CHAPTER XIV
Escape
Ramey stared at the claimant incredulously. Surely this man could not be the brother of Lord Ravana! Father or uncle, perhaps. But—
Then, peering more closely at the older man he realized it was not so much age that had whitened Vibhishana's hair, bowed his shoulders, creased and lined his cheeks, as it was privation. Privation, worry and sorrow. And studying the Martian he now could trace a family resemblance. Vibhishana had a nose as aquiline and proud as that of the arrogant Ravana, lips full and delicately-turned as those tempting ones of the Lady Rakshasi. He differed from his younger brother and sister in that his eyes were warm and friendly, where theirs were intense as a wind-swept flame, his manner was gentle and self-effacing, where theirs was haughty. Said Ramey:
"It is so! Yes, I see it now. You are Vibhishana."
"Once Regent," said the older man sorrowfully, "of Videlia's colony on Earth. Now a prisoner in the citadel I once dreamed would be a refuge and gathering-place for every race that treads this planet. Aye, it is a sad end to which my dreams have come, stranger. But who are you? Whence came you here, and why?"
Ramey told him then, briefly, that which had gone before. Vibhishana listened eagerly and—what was more surprising—comprehendingly. Not even was he amazed when Ramey told of the time-machine. He but nodded.
"Ah, yes! That would be the invention of the Gaanelian lord, Rudra. He was a brilliant one. He invented also a Bow. A frightful weapon. Had it been mine, never would Ravana have dared rise against me. Where is the Bow now? Does not Sugriva have it?"
"It is here," Ramey told him grimly, "at Lanka. So far it has done Ravana no good, because it isn't charged for operation. But he has sent his men out to find the precious element which operates it. If he gets the ammunition before we can invade Lanka, I'm afraid the fight will be over. What is this ammunition, anyway?" It was a question that had long puzzled Ramey. "Some rare type of explosive?"
"A metal," explained Vibhishana. "What your tongue would call it, I do not know. We know it as the element banaratha. A metal more rare than perfect gold; yea, even rarer than the dull platinum of Earth's frigid poles. You are indeed undone, Ramey Winters, if my brother has located enough of it to fuel the Bow of Rudra." He shook his head sadly. "It is a shame he brings down upon the fair name of Videlia, my power-greedy brother. Whether he win or lose, for ages to come shall the name of my home planet be associated with the thoughts of war, death and conquest."
He spoke, thought Ramey with a strange tingling in his spine, more truly than he knew. And a dim wonderment grew in Ramey that he, a Twentieth Century man, should listen to a prediction made centuries before his birth, and recognize that prophecy to have been fulfilled. For in the world from which Ramey had come, the name of Vibhishana's homeland, Mars, was invariably, inevitably, associated with thoughts of war, death and conquest. And this for no reason known to the memory of living man....
But he said, "Then you shared not Ravana's desire?"
"Shared it!" Vibhishana's voice deepened angrily. "You dare accuse me—I am sorry, Ramey Winters. You did not mean to offend, I know. But believe me, never for an instant did I, when I ruled Lanka, harbor any lust for dominion over your people. With the Gaanelian lord I cherished the dream that we of the more advanced cultures might help improve your planet, make it a finer world for your people. All I asked of earthmen was their allegiance, small territorial rights on which to base a sound commerce and a solid economy between our two homelands.
"Perhaps—" he continued almost wistfully—"even more than Sugriva I cherished this hope. For his race, the blue ones of Gaanelia, are after all of a different stock. We of Videlia, and you of Earth, are of the same seed. Behold your companion, Ramey Winters. Can you deny that from the same source sprang the root which was to nourish us both?"
There was, indeed, a great similarity between Sheng-ti and Vibhishana. Both were tall, both almost beardless by nature, both ochre-skinned. And the "Mongolian fold," that small, peculiarly creased fold of flesh which lends obliquity to the typical Oriental eye, was common to both men.
Ramey said, perplexed, "But—but that would indicate that ages before this your world must have had intercourse with ours. Yet Sugriva said his planet was the first to develop space-travel—"
"Even the Lord Sugriva can err, Ramey Winters. The dead past buries many secrets. We of Videlia have a legend that our civilization sprang from a planet now vanished from the heavens, a mighty race whose home-world was destroyed in a frightful cataclysm. Who knows but that refugees from this earlier world might have emigrated to each of our two younger ones?[10]
"But enough of this now. I see the companions of Tauthus are back, bringing with them the captains. For what reason summoned you them?"
