The Jewels of Aptor Read online

  CHAPTER II

  An oil lamp leaked yellow light on the wooden walls of the ship'sforecastle. Geo wrinkled his nose, then shrugged.

  "Well," said Urson, "this is a pleasant enough hole." He climbed one ofthe tiers of bunked beds and pounded the ticking with the flat of hishand. "Here, I'll take this one. Little wriggly arms, you look like youhave a strong stomach, so you take the middle. And Geo, sling yourselfdown in the bottom there." He clumped to the floor again. "The lowerdown you are," he explained, "the better you sleep, because of therocking. Well, what do you think of your first forecastle, Geo?"

  The poet was silent. As he turned his head, double pins of light struckyellow dots in his dark eyes, and then went out as he turned from thelamp.

  "I put you in the bottom because a little rough weather can unseat yourbelly pretty fast if you're up near the ceiling and not used to it,"Urson expanded, dropping his hand heavily on Geo's shoulder. "I told youI'd look out for you, didn't I, friend?"

  But Geo turned away and seemed to examine something else.

  Urson looked at Snake now, who was watching him from against one wall.Urson's glance was puzzled. Snake's only silent.

  "Hey." Urson spoke to Geo once more. "Let's you and me take a run aroundthis ship and see what's tied down where. A good sailor does that firstthing--unless he's too drunk. But that lets the captain and the mateknow he's got an alert eye out, and sometimes he can learn somethingthat will ease some back-bending later on. What do you say?"

  "Not now, Urson," interrupted Geo. "You go."

  "And would you please tell me why my company suddenly isn't good enoughfor you. This sudden silence is a bilgy way to treat somebody who'ssworn himself to see that you make the best first voyage that a mancould have. Why, I think ..."

  "When did you kill a man?" Geo suddenly turned.

  The giant stood still, his hands twisting into double knots of bone andmuscle. Then they opened. "Maybe it was a year ago," he said softly."And maybe it was a year, two months, and five days, on a Thursdaymorning at eight o'clock in the brig of a heaving ship. Which would makeit about five days and ten hours."

  "How could you kill a man?" Geo asked. "How could you go for a year andnot tell me about it, and then admit it to a stranger just like that?You were my friend, we've slept under the same blanket, drank from thesame wineskin. But what sort of a person are you?"

  "And what sort of a person are you?" said the giant. "A nosy bastardthat I'd break in seven pieces if ..." he heaved in a breadth. "If Ihadn't promised I'd make no trouble. I've never broken a promise toanyone, alive or dead." The fists formed, relaxed again.

  Suddenly he raised one hand, flung it away, and spat on the floor. Thenhe turned toward the steps to the door.

  Then the noise hit them. They both turned toward Snake. The boy's blackeyes darted under twin spots of light from the lamp, to Urson, to Geo,then back.

  The noise came again, quieter this time, and recognizable as the word_Help_, only it was no sound, but like the fading hum of a tuning forkinside their skulls, immediate, yet fuzzy.

  _... You ... help ... me ... together_ ... came the words oncemore, indistinct and blurring into one another.

  "Hey," Urson said, "is that you?"

  _... Do ... not ... angry_ ... came the words.

  "We're not angry," Geo said. "What are you doing?"

  _I ... thinking_ ... were the words that seemed to generate from theboy now.

  "What sort of a way to think is that if everyone can hear it?" demandedUrson.

  Snake tried to explain. _Not ... everyone ... Just ... you ... You ...think ... I ... hear ..._ came the sound again. _I ... think ... You ...hear._

  "I know we hear," Urson said. "It's just like you were talking."

  "That's not what he means," Geo said. "He means he hears what we thinkjust like we hear him. Is that right, Snake?"

  _When ... you ... think ... loud ... I ... hear._

  "I may just have been doing some pretty loud thinking," Urson said. "Andif I thought something I wasn't supposed to, well, I apologize."

  Snake didn't seem interested in the apology, but asked again, _You ...help ... me ... together_.

  "What sort of help do you want?" Geo asked.

  "And what sort of trouble are you in that you need help out of it?"added Urson.

  _You ... don't ... have ... good ... minds_, Snake said.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Urson asked. "Our minds are as good asany in Leptar. You heard the way the priestess talked to my friend thepoet, here."

  "I think he means we don't hear very well," said Geo.

  Snake nodded.

  "Oh," Urson said. "Well, then you'll just have to go slow and be patientwith us."

  Snake shook his head. _Get ... hoarse ... when ... shout ... so ...loud._ Suddenly he went over to the bunks. _You ... hear ... better ...see ... too if ... sleep._

  "Sleep is sort of far from me," Urson said, rubbing his beard with theback of his wrist.

  "Me too," Geo admitted. "Can't you tell us something more?"

