The planet of peril
At sight of Grandon and his fair companion the assembled fighting men
sent up a shout that dwarfed their previous clamor to insignificance.
A path was speedily cleared for the pair as they made their way toward
the throne. Bordeen and Joto rushed forward to greet them, followed by
Oro, Rotha and Tholto.
"I thought the Hahoe of Reabon had killed you," said Bordeen huskily,
tears of joy gleaming in his eyes. "We searched every dungeon and cell
without a trace."
"A hahoe slays not a warrior so easily," said Joto, smiling broadly.
"The warrior was fairly cornered by the hahoes when you came so
gallantly to the rescue," responded Grandon. "How did you learn of
our plight and how could you bring such a large army here without
imperiling your people? The sabits may attack them during your absence."
"It was Tholto told us of the plight of the princess," said Joto.
"We did not know that you had come here on the same mission as our
own until informed by the Traveks. Tholto traveled unarmed and alone
through the forests and the great salt marsh. There he built himself a
crude raft with which he navigated the underground river. I came near
beheading him before he convinced me that he was telling the truth. As
for the safety of our people, there is no more danger in the Valley of
the Sabits. Every sabit community has been subjugated and man rules
supreme. We lead indolent lives in Granterra, for our sabit slaves work
for us, hunt for us, and even fight for us. My only fear is that we may
degenerate through inactivity."
"And you," said Grandon, turning to Bordeen. "How came you to disobey
orders?"
The mighty commander flushed and stood for a moment at a loss for words.
"As soon as you had gone," Bordeen said, "I thought of the odds against
you and realized that your quest was hopeless. I called all the
captains in council and explained the situation. To a man they voted to
come to your rescue. We felt that, though we might not be able to reach
you, we might at least disconcert those within the castle sufficiently
to give you an opportunity for escape."
"You did nobly," said Grandon, his voice shaking with emotion, "yet my
heart bleeds for the gallant soldiers who have sacrificed their lives
to-day."
* * * * *
There was a sudden outcry from the direction of the throne. The wily
Destho, taking advantage of the fact that all eyes were riveted on
Grandon and Vernia, had broken from his guards and bolted for the door.
A dozen soldiers ran to intercept him, but to no purpose. He ran down
the hallway and disappeared from view around a corner.
Grandon, Bordeen and Tholto, in hot pursuit, were only a few seconds
behind him, yet when they turned the corner no one was in sight. The
hall was lined with doorways, and Grandon plunged into one while his
comrades entered the others. He found himself in an empty room, lighted
by a small window which stood open. Suddenly he heard the roar of a
motor vehicle in the yard outside and ran to the window. He shouted a
warning to the soldiers outside, but too late. The vehicle, gathering
momentum with every revolution of its huge single wheel, shot through
the gate and down the road before the astonished soldiers realized what
it was all about. They sent a volley of tork bullets and curses after
it as it disappeared around a curve in the road.
Calling his comrades, Grandon returned to where Vernia awaited them in
the throne room.
"We must hurry to Reabon at once," he said. "Destho has escaped."
"Did he take the proclamation with him?" asked Vernia.
Bordeen spoke up.
"He could not have taken the proclamation with him," he said, "because
we deprived him of all papers in his possession when he was made
prisoner. I have them with me now."
He produced a bundle of papers which Grandon scanned eagerly. They were
all letters from his spies and fellow conspirators. The proclamation
was not among them.
"Your searchers must have over-looked it," said Grandon, "for it is not
among these papers."
"That is possible, of course, but not probable," replied Bordeen. "He
was searched thoroughly."
"Perhaps he disposed of it in some other way," suggested Joto.
"We may be able to find out from some of his officers, if any of them
have been captured alive," said Grandon.
"Most of those left in the castle surrendered," Bordeen said. "Let us
see what they have to say."
A dozen of them were produced forthwith and questioned. All declared
that Destho had dispatched a messenger to the capital in a swift motor
vehicle shortly before the attack by the Traveks. It was understood
that the messenger was conveying an important document to Bonal, Prime
Minister of Reabon.
"Copies will have been made and distributed broadcast through the
empire by this time," said Bordeen. "What was the nature of the
proclamation? No doubt it favored Destho in some way or he would not
have rushed it to the capital."
Grandon ground his teeth.
"It favored Destho all right," he groaned, "for it made him Emperor of
Reabon and the husband of Vernia."
Joto laid his arm across Grandon's shoulders.
"My friend," he said gravely, "be not so downcast, I beg of you. Your
enemy has the proclamation, but you still have Vernia of Reabon, and an
army that is all but invincible. Let us march to Reabon at once."
Grandon turned to Vernia.
"With your permission," he said.
A smile overspread her face as she calmly replied:
"I will go with you. Let us start at once."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OUT OF THE SKY.
It was a picturesque procession that started for Reabon shortly after
midnight. Destho's two-score motor vehicles and a number of carts had
been pressed into use. All were equipped with bright searchlights, fore
and aft, that lighted the road and reflected brilliantly from the armor
and weapons of the marching men.
