Despoilers of the Golden Empire, Page 2

  The lieutenant had decided to make himself an exception.

  He turned to step into his tent when a voice came out of the nearbydarkness.

  "Hadn't you better get your steel plates back on before the commandersees you?"

  The young officer turned quickly to see who had spoken. It was anotherof the junior officers.

  "Mind your own business," snapped the lieutenant.

  The other grinned sardonically. "And if I don't?"

  There had been bad blood between these two for a long time; it was anenmity that went back to a time even before the expedition had begun.The two men stood there for a long moment, the light from the distantfire flickering uncertainly against their bodies.

  The young officer who had removed his armor had not been foolish enoughto remove his weapons too; no sane man did that in hostile territory.His hand went to the haft of the blade at his side.

  "If you say a single word--"

  Instinctively, the other dropped his hand to his own sword.

  "Stop! Both of you!"

  And stop they did; no one could mistake the crackling authority in thatvoice. The commander, unseen in the moving, dim light, had been circlingthe periphery of the camp, to make sure that all was well. He strodetoward the two younger men, who stood silently, shocked into immobility.The commander's sword was already in his hand.

  "I'll spit the first man that draws a blade," he snapped.

  His keen eyes took in the situation at a glance.

  "Lieutenant, what are you doing out of armor?"

  "It was hot, sir, and I--"

  "Shut up!" The commander's eyes were dangerous. "An asinine statementlike that isn't even worth listening to! Get that armor back on!_Move!_"

  He was standing approximately between the two men, who had been four orfive yards apart. When the cowed young officer took a step or two backtoward his tent, the commander turned toward the other officer. "And asfor you, if--"

  He was cut off by the yell of the unarmored man, followed by the soundof his blade singing from its sheath.

  The commander leaped backwards and spun, his own sword at the ready, hisbody settling into a swordsman's crouch.

  But the young officer was not drawing against his superior. He washacking at something ropy and writhing that squirmed on the ground asthe lieutenant's blade bit into it. Within seconds, the serpentine thinggave a convulsive shudder and died.

  The lieutenant stepped back clumsily, his eyes glazing in the flickeringlight. "Dropped from th' tree," he said thickly. "Bit me."

  His hand moved to a dark spot on his chest, but it never reached itsgoal. The lieutenant collapsed, crumpling to the ground.

  The commander walked over, slammed the heel of his heavy boot hard downon the head of the snaky thing, crushing it. Then he returned his bladeto its sheath, knelt down by the young man, and turned him over on hisface.

  The commander's own face was grim.

  By this time, some of the nearby men, attracted by the yell, had comerunning. They came to a stop as they saw the tableau before them.

  The commander, kneeling beside the corpse, looked up at them. With onehand, he gestured at the body. "Let this be a lesson to all of you," hesaid in a tight voice. "This man died because he took off his armor.That"--he pointed at the butchered reptile--"thing is full of as deadlya poison as you'll ever see, and it can move like lightning. _But itcan't bite through steel!_

  "Look well at this man and tell the others what you saw. I don't want tolose another man in this idiotic fashion."

  He stood up and gestured.

  "Bury him."

  VII

  They found, as they penetrated deeper into the savage-infestedhinterlands of the Empire of the Great Nobles, that the armor fended offmore than just snakes. Hardly a day passed but one or more of the menwould hear the sharp _spang!_ of a blowgun-driven dart as it slammedineffectually against his armored back or chest. At first, some of themen wanted to charge into the surrounding forest, whence the darts came,and punish the sniping aliens, but the commander would have none of it.

  "Stick together," he ordered. "They'll do worse to us if we're split upin this jungle. Those blowgun darts aren't going to hurt you as long asthey're hitting steel. Ignore them and keep moving."

  They kept moving.

  Around them, the jungle chattered and muttered, and, occasionally,screamed. Clouds of insects, great and small, hummed and buzzed throughthe air. They subsided only when the drizzling rains came, and thenlifted again from their resting places when the sun came out to raisesteamy vapors from the moist ground.

  It was not an easy march. Before many days had passed, the men's feetwere cracked and blistered from the effects of fungus, dampness, andconstant marching. The compact military marching order which hadcharacterized the first few days of march had long since deterioratedinto a straggling column, where the weaker were supported by thestronger.

  Three more men died. One simply dropped in his tracks. He was deadbefore anyone could touch him. Insect bite? Disease? No one knew.

  Another had been even less fortunate. A lionlike carnivore had leaped onhim during the night and clawed him badly before one of his companionsblasted the thing with a power weapon. Three days later, the wounded manwas begging to be killed; one arm and one leg were gangrenous. But hedied while begging, thus sparing any would-be executioner from anunpleasant duty.

  The third man simply failed to show up for roll call one morning. He wasnever seen again.

  But the rest of the column, with dauntless courage, followed the lead oftheir commander.

  * * * * *

  It was hard to read their expressions, those reddened eyes that peeredat him from swollen, bearded faces. But he knew his own face looked nodifferent.