  _Sleep_, Snake said.

  "What about talking like an ordinary human being?" suggested Urson,still somewhat perplexed.

  _Once ... speak_, Snake told them.

  "You say you could speak once?" asked Geo. "What happened?"

  Here the boy opened his mouth and pointed.

  Geo stepped forward, held the boy's chin in his hand and examined theface and peered into the mouth. "By the Goddess!" he exclaimed.

  "What is it?" Urson asked.

  Geo came away now, his face lined in a sickly frown. "His tongue hasbeen hacked out," he told the giant. "And not too neatly, either."

  "Who on the seven seas and six continents did a thing like that to you,boy?" Urson demanded.

  Snake shook his head.

  "Now come on, Snake," he urged. "You can't keep secrets like that fromfriends and expect them to rescue you from I don't know what. Now whowas it hacked your voice away?"

  _What ... man ... you ... kill ..._ came the sound.

  Urson stopped, and then he laughed. "All right," he said. "I see." Hisvoice rose once more. "But if you can hear thoughts, you know the manalready. And you know the reason. And this is what we'd find out of you,and only for help and friendship's sake."

  _You ... know ... the ... man_, Snake said.

  Geo and Urson exchanged puzzled frowns.

  _Sleep_, said Snake. _You ... sleep ... now._

  "Maybe we ought to try," said Geo, "and find out what's going on." Hecrossed to his bunk and slipped in. Urson followed and hoisted himselfonto the upper berth, dangling his feet against the wooden support."It's going to be a long time before sleep gets to me tonight," he said."You know the rituals and about magic. Aren't the Strange Ones some sortof magic?"

  "The only mention of them in rituals says that they are ashes of theGreat Fire. The Great Fire was back before the purges, the ones I spoketo the priestess about, so I don't know anything more about them."

  "Sailors have stories of the Great Fire," Urson said. "They say the seaboiled, great birds spat fire from the sky, and beasts rose up from thewaves and destroyed the harbors. But what were the purges youmentioned?"

  "About five hundred years ago," Geo explained, "all the rituals of theGoddess Argo were destroyed. A completely new set were initiated intothe temple practices. All references to them were destroyed also, andwith them, much of Leptar's history. Stories have it that the ritualsand incantations were too powerful. But this is just a guess, and mostpriests are very uncomfortable about speculating."

  "That was after the Great Fire?" Urson asked.

  "Nearly a thousand years after," Geo said.

  "It must have been a Great Fire indeed if ashes from it are stillfalling from the wombs of healthy women." He looked down at Snake. "Isit true that a drop of your blood in vinegar will cure gout? If one ofyou kisses a female baby, will she have only girl children?" He laughed.

  "You know those are only tales," Geo said.
/>   "There used to be a one with two heads that sat outside the Blue Tavernand spun a top all day. It was an idiot, though. But the dwarfs and thelegless ones that wheel about the city and do tricks, they are clever.But strange, and quiet, usually."

  "You oaf," chided Geo, "you could be one too. How many men do you knowwho reach your size and strength by normal means?"

  "You're a crazy liar," said Urson. Then he scrunched his eyebrowstogether in thought, and at last shrugged. "Well anyway, I never heardof one who could hear what you thought. It would make me uncomfortablewalking down the street." He looked down at Snake between his legs. "Canyou all do that?"

  Snake, from the middle bunk, shook his head. Urson stretched out on hisback, but then suddenly looked over the edge of the berth toward Geo."Hey, Geo, what about those little baubles she had. Do you know whatthey are?"

  "No, I don't," Geo said. "But she was concerned over them enough." Helooked up over the bunk bottom between himself and Urson. "Snake, willyou give me another look at that thing?"

  Snake held out the thong and the jewel.

  "Where did you get it?" Urson asked. "Oh, never mind. I guess we learnthat when we go to sleep."

  Geo reached for it, but Snake's one hand closed and three others sprangaround it. "I wasn't going to take it," explained Geo. "I just wanted tosee."

  Suddenly the door of the forecastle opened, and the tall mate wassilhouetted against the brighter light behind him. "Poet," he called."She wants to see you." Then he was gone.

  Geo looked at the other two, shrugged, and then swung off the berth,made his way up the steps and into the hall.

  On deck it was completely dark. As he walked, a door before him openedand a blade of illumination sliced the deck. He jumped.

  "Come in," summoned the Priestess of Argo, and he turned into awindowless cabin and stopped one step beyond the threshold. The wallsrippled tapestries, lucent green, scarlet. Golden braziers perched ontapering legged tripods beneath plumes of pale blue smoke that lent thinincense in the room, pierced faintly but cleanly into his nostrils likeknives. Light lashed the polished wooden newels of a great bed on whichsat swirls of silk, damasked satin, brocade. A huge desk, cornered withwooden eagles, was spread with papers, meticulous instruments ofcartography, sextants, rules, compasses, and great shabby books werepiled on one corner. Above, from the beamed ceiling, hung by thickchains, swayed a branching candelabra of oil cups, some in the hands ofdemons, the mouths of monkeys, burning in the bellies of nymphs, orbetween the horns of satyrs' heads--red, clear green, or yellow-white.

