Almuric by Robert E. Howard (best e book reader txt) 📕
I examined the dagger with much interest. A more murderous weapon I have never seen. The blade was perhaps nineteen inches in length, double-edged, and sharp as a razor. It was broad at the haft, tapering to a diamond point. The guard and pommel were of silver, the hilt covered with a substance somewhat like shagreen. The blade was indisputably steel, but of a quality I had never before encountered. The whole was a triumph of the weapon-maker's art, and seemed to indicate a high order of culture.
From my admiration of my newly acquired weapon, I turned again to my victim, who was beginning to show signs of returning consciousness. Instinct caused me to sweep the grasslands, and in the distance, to the south, I saw a group of figures moving toward me. They were surely men, and armed men. I caught the flash of the sunlig
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many shapes and hues, some silent, others continually giving forth
strident cries as they wheeled above the waters or dipped down to
snatch their prey from its depths.
Further out on the plain I came upon herds of grazing animals—small
deerlike creatures, and a curious animal that looked like a
pot-bellied pig with abnormally long hind legs, and that progressed in
enormous bounds, after the fashion of a kangaroo. It was a most
ludicrous sight, and I laughed until my belly ached. Later I reflected
that it was the first time I had laughed—outside of a few short barks
of savage satisfaction at the discomfiture of an enemy—since I had
set foot on Almuric.
That night I slept in the tall grass not far from a water course,
and might have been made the prey of any wandering meat-eater. But
fortune was with me that night. All across the plains sounded the
thunderous roaring of stalking monsters, but none came near my frail
retreat. The night was warm and pleasant, strikingly in contrast with
the nights in the chill grim hills.
The next day a momentous thing occurred. I had had no meat on
Almuric, except when ravenous hunger had driven me to eat raw flesh. I
had searched in vain for some stone that would strike a spark. The
rocks were of a peculiar nature, unknown to Earth. But that morning on
the plains, I found a bit of greenish-looking stone lying in the
grass, and experiments showed that it had some of the qualities of
flint. Patient effort, in which I clinked my poniard against the
stone, rewarded me with a spark of fire in the dry grass, which I soon
fanned to a blaze—and had some difficulty in extinguishing.
That night I surrounded myself with a ring of fire which I fed with
dry grass and stalked plants which burned slowly and I felt
comparatively safe, though huge forms moved about me in the darkness,
and I caught the stealthy pad of great paws, and the glimmer of wicked
eyes.
On my journey across the plains I subsisted on fruit I found growing
on green stalks, which I saw the birds eating. It was pleasant to the
taste, though lacking in the nutritive qualities of the nuts in the
hills. I looked longingly at the scampering deerlike animals, now that
I had the means of cooking their flesh, but saw no way of securing
them.
And so for days I wandered aimlessly across those vast plains, until
I came in sight of a massive walled city.
I sighted it just at nightfall, and eager though I was to
investigate it further, I made my camp and waited for morning. I
wondered if my fire would be seen by the inhabitants, and if they
would send out a party to discover my nature and purpose.
With the fall of night I could no longer make it out, but the last
waning light had shown it plainly, rising stark and somber against the
eastern sky. At that distance no evidence of life was visible, but I
had a dim impression of huge walls and massive towers, all of a
greenish tint.
I lay within my circle of fire, while great sinuous bodies rustled
through the grass and fierce eyes glared at me, and my imagination was
at work as I strove to visualize the possible inhabitants of that
mysterious city. Would they be of the same race as the hairy ferocious
troglodytes I had encountered? I doubted it, for it hardly seemed
possible that these primitive creatures would be capable of rearing
such a structure. Perhaps there I would find a highly developed type
of cultured man. Perhaps—here imaginings too dark and shadowy for
description whispered at the back of my consciousness.
Then the moon rose behind the city, etching its massive outlines in
the weird golden glow. It looked black and somber in the moonlight;
there was something distinctly brutish and forbidding about its
contours. As I sank into slumber I reflected that if apemen could
build a city, it would surely resemble that colossus in the moon.
Dawn Found Me on my way across the plain. It may seem like the
height of folly to have gone striding openly toward the city, which
might be full of hostile beings, but I had learned to take desperate
chances, and I was consumed with curiosity; weary at last of my lonely
life.
The nearer I approached, the more rugged the details stood out.
There was more of the fortress than the city about the walls, which,
with the tower that loomed behind and above them, seemed to have been
built of huge blocks of greenish stone, very roughly cut. There was no
apparent attempt at smoothing, polishing, or otherwise adorning this
stone. The whole appearance was rude and savage, suggesting a wild
fierce people heaping up rocks as a defense against enemies.
As yet I had seen nothing of the inhabitants. The city might have
been empty of human life. But a broad road leading to the massive gate
was beaten bare of grass, as if by the constant impact of many feet.
There were no fields or gardens about the city; the grass waved to the
foot of the walls. All during that long march across the plain to the
gates, I saw nothing resembling a human being. But as I came under the
shadow of the great gate, which was flanked on either hand by a
massive tower, I caught a glimpse of tousled black heads moving along
the squat battlements. I halted and threw back my head to hail them.
