Author: Kirk Straughen
Synopsis: Thomas Hawk's life is rather uneventful until an unexpected turn of events plunges him into an alien reality abounding in countless perils. Monsters, mayhem and wild adventure are the dynamic ingredients of this astounding tale. Don't believe it? Then read the story of you dare!
Edit history: Minor changes were made to this story on 9 July 2021.
Thomas Hawk walked the silent corridors of the Museum of Science and Culture with a rather jaded expression on his face. As a security guard there really wasn’t much to do except mark off the tedious night-time hours by steadily pacing out his rounds. Indeed, Hawk felt rather superfluous, for the sprawling building’s automated security system was a marvel of modern technology. Even a mouse would be instantly spotted if it had the temerity to scuttle out from under a display cabinet. Burglars hadn’t a chance at all.
Neil Jacobsen, the director of the museum, however, was mistrustful of an over reliance on technology, and believed that no matter how sophisticated a system, mere machinery could never supplant the human element. Hawk could appreciate his point of view and was grateful he had a reasonably secure job in these tough times of high unemployment. The problem was that it was so damn boring. Nothing of interest happened and nothing ever would.
Hawk continued his rounds, passing resplendent displays of artefacts from ancient Egypt and the civilizations of South America, then down another hall with dioramas depicting life from Earth’s prehistory when mighty reptiles ruled the world. He turned a corner and found himself in a remoter age where the very birth of the Universe was delineated in holographic images that brought to life the drama of creation.
But Hawk gave these wonders scant notice for he had seen them on his beat umpteen times before and the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt, or at least disinterest, held true for him. One thing only made him pause, and he halted by a doorway that gave egress to the museum’s grounds where the object that drew his interest lay.
The Cosmic Sapphire, so dubbed by the media, was an unearthly dodecahedron ten feet in diameter – an enigmatic crystal of vivid blue. It had fallen from the sky like a meteor ten years ago, burying itself in a farmer’s cornfield. But it wasn’t a meteor, nor was it a sapphire despite its moniker. The truth was that no one really knew what it was. Its substance defied analysis. Nothing could scratch it, not even a high powered laser could mark its glittering surface. No chemical could react with it. Spectroscopes and x-ray diffraction just gave nonsensical results that left Earth’s best scientists shaking their heads in utter bewilderment.
Some suggested it was a Dark Matter element, others hypothesized it was a fragment of another universe completely alien to our own. Whatever it was it stood in defiance of all known laws of nature. So it was little wonder then that Hawk, like many others, was drawn by the allure of its deep mystery.
A rumble disturbed Hawk’s speculations and made him look up. Through the huge French doors he saw the heavens were thick with ominous clouds – the predicted storm had arrived. Sheet lightening flared, illuminating the museum’s park-like grounds and a crash of thunder reverberated through the building. The tempest was directly overhead and was about to break in a tumult of pent up fury. The man tarried; for the prospect of watching nature’s awesome power would be a pleasant diversion from the usual monotony he had to endure.
Again lightening flared – this time a jagged bolt that flashed to earth and struck the Cosmic Sapphire in an explosion of vivid light. The concussion, like the detonation of high explosives, shattered glass. Hawk cursed as shards tinkled to the floor. He staggered back, afterimages of the terrific bolt filling his vision, but otherwise unhurt.
Grabbing his walkie talkie with a fumbling hand Hawk, half blinded from the flash, took several deep breaths to calm his rattled nerves and called the control centre where Jackson would be monitoring the sensor and CCTV array.
“Come in Jackson. Hawk here. We’ve had a lightning strike, do you copy?
“I copy. Any damage? My sensors are down. There was a terrific EM pulse before everything failed. That bolt must have blown some circuits.”
“The glass in door 15F has been shattered by the thunderclap. The bolt struck the Sapphire. I doubt that it’s damaged, but I’m going to investigate just to make sure.”
“Roger. A maintenance crew is on the way. Report back after you’ve checked things out.”
Hawk signed off. His vision had now cleared and he was able to see well enough to use his master key to unlock and open the French doors. He leapt back as the motion of the inward swinging portal caused more glass to fall and shatter on the tiled floor. Sheets of rain, driven by a rising wind hissed in, buffeting him with chilly wetness. Despite the near miss and the drenching the young man smiled. At last he felt he was doing something that would justify his wage and alleviate his ennui.
Exiting the building he descended a short flight of steps, fighting his way through the howling gale as he struggled along a path towards the Cosmic Sapphire, which rested on a large sandstone plinth some forty feet away. As he approached the enigmatic object Hawk noticed it was surrounded by a faint blue nimbus that shone weirdly through the driving rain. The lightning bolt had caused some kind of reaction. He paused in thought and swept the beam of his Maglite over the Cosmic Sapphire. Now this was unusual! He had made a study of the Sapphire, had read everything about it that he could lay his hands on. This was the first time it had shown a response to anything.
Great excitement filled Hawk to the point where he became oblivious to the flair of lightening, the crash of thunder that beat against the churning sky and the driving rain which soaked him to the skin. It seemed to him that he was on the threshold of a great discovery. The thrill of such a possibility fired his imagination. This factor, along with the thirst for something new and unique with which to enliven his existence, made him bold with incautious curiosity. Rather than call for help he approached the glowing crystal, caught up in the exhilarating moment of discovery.
As he walked towards the Cosmic Sapphire the azure glow intensified, blossomed like a flower of living light opening petals of shining radiance. Then the illumination began a slow gyration that sent shafts of cobalt fire swirling out in contra-rotating and surrealistic patterns that slashed the blackness of the storm swept night.
Hawk was drawn in inexorably. The flashlight slipped from his fingers and clattered on the rain drenched path. The man was oblivious. He was like a dazed moth hypnotized by the dancing flame. Then a sensation of falling broke through the strange mesmerism of the whirling glow, alerting Hawk to weird danger. He tried to back away, but to his horror suddenly became aware that reality, at least as he understood the term, had completely disappeared. There was neither earth nor sky nor storm, only a void of intense sapphire light through which he now tumbled in horrifying pell-mell descent.
Terror as he’d never experienced before tore at his entire being. Hawk screamed in mindless dread. His intellect was numb. All rational thought was swamped by primal fear engendered by the appalling plunge into utter weirdness. Dimly, he felt as if he struck a barrier, invisible. Whatever it was stretched and as it did terrible vibrations ran through his body as if he was a hammer-struck bell.
Hawk screamed in agony. The imperceptible barrier burst in a flare of argent light. The pain ceased and he drifted down into the impossible, his body surrounded by a silvery shimmer that clung to him like a glowing film. All about him was a blue void whose illumination was of a lesser intensity that permitted him to see the planet size icosahedrons which floated in the azure radiance’s vast star-less immensity.
One such object, surrounded by a gaseous haze, filled his vision as he drifted towards it, its surface a mottled panorama of burnished copper, jet, aureolin yellow and indigo. As he drew near the scene clarified: Beneath him was an unreal landscape. His shocked mind groped for understanding, failed. All he could do was allow his eyes to take in the unearthly vista spread out before him as he drifted lower and lower towards the surface of what appeared to be a reality born of some drug induced hallucination.
It slowly dawned upon Hawk that he was falling towards a sea whose waves caressed the coast of a vast continent, verdant with growing things. But the sea was not of water. Instead it was a fluid the colour of burnished copper – a liquid metal, or so it seemed, that broke in shining foam upon a beach of crystals as black as jet.
Hawk began to panic as a growing sense of extreme danger broke through the dreamlike unreality of his situation – he would strike the shallows in but moments, and if the fall didn’t kill him he’d be incinerated by the molten metal whose fiery temperature was no doubt thousands of degrees centigrade. The frightened man kicked and swung his arms, flailing at the air as if he were a swimmer trying to break free of a mighty current.
The shining sea rushed up to meet him. Hawk closed his eyes and tensed in expectation of the agony of death. He struck the fluid, plunged beneath the glittering waves. Cold, not heat enveloped him. Hawk burst above the surface, spluttering, coughing. In his panic he’d swallowed some of the weird liquid. The taste was indescribable. There was no earthly comparison. He struck out for the shore some twenty yards away, gained the beach and staggered onto the dark crystal strewn shore where he collapsed.
Here he rested, a trembling mass of quivering disbelief, his mind and body slowly recovering from his harrowing experiences. Gradually, his rational faculties began to reassert themselves and he was able to think in a coherent manner. Rolling on his back he looked up. The sky (for wont of a better word) was sapphire blue and had a shimmering luminous quality reminiscent of a heat haze. In the sun-less and star-less firmament he saw a strange form – a glittering crimson octahedron about the size of a baseball when held at arm’s length. Was it the equivalent of a moon, and did this object he had fallen onto correspond to a planet?
Hawk couldn’t be sure, couldn’t be certain of anything. The only conclusion he felt confident of was the obvious one - that he was no longer on Earth, and that the Cosmic Sapphire was in some unfathomable way responsible for his being here, wherever “Here” was, and that he was probably marooned in this reality. A grim smile curved his lips as he remembered his unvoiced complaint that “nothing of interest happened and nothing ever would.” After what he’d been through the thought of mediocrity had a sudden and hitherto undreamt of appeal.