Ramey turned to where Tauthus stood chafing impatiently for this palaver to end. As Vibhishana had said, the captains had gathered. And a rougher, tougher, meaner-looking crew, Ramey had never set eyes on in his life. But they were a sight calculated to warm the heart of a fighting man. Ramey stepped into their midst.
"Now, this—" he began—"this is my plan...."
Without artificial means, it would have been impossible to tell, in the dungeons beneath Lanka, what hour of day or night it was. No feeblest ray of sun light ever penetrated this dank depths; skins were colorless, gums sloughing-sore, and hair without lustre amongst those who had lain long in the prison.
But the candles spluttering fitfully upon the walls, and the periodic visits of the gaolers with food and drink, by these had the prisoners managed to maintain some cognizance of what hour it was outside their walls.
Thus, at the middle watch of the night, his campaign mapped out and approved by hastily-selected lieutenants, Ramey Winters waited feverishly by the outer door of the dungeon.
So long he had crouched at this post, so long counted the beat of his pulse in eager expectation, that it seemed to him the hour of appointment must have long since passed. But at last his vigil was rewarded. There came the clanking of harness, the rasp of sandaled feet on harsh stone, and the voice of Captain Thalakka.
"Warder!"
"Aye? What is it? Who calls?" The shuffling footsteps of the gaoler. "Ah, you again, Captain? What is it?"
"A meeting of all prison guards," said the Videlian, "on the fourth level. I have come to relieve you so you may attend. You may hand over the keys."
A long silence. Then: "Mighty unusual!" declared the warder. "Nothing like this ever happened before!"
"These are unusual times. Nothing like an invasion of Lanka was ever attempted before. But the monkey-warriors of Sugriva are even now assembled on the mainland shore, and our defense measures must be studied."
"Say you so!" There came the jangle of metal passing from one hand to another. "Invasion, eh? Well, I'll be running along, then. I'll have more prisoners to take care of when this is over, eh, captain?"
And giggling evilly, the warder shuffled away.
Another slow century dripped by before his footsteps disappeared in the distance. Then came the swift whisper of Captain Thalakka:
"My Lord? My Lord Ramaíya?"
"We are here," Ramey whispered back. "All three of us. Open swiftly!"
The key grated in the lock, the door swung open, and momentarily blinded by the lights of the corridor, Ramey elbowed forward to freedom. Behind him came Sheng-ti, then Vibhishana, then—
Captain Thalakka so far forgot himself as to loose a little cry. "But—but what is this, Lord Ramaíya! Behind you! The prisoners! This I cannot allow! No! For you, to whom I owe my life, I have risked much that you might escape. But not even for you can I betray the fortress, my Lord Ravana and my comrades-in-arms—"
But a taller, slimmer figure brushed past Ramey Winters to confront the protesting soldier. And:
"Nor even for me, Captain?" asked Vibhishana gently.
The warrior stared. Just for a moment. Then a look of humility, in which was strangely mingled joy, flooded into his eyes. He went to one knee. "My Lord!" he breathed. "My Lord Vibhishana! Is it thy will this should be permitted?"
"Not only my will," said Vibhishana firmly, "but my determination. The hour for vengeance has struck. Tell me, my captain—how many of the old guard stand ready to strike a blow for honor and the elder suzerainty?"
"Many, my Lord," replied Thalakka humbly. "And many more when the news of thy release bruits about. The corridors leading to the lakeside port are even now lined with those of my men who love thee above the cruel Ravana. Thus prepared I for thy escape—"
"And thus," nodded Vibhishana, "shall our earthborn allies return to rally their forces. But meanwhile I remain to gather about me those who would fight my cause. Vanguard of my new army shall be those with whom I languished in these dungeons. Can you arm them?"
Thalakka glanced dubiously at the ragtag aggregation of human flotsam seeping through the bronze gate. He nodded.
"Aye. Even so, my Lord."
"Then do so. And now, Ramey Winters—" Vibhishana pressed the young American's shoulder warmly—"for a time we must part. But all of us know the Plan. We shall create a diversion for your escape. Haste to the mainland and bring to Lanka as speedily as possible all the fighting-men Sugriva has gathered. If fortune favor us, we shall have won a foothold on some niche of Lanka. That spot will be your landing-place. Now go—and may the gods go with you!"
