And Nathan knew that his father's killer would be not far behind as he moved up that mountain trail towards the cave in Lava Mountain.
He made his way through the mud and slime of the streets to his own lodging. There, after a quick bath and breakfast, he armed and checked the charge in each of two flame lances.
The weapons consisted of powerful electrodes with pistol grip handles. The electrodes were just less than eight inches in length and full charge was a thousand rounds. Nathan pocketed them solemnly, wondering if one of those charges would avenge his father's death.
He dressed in brown riding cape and donned a crimson helmet to make it easy to be followed. When he went out to the stable, Perseus seemed to sense the importance of their approaching mission and nickered eagerly.
Nathan let the horse have his head and they raced along the forest trail behind the city and upward to the hills. The tree branches overhead dripped water that was already stagnant. And somewhere in those trees Nathan knew that outlaws of four planets were silently watching, waiting for him to lead them to part of the fabulous treasure for which three generations of adventurers had searched.
His father's murderer was sure to be foremost among them.
Nathan wondered if he could have saved his father's life by following him to the starways years ago. Born aboard a spaceship, Thymar had never claimed any planet for his own. He had tried to raise Nathan to be a starman like himself, but Nathan had seen the advancing wave of civilization beating upon the shores of alien planets and knew the only sure foundation would be built by the engineers, not by the wandering starmen. So he had chosen to fight the battles of engineering on primitive worlds. He was following the starways in a sense, but it broke Thymar's heart when Nathan became "civilized."
Then seven years ago Thymar had dedicated the remainder of his life to the recovery of the fabled, mysterious Jewels of Chamar.
The story of the cursed Jewels was obscure. No one knew their origin. There was little more than the age old myth that to hold all seven would make a man master of the universe, but to hold less than seven would bring eventual death.