Philosophising, though, wouldn’t enhance his chances of survival. With that thought uppermost in his mind he stood and took stock of himself. He felt well, despite swallowing some of the coppery fluid of the sea, which stretched out before him in an unbroken and mirror-like expanse. There was no sign of injury to his body, which was now strangely dry despite the soaking of rain and sea. The silver film that had covered him had faded, and he suspected that it had played a role in protecting him throughout his harrowing plunge, perhaps dissipating in the manner of a static charge when he’d struck the weird coppery liquid.
Although there wasn’t an obvious change (at least as far as he could see) in his physical appearance, Hawk was beset by an indescribable feeling of alteration – as if the very matter of his body had undergone a subtle change brought about by the weird transition to this reality. It was an incredible thought, but that he was able survive in the strange atmosphere of this world, an atmosphere clearly not of Earth, leant credence to the fantastic idea.
Thoughts of survival again prompted Hawk. He turned and began walking towards the strange forest, the pea-size tetrahedral crystals of the ebon beach crunching under his feet as he strode. His hand dropped to the Beretta 96A1 holstered at his side as he contemplated the growths that clad the coast with their outlandish verdure. Life was here, no doubt as bizarre as the alien environment that had spawned it.
He halted at the margin of the trees, his need to explore this extraordinary land tempered by prudent caution. The growths, which had a metallic sheen to them, towered above him to a height of two hundred feet. Each plant had multiple trunks, some with as many as a dozen boles, which grew from a dome of scaly roots that resembled a mound of entwined serpents. The trunks, each about a foot in diameter, resembled bamboo. The colour though was a marbled pattern of crimson and aureolin yellow on ebony. The crown of the growths consisted of large indigo fan shaped leaves variegated in metallic silver.
Beneath the glittering canopy was an undergrowth of tall reed-like plants, their long blade-shaped leaves of yellow and ruby radiating from their stems in such a way that it gave them the appearance of giant bottle brushes sprouting from the earth. Hawk stood staring in wonderment at the scene, gripped by a sudden feeling of unreality. Then his mood and the quietness were alarmingly broken by an unearthly cry that reminded the startled man of discordant bagpipes.
Hawk looked skyward and gasped in shock. Above him flew a mighty monster, its wingspan at least forty feet. The creature was bat-like in appearance, its body covered not with fur but fine scales whose shade of blue made it almost invisible against the background of the sapphire sky. The head wasn’t bat-like but serpentine in appearance, the long snaky neck accentuating the similarity. A double crest of yellow spines ran along the skull and down its neck.
The creature circled, dived. Its hollow tubular tongue extended and from its black tip shot a poisonous bony dart that missed Hawk by a fraction of an inch. The Earthman swore, bolted for the forest in a zigzag dash and dived behind a tree. Panting heavily and with the sweat of terror upon him he drew his Beretta, peered cautiously from concealment and saw that the monster had landed on the beach. It seemed rather clumsy on the ground and his fear of pursuit eased, only to be replaced by disbelief as it sniffed the earth like a bloodhound and then broke into a loping run directly for his hiding place.
Hawk fired. The thing came on. Either he’d missed or his bullets had no effect on the monster. The creature returned his shot with its biological blowgun. A dart, propelled by a burst of air from its powerful lungs struck Hawk’s shoulder. He gasped, ripped the missile from his flesh, fled.
The charging monster loped after its wounded prey. The Earthman crashed through the undergrowth. He threw a frightened glance behind him. The thing was gaining rapidly. For all its size it could move with remarkable speed. Nausea struck Hawk. His senses reeled as the dart’s toxin began to affect him. He staggered, then cried in fright as a combination of dizziness and sudden blindness sent him tumbling into a deep and narrow gully.
Hawk struck the bottom, his fall cushioned by a dense mat of aloe-like growths. He lay in a breathless sprawl as the pursuing horror thrust its gaping jaws down at him. The thing lunged forward, stretching its snaky neck as it probed the narrow crevice. A shower of black and glittering soil splattered the terrified man as he heard its mighty jaws snapping inches from his flesh. The stench of its breath struck Hawk. He retched. Desperately, he tried to scramble blindly away, but to his horror crashed into a rocky wall. The monster’s gaping jaws inched closer. Its long and terrible fangs gleamed with sickening drool. There was no escape, and the helpless Earthman realized with grim certainty that in but moments the savage creature’s gnashing teeth would tear him limb from limb.
Closer and closer the drooling jaws of the frightful horror came. Hawk, filled with utter terror, completely blind, trapped and weakened by nausea, could only wait in sheer helplessness as its slavering fangs prepared to rend his flesh and splinter bone like matchwood. Then, just as the monster was about to latch onto him like a terrier upon a rat, it uttered a deafening screech of pain that nearly burst his eardrums with its shrieking volume.
The creature jerked its head from the gully. Another roar of pain sounded from above. Hawk heard mighty bodies thrash about as a titanic battle erupted in unrestrained ferocity. It seemed that the predator had now become the prey, attacked from behind as its attention was focused on the Earthman.
More dirt showered on Hawk. The Earthman sensed the frightful protagonists were directly above him. A foot, huge and clawed, slid into the narrow gully. The terrible talons of the other monster, as cruel as sickles, scrabbled for purchase on the wall of the crevice, nearly ripping Hawk to shreds in the process. Then it got a grip and was out in a wild surge of power. Again, the ground shook as two huge bodies collided. Shrieks, howls and bellows rent the air in a cacophony of primordial savagery as the battle raged.
Gradually, the tenor of the wild conflict began to change. The beasts movements became slower, their roars weaker as they exhausted their ferocious strength in savage combat. To Hawk it seemed the raging battle was winding down, was coming to an end. Then there was a sudden thump, as if a mighty body had fallen to the ground...
Hawk lay in a lather of apprehension, expecting the victor at any moment to thrust its gaping, fang rimmed jaws within the gully and make a meal of him, for the horror of being devoured alive was to him just as terrifying as his blindness. But as time slowly passed this dreaded fate didn’t manifest. Indeed, within about an hour the Earthman found, much to his vast relief that the affects of the toxin were waring off, and with the passing of another fifteen minutes his nausea and blindness had completely disappeared.
Slowly, cautiously, Hawk peered from the gulley and carefully looked about. The flying horror that had attacked him was dead. One wing had been ripped off in the savage fray. Great chunks of flesh had been torn from the monster’s body by its brutal foe which lay in death beside it, its carcass studded with many darts whose cumulative toxin had eventually killed the thing – a Pyrrhic victory, or so the Earthman thought.
Hawk shuddered at the gory scene. Blood was everywhere. He looked at the beast he hadn’t seen before. The creature’s body, mottled in yellow and crimson scales, resembled a rhinoceros in general shape and size. The feet though were bear-like in form. The head was beaked and more like that of an eagle than anything else Hawk could think of. The creature was six-limbed with the forelimbs having evolved into powerful arms ending in vicious crab-like claws.
The Earthman gazed at his Berretta, worriedly. If these monsters were representative of the animal life upon this world then he suspected his gun was largely useless. Holstering his weapon Hawk climbed out of the gulley and backtracked towards the beach, seeking an open space where predators would have difficulty stalking him.
By the time he gained the shore Hawk’s initial optimism that he could survive in this strange reality had been considerably reduced. Everything was so different from Earth – what plants were edible, what were poisonous? Grimly, he realised he had no way of knowing, and that was just for starters. He took a deep calming breath, then another. Panic and hopelessness wouldn’t do him any good.
With nothing better to do he began to walk along the beach keeping close to the margin of the trees, which would provide some cover if he was again attacked from the air. As he marched he realised he didn’t know if he was headed north or south, or if such concepts had any meaning in this bizarre world. Hawk scanned the forest as he made his way along the shore, hoping for a sight of something that might be the equivalent of fruit. At the moment he wasn’t so hungry that he’d consider raw monster an option.
The hours passed and the Earthman trudged on. Strange cries emanated from the forest and on one occasion a flight of winged creatures, so numerous that they darkened the sky with their passage, passed high overhead and sent him scurrying for the shelter of the trees. Tiredness, hunger and thirst beset him. It had been about midnight when that fateful lightning bolt had struck the Sapphire. His shift would have ended ages ago, and by now he should have been fast asleep in a comfortable bed. He stumbled to the coppery sea, splashed his face with its cold fluid and drank some of the liquid in an effort to revive himself.
Feeling somewhat better he pressed on, fearing to fall asleep least some savage creature attack him in this vulnerable state of slumber. Up ahead the coast curved sharply inland, and as Hawk rounded the promontory he stumbled to a halt at the startling sight that met his eyes.
Before Hawk was hill and upon its terraced flanks a small city of beehive shaped houses. Each home was two stories in height with a balcony and four crescent windows encircling the upper floor. Above each window was an ornamental bracket, and from these hung wind chimes whose tubes were engraved with mystic symbols, the ringing of which was thought to keep bad luck and evil spirits away.
The metropolis, which encircled the base of the knoll, was surrounded by a ten foot wall that, like the houses, was constructed of an alabaster-like substance speckled with silver incursions - the equivalent of stone in this alien reality.