Grandon rode in the lead with Bordeen and Joto, commanders of the two
armies that had won a bloody victory only to have it turned to apparent
defeat by the laws of the empire. Princess Vernia and Rotha followed in
the car immediately behind them.
The Earth-man rode in moody silence, nor did his two companions
interrupt his thoughts. Bordeen, rough warrior though he was,
understood and was silent, while Joto had lost his customary smile.
As the motors were throttled down to conform to the speed of the
marching men, their progress was quite slow. Morning found them a good
half day's march from the capital.
Grandon was startled by a sudden cry from the driver. At the same time
their vehicle came to a full stop, and shouts of wonder and alarm
echoed from without.
Believing they had been attacked, he drew his scarbo, and leaped from
the car. To his surprise he beheld a huge ball, more than fifty feet in
diameter, blocking the road. Many of the soldiers as well as occupants
of the other cars were running toward it.
"What is that thing?" he asked a young Travek.
"I do not know, your majesty," the man replied. "They who first saw it
say it fell from the sky."
Grandon approached the globe and examined it curiously. It appeared
to be constructed of a material similar to asbestos, held in place by
a network of steel wires. Near the center of the side he faced was a
circle of metal, apparently aluminum, studded with bolts. Suddenly the
circle began to turn. A murmur of surprise went up from the watchers.
The thing revolved quite slowly at first, gradually gaining momentum.
Grandon noticed that with each revolution it projected farther from the
sphere than before.
Vernia came up behind him, followed by Rotha.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I don't know," replied Grandon. "It may be some new implement of war.
You had best go back in your car until we find out."
She complied quite meekly, he thought. He turned to the assembled
soldiers.
"Back. Stand back," Grandon warned them. "This thing may explode and
blow you all up."
After ordering men and vehicles back a distance of a hundred yards, he
approached the thing alone. A screwlike cylinder now projected from the
globe for more than five feet.
He could plainly see the threaded sides as it hung there, twenty-five
feet above his head. Suddenly it fell forward with a loud click and
hung suspended by a thick hinge, disclosing a dark hole. From this
hole a ladder of flexible steel cable suddenly dropped, one end nearly
touching the ground.
The figure of a man appeared in the opening, a figure incased from head
to foot in a suit of rubber similar to that worn by deep sea divers.
The headpiece was of metal with glass eyeholes, and a square box was
fastened on the back like a knapsack.
* * * * *
Grandon was mystified. Everything about the sphere, from the
craftsmanship of the metal cylinder to the diving suit, reminded him of
Earth. Could this be a creature from his own planet?
The man above him appeared to survey him for a moment through the glass
eyeholes--then turned and descended the swaying ladder. When he reached
the ground he turned once more and looked at Grandon. Then he reached
up and unscrewed the globular headpiece.
It was when he removed it that the Earth-man had a bigger surprise than
at any time since his sojourn in Zarovia. He recognized the bulging
forehead, the thick, shaggy brows, and the bearded features of the
terrestrial scientist, Dr. Morgan!
The man of science advanced smiling, with his right hand extended and
his helmet tucked under his left arm.
"How are you, my boy?" he asked cordially, in English. The familiar
tongue sounded welcome in Robert Grandon's ears.
Grandon took the extended hand, and there was no doubt of its reality
as the sinewy fingers gripped his.
"Dr. Morgan," he gasped. "How in blazes did you get here?"
A gleam of triumph shone in the eyes of the doctor.
"I have solved the problem of physical interplanetary navigation, and
have come to keep my promise to take you back to Earth," he said.
"Suppose we climb into that vehicle of yours and I'll tell you about it
while we ride to Reabon."
"We'll have to get your sphere out of the way first," replied Grandon.
"The road is blocked."
"Don't worry about that," answered the doctor. "Watch."
Even as he spoke the huge globe moved upward from its resting place and
hovered a hundred feet above their heads.
"Ah. So you have a chauffeur for the thing."
"Positively not. I came alone."
"Then how--"
Grandon was interrupted by a cry from several of the men and saw that
they were looking to the westward. Following the direction of their
startled glances, he was surprised to behold a huge fleet of Olban
airships bearing down on them. The ships were many times larger than
the little one-man craft in which he had last seen Vorn Vangal, or even
the two-man ship Grandon had used against the flying grampites; but
these airships were constructed on the same general principles. Each
airship had ten shining glass cabs and bristled with the burnished
barrels of mattorks, projecting fore and aft, on both sides and below.
The formidable-looking fleet, traveling almost with the speed of
mattork projectiles, came to a dead stop above them. Then one airship
descended to the spot where the globe of Dr. Morgan had rested a moment
before, and a set of aluminum stairs which had been telescoped on the
deck was elongated and flung over the side, reaching to the ground.
Two men descended: The foremost was clad in scarlet apparel, trimmed
with gold and glittering with precious jewels. His feet were incased in
sandals of the softest frella hide, and he wore a turbanlike headpiece,
also of scarlet ornamented with gold fringe, and set with an enormous