Chapter XIII: The Fight in the Crater

Grandon groped his way to the Olban airship in the pitchy darkness. While it was yet light, he had noticed that the side door of the domelike cab stood open, and he made up his mind to enter and explore the interior, although he had small hope of being able to run it.

A brilliant flash from the volcano, reflected by the clouds, the boiling water, and the crystal dome, showed him his objective. He entered the cab and closed the door.

Moving his hands carefully about the interior, he felt two cushioned seats and a number of handles, levers and buttons. At random, he pressed a small button, whereupon a tiny light cast its radiance down on him from the top of the dome.

For a moment he was bewildered by the imposing array of levers, handles and buttons. Then, to his delight, he saw that each was marked in the simple phonetic characters of the universal language which had been taught him by Vorn Vangal.

He seized a lever marked "Cab Control" and moved it to the left. Immediately the cab revolved to the right, sliding smoothly and noiselessly. He pressed downward on the lever and the cab slanted backward. Being in the form of a perfect sphere it could not only be turned from side to side, but could be tilted forward or backward in its socket. Upon his straightening the lever, the cab resumed its original position.

The advantage of such an arrangement was obvious. From the front of the craft, to right and left, projected two guns labeled "mattork." The mattorks were weapons similar in construction to torks, but much larger, and firing projectiles of far heavier caliber. Another projected through the keel. By a touch of the cab control lever these mattorks could be trained on an enemy in any position.

Grandon loaded one mattork with explosive metal bullets and the other with deadly glass bullets. The keel-mattork was already loaded with explosive metal bullets. What a battle he would give the accursed grampites in the morning! If he could only solve the secret of flying the strange craft, he would make a night raid, but he had nothing to guide him except the parting meager explanation of Vorn Vangal that Olban airships were moved by a mechanism which amplified telekinesis, the force inherent in will-power.

Constant thoughts of Vernia dominated his mind. His reason told him that she must be dead, that she had probably been killed many hours before, but despite this, hope persisted--a slender hope born of an overpowering desire--a hope that no amount of reason could overcome without irrefutable confirmation.

As he hoped, he wished intensely--earnestly. Then suddenly his wish bore fruit, for the airship began slowly to rise from the ground.

He had once listened, with scant attention, to a lecture by a noted psychologist. He recalled dimly the assertion that every living human being is endowed at birth with all the potential powers of the subjective mind, but that few develop such powers to any appreciable extent.

So it was with Grandon. He had unconsciously mastered the power of telekinesis after a fashion, but he needed practice to develop and perfect it. Before making for the mountain he sailed about in the air for a considerable time, practicing the turning, elevating, and lowering of his craft by purely mental control. At length, feeling that he was master of the airship, he made for the mountain peak.

* * * * *

Very cautiously he made a landing on the outer rim of the crater, then crept to the top to reconnoiter. As he peered over the brink a sight greeted his eyes which, prepared though he was for something of the sort, caused him to gasp in horror.

It was as if the most terrifying dreams of Milton and Dante had been fused into one to form the fearful reality before him, for there in the blood-red glow of the molten lava, swarmed countless thousands of the demoniac inhabitants of this planetary inferno, croaking hoarsely to each other as they moved about on the ledges or fluttered from place to place. Mingled with the noises made by the grampites in the bedlam of sounds that came up to him, were the piteous bleating and cries of countless animals in the pits.

Directly beneath him, a huge grampite emerged from a cave and heaved a human body far out into the fiery lake. He recognized the uniform of the Olban officer who had been captured at the side of the airship a few hours before.

Horrified and enraged, Grandon walked stealthily around the edge of the pit, hoping to find some path by which he might make his way, unnoticed, to the ledges beneath. Were it not for that faint ray of hope that Vernia might still be alive, he would have returned to his craft and raked the ledges with the deadly fire of the mattorks, but as it was, he would have chosen to explore every cave unarmed, rather than imperil her life by gunfire.

He had gone perhaps a third of the way around the mountain top when he heard a scream of terror, followed by another and another. It was the voice he had heard on the river bank two nights before, the voice of Vernia.

