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Quest of the Golden Ape

<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> <h2>The Prison Without Bars</h2> <div class="figleft"><ANTIMG src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width-obs="40" height-obs="40" /></div> o one tried to stop Bram Forest until he reached the very gates of the amphitheater. But there a guard with drawn whip-sword barred the way and demanded: "You don't look Nadian to me. What delegation are you with, man?" Bram Forest had no time to parry words with words. He tried to push his way past the guard who, too surprised to thrust with his weapon, used his free hand to grab Bram Forest by the shoulder and spin him around. Bram Forest drove his left fist into the guard's belly and heard the whoosh of air escaping from his lungs. That was the last thing he heard for some time. A second guard crept up quietly behind him and struck expertly with the hilt of his whip-sword just behind the left ear. Bram Forest fell as if the ground dropped out from under him. "By all the fiery gods of Tarth, will you look at that!" the first guard exclaimed. The second guard could only gawk, not comprehending. The unconscious man was growing tenuous. The first guard in confused alarm, lashed down with the whip-sword. But its point passed through Bram Forest's now transparent body without meeting any resistance. "Right through him! Right through him!" cried the guard. And, by the time he said it, and coiled his sword again, Bram Forest had vanished. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> When an urgent message had come for Retoc, the Princess Volna, alone in the royal box, had decided to investigate the matter herself. She had to hurry, though. In not many minutes, Retoc and Bontarc would find themselves face to face on the sands of the amphitheater. Wouldn't Bontarc be surprised! Too proud to flee, not swordsman enough to match the mighty Retoc.... "Yes, yes, what is it?" she snapped irritably when she entered the dungeon-like ready-room below the amphitheater sands. She was in a hurry to return to her box, lest she miss the duel between Bontarc and Retoc. Alone in the ready-room was a soldier in the uniform of Abaria. "Begging your pardon, ma'am," said the soldier. "My message is for Retoc of Abaria." "And I tell you Retoc of Abaria is not here to receive it." Volna clapped her hands and two of her own guards appeared. "I am the Princess Volna. Well?" Pirum looked at her, at the armed guards flanking her on either side, at the door through which she had entered, at the ready-room's second door. "Very well," he said at last, and opened the second door, beckoning. Volna went to the doorway and looked. She gasped involuntarily, hardly able to believe her eyes. There on the stone floor of a smaller ready-room, only now regaining consciousness, was the Virgin Wayfarer of Ofrid, she who had seen Retoc slay Jlomec, she who had been sent by Volna herself to sure death on the Journey of No Return. Terror gripped her. "What does this mean?" Volna cried. "Where did you find her? Where, man? Speak!" "On the river, ladyship." "On the river? Returning from the Place of the Dead?" "No, ladyship. Heading toward the Place of the Dead." Volna went to the girl and stood over her. "You! What's your name?" "Ylia," the girl said. "What were you trying to do, Ylia?" The girl said nothing. Volna called to Pirum, who came at once. "Hit her," Volna said. Grasping Ylia by her hair, Pirum struck her face with his open hand. Her head snapped back. The mark of his fingers was on her face. She said nothing. "Hit her again," Volna said. Pirum struck Ylia a second time. The girl whimpered, but held her tongue. "Where is your friend, that giant of a man?" Volna asked. Again Pirum hit Ylia when she would say nothing. Finally Volna shrugged. "She'll talk, given enough of that. What's your name, man?" "Pirum, ladyship." "Very well, Pirum. My guards and I are returning to our seats. There is a duel I wouldn't want to miss. All Tarth will reap its consequences. Meanwhile, stay with this girl and do what you must do to make her talk. It might be important." Pirum bowed. "Yes, ladyship," he said, and watched the others depart. Then, when they were alone, Ylia surprised him by flying at him, nails bared, like a wildcat. He fought off her attack and struck her a savage open-handed blow, and she fell back. At least this, Pirum thought advancing on her, might be an interesting assignment. