Lankar of Callisto
- Автор: Картер Лин Спрэг
- Серия: Callisto #6
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Lankar of Callisto». Краткое содержание книги:
...in the mysterious and treacherous domain of the insidious Mind Wizards. Searching for him is a fearless armada of his loyal friends, and a stranger who knows him better than anyone on Callisto. The stranger, Lankar, is none other than Lin Carter, accidentally transported through the Gate Between the Worlds to the land of the Thanatorians. Aware of Jandar's plight, Lankar joins the search beyond the world's edge and suddenly finds himself battling for his own existence against the most nightmarish creatures on the planet - the gruesome flesh robots of Kuur and the fiendish Mind Wizards of Callisto themselves...
When the time came for us to mount up and continue our journey, Bozo still had not returned. I lingered, turning a backwards glance toward the margin of the jungle, expecting at any moment to see that familiar burly body, those goggling eyes, and that froglike gash of mouth set with blunt, powerful tusks. But he did not appear.
“Perhaps it’s better this way,” Jandar said. “It’s easier, at any rate. Maybe Bozo knew you two must part; maybe he couldn’t bear it any better than you could.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I said. “But I hate to go this way, without even saying goodbye…”
And so we rode on. There was nothing else to do.
That night we made camp at the jungle’s edge and ate our rations by firelight. Bozo did not return by the time we lay down, rolled into our cloaks, and slept. By dawn, when we arose to ride on, he still had not returned.
Towards nightfall of the second day after leaving Shondakor, we made our last camp. It was near the edge of the Kumala, just within sight of the jade slab. We ate a cursory meal of cooked meat, dried fruit, black bread and yellow wine. By the flickering light of the campfire we dozed, waiting for the hour of the appearance of the ray, when the Gate would open.
“Another hour, perhaps two,” Zastro said somberly. “A little after the rising of Ramavad.”
“I wish I could take my gear with me,” I said as I regretfully set aside my tunic and weapons, and my long sword in its scabbard, emblazoned with the weird hieroglyph that was my Shondakorian coat-of-arms. “Still, I suppose it’s better that I don’t.”
Jandar took up my sword, the one Darloona had presented to me after my investiture. “We shall keep these safe for you, sir. Perhaps you will come back another day…”
“Perhaps,” I smiled.
Suddenly Taran plucked at my arm.
“Look there, Lankar-jan! There, by the jungle’s edge―”
Jandar peered, shielding his eyes against the glare of the campfire. “I can’t quite―”
“Why, it’s Bozo!” cried Barin in surprise.
And so it was! The great beast stood, hesitating at the edge of the jungle, watching us.
“Aye, ‘tis the dear beast himself,” little Glypto croaked. “But what be that other with him?”
We looked. Beyond Bozo, where he stood a little ways down the slope, staring at us with goggling eyes, sad yet oddly happy, too, and oddly shamefaced, was another. A second othode, purple-furred and rotund, eyes goggling at us warily, lingered just within the margin of the underbrush. The second beast looked much like Bozo, but there were a few differences; for one, it was a bit smaller and more slenderly built, less broad in the chest, less burly in the shoulder. And for another―
“Why, it’s a female!” Jandar laughed. And so it was: and suddenly the glum, melancholy mood that had gripped us all this time broke in delighted laughter. Bozo had not fled because he could not endure to be parted from me; he had sensed a female othode in the woods, and had gone to her, obeying the age-old call of blood to blood, of male to female.
” `The call of the wild,’ I guess,” Jandar chuckled.
“Yes! Or maybe `springtime for Bozo’ says it best,” I laughed. I went towards the place where Bozo stood, and called him. He came waddling to me, growling over his shoulder to the female, who lurked timidly just beyond the brush, watching us. I got down on my knees and embraced him. The great brute sighed and rubbed his wrinkled brow against me, burrowing into my chest, and licked my face.
“Well, then, big boy; well, then! You’ve found a lady othode for yourself, have you? I guess she needs you more than I do, you old Bozo, you! Goodbye, now, old fellow. Be a good boy… .”
I rubbed the place behind his ears and he closed his great eyes in bliss and grumbled deep in his throat. Then his lady-friend whined from the edge of the shrubbery and, reluctantly, he pulled himself out of my arms and went trotting into the woods, but with many a backwards glance. He paused for a long moment on the edge of the jungle. Then the forest swallowed him up.
Behind me the night lit up with golden glory, and I turned away from my last sight of Bozo and said my farewells.
“It is time, Prince Lankar,” said Zastro.
I nodded, and began removing my garments.
The bottom of the jade-lined well was matted with fallen leaves which were crisp and sharp against my bare hide. Above me, the, circular opening was filled with brilliant stars. Soon, when my calls had roused the camp, it was ringed with staring faces which soon broke into delighted grins. The Cambodian native boys had seldom seen a naked white man at the bottom of a well, and I suppose it was an absurd spectacle.
They got me out of the well and Sir Malcolm tossed an old army blanket about my shoulders, wrapping it about me against the chill of the jungle night. And then Noel was there, laughing and weeping at the same time, hugging and kissing me, her cheeks wet against my face.
“About time you got back!” she smiled through happy tears. “I’d begun to think you’d settled down with some Callistan princess! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, “and the Callistan princesses are all spoken for already, so you didn’t have to worry. I’m sorry it took me so long to get back home, but I couldn’t manage it any quicker. Honey, I hope you didn’t worry about me too much … .”
Sir Malcolm broke up the circle of grinning natives with a roar, and sent them scurrying about their business. Noel and I went off to our tent, arms about each other’s waist, talking happily.
“We found your rings at the bottom of the well,” she said. “I have them safe. Your clothes, too.”
“So you guessed what happened to me, then?”
“Of course! And if that beam of light had come on again, maybe I would have come after you. I don’t know why you should have all the exciting things happen to you―I’d like an adventure or two, all to myself! You’ve got to tell me everything that happened … .”
“I will,” I said. We entered the tent and I exchanged the old army blanket for the clothing I had left behind me so many days before.
“You certainly look in fine shape,” my wife observed seriously, examining me with thoughtful eyes. “You’ve put on a few pounds; and you’ve even gotten a tan. How did you manage to stand it all that time with no cigarettes?”
“It wasn’t easy,” I laughed. “But when you’re three hundred and ninety million miles away from the nearest cigarette machine, you damn well get accustomed to doing without! Ahh―and here’s something else I missedl” Sir Malcolm’s native cook had thrust open our tent flap to grin his hello and to offer me a steaming tin cup of coffee. It smelled indescribably delicious, the aroma suddenly stimulating my taste buds, filling my mouth with saliva. I took a long swallow of the hot beverage, and it seemed to me that I had never drunk anything more delicious in my life.
My wife watched as I downed the coffee with gusto, relishing every drop. Her head was tilted a little on one side, so that her dark blonde hair fell over one cheek. She smiled fondly.
“The cigarettes are in the duffel bag,” she said, “if you want some.”
I was tempted powerfully; but the urge to smoke had died out many days ago, and I had long since ceased to miss the taste.
“I’ve gone without them for weeks, now, and I’ve gotten used to it. Guess I’ll keep it up for a while; you always wanted me to stop smoking, anyway, remember?”