The sun had just topped the towers and its glare was full in my eyes.
Even as I opened my lips, there was a cracking report like a rifle
shot, a jet of white smoke spurted from a tower, and a terrific impact
against my head dashed me into unconsciousness.
When I came to my senses it was not slowly, but quickly and
clear-headedly, what with my immense recuperative powers. I was lying on a
bare stone floor in a large chamber, the walls, ceiling and floor of
which were composed of huge blocks of green stone. From a barred
window high up in one wall sunlight poured to illuminate the room,
which was without furnishing, except for a bench, crudely and
massively built.
A heavy chain was looped about my waist and made fast with a
strange, heavy lock. The other end of the chain was fastened to a
thick ring set in the wall. Everything about the fantastic city seemed
massive.
Lifting a hand to my head, I found it was bandaged with something
that felt like silk. My head throbbed. Evidently whatever missile it
was that had been fired at me from the wall, had only grazed my head,
inflicting a scalp wound and knocking me senseless. I felt for my
poniard, but naturally it was gone.
I cursed heartily. When I had found myself on Almuric I had been
appalled by my prospects; but then at least I had been free. Now I was
in the hands of God only knew what manner of beings. All I knew was
that they were hostile. But my inordinate self-confidence would not
down, and I felt no great fear. I did feel a rush of panic, common to
all wild things, at being confined and shackled, but I fought down
this feeling and it was succeeded by one of red unreasoning rage.
Springing to my feet, which movement the chain was long enough to
allow, I began jerking and tearing at my shackle.
It was while engaged in this fruitless exhibition of primitive
resentment that a slight noise caused me to wheel, snarling, my
muscles tensed for attack or defense. What I saw froze me in my
tracks.
Just within the doorway stood a girl. Except in her garments she
differed little from the type of girls I had known on Earth, except
that her slim figure exhibited a suppleness superior to theirs. Her
hair was intensely black, her skin white as alabaster. Her lissome
limbs were barely concealed by a light, tuniclike garment, sleeveless,
low-necked, revealing the greater part of her ivory breasts. This
garment was girdled at her lithe waist, and came to within a few
inches above her knees. Soft sandals encased her slender feet. She was
standing in an attitude of awed fascination, her dark eyes wide, her
crimson lips parted. As I wheeled and glared at her, she gave back with
a quick gasp of surprise or fear, and fled lightly from the chamber.
I stared after her. If she were typical of the people of the city,
then surely the effect produced by the brutish masonry was an
illusion, for she seemed the product of some gentle and refined
civilization, allowing for a certain barbaric suggestion about her
costume.
While so musing, I heard the tramp of feet, harsh voices were lifted
in argument, and the next instant a group of men strode into the
chamber, halting as they saw me conscious and on my feet. Still
thinking of the girl, I glared at them in surprise. They were of the
same type as the others I had seen, huge, hairy, ferocious, with the
same apelike forward-thrust heads and formidable faces. Some, I
noticed, were darker than others, but all were dark and fierce, and
the whole effect was one of somber and ferocious savagery. They were
instinct with ferocity; it blazed in their icy-gray eyes, reflected in
the snarling lift of their bristling lips, rumbled in their rough
voices.
All were armed, and their hands seemed instinctively to seek their
hilts as they stood glaring at me, their shaggy heads thrust forward
in their apelike manner.
“Thak!” one exclaimed, or rather roared—all their voices were as
gusty as a sea wind—“he’s conscious!”
“Do you suppose he can speak or understand human language?” rumbled
another.
All this while I had stood glaring back at them, wondering anew at
their speech. Now I realized that they were not speaking English.
The thing was so unnatural that it gave me a shock. They were not
speaking any Earthly language, and I realized it, yet I understood
them, except for various words which apparently had no counterpart on
Earth. I made no attempt to understand this seemingly impossible
phenomenon, but answered the last speaker.
“I can speak and understand.” I grunted. “Who are you? What city is
this? Why did you attack me? Why am I in chains?”
They rumbled in amazement, with much tugging of mustaches, shaking
of heads, and uncouth profanity.
“He talks, by Thak!” said one. “I tell you, he is from beyond the
Girdle!”
“From beyond my hip!” broke in another rudely. “He is a freak, a
damned, smooth-skinned degenerate misfit which should not have been
born, or allowed to exist.”
“Ask him how he came by the Bonecrusher’s poniard,” requested yet
another.
“Did you steal this from Logar?” he demanded.
“I stole nothing!” I snapped, feeling like a wild beast being
prodded through the bars of a cage by unfeeling and critical
spectators. My rages, like all the emotions on that wild planet, were
without restraint.
“I took that poniard from the man who carried it, and I took it in a
fair fight,” I added.
“Did you slay him?” they demanded unbelievingly.
“No,” I growled. “We fought with our bare hands, until he tried to
knife me. Then I knocked him senseless.”
A roar greeted my words. I thought at first they were clamoring with
rage; then I made out that they were arguing among themselves.
“I
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