Above the city were neatly mounded rows thick with crops of vivid orange - spiralled low growing things whose pinecone shaped forms, which grew from a base of emerald hued finger-like spiky lobes, had a fractal pattern to their dizzy swirls. Blockhouses had been constructed in the fields at regular intervals – refuges to which the labourers, whilst working in the open, could retreat in the event of an attack from areal predators or rival cities.
At the summit of the tor stood a brooding temple, dark and strangely sinister – a ramped, stepped and buttressed pyramidal form of three tiers whose truncated apex rose to a height of a hundred and fifty feet. The structure was built on a triangular base whose sides measured two hundred yards. The three faces of each tier sloped slightly inwards giving the entire structure the appearance of impressive solidity. Although the whole complex was built of an onyx hued substance, each tier had a marbled pattern of a different colour – the first ruby, the second gold, and the third jade.
Encircling the temple was another wall – a massive square towered rampart that rose to a height of forty feet. Like the temple and the houses of the village it was built from cyclopean blocks of a stone-like material, but was ornamented just beneath its crenulations with an unsettling frieze of staring crimson eyes whose intimidating gaze seemed locked upon the shocked Earthman. Behind this wall, hidden from Hawk’s view, was a park-like expanse of gardens whose verdure encircled the temple, and in which the mansions of the ruling elite – more impressive versions of the homes of the plebeians - had been constructed.
For long minutes Hawk stared in disbelief. The life forms he’d previously encountered were mindless and ferocious brutes that had made him think this weird reality was populated with nothing but their savage and loathsome kind, and so it was something of a shock to see before him the undeniable handiwork of an alien intelligence.
But what kind of beings had built this habitation? That they would be different from Man Hawk did not doubt, but how strange would they really be – two heads, four arms and the body of a serpent? The worried Earthman shuddered at the thought of such monstrosities being the highest form of life upon this world. What would such creatures think of him? Could there be any kinship between so vastly different species? Would he have to spend the remainder of his life in skulking loneliness on the margins of a truly alien society?
Hawk’s speculations were suddenly interrupted by a scream, remarkably human, that burst forth from the forest with jarring unexpectedness. The man started. He hesitated for a moment in indecision; then sprinted in the direction of the piercing cry for it was too imbued with terror to be ignored.
The Earthman, weapon drawn, tore through the undergrowth and in moments burst upon a scene of savage conflict. A being stood with its back to a tree, wildly swinging a strange rod-like weapon wreathed in ethereal flames to keep away its foes that attacked with flame-spears - longer rods from whose spherical ends darted blades of emerald fire.
Hawk was shocked by what he saw, but quickly recovered and fired his Berretta in the air as a warning shot, unwilling to kill the humanoids if he could help it. The beings jerked around, their eyes widening at the sight of the Earthman – a brief pause that was broken by their quarry who, taking advantage of their distraction, stabbed one foeman in the back.
The stricken creature screamed as the weapon’s flames of ethereal green seared it to the bone and sent it crashing in a charred and smoking heap upon the ground. In an instant the battle resumed with all its former ferocity. Two flame-spears were hurled at Hawk. He dodged one but the other struck his pistol as he leapt aside and sent it flying from his hand in a coruscation of burning sparks. A being charged, drawn flame-rod thrusting savagely. There was no time for the Earthman to recover his sidearm. He ducked low and hurled himself at his attacker’s legs, bowling the creature over.
The Earthman’s assailant crashed to the ground, its flame-rod flying from its hand. Hawk was on his foe in an instant. His fist hammered the being’s head in a wild and finishing blow. Scooping up the creature’s weapon Hawk was on his feet just in time to parry a brutal thrust from another savage assailant’s darting flame-rod.
Flashes of light, like miniature fireworks, danced along the flame-rods as they clashed together. But Hawk was no master of the weapon. In but moments he was reeling from a swift exchange of savage blows whose flying sparks singed his skin with fire. The desperate Earthman knew he was outclassed. He leapt away from the flaming rod of his antagonist and with a wild yell booted up a clod of soil. The humanoid screamed in rage as dirt splattered its eyes, and then cried utter agony as Hawk swiftly struck the blinded creature down.
The Earthman saw three more enemies rushing at him. The wild combat with his erstwhile foe had brought Hawk near his weapon. He dived for the Berretta and snatched it up as one attacker prepared to thrust him through with its flame-spear. The pistol barked once, twice, three times and the Earthman’s foes tumbled in dead and bloody heaps to the ground.
As Hawk climbed unsteadily to his feet he saw the being he had rushed to aid brain the last of their antagonists with a blow that blasted half its skull away. The humanoid then leaned panting against the tree, exhausted by the violence of the wild fray.
The Earthman, who was also breathing hard and far from proud of having killed his adversaries, returned the creature’s fascinated stare. Neither had ever seen anything like the other before, and this interest held them motionless, giving both the chance to carefully observe each other.
Hawk saw that the head and face of the humanoid was vivid yellow, which shaded into indigo at the shoulders, rear of the torso, and back of the arms and legs. The front of the body was a dark crimson from the throat down, with zebra-like patterns of indigo coming around from the back. The face of the being had an indigo mask, like that of a raccoon, running across its blue eyes whose whites were yellow. The lips were indigo.
These amazing colours and patterns, which the being’s attackers also possessed with variations, were derived from scales as fine as those of a skink. The only hair on the body was a crest of stiff white bristles that was reminiscent of the war bonnet of an Amerindian chief, indicating the being was not truly reptilian as did the yellow nipples on her well developed breasts. The physiognomy and general proportions of the female were remarkably human, but it was a form of humanity overlayed by unsettling strangeness.
The woman, for despite her weirdness that was what she was, was clad in a single garment similar to her male attackers – a white loincloth that sat on her hips, held in place by a jewelled girdle of silvery material. Silver sandals with straps wound around her calves completed her brief costume.
Mezzra observed the Earthman with astonishment equal to his own. What kind of being stood before her she didn’t know, nor could she conceive in her wildest fantasies that such a creature might exist – black hair and eyes, and a monochrome skin of pale brown. Only one thing was certain – that such an amazing being was imbued with more ku than any object her rival puthan possessed, and would raise her status to its former height of oru and enable her to implement her long thought out reforms.
The woman switched off her flame-rod by pressing a stud on its grip and sheathed her weapon in a loop upon her girdle. Likewise, Hawk holstered his pistol as she approached, eager to demonstrate his friendliness, but at the same time understandably nervous in the face of something so outside the realm of everyday experience. He wondered if he should smile, or would the baring of his teeth be mistaken for a threat? It was impossible to tell what strange mores this weird being might live by.
Mezzra stopped within three feet of Hawk who stood swaying slightly, for the initial rush of adrenalin had faded and he was now feeling the combined effects of lack of sleep and the exertions of the wild fray. The woman’s head cocked to one side as she studied Hawk. The worried Earthman remained stock still and strove to give every indication of passivity as did the alien being now scrutinizing him with an unreadable expression.
The woman struck. Her fist was a blur of utter swiftness and in his exhausted state the blow caught Hawk completely by surprise. Mezzra’s knuckles crashed against his chin like a mallet. Hawk reeled. A foot slammed into the Earthman’s stomach. He doubled over gasping for breath. Then a knee was driven into his jaw and he crashed unconscious and bleeding to the ground.
When Hawk regained consciousness he felt rested. A combination of the blow and exhaustion must have sent him into a deep slumber. On the down side, however, he discovered that he was bound hand and foot and tethered by the neck to a tree. The Earthman uttered an oath, cursing his impulsiveness. His sense of chivalry had made him come to the aid of the woman and she’d repaid him with treachery. Now that he thought about it for all he knew she might be a dangerous criminal and the men he had killed the local equivalent of the police.
“A fine fool I am,” he bitterly muttered to himself as he struggled against the supple but tough vine-like things that bound him.
“Stop,” commanded a voice. “You will only hurt yourself and I need you fit and well.”
Hawk turned his head and saw Mezzra emerge from the undergrowth carrying a bunch of strange fruits in her hand.
“If you want me fit and well, then release me,” he replied angrily, then gasped with sudden and amazed realization: The language she had spoken wasn’t English, yet he had understood the woman perfectly and replied with equal fluency in what could only be her mother tongue.
“How,” cried Hawk in astonishment as she approached and squatted beside him, his anger overwhelmed by wonderment, at least for the moment. “How is it that I can converse with you?”
Mezzra touched an object on her forehead, something that hadn’t been there before. It was about three inches across, metallic green in colour and resembled a rosette in shape. But it wasn’t a plant or ornament for it clung to her skin by eight spidery legs, between which protruded eyestalks whose ruby tips seemed to stare with unnerving curiosity at the startled Earthman.
“I am Mezzra, and this is a tez,” explained the woman. “Many cities have regional languages and it is commonly used as a translator. It links our minds together thus allowing the swift transfer of ideas. It is by this means that I know something of your origins and have given you knowledge of my language whilst you were unconscious and your mind more receptive to its influence. I will release you,” she continued as she began to loosen his bonds. “But remember, you are alone and friendless in my world, and you best help yourself by serving me.”
The woman held up her hand forestalling Hawk’s attempt at speech, the Earthman somewhat unnerved by the other tez he now realised was clinging to his forehead. “No doubt you have many questions, but they will have to wait for the moment. My enemies move swiftly and there is much I must impart to you that is of immediate importance, so remain silent and listen carefully to what I say.”
