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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9dff581 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63521 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63521) diff --git a/old/63521-h.zip b/old/63521-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7a35594..0000000 --- a/old/63521-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63521-h/63521-h.htm b/old/63521-h/63521-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index aac120f..0000000 --- a/old/63521-h/63521-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1237 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Raiders of the Second Moon, by Gene Ellerman. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Raiders of the Second Moon, by Gene Ellerman - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Raiders of the Second Moon - -Author: Gene Ellerman - -Release Date: October 21, 2020 [EBook #63521] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAIDERS OF THE SECOND MOON *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Raiders of the Second Moon</h1> - -<h2>By GENE ELLERMAN</h2> - -<p>A strange destiny had erased Noork's memory,<br /> -and had brought him to this tiny world—to<br /> -write an end to his first existence.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Summer 1945.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Beyond earth swings that airless pocked mass of fused rock and gray -volcanic dust that we know as Luna. Of this our naked eyes assure us. -But of the smaller satellite, hidden forever from the mundane view by -Luna's bulk, we know little.</p> - -<p>Small is Sekk, that second moon, less than five hundred miles in -diameter, but the period of its revolution is thirty two hours, and its -meaner mass retains a breathable atmosphere. There is life on Sekk, -life that centers around the sunken star-shaped cavity where an oval -lake gleams softly in the depths. And the eleven radiating tips of the -starry abyss are valleys green with jungle growth.</p> - -<p>In one of those green valleys the white savage that the Vasads called -Noork squatted in the ample crotch of a jungle giant and watched the -trail forty feet below. For down there moved alertly a golden skinned -girl, her only weapons a puny polished bow of yellow wood and a -sheathed dagger.</p> - -<p>Sight of the girl's flowing brown hair and the graceful feminine -contours of her smooth-limbed body beneath its skin-halter and the -insignificant breech-clout, made his brow wrinkle with concentration. -Not forever had he lived in this jungle world of valleys and ragged -cliffs. Since he had learned the tongue of the hairy Vasads of forest, -and the tongue of their gold-skinned leader, Gurn, the renegade, he had -confirmed that belief.</p> - -<p>For a huge gleaming bird had carried him in its talons to the top of -the cliff above their valley and from the rock fire had risen to devour -the great bird. Somehow he had been flung clear and escaped the death -of the mysterious bird-thing. And in his delirium he had babbled the -words that caused the apish Vasads to name him Noork. Now he repeated -them aloud.</p> - -<p>"New York," he said, "good ol' New York."</p> - -<p>The girl heard. She looked upward fearfully, her rounded bare arm going -back to the bow slung across her shoulder. Swiftly she fitted an arrow -and stepped back against the friendly bole of a shaggy barked jungle -giant. Noork grinned.</p> - -<p>"Tako, woman," he greeted her.</p> - -<p>"Tako," she replied fearfully. "Who speaks to Tholon Sarna? Be you -hunter or escaped slave?"</p> - -<p>"A friend," said Noork simply. "It was I who killed the spotted <i>narl</i> -last night when it attacked you."</p> - -<p>Doubtfully the girl put away her bow. Her fingers, however, were never -far from the hilt of her hunting dagger.</p> - -<p>Noork swung outward from his perch, and then downward along the ladder -of limbs to her side. The girl exclaimed at his brown skin.</p> - -<p>"Your hair is the color of the sun!" she said. "Your garb is Vasad, yet -you speak the language of the true men." Her violet oddly slanting eyes -opened yet wider. "Who are you?"</p> - -<p>"I am Noork," the man told her. "For many days have I dwelt among the -wild Vasads of the jungle with their golden-skinned chief, Gurn, for -my friend."</p> - -<p>The girl impulsively took a step nearer. "Gurn!" she cried. "Is he tall -and strong? Has he a bracelet of golden discs linked together with -human hair? Does he talk with his own shadow when he thinks?"</p> - -<p>"That is Gurn," admitted Noork shortly. "He is also an exile from the -walled city of Grath. The city rulers call him a traitor. He has told -me the reason. Perhaps you know it as well?"</p> - -<p>"Indeed I do," cried Sarna. "My brother said that we should no longer -make slaves of the captured Zurans from the other valleys."</p> - -<p>Noork smiled. "I am glad he is your brother," he said simply.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The girl's eyes fell before his admiring gaze and warm blood flooded -into her rounded neck and lovely cheeks.</p> - -<p>"Brown-skinned one!" she cried with a stamp of her shapely little -sandalled foot. "I am displeased with the noises of your tongue. I will -listen to it no more."</p> - -<p>But her eyes gave the provocative lie to her words. This brown-skinned -giant with the sunlit hair was very attractive....</p> - -<p>The girl was still talking much later, as they walked together along -the game-trail. "When my captors were but one day's march from their -foul city of Bis the warriors of the city of Konto, through whose -fertile valley we had journeyed by night, fell upon the slavers.</p> - -<p>"And in the confusion of the attack five of us escaped. We returned -toward the valley of Grath, but to avoid the intervening valley where -our enemies, the men of Konto, lived, we swung close to the Lake of -Uzdon. And the Misty Ones from the Temple of the Skull trailed us. I -alone escaped."</p> - -<p>Noork lifted the short, broad-bladed sword that swung in its sheath -at his belt and let it drop back into place with a satisfying whisper -of flexible leather on steel. He looked toward the east where lay the -mysterious long lake of the Misty Ones.</p> - -<p>"Some day," he said reflectively, "I am going to visit the island of -the unseen evil beings who stole away your friends. Perhaps after I -have taken you to your brother's hidden village, and from there to -your city of Grath...." He smiled.</p> - -<p>The girl did not answer. His keen ears, now that he was no longer -speaking, caught the scuffing of feet into the jungle behind him. He -turned quickly to find the girl had vanished, and with an instinctive -reflex of motion he flung himself to one side into the dense wall of -the jungle. As it was the unseen club thudded down along his right arm, -numbing it so he felt nothing for some time.</p> - -<p>One armed as he was temporarily, and with an unseen foe to reckon with, -Noork awkwardly swung up into the comparative safety of the trees. Once -there, perched in the crotch of a mighty jungle monarch, he peered down -at the apparently empty stretch of sunken trail beneath.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>Noork</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Apparently there was no -stir of life along that leaf-shadowed way. And then he caught a glimpse -of blurring shadowy shapes, blotches of cottony mist that blended all -too well with the foliage. One of the things from the island in the -Lake of Uzdon moved, and he saw briefly the bottom of a foot dirtied -with the mud of the trail.</p> - -<p>Noork squinted. So the Misty Ones were not entirely invisible. Pain -was growing in his numbed arm now, but as it came so came strength. He -climbed further out on the great branch to where sticky and overripe -fruit hung heavy. With a grin he locked his legs upon the forking of -the great limb and filled his arms with fruit.</p> - -<p>A barrage of the juicy fruit blanketed the misty shapes. Stains spread -and grew. Patchy outlines took on a new color and sharpness. Noork -found that he was pelting a half-dozen hooded and robed creatures whose -arms and legs numbered the same as his own, and the last remnant of -superstitious fear instilled in his bruised brain by the shaggy Vasads -vanished.</p> - -<p>These Misty Ones were living breathing creatures like himself! They -were not gods, or demons, or even the ghostly servants of demons. He -strung his bow quickly, the short powerful bow that Gurn had given him, -and rained arrows down upon the cowering robed creatures.</p> - -<p>And the monsters fled. They fled down the trail or faded away into the -jungle. All but one of them. The arrow had pierced a vital portion of -this Misty One's body. He fell and moved no more.