Breed to Come (12 page)

As a hunter he knew that many of the wild creatures had senses of smell far superior to his own.

TheBarkers did. But his hearing and his sight, which washardly limited by the dim grayness of these ways, were his own weapons.

There was not complete darkness here. At long intervals small vertical bars were set in the walls to emita dull light. Whether those had once been brighterand had dimmed through the years was not known. Itwas enough that the light aided the sight of the People.

Furtig had eaten, drunk, and slept before he hadset out on this quest. At his belt a packet of food wasbalanced by a container of water. They did not expecthim to be away too long, but he was prepared for possible delays.

Under his feet dust formed a soft carpet, but hetrod so lightly that little of it was disturbed. His onehand was never far from the butt of a new weaponDolor had given him out of their small store. The difficulty was that it was too big to handle with ease,having been fashioned to fit a hand much larger than his own. In order to use it at all (one leveled the barrel and pressed a firing button on the butt), Furtighad to discard his familiar and useful claws.

But having seen it demonstrated, Furtig was certain that the results might well outweigh those disadvantages. For when the button was pressed a vividcrackle of white (as if the Demons had indeed tamedlightning and compressed it into this weapon) shotforth like a knife of light. What that touched ceasedto exist at all! It was indeed a fearsome thing. But,like all the Demon treasures, it was erratic.

Explorershad found many of these, yet only a small numberworked. It was if they had been drained of life duringthe long time they had lain unused.

Furtig turned from the main passage into a narrower one and began to count the dim lights in the wall.At the fourth he stopped to look down. There was agrating such as had given him entrance to free theprisoners—that was Foskatt's first guidepost.

Kneeling, Furtig slipped on his claws. With theiradded strength he was able to hook into the grating,work it out of place. Foskatt had warned him howsound carried and he was sure it had been his ownhandling of that grating which had alerted the Rattons, so Furtig moved very slowly.

As he worked he thought about Foskatt, hopingthat their practice had proven the truth, that the other was now picking up the picture of where he was.Having held that concentration on his part as long ashe could, Furtig found the grating loose, laid it on thefloor, and ran his hand into the lightless space beyond.

It was large enough for him to crawl into, but Furtig hesitated. If the Rattons were suspicious, theymight well have rigged another trap. Yet this was theonly known way in since the fall of roof and walls hadclosed off the corridor passages ahead.

Carefully Furtig lifted the grating, fitted it backinto place. He had made his decision. To follow exactly in Foskatt's path was folly. During his time of instruction in the lairs he had been shown various typesof Ratton traps. Some of them were practically undetectable. Therefore he must find another way in. OrFoskatt must be able to suggest a possible other trail,knowing the ways of the lairs.

Furtig squatted on his heels and once more concentrated on a mental picture, this time not of what hewas doing, for Foskatt's pickup, but of Foskatt himself.

The picture was vivid in his mind. Furtig closed hiseyes—now, he might be looking directly into the other's face. He shaped his need for further information.This was something entirely new he was trying. Couldhe communicate this way—even with Foskatt's seebox as an aid?Ways—

Furtig could not be sure of that. Was he receiving amessage from the other, or was it only that he wantedan answer so badly that his mind deceived him?"On-right-down—"

Furtig opened his eyes. He was certain that was nothis own thought. On-right-down— On along thepassage, right—down— Well, it was either believethat to be a message or try a passage which could be atrap. And of the two alternatives, he would rather believe that he had received a message.

So he left the grating that had been Foskatt's entrance and padded on. The passage ran straight, withno breaks except a few doors. Then Furtig could see awall at the end—a dead end with no turn right or left,only a last door to his right.

Furtig turned in there. The room was bare of anyfurnishing. The only break in its walls was the doorthrough which he had entered. There were two floorgratings; a distinct current of air flowed from one ofthose. Furtig went to his knees to better sniff at it.

No Ratton stench, nothing but the acrid odor common to all these levels. There was a good chance thathe had bypassed the dangerous territory. At least hemust now chance this or fail without even trying.

The grating resisted his efforts to free it. Furtig hadto use force with his claws to lever it out.