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> "... hit by that cab, mac." "You all right?" "He's getting up, ain't he?" "Jeez, I swear," the sweating taxi driver said to the crowd which had gathered about the prostrate man, "he popped up outa nowhere. One second I'm driving along, looking for a fare, the next, he's standing right in front of me. I almost pushed the brake through the floor, honest, but—" "Ylia," the stricken man said. "Hey now, take it easy." "What he say, anyhow?" "... be going to a costume ball or something. Lookit that outfit he's wearing, willya? What's he supposed to be, a man from Mars or something? I read in the papers where Mars was pretty close a while back. My kid thinks there are...." "Aw, shudap about your kid." "Need any help, mister?" "No. No, thank you. I'm all right." "... got a nasty crack on his head, is all. See? See the blood?" "He's getting up." "... a cop. When you don't want 'em, they're around. Now you need them, where in heck are they, that's what I wanna know." "The bracelet!" the stricken man said in sudden alarm. He stared at his own right arm in confusion, then his left. His arms were bare. "You wasn't wearing no bracelet, mac," someone said. "No bracelet," he said. "No bracelet." His eyes looked vague, confused. After a while a policeman came and took in the situation at a glance. "All right, all right," he bawled. "Step back and givemair, givemair, will you?" The crowd dispersed slowly, and the policeman talked for a while with the taxi-driver, then with the stricken man. "My name?" the stricken man said in answer to a question. "Bram Forest. Yes, Bram Forest. But I don't have the bracelet. The bracelet is gone, forever. Without the bracelet I can't...." his voice trailed off. "He drunk?" the policeman asked the cab driver. "Search me." "'A prison without bars,'" the man recited. "Earth is my prison, forever. Ylia. Ylia!" The driver made a circular motion with his forefinger, in the general vicinity of his temple. "You both better come down the station house with me," the policeman said. "Aw, officer, I'll lose some fares." "Anyhow. The guy talks batty, but he don't look drunk. We got to figure this here out." "Ylia," the man said, almost as if the sound were a name and he was crying out to the owner of that name across an unthinkable abyss. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> Bontarc, King of Nadia, felt as good as could be expected under the circumstances. Now that the first shock of bereavement had passed, he knew no mourning would bring back his dead brother Jlomec. And the sun of Tarth was hot on the amphitheater sands as Bontarc stood awaiting his as yet unknown adversary. He flexed and uncoiled his whip-sword, smiling in expectancy. He was a competent swordsman, among the dozen or so best in Nadia. The duel-to-first-blood would be just what he needed. Win or lose, he'd feel a lot better afterwards. And meanwhile, he was a king, wasn't he? The adulation of the crowd swept down all around him, lifting his spirits. The corpse of Prince Jlomec, treacherously slain, seemed very far away—as, indeed, it was.... A roar of expectancy went up from a hundred thousand throats as Bontarc's adversary appeared at the other end of the arena. The sun was dazzling. At first Bontarc saw the swordsman only as a dot across the gleaming sands. But now the roar of expectancy had turned to a groan of dismay, which was followed by a silence, as of death, then an eager whispered buzzing. Why should this be? Why.... The figure came closer on the burning sands. Bontarc squinted. Was it possible? He felt a tremor go through his body. It was Retoc of Abaria! "To the death, Bontarc," Retoc said softly, savagely, as they approached. Bontarc shook his head imperceptibly. He was no coward, but knew he was no match for Retoc and didn't see why he should lay down his life on the amphitheater sands. "I'll not fight you to the death, Retoc of Abaria," he said. Retoc shrugged as if it weren't very important. "Well," he said slowly, "if you don't want to kill the slayer of your brother...." Bontarc charged. Laughing, Retoc was ready for him. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> "... Please ... please ... you're just wasting your time. I ... won't ... tell you." "No?" Pirum said, panting. He saw the girl through a haze of anger, frustration, and desire. She was naked, her lips were bloody, but her eyes still flashed defiance. Pirum, like most Abarians, was something of a sadist. "Oh, you'll talk," he said. "You'll talk." "... never...." He dug his strong finger cruelly into her tender body. "Bram Forest...." she cried. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> The policeman behind the desk was saying things. Bram Forest heard the droning voice, but not the words. Ylia, he thought. Ylia. A moment before, he actually believed he heard her cry out to him in pain. But that couldn't be. Besides, what could he do about it? He was trapped forever on Earth, without the bracelet which could send him, almost on the wings of thought, back to Tarth, to Ylia, to his destiny. I love you, girl of Tarth, he thought. I love you, Ylia, more than words and more than worlds. Something whisperingly cold plucked at him, and for an instant his heart was stilled. Ylia! Could his love for the girl of Tarth draw him across the unthinkable abyss? "... immodestly attired and ..." the desk sergeant was saying. Ylia, Ylia, call me! Draw me to you, girl of Tarth. ... bramforesthelp.... Ylia! I hear you! I hear you! "What the heck's he doing? Praying?" the patrolman asked. For Bram Forest was staring devoutly at nothing, staring at the air in front of his face there in the mundane precinct room as if it held a radiant vision. Suddenly the desk sergeant's jaw dropped open. The patrolman said: "Hey, wait a mo...." Bram Forest was becoming tenuous, vanishing. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> Insubstantial, transparent, the image of Bram Forest soared past the encampment of the Golden Apes. "Bylanus!" he called, and his voice was not insubstantial. Bylanus came at once. "If the Abarian legions move, attack them, Bylanus." "As you will, Bram Forest. But you...." "Don't worry about me. I can control it, I can control it." Bylanus passed an enormous hand through Bram Forest's body. "I'll materialize, when I find Ylia. She draws me...." Already the vision was fading. "Farewell, Bram Forest." Farewell.... Was it merely the sound of the wind along the banks of the River of Ice? Bylanus wondered. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> Something struck Pirum's shoulder. The girl crouched, sobbing, at his feet. Pirum whirled. His face went white when he saw the man. He swung his fist desperately, and the man blocked it without effort. His arm was caught, as in a vise. He screamed. Something snapped in his arm. Something streaked at his face.... He took the blow from Bram Forest's fist under the point of the jaw. His head snapped back against the dungeon wall and memory and desire and lust and life oozed out through his smashed skull. "Ylia!" "You came, Bram Forest." "I'll never leave you again." "Yes, now, in the amphitheater. I think...." Overhead, the crowd roared. Bram Forest listened for a fraction of a second, and raced for the stairs. When word of the duel between Bontarc and Retoc came by courier to Laugrim, second in command of the Abarian army under the missing Hultax, Laugrim decided it was time to attack. He gave the signal for his army to march on the city, and the signal was passed from signal-fire to signal-fire in the huge encampment. In a very short time, the army's vanguard began to march. There's no force on all Tarth strong enough to stop us now, Laugrim thought exultantly. This day, Retoc would rule Tarth. He was right. There was no Tarthian army strong enough to stop them. But the Army of the Golden Apes which, after Bram Forest's warning, had deployed itself at the very gates of Nadia City so the people in the amphitheater might witness the battle, was not of Tarth.... <hr style="width: 45%;" /> "Well, Bontarc," cried Retoc, "can't you do better than that? Surely a king...." For many minutes now Retoc, the finest swordsman on Tarth, had been toying with his adversary. He could have killed Bontarc a dozen times over, but he waited, driving the Nadian ruler back, playing with him, making him do incredible gymnastics in order to survive, three times returning his whip-sword to him when it had been torn from the Nadian's hands. All Nadia—and all the rulers of Tarth—watched spellbound. It seemed to them that the Nadian ruler had gone into the contest willingly. They made no move, and under the ethics that governed their world, would make no move, to stop the uneven contest. Retoc's blurring sword-point whipped and flashed, drawing blood from a dozen superficial wounds. The smile never left Retoc's face. Desperately, knowing his life was forfeit whenever Retoc chose, Bontarc parried the whip-lashing blade. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> Bram Forest emerged into the dazzling sunlight of the arena floor. Squinting, he saw the figures across the sand. The men before him were Bontarc of Nadia and Retoc, slayer of his mother, destroyer of Ofridia. Retoc saw him first, and cried out exultantly. His wrist blurred, his whip-sword flashed, the point singing, and Bontarc's sword flew from his fingers. "You!" Retoc cried. The sword-point had slashed an artery on Bontarc's wrist. The blood spurted out and Bontarc stood there, dazed, holding the wound shut with his left hand. "Are you all right, sire?" Bram Forest asked. "I can manage until a doctor binds—" <hr style="width: 45%;" /> Bram Forest picked up the Nadian ruler's whip-sword and faced his enemy, sword to sword, at last. Retoc looked at him, and laughed. "I almost killed you once," he said. His hand barely seemed to move, but the point of his blade, whipping, flashing, was everywhere. Bram Forest parried desperately. "I'll finish the job now," Retoc vowed. Then Bram Forest did an unexpected thing. He used the whip-sword not as a sword: he couldn't hope to match Retoc's skill as a swordsman. He used it as a whip is used, his great arm slicing back and forth through air, up over his head and down, the long length of the uncoiled blading whipping and darting like something alive across the sands. Retoc retreated two steps, and lunged with what he hoped would be a death blow. Prokliam the seneschal was trembling so much he could hardly stand. Just outside the amphitheater, in the very shadow of the amphitheater wall, the great Golden Apes of legend had materialized. There were thousands of them, and they were three times the size of men, and