</p> - -<p>A moment later Noork was ripping the stained cloak and hood from the -fallen creature, curious to learn what ghastly brute-thing hid beneath -them. His lip curled at what he saw.</p> - -<p>The Misty One was almost like himself. His skin was not so golden as -that of the other men of Zuran, and his forehead was low and retreating -in a bestial fashion. Upon his body there was more hair, and his face -was made hideous with swollen colored scars that formed an irregular -design. He wore a sleeveless tunic of light green and his only weapons -were two long knives and a club.</p> - -<p>"So," said Noork, "the men of the island prey upon their own kind. And -the Temple of Uzdon in the lake is guarded by cowardly warriors like -this."</p> - -<p>Noork shrugged his shoulders and set off at a mile-devouring pace down -the game trail toward the lake where the Temple of the Skull and its -unseen guardians lay. Once he stopped at a leaf-choked pool to wash the -stains from the dead man's foggy robe.</p> - -<p>The jungle was thinning out. Noork's teeth flashed as he lifted the -drying fabric of the mantle and donned it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ud tasted the scent of a man and sluggishly rolled his bullet head from -shoulder to shoulder as he tried to catch sight of his ages-old enemy. -For between the hairy quarter-ton beast men of the jungles of Sekk and -the golden men of the valley cities who enslaved them there was eternal -war.</p> - -<p>A growl rumbled deep in the hairy half-man's chest. He could see no -enemy and yet the scent grew stronger with every breath.</p> - -<p>"You hunt too near the lake," called a voice. "The demons of the water -will trap you."</p> - -<p>Ud's great nostrils quivered. He tasted the odor of a friend mingled -with that of a strange Zuran. He squatted.</p> - -<p>"It's Noork," he grunted. "Why do I not see you?"</p> - -<p>"I have stolen the skin of a demon," answered the invisible man. "Go to -Gurn. Tell him to fear the demons no longer. Tell him the Misty Ones -can be trapped and skinned."</p> - -<p>"Why you want their skins?" Ud scratched his hairy gray skull.</p> - -<p>"Go to save Gurn's ..." and here Noork was stumped for words. "To save -his father's woman woman," he managed at last. "Father's woman woman -called Sarna."</p> - -<p>And the misty blob of nothingness was gone again, its goal now the -marshy lowlands that extended upward perhaps a thousand feet from the -jungle's ragged fringe to end at last in the muddy shallows of the Lake -of Uzdon.</p> - -<p>To Noork it seemed that all the world must be like these savage jungle -fastnesses of the twelve valleys and their central lake. He knew that -the giant bird had carried him from some other place that his battered -brain could not remember, but to him it seemed incredible that men -could live elsewhere than in a jungle valley.</p> - -<p>But Noork was wrong. The giant bird that he had ridden into the depths -of Sekk's fertile valleys had come from a far different world. And the -other bird, for which Noork had been searching when he came upon the -golden-skinned girl, was from another world also.</p> - -<p>The other bird had come from space several days before that of Noork, -the Vasads had told him, and it had landed somewhere within the land -of sunken valleys. Perhaps, thought Noork, the bird had come from the -same valley that had once been his home. He would find the bird and -perhaps then he could remember better who he had been.</p> - -<p>So it was, ironically enough, that Stephen Dietrich—whose memory was -gone completely—again took up the trail of Doctor Karl Von Mark, last -of the Axis criminals at large. The trail that had led the red-haired -young American flier from rebuilding Greece into Africa and the hidden -valley where Doctor Von Mark worked feverishly to restore the crumbled -structure of Nazidom, and then had sent him hurtling spaceward in the -second of the Doctor's crude space-ships was now drawing to an end. -The Doctor and the young American pilot were both trapped here on this -little blob of cosmic matter that hides beyond the Moon's cratered bulk.</p> - -<p>The Doctor's ship had landed safely on Sekk, the wily scientist -preferring the lesser gravity of this fertile world to that of the -lifeless Moon in the event that he returned again to Earth, but -Dietrich's spacer had crashed.</p> - -<p>Two words linked Noork with the past, the two words that the Vasads -had slurred into his name: New York. And the battered wrist watch, its -crystal and hands gone, were all that remained of his Earthly garb.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Noork paddled the long flat dugout strongly away from the twilight -shore toward the shadowy loom of the central island. Though he could -not remember ever having held a paddle before he handled the ungainly -blade well.</p> - -<p>After a time the clumsy prow of the craft rammed into a yielding -cushion of mud, and Noork pulled the dugout out of the water into the -roofing shelter of a clump of drooping trees growing at the water's -edge.</p> - -<p>Sword in hand he pushed inward from the shore and ended with a -smothered exclamation against an unseen wall. Trees grew close up to -the wall and a moment later he had climbed out along a horizontal -branch beyond the wall's top, and was lowering his body with the aid of -a braided leather rope to the ground beyond.</p> - -<p>He was in a cultivated field his feet and hands told him. And perhaps -half a mile away, faintly illumined by torches and red clots of -bonfires, towered a huge weathered white skull!</p> - -<p>Secure in the knowledge that he wore the invisible robes of a Misty -One he found a solitary tree growing within the wall and climbed to a -comfortable crotch. In less than a minute he was asleep.</p> - -<p>"The new slave," a rough voice cut across his slumber abruptly, "is the -daughter of Tholon Dist the merchant."</p> - -<p>Noork was fully awake now. They were speaking of Sarna. Her father's -name was Tholon Dist. It was early morning in the fields of the Misty -Ones and he could see the two golden-skinned slaves who talked together -beneath his tree.</p> - -<p>"That matters not to the priests of Uzdon," the slighter of the -two slaves, his hair almost white, said. "If she be chosen for the -sacrifice to great Uzdon her blood will stain the altar no redder than -another's."</p> - -<p>"But it is always the youngest and most beautiful," complained the -younger slave, "that the priests chose. I wish to mate with a beautiful -woman. Tholon Sarna is such a one."</p> - -<p>The old man chuckled dryly. "If your wife be plain," he said, "neither -master nor fellow slave will steal her love. A slave should choose a -good woman—and ugly, my son."</p> - -<p>"Some night," snarled the slave, "I'm going over the wall. Even the -Misty Ones will not catch me once I have crossed the lake."</p> - -<p>"Silence," hissed the white-haired man. "Such talk is madness. We are -safe here from wild animals. There are no spotted narls on the island -of Manak. The priests of most holy Uzdon, and their invisible minions, -are not unkind.</p> - -<p>"Get at your weeding of the field, Rold," he finished, "and I will -complete my checking of the gardens."</p> - -<p>Noork waited until the old man was gone before he descended from the -tree. He walked along the row until he reached the slave's bent back, -and he knew by the sudden tightening of the man's shoulder muscles -that his presence was known. He looked down and saw that his feet made -clear-cut depressions in the soft rich soil of the field.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Continue to work," he said to the young man. "Do not be too surprised -at what I am about to tell you, Rold." He paused and watched the golden -man's rather stupid face intently.</p> - -<p>"I am not a Misty One," Noork said. "I killed the owner of this strange -garment I wear yesterday on the mainland. I have come to rescue the -girl, Tholon Sarna, of whom you spoke."</p> - -<p>Rold's mouth hung open but his hard blunt fingers continued to work. -"The Misty Ones, then," he said slowly, "are not immortal demons!" He -nodded his long-haired head. "They are but men. They too can die."</p> - -<p>"If you will help me, Rold," said Noork, "to rescue the girl and escape -from the island I will take you along."</p> - -<p>Rold was slow in answering. He had been born on the island and yet his -people were from the valley city of Konto. He knew that they would -welcome the news that the Misty Ones were not demons. And the girl from -the enemy city of Grath was beautiful. Perhaps she would love him for -helping to rescue her and come willingly with him to Konto.</p> - -<p>"I will help you, stranger," he agreed.</p> - -<p>"Then tell me of the Skull, and of the priests, and of the prison where -Tholon Sarna is held."