When helowered it to the floor and swept his hands within, hediscovered that this was even more spacious than thearea beneath the first grating.

He crouched for a long moment before he entered,once more making a picture that Foskatt might ormight not be able to pick up. Then he took from hisbelt one of the tools Gammage had provided.

It wasno longer than the palm of his hand when he pulled itfrom the loop, but when he pressed it here and thereit unfolded longer and longer, until he held a slenderpole twice his own height in length. This detect washis only protection against traps, and he must use itwith all the skill he could.

Resolutely he crawled into the duct. The interiorwas large enough for him to go on hands and knees,but it was too dark for his sight to aid. Instead hemust depend on that thin rod as he edged slowly forward, sweeping it back and forth, up and down, totest for any obstruction. Explorers had used these successfully to set off traps in confined spaces. Butthey had failed, too. And at that moment such failures were to be remembered vividly.

Suddenly the point of the device struck againstsolid surface ahead. A crosswise sweep, a second vertical one met opposition all the way— There was a wallahead, yet air continued to flow—

Side walls? Furtig tapped right and left: only solidsurface. Which left only up or down—and down hadbeen Foskatt's message. Furtig slid the detect alongthe flooring of the duct. There was an opening. Bycareful tapping he measured it to be a wide one. He edged closer, hanging his head over the rim, trying todiscover the length of the drop, what might be below.

He folded the detect, put on his claws, and swungover. There were places in the walls to set claw tips sothat he did not slide down too fast. But it was a chancy trip, and he had no idea how long that descent lasted. It seemed to his aching arms, his tense body, fartoo long. Then he came, not to the end, but to another cross passage leading in the right direction.

Thankfully Furtig pulled into that and lay panting,his whole body sweating and weak. It was not untilsome small measure of strength returned that hepulled out the detect rod, stretched it again to explore by touch.

The new passage was smaller than the one fromwhich he had come. It was necessary to wriggle forward on his belly. But it pointed in the right direction, there was no smell of Ratton, and he had no excuse not to try it.

It was prod, slide, prod, a very slow advance. Buthis detect found no more barriers. Now there waseven a faint glimmer of light to be sighted ahead. Itwas so welcome, Furtig hurried more than he had dared since he had entered the ducts.

Soon he peered through what could only be a grating. But, like that of the Ratton prison, this was setnot at floor level but near the ceiling, so that he hadto squeeze close to it in order to get even a limited view of the floor.

He was just in time to witness action. Rattons!Even before he saw them, their foul smell arose.

Furtig froze, afraid of making some sound. But with thatstench came the smell of blood and that of his ownPeople. His stiff whiskers bristled.

He could hear sounds almost directly below hisperch, but the angle was such that he could not viewwhat was happening. There was a low moan of pain, avicious cluttering in the Ratton tongue. Then a bodyrolled out far enough for him to see it.

Though the fur of the prisoner was matted withblood, he was able to recognize Ku-La. So the stranger had not made his escape after all! He was not onlyback in Ratton claws but had suffered their cruelusage. That he still lived was no mercy. And his endwould mean only one thing, food for the Rattons.

Plastered against the grating, Furtig listened, as ifhe could do that not only with his ears but with hiswhole body. He could hear small scuffling noises, afew chitterings. Then those grew fainter, stopped.

Hewas certain after a long wait that the Rattons hadgone, leaving no guard here.

Ku-La’s own actions proved that. He was strivingto raise his battered head from the floor, making efforts that brought cries of pain out of him, to somehow reach his bonds with his teeth. But the Rattonswere no fools; he had been well and skillfully tied. Hisstruggles did not last long. "With a last moan he wentlimp as if even that small effort had finished him.

Ku-La was not of Furtig's -clan, and one did notchampion strangers. But—common blood—he was ofthe People. And his fate might be Foskatt's, or Furtig's.

Furtig started to move away from the grating, buthe discovered that something would not let him goin comparative safety, leaving Ku-La to Ratton-delivered death. He edged back and began to feel aboutthe edge of the grating. At first he thought that tootightly set, that fate had decided for him, giving himno choice.