Startled to instant action, Grandon scrambled and slid precipitately down to the top ledge, leaped the ten feet to the second and a like distance to the third, and ran directly to the pit from which the sounds emanated. Twelve feet down he saw Vernia struggling in the clutches of her captor, while the two terrified little animals hugged the wall. In an instant he was at her side. A stroke of his keen blade severed the bony arm that gripped her, and another sent the gory head of the monster rolling on the floor.

"Come," he said, "we must get out of here at once."

"But how?" she asked. "The walls are as smooth as glass. I'm afraid escape from this pit is impossible. If we could fly--"

Her words were cut short by a terrific onslaught from above. Grandon had been seen descending the terraces and a general alarm had been sounded. The first attacker was the ugly she-grampite whose mate had just been slain. As the keen blade ripped her belly she fell to the floor.

With his back to the wall and the girl crouching at his side, Grandon fought desperately with sword and knife. Again and again his blade drank blood, as his hideous adversaries swooped down upon him. The pile of carcasses before him grew breast high before he realized that they were likely to be smothered beneath them. Calling to the girl to follow, he leaped atop the pile of his dead enemies, and fought from that position. After that he constantly shifted from side to side, while the pit continued to fill with his slain assailants, who came on in increasing numbers, recklessly disregarding the fate of their companions.

Torn and bleeding from many wounds, he at length stood with head and shoulders above the edge of the pit. This left him open to attack from the rear, and forced him to adopt new tactics. Bringing his tork into play, he sent a spray of bullets about him in a circle, temporarily demoralizing the attackers. The slight respite gave him time to assist Vernia from the pit, and together they ran into the cave where she had been appraised by the ghoulish mate of her captor.

* * * * *

They found a narrow passageway at the back of the cave, and groped their way in the pitchy blackness for some distance before they came to another narrow gallery crossing it at right angles. Soon they were in a veritable labyrinth of caves and galleries, leading farther and farther into the mountain. All about them sounded the croaks of the pursuing grampites, and it was only by the utmost strategy that they avoided detection.

They had wandered for more than an hour in the subterranean maze when a narrow-lighted opening appeared ahead. Very cautiously Grandon led the way toward this opening, hoping it would offer an avenue of escape. When they were within a short distance of it, he went ahead alone to reconnoiter. A moment later he returned, enjoining the utmost silence to his companion, and together they tiptoed forward.

They were at the rear door of a cave similar to the one through which they had entered the mountain, but considerably larger. For the first time Vernia saw a grampite family in repose. There were twelve individuals in the family group, the huge male, his mate, six tiny specimens on which the down had just begun to appear, and four about half grown, all hanging upside down by their sharp, curved toenails, which were hooked in crevices in the wall. The father of the family hung near the cave mouth, the mother depended from one side with the six members of her latest litter beside her, and the half grown offsprings occupied positions on the opposite wall.

It was a most singular sight, even in this land of weird creatures, but Grandon and Vernia had no time for leisurely sight-seeing. Already the sounds of pursuit were growing louder behind them.

"Come," he whispered. "I believe we can get out without disturbing them. If they waken I will use the tork."

Very quietly, they made their way toward the cave mouth. When they reached the center of the floor the male grampite stirred uneasily, and Grandon held his weapon in readiness, but the creature merely stretched one wing a bit, then folded it and resumed his slumber. A moment later they stood on the topmost ledge with fifteen feet of steep crater wall to negotiate before they could reach the rim.

They succeeded in clambering to the top, unobserved, and to his inestimable relief, Grandon sighted the glistening dome of the Olban airship only a hundred yards from where they emerged.

Vernia's eyes were wide with amazement as he opened the door of the cab and seated her on the cushions.

"An Olban airship!" she gasped. "Where did you get it? Why, I thought only trained Olban officers could run them."

While she spoke they were mounting high in the air. She turned and looked him squarely in the eyes.

"Grandon of Terra," she exclaimed, "have you deceived me? Are you of Olba?"

He related how he had acquired the airship, and she shuddered as he told of the death of the two officers who had brought it thither.

"As for deceiving you, my princess," he concluded, "I should sooner tear out my right eye."

She laid her hand gently on his arm.

"It makes me very happy to hear you say that," she whispered.