Hawk managed to control his anger and did as his captor bid; grudgingly acknowledging that what she said about his friendless state was painfully true. As the tez and the last of the Earthman’s restraints were removed, Mezzra launched into a succinct exposition of the social and political situation in which he found himself.
Broadly speaking her society was somewhat feudal in its structure – the puthan were the ruling class and the oru chief among them. Rulership wasn’t hereditary; rather, it was maintained through status by possession of ku – a kind of impersonal occult force thought to be inherent in extremely rare or unusual objects, both animate and inanimate. Every puthan had a collection of such curios, and competition for their acquisition was an unending jostle for position on the social ladder that led towards the oru’s throne, with the holder of the most ku being considered fit for rulership.
Mezzra explained that she had been the Oru of Zuim, her city. But Uadata, her chief rival for the throne had gained the upper hand when he acquired a caya - an exceedingly rare and highly sought after ornamental plant whose black leaves made it the singular exception upon this world with its predominantly indigo vegetation.
“And so I was forced to relinquish the throne to Uadata, for it was judged by the puthan that nothing I possessed could surpass the ku of his caya,” explained Mezzra. “But I did not despair at this setback: I set out to find another curio with sufficient ku to make me Oru of Zuim once again, so I can enact vital reforms to correct our social ills. But one thing I did not anticipate,” she continued with rising anger. “And that was Uadata’s treachery. Those men who attacked me were his retainers - assassins sent to ensure I would never succeed.”
“What role am I to play in your schemes?” Enquired Hawk in a rather peeved manner, for he was averse to being a pawn in a game of power that was really none of his affair, with the unpleasant fact that he appeared to have little choice only adding to his ire.
Mezzra gave him a condescending look that some professors reserve for blockhead students.
“You are one of a kind,” elucidated Mezzra in the manner one might use to explain something to a dunce. “You possess an abundance of ku, as do your strange clothes and your amazing weapon,” she continued, pointing at his pistol which had been stacked some distance away with the impedimenta taken from the slain. “You are the curio that will enable me to regain the title of Oru of Zuim so I can save my people from degeneracy.”
Hawk was usually an easy going fellow, but being viewed as a possession – an object to be used, even if that use was for a noble purpose - made him bristle, with Mezzra’s bluntness and patronizing airs only adding to his growing irritation.
“I’m no damn curio,” he growled. “I don’t appreciate being punched senseless and bound like an animal. I’m a person, not an object, strange though that may seem to you, and if you want my cooperation I expect you to keep that in mind.”
Like all of us Mezzra had her good points as well as bad. In this instance her temper and haughtiness got the better of her. Still furious at the thought of Uadata’s attempt upon her life and used to being unquestioningly obeyed by servile beings of lesser station, it is little wonder that she flew into a rage at the Earthman’s defiant and vigorous reproof. Her fist lashed out with all the deadly speed of a striking serpent. Hawk, now rested, dodged the wild blow and flung himself upon the woman who hissed and spat with all the fury of an enraged tigress.
Even in his anger Hawk showed restraint. Not so Mezzra – the Earthman found himself with an armful of screeching Amazon, all elbows, knees and snapping teeth. Hawk saw stars as the woman’s elbow struck his head. He gasped in pain as her knee slammed against his ribs as he tried to immobilize her. Despite the pounding he flipped her on her stomach and managed to get a scissors hold with his legs about her lower limbs. She writhed madly, her strength incredible, and he was forced to restrain her further with a full nelson. Mezzra panted, swore, screamed like a banshee as she twisted furiously and spent her strength in a futile attempt to break the Earthman’s hold.
“My, my; we do have a temper, don’t we,” needled Hawk as the exhausted woman settled.
“You’re hurting me,” panted Mezzra, not recognizing the Earthman’s remark as a barb, but instead interpreting it as a simple statement of fact.
“Look,” said Hawk, suddenly shamefaced at his uncouth remark and having hurt a woman. “You need me and I need you. But I’m not going to be your servant, let alone your possession. We’re equals in this venture of yours, agreed?”
Mezzra thought it over. It rankled that she must treat this base borne alien like a noble peer. But even so she realized concessions must be made in order to maximise her chances of success.
“Agreed,” she replied with ill grace. “Now let me go, for I am eager to reclaim my throne, institute my reforms and hold Uadata to account for his murderous treachery.”
Hawk released the woman and as Mezzra made her selection from the captured weapons she bid him eat the fruit she had gathered. Although starving the Earthman handled the viands uncertainly, wondering if they’d prove poisonous to a human. The fruit, about ten inches in length, was cylindrical with a spiky rind the colour of puce. Hawk discovered the skin peeled like a banana to reveal a clear jelly-like flesh embedded with silver seeds.
The Earthman cautiously tasted the flesh and to his amazement found its flavour reminiscent of watermelon. The familiar taste gave him confidence, and by the time he’d finished his meal Mezzra had gathered all the equipment she needed. The woman handed him his pistol and one of the captured flame-rods.
Under Mezzra’s tutelage Hawk familiarised himself with the strange weapon – not a local product but, along with the flame-spears - an expensive import from Kayax, a more advanced civilization far inland. The flame-rod was about four feet in length and as thick as his index finger. The rod looked as if it was composed of porcelain, but proved to be as flexible as spring steel. Silver bands spiralled about the shaft of the weapon, and in this helix were set emerald hued stones from which its destructive energy sprang. On the black knurled grip was a red on/off button. Mezzra explained the flame-rod drew its power from Zar, the glittering crimson octahedron shaped moon of Opusa, the name she gave her world.
“Come,” she said, now certain the Earthman had a basic understanding of the flame-rod’s operation. “It grows late. Opusa sets and the sky-glow dims with its passing as does the flame-rod’s power. Your pistol, as you explained, remains unaffected by the setting of the moon. With this advantage we shall catch our enemies by surprise.”
They set off towards the city of Zuim by a circuitous route, Mezzra wary of ambush by more of Uadata’s killers. But as they made their way through the forest neither humanoid nor beast contested their progress, and with the passing of perhaps an hour they stood before a section of the hill on which Zuim was built. Here, the tor’s slope dropped steeply to form a rugged cliff resembling mica, and before its frowning height Mezzra halted.
By now the sky-glow had softened to a dusky light that left the heavens a starless dome of midnight blue. In the dim illumination Hawk saw Mezzra slip her hand into a crevice in the cliff and, as she touched a hidden mechanism, the Earthman felt a soundless vibration run through him, as if a phantom gong had been struck a mighty blow.
“Now we can enter Zuim undetected,” she informed him.
The puzzled Earthman looked questioningly at Mezzra, for there was no discernible change in the appearance of the cliff: No door opened or sank into the ground; no secret way was disclosed to his expectant gaze.
The woman sighed in exasperation at his ignorance, grasped his hand and stepped into the cliff. Hawk gasped – the seemingly solid stone-like material rippled as if it was water and Mezzra a diver plunging through the surface of a pond.
Mezzra jerked his hand and Hawk stumbled after her. He plunged into smothering, vibrating blackness. Panic struck him. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see. It was as if he had suddenly become a disembodied spirit lost in a timeless void bereft of all normality. Then he was tumbling through and the brief moment of disorientation and terror passed, only to be replaced by real danger as those lurking in the passage set upon him.
Quick reactions saved Hawk. He ducked the whistling flame-rod and slammed his fist into the belly of his foe. The man dropped, gasping. The Earthman whipped up his own weapon to block another braining stroke and glimpsed Mezzra lying unconscious at his feet - although the flame-rods were inactive with the setting of Zar, Opusa’s moon, the weapons could nonetheless be used as truncheons most effectively.
Hawk’s foot lashed out and sent a second enemy crashing to the floor. Up ahead he saw the way blocked by half a dozen warriors who, with savage yells, rushed to join the fray. The frantic Earthman tried to draw his sidearm, but another foeman leapt at him and he was forced to give his full attention to the darting rod which threatened to strike him down.
The Earthman retreated and came up short against the wall – the stony substance had resolidified. The savage warriors crowded him. Flame-rods leapt at him. He dodged, blocked and parried frantically, sweat flying from his Herculean exertions. It was a heroic effort, but one doomed to failure by the weight of numbers of the wildly shouting foe. A darting rod pierced his guard and slammed against his skull. Red pain exploded and Hawk dropped unconscious to the floor.
Hawk regained consciousness. His head ached abominably, but what was far worse was the fact that he was paralysed from the shoulders down. Dreadful fear beset him. Had the blow broken his neck and rendered him a quadriplegic? The horror of that possibility came close to overwhelming him, and probably would have had it not been for Mezzra’s calming explanation.
“The base of your neck, like my own, has been touched with a piece of basna wood,” explained the woman. “Its touch brings instant paralysis from which the victim can only be released by being touched again. Once more I have underestimated Uadata,” she admitted bitterly. “I was obviously mistaken in my belief that the hidden way was known only to me.”
Hawk said nothing. To berate Mezzra for her mistake wouldn’t accomplish anything useful, and their situation was bad enough without them fighting among themselves. Turning his head, the only part of his body he could move, the Earthman looked about and found they had been confined in a cubical cell bereft of any form of door or window.
