Айзек Азимов - Before The Golden Age

My intention had been to swim the river while Awlo was unconscious but it occurred to me that the adjuster might be useful on the other side of the river so I again increased my size until I could step over it. Knowing that the machine would only get so small, I reached in with a piece of wood and closed the reducing switch and watched it grow to toy size. With it in my hand, I again leaped the river and used my pocket knife blade to close the increasing switch. When it had grown to the right size, I stopped it, reentered it and soon had both the adjuster and myself down to the minimum to which it would go.

Awlo was still unconscious and I bent over her and chafed her hands. She soon recovered and sat up. Her gaze wandered and it fell on the adjuster, she shuddered and turned to me with fear in her eyes.

“What happened, Courtney Siba?” she asked with a quaver in her voice. “I thought that you had changed into a kahuma, a wizard of the old days. Was I dreaming?”

I thought rapidly. Evidently a kahuma was something to be revered but also something not quite human. The advantage and disadvantages of being one flashed before me but a glance at Awlo’s scared face decided me.

“I am no kahuma, Awlo,” I replied. “What I did, I did with the aid of that. It made me appear to the Mena to be larger than I am and they ran. While they were gone, I carried you and the machine over the river. We are perfectly safe now and unless the Mena find some way of crossing, they won’t bother us again.”

Awlo seemed satisfied with my explanation. I suggested that she rest for a while to recover from her scare but she laughed at the idea.

“Ulm is near at hand,” she told me, “and we must hurry on. I would not that my father be unduly worried by my absence.”

“That reminds me of something I have been meaning to ask you, Awlo,” I said as we resumed our onward way. “How did you happen to be in the jungle with the Mena after you when I found you?”

“I was visiting my uncle, Hama, at his city of Ame,” she replied. “My visit was at an end and I started homeward yesterday. It has been three years since the Mena have ventured to attack us and the guard was small, only about three hundred soldiers. We were about half way between the two cities and were going peaceably through the jungle when, without warning, the Mena attacked. The soldiers fought desperately but the Mena were too many and too powerful for them and they were all killed. I and two of my maidens were captured. The Mena took us to one of their cities in the jungle and prepared for a feast.”

“For a feast?” I inquired.

“We are food for the Mena,” she replied simply.

I shuddered at the thought and gritted my teeth as I thought of those flying monsters who were at my mercy a few minutes before. Had I known what brutes they were, I could have taken glorious vengeance on them.

“Last night,” went on Awlo, “they took first one and then the other of my maidens out from the cave where we were confined, and killed them and dragged them away to the pot. My turn was next and two of them seized me and dragged me out. They released me and one of them raised a spear to end my life. I dropped to the ground and the spear passed over my head and then I fled. I tried to run toward Ulm, but they suspected the course I would pursue and a party went to head me off while others followed my trail. As long as it was dark I was able to baffle them and go faster than they could trail me, but with the coming of light they found my trail and soon I heard them after me. I ran as fast as I could, but they gained rapidly and I thought that I was lost when I heard your shout. Awlo Sibu Tam will never forget how you saved her and neither will Ulm. My father, Kalu, will honor you highly, Courtney Siba.”

“If these Mena are such brutes, why don’t your soldiers wage war on them until there are none left?” I asked.

“They have waged war for ages,” she replied, “but the Mena are too many and we cannot hunt them all down. In ages past, there were no Mena and then Ulm and Ame fought together. Sometimes one would be victorious and sometimes the other, but always they ceased warring before either was destroyed. Then came the Mena through the passes from the wilderness to the north. They came in thousands and they attacked Ame. The men of Ulm forgot their hatred of their old rival and our armies marched to the assistance of the threatened city. For a time our armies drove the invaders back but more and more came from the north and carried the battle to the gates of Ame itself. There our armies stopped them for they could not climb the walls nor could they break in.

“When they saw that they could not win the city, they attacked Ulm. Our army hurried back to defend the city and the men of Ame came with them, leaving only enough to man the walls. Again the Mena fought their way to the city walls and again they were stopped. When they found they could not take either city, they drew back into the jungle and established cities of huts. Such is the condition today. The Mena fight among themselves and when they are weakened in numbers, the armies of Ulm and Ame march out to attack them. They have always defeated them and tried to hunt them down and sometimes for a generation the Mena are not seen, but eventually they return stronger than ever and attack one of the cities. It has been many years now since war was waged on them and it may be that they are planning to attack again.”

“Do Ulm and Ame ever fight now?” I asked.

“No, there is peace between them. Brothers of one blood sit on the two thrones and the old enmity is forgotten. But see, there lies Ulm!”

We had topped a little rise and had come to the cultivated fields. Before us lay row after row of cultivated plots, most of them planted with keili bushes, the nut of which is the staple food of the poorer classes of Ulm. Two miles or so across the plain rose a massive walled city. Dotted about on the plain were small stone structures, which reminded me of the old blockhouses which used to be erected on our own plains to guard against Indian raids. That, in fact, was the exact function of these structures.

As we approached the nearest of them a figure appeared on the wall and scrutinized us closely. He called out a musical greeting and Awlo raised her face.

“Awlo Sibi Tam commands your presence,” she cried imperiously.

The sentry rubbed his eyes and looked and then came down from that wall in a hurry. The massive gates swung open and an officer appeared and prostrated himself and kissed the ground before Awlo.

“Rise!” she commanded.

He rose and half drew his sword from its sheath and presented the hilt to Awlo. She touched it and he returned it to its scabbard with a sharp motion and stood upright.

“I would go to Ulm,” she said. “Send couriers to warn my father of my approach and bid my guard come hither to escort me.”

He bowed deeply and Awlo took me by the hand and led me into the building. It was a typical guardroom such as are found in all nations and at all times. We seated ourselves and I heard the sound of hoof-beats rapidly dying away in the direction of the city.

“Who are you, Awlo?” I asked. “Are you a Chief’s daughter or what?”

“I am Sibi Tam,” she replied.

“I don’t know that rank,” I answered. “How important is it?”

She looked at me in surprise and then laughed.

“You will find out in time, Courtney Siba,” she said with a laugh.

I tried to press the question but she refused to answer and turned the talk to other matters. Half an hour passed and then I was aware of a confused murmur approaching from the city. Awlo rose.

“It is doubtless our escort,” she said. “Let us greet them.”