</p> - -<p>The slave's fingers flew. "All the young female slaves are caged -together in the pit beneath the Skull. When the sun is directly -overhead the High Priest will choose one of them for sacrifice to -mighty Uzdon, most potent of all gods. And with the dawning of the -next day the chosen one will be bound across the altar before great -Uzdon's image and her heart torn from her living breast." The slave's -mismatched eyes, one blue and the other brown, lifted from his work.</p> - -<p>"Tholon Sarna is in the pit beneath the Temple with the other female -slaves. And the Misty Ones stand guard over the entrance to the temple -pits."</p> - -<p>"It is enough," said Noork. "I will go to rescue her now. Be prepared -to join us as we return. I will have a robe for you if all goes well."</p> - -<p>"If you are captured," cried Rold nervously, "you will not tell them I -talked with you?"</p> - -<p>Noork laughed. "You never saw me," he told the slave.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The skull was a gigantic dome of shaped white stone. Where the -eye-sockets and gaping nose-hole should have been, black squares of -rock gave the illusion of vacancy. Slitted apertures that served for -windows circled the grisly whiteness of the temple's curving walls at -three distinct levels.</p> - -<p>Noork drifted slowly up the huge series of long bench-like steps -that led up to the gaping jaws of the Skull. He saw red and -purple-robed priests with nodding head-dresses of painted plumes and -feathers climbing and descending the stairs. Among them moved the -squatty gnarled shapes of burdened Vasads, their shaggy bowed legs -fettered together with heavy copper or bronze chains, and cringing -golden-skinned slaves slipped furtively through the press of the -brilliant-robed ones. The stale sweaty odor of the slaves and the beast -men mingled with the musky stench of the incense from the temple.</p> - -<p>Other misty blobs, the invisible guards of the ghastly temple, were -stationed at regular intervals across the great entrance into the -Skull's interior, but they paid Noork no heed. To them he was another -of their number.</p> - -<p>He moved swiftly to cross the wide stone-slabbed entry within the -jaws, and a moment later was looking down into a sunken bowl whose -rocky floor was a score of feet below where he stood. Now he saw the -central raised altar where the gleam of precious stones and cunningly -worked metal—gold, silver and brass—vied with the faded garish -colors of the draperies beneath it. And on the same dais there loomed -two beast-headed stone images, the lion-headed god a male and the -wolf-headed shape a female.</p> - -<p>These then were the two blood hungry deities that the men of Zura -worshipped—mighty Uzdon and his mate, Lornu!</p> - -<p>Noork joined the descending throng that walked slowly down the central -ramp toward the altar. As he searched for the entrance to the lower -pits his eyes took in the stone steps that led upward into the two -upper levels. Only priests and the vague shapelessness of the Misty -Ones climbed those steps. The upper levels, then, were forbidden to -the slaves and common citizens of the island.</p> - -<p>As he circled the curving inner wall a foul dank odor reached his -sensitive nostrils, and his eyes searched for its origin. He found it -there just before him, the opening that gave way to a descending flight -of clammy stone steps. He darted toward the door and from nowhere two -short swords rose to bar his way.</p> - -<p>"None are to pass save the priests," spoke a voice from nowhere -gruffly. "The High Priest knows that we of the temple guards covet the -most beautiful of the slave women, but we are not to see them until the -sacrifice is chosen."</p> - -<p>Noork moved backward a pace. He grumbled something inaudible and drew -his sword. Before him the two swords slowly drew aside.</p> - -<p>In that instant Noork attacked. His keen sword, whetted to razor -sharpness on abrasive bits of rock, bit through the hidden neck and -shoulder of the guard on his right hand, and with the same forward -impetus of attack he smashed into the body of the startled guard on his -left.</p> - -<p>His sword had wrenched from his hand as it jammed into the bony -structure of the decapitated Misty One's shoulder, and now both his -hands sought the throat of the guard. The unseen man's cry of warning -gurgled and died in his throat as Noork clamped his fingers shut upon -it, and his shortened sword stabbed at Noork's back.</p> - -<p>The struggle overbalanced them. They rolled over and over down the -shadowy stair, the stone smashing at their softer flesh unmercifully. -For a moment the battling men brought up with a jolt as the obstruction -of the first guard's corpse arrested their downward course, and then -they jolted and jarred onward again from blood-slippery step to -blood-slippery step.</p> - -<p>The sword clattered from the guardian Misty One's clutch and in the -same instant Noork's steel fingers snapped the neck of the other man -with a pistol-like report. The limp body beneath him struggled no more. -He sprang to his feet and became aware of a torch-lighted doorway but a -half-dozen paces further down along the descending shaft of steps.</p> - -<p>In a moment, he thought, the fellows of this guard would come charging -out, swords in hand. They could not have failed to hear the struggle -on the stairs of stone, he reasoned, for here the noise and confusion -of the upper temple was muted to a murmur.</p> - -<p>So it was that he ran quickly to the door, in his hand the sword that -had dropped from the dead man's fingers, and sprang inside, prepared to -battle there the Misty Ones, lest one escape to give the alarm.</p> - -<p>He looked about the narrow stone-walled room with puzzled eyes. Two -warriors lay on a pallet of straw, one of them emitting hideous -gurgling sounds that filled the little room with unpleasing echoes. -Noork grinned.</p> - -<p>From the floor beside the fatter of the two men, the guard who did not -snore, he took a club. Twice he struck and the gurgling sound changed -to a steady deep breathing. Noork knew that now the two guards would -not give the alarm for several hours. Thoughtfully he looked about the -room. There were several of the hooded cloaks hanging from pegs wedged -into the crevices of the chamber's wall, their outlines much plainer -here in the artificial light of the flickering torch.</p> - -<p>Noork shed his own blood-stained robe quickly and donned one of the -others. The cloaks were rather bulky and so he could carry but two -others, rolled up, beneath his own protective covering.</p> - -<p>The matter of his disguise thus taken care of he dragged the two bodies -from the stairway and hid them beneath their own fouled robes in the -chamber of the sleeping guards. Not until then did he hurry on down the -stone steps toward the prison pit where Tholon Sarna, the golden girl, -was held prisoner.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The steps opened into a dimly lit cavern. Pools of foul black water -dotted the uneven floor and reflected back faintly the light of the two -sputtering torches beside the entrance. One corner of the cavern was -walled off, save for a narrow door of interlocking brass strips, and -toward this Noork made his way.</p> - -<p>He stood beside the door. "Sarna," he called softly, "Tholon Sarna."</p> - -<p>There were a score of young women, lately captured from the mainland -by the Misty Ones, sitting dejectedly upon the foul dampness of the -rotting grass that was their bed. Most of them were clad in the simple -skirt and brief jacket, reaching but to the lower ribs, that is the -mark of the golden people who dwell in the city-states of Zura's -valleys, but a few wore a simple band of cloth about their hips and -confined their breasts with a strip of well-cured leopard or antelope -hide.</p> - -<p>One of the women now came to her feet and as she neared the -metal-barred entrance Noork saw that she was indeed Sarna. He examined -the outer lock of the door and found it to be barred with a massive -timber and the timber locked in place with a metal spike slipped into a -prepared cavity in the prison's rocky wall.</p> - -<p>"It is Noork," he said softly as she came closer. He saw her eyes go -wide with fear and sudden hope, and then reached for the spike.</p> - -<p>"The priest," hissed the girl.</p> - -<p>Noork had already heard the sound of approaching feet. He dropped the -spike and whirled. His sword was in his hand as though by magic, as he -faced the burly priest of the Skull.</p> - -<p>Across the forehead and upper half of the priest's face a curved shield -of transparent tinted material was fastened. Noork's eyes narrowed as -he saw the sword and shield of the gigantic holy man.