Mad Empress of Callisto by Lin Carter

Author:Lin Carter
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2014-05-09T23:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 12 Escape by Night

My dinner that night consisted of the usual wooden bowl of thin, watery gruel in which a few lumps of tough meat swam soggily. I devoured it mechanically, hardly bothering to taste it. Then I lay down in my nest among the treasures of Borak and awaited the hour of my escape.

Alas, the appearance of the Jalathadar in the skies had thrown the chieftains of the Horde into consternation. The Sky Pirates were seldom if ever known to raid this far south, because in this part of the world there were no cities, hence no merchant caravans, and hence nothing for the aerial buccaneers to raid. Borak and certain of the other chieftains, among them Gorpak, conferred late into the night, discussing this problem and examining and rejecting various schemes for the protection of the clan. I lay in the darkness of a far corner of the tent, shielded by partitions, counting the minutes and anxious to be gone.

True, I was not under observation and could perhaps have effected my escape then and there. But I deemed it too hazardous to do so while the tent was filled with Yathoon and the sentinels outside wide-awake and vigilant. So I composed myself, and tried to emulate the patience for which the arthropods were famous. Once the war council had ended, and the chieftains returned to their own quarters, and Borak himself fell asleep, the guards outside would relax their attention and I could make my break with every chance of success.

It grew later and later. Had Ergon and the others already unlocked their shackles and crept to the thaptor pens? Were they waiting for me now, nervous, tense, fearful that my escape had been discovered? Had this cursed, poorly timed council ruined all our plans? Should I wait no longer for the appropriate time, but try to escape now, despite the danger of detection?

These questions seethed and swirled through my restless brain in a turmoil of confusion. It might well prove wise to delay our break until the next night, but I had already given the signal to Ergon, and it was too late to change the plans now.

At length, as the night wore on and the council remained undismissed, I resolved to try it, for better or for worse, for I could wait no longer. At any time the greater moons would begin to rise, followed by the gigantic, luminous orb of mighty Jupiter itself. Night would become as bright as day, and the chances of our making a successful escape from the encampment of the Horde would lessen dramatically.

I had surreptitiously practiced unlocking my slave collar with the aid of Glypto's bit of wire, and was confident that I could repeat the action in a trice. The locks were old and primitive, for the Yathoon do not work metals, and our shackles were plunder taken in a raid long ago, or so it seemed from their condition. I fished out the bit of

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