Then there was a click, which startled Furtig intoinstant immobility. After listening, and hearing nothing to suggest the enemy had returned, he began oncemore that patient prying and pulling.

To work the grating loose in those confinedquarters was difficult, but Furtig managed it. Once more he had recourse to his belt and the various toolsand aids he carried. Wound there was a length of cord, seemingly too thin and fine to support even ayoungling. But this was another of the Demons'

wonders, for it could take greater weights than Furtig.

He used the grating to anchor one end. Then, as hehad used vines in the trees, he swung out and down.Furtig hit the floor in a half crouch, ready to take onany Ratton. But the door was closed; there were nonethere.

Sighing with relief, he moved to the captive in asingle leap. Ku-La stared up at him in wide-eyed amazement but made no sound. Nor did he attemptto move as Furtig slashed through his bonds. The extent of the other's injuries made Furtig sick, and hewas not sure he could save him. If Ku-La was unableto follow him into the duct, perhaps it would be hischoice to ask for a throat slash and go out as a warriorshould, rather than linger in the enemies' hold.

Furtig extended his hand that the other might seehis claws and understand the choice it was his to make. Ku-La's blue eyes regarded those claws. Thenhe moved, slowly, painfully, levering himself up, looking not to the promise of a clean and speedy death,but to the cord dangling beyond. He had made hischoice, and Furtig was forced to accept it.

For a moment he was bitterly resentful. Why didhe have to turn aside from a vital mission to aid thiswarrior who was not of his clan, to whom he owed noduty at all? He did not understand the impulse thathad brought him to Ku-La's aid; he only mistrusted itand the difficulties into which it had plunged him.

Ku-La could not get to his feet, but he crawled forthe end of the cord with such determined purposethat Furtig hurried to help. How he could get the almost helpless warrior aloft he had no idea.

And hewas driven by the fear that at any moment the Rattons might return. In the end he managed by loopingthe cord about Ku-La, then returning aloft to pullwith all the strength he could summon.

Had the distance been greater, Furtig could nothave done it. But somehow he had the energy left tobring that dangling body within reaching distance ofthe opening. Then Ku-La himself, with what effort Furtig could imagine, raised one arm to the edge anddrew himself within.

Wasting no time in trying to tend the other's hurts,Furtig hurried to reset the grating. Only when he haddone that did he squirm beside Ku-La, unhook hiswater container, and let the other drink—which hedid in a way that suggested that his thirst had beenalmost as great a torment as his wounds.

"Where now?" Ku-La's whisper was very weak.

Well might he ask that! Furtig's impatience flaredagain. In this tight duct he could only tug the other on. He was sure Ku-La could not climb up the ventdown which he had come. It could well be that heshould leave the other here, momentarily out of harm,and go on his own mission. As he was consideringthat, the same idea must have come to Ku-La, for hesaid: "They will seek—"

Naturally they would. And they would not be longin finding the grating. It would take them some effortto reach the opening, but Furtig could not gain muchsatisfaction from that. He set to work to see if hecould wedge the grating more securely. He broke off alength of his detect and rammed it well into place.They would have some trouble breaking that.

"We can only go on," he said at last. But how far—and to where? The pace Ku-La could keep—His concern over the other had indeed put him in awkwardstraits; it might even lead to. disaster.

Perhaps Ku-La could help. Let them get away fromthe grating, and he could ask the other what he knewof this section of the lairs.

"Can you crawl?'1"

"While there is breath in me," replied the other.There was that in his tone akin to some blood-oathpromise. Furtig believed he meant it.

He put out his hand, caught the other's right arm,and hooked Ku-La's fingers into his own belt.

"Hang on then and let us go!"

They lay together in the small space the meeting ofthree ducts provided. Furtig could hear Ku-La'sharsh gasping and knew, without need for confirmation that Ku-La had come to the end of his strength.Yet he himself found that he could not just crawl onand leave the other to die in this hole. That drag uponhim produced a dull anger in him.

It was Ku-La who spoke first, his voice a thread ofsound, which Furtig had to listen to well to hear at all.