</p> - -<p>"So," he said, "to the priests of Uzdon we are not invisible. You do -not trust your guards, then."</p> - -<p>The priest laughed. "We also have robes of invisibility," he said, "and -the sacred window of Uzdon before our eyes." He snarled suddenly at the -silent figure of the white man. "Down on your knees, guard, and show me -your face before I kill you!"</p> - -<p>Noork raised his sword. "Take my hood off if you dare, priest," he -offered.</p> - -<p>The burly priest's answer was a bellow of rage and a lunge forward of -his sword arm. Their swords clicked together and slid apart with the -velvety smoothness of bronze on bronze. Noork's blade bit a chunk from -the priest's conical shield, and in return received a slashing cut that -drew blood from left shoulder to elbow.</p> - -<p>The fighting grew more furious as the priest pressed the attack. He -was a skilled swordsman and only the superior agility of the white -man's legs kept Noork away from that darting priestly blade. Even so -his robe was slashed in a dozen places and blood reddened his bronzed -body. Once he slipped in a puddle of foul cavern water and only by the -slightest of margins did he escape death by the priest's weapon.</p> - -<p>The priest was tiring rapidly, however. The soft living of the temple, -and the rich wines and over-cooked meats that served to pad his paunch -so well with fat, now served to rob him of breath. He opened his -mouth to bawl for assistance from the guard, although it is doubtful -whether any sound could have penetrated up into the madhouse of the -main temple's floor, and in that instant Noork flipped his sword at his -enemy.</p> - -<p>Between the shield and the transparent bit of curving material the -sword drove, and buried itself deep in the priest's thick neck. Noork -leaped forward; he snatched the tinted face shield and his sword, and a -moment later he had torn the great wooden timber from its sockets.</p> - -<p>Tholon Sarna stumbled through the door and he caught her in his arms. -Hurriedly he loosed one of the two robes fastened about his waist and -slipped it around her slim shivering shoulders.</p> - -<p>"Are there other priests hidden here in the pits?" Noork asked tensely.</p> - -<p>"No," came the girl's low voice, "I do not think so. I did not know -that this priest was here until he appeared behind you." A slow smile -crossed Noork's hidden features. "His robe must be close by," he told -the girl. "He must have been stationed here because the priests feared -the guards might spirit away some of the prisoners."</p> - -<p>Slowly he angled back and forth across the floor until his foot touched -the soft material of the priest's discarded robe near the stairway -entrance. He slipped the thongs of the transparent mask, called by the -priest "Uzdon's window" over his hood, and then proceeded to don the -new robe.</p> - -<p>"My own robe is slit in a dozen places," he explained to the girl's -curious violet eyes—-all that was visible through the narrow vision -slot of her hood. He finished adjusting the outer robe and took the -girl's hand.</p> - -<p>"Come," he said, "let us escape over the wall before the alarm is -given."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Without incident they reached the field where Rold toiled among the -rows of vegetables. Another slave was working in a nearby field, -his crude wooden plow pulled by two sweating Vasads, but he was not -watching when Rold abruptly faded from view.</p> - -<p>Noork was sweating with the weight of two cloaks and the airlessness of -the vision shield as they crossed the field toward his rope, but he had -no wish to discard them yet. The tinted shield had revealed that dozens -of the Misty Ones were stationed about the wall to guard against the -escape of the slaves.</p> - -<p>They came to the wall and to Noork's great joy found the rope hanging -as he had left it. He climbed the wall first and then with Rold helping -from below, drew Sarna to his side. A moment later saw the three of -them climbing along the limb to the bole of the tree and so to the -jungle matted ground outside the wall.</p> - -<p>"Will we hide here in the trees until night?" asked the girl's full -voice.</p> - -<p>Noork held aside a mossy creeper until the girl had passed. "I think -not," he said. "The Misty Ones are continually passing from the island -to the shore. We are Misty Ones to any that watch from the wall. So we -will paddle boldly across the water."</p> - -<p>"That is good," agreed the slave, "unless they see us put out from the -shore. Their two landing stages are further along the beach, opposite -the Temple of Uzdon."</p> - -<p>"Then we must hug to the shore until we pass the tip of the island," -said Noork thoughtfully. "In that way even if they detect us we will -have put a safe distance between us."</p> - -<p>Shortly after midday Noork felt the oozy slime of the marshy lowlands -of the mainland beneath his paddle and the dugout ran ashore in the -grassy inlet for which they had been heading. His palms were blistered -and the heavy robes he yet wore were soaked with sweat.</p> - -<p>"Once we reach the jungle," he told the girl, "off come these robes. I -am broiled alive."</p> - -<p>Suddenly Noork froze in his tracks. He thrust the girl behind him. -"Misty Ones!" he hissed to Rold. "They crouch among the reeds. They -carry nets and clubs to trap us."</p> - -<p>Rold turned back toward the boat with Noork and Sarna close at his -heels. But the Misty Ones were upon them and by sheer numbers they bore -them to the ground. Noork's mightier muscles smashed more than one -hooded face but in the end he too lay smothered beneath the nets and -bodies of the enemy.</p> - -<p>A misty shape came to stand beside these three new captives as they -were stripped of their robes. His foot nudged at Noork's head curiously -and a guttural voice commanded the shield be removed. Then his voice -changed—thickened—as he saw the features of Noork.</p> - -<p>"So," he barked in a tongue that should have been strange to Noork but -was not, "it is the trapper's turn to be trapped, eh Captain Dietrich?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A fat, square-jawed face, harsh lines paralleling the ugly blob of a -nose, showed through the opened robe of the leader. The face was that -of Doctor Von Mark the treacherous Nazi scientist that Stephen Dietrich -had trailed across space to Sekk! But Noork knew nothing of that chase. -The man's face seemed familiar, and hateful, but that was all he -remembered.</p> - -<p>"I see you have come from the island," said the Doctor. "Perhaps you -can tell me the secret of this invisible material I wear. With the -secret of invisibility I, Karl Von Mark, can again conquer Earth and -make the Fatherland invincible."</p> - -<p>"I do not understand too well," said Noork hesitantly. "Are we enemies? -There is so much I have forgotten." He regarded the brutal face -thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps you know from what valley the great bird brought me," he said. -"Or perhaps the other bird brought you here."</p> - -<p>Von Mark's blue eyes widened and then he roared with a great noise -that was intended to be mirth. His foot slammed harder into Noork's -defenseless ribs.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps you have forgotten, swine of an American," he roared suddenly, -and in his hand was an ugly looking automatic. He flung back his robe -and Noork saw the dress uniform of a general. "Perhaps," the scientist -repeated, "but I will take no chances. The amnesia is often but a -pretense."</p> - -<p>His lip curled. "This is something for you to remember, Captain -Dietrich," he said as the ugly black muzzle of the gun centered on -Noork's bronzed chest.</p> - -<p>And then Doctor Von Mark cursed as the gun dropped from his nerveless -fingers and his hands clawed weakly at the arrow buried in his wide -belly. He stumbled backward.</p> - -<p>Arrows rained from the mistiness that had closed in about Von Mark and -his men. The men from Wari, their faces unshielded, fell like flies. -In a moment those yet alive had taken to their heels, and Noork felt -invisible fingers tearing at the nets that bound him.</p> - -<p>As he rose to his feet the robed figure let its misty covering drop -aside. A handsome golden-skinned warrior stood revealed.</p> - -<p>"Gurn!" cried Noork.</p> - -<p>A glad cry came from the throat of Tholon Sarna as she saw her brother. -And then she crept closer to Noork's side as the invisible mantles -of Gurn's loyal Vasads opened to reveal the hairy beast men they -concealed. Rold whimpered fearfully.</p> - -<p>"The message that Ud carried to me was good," laughed Gurn. "The Misty -Ones skin easily. We were trapping the Misty Ones as they came across -the lake," he looked at the dying Von Mark, "as were these others. Soon -we would have come to your rescue, Noork, my friend."