  "Come in," repeated the priestess. "Close the door."

  Geo obeyed.

  She walked behind her desk, sat down, and folded her hands in front ofher veiled face. "What do you know of the real world, outside Leptar?"

  "That there is much water, some land, and mostly ignorance."

  "What tales have you heard from your bear friend, Urson? He is atraveled man and should know some of what there is of the earth."

  "The stories of sailors," said Geo, "are menageries of beasts that noone has ever seen, of lands for which no maps exist, and of peoples whomno man has met."

  She smiled. "Since I boarded this ship I have heard many tales fromsailors, and I have learned more from them than from all my priests.You, on the docks there, this evening, have been the only man to give meanother scrap of the puzzle except a few drunken seamen, misrememberingold fantasies." She paused. "What do you know of the jewels you sawtonight?"

  "Nothing, ma'am."

  "A common thief hiding on the docks had one; I, a priestess of Argo,possess another; and if you had one, you would probably exchange it fora kiss with some tavern maid. What do you know of the god Hama?"

  "I know of no such god."

  "You," she said, "who can spout all the rituals and incantations of thewhite goddess Argo, you do not even know the name of the dark god Hama.What do you know of the Island of Aptor?"

  "Nothing, ma'am."

  "This boat has been to Aptor once and now will return again. Ask yourignorant friend the Bear to tell you tales of Aptor; and blind, wisepoet, you will laugh, and probably he will, too. But I will tell you:his tales, his legends, and his fantasies are not a tithe of the truth,not a tithe. Perhaps you will be no help after all. I am thinking ofdismissing you."

  "But, ma'am ..." Geo began.

  The priestess looked up, having been about to begin some work.

  Geo regained himself. "Ma'am, what can you tell me about these things?You have scattered only crumbs. I have extensive knowledge ofincantation, poetry, magic, and I know these concern your problem. Giveme what information you have, and I will be able to render mine in full.I am familiar with many sailors' tales. True, none of Aptor, or Hama,but I may be able to collate fragments. I have learned the legends andjargon of thieves through a broad life; this is more than your priestshave, I'll wager. I have had teachers who were afraid to touch books Ihave opened. And I fear no secret you might hold."

  "No, you are not afraid," admitted the priestess. "You are honorable,and foolish--and a poet. I hope the first and last will wipe out themiddle one in time. Nevertheless, I will tell you some." She stood upnow, and drew out a map.

  "Here is Leptar," she pointed to one island. Then her finger moved overwater to another. "This is Aptor. Now you know as much about it as anyordinary person in Leptar might. Aptor is a barbaric land, uncivilized.Yet they occasionally show some insidious organization. Tell me, whatlegends of the Great Fire have you heard?"

  "I know that beasts are supposed to have come from the sea and destroyedthe world's harbors, and that birds spat fire from the sky."

  "The older sailors," said the priestess, "will tell you that these werebeasts and birds of Aptor. Of course, there is fifteen hundred years ofretelling and distortion in a tradition never written down, and perhapsAptor has simply become a synonym for everything evil, but these storiesstill give you some idea. Chronicles, which only three or four peoplehave had access to, tell me that once five hundred years ago, the forcesof Aptor actually attempted to invade Leptar. The references to it arevague. I do not know how far it went nor how successful it was, but itsmethods were insidious and very unlike any invasion you may have read ofin history. So unlike, that records of it were destroyed, and no mentionof it is made in the histories given to school children.

  "Only recently have I had a chance to learn how strange and inhuman theywere. And I have good reason to believe that the forces of Aptor arecongealing once more, a sluggish but huge amoeba of horror. Once fullyawake, once launched, it will be irrevocable. Tendrils have reached intous for the past few years, probed, and then withdrawn before they wererecognized. Sometimes they dealt catastrophic blows to the center ofLeptar's government and religion. All this has been assiduously keptfrom the people. I have been sent to clear perhaps just one more veilfrom our ignorance. And if you can help me in that, you are welcome."

  "What of the jewels, and of Hama?" inquired Geo. "Is he a god of Aptorunder whom these forces are being marshaled? And are these jewels sacredto him in some way?"

  "Both are true, and both are not true enough," replied the priestess.

  "And one more thing. You say the last attempted invasion by Aptor intoLeptar was five hundred years ago? It was five hundred years ago thatthe religion of Argo in Leptar purged all her rituals and instituted newones. Was there some connection between the invasion and the purge?"