He thrilled at her touch and words, but did not turn his head. Had he seen her eyes at that moment--But he didn't. There was grim purpose in his glance as he examined the mattorks. The craft was now poised far above the glowing crater.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to teach those devils a lesson they will not soon forget," he replied. "The ship of the two men they murdered will now wreak vengeance on them."

They descended swiftly until the airship was on a level with the topmost ledge. Grandon pulled the cab control lever, until both mattorks were trained over the side, then circled the crater and poured a deadly fusillade among the bewildered grampites. Soon the air was black with the creatures, dozens of whom attacked the craft, but without success. They struck at it again and again with their sharp claws and, finding this attempt unavailing, a number of them swarmed on the deck and endeavored to get at the inmates of the cab.

"Give me your tork," said Vernia.

He unbuckled his belt and handed her the weapon. She opened the door a little way and soon cleared the deck of enemies. Then, while Grandon raked ledge after ledge with the death-dealing fire of the mattorks, she shot down those of the flying attackers who came within range. Most of them fell into the fiery lake, and soon the air was filled with the sickening stench of scorched flesh and hair.

* * * * *

For more than an hour they circled the crater, at the end of which time not a living grampite was in sight. The ledges were strewn with thousands of carcasses, and the lake of lava was sending up black clouds of nauseating smoke as it consumed those brought down by the tork. Grandon estimated that at least two-thirds of the hideous population of that crater had been exterminated. The others had been driven to cover, and would probably not emerge while the airship was in sight.

The avenging craft again rose high above the mountain.

"Now to return you to Reabon," said Grandon. "Can you tell me which way it lies from here?"

"As I recall it, this place lies across the Azpok ocean, directly south of Reabon. If you will steer due north, we should be able to arrive on ground that will be familiar to me, and we can then easily make our way to the capital."

Grandon examined the Olban compass, which hung suspended by a tiny wire in the front of the cab.

"I presume that, as in my own world, the compass always points toward the north," he said.

"It should," replied Vernia, "unless deflected by some counter magnetic attraction."

Grandon set his course accordingly, traveling swiftly at a height of approximately two thousand feet.

They would probably have landed safely in Reabon had it not been for one fact, of which neither was cognizant. In his haste to be off, Grandon did not notice that the compass pointed continually toward the front of the craft. The counter-attraction of which Vernia had hinted was an actuality, for the mechanism which moved the airship was highly magnetic. A powerful magnet had been placed behind the cab to offset the pull of the mechanism in front, but this had been broken off during the battle with the grampites. As the ship happened to be pointed to the west when Grandon set his course, they were traveling in that direction in the belief that they should reach Reabon by morning, blissfully ignorant of the dangers which lay ahead of them.

The ship was amply stored with provisions and water, and they ate their first food in nearly twenty-four hours while hurtling through space at a terrific rate of speed.

"Try to go to sleep now," said Grandon, gently, when they had finished. "In a few hours you will be safely home in your imperial palace, and I will return to my faithful mountaineers. Then we can continue our war whenever it pleases you to move against Uxpo."

"What if I should not choose to move against Uxpo?"

"You would save the useless waste of thousands of human lives, and thereby place me eternally in your debt."

"You have already put me under an obligation to you for which my entire empire would not be sufficient recompense. Since you will not accept the second highest office in Zarovia, I have decided to free Uxpo. We shall be neighbors and, I hope, friends."

"In the name of the people of Uxpo I thank you for your generous decision, and--"

He was interrupted by a series of rude shocks and a rending crash as they came to a complete standstill. Both were thrown violently against the front of the cab. Grandon struck his head on the butt of a mattork and lost consciousness. Vernia was more fortunate, as she fell feet foremost, although her ankle received a bad wrench.

When she saw Grandon's face, pale as death, and the blood flowing from an ugly cut on his forehead, an agonized cry came from her lips. She flung herself down beside him and took his head in her lap. To her utter relief, she heard the beating of his heart when she placed her ear to his breast. Opening one of the provision drawers, she extracted a flask of water therefrom and bathed his face.

Presently he opened his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked. "What struck us?"

"I do not know," she replied. "Lie quietly while I dress your wound. Then we will investigate."