</p> - -<p>"Lucky I escaped first," Noork told him. "The priests of Uzdon would -have trapped you. To them the Misty Ones are visible."</p> - -<p>He picked up the fallen vision shield that lay beside their feet. His -chest expanded proudly.</p> - -<p>"No longer," he told Gurn, "am I a man without a name. I am Captain -Dietrich from a distant valley called America. I was hunting this evil -man when my bird died."</p> - -<p>He smiled and his brown arm tightened around Sarna's golden body. "The -evil man is dead. My native valley is safe. Now I can live in peace -with you, Gurn, and with your sister, here in the jungle."</p> - -<p>"It is good, Noork," smiled Tholon Sarna.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Raiders of the Second Moon, by Gene Ellerman - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAIDERS OF THE SECOND MOON *** - -***** This file should be named 63521-h.htm or 63521-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/5/2/63521/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Raiders of the Second Moon - -Author: Gene Ellerman - -Release Date: October 21, 2020 [EBook #63521] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAIDERS OF THE SECOND MOON *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Raiders of the Second Moon - - By GENE ELLERMAN - - A strange destiny had erased Noork's memory, - and had brought him to this tiny world--to - write an end to his first existence. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1945. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Beyond earth swings that airless pocked mass of fused rock and gray -volcanic dust that we know as Luna. Of this our naked eyes assure us. -But of the smaller satellite, hidden forever from the mundane view by -Luna's bulk, we know little. - -Small is Sekk, that second moon, less than five hundred miles in -diameter, but the period of its revolution is thirty two hours, and its -meaner mass retains a breathable atmosphere. There is life on Sekk, -life that centers around the sunken star-shaped cavity where an oval -lake gleams softly in the depths. And the eleven radiating tips of the -starry abyss are valleys green with jungle growth. - -In one of those green valleys the white savage that the Vasads called -Noork squatted in the ample crotch of a jungle giant and watched the -trail forty feet below. For down there moved alertly a golden skinned -girl, her only weapons a puny polished bow of yellow wood and a -sheathed dagger. - -Sight of the girl's flowing brown hair and the graceful feminine -contours of her smooth-limbed body beneath its skin-halter and the -insignificant breech-clout, made his brow wrinkle with concentration. -Not forever had he lived in this jungle world of valleys and ragged -cliffs. Since he had learned the tongue of the hairy Vasads of forest, -and the tongue of their gold-skinned leader, Gurn, the renegade, he had -confirmed that belief. - -For a huge gleaming bird had carried him in its talons to the top of -the cliff above their valley and from the rock fire had risen to devour -the great bird. Somehow he had been flung clear and escaped the death -of the mysterious bird-thing. And in his delirium he had babbled the -words that caused the apish Vasads to name him Noork. Now he repeated -them aloud. - -"New York," he said, "good ol' New York." - -The girl heard. She looked upward fearfully, her rounded bare arm going -back to the bow slung across her shoulder. Swiftly she fitted an arrow -and stepped back against the friendly bole of a shaggy barked jungle -giant. Noork grinned. - -"Tako, woman," he greeted her. - -"Tako," she replied fearfully. "Who speaks to Tholon Sarna? Be you -hunter or escaped slave?" - -"A friend," said Noork simply. "It was I who killed the spotted _narl_ -last night when it attacked you." - -Doubtfully the girl put away her bow. Her fingers, however, were never -far from the hilt of her hunting dagger. - -Noork swung outward from his perch, and then downward along the ladder -of limbs to her side. The girl exclaimed at his brown skin. - -"Your hair is the color of the sun!" she said. "Your garb is Vasad, yet -you speak the language of the true men." Her violet oddly slanting eyes -opened yet wider. "Who are you?" - -"I am Noork," the man told her. "For many days have I dwelt among the -wild Vasads of the jungle with their golden-skinned chief, Gurn, for -my friend." - -The girl impulsively took a step nearer. "Gurn!" she cried. "Is he tall -and strong? Has he a bracelet of golden discs linked together with -human hair? Does he talk with his own shadow when he thinks?" - -"That is Gurn," admitted Noork shortly. "He is also an exile from the -walled city of Grath. The city rulers call him a traitor. He has told -me the reason. Perhaps you know it as well?" - -"Indeed I do," cried Sarna. "My brother said that we should no longer -make slaves of the captured Zurans from the other valleys." - -Noork smiled. "I am glad he is your brother," he said simply. - - * * * * * - -The girl's eyes fell before his admiring gaze and warm blood flooded -into her rounded neck and lovely cheeks. - -"Brown-skinned one!" she cried with a stamp of her shapely little -sandalled foot. "I am displeased with the noises of your tongue. I will -listen to it no more." - -But her eyes gave the provocative lie to her words. This brown-skinned -giant with the sunlit hair was very attractive.... - -The girl was still talking much later, as they walked together along -the game-trail. "When my captors were but one day's march from their -foul city of Bis the warriors of the city of Konto, through whose -fertile valley we had journeyed by night, fell upon the slavers. - -"And in the confusion of the attack five of us escaped. We returned -toward the valley of Grath, but to avoid the intervening valley where -our enemies, the men of Konto, lived, we swung close to the Lake of -Uzdon. And the Misty Ones from the Temple of the Skull trailed us. I -alone escaped." - -Noork lifted the short, broad-bladed sword that swung in its sheath -at his belt and let it drop back into place with a satisfying whisper -of flexible leather on steel. He looked toward the east where lay the -mysterious long lake of the Misty Ones. - -"Some day," he said reflectively, "I am going to visit the island of -the unseen evil beings who stole away your friends. Perhaps after I -have taken you to your brother's hidden village, and from there to -your city of Grath...." He smiled. - -The girl did not answer. His keen ears, now that he was no longer -speaking, caught the scuffing of feet into the jungle behind him. He -turned quickly to find the girl had vanished, and with an instinctive -reflex of motion he flung himself to one side into the dense wall of -the jungle. As it was the unseen club thudded down along his right arm, -numbing it so he felt nothing for some time. - -One armed as he was temporarily, and with an unseen foe to reckon with, -Noork awkwardly swung up into the comparative safety of the trees. Once -there, perched in the crotch of a mighty jungle monarch, he peered down -at the apparently empty stretch of sunken trail beneath. - -[Illustration: Noork] - -At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Apparently there was no -stir of life along that leaf-shadowed way. And then he caught a glimpse -of blurring shadowy shapes, blotches of cottony mist that blended all -too well with the foliage. One of the things from the island in the -Lake of Uzdon moved, and he saw briefly the bottom of a foot dirtied -with the mud of the trail. - -Noork squinted. So the Misty Ones were not entirely invisible. Pain -was growing in his numbed arm now, but as it came so came strength. He -climbed further out on the great branch to where sticky and overripe -fruit hung heavy. With a grin he locked his legs upon the forking of -the great limb and filled his arms with fruit. - -A barrage of the juicy fruit blanketed the misty shapes. Stains spread -and grew. Patchy outlines took on a new color and sharpness. Noork -found that he was pelting a half-dozen hooded and robed creatures whose -arms and legs numbered the same as his own, and the last remnant of -superstitious fear instilled in his bruised brain by the shaggy Vasads -vanished. - -These Misty Ones were living breathing creatures like himself! They -were not gods, or demons, or even the ghostly servants of demons. He -strung his bow quickly, the short powerful bow that Gurn had given him, -and rained arrows down upon the cowering robed creatures. - -And the monsters fled. They fled down the trail or faded away into the -jungle. All but one of them. The arrow had pierced a vital portion of -this Misty One's body. He fell and moved no more. - -A moment later Noork was ripping the stained cloak