A. Bertram Chandler by Alternate Martians

Author:Alternate Martians [Martians, Alternate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-17T14:51:18+00:00

97

THE ALTERNATE MARTIANS

the swords, especially now that one of their number had been severely injured, if not killed.

He was by himself now.

The press of bodies around him had diminished as his fellow prisoners edged away to safety. There was a clear. path between him and the advancing guardsmen.

Desperately he seized the rim of the cauldron, thinking to overturn it and roll it against the feet and legs of his enemies. He was amazed by its lightnessand then realized that this was, after all, Mars, while he had been born and raised on Earth, with its greater mass. (That was why, a coldly analytical little voice at the back of his mind told him, the stone which should have hit the paunchy guard in the belly had smashed his face in.) He stooped swiftly and lifted the cauldron. Then he threw it, with all his strength. He heard a clang of metal as the leading guards brought up their swords in a futile attempt to ward off the clumsy missile. He heard screams, and a snapping sound that should have been the breaking of bones.

Two more guards were down, but there were three remaining, three men who had staggered back, who had half-fallen but had recovered. Now they were advancing again, their whips and swords ready.

But there was a sword almost at Wilkinson's feet. It might have been thrown at him, or it might have been jolted from the hand of one of those smashed by the cauldron. Quickly he picked it up. It was an unfamiliar weapon, but it felt good in his grip. With it, he was no longer naked.

With foolish confidence he advanced, the blade outstretched before his body. The first of the guards, a wolfish grin on his face, came to meet him, thrust viciously. Wilkinson parried, then lunged. His point passed through empty

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