The planet of peril
injured jaw the while as if fearful that it would come off completely
with other than gentle handling.
"Slaves," said Grandon suddenly, taking the hand of Vernia, "you have
offered unspeakable insults to the greatest, the noblest and the most
beautiful princess in all Zarovia. Ask her pardon now, for your lives
are in her hands."
To a man they groveled before her.
Vernia looked up into the flashing eye of her champion.
"I would pardon them all, Robert Grandon," she said, "for they know
nothing of the ethics of men, but have rather been bred and trained
like domestic animals."
"You have heard her generous verdict, slaves," said Grandon. "Rise,
now, and attend what I have to say to you. I take it that you would
prefer freedom to slavery."
"We desire freedom above all things, mighty Albine," replied Oro,
who had taken a place at the head of the men, "but the sabits are
all-powerful and may not be overcome by ordinary mortals."
"I am no Albine," continued the Earth-man. "Call me Grandon of Terra.
What I have done to yonder sabits, you can do to others of their kind.
All you need is weapons and armor. These I will provide if you will
follow me and acknowledge my leadership."
"I am called Oro the Mighty," the huge marsh-man answered, "yet
do I consider myself weak and puny in comparison to you. I gladly
acknowledge your leadership."
"And I! And I! And I!" echoed the others with enthusiasm.
"Then follow me and I will make sabit killers of you all."
* * * * *
Grandon led the way toward the gate when he heard a cry behind them.
Turning, he beheld Tholto striving weakly to rise.
"Mercy," he cried. "Have mercy, noble Grandon of Terra. Leave me not
here to be torn to pieces by sabits and fed to the fantas."
Grandon turned inquiring eyes to Vernia.
"He is the most grievous offender of them all," she said, "yet will I
pardon him because of his ignorance."
Motioning two of the men to assist Tholto, Grandon ordered the others
to bring as many torches as they could find, but carried only one
lighted, and hooded it with a food sack in order that it might not be
seen by the sabits.
When all was ready he led them to the mouth of the rodent burrow,
enjoining absolute silence on the way. He was the first to enter,
with flash light and sword in his hands as before. Vernia came next,
clutching his ankle, and after her came Oro and the others. When they
had concluded the tortuous descent and all were standing in the long
corridor he ordered that three more torches be lighted and immediately
set about the work of outfitting his men with armor and weapons.
No suit of Albine armor small enough for Vernia could be found, but the
smallest one available was made to serve the purpose by telescoping it
at the waist and fastening it with strips torn from the sack. These
sacks were made from the exceedingly tough cocoons spun and eventually
discarded by the fantas, and were not only strong and durable, but
waterproof as well.
The little army, marching on into the great central room, torchlight
glinting from jeweled plates and spears and axes held aloft, looked
like reincarnated Albine warriors returned to their ancient haunts.
Grandon assembled his small command near the bubbling fountain and
addressed them:
"I brought you here with the agreement that I'd free you from the
sabits. I had a further plan--to start a movement to free every human
slave and make slaves of the sabits that survive! First we will conquer
the white sabits, for they are the most powerful. We can attack them
from within their own stronghold. On the wall here is a picture of the
way the Albines captured sabit rulers, and enslaved their followers.
Five men search the passageways and chambers for fetters and chains
like those illustrated. Five men will remain here under the command of
the princess. The rest will go with me. We must act quickly, for the
night is three-fourths gone, and with daylight the sabits will be astir
and our difficulties will be great."
Oro and four other men were detailed to search the passageways
and, after five men had been selected for Vernia, Grandon led the
others along the passageway through which he had first entered the
subterranean chambers. On the way he collected a number of spears from
the silent guardsmen.
With the assistance of his men he cut notches in the handles of four
spears, chopped several others into shorter pieces, and with strips of
the food sack for fastenings, constructed a serviceable ladder to reach
the hole through which he had fallen.
He stationed three men at the foot of the ladder, instructing them as
to their duties, and led the others up into the fungi storage room
where he found things as he had left them. Very quietly they made their
way to the dormitories where two hundred slaves were quartered, one
man being left at the top of the ladder and another stationed at the
entrance to the storage room.
Two soldiers sabits were on guard without the main entrance to the
dormitories. Grandon quietly stationed four of his men within and then
began the business of awakening the slaves and sending them into the
chamber below where three men waited to outfit them with armor and
weapons and instruct them as to the correct method for dispatching
sabits.
* * * * *
At dawn, just as the last of the men had been sent below, the sabit
guards entered for the purpose of arousing the slaves. One was cut
down and literally hacked to pieces as he came in the doorway, but
the other, seeing the fate of its companion, made a lucky escape, and
warned the community.