and hood from the -fallen creature, curious to learn what ghastly brute-thing hid beneath -them. His lip curled at what he saw. - -The Misty One was almost like himself. His skin was not so golden as -that of the other men of Zuran, and his forehead was low and retreating -in a bestial fashion. Upon his body there was more hair, and his face -was made hideous with swollen colored scars that formed an irregular -design. He wore a sleeveless tunic of light green and his only weapons -were two long knives and a club. - -"So," said Noork, "the men of the island prey upon their own kind. And -the Temple of Uzdon in the lake is guarded by cowardly warriors like -this." - -Noork shrugged his shoulders and set off at a mile-devouring pace down -the game trail toward the lake where the Temple of the Skull and its -unseen guardians lay. Once he stopped at a leaf-choked pool to wash the -stains from the dead man's foggy robe. - -The jungle was thinning out. Noork's teeth flashed as he lifted the -drying fabric of the mantle and donned it. - - * * * * * - -Ud tasted the scent of a man and sluggishly rolled his bullet head from -shoulder to shoulder as he tried to catch sight of his ages-old enemy. -For between the hairy quarter-ton beast men of the jungles of Sekk and -the golden men of the valley cities who enslaved them there was eternal -war. - -A growl rumbled deep in the hairy half-man's chest. He could see no -enemy and yet the scent grew stronger with every breath. - -"You hunt too near the lake," called a voice. "The demons of the water -will trap you." - -Ud's great nostrils quivered. He tasted the odor of a friend mingled -with that of a strange Zuran. He squatted. - -"It's Noork," he grunted. "Why do I not see you?" - -"I have stolen the skin of a demon," answered the invisible man. "Go to -Gurn. Tell him to fear the demons no longer. Tell him the Misty Ones -can be trapped and skinned." - -"Why you want their skins?" Ud scratched his hairy gray skull. - -"Go to save Gurn's ..." and here Noork was stumped for words. "To save -his father's woman woman," he managed at last. "Father's woman woman -called Sarna." - -And the misty blob of nothingness was gone again, its goal now the -marshy lowlands that extended upward perhaps a thousand feet from the -jungle's ragged fringe to end at last in the muddy shallows of the Lake -of Uzdon. - -To Noork it seemed that all the world must be like these savage jungle -fastnesses of the twelve valleys and their central lake. He knew that -the giant bird had carried him from some other place that his battered -brain could not remember, but to him it seemed incredible that men -could live elsewhere than in a jungle valley. - -But Noork was wrong. The giant bird that he had ridden into the depths -of Sekk's fertile valleys had come from a far different world. And the -other bird, for which Noork had been searching when he came upon the -golden-skinned girl, was from another world also. - -The other bird had come from space several days before that of Noork, -the Vasads had told him, and it had landed somewhere within the land -of sunken valleys. Perhaps, thought Noork, the bird had come from the -same valley that had once been his home. He would find the bird and -perhaps then he could remember better who he had been. - -So it was, ironically enough, that Stephen Dietrich--whose memory was -gone completely--again took up the trail of Doctor Karl Von Mark, last -of the Axis criminals at large. The trail that had led the red-haired -young American flier from rebuilding Greece into Africa and the hidden -valley where Doctor Von Mark worked feverishly to restore the crumbled -structure of Nazidom, and then had sent him hurtling spaceward in the -second of the Doctor's crude space-ships was now drawing to an end. -The Doctor and the young American pilot were both trapped here on this -little blob of cosmic matter that hides beyond the Moon's cratered bulk. - -The Doctor's ship had landed safely on Sekk, the wily scientist -preferring the lesser gravity of this fertile world to that of the -lifeless Moon in the event that he returned again to Earth, but -Dietrich's spacer had crashed. - -Two words linked Noork with the past, the two words that the Vasads -had slurred into his name: New York. And the battered wrist watch, its -crystal and hands gone, were all that remained of his Earthly garb. - - * * * * * - -Noork paddled the long flat dugout strongly away from the twilight -shore toward the shadowy loom of the central island. Though he could -not remember ever having held a paddle before he handled the ungainly -blade well. - -After a time the clumsy prow of the craft rammed into a yielding -cushion of mud, and Noork pulled the dugout out of the water into the -roofing shelter of a clump of drooping trees growing at the water's -edge. - -Sword in hand he pushed inward from the shore and ended with a -smothered exclamation against an unseen wall. Trees grew close up to -the wall and a moment later he had climbed out along a horizontal -branch beyond the wall's top, and was lowering his body with the aid of -a braided leather rope to the ground beyond. - -He was in a cultivated field his feet and hands told him. And perhaps -half a mile away, faintly illumined by torches and red clots of -bonfires, towered a huge weathered white skull! - -Secure in the knowledge that he wore the invisible robes of a Misty -One he found a solitary tree growing within the wall and climbed to a -comfortable crotch. In less than a minute he was asleep. - -"The new slave," a rough voice cut across his slumber abruptly, "is the -daughter of Tholon Dist the merchant." - -Noork was fully awake now. They were speaking of Sarna. Her father's -name was Tholon Dist. It was early morning in the fields of the Misty -Ones and he could see the two golden-skinned slaves who talked together -beneath his tree. - -"That matters not to the priests of Uzdon," the slighter of the -two slaves, his hair almost white, said. "If she be chosen for the -sacrifice to great Uzdon her blood will stain the altar no redder than -another's." - -"But it is always the youngest and most beautiful," complained the -younger slave, "that the priests chose. I wish to mate with a beautiful -woman. Tholon Sarna is such a one." - -The old man chuckled dryly. "If your wife be plain," he said, "neither -master nor fellow slave will steal her love. A slave should choose a -good woman--and ugly, my son." - -"Some night," snarled the slave, "I'm going over the wall. Even the -Misty Ones will not catch me once I have crossed the lake." - -"Silence," hissed the white-haired man. "Such talk is madness. We are -safe here from wild animals. There are no spotted narls on the island -of Manak. The priests of most holy Uzdon, and their invisible minions, -are not unkind. - -"Get at your weeding of the field, Rold," he finished, "and I will -complete my checking of the gardens." - -Noork waited until the old man was gone before he descended from the -tree. He walked along the row until he reached the slave's bent back, -and he knew by the sudden tightening of the man's shoulder muscles -that his presence was known. He looked down and saw that his feet made -clear-cut depressions in the soft rich soil of the field. - -"Continue to work," he said to the young man. "Do not be too surprised -at what I am about to tell you, Rold." He paused and watched the golden -man's rather stupid face intently. - -"I am not a Misty One," Noork said. "I killed the owner of this strange -garment I wear yesterday on the mainland. I have come to rescue the -girl, Tholon Sarna, of whom you spoke." - -Rold's mouth hung open but his hard blunt fingers continued to work. -"The Misty Ones, then," he said slowly, "are not immortal demons!" He -nodded his long-haired head. "They are but men. They too can die." - -"If you will help me, Rold," said Noork, "to rescue the girl and escape -from the island I will take you along." - -Rold was slow in answering. He had been born on the island and yet his -people were from the valley city of Konto. He knew that they would -welcome the news that the Misty Ones were not demons. And the girl from -the enemy city of Grath was beautiful. Perhaps she would love him for -helping to rescue her and come willingly with him to Konto. - -"I will help you, stranger," he agreed. - -"Then tell me of the Skull, and of the priests, and of the prison where -Tholon Sarna is held." - -The slave's fingers flew. "All the young female slaves are caged -together in the pit beneath the Skull. When the sun is directly -overhead the High Priest will choose one of them for sacrifice to -mighty Uzdon, most potent of all gods. And with the dawning of the -next day the chosen one will be bound across the altar before great -Uzdon's image and her heart torn from her living breast." The slave's -mismatched eyes, one blue and the other brown, lifted from his work. - -"Tholon Sarna is in the pit beneath the Temple with the other female -slaves. And the Misty Ones stand guard over the entrance to the temple -pits." - -"It is enough," said Noork. "I will go to rescue her now. Be prepared -to join us as we return. I will have a robe for you if all goes well." - -"If you are captured," cried Rold nervously, "you will not tell them I -talked with you?" - -Noork laughed. "You never saw me," he told the slave. - - * * * * * - -The skull was a gigantic dome of shaped white stone. Where the -eye-sockets and gaping nose-hole should have been, black squares of -rock gave the illusion of vacancy. Slitted apertures that served for -windows circled the grisly whiteness of the temple's curving walls at -three distinct levels. - -Noork drifted slowly up the huge series of long bench-like steps -that led up to the gaping jaws of the Skull. He saw red and -purple-robed priests with nodding head-dresses of painted plumes and -feathers climbing and descending the stairs. Among them moved the -squatty gnarled shapes of burdened Vasads, their shaggy bowed legs -fettered together with heavy copper or bronze chains, and cringing -golden-skinned slaves slipped furtively through the press of the -brilliant-robed ones. The stale sweaty odor of the slaves and the beast -men mingled with the musky stench of the incense from the temple. - -Other misty blobs, the invisible guards of the ghastly temple, were -stationed at regular intervals across the great entrance into the -Skull's interior, but they paid Noork no heed. To them he was another -of their number. - -He moved swiftly to cross the wide stone-slabbed entry within the -jaws, and a moment later was looking down into a sunken bowl whose -rocky floor was a score of feet below where he stood. Now he saw the -central raised altar where the gleam of precious stones and cunningly -worked metal--gold, silver and brass--vied with the faded garish -colors of the draperies beneath it. And on the same dais there loomed -two beast-headed stone images, the lion-headed god a male and the -wolf-headed shape a female. - -These then were the two blood hungry deities that the men of Zura -worshipped--mighty Uzdon and his mate, Lornu! - -Noork joined the descending throng that walked slowly down the central -ramp toward the altar. As he searched for the entrance to the lower -pits his eyes took in the stone steps that led upward into the two -upper levels. Only priests and the vague shapelessness of the Misty -Ones climbed those steps. The upper levels, then, were forbidden to -the slaves and common citizens of the island. - -As he circled the curving inner wall a foul dank odor reached his -sensitive nostrils, and his eyes searched for its origin. He found it -there just before him, the opening that gave way to a descending flight -of clammy stone steps. He darted toward the door and from nowhere two -short swords rose to bar his way. - -"None are to pass save the priests," spoke a voice from nowhere -gruffly. "The High Priest knows that we of the temple guards covet the -most beautiful of the slave women, but we are not to see them until the -sacrifice is chosen." - -Noork moved backward a pace. He grumbled something inaudible and drew -his sword. Before him the two swords slowly drew aside. - -In that instant Noork attacked. His keen sword, whetted to razor -sharpness on abrasive bits of rock, bit through the hidden neck and -shoulder of the guard on his right hand, and with the same forward -impetus of attack he smashed into the body of the startled guard on his -left. - -His sword had wrenched from his hand as it jammed into the bony -structure of the decapitated Misty One's shoulder, and now both his -hands sought the throat of the guard. The unseen man's cry of warning -gurgled and died in his throat as Noork clamped his fingers shut upon -it, and his shortened sword stabbed at Noork's back. - -The struggle overbalanced them. They rolled over and over down the -shadowy stair, the stone smashing at their softer flesh unmercifully. -For a moment the battling men brought up with a jolt as the obstruction -of the first guard's corpse arrested their downward course, and then -they jolted and jarred onward again from blood-slippery step to -blood-slippery step. - -The sword clattered from the guardian Misty One's clutch and in the -same instant Noork's steel fingers snapped the neck of the other man -with a pistol-like report. The limp body beneath him struggled no more. -He sprang to his feet and became aware of a torch-lighted doorway but a -half-dozen paces further down along the descending shaft of steps. - -In a moment, he thought, the fellows of this guard would come charging -out, swords in hand. They could not have failed to hear the struggle -on the stairs of stone, he reasoned, for here the noise and confusion -of the upper temple was muted to a murmur. - -So it was that he ran quickly to the door, in his hand the sword that -had dropped from the dead man's fingers, and sprang inside, prepared to -battle there the Misty Ones, lest one escape to give the alarm. - -He looked about the narrow stone-walled room with puzzled eyes. Two -warriors lay on a pallet of straw, one of them emitting hideous -gurgling sounds that filled the little room with unpleasing echoes. -Noork grinned. - -From the floor beside the fatter of the two men, the guard who did not -snore, he took a club. Twice he struck and the gurgling sound changed -to a steady deep breathing. Noork knew that now the two guards would -not give the alarm for several hours. Thoughtfully he looked about the -room. There were several of the hooded cloaks hanging from pegs wedged -into the crevices of the chamber's wall, their outlines much plainer -here in the artificial light of the flickering torch. - -Noork shed his own blood-stained robe quickly and donned one of the -others. The cloaks were rather bulky and so he could carry but two -others, rolled up, beneath his own protective covering. - -The matter of his disguise thus taken care of he dragged the two bodies -from the stairway and hid them beneath their own fouled robes in the -chamber of the sleeping guards. Not until then did he hurry on down the -stone steps toward the prison pit where Tholon Sarna, the golden girl, -was held prisoner. - - * * * * * - -The steps opened into a dimly lit cavern. Pools of foul black water -dotted the uneven floor and reflected back faintly the light of the two -sputtering torches beside the entrance. One corner of the cavern was -walled off, save for a narrow door of interlocking brass strips, and -toward this Noork made his way. - -He stood beside the door. "Sarna," he called softly, "Tholon Sarna." - -There were a score of young women, lately captured from the mainland -by the Misty Ones, sitting dejectedly upon the foul dampness of the -rotting grass that was their bed. Most of them were clad in the simple -skirt and brief jacket, reaching but to the lower ribs, that is the -mark of the golden people who dwell in the city-states of Zura's -valleys, but a few wore a simple band of cloth about their hips and -confined their breasts with a strip of well-cured leopard or antelope -hide. - -One of the women now came to her feet and as she neared the -metal-barred entrance Noork saw that she was indeed Sarna. He examined -the outer lock of the door and found it to be barred with a massive -timber and the timber locked in place with a metal spike slipped into a -prepared cavity in the prison's rocky wall. - -"It is Noork," he said softly as she came closer. He saw her eyes go -wide with fear and sudden hope, and then reached for the spike. - -"The priest," hissed the girl. - -Noork had already heard the sound of approaching feet. He dropped the -spike and whirled. His sword was in his hand as though by magic, as he -faced the burly priest of the Skull. - -Across the forehead and upper half of the priest's face a curved shield -of transparent tinted material was fastened. Noork's eyes narrowed as -he saw the sword and shield of the gigantic holy man. - -"So," he said, "to the priests of Uzdon we are not invisible. You do -not trust your guards, then." - -The priest laughed. "We also have robes of invisibility," he said, "and -the sacred window of Uzdon before our eyes." He snarled suddenly at the -silent figure of the white man. "Down on your knees, guard, and show me -your face before I kill you!" - -Noork raised his sword. "Take my hood off if you dare, priest," he -offered. - -The burly priest's answer was a bellow of rage and a lunge forward of -his sword arm. Their swords clicked together and slid apart with the -velvety smoothness of bronze on bronze. Noork's blade bit a chunk from -the priest's conical shield, and in return received a slashing cut that -drew