Chapter II

It was after dark when Nathan reached Aquatown. The streets of the Venusian frontier village literally flowed with water, proving the accuracy of its naming.

Lights on the corners and in front of the taverns were ghostly blobs in the rain. Few Earthmen were about, but the little polite Greenies of Venus swarmed the streets nodding and smiling when they saw Nathan. They knew and revered him as the great engineer from Earth who had brought lights and power to their wet, primitive world.

Aquatown was only a frontier village with more than its quota of taverns to drain away the savings of the restless spacemen who stopped for a day or a week, waiting for a new cargo or for ship repairs in the nearby Universal Yards.

Nathan's plan was fixed in his mind. He left Perseus at his lodgings and then headed for the taverns. The night's crowds were beginning to swarm in as he entered the first one.

It was hot and steamy inside, and the fog of smoke made it impossible to see the opposite wall. Bearded miners, lean adventurers, smooth fingered confidence men were the customers. Dance hall girls who had come from Earth for the adventure and stayed because of the utter dejection with which Venus filled them were the men's companions for the most part.

Nathan went directly to the bar and began ordering drinks. He grew more boisterous and his voice grew unsteady as he boasted and shouted of his good fortune in coming into possession of two of the Jewels of Chamar.

Then he left. He went to the next tavern and repeated the performance. During the night he made a tour of the taverns that would have done credit to old Thymar Ormondy himself.

And when the first light of Venusian dawn came he was stiff and immobile in the last of the taverns. The bouncers pitched him out into the mud and rain as the place closed up.

When he was alone Nathan rose and shook himself. He had accomplished his purpose. Every thug and murderer on Venus knew by now that Nathan Ormondy was going today to the secret cache of Jewels left by his father.

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.

The latter at least was no myth, Nathan thought grimly.

The trail became steep as the trees thinned and the horse broke out upon the hillside. There was a moment of sunlight blinding in its beauty. Then dark clouds closed over again.

Nathan rode out along a ridge trail where he was silhouetted against the sky. He stood for a moment, making himself as conspicuous as possible to the unseen followers he knew were behind him. Ahead, the tall spire of Lava Mountain loomed against the gray blanket of the sky. It seemed near in its majestic might, but it was nearly midday when Nathan reached the foot of it.

The sight of the mountain at close range brought back a thousand memories to Nathan. He had spent much of his boyhood here and this was where Thymar had taught him in the rugged ways of living of the spacemen. Here he had learned from Thymar and Tabor to master the flame lance until there was hardly a spaceman that could match his skill.

The mouth of the great cavern was in sight now, high up on the face of the mountain. He hoped the narrow trail he and Thymar had so laboriously cut out was still there. It appeared to be. He guided the horse up the beginning of the steep cut.

He drew out one of the flame lances now and kept a sharp watch on the trail below. He knew that he was in no danger from anyone with a sense of calculation. That type of renegade would wait until Nathan had recovered the Jewels before attacking. But some brainless fool might try to pick him off now and search the cave on his own.

From far down the trail came the sudden clatter of rocks as a slide was started by a careless step, but no one was visible behind the ridges. Nathan had a clear view of his last hour's ride. So far, he was in the clear.

He looked cautiously at the cliff above him. Attack from that angle was not entirely impossible--especially if Firebird was in the vicinity. He knew she would not be with the followers behind him.

But now the last two hundred feet of the steep trail were before him. The great maw of the cavern was like a black cloud against the dirty white rock of the mountain. He touched his heels sharply to the flanks of the horse, and Perseus leaped up the incline in long jumps that carried horse and rider on into the black cave.

Instantly, Nathan leaped off and flung himself behind a giant stalagmite, half expecting a flame ball to be hurled at him from out of the darkness.

* * * * *

But a flame would have been welcome after the darkness and silence that pervaded the place. Only the distant sounds of the now emboldened pursuers came from the ridge below.

Nathan moved to the entrance and obtained his first glimpse of the pursuers. A battle skirmish had broken out between them. He had expected that. A man who had already killed for the Jewels would not welcome competition.

Nathan moved back and ordered the horse into a niche in the wall. He was dismayed somewhat by the number of men he had seen on the trail. There were at least twenty taking part in the skirmish and doubtless more were hidden from his sight. Determining the murderer would be difficult in such a mob.

The stalagmite which Nathan and his father had called the Stone Pig was nearly a half mile back into the mountain along a tortuous trail. He could not be sure that falling stalactites had not blocked the way, so Nathan was forced to risk a light after leaving the mouth of the cave.

The cave was hot. Steamy fog filled the air as he came at last to the small room of the Stone Pig. He knew that some of his pursuers must be near the cavern by now. He needed time to get to a hidden gallery overlooking the path they would have to traverse.

Nothing seemed changed from the time he had last been near the Stone Pig. The grotesquely formed stalagmite was shiny with moisture and its enigmatic grin seemed to challenge Nathan to find out the things it had seen while he had been gone.

A sense of excitement and anticipation seized Nathan despite his efforts to control his feelings. He thought of the boyhood days when he had hidden secret "maps" and strange and precious "formulae" beneath the Stone Pig. Now he was to see for the first time the fabulous gems that had cost so many lives, including his father's.

He pushed the stalagmite and it toppled over heavily. In the small, hollow space beneath it lay the same metal can that he had used so long ago. He pried open the lid.

There lay the Jewels--one green, one red.

But the gasp that escaped his lips at their sudden beauty was smothered in the sudden roar of deafening thunder that came from the cavern mouth far behind him.

He jerked to his feet. The air compression waves staggered him so that he tottered drunkenly for a moment and the sound battered his body. A flood of dust laden air flowed over him. Then gradually it settled about the chamber and there was only silence once more.

Nathan looked back at the box. A cleverly arranged switch had closed when he opened the lid, exploding the thunderous charge at the mouth of the cave. He struggled mentally with the problem of who had placed the explosive and the switch to seal the cave.

Perhaps Thymar had placed it as protection against robbery and his mind had been so affected by his wounds that he had forgotten it. Or someone might have planted it as a trap. But, if so, why were the Jewels left?

Almost forgetting that he was sealed in the cavern, he knelt down beside the box. The inner light of the Jewels pierced his eyes and seized his mind in a hypnotic trance. For an instant he thought he was gazing upon the beauties of some fair and alien world. In the red one there was a fantastic garden of Mars, but a Mars where no red sand clouds ever covered the cities with smothering death.

And in the green one he saw a fair and lovely vision of Earth so real it pierced him with nostalgia.

Then the visions faded. Whether he actually saw them or they were figments of imagination he never knew. But he had to shake his head and tear his sight away from the Jewels in order to pocket them.

Then, as he turned away, there broke upon the air a high-pitched song that trilled a moment's melody. It hung as if a crystal were suspended in the cavern, echoing its vibrations from chamber to chamber.

It came again. Nathan straightened and put out the light. He whipped out both flame lances.

It was the song of the Firebird.