Chapter 13: Captured!

Pete clawed his way up from a dream where he fought with scaled dragons, back and forth across heaps of crimson gems. A scaled hand clutched at him, and he fought to throw it off...

"Pete! Pete, wake up!" Why did his head hurt so! Then, he remembered...

The fort! It had fallen. Fallen to Pleorran's catapults, and to the rushing waters that had fallen in torrents from the storm clouds, finishing what the bombardment had begun. He remembered the ceiling caving in, and trying to reach Nancy.

"Nancy?" His voice was a feeble croak. He tried calling again. "Nancy!"

There was a rustle of movement as a gentle hand helped him to lift his head. He looked about, then stifled a groan. Slimy moisture dripped down gray stone walls. Rain drummed on the wooden roof. Somewhere in the mists, a pouched reptilian throat bellowed defiance at the cloudy skies. Amy held a clay mug of water to his parched lips.

"Nancy! Where's Nancy?" His voice was clearer, and he blinked his eyes, trying to see in the gloom of the windowless hut. The two of them were alone.

"I don't know." She gave it to him straight. "I was blindfolded most of the way, while Pleorran's soldiers were bringing us here. I didn't hear them say anything about the others. They may have gotten away."

"Sure. And they may have sprouted wings and flown away, too." He sat up, feeling stronger. "No, you're right. We have to believe that they made it out of the fort. Do you have any idea where we are? Other than out in the swamps, I mean?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." She waved a hand at their surroundings. The room they were in was only about six feet by eight, with a low, sloping ceiling. Wherever they were, this place had never been built by Thantans. "Maybe the village that KeeBar told us about, where Pleorran's been hiding out. As near as I could tell, the last part of the march that brought us here was headed about due south, but I don't know how far we came."

They were interrupted by the opening of their cell door, pushed open by two burly lizardmen of somewhat less than average height.

"You come," he was told by the taller of the two. "Bring woman."

"Gladly," Pete answered. "Who are you? What place is this?"

"UlGlat," was the stolid reply. "Village Ul. We take you to Greatest Great One."

They were escorted to a building of rough stone and raggedly hewn timber that towered over the surrounding huts. A wide door swung open, and they entered a room that took up most of the spacious interior. The wan daylight that filtered in through high openings was aided somewhat by smoky torches. Their flaring light highlighted the impossibly huge bulk of the largest Thantan that Pete had ever seen. He must have been fully half again as tall as Dron, and grossly fat. Age had dulled what scales he had left, the missing horny plates leaving whitish blotches on his warty hide.

"Ah, here are your companions," he told a tiny figure who stood just to one side of the improvised throne. To Pete's surprise, the voice was deep and rich, the expression of a vividly alive personality. "The ones who, you claim, hold the secret of reaching other worlds."

"The woman does." Steve Jordan's voice was a toneless as ever, calm and assured. Pete tensed his muscles, then fought down a blinding instant of rage, forcing himself to remain still. This wasn't the time, and there were too many guards around. His fingers ached to feel Steve's throat, and he bunched them into fists, making himself stand still. "The man knows nothing, but he can be a valuable worker."

"Then, perhaps we can reach a working agreement." Pleorran's great slitpupiled eyes held a flicker of secret amusement. "One which will be beneficial to all of us."

"And just what kind of an agreement could we reach with you," Amy inquired, artlessly, "the Emperor of a few scattered villages of Chosen Ones?"

"At least, you have spirit," Pleorran hooted softly, Thantan laughter. "I shall not speak of such things as fires that burn tender skin, of knives that cut and slash. Among such civilized persons as the four of us, there is little need for such crudities. I shall, instead, speak of hunger. Of beings who can eat only of food that they carry with them from their own homeland, wherever that may be. Another continent, a planet of another star, even another universe? It matters not, since I do not possess the means of going there and getting this food for you. Since unfortunate circumstances brought you here to be my most honored guests, I can only offer you all of the aid and assistance that I can muster. You need but ask. If it is at all possible, you shall have the means to build one of those portals my spies have told me about."

"And if we do this thing, then what?" Amy inquired softly.

"Why, then, you shall be allowed to step through your portal to whatever destination you may desire. I only ask that you leave your device behind, for the study of our experts."