blood from left shoulder to elbow. - -The fighting grew more furious as the priest pressed the attack. He -was a skilled swordsman and only the superior agility of the white -man's legs kept Noork away from that darting priestly blade. Even so -his robe was slashed in a dozen places and blood reddened his bronzed -body. Once he slipped in a puddle of foul cavern water and only by the -slightest of margins did he escape death by the priest's weapon. - -The priest was tiring rapidly, however. The soft living of the temple, -and the rich wines and over-cooked meats that served to pad his paunch -so well with fat, now served to rob him of breath. He opened his -mouth to bawl for assistance from the guard, although it is doubtful -whether any sound could have penetrated up into the madhouse of the -main temple's floor, and in that instant Noork flipped his sword at his -enemy. - -Between the shield and the transparent bit of curving material the -sword drove, and buried itself deep in the priest's thick neck. Noork -leaped forward; he snatched the tinted face shield and his sword, and a -moment later he had torn the great wooden timber from its sockets. - -Tholon Sarna stumbled through the door and he caught her in his arms. -Hurriedly he loosed one of the two robes fastened about his waist and -slipped it around her slim shivering shoulders. - -"Are there other priests hidden here in the pits?" Noork asked tensely. - -"No," came the girl's low voice, "I do not think so. I did not know -that this priest was here until he appeared behind you." A slow smile -crossed Noork's hidden features. "His robe must be close by," he told -the girl. "He must have been stationed here because the priests feared -the guards might spirit away some of the prisoners." - -Slowly he angled back and forth across the floor until his foot touched -the soft material of the priest's discarded robe near the stairway -entrance. He slipped the thongs of the transparent mask, called by the -priest "Uzdon's window" over his hood, and then proceeded to don the -new robe. - -"My own robe is slit in a dozen places," he explained to the girl's -curious violet eyes---all that was visible through the narrow vision -slot of her hood. He finished adjusting the outer robe and took the -girl's hand. - -"Come," he said, "let us escape over the wall before the alarm is -given." - - * * * * * - -Without incident they reached the field where Rold toiled among the -rows of vegetables. Another slave was working in a nearby field, -his crude wooden plow pulled by two sweating Vasads, but he was not -watching when Rold abruptly faded from view. - -Noork was sweating with the weight of two cloaks and the airlessness of -the vision shield as they crossed the field toward his rope, but he had -no wish to discard them yet. The tinted shield had revealed that dozens -of the Misty Ones were stationed about the wall to guard against the -escape of the slaves. - -They came to the wall and to Noork's great joy found the rope hanging -as he had left it. He climbed the wall first and then with Rold helping -from below, drew Sarna to his side. A moment later saw the three of -them climbing along the limb to the bole of the tree and so to the -jungle matted ground outside the wall. - -"Will we hide here in the trees until night?" asked the girl's full -voice. - -Noork held aside a mossy creeper until the girl had passed. "I think -not," he said. "The Misty Ones are continually passing from the island -to the shore. We are Misty Ones to any that watch from the wall. So we -will paddle boldly across the water." - -"That is good," agreed the slave, "unless they see us put out from the -shore. Their two landing stages are further along the beach, opposite -the Temple of Uzdon." - -"Then we must hug to the shore until we pass the tip of the island," -said Noork thoughtfully. "In that way even if they detect us we will -have put a safe distance between us." - -Shortly after midday Noork felt the oozy slime of the marshy lowlands -of the mainland beneath his paddle and the dugout ran ashore in the -grassy inlet for which they had been heading. His palms were blistered -and the heavy robes he yet wore were soaked with sweat. - -"Once we reach the jungle," he told the girl, "off come these robes. I -am broiled alive." - -Suddenly Noork froze in his tracks. He thrust the girl behind him. -"Misty Ones!" he hissed to Rold. "They crouch among the reeds. They -carry nets and clubs to trap us." - -Rold turned back toward the boat with Noork and Sarna close at his -heels. But the Misty Ones were upon them and by sheer numbers they bore -them to the ground. Noork's mightier muscles smashed more than one -hooded face but in the end he too lay smothered beneath the nets and -bodies of the enemy. - -A misty shape came to stand beside these three new captives as they -were stripped of their robes. His foot nudged at Noork's head curiously -and a guttural voice commanded the shield be removed. Then his voice -changed--thickened--as he saw the features of Noork. - -"So," he barked in a tongue that should have been strange to Noork but -was not, "it is the trapper's turn to be trapped, eh Captain Dietrich?" - - * * * * * - -A fat, square-jawed face, harsh lines paralleling the ugly blob of a -nose, showed through the opened robe of the leader. The face was that -of Doctor Von Mark the treacherous Nazi scientist that Stephen Dietrich -had trailed across space to Sekk! But Noork knew nothing of that chase. -The man's face seemed familiar, and hateful, but that was all he -remembered. - -"I see you have come from the island," said the Doctor. "Perhaps you -can tell me the secret of this invisible material I wear. With the -secret of invisibility I, Karl Von Mark, can again conquer Earth and -make the Fatherland invincible." - -"I do not understand too well," said Noork hesitantly. "Are we enemies? -There is so much I have forgotten." He regarded the brutal face -thoughtfully. - -"Perhaps you know from what valley the great bird brought me," he said. -"Or perhaps the other bird brought you here." - -Von Mark's blue eyes widened and then he roared with a great noise -that was intended to be mirth. His foot slammed harder into Noork's -defenseless ribs. - -"Perhaps you have forgotten, swine of an American," he roared suddenly, -and in his hand was an ugly looking automatic. He flung back his robe -and Noork saw the dress uniform of a general. "Perhaps," the scientist -repeated, "but I will take no chances. The amnesia is often but a -pretense." - -His lip curled. "This is something for you to remember, Captain -Dietrich," he said as the ugly black muzzle of the gun centered on -Noork's bronzed chest. - -And then Doctor Von Mark cursed as the gun dropped from his nerveless -fingers and his hands clawed weakly at the arrow buried in his wide -belly. He stumbled backward. - -Arrows rained from the mistiness that had closed in about Von Mark and -his men. The men from Wari, their faces unshielded, fell like flies. -In a moment those yet alive had taken to their heels, and Noork felt -invisible fingers tearing at the nets that bound him. - -As he rose to his feet the robed figure let its misty covering drop -aside. A handsome golden-skinned warrior stood revealed. - -"Gurn!" cried Noork. - -A glad cry came from the throat of Tholon Sarna as she saw her brother. -And then she crept closer to Noork's side as the invisible mantles -of Gurn's loyal Vasads opened to reveal the hairy beast men they -concealed. Rold whimpered fearfully. - -"The message that Ud carried to me was good," laughed Gurn. "The Misty -Ones skin easily. We were trapping the Misty Ones as they came across -the lake," he looked at the dying Von Mark, "as were these others. Soon -we would have come to your rescue, Noork, my friend." - -"Lucky I escaped first," Noork told him. "The priests of Uzdon would -have trapped you. To them the Misty Ones are visible." - -He picked up the fallen vision shield that lay beside their feet. His -chest expanded proudly. - -"No longer," he told Gurn, "am I a man without a name. I am Captain -Dietrich from a distant valley called America. I was hunting this evil -man when my bird died." - -He smiled and his brown arm tightened around Sarna's golden body. "The -evil man is dead. My native valley is safe. Now I can live in peace -with you, Gurn, and with your sister, here in the jungle." - -"It is good, Noork," smiled Tholon Sarna. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Raiders of the Second Moon, by Gene Ellerman - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAIDERS OF THE SECOND MOON *** - -***** This file should be named 63521.txt or 63521.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/5/2/63521/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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