In the centre of the ceiling, but not suspended from it, floated a rotating lucid cube whose faces were studded with cones. The strange device shed a wan pearly light, and by its glow Hawk saw Mezzra lying several feet away. The woman stared silently at the ceiling, her expression as bleak as the Spartan confines of their prison.
As Hawk racked his brains for some means of escape, for although their situation seemed hopeless he wasn’t ready to admit defeat just yet, a soundless vibration drew his gaze to one wall of the small chamber in which they were imprisoned. The stone rippled and through it stepped the hunched and diminutive figure of a man, flanked by two huge bodyguards. The Earthman repressed an oath of revulsion at the sight of Uadata, for his face and body had been twisted by a congenital deformity that had also made his colouration a patchwork of discordant and disturbing hues.
Mezzra hissed a vile insult at the hunchback dwarf as he hobbled to her side and leered down at her with the base delight of an unrepentant sadist.
“What do you want, you vile travesty of a man? Your assassins failed to kill me, coward. Prove your bravery,” she continued, hoping to provoke him into freeing her. “Release me, weakling, and we’ll settle this by ritual combat, or would you rather your men see you as the cringing vermin that you are?”
Uadata, who saw through her ploy, smiled mockingly. “Your concepts of manliness and honour mean nothing to me.” He tapped his forehead and continued: “Brains beats brawn and I prefer to fight with my intellect. As for my men – they were trying to capture, not kill you. No Mezzra, I have something far more interesting in mind for you than ordinary murder.”
Mezzra remained grimly silent and the hunchback, seeing that he could not provoke her further in this manner, turned his cruel and cunning mind to the Earthman.
“A fine curio you have here,” he observed shrewdly. “A highly valuable addition to my collection that will ensure my position as Oru of Zuim is unassailable. No doubt the tale of his origins will be fascinating, but that can wait for now.”
Hawk opened his mouth to utter a hot objection, and then thought better of it. If he wasn’t careful he’d antagonize Uadata, something that clearly wasn’t wise to do. No, he’d made that mistake with Mezzra. The best course of action was to keep quiet and bide his time.
Mezzra, with her fiery temperament, and the fact that she didn’t believe that discretion was the better part of valour at the best of times, could no longer hold her whiplash tongue in check.
“Kill me if you will,” she exploded. “Your treachery will eventually be exposed, and when it does the council will drag you from the throne. You will be executed by slow torture for your crimes, and your body dumped in the wilderness to be devoured by the beasts thereof – a base but befitting end for the likes of you.”
Uadata told the woman coarsely what he thought of her fine speech, which he recognised as nothing more than a blusterous facade to hide her trepidation and, as a further affront, laughed uproariously as Mezzra hurled every insult in the repertory of her language at him, and several more of her own colourful invention. Then, when she had spent her verbal darts and her tormentor regained his composure, Uadata continued speaking with utter confidence.
“When the Black God speaks its voice shall silence all dissenters, for its decree and my will shall be one – an imperative fact that not even the council may disregard. I shall reinstate the glorious past, and sweep aside your stillborn plans for reform.”
“The Black God,” said Mezzra after she had uttered a derisive laugh, “has been silent since the High Priest Vatti mysteriously disappeared, and that was at least a hundred oonu* ago. The deity has died, is as dead as the worshippers of all those other gods of ancient days. Only you,” she continued contemptuously, “as a descendant of the depraved priestly family, who oversaw its bloody rites, could morn its passing.”
Uadata smirked. “Perhaps the god is not dead, but merely sleeps,” he replied cryptically as he turned to his bodyguards and bid them seize Mezzra, the furious woman hurling oaths like thunderbolts as they laid hard hands upon her and dragged her in an undignified manner from the cell.
The hunchback dwarf gave Hawk a silent look, and the evil smile on his warped visage sent a chill shiver of apprehension down the Earthman’s spine, for it expressed more eloquently than any words the dark cruelty brewing in a mind as twisted as the deformed body in which it dwelt. Then Uadata turned on his heel and departed leaving Hawk alone with his thoughts, which were far from pleasant company to say the least.
Hawk grimly knew he was alone and helpless on an alien world with no prospect of ever seeing Earth again, a captive of strange beings who considered him an object to further their ambitions and nothing more. Although he didn’t like Mezzra on the basis of her haughtiness and temper, he felt she was at least honourable and that he could trust her far more than he could trust Uadata.
No, that evil smile the hunchback had given him portended ill, not only for Mezzra, but for himself as well. It was highly likely that when he’d satisfied Uadata’s curiosity concerning his origins the twisted dwarf would have him stuffed and mounted like a trophy of the hunt, or if not that then some other outrage that would harm the Earthman but not destroy his ku.
Hawk went cold at the thought. Clearly, his only hope was to save Mezzra and count on her gratitude to secure his future on this outlandish world. But how could he save her when, helpless as he was he couldn’t even save himself?
If only he was free of this damnable paralysis. The thought made Hawk focus on his body and, after what seemed an age, a spark of hope flashed in the darkness of his mind when he realised the numbness of his limbs was lessening, and he could now feel the hard stone-like substance on which he lay. The Earthman tried to wriggle his toes. Slowly, painfully, they moved and the flicker of hope rose higher to a flame.
Hawk struggled to rise. It felt as if he was weighed down by invisible chains of lead and every movement was an ordeal that made him gasp in the agony of pins and needles. Slowly, painfully, he tried to stand but collapsed. The Earthman cursed weakly, drained by the exhausting effort. Five minutes passed and he tried again. This time he struggled to his knees and paused to gather his strength. Then, like a groaning weightlifter raising a heavy barbell he slowly stood, legs trembling from the torturous effort. Hawk tottered, nearly fell. He staggered to a wall and leaned weakly against it for support as he panted from his draining exertions.
Though in great pain Hawk was tremendously elated - with each agonizing movement the dreadful paralysis quickly lessened to be replaced with healthful strength, and very shortly the Earthman was walking freely about the cell, puzzling over this seeming miracle. The only thing he could think of was that his body – alien to this reality - reacted differently to basna wood, which in his case induced only temporary immobility – something his captors hadn’t anticipated.
Hawk turned his attention to Mezzra’s rescue. His Beretta – the only ace in the hand fate had dealt him, had been confiscated. All that remained were his clothes, his courage and a dogged determination to survive and save the woman. He prayed that this would be enough. The Earthman, possessed by a sense of urgency, approached the wall where Uadata had exited and was about to press the pyramidal projection that would open the way when he hesitated.
Uadata had trusted to the paralysing effects of basna to keep him helpless, but Hawk doubted that the wily hunchback would be so foolish as to leave the cell unguarded. As soon as he opened the way the vibration would alert any nearby sentry. Sweat stood out on the Earthman’s brow. There was no way of knowing how many men were beyond the portal, men who would be forewarned of his exiting the cell. Still, there was nothing for it but to take the risk.
Hawk struck the pyramid and plunged through the vibrating stone in a low dive that sent him crashing into the legs of the stationed guard he had foreseen. The sentry, expecting the prisoner to leap through upright had been taken by surprise and his flame-rod whistled harmlessly well above the Earthman’s head. The guard grunted as he hit the floor, his legs knocked out from under him. Hawk flung himself on the man and managed to clamp one hand over his mouth and the other upon his throat, stifling his cry of alarm.
The guard may have been down but he was far from hors de combat: he slammed the butt of his flame-rod against the Earthman’s head. Hawk swore. Pain loosened his hold. His adversary flung him off and struck at him from a kneeling stance. The Earthman managed to jerk his spinning head aside and the un-energised weapon crashed against the floor with such force that it chipped the stone-like material.
Desperation leant Hawk speed. He drew up his knees and slammed both feet against his foe’s midriff, flinging him backwards with terrific force. The guard’s head crashed against the wall with a sickening crack and he slumped lifeless to the floor, his skull split by the deadly power of the blow.
Quickly, Hawk looked about and his anxiety abated somewhat when he saw the corridor, illuminated by floating cubes in the manner of his cell, was empty of other foes. The Earthman dragged the body within his former prison and, taking the dead man’s flame-rod, set off cautiously down the way, hoping that he would discover some clue as to the whereabouts of Mezzra.
The passage proved to be quite short and within a few minutes he stood on the threshold of a large square chamber cloaked in thick shadows. To his left was another intersecting corridor. Ignoring this for the moment he carefully stepped within the shadowed room. Looking cautiously about the Earthman saw he had emerged upon a large dais, and beside him towered a huge idol of hideous aspect that gleamed dully in the soft and eerily wavering light.
The statue, carved from a monolithic block of obsidian-like substance, was a blend of man-thing and serpent. Its trunk was humanoid – an upright torso with four arms, each holding a bowel from which sprang a vortex of silver light that wavered like the aurora borealis – the only source of illumination in the vast chamber. Fused to the idol’s towering torso was a snaky body that curved down and stretched out before it to form an altar, with the tail curving back upon itself, the whole pose reminiscent of a cobra ready to strike.
Its head was similar to that of an eagle – beaked and frowning, but also possessing horns resembling those of a bull. The whole aspect of the idol was one of brooding malevolence and Hawk had no doubt he was in the presence of the Black God of whom Uadata had spoken.
