Poul Anderson

“ The rebel leaned wearily on his sword and let his eyes rove the chamber. There were seven or eight other men seated around the table, mostly older and fatter than Rayth but all with the rich dress and the inbred hauteur of the rulers. There was also a high-ranking Engineer, a sly-faced elderly man whose heavy-lidded eyes barely flicked over the newcomers before retreating back to their own dreams. But it was to Leda that Rikard's gaze went first, Leda who had been sprawling sullen and splendid on a couch and who now started up and ran to him and clung wordlessly to his bleeding form. ”

“ The rebel rolled, barely ducking the thrust, and Rayth grinned without much malice and sprang at him. His sword clattered and yelled, biting the Nyracan's arms, bouncing off the hard-held guard to sing around his opponent's ears. Rikard fell back, grunting in surprise, and Rayth pursued him, lightfooted, leaping, playing with him.
Scream and clangor of steel, hoarse gasps for breath, bounding human forms in a strange and terrible grace of murder, clash and bite and two faces staring into each other's eyes across the web of flying metal. Rikard hewed out again and again, cleaving empty air ”

“ Rikard held her close, but he was thinking of the armies beyond the city, and the restlessness of the conquered towns and the ruthless will of those still free; of the long task of raising men turned into brutes by centuries of injustice and oppression, of making them free and fit to use their freedom, and of all the evil elements which would be seeking to thwart that goal; of the still greater war to be fought by quiet men. In the Temple, the war to regain the lost wisdom of the ancients, the battle which would hammer out the long road back to Earth. ”

“ Rikard leaned back in his chair and surveyed the prince with arrogant eyes. "All right," he said. "I'll accept it. What's the difference anyway? What do you have us here for and why are you telling us this?"
"Oh—I wanted you to realize that our frank goal of conquering the world is not the unmitigated evil you insist. It will bring knowledge to the barbarians, give them back their heritage, and end their stupid squabbling in a unity of all mankind."
"At the price of making them slaves and paupers!"
"Well, I didn't say we were doing this for our health," said Rayth mildly. ”

“ We will impose the social pattern of Coper City everywhere, yes, because it is our own. But we'll have to take the most able and trustworthy barbarians into our own noble ranks as full citizens. How would you like to trade the circumscribed darkness of Nyrac for a dwelling like this, a score of slaves, a personal guard, a city for your private estate? How would you like a hand in shaping the future? ”

“ It was known that the life of the air, and hence of man, depended on green plants, so even the smallest village had its farms and even the outlaws' crowded seal-tents had contained some pots of vegetation. But Rikard and Leda had never seen anything like this riot of blooms and rearing trees, had never felt grass soft and cool beneath their bare feet, and the girl drew a gasp of wonder and buried her face in a huge sweet cluster of roses.
Rayth drew his sword and cut the flowers and handed them to her with a bow. "No fairer than you," he smiled. ”

“ Leda went back to Rayth and said: "Give me a blade too."
"You—a woman?" he asked.
"I've sent more men to Earth than you ever did," she snapped. "From here on, Rikard and I fight together."
"Well—I hate to risk such beauty being hacked up—but far be it from me to oppose that beauty's lightest wish," laughed the Coper. "Remember, though—you'll be among my own troops, and they don't take kindly to traitors." ”

“ Rikard snarled and wrenched at his bonds. They dug harshly into his wrists, and a guard pricked him with a spear.
Rayth held Rikard's bow between his hands, "This is an unusually fine weapon," he said. "I hadn't thought the barbarians had anything so good. You may get it back, but you'll have to earn it."
The tunnel opened into a great cavern, a reaching vastness whose farther walls could not be seen. It was farmland, peasants going between the long rows of tanks and tending a riotous greenery of food plants, an occasional hard-faced overseer pausing in his rounds to salute the prince. ”

“ The soldiers had suffered hideously, but there were many Temple dead, ordinary guardsmen, scantily armored commoners, Engineers with their spacesuits pierced or their helmets cloven. The fight was breaking into knots and clusters, small whirlpools of murder swaying back and forth over the great blood-wet space, men springing through the air at each other. ”