methodically and with great ease, they were destroying the Abarian army before it could enter the amphitheater. Without the Abarian army, Volna and Retoc would never subjugate Nadia, never rule Tarth. But Prokliam the seneschal had committed himself to their cause. Now only death awaited him. Or, had he committed himself? Couldn't he change sides before it was too late? Couldn't he slay Volna, here in the royal box, for all to see? Couldn't he become a hero of the people? He was confused. He wished he could think clearly, but he was more frightened than he had ever been in his life. There was something wrong with his logic. Something.... Well, no matter. Slay Volna first, call her traitor, and then worry about his logic— He turned away from the wall and marched down the flights of stairs between the citizens of Nadia, flanked in two wildly shouting mobs on either side of the aisle, and plunged a knife into Volna's back, killing her instantly. The people roared, and rose up. Like a tide they swept toward Prokliam, the seneschal who had wanted to be prime minister. "No, no!" he cried. "No, please. You don't understand. ... I see it now ... what was wrong with my thinking ... you don't know yet ... you don't know ... to you she was still the Princess Volna, loyal, true ... you don't understand, please." The wave rolled over Prokliam the seneschal, leaving him battered and bloody and dead in its wake. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> The strong, whipping motion of Bram Forest's arm made a wall of steel of his whip-sword. Try as he might, with all the skill at his command, Retoc could not dent that wall. But, he thought, there was another way. Slowly, desperately, he maneuvered Bram Forest back toward Bontarc, who was sitting in the sand and using all his remaining energy to hold the life blood in his veins, his fingers clamped, vise-like, about his own arm. Bram Forest's arm blurred up, down, to either side. He wove a web of death. It was brawn against skill, he knew—and the strength of his arm might win! Retoc was sweating. Retoc was not the cool swordsman he had been moments before. Desperately, Retoc sought an opening, and found none. True, his superior footwork was forcing Bram Forest back across the sand, but what did that matter? Last time they dueled he had made the mistake of meeting Retoc on his own grounds as greatest swordsman of Tarth. This time.... His legs caught against something. He fell heavily. Retoc's sword-point flashed down. Bram Forest rolled over, stood up with sand blinding his eyes. For precious moments he could see nothing but could only spin with the whip-sword; slashing air in all directions, hoping Retoc couldn't strike through the wall of steel. Then, slowly, vision returned to his stinging eyes. Bontarc lay stretched out on the sand now, unconscious, the blood pumping from his severed artery. If he bled like that for more than a few moments, he would die. If he died, and if Nadia rose in its wrath against Abaria, then all that Bram Forest had dreamed of, not revenge against Abaria for a wrong done, but eternal peace on Tarth, would be lost.... He took the offensive, weaving his wall of steel toward Retoc. The Abarian thrust his own sword, and withdrew it, and parried, and lunged and thrust again. The wall of steel which was Bram Forest's singing blade advanced relentlessly. Round and round his head, Bram Forest whirled the whip-sword. Retoc could—just—block the motion, the death-laden circle, with his own blade. He became accustomed to it. He used all his effort, all his skill to block it. Then, abruptly, Bram Forest raised his sword-arm and brought it down from high over his head. Retoc screamed. And died screaming, his head and torso split from crown to navel. Bram Forest rushed to Bontarc, stretched out on the sand, and with his own hand stemmed the bleeding. Bylanus the Golden Ape said: "All Tarth is yours to command if you wish it, Bram Forest." "No, Bylanus. Take your people back to your world and live in peace. We of Tarth thank you." Bylanus smiled. "I thought you would say that." "Portox was a great scientist," Bram Forest said. "But he thought too much of revenge. The ancient wrong is righted." "Then you'll spare Abaria?" gasped the delegate of the assembled Tarthian nobles, who had come to the meeting called by Bylanus that night. "My fight was with Retoc and the Abarian army. Retoc is dead, the army decimated and disbanded. My fight with Abaria is over." "Then what will you do?" Bram Forest took Ylia's hand. "I'd like to see a great nation rise again on the Plains of Ofrid." Bontarc, his arm bandaged, said: "My people will help you build. And, with your wayfarers as a nucleus maid Ylia...." "It will be a small nation at first," Ylia said. "It will grow, so long as Tarth knows peace," Bontarc told her. "Tarth will know nothing but peace from now on," Bram Forest promised. It was a promise which he knew all of them would keep. <h3>THE END</h3> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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