  "We all knew this wasn't going to be a fancy-dress ball when we came,"he said. "Nobody said this was going to be the easiest way in the worldto get rich."

  The commander was sitting on one of the carriers, his eyes watching themen, who were lined up in front of him. His voice was purposely heldlow, but it carried well.

  "The marching has been difficult, but now we're really going to see whatwe're made of.

  "We all need a rest, and we all deserve one. But when I lie down torest, I'm going to do it in a halfway decent bed, with some good, solidfood in my belly.

  "Here's the way the picture looks: An hour's march from here, there's agood-sized village." He swung partially away from them and pointedsouth. "I think we have earned that town and everything in it."

  He swung back, facing them. There was a wolfish grin on his face."There's gold there, too. Not much, really, compared with what we'll getlater on, but enough to whet our appetites."

  The men's faces were beginning to change now, in spite of the swelling.

  "I don't think we need worry too much about the savages that are livingthere now. With God on our side, I hardly see how we can fail."

  He went on, telling them how they would attack the town, the dispositionof men, the use of the carriers, and so forth. By the time he wasthrough, every man there was as eager as he to move in. When he finishedspeaking, they set up a cheer:

  "For the Emperor and the Universal Assembly!"

  * * * * *

  The natives of the small village had heard that some sort of terriblebeings were approaching through the jungle. Word had come from thepeople of the forest that the strange monsters were impervious to darts,and that they had huge dragons with them which were terrifying even tolook at. They were clad in metal and made queer noises as they moved.

  The village chieftain called his advisers together to ponder thesituation. What should they do with these strange things? What were theinvaders' intentions?

  Obviously, the things must be hostile. Therefore, there were only twocourses open--fight or flee. The chieftain and his men decided to fight.It would have been a good thing if there had only been some Imperialtroops in the vicinity, but all the
troops were farther south, where acivil war was raging over the right of succession of the GreatestNoble.

  Nevertheless, there were two thousand fighting men in the village--well,two thousand men at any rate, and they would certainly all fight,although some were rather young and a few were too old for any reallyhard fighting. On the other hand, it would probably not come to that,since the strangers were outnumbered by at least three to one.

  The chieftain gave his orders for the defense of the village.

  * * * * *

  The invading Earthmen approached the small town cautiously from thewest. The commander had his men spread out a little, but not so muchthat they could be separated. He saw the aliens grouped around thesquare, boxlike buildings, watching and waiting for trouble.

  "We'll give them trouble," the commander whispered softly. He waiteduntil his troops were properly deployed, then he gave the signal for thecharge.

  The carriers went in first, thundering directly into the massed alienwarriors. Each carrier-man fired a single shot from his power weapon,and then went to work with his carrier, running down the terrifiedaliens, and swinging a sword with one hand while he guided with theother. The commander went in with that first charge, aiming his owncarrier toward the center of the fray. He had some raw, untrained menwith him, and he believed in teaching by example.

  The aliens recoiled at the onslaught of what they took to be horribleliving monsters that were unlike anything ever seen before.

  Then the commander's infantry charged in. The shock effect of thecarriers had been enough to disorganize the aliens, but the battle wasnot over yet by a long shot.

  There were yells from other parts of the village as some of the otherdefenders, hearing the sounds of battle, came running to reinforce thehome guard. Better than fifteen hundred men were converging on the spot.

  The invading Earthmen moved in rapidly against the armed natives,beating them back by the sheer ferocity of their attack. Weapons ofsteel clashed against weapons of bronze and wood.

  The power weapons were used only sparingly; only when the necessity tosave a life was greater than the necessity to conserve weapon chargeswas a shot fired.

  The commander, from the center of the fray, took a glance around thearea. One glance was enough.

  "They're dropping back!" he bellowed, his voice carrying well above thedin of the battle, "Keep 'em moving!" He singled out one of his officersat a distance, and yelled: "Hernan! Get a couple of men to cover thatstreet!" He waved toward one of the narrow streets that ran off to oneside. The others were already being attended to.

  The commander jerked around swiftly as one of the natives grabbed holdof the carrier and tried to hack at the commander with a bronze sword.The commander spitted him neatly on his blade and withdrew it just intime to parry another attack from the other side.

  By this time, the reinforcements from the other parts of the villagewere beginning to come in from the side streets, but they were a littlelate. The warriors in the square--what was left of them--had panicked.In an effort to get away from the terrible monsters with their deadlyblades and their fire-spitting weapons, they were leaving by the samechannels that the reinforcements were coming in by, and the resultantjam-up was disastrous. The panic communicated itself like wildfire, butno one could move fast enough to get away from the sweeping, stabbing,glittering blades of the invading Earthmen.

  "All right," the commander yelled, "we've got 'em on the run now! Breakup into squads of three and clear those streets! Clear 'em out! Keep 'emmoving!"

  After that, it was the work of minutes to clear the town.

  The commander brought his carrier to a dead stop, reached out with hissword, and snagged a bit of cloth from one of the fallen nativewarriors. He began to wipe the blade of his weapon as Lieutenantcommander Hernan pulled up beside him.