Grandon now had an army of two hundred and twenty-three men, more
than enough to guard the doorways of the structure. Though the sabits
attacked desperately all morning long, he succeeded in keeping them at
bay.
It was nearly mid-day before Oro reported to his commander. He did not
arrive empty-handed, however, as his men staggered under the weight of
four sets of sabit fetters. They had found many new wonders in their
explorations of the subterranean passageways; great dining halls,
barracks for soldiers, kitchens with cooking utensils and fireplaces,
treasure vaults filled with jewels and precious metals, armories with
weapons, armor and strange engines of war, bedrooms with grotesque but
artistically constructed sleeping shelves and furniture, and a great
throne room decorated in barbaric magnificence.
Grandon was greatly interested by Oro's account of their discoveries
and anxious to see them himself, but he had stern business at hand that
would brook no waiting.
The structure in which the king and queen sabits of the white community
were quartered had but one entrance on the ground floor; there were,
however, four runways connecting with its underground level which
branched out at right angles, leading to other buildings of the
community. His first problem, therefore, was to block these runways
with warriors, thus cutting off the sabit rulers from these avenues of
escape.
One of the four runways led directly under the dormitory and storeroom
building occupied by Grandon and his men. This was already blocked with
armed guards who had seen considerable desultory fighting as the sabits
made intermittent attacks.
Another runway led to the sleeping quarters of the women and children
in connection with which there was another storeroom. The third led to
the building in which the women sorted sabit eggs and cared for the
young fantas, while the fourth connected with the building in which the
men looked after the larger fantas.
Sabit soldiers and workers used the last-named building for sleeping
quarters, as well as the central structure. The green creatures were
kept in the upper levels of the great central building, for the
sabits had learned by experience that they died in great numbers when
quartered on the ground or under it. The mating pens, as in other sabit
communities, were kept entirely separate from the rest of the buildings.
Leaving fifty men to guard the building which was in their possession,
Grandon sallied forth at the head of his army. With Oro the Mighty on
his right, and Tholto on his left, he fought at the head of his men for
more than an hour before the attacking sabits gave way. These retreated
to the central building, but Grandon was not ready to attack this. The
women's quarters were stormed and captured in a relatively short time.
Leaving a guard of twenty-five armored men here, they attacked the
building in which the women worked. Here they met with desperate
resistance, and when finally they broke into it, found that the sabits
had transported all eggs and young fantas to the central building.
After leaving twenty-five men to guard this building, they attacked
the one in which the larger fantas were kept, but found it deserted.
Evidently the sabits had anticipated this attack and removed their
young.
Another guard of twenty-five was posted at this point, and now, with
all avenues of escape blocked, they were ready to lay siege to the main
structure. After posting guards at the various points the army numbered
only ninety-eight men. With these he surrounded the structure, and
attempted to battle his way through the narrow doorway.
* * * * *
This, he soon found, would be a well-nigh endless task, for two soldier
sabits could hold back a regiment in this narrow place, and although
they were cut down time and again, others rushed in to take their
places so that if the process were kept up indefinitely several weeks
or a month might elapse before they could even set foot in the place.
"If we only had a cannon of some sort," thought Grandon. Then he
remembered the airship and the mattorks. Leaving Oro in charge of the
besiegers with instructions to keep up the attack on the entrance, he
took a dozen men and made for the tree in which the craft was jammed.
While six of the men stood guard at the foot of the tree, he and the
other six removed their armor and climbed up the rough bark.
They found the craft apparently undisturbed. With the aid of tools
which he took from one of the drawers in the cab, he removed the three
mattorks and, binding each to a man with a strip of sacking, he bade
them convey them to the ground. He and the others followed with the
ammunition, tools, searchlights, and whatever else looked useful. After
donning their armor they returned to the attack.
As his men were unskilled in the use of the mattork, Grandon mounted
only one weapon. Then he recalled his men from the doorway and began
the bombardment, using explosive metal bullets. So great was the power
of these missiles that only a few shots were required to enlarge the
opening to the size of a dozen doorways and at the same time clear the
surrounding space of sabits.
Grandon knew that the quarters of the queen and king sabits were in a
central chamber on the ground floor, and that four walls intervened
between this chamber which was reached by winding passageways, and the
outer opening. Moving his mattork closer, he shot down the second,
third and fourth walls, while his warriors kept the sabits back on both
sides.
Then he led a swift charge on the rulers of the white sabits, followed
by Oro and the men who carried the manacles.
It was here that he learned a peculiar characteristic of the king
and queen sabits, for though the soldier and worker sabits retreated
when hard-pressed, the sabit rulers showed no disposition to do so.
They appeared to have a certain standard of royal dignity which they
punctiliously observed, and for which they seemed willing to sacrifice
their lives if need be. They struggled desperately but unavailingly