A chill premonition came upon the worried Earthman when he saw the rings fastened to the altar – rings to which sacrificial victims had been bound. The vile hunchback was planning something truly terrible. Then, to add to Hawk’s growing dread an eerie cry of utter weirdness raised his nape hairs to stiffening fright – an unearthly sound that issued forth from the gaping maw that was the idol’s cruelly curving beak.
* Endnote: An oonu is a measure of time based upon the revolution of Zar, the glittering crimson octahedron shaped moon of Opusa. An ood is one revolution (about 20 hours). An oonu is one thousand revolutions.
For a moment the Earthman was swamped by superstitious dread – the weird aspect of the idol, the preternatural light and the unearthly cry that echoed strangely in the gloom, all combined to rouse those primal supernatural fears in all of us. But just as quickly the modern facet of Hawk’s mind asserted its scientific rationalism – statues cannot speak. Therefore, the weird phenomenon must be nothing more than a cunning and deceitful trick of base priestcraft.
The sudden creaking of a door made Hawk start, and he was beset by more realistic fears as he saw a huge and ancient ceremonial portal begin to open at the far end of the shadow shrouded chamber. Quickly, he turned to retreat within the passageway, but the sound of swiftly approaching footsteps in the transverse corridor cut off all escape.
Hawk suppressed a curse and looked desperately about. The door to the chamber was opening even wider and the approaching footsteps in the passage drew ever nearer. His eyes locked upon the narrow space between the towering statue and the wall. Quickly, he sprinted to it and slipped within the thickly shadowed gap.
Crouching down the worried Earthman waited tensely, and in but moments a party strode forth upon the dais – Uadata and his towering bodyguards with Mezzra, still paralysed, slung between them. The sight lit a flame of rage in Hawk’s breast: Mezzra had been stripped of all apparel and a gag stuffed in her mouth to stifle her insults. Hawk’s first impulse was to leap forth and recklessly attack, but the murmur of many voices brought reason to the fore – a throng was entering the chamber via its massive door: The Earthman was considerably outnumbered and any rash action on his part was doomed to complete failure.
Suppressing his urges, Hawk bent his mind furiously to the formulation of a plan. It was clear that Mezzra was to be the victim of some bloody rite that was aimed at consolidating Uadata’s hold upon the credulous nobility. A cautious peek around the idol’s bulk confirmed his dreadful surmise – Mezzra had been bound to the rings set in the sacrificial alter, and set free of her paralysis by the touch of basna wood.
Hawk suppressed a curse as he observed Uadata gloating down at the squirming woman as she writhed helplessly in her bonds. The Earthman’s gaze turned to the throng of effete nobles, now spreading out around the chamber, many vying for a good position. The puthan, both men and women, were as ostentatious as a pride of peacocks in their startling ornaments of living jewels that wreathed their loins, breasts and limbs – strange flowers that glowed with all the lustrous hues of an opal. Some frowned in disapproval, true, but most bore a look of eager expectancy – a sacrifice had not occurred in generations and the gory sight, it was hoped, would relieve their ennui – a tedium conventional debauchery could no longer alleviate.
Again, Hawk suppressed an oath. He couldn’t count on anyone for help. Mezzra was a reformer, and as such threatened the status quo. No doubt most of her peers would be glad to be rid of her, with those of a contrary view too timid to object. It was up to him and him alone to save the woman. But how could he do so on his own and outnumbered as he was? The Earthman slipped back behind the idol least he be discovered, and as he did so his hands slid across its scaled surface, the texture setting off a rapid train of thought that brought together the pieces of a puzzle whose solution the approach of Uadata and his henchmen had delayed.
The weird sound issuing forth from the idol, the gap between it and the wall, and the unnecessary carving on its back which none could see – all led to only one conclusion. Quickly, Hawk ran his fingers across the scales as Uadata began to address the expectant crowd. The Earthman ignored his speech and concentrated on the task at hand. Again and again he felt about, his questing hands driven by a growing sense of urgency. Then when all seemed hopeless a scale gave beneath his probing and a section of the idol’s back sank soundlessly into the floor.
Hawk stepped within the statue’s hollow interior, his plan of action now fully crystallised. A ladder stood before him and at its base the scattered bones of Vatti, the last High Priest who, long ago, had fallen to his death taking the idol’s secret with him to the grave. Ignoring the dusty remains Hawk stealthily ascended the rungs and was soon on a level with the statue’s head.
Cautiously, the Earthman peered over the edge of a narrow platform and gazed upon another of Uadata’s henchmen. The fellow, whose back was to him, was hunched over the mouthpiece of what looked like some kind of megaphone he’d been testing. Above this was an arrangement of mirrors that, like a periscope, reflected a narrow view of the scene outside. Hawk nodded in grim satisfaction as his deduction was confirmed - the wily hunchback had rediscovered the lost secret of the idol, and formed a cunning plan: sacrifice Mezzra and rouse the god who, being grateful for the bloody offering would appoint Uadata as Oru of Zuim for life.
I’ll soon spoil your debased scheme, thought Hawk angrily as he crept forth from the ladder like a stalking tiger ready to attack. But despite his care some sixth sense made his intended victim swing about. The fellow’s eyes went wide as they fell upon the Earthman who, with a muttered curse at fate, swiftly flung himself at his startled adversary, flame-rod whipping in a smashing blow.
Though Hawk moved swiftly his foe was slightly faster: The man leapt forward, caught his wrist and jarred the flame-rod to a stop as he drove the heel of his other hand in a savage strike beneath the Earthman’s blocky chin. Hawk’s head snapped back. The dazed Earthman reeled. He crashed upon the narrow platform, nearly plunging off its edge.
Hawk’s snarling adversary, who had wrenched the flame-rod from his grasp, swung the weapon in a wild blow. The Earthman, though dazed and bleeding, glimpsed the stroke flying at him. Hawk pulled himself together. He struck out and tripped the fellow with a sweeping leg. The man dropped like a stone. The breath was driven from his body when he hit the platform and the flame rod, which had fallen from his nerveless fingers, tumbled over and clattered to the floor far below.
The Earthman staggered up and was about to kick his downed opponent in the head when a dreadful scene reflected in the mirror caught his eye - the ceremony in the temple was commencing: Uadata loomed above the writhing woman and in his hand was the long and glass-like blade of a wicked looking dagger.
Hawk gasped. Fear struck him at the sight as did his felled opponent who had recovered in that awful moment of distraction. The fellow grabbed Hawk’s ankle and jerked his leg out from under him. The Earthman fell, hit the floor with such force that for a moment he lay stunned and helpless. In an instant Hawk’s savage foe pounced upon him, his hands locking about the Earthman’s throat like iron talons.
Wild and frantic thoughts assaulted Hawk as he sought to break his enemy’s brutal stranglehold: In but moments Uadata would plunge his dagger deep within the helpless woman. Senses spinning, the frenzied Earthman knew he had only seconds to end the fight. He jammed his fingers in his adversary’s eyes. The man howled, rolled off Hawk. The desperate Earthman kicked his foe and the man plunged screaming from the platform to his death.
Gasping, Hawk lurched erect, a look of utter horror on his face as he saw Uadata slowly raise the dreadful blade with a dark expression of murderous delight. The frantic Earthman staggered towards the megaphone, praying his wild plan would save Mezzra as the evil ritual reached its dark climax: The gloating dwarf, the glittering blade poised to pierce the writhing woman, and the hushed expectant throng who eagerly awaited the ceremony’s gory culmination.
Then, just as Hawk reached the megaphone Uadata brought the dreadful dagger plunging down. The hysterical Earthman managed a single savage shout. The sound, magnified and distorted by the megaphone, exploded in an unnerving shriek whose wild echoes flew about the temple like demented banshees. Uadata jerked in utter shock. The falling blade halted within inches of Mezzra’s heaving breast as the sweat drenched Earthman gulped another breath.
In the mirror Hawk glimpsed Uadata’s stunned expression – this wasn’t in the script he’d made his most trusted henchman carefully memorise. The Earthman knew he had only seconds to act. Already, he could sense the mental gears of the cunning dwarf rapidly revolving in an effort to work this unexpected situation to his advantage.
“Stop,” cried Hawk, his mind outpacing the scheming hunchback’s racing brain. “I, your god, appoint Mezzra as Oru of Zuim for life. A new revelation is at hand. Release the woman Uadata, or all of you shall know my dreadful wrath.”
Hawk smiled as he saw the hunchback dwarf’s shocked expression turn to one of boiling rage with the grim realization he’d been outfoxed, and that all his carefully thought out schemes had come to ruin. The Earthman watched expectantly as Uadata threw a calculating glance at the throng. All of them lay face down upon the floor in trembling superstitious dread as they grovelled before their bogus god.
Uadata suppressed a curse. He felt like slitting Mezzra’s throat. But if he did so those superstitious fools would tear him limb from limb in an effort to appease the god and prevent its horrid rage from falling on them. Seeing he had no choice the snarling hunchback tore the gag from Mezzra’s mouth, cut her bonds and hurled the dagger to the floor, his mind a viper’s pit of violent thoughts bent on dark revenge.
