Renegade of Callisto

Kadar himself had paid no particular attention to their direction, either. His primary objective was to get the little ornithopter down close enough to the surface of the prairie so that Valkar, dangling from the bottom of the rope ladder, could bear the two away to safety. And, once this had been accomplished, he had lifted the craft with all hastenarrowly managing to avoid striking his vessel against the upper parts of the rocky hills.

These were, of course, the same hills whereupon Koja, and Borak had found a place of safety only moments after the little Shondakorian scout soared past overhead. But so thick was the blanket of dust raised by the hooves of the stampeding herd that neither Koja nor Borak so much as glimpsed the ornithopter dart down, snatch up the princess and the boy, and soar away with them clinging to the bottom rungs of the swaying rope ladder.

And neither, of course, had the pair noticed the dust-covered figures of the two Yathoon as they clambered up among the rocks of the hills.

Kadar had then simply let the craft fly itself while watching below as Taran and Xara and Valkar climbed the rope. Once he had assisted the exhausted, trembling princess and the excited boy to take their seats in the craft, he began to return his attention to flying the scoutcraft.

They had soared away from the terrible scene of disaster and carnage, as it happened, in the same direction as the vanth themselves were stampeding, which is to say due west. Borne along by a brisk tailwind, they had covered quite a distance by this time. But now Valkar determined that they should return to the site of the massacre in order to search for any signs of Koja and Borak.

This must be done first of all, before anything else.

For Valkar found it difficult to believe that the brave and loyal Koja had actually come to so ignominious an end as to be trampled to death by beasts.

Not until the last shred of hope was exhausted would he believe it.

And he dreaded having to tell Jandar and Darloona that Koja was dead …

“Turn us about and send us back to the place where the Horde was before the stampede,” he directed Kadar. “If two could escape the holocaust, mayhap Koja and his comrade were equally lucky―”

Kadar leveled off and turned the scoutcraft about in a wide circle, returning the way they had first come. The stampede had long since passed, and naught but bare and beaten soil, trampled to dust beneath thousands of pounding hooves, was to be seen. That and, here and there, a fragment of splintered wood or crumpled metal. They could not even find any bodies.

And there was no sign of Koja or of Rorak. These, rescued, by chance as we have already learned, had long since ridden off with the hunters of the Kandar to the distant encampment before Kadar returned to the site of the massacre.

It is to Valkar’s credit that he did not give up easily. Bringing the little scout to a mooring place in the hills, he descended with Kadar and the others and searched the beaten earth for some sign or token, however slight, as to the doom of Koja, finding absolutely nothing. At length he was forced to conclude that Koja and his friend Borak had not been as lucky as had Taran and Xara, and that the mighty Yathoon and his comrade had met their end. There seemed no other conclusion that was even remotely possible under the circumstances. It was heavy news he must bear back to Jandar and Darloona and Lukor and all the other of Koja’s friends …

But at least young Taran was alive and safe, and Valkar knew that the Court of Shondakor would be pleased that he had saved from certain death the Princess of the Royal House of Ganatol. So, although not a complete success, his mission had at least salvaged something from the debacle.

They would rest here on the plains this night, for all were weary and worn out, and needed food and sleep. With morning, Valkar would direct his craft back to the rendezvous and rejoin the main force … with the sad, news that Koja of the Yathoon Horde was no more.

He directed their flight on across the plains into the south, following the path of the stampeding vanth. At length they caught up to the mighty herd. Now weary, their panic having faded, the vanth were dispersing in search of fresh meadow-grass and water. It did not prove difficult to overtake and slay a fat buck, which was quickly skinned and gutted. Kadar built a fire and in no time juicy vanth steaks were sizzling on a rudely improvised spit over a bed of crackling flames.

The meal was delicious, and doubly so for Xara of Ganatol, as it was the first food she had enjoyed in freedom for many months. After the pangs of hunger were assuaged, she and Valkar talked as night fell and the glorious panoply of the heavens blazed forth in all its splendor. Valkar was curious as to the nature of her mission to Shondakor and was alarmed to learn that the great Perushtarian Empire, which shared the coasts and waters of the broad inland sea of the Corund Laj with the kingdom of Ganatol, was making inroads against the freedom of her people.