Ramey said nothing. But his jaw was set in a line that boded no good for any man who tried to restrain him from his part of the Plan. He glanced at Thalakka. The captain gestured.
"This way, Lord Ramaíya—"
And stealthily the trio moved upward from the bowels of Lanka, while behind them a fledgling army surged from pits of darkness and despair into a world of new hope....
Thrice the adventurers passed posts whereat Videlian guards stood watch; thrice a hasty sign, a word from the Captain Thalakka, caused these sentries to glance the other way. Only once had they to pass a warrior whose allegiance was not pledged to Vibhishana, but his brother. And Thalakka brazened his way past this station with a word of explanation.
"Prisoners from the camp of Sugriva. Being taken to the Lord Ravana for questioning."
And at last, having ascended countless stages, they were in a small chamber through the windows of which blew the sweet, clean night air of lake waters. Here Thalakka halted.
"This room fronts on the waterside. Beyond that door lies a small, private wharf, beside which waits a skiff. It is watched now, but you hide here and wait. I shall return to arm the friends of my Lord Vibhishana. When this is done, these men and those of my soldiers whom I can trust will attack the third level garrison of the citadel. An alarm will draw the guard from the wharf. When he leaves, you must get to the boat swiftly and flee to the mainland."
Ramey said simply, "We understand, Thalakka. Thank you."
The Videlian captain smiled. "I accept your thanks, Lord Ramaíya, but I need them not. My heart tells me I have done well. Godspeed to you!"
And he was gone. Sheng-ti and Ramey took concealment in convenient shadows, and again embarked on the nerve-wracking experience of waiting ... waiting ... waiting ... until an alarm should sound the moment for their next move.
It came at last, after so long a time that Ramey's muscles were stiff with crouching, his palms damply cold with apprehension, his nerves atingle with flame. It came with a crashing croo-oo-onge! of sound that smashed through the corridors of Lanka, rolling and echoing, re-echoing. The beat of a mighty hammer on a monstrous gong.
Then voices shattered the silence of the sleeping citadel, the vaulted avenues rang shrill with the clatter of armed men racing to their appointed posts, and—it may have been pure imagination—from far below Ramey thought his ear detected the harsher cries of battling men, the faint echoes of weapons clashing in combat.
His every instinct yearned to be part of that combat, but such was not his rôle in the campaign. Lightly he rose from his hiding place, raced across to the windows. As Thalakka had predicted, the curious guard had been drawn from his post by the clamor. By the filtering gleam of a newborn moon Ramey saw the dock and the tiny, bobbing object at its side.
"All right!" he breathed to Sheng-ti. "Come on!"
And the hopes of his well-wishers were realized. No eye spied them as they clambered through the portal, over a tiny balcony, and down to the lakeside. No voice lifted to question them as they unleashed the rocking craft beside the pier. Elsewhere on Lanka new lights flashed from a score of windows, the cries of captains rallying their men split the quiet night. But as far removed from all this hubbub as two gray ghosts were Ramey Winters and his companion. Silently they slipped boat from wharf, silently dipped blades into the water. And in the space of a dozen breaths, they were off to the distant shore on which dimly gleamed the campfires of the army of Sugriva.
It was a tedious trip for two oarsmen, one of whom had not touched an oar for twenty years, the other of whose hands was more accustomed to the slim control stick of an airplane. But dimmer and more shadowy in the distance grew the isle of slaves, ever nearer and more cheerful loomed before them the camp toward which they strained. Until at last they could distinguish figures about the campfires, could almost hear the voices of their friends. And then—
"Ramey! Ramey Winters!" Sheng-ti stopped pulling at his oars, craned back toward his friend. "Hark! I heard the crack of oarlocks—"
Ramey stiffened, his feathering oars shipped swiftly. Over the steady lap-lap of lake water he too now heard that which had alarmed the bonze. He whispered, "Over that way!"
"Ravana's men. The rebellion has been subdued, and they've come after us!"
Ramey laughed; a short, hard, mirthless husk it was.
"Well, they'll never take us—now! Not while we're alive!" He tugged from his waistband that which until now he had avoided using; his automatic. Leveled it uncertainly toward the fear-inspiring sound. Waited....
And a cold voice gritted on his eardrums.
"You there in the other boat! Who are you, and what are you doing?"