Hawk breathed a sigh of relief and his knees grew weak with the release of tension. His hasty plan had worked, but the danger wasn’t over yet.
“Now, all of you except Mezzra must leave the temple,” he continued. “I wish to be alone with your rightful oru so I may impart to her in secret the divine mysteries of the godhead.”
Hawk carefully watched the departing throng’s hasty exit from the temple’s inner sanctum. Uadata in particular was the focus of his scrutinising gaze: Accompanied by his bodyguards, the hunchback dwarf forced a passage through the crowd towards the massive ceremonial door. Here, he paused for a moment to throw a baneful glance in the direction of the idol – a glance that was laden with all the noxious venom of a hissing basilisk. Then, the press of the trembling throng swept him from the Earthman’s sight.
Slowly, the ponderous door closed behind the last of the awed stragglers, and but for Mezzra the relieved Earthman was alone. Hawk turned his attention to the woman. Through the mirrors he saw her sitting on the altar gazing up at him. Mezzra’s face, unlike those of the other puthan, was unmarred by a look of cringing superstitious dread. Rather, her entire bearing was one of bold curiosity and scepticism that the Earthman found extremely admirable.
“It is I, Thomas,” said Hawk into the megaphone, not wishing to carry on the base deception any longer. “The idol is hollow and I’m in it. This whole god business is a sham. Stay where you are. I’m coming out now.”
Swiftly, Hawk descended the ladder, pausing at its foot only long enough to retrieve the fallen flame-rod. Then he was through the secret door and walking quickly towards Mezzra who awaited his approach with open eagerness.
“I owe you much,” she said when the Earthman reached her side. “You have not only saved my life but restored the throne to me. You will not find me ungrateful,” continued Mezzra with a sultry look whose meaning was absolutely unmistakable. “For now I see you as more than an instrument by which I can achieve my goal.”
“I ... well,” stammered Hawk, surprised by her sudden change in attitude towards him, a change which he could only attribute to a quirk of her alien personality. “Don’t thank me yet,” he cautioned. “Uadata is still free and no doubt plotting further evil we’ll have to deal with.”
Harsh laughter made the couple jerk around. Uadata stood on the threshold of the doorway to the dais. In the hunchback’s hand was Hawk’s Beretta and by his side his towering bodyguards now armed with weapons of a glass-like substance - spiked gauntlets which were the local equivalent of knuckledusters.
Mezzra gasped. The Earthman cursed. The wily dwarf had doubled back by another way and come upon them from behind.
“Fools,” rasped Uadata coldly. “Do you think I’d simply walk away in cringing defeat?” Then, to his hulking henchmen he barked this hard command: “Kill them.”
With murderous eagerness Uadata’s bodyguards charged towards the couple. Hawk pressed the button on his flame-rod, cursed. Its source of power – Zar, Opusa’s moon – hadn’t risen and the weapon wouldn’t energise.
The Earthman swung the flame-rod in a vicious blow as Mezzra darted for the sacrificial dagger that still lay upon the floor. Hawk’s assailant raised his armoured hand and blocked the brutal stroke as the woman snatched up the fallen blade and engaged her own opponent.
A spike-sheathed fist rushed towards Hawk’s head like a speeding wrecking ball. The Earthman barely ducked the wild haymaker. Hawk struck, shattered his opponent’s knee with a vicious kick. The man screamed, crashed to earth and cracked his skull with a sickening thud on the floor. The Earthman vaulted his dying victim, leapt to Mezzra’s aid as she was driven back by her enemy’s furious assault.
Uadata cursed. He raised Hawk’s pistol, fired. The Earthman felt the passage of the whining bullet as his flame-rod crashed against the second bodyguard and dropped him senseless to the floor.
Again Uadata fired. Again he missed and cursed the unfamiliar weapon. Although the wily hunchback had figured out how to use the pistol there is more to marksmanship than merely knowing how to squeeze a trigger. Hawk hurled his flame-rod with better aim and the whirling weapon smashed against the dwarf’s shoulder causing him to howl in agony and drop the gun.
As the Beretta clattered to the floor Mezzra, a wild look upon her countenance and dagger poised to strike, charged the gasping dwarf. Uadata saw her rushing at him. Quickly, he drew a cylinder from the belt about his waist and depressed a stud upon the instrument. A spume of black and pungent fluid jetted from its end and splattered Mezzra’s face causing her to cry in pain and stumble to a halt.
Hawk cursed, rushed to aid the stricken woman who had dropped her weapon and was trying to dash the stinging fluid from her eyes. But before he could close the distance Uadata snatched the dagger from the floor and pressed its razor edge to Mezzra’s flesh causing her to cry in pain.
“One more step and she dies,” he shouted savagely.
The Earthman halted and cursed the desperate dwarf. His eyes darted to Mezzra. The woman was at the mercy of her merciless adversary. Blinded by the black fluid and now drugged by its vapours, she stood swaying, her mind in an incoherent state.
“Mezzra is now my hostage,” continued Uadata. “If you follow me, if you try and interfere with my plans again, then she dies.”
Powerless to intervene, Hawk could only watch in helpless rage as the grinning hunchback hustled the dazed woman within the transverse corridor and disappeared from sight. The Earthman waited for some time, allowing Uadata to get well ahead before following, for he knew Mezzra’s vengeful captor would kill her in the end, and that his only hope of saving her was to try and catch his wily foe off guard.
Pausing only to retrieve his pistol – the weapon having been abandoned by Uadata in his haste to escape – Hawk followed as swiftly as caution permitted. Ahead, the corridor was empty, but on the dusty floor were footprints that he could follow. The Earthman grinned wolfishly and increased his pace, his eagerness to come to grips with his adversary tempered by growing worry for Mezzra.
By now Hawk felt he had the measure of his foe – Uadata’s stunted and deformed body left him helpless in any physical confrontation, forcing him to rely on his cunning and his henchmen, which the Earthman had effectively neutralized, at least for now. Hawk had sensed the hunchback’s terror which lurked behind his defiant facade. Uadata, only brave when he felt he had the upper hand, was fleeing in trepidation before a valiant and stalwart man – the very apotheosis of manliness his twisted frame made him hate out of bitter envy.
Hawk didn’t take pleasure from this knowledge – dark vengeance was the only balm that would soothe Uadata’s humiliation. Had the fiend already slit Mezzra’s throat as retribution? Hawk felt sick as an awful vision of Mezzra’s bloody corpse lying in the dust arose within his troubled mind. His lips thinned at the thought and a bleak look came upon his face. The Earthman had never thought of himself as being cruel, but if Uadata had harmed Mezzra in any way he’d make sure the dwarf died in screaming agony.
The Earthman started at his feelings. It came as a considerable surprise to him that, despite his initial dislike of Mezzra, he now actually cared what happened to her – a concern that wasn’t based on self-interest. How this change had crept upon him was a mystery to the man – a puzzle that, given the current emergency, he’d have to set aside for later contemplation.
As Hawk stalked down the passage, his mind now focused on the task at hand, his anger soon gave way to growing frustration and anxiety - the trail had quickly become confusing for there were now many footprints on the dusty floor of the branching passageway. The Earthman cursed – the mingled tracks led up each divergent path and he couldn’t tell which corridor the fleeing dwarf had taken. By the time he explored this maze Uadata would be well beyond his reach.
The Earthman took a deep and calming breath to rein in his growing fear that he’d never find Mezzra in time. Hawk bent low and scrutinized the spoor, and as his worried gaze swept the floor he spotted something the poor light had heretofore concealed from himself and his adversary: a drop of purple fluid - Mezzra’s blood - lay in the dust, blood from the cut the dwarf had inflicted when he’d cruelly pressed the dagger to her side.
In an instant Hawk was on the trail like a bloodhound, his mind a swirl of ugly vengeful thoughts. The blood led him along a downward slanting passage that terminated in a small and vacant chamber whose walls were richly ornamented with weird and esoteric symbols. The Earthman swore luridly as his gaze darted about the empty room. Could the cunning dwarf have doubled back? Was Uadata at this very moment watching him from some hiding place and laughing at his helplessness?
The thought almost drove him mad, so consumed with fear for Mezzra had he become. With a mighty effort Hawk calmed himself. Giving way to raw emotion wouldn’t save the woman. Again, the Earthman’s gaze swept the floor and in but moments he saw more drops of blood leading to one wall of the vacant room.
Eagerly, the Earthman advanced and scrutinized the trail. No one could pass through solid stone – a fact that, as with the idol, led to only one conclusion. Quickly, he felt the carvings of the wall and after several minutes of careful searching one of the strange hieroglyphs clicked as it was pressed. Soundlessly, a section of the wall to his right sank within the floor and Hawk swiftly stepped within the disclosed way.
He gasped as he crossed the threshold and paused in shock for a moment. The chamber behind him was the anteroom of the circular crypt before him, a crypt whose walls were lined from floor to ceiling with arched niches in which floated the shrunken and mummified heads of every high priest who had served the Black God. The ghastly relics were suspended in columns of light that changed from emerald to crimson - a wavering glow projected upwards from strange gems set in the bottom of each recess.
