The Outlaws Of Mars by Otis Adelbert Kline Joe R. Lansdale

Author:Otis Adelbert Kline, Joe R. Lansdale [Lansdale, Otis Adelbert Kline, Joe R.]
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction, General, Fiction, Fiction - Science Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction - Adventure, Science Fiction And Fantasy, Graphic Novels: General, Graphic novels
ISBN: 9781601251510
Publisher: Paizo Publishing, LLC.
Published: 2009-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XV

Two DAYS after he had-achieved command of the white-plumed lorwocks, Jerry led them down the side of a steep declivity and across an ancient, boulder-strewn beach, to the shore of a small lake at the southern end of the Tarvaho Marsh.

"This," he told his jens, "will be our chief camp for the present. From here we will send messengers to the desert hordes, announcing that a new leader has come, and that the days of the Torturer are numbered." At the opposite side of the lake, Jerry saw the gawrs that shad been captured by the escaped prisoners. And on the shore, in their improvised camp, he saw the prisoners themselves. He called Yewd to his side. "Ride around the lake," he commanded, "and tell our comrades to cross the lake and join us." A half hour later the two forces were joined, and Jerry found himself in command of eight hundred mounted lorwocks, fifty-nine gawr riders, and three hundred prisoners. After a conference with his jens, he called the black-plumed prisoners together and addressed them, telling them he was going to release them and send them as messengers of good will to the black-plumed tribes, inviting them to join him. After he had made his speech he smoked a cigarette to impress them, and sent them on their way. In ten days, his forces augmented by thousands of desert tribesmen and escaped slaves, Jerry made his first raid on the central camp of Sarkis. Five thousand of his newly recruited men crossed the marsh with water shoes in the dead of night. Then, while a number of the Earthmen's lorwocks created a disturbance on the bluffs above the Torturer's camp, Jerry's men mounted and escaped with five thousand gawrs. As he had anticipated, Sarkis had placed a guard around the sacrifice pens, but had thought his flying bird-beasts safe.

When the Torturer learned that it was Jerry Morgan's men who had raided his camp, he swore that he would bring the Earthman and all of his followers to the torture platform; and on learning of his camping place, set out with a huge armed force to crush him.

But Jerry's flying scouts quickly reported the movement of Sarkis's immense army, and when the Torturer reached the Tarvaho Marsh he found it deserted.

The Earthman's forces reassembled at a new rendezvous, but not before they had raided two of the Torturer's lesser camps, in one of which they captured, in addition to many slaves and much rich loot of all descriptions, fifty large metal flying machines. Each would accommodate fifty warriors in addition to the pilot. The glazed windows could be opened to admit the air, or covered with metal shutters to keep out enemy projectiles.

When he reached his new rendezvous and distributed the loot, Jerry found, among other things, several thousand suits of clothing. Among these were many outfits of rich black material intended for sale to wealthy commoners. The Earthman selected a number of outfits that suited him as to size and cut, with appropriate silver mounted weapons and silver trappings.

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