, it was one of the ones that worked the tailfin rudder, and being knotted pulled it more taut than it should have been, which meant the rudder would be stiff and troublesome to work during their return flight to Shondakor. However, this was only a minor problem.

When the repairs were finished, Koja helped Taran get the water out of their airship by the simple expedient of turning the craft over so that the bilge, as it were, was dumped out. The pontoons were still airtight, and the craft itself, as far as they could see, was perfectly airworthy. Even the engine worked, having taken no harm from the rainstorm.

When they clambered down to the ground again so as to fetch Fido, they found an unexpected welcome.

Obviously, the othode was not quite as much of a liability on this adventure as they had erroneously assumed when they had compiled that list of resources I have quoted above. For while they had been aloft, working on the aircraft, the ungainly and stumblefooted pup had gone hunting. They came down out of the tree, therefore, to find one proud pup, grinning from ear to ear, waiting for them with dinner!

Fido had caught and killed two plump, furry forest beasts which rather resembled an unlikely cross between rabbit and squirrel, and might have resembled either of the two more precisely had it not been for the improbable color of their fur, which happened to be a bright pink.

These were, obviously, the same sort of creatures Bozo himself had caught and killed for Prince Lankar in the Grand Kumala, and which the Earthling reierred to as either “squirr-bits” or “rabb-ells.” The Thanatorians call such creatures uggars.

Fido was so pleased at his contribution that Taran ran over and hugged the grinning pup, who licked his face with a slurping tongue. Both he and Koja were hungry again, since berries and nuts are a pretty feeble excuse for nutriment for busy, hard-working adventurers, and the very thought of hot broiled uggar meat made their mouths water.

And they could, of course, depart for the return flight to Shondakor the Golden a wee bit later than they had planned.

So while Taran scrabbled about gathering dry twigs and leaves and moss for a cook-fire, Koja returned yet again to the treetop and came back down with the tinderbox wherewith a thoughtful and foresighted supply officer had decided each scoutcraft cabin should be outfitted.

By nightfall the two plump uggars were sizzling juicily above a smoky little fire, having been neatly skinned, gutted, and skewered on a sharp twig.

A little later they proved every bit as delicious as Taran and Koja had imagined they would be. The two polished off every last succulent morsel of their dinner, not forgetting to reward Fido with numerous tidbits and gobbets, and all of the less chewable parts.

By this time night had fallen, but not yet had the first of the many moons yet ascended to glimmer red and silver, blue and gold and white in the sky, like paper lanterns.

But it was still light enough for them to see the great black arrow when it clove whistling through the air to sink quivering in the trunk of the borath tree as they were about to begin climbing it for the return flight.

They whirled, snatching out their swords, as the first gaunt, stilt-legged warriors of the Yathoon Horde came charging through the brush to seize them.