"I know you," I said in surprise. "You are the warrior I fought near Varnal."
"I am the warrior whose life you refused to take-whom you spared from the insults and swords of his comrades. I have thought much on what you did, Michael Kane. I admired what you did. It meant something to me. And now-I can at least help you to fight for your life against this creature."
"But I thought your folk feared it because of its supposed supernatural character."
"True. But I begin to doubt that this is true.
Quickly-take this sword, I have always been a better axe-man than a swordsman."
With this unexpected-and welcome-ally, I turned to face the N'aal Beast.
The Beast seemed put out by this turn of events.
Its gaze went from one to the other of us as though uncertain which one to attack first, for we had spaced out now-both crouching, waiting.
The Beast's great head suddenly whipped towards me. I stumbled backwards until I stood against the wall, desperately hacking at its snout with the great Argzoon blade.
It was evidently unused to its victims retaliating and it hissed in apparently puzzled anger as my sword gashed a wound in its snout.
It drew back its head and began to uncoil, so that soon the head had risen high above me and I was in its shadow. Down came the gaping maw and I thought it would take me in one gulp. I raised the sword point-first and as the mouth was almost upon me, the fetid breath almost overpowering, I dug the sword-point into the beast's soft palate.
It screamed and threshed backwards. Meanwhile, the Argzoon warrior had come in and hacked at the beast's head with his axe. It turned on him and the sweeping head caught him off balance.
He fell and the N'aal Beast opened its mouth, about to snap off his head.
Then I saw my chance. I leapt on to the N'aal Beast's back-on to its upper head and, running over that flat head, straddled it just above the eyes.
All this took only a few seconds, as the Argzoon below tried desperately to fend off the snapping jaws.
I raised my sword in both hands over the creature's right eye.
I plunged the blade downwards.
The steel sank in. The head jerked backwards and I was flung-swordless now-from my perch.
The N'aal Beast turned again towards me. The sword still protruded from its eye so that it made an even more grotesque sight as it came at me.
The Argzoon axe-man leapt up again and came to stand by me, evidently intending to protect me now that I was unarmed.
The beast let out a chilling, reverberating scream, and the gaping mouth, forked tongue flickering rapidly, flashed down on us.
Only inches before it reached us, the head suddenly turned and flung itself upwards. The beast uncoiled its whole length and began to shoot up so that I felt it would leave the pit altogether. I caught a glimpse of spectators scattering-and then it flopped down, almost striking us and finishing us by crushing us beneath its weight.
My sword had done the trick. I had killed it. It had clung on to life longer than anything should have. I half-credited its supernatural origin then!
I bent towards the great head and removed my sword. It slid out easily.
Then I realized that nothing was really saved. I was still imprisoned and, though armed, there were some two hundred Argzoon above us, ready to destroy us at a word from Horguhl.
"What do we do?" I asked my new friend.
"I know," he said, after some thought. "There is a small opening-look there, at the base of the pit on the other side." I followed his pointing finger.
He was right. There was an opening large enough to take a man but not large enough for the head of the N'aal Beast.
"What is it?" I asked.
"A tunnel that leads to the slave pens. Sometimes slaves are forced down it from the other side to feed the beast." My new friend chuckled grimly.
"It will feast no more on human flesh! Come, follow me. We have slain the N'aal Beast-that will impress them. They will be even more impressed when they see we have vanished from the pens.
With luck, we shall escape in the confusion."
I followed him into the tunnel.
As we moved along it, he told me his name.
Movat Jard of the Clan Movat-Tyk-one of the great Argzoon clans in the old days, before Horguhl had reorganized the Argzoon nation. He told me that though the Argzoon feared Horguhl's power, they were now muttering against her. Her ambitious schemes of large-scale conquest had come to nothing-and Argzoon was decimated.
After some time, the dark runnel became a little lighter and ahead I saw some sort of slatted grating. It was of wood. Peering through it I saw a cavern lighted by a single torch.
Lying about on the floor, in attitudes of the utmost dejection, closely packed like cattle, naked and dirty, bearded and pale, were the remains of the great army that had been ambushed here earlier. Some hundred and fifty undernourished, spiritless slaves. I felt pity for them.
Movat Jard was hacking at the wooden grille with his axe. It soon fell and some of the slaves looked up in surprise as we entered. The smell of humanity was almost too much to bear, but I knew it was not their fault.
One fellow, who held himself straighter than the rest and was as tall as I, stepped forward. He had a heavy beard which he had endeavoured to keep clean, and his body rippled with muscle as if he had been deliberately keeping himself in training.
When he spoke his voice was deep and manlyeven dignified.
"I am Carnak," he said simply. "What means this? Who are you and how came you here? How did you evade the N'aal Beast?"
I did not only address him. I addressed them all, since they were all looking at us with something akin to hope in their eyes.
"The N'aal Beast is dead!" I announced. "We slew it-this is Movat Jard, my friend."
"An Argzoon your friend? Impossible!"
"Possible-and my life is witness to that!" I smiled at Movat Jard, who made an attempt to smile back, though when he bared his teeth he still looked menacing!
"Who are you?" asked the bearded man, Carnak.
"I am a stranger here-a stranger to your planet, but I am here to help you. Would you be free?"
"Of course," he said. A murmur of excitement ran round the cavern. Men began to get up, a new liveliness in their manner.
"You must be prepared to win such freedom dearly," I told them. "From somewhere we must get weapons."
"We cannot fight the whole Argzoon nation,"
Carnak said in a low voice. 1 know," I said. "But the whole Argzoon nation is not here. There are perhaps two hundred warriors in all-and they are demoralized."
"Is this true? Really true?" Carnak was grinning excitedly.
"It is true," I said, "but you are outnumbered as well as unarmed. We must think carefully-but first we must escape from here."
"That should not be difficult in our present mood," replied Carnak. "There are usually more guards, but at present there are only two." He pointed to the other entrance to the cave. It was made of wickerwork, that was all. "Normally the cave beyond is thick with guards and all who have tried to escape that way have been cut down or forced back and sacrificed to the N'aal Beast. But now…"
With Movat Jard close at my heels, I strode to the door and immediately began hacking at it with my sword.
Movat Jard joined me, using his axe. The prisoners crowded eagerly behind us, Carnak well to the fore.
From the other side of the door we heard a grunt of surprise. Then an Argzoon yelled:
"Cease-or you'll be food for the N'aal!"
"The N'aal is dead," I replied. "You address the two who slew it."
We forced the door down. It fell outwards and crashed to the floor, revealing two baffled-looking guards, their swords in their hands.
Movat Jard and I rushed at them instantly and had soon despatched them in as swift a series of strokes as I shall ever witness.