The Swords of Zinjaban
- Автор: Де Камп Лайон Спрэг
- Серия: Viagens Interplanetarias #8
- Год: 1991
- Язык: английский
- Год: Baen
- ISBN: 0-671-72039-2
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «The Swords of Zinjaban». Краткое содержание книги:
According to another report received. Schlegel is by no means reconciled to accepting the failure of his kidnapping plan as the workings of inscrutable fate. You have not, he has been heard to say, seen the last of him.
Yours most attentively,
Herculeu Castanhoso Souza
"What should we do about Schlegel?" asked Alicia, frowning.
Reith shrugged. "Nothing much we can do before we get back to Novo. We'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open and our weapons handy, and not go wandering off alone."
After lunch, Reith and Alicia retired to the guest room for well-earned naps. Alicia murmured drowsily: "This has been simply heavenly. If it could only go on ..."
"We'd get itchy," said Reith practically. "Matter of fact, we ought to be on our way back to Zinjaban right now. I figure they're ready to shoot the big battle scene."
Alicia ran her fingers across Reith's lips. "Don't be impatient, darling. The last time Timásh came over, he said there was no change in the standing orders."
"You're right. We can't expect more news for a couple of days, unless Fodor takes time off to come looking for us."
"He might, at that," said Alicia. "Instead of ideas, that man has obsessions. After you beat him up twice, he'll be in no mood to hand you a lollipop."
"So let's enjoy ourselves while we can." Reith smiled slyly and opened his arms.
Just then came a knock on the door, and Bashti's voice called, "Master Fergus!"
"Yes?"
"A strange Ertsu hath come, asking for Yekar. When I told him my man was away, but ye were here, he demanded to see you. Pray come! He's a terrifying creature, as black as a demon from Hishkak!"
Reith sighed as they swung out of bed and reached for their clothes. "Sounds like Percy Mjipa."
Percy Mjipa, Oxon., a native of Botswana and now Terran consul at Zanid, was over 190 centimeters tall; lean but iron-muscled; dark of skin and frizzy of hair. As Fergus and Alicia emerged from the front door, in impeccable British English Mjipa boomed: "Hello, old man! What the devil are you doing here? And with Alicia, too!"
"My fiancée and I," said Reith with an embarrassed grin, "are taking a leave of absence from our jobs with Cosmic Productions, over in Zinjaban."
Mjipa goggled. "It's too bloody much to take in all at once. Look here, butties, I'm delighted and all that rot; but we haven't time for amenities. I've galloped all the way from Zanid to tell the people hereabout that Kamoran Ghuur and his Qaathian hordes are on the move. You can expect a major nomad invasion of Zinjaban Province, if not tomorrow, then the day after." To the uncomprehending Bashti, Mjipa repeated the last sentence in Mikardandou.
Bashti gave a little shriek before regaining a measure of composure. "I must needs inform the herders, so they can begin to move our stock to the hills. When Yekar returns, he and I and our egg shall follow. We know a secluded valley. Alas, that they should burn our dear little house!"
She ran towards the stables. Mjipa said: "I learned of this, through my connections, three days ago. For the last two, I've been on the road, eating in the saddle."
"Where's Vicky?" asked Alicia.
"I sent Victoria to Novo with the carriage a ten-day ago. My information is that the Qaathians will cross the Khoruz at Zinjaban; but they could change their minds. So I've come this way to warn my friends here. I'll tip off Litáhn at Port Kandakh. What's this about a cinema crew, making a flick in the Qe'bas?"
Reith outlined the Cosmic Productions project. Mjipa said: "Good thing I came along; I'll warn them, too. No, wait. If I stop at Zinjaban to explain things to your movie gaffers, they'll pass me around like a bloody medicine ball, and I shall waste hours of precious time. If I warn Litáhn and go straight on to Novo, will you inform your Californian lunatics?"
Reith smiled. "It's a prejudice to call all Californians crazy; I once knew a sane one. But I'll do what I can."
"Fergus!" cried Alicia. "How shall we warn them if, as soon as we appear, Fodor comes out and kills you?"
"I'll have my sword handy. Anyway, he won't hurt you."
"I couldn't bear to lose you now ..." Alicia bit her lip and blinked in a not entirely successful effort to keep from crying.
"I know, darling," said Reith gently, "but sometimes we have to take chances."
"Right-o!" said Mjipa. "That'll give me time to tip off the fort at Kolkh."
"How come, Percy?" said Reith. "I thought you consuls always remained strictly neutral."
"Between civilized Krishnan nations, we do; but these barbarians are a common enemy of mankind—well, of Krishnan kind. Ghuur doesn't give a damn for diplomatic immunity; I learned he was planning to have me assassinated. Wanted to make sure I didn't spread the alarm, like that American chap who rode all night crying: The British are coming!' What was his name? Buffalo Bill?"
"No, Paul Revere," said Reith.
"Anyway," Mjipa continued, "it is my business to warn Terrans in the path of the invasion. If in so doing I help the Mikardanduma to mobilize, I'm damned if I find that out of line.
"You should see what these noble savages have done to Balhib. Pyramids of heads piled up in the marketplace! Not that all these natives are my dish of tea; but Ghuur of Uriiq regards all civilized folk as vermin to be exterminated. Well, I'm on my way. Cheer-o!"
Mjipa bounded down the porch steps and ran to his tethered ayas. Off he galloped, leading his spare mount.
"Oh, dear!" said Alicia as she waved farewell to the towering black Terran. "It was such a lovely pre-honeymoon, too."
"Sure, but all good things—even for Mr. and Mrs. Reith ... Let's pack."
Alicia drove the gig, while Reith bestrode the spare aya as they neared Castle Kandakh. Presently Reith caught a twinkle of sun on armor and glimpsed a band of Krishnans working on the road, where it passed through a narrow defile below the fortress.
Coming closer, he perceived that the Krishnans were soldiers from the garrison. A sweating score, stripped to loin cloths, were constructing a stone wall across the highway, while others in armor stood guard against a surprise attack. Reith dismounted, walked forward, and hailed the officer in command.
"Ohé!. Sir Chomaku!"
"What would ye, Sir Fergus?"
"I beg that you move a few of your stones, so that Doctor Dyckman and I can pass."
"Aye, aye." The knight barked an order. "Your fellow Terran, the black man, warned us of the Qaathians."
Reith asked, "Does Sir Litáhn plan to stop the invaders here?"
"For a while, albeit we could not hold such a barrier for ay. They'll charge us mounted. When enough have been stricken by our missiles, they'll pull back, dismount, and attack afoot, scaling the walls of the gorge to come at us. Then we'll retreat into the castle.
"If they lay siege, 'twill delay their invasion, and we can hold for a moon, giving time for relief. If they essay to run past, we'll slay a mort of 'em with catapults and crossbows along this road. 'Tis the best we can do with what we have."
Reith thanked the officer and helped to manhandle the gig's wheels past the obstacle. They rode on, down the long slope as the road snaked its descending way out of the eastern flanks of the mountains. When the downgrade became steep, Reith said: "Lish! Do you need any help on the brake?"
"No; I'll manage," she muttered through set lips, as she held the reins in one hand and strained against the brake handle with the other.
When the road leveled off in flatter terrain, they urged their beasts to a canter. At the ford of the Khoruz, Reith said: "Better change places, darling. It's a little ticklish, guiding the trap through the water."
Reith had been giving Alicia lessons in driving, but her hold on the reins was still uncertain. She mounted the spare aya, while Reith drove the draft animal into the broad, shallow stream. He clucked soothingly at the nervous beast but tickled it with his whip whenever it tried to balk or turn back.