“ Then there was panic, everyone running, guards fighting to get out after the killer—I slipped away and came here as you told me, sir—"
"Dead!" Rayth's shout echoed between the walls. "Dead, d'you hear? After five years I've killed the old swine, and Temple and commons alike are rioting—What more excuse do we need?"
"Excuse?" whispered a noble.
"Certainly!" Rayth grinned. "As a public-spirited gesture, we assemble our personal guards and march them down there to restore order. With the Temple occupied by us, your election to the slide rule becomes a certainty, Jastur." ”

“ Rikard, this is the situation in Coper City. The old bold dynasty of the Mayors has faded till the last of them sits bibbing in his apartments with little interest in anything save a new wench. Meanwhile the struggle for the real power over this growing empire lies between the great nobles, of whom Rayth is chief, and the Temple, which recruits from all ranks and is thus closer to the people and more alive to their wants. The world has come down far since the Fall. ”

“ It must have destroyed civilization on Earth; at least there have been no visitors from there in a thousand years or more. Here on Luna the colonies also fought, but in a more limited way since they had not the greatest engines of destruction. But it was enough to wipe out many cities—you must have seen some of the ruins—and to destroy most of the equipment. Such wise men as survived had not the tools to work with to rebuild all they must have, and the turbulent new generations paid little heed to teachings which had no relation to their own experience. ”

“ They did not mock the prisoners—the name of Rikard of Nyrac had been too frightening for the past year—but they leered at Leda.
Even the outlaws were glad to shed their spacesuits. Sweat and the needs of nature made it uncomfortable to be outside more than a few hours at a time. They were stripped, their hands bound behind them, and marched between an alert guard down the tunnel toward Coper City. It went rapidly, the long bounding pace of men in home territory who had no ambush to fear. ”

“ Now it is only ten or fifteen hours since we heard that the mighty Rikard of Nyrac had been captured by this same Rayth."
"Rikard of Nyrac—aye, your Wisdom, they said he was big and dark, it must be he. Right?" A foot kicked the prisoner.
"Gently, Wanno, gently. There is no cause to maltreat him when he is helpless. Nobody was killed in this little affair." The Chief Engineer stooped over Rikard and smiled. "See here, my friend, I have no ill will for you. I've chuckled for a long time over your impudent bearding of the Coper lords, and I wouldn't mind doing you a good turn if you'd let me." ”

“ I do not say that the Temple is blameless; the early Chief Engineers found it convenient to monopolize what true knowledge was left and to ally themselves with the nobles in crushing the commons. But in the past generation we have tried to make some amends, we have spoken against human slavery and unjust laws, and we would like to teach all men enough to make them more than walking bellies. Temple and nobles agree that man must be united—"
Rikard snarled at him. ”

“ Rikard heard Rayth's voice, puzzled. "Where are the others? The Temple has plenty of its own guardsmen, where are they? Has everyone fled?" Then, he laughed. "If so, why, it makes our task all the easier. Forward!"
They burst into the great audience chamber, and it was lighted and the Temple was waiting for them.
The young Engineers were reinforced by commoners, weapons in hand and armored in spacesuits.
The invaders let out one roar and the forward ranks hurled spears that bounced off metal and plastic and tough cord. ”

“ When they emerged on a landing at the ceiling of the Temple level and looked down twenty feet, it was to a boiling pool of humankind, gray workers, naked slaves, velvet merchants, leather artisans, women and children, howling and trampling until the din shook the walls and rattled the teeth in a man's skull. ”

“ They went by a stockyard, cattle, pigs, sheep, and poultry in their pens, slaves cleaning and feeding. Not far off was a slaughterhouse, and Rayth's aristocratic nose crinkled.
A winding ramp led up through other levels. They passed the drab, huddled compartments of the lower classes, gray-clad peasants crowded with their families into doorless rooms. Above that was a factory level, where acolyte engineers labored over weapons and tools, over ore-smelting and refining, and other workmen turned out clothes and cord and the remaining necessities of life. ”