  "I am sure of it," declared the priestess. "But I do not know what itis. However, let me now tell you the story of the jewels. The one I wearat my neck was captured, somehow, from Aptor during that first invasion.That we captured it may well be the reason that we are still a freenation today. Since then it has been guarded carefully in the temple ofthe Goddess Argo, its secrets well protected, along with those fewchronicles which mention the invasion, which ended, incidentally, only amonth before the purges. Then, about a year ago, a small hoard of horrorreached our shore from Aptor. I cannot describe it. I did not see any ofwhat
transpired. But they made their way inland, and managed to kidnapArgo herself."

  "You mean Argo incarnate? The highest priestess?"

  "Yes. Each generation, as you know, the youngest daughter of the pastgeneration's highest priestess is chosen as the living incarnation ofthe white Goddess Argo. She is reared and taught by the wisest priestsand priestesses. Her youngest daughter, when she dies, becomes Argo. Atany rate, she was kidnaped. One of the assailants was hacked down;instantly it decayed, rotted on the floor of the convent corridor. Butfrom the putrescent mass of flesh, we salvaged a second jewel fromAptor. And before it died, it was heard to utter the lines I quoted toyou before. So, I have been sent then, to find what I can of the enemy,and to rescue or to find the fate of my sister."

  "I will do whatever I can," said Geo, "to help save Leptar and todiscover the whereabouts of your sister priestess."

  "More than my sister priestess," said the woman softly, "my sister inblood. I am the other daughter of the last Argo: that is why this taskfell to me. And until she is found dead, or returned alive ..." here sherose from her bench, "... I am the White Goddess Argo Incarnate."

  Geo dropped his eyes as Argo lifted her veil. Once more that evening sheheld forth the jewel. "There are three of these," she said. "Hama's signis a black disk with three white eyes. Each eye represents a jewel. Withthe first invasion, they probably carried all three jewels, for they arethe center of their power. Without them, they would have been turnedback immediately. With them, they thought themselves invincible. But wecaptured one, and very soon unlocked its secrets. I have no guards withme. With this jewel I need none. I am as safe as I would be with anarmy, and capable of nearly as much destruction. When they came tokidnap my sister a year ago, I am convinced they carried both of theirremaining jewels, thinking that we had either lost, or did not know thepower of the first. Anyway, they reasoned, they had two to our one. Butnow, we have two, and they are left with only one. Through some completecarelessness, your little thief stole one from me as I was about toboard when we first departed two months ago. Today he probablyrecognized me and intended to exact some fee for its return. But now, hewill be put to a true thief's task. He must steal for me the third andfinal jewel from Hama for me. Then we shall have Aptor, and be rid oftheir evil."

  "And where is this third jewel?" asked Geo.

  "Perhaps," said the woman, "perhaps it is lodged in the forehead of thestatue of the dark god Hama that sits in the guarded palace somewhere inthe center of the jungles of Aptor. Do you think your thief will findhimself challenged enough?"

  "I think so," answered Geo.

  "Somewhere in that same palace is my sister, or her remains. You are tofind them, and if she is alive, bring her back with you."

  "And what of the jewels?" asked Geo. "When will you show us their powerso that we may use them to penetrate the palace of Hama?"

  "I will show you their power," said Argo, smiling. With one hand sheheld up the map over which she had spoken. With the other she tapped thewhite jewel with her pale fingernail. The map suddenly blackened at oneedge, and then flared. Argo walked to a brazier and deposited theflaming paper. Then she turned again to Geo. "I can fog the brain of asingle person, as I did with Snake; or I can bewilder a hundred men. Aseasily as I can fire a dried, worn map, I can raze a city."

  "With those to help," smiled Geo, "I think we have a fair chance toreach this Hama, and return."

  But the smile with which she answered his was strange, and then suddenlyit was completely gone. "Do you think," she said, "that I would put suchtemptation in your hands? You might be captured, and if so, then thejewels would be in the hands of Aptor once more."

  "But with them we would be so powerful...."

  "They have been captured once; we cannot take the chance that they becaptured again. If you reach the palace, if you can steal the thirdjewel, if my sister is alive, and if you can rescue her, then she willknow how to employ its power to manipulate your escape. However, if youand your friends do not accomplish _all_ these things, the trip will beuseless; and so perhaps death would be better than a return to watch thewrath of Argo in her dying struggle, for you would feel it more horriblythan even the most malicious torture of Aptor's evil."

  Geo did not speak.

  "Why do you look so strangely?" asked Argo. "You have your poetry, yourspells, your scholarship. Don't you believe in their power? Go back toyour berth, and send the thief to me." The last words were a sharporder, and Geo turned from the room into the night's darkness.