"And just what would you do with it?" Pete challenged.

"I'll not dissemble. My life is very precious to me. I have lived long, and it is the will of the Six Elder Gods that I should live even longer. I would very much like to have a path open for my retreat, if my present campaign goes awry. Also, I rather like the idea of holding the keys to another entire world of my own. A world to rule as I see fit, peopled with subjects of my own choice. This portal could also be used in my war, to transport soldiers from one spot to another."

"I don't think that we need to worry about the uses to which a portal in your hands would be put," Amy answered calmly, before Pete could protest. "There is little hope that we could construct one large enough to accommodate you. You simply cannot supply us with the proper materials."

"You underestimate me, my small friends." He brought his huge, bluntclawed hands together with a meaty smack. An inner door swung open, and a parade of lizardmen trooped in. They carried rolls of gold, silver, and copper wire, plates and rods of precious and semiprecious metals, and jars of fuming chemicals. Others carried welloiled scraps and fragments of iron, already dusted with flecks of rust in the damp air of the swamps. "Here is all that you will need, along with all that was salvaged from your earlier attempt. Did I not say that I would provide? And, here is the last thing that you must have, to make a portal which will allow me to pass."

He reached down beside the pedestal on which he crouched, bringing up a heavy chest of whitish wood bound with broad metal straps. Opening it, he disclosed several fistsized blackish lumps.

"You do not recognize it in its present form?" He hooted soft laughter. "These used to be the greatest treasure of the village Ul, pieces of Godmetal that fell from the sky. My agents found that they were precious indeed. They are iron! This is the largest hoard of iron in all of Thant, outside of the treasuries of the Planners themselves!"

Amy quietly walked forward, taking the largest lump from his talons. In her small hands it loomed much larger than it had in Pleorran's mighty fist, but still it could not have massed over two or three kilos.

"It is more than I expected, though less than I had hoped for," she told the obese monarch. "This will not make the portal enough larger for you to pass through."

"You aren't going to build this character a portal, are you?" Pete whispered to her in English, eyeing Steve's coldly confident smirk as he watched without speaking.

"Shush. I have a plan."

"There is no more iron," Pleorran rumbled angrily. "This must be enough. I command you to build a portal through which I may pass!"

"If you get me more iron, it can be done," was Amy's implacable reply. "This is not enough. I shall also need a dry place in which to work, and the help of skilled workers in metals."

Pleorran roared orders. Thantans and villagers rushed to obey, carrying materials and equipment from Pleorran's 'palace' to another, lower building on the crest of a nearby hummock. When all was ready, Pleorran himself escorted them there. The building was lowceilinged, with barely room beneath its roof beams for Pleorran to stand erect. Work benches lined its walls, and several forges were already fired up. Amy found herself presiding over a roomful of eager, if uneasy, Thantans and Chosen Ones.

"Here is your workingplace," Pleorran told them. "You have only to ask, and whatever you need shall be given to you, so long as it is within my power to do so."

"How about food?" Pete glowered at Steve, who stood behind the Emperor and a little to one side. "That one has food, or I'm very much mistaken."

"You will dine when you have finished with your task." Pleorran's voice was suddenly harsh. "This small 'Zhorddan' person is an honored ambassador from his government to mine. When you have finished building me my portal, I shall be ready to treat with his government as an equal, one holding the secret of travel between worlds."

Flanked by watchful guards, Pleorran turned and left. While Amy inspected their workshop, Pete stood and glowered at Steve.

"Well, Steve," he finally spoke, eyeing the guards that were keeping a watchful eye on all that went on. "How does it feel to be an 'honored ambassador'? Is that anything like a being traitor?"

"A traitor? A traitor to whom? As far as I can see, Pleorran is the only one I know of who has any kind of a claim to being the rightful ruler of Thant. All right, so he was overthrown by the Council of Planners. And what are they? Nothing but a bunch of Communists, out to gain power for themselves. I know what my government would want me to do, and that is to support Pleorran's claim to the throne of Thant."

"And what of our friends? What happened to Nancy? To Pete and Lyssa? What of Dron, and his men? And what of Dan, murdered by Pleorran's followers?"