“ I really don't know whether it wouldn't be safer all around just to return your head to Rayth. But—Rikard, the Temple has been at one grave disadvantage. Its younger men are often doughty fighters, as you have seen, but they are still mostly technicians, intellectuals, people without practical experience in warfare. You, on the other hand, have fought all your life. ”

“ Toward the north side of the dome, roughly at ground level, was the area of those who were more than simple freemen without being quite nobles—merchants, shopkeepers, independent artisans of all kinds. Moving through that district, Rikard was struck by the bearing of the folk, neither servile nor haughty, neither uncouth nor overly mannered, a more civilized version of the barbarians' egalitarianism. ”

“ The enemy's own ax had dropped from his fingers as Rikard's blade smashed home, and clanged off the chief's helmet. Rikard smote at the warrior beyond, hit a metal shoulder plate, and dodged a counterblow. Leda thrust between him and Jonak, driving the pike home with a terrible force that split the Coper's suit at the belly. ”

“ But that I, who was chief over the freemen of Nyrac, should sink to be Rayth's assassin—!
Kill the Chief Engineer of Coper City.
Rayth had shown him the layout, warned him that the Temple had its own guards, and said that several of his men had attempted the job before and failed bloodily. On the other hand, could he but accomplish his task and fight his way out of the Temple, there'd be a gang of the prince's bully boys waiting to escort him home. Rikard had pulled off more daring stunts than this. ”

“ His teeth flashed white in his beard. "The first of which can begin now!"
"Hm?"
"I want you to kill a man for me."
"Well—" Rikard sat thinking a moment, "Who is he?"
"I'll come to that. It's nobody you know or care about. If you fullfil that mission, there will be others, and your rise can be swift."
"You turn me loose with a sword," said the barbarian slowly, "and expect me to do just what you want?"
"Naturally," said Rayth, "I will keep your charming lady as a hostage." He smiled on Leda and a slow hot flush crept up her cheeks and stained her breast. "I shall see that she is not bored." ”

“ Weapons more deadly than bow or ax, machines which carried them over the surface and hauled their loads and did the work we must do by hand—but those things have long worn out or been destroyed, and their remnants have been wrecked for the metal in them. We have a few relics in our Temple here, that is all." Rayth's eyes gleamed briefly.
He went on in a moment. "The sin and the Fall were something different from what the Engineers have said in their sermons. ”

“ I don't know exactly what happened, except that even those wise ancients were not united, they were divided into—cities, I suppose—and the separate colonies here were owned by these various cities. A war broke out, not a war as we know war but something with doom in it, all the power of the machines turned loose to blast and burn. ”

“ What was a wise and glorious and adventurous civilization has been destroyed, and this, its successor, is stagnant and cruel and ignorant; it has done little which was new or decent in a thousand years. ”

“ Rikard looked sullenly back at him.
"Behave yourself," advised the other. "Remember we hold the woman too."
They scaled the heights of Copernicus and descended to the plain which the crater ringed in. Not far off was an armored dome with sentries before it, one of the airlocks leading to a tunnel. They entered this and came to the long tube-lit bareness underground. A few Coper soldiers were posted here, taking turns at guard duty on the outside. ”

“ The outlier raids have been more than a little costly and annoying to us, and of course we can always use more workers. However, please don't tell me you are some kind of martyr whose heart bleeds only for your poor oppressed people. You are angry because your wealth and power were stripped from you. ”

“ Now, Rikard, you are a man of intelligence, and I ask you to think a bit. We must have extra air, to replace that which is lost one way or another, but it takes skill and some equipment to get it from the minerals in which it is locked. ”

“ The man hurled a spear; it bounced off the crag and Huw stepped forth to seize and throw it back. Rikard fired once more, and another warrior tumbled to the stony ground, to freeze in death.
Now they were close, terribly close, a good dozen of them rushing in on him. He sent a final snapped shot against them, dropped the bow, and grabbed up his ax. Swiftly the outlaws fell into a defending line: Rikard, Huw, and Jonak, the heaviest, standing shoulder to shoulder between the two great pillars ”