Hawk suppressed an oath and staggered back through the doorway as his flesh crawled in horror at the sight. The strange light, which wavered and changed, seemed to animate the desiccated faces and transform them to things of hellish nightmare that leered evilly at him. Getting a grip on his nerves and silently upbraiding himself, Hawk peered with grim caution around the corner of the crypt’s entrance, and saw the even more confronting sight of Mezzra bound to an infernal instrument of torture.
The fiendish machine consisted of a square base from which two tall posts arose, the woman having been hoisted between these columns using a rope a pulley system so that she hung head down indecently spreadeagled. This sight alone would have been bad enough for Hawk, but further horror was added to the scene, for above the struggling and terrified woman was a monstrous mechanism supported by the posts to which Mezzra was affixed: A pendulum swung between the columns and at its end was a heavy crescent-shaped and glassy blade of razor sharpness that sank slowly lower with every frightful pass.
Before the helpless woman stood Uadata, who wore an ugly and gleeful smirk of sadistic triumph like the devil-mask of some unholy cult.
“What do you think of my machine?” he smirked as he intimately caressed her naked body with the sacrificial dagger, too engrossed in his gloating revenge to be aware of Hawk. “Soon your loins shall feel its kiss, and your screams of agony shall bring me great delight as it slowly slices you in two.”
“Damn you to the Third Hell of Onaz,” cried Mezzra between her sobs of utter terror as Uadata laughed.
For a moment the Earthman’s mind reeled at the sight – the helpless woman, the evil dwarf adding to her torment with his dagger as the swinging blade came ever nearer, and the leering shrunken heads that seemed to watch in perverse expectation as the radiance in which they floated cast its ghastly light upon the hellish scene.
Again, the fearful pendulum scythed lower. Mezzra’s scream of wild fear rang out at its implacable descent and jarred Hawk from the paralysis of horror that gripped him. The Earthman leapt within the crypt, a feral yell bursting from his throat as he dashed towards the evil dwarf, pistol raised to shoot the vile creature down. But behind the swiftly racing man who was focused on succour lurked another danger to which he was utterly oblivious.
Fortunately, Hawk’s vengeful cry had drawn Mezzra’s eyes towards him. She saw the threat.
“Behind you,” cried the woman in dire warning.
The Earthman turned, swore. Uadata’s surviving bodyguard had regained consciousness and had tracked him to his master’s lair. Hawk swung his weapon on the charging foe, now mere feet away. The man lashed out. The Beretta roared as the fellow’s gauntlet slammed against it. The pistol flew from the Earthman’s hand and the bullet ricochet harmlessly from a wall.
Hawk ducked another wild blow, slammed his fist into his opponent’s ribs. The fellow grunted, swung again. The Earthman leapt back and from the corner of his eye saw the monstrous pendulum was even lower and in but moments would begin to slice the woman.
“Hurry,” cried Mezzra as she struggled to free herself with frantic wildness.
Uadata laughed like a maniac. “You’ll never save her,” he shouted with evil glee. “The mechanism, once set in motion, is unstoppable.”
The Earthman cursed, lashed out with a vicious kick. His opponent danced away, struck again. Hawk weaved, but not fast enough. The spiked gauntlet tore his cheek. The dwarf laughed madly at the sight as the pendulum’s blade inched ever nearer to the weeping woman. Hawk staggered back, reeling. His opponent grinned, advanced. Uadata shouted encouragement to his henchman. Mezzra cried in despair as the Earthman sank upon his knees.
Then, as the victorious foe loomed over Hawk, spike sheathed fists ready to deliver the fatal blow; the Earthman dropped on his back and lashed out with both feet, driving his heels into his opponent’s knee. The man, caught off guard by the Earthman’s ruse of seeming weakness, screamed in agony as bone splintered like shattered porcelain.
Hawk leapt to his feet as his howling foe crashed to the floor and then crushed his opponent’s throat with a brutal stomp. The Earthman threw a glance at the helpless woman writhing in utter terror. Hawk was frantic - in mere seconds the blade-like pendulum would begin its destroying arc. He dashed towards Uadata. The snarling hunchback tried to stab him, but the wild Earthman caught his wrist and snapped the dwarf’s frail bones with a savage twist that wrung a scream of agony from the fiend.
Then the Earthman grabbed his foe by the throat and crotch. With a wild cry he raised the struggling hunchback above his head as the pendulum commenced its fatal arc. There was only one hope of saving Mezzra. Built into the torture engine’s base was a system of weights, pulleys and escarpment mechanism that powered the device. Uadata’s eyes went wide with sick horror as he realised Hawk’s intent.
“No,” begged the dwarf in wild fear.
Hawk showed Uadata as much mercy as he’d shown his victims. Ignoring his frantic plea he hurled the struggling, screeching dwarf into the gear train of his evil creation. Uadata fell amongst the cogs. He screamed a single piercing scream of utter agony as the massive gears ground his flesh like millstones. Blood spurted sickeningly. Bones snapped. The machine shuddered, and the sweeping pendulum jarred to a halt within inches of the woman as the dwarf’s horribly mangled corpse jammed its mechanism.
Hawk, trembling from his exertions and the horror of it all, was forced to take several deep breaths to stabilise his shaken nerves before his hands were steady enough to cut Mezzra from her bonds.
Carefully, he lowered the woman to the floor and took her comfortingly in his arms. Trembling, she clung to him, but only for a short time, for her considerable resilience enabled Mezzra to quickly overcome the debilitating effects of her harrowing ordeal.
“Come,” she said as she rose, drawing Hawk to his feet. “Uadata has befouled my city with the madness of his evil schemes and now, with your help, I must undo the damage that he’s done and lead my people down a better path than the one he would have set their feet upon.”
The Earthman, still recovering from the battle, nodded his assent and the couple left the chamber, leaving Uadata’s mutilated corpse to the ignominious fate of inglorious decay.
Epilogue
Hawk leaned meditatively upon the railing of the temple’s uppermost terrace. Above him was the shimmering dome of the luminous sky that shed its weird light on an unearthly scene – a magnificent view of the strange coppery sea whose strangely foaming and glittering waves lapped the ebon sands of the crescent bay that lay at the foot of the hill-city.
An ood* had passed since the dramatic events that had unfolded in the temple. Mezzra was in conference with the puthan, her fellow nobles, outlining to them her plans for social reform under the guise of the will of the Dark God - plans which broadly consisted of toning down the rounds of Bacchanal debauchery - which had originally been associated with fertility rites, but had now simply become an excuse for unbridled licentiousness - and channelling the aristocracy’s energies into more creative and constructive pursuits.
The Earthman applauded Mezzra’s efforts. From what he could see the nobles were indeed a self-centred and effete lot who contributed very little to the advancement of their society. Although there was definitely a need for change to prevent her civilization from stagnating, Hawk wasn’t entirely happy with the methods being used: The Earthman was a rationalist. He deplored superstition and deception, and the role Mezzra had chosen for him – the voice of the Dark God - rankled.
Still, considering the level of intellectual development of Zuim’s culture Hawk had to admit to himself that it would be many centuries before this civilization would reach a plane where a more rational view of the world could take root. Until then perhaps the old adage of fighting fire with fire applied, or in this case superstition with superstition. In any event Mezzra knew her people better than he did, and he realised he would have to trust to her judgement as to the method that would best achieve her vital reforms.
But what of his future, what did fate have in store for him? Before, with dramatic events piling up on each other like the thunderheads of a violent storm, Hawk hadn’t time to sit down and fully think about the incredible situation into which he’d been hurled, and it was only now that the full import of events had begun to register.
Clearly, Earth was lost to him forever – never again would he see a familiar face, a familiar scene. He was marooned in an alien universe and must make his way among an alien people, alone, one of a kind – a stranger in a strange land so very different from everything he knew. It was a bleak thought, and it took all his willpower to prevent himself from spiralling into a black pit of utter despair.
Helping Mezzra shape her society would give him purpose, true, but Hawk was a young man and being so thoughts of love and feminine companionship, and the happiness that it could bring loomed large. His mind turned to Mezzra and her budding interest in him. She was attractive, but it was an alien beauty and behind her exotic appearance he sensed a mind which was subtly different to that of an earthly woman. What future could there be between two people so different in every aspect of their being?
Hawk brooded, lost in his own thoughts which chased themselves around inside his head, like a dog pursuing its tail, until a nearby presence impinged upon his consciousness. The man stirred and saw that Mezzra stood next to him, having successfully concluded her conference with the nobles.
“Your thoughts were very far away,” she soberly observed with concern.
“I was thinking of home,” he confessed, “and how very different your world is from my own.”
“I understand something of your feelings,” she sympathised as she placed her hand on his. “You are not alone in being set apart by being different. I, too, am different from my people. Debauchery holds no allure for me as I sense it holds no allure for you, and I am sceptical of much that others take for granted. Perhaps, as we get to know each other better, what we have in common can be a bridge between us.”
“I hope so,” replied Hawk with earnest eagerness. “For it is not good to be alone.”
Mezzra smiled and moved close to Hawk until their shoulders touched, and thus they stood side by side in nascent companionship that, with time, would lead to much more than mere friendship.
* Endnote: An ood is a measure of time based upon one revolution of Zar, the glittering crimson octahedron shaped moon about Opusa (approximately 20 hours).
THE END