  "Casualties?" the commander asked Hernan without looking up from hiswork.

  "Six wounded, no dead," said Hernan. "Or did you want me to count thealiens, too?"

  The commander shook his head. "No. Get a detail to clear out thecarrion, and then tell Frater Vincent I want to talk to him. We'll haveto start teaching these people the Truth."

  VIII

  "Have you anything to say in your defense?" the commander asked coldly.

  For a moment, the accused looked nothing but hatred at the commander,but there was fear behind that hatred. At last he found his voice. "Itwas mine. You promised us all a share."

  Lieutenant commander Hernan picked up a leather bag that lay on thetable behind which he and the commander were sitting. With a suddengesture, he upended it, dumping its contents on the flat, wooden surfaceof the table.

  "Do you deny that this was found among your personal possessions?" heasked harshly.

  "No," said the accused soldier. "Why should I? It's mine. Rightfullymine. I fought for it. I found it. I kept it. It's mine." He glanced toeither side, towards the two guards who flanked him, then looked back atthe commander.

  The commander ran an idle finger through the pound or so of goldentrinkets that Hernan had spilled from the bag. He knew what the trooperwas thinking. A man had a right to what he had earned, didn't he?

  The commander picked up one of the heavier bits of primitive jewelry andtossed it in his hand. Then he stood up and looked around the townsquare.

  The company had occupied the town for several weeks. The stored grainsin the community warehouse, plus the relaxation the men had had, plusthe relative security of the town, had put most of the men back intocondition. One had died from a skin infection, and another from woundssustained in the assault on the town, but the remainder were in goodhealth.

  And all of them, with the exception of the sentries guarding the town'sperimeter, were standing in the square, watching the court-martial.Their eyes didn't seem to blink, and their breathing was soft andmeasured. They were waiting for the commander's decision.

  The commander, still tossing the crude golden earring, stood tall andstraight, estimating the feeling of the men surrounding him.

  "Gold," he said finally. "Gold. That's what we came here for, and that'swhat we're going to get. Five hundred pounds of the stuff would make anyone of you wealthy for the rest of his life. Do you think I blame anyone of you for wanting it? Do you think I blame this man here? Of coursenot." He laughed--a short, hard bark. "Do I blame myself?"

  He tossed the bauble again, caught it. "But wanting it is one thing;getting it, holding it, and taking care of it wisely are something elseagain.

  "I gave orders. I have expected--and still expect--that they will beobeyed. But I didn't give them just to hear myself give orders. Therewas a reason, and a good one.

  "Suppose we let each man take what gold he could find. What wouldhappen? The lucky ones would be wealthy, and the unlucky would still bepoor. And then some of the lucky ones would wake up some morning withoutthe gold they'd taken because someone else had relieved them of it whilethey slept.

  "And others wouldn't wake up at all, because they'd be found with theirthroats cut.

  "I told you to bring every bit of the metal to me. When this thing isover, every one of you will get his share. If a man dies, his share willbe split among the rest, instead of being stolen by someone else or lostbecause it was hidden too well."

  He looked at the earring in his hand, then, with a convulsive sweep ofhis arm, he tossed it out into the middle of the square.

  "There! Seven ounces of gold! Which of you wants it?"

  Some of the men eyed the circle of metal that gleamed brightly on thesunlit ground, but none of them made any motion to pick it up.

  "So." The commander's voice was almost gentle. He turned his eyes backtoward the accused. "You know the orders. You knew them when you hidthis." He gestured negligently toward the small heap of native-wroughtmetal. "Suppose you'd gotten away with it. You'd have ended up with yourown share, _plus_ this, thereby cheating the others out of--" He glancedat the pile. "Hm-m-m--say, twenty-five each. And th
at's only a littlecompared with what we'll get from now on."

  He looked back at the others. "Unless the shares are taken care of _my_way, the largest shares will go to the dishonest, the most powerful, andthe luckiest. Unless the division is made as we originally agreed, we'llend up trying to cut each other's heart out."

  There was hardness in his voice when he spoke to the accused, but therewas compassion there, too.

  "First: You have forfeited your share in this expedition. All that youhave now, and all that you might have expected will be divided among theothers according to our original agreement.

  "Second: I do not expect any man to work for nothing. Since you will notreceive anything from this expedition, there is no point in yourassisting the rest of us or working with us in any way whatsoever.

  "Third: We can't have anyone with us who does not carry his own weight."

  He glanced at the guards. "Hang him." He paused. "Now."

  As he was led away, the commander watched the other men. There wasapproval in their eyes, but there was something else there, too--awariness, a concealed fear.

  The condemned man turned suddenly and began shouting at the commander,but before he could utter more than three syllables, a fist smashed himdown. The guards dragged him off.

  "All right, men," said the commander carefully, "let's search thevillage. There might be more gold about; I have a hunch that this isn'tall he hid. Let's see if we can find the rest of it." He sensed therelief of tension as he spoke.