For the time being you are to serve as captain of the guards."

CHAPTER XVI

Return to Sephar

For the first time since she had started out that morning, Alurna was beginning to question her opinion of where Sephar lay. She sought to push out the thought lest it became certainty and bring utter panic in its wake.

She forced her mind into other channels. How silent the jungle had become! Somehow its spells of stillness were harder to bear than the most sinister of sounds. Unconsciously she strained her ears for some sound to relieve this feeling of complete loneliness.

Something was moving in the trail behind her!

Alurna was turning, even as her brain received the warning. Standing in the path was Tarlok, the leopard, less than ten paces away.

Stricken dumb with terror, Alurna could only gaze wide-eyed at that sleek, spotted head. The narrowed yellow eyes, the white teeth with four long fangs predominated, the back-curling lips drawn into a grimace of blood-l.u.s.t, even the somehow ludicrous long white hairs on the upper lip--all were stamped indelibly within her mind.

Tarlok was enjoying himself. The utter fear expressed in every line of his prey's face and body appealed to the cruelty in his nature. Purely as a means of adding to that fear, he made a little half-spring toward the girl.

Voicing a half-mad sob of absolute despair, Alurna sank to her knees and closed her eyes to wait for a horrible death.

There followed an agonizing few moments of silence. Why did death delay?

Alurna fought to keep her eyes tight shut; but terror plucked at the lids, forcing them open. Hardly more than a yard away was the cat's sleek, savage head!

[Ill.u.s.tration: A rope hissed through the air and Tarlok reared high]

And then something hissed through the air between the girl and the beast. Emitting a shrill scream of surprise and anger, Tarlok reared high above the kneeling figure. That awful sound was more than Alurna's taut nerves could withstand, and she toppled forward into merciful unconsciousness....

Her next conscious sensation was that of flying, and she shuddered, believing it the brief delirium preceding death. But as the floating feeling endured, she slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was being borne through the forest top in the arms of a half naked man.

"The leopard?" she said weakly. "What happened? How--"

A slight smile touched the man's strong, finely-shaped lips, lighting up his handsome, tanned face. "Tarlok is dead," he said. "It was very close; my rope caught him just in time."

He halted and placed her in a sitting position on a strong branch, then sat down beside her. "I was beginning to think you would never open your eyes again," he continued. "We have come a long way since I picked you up in the trail."

Alurna was staring intently at him as he talked. "I have seen you somewhere, before."

Again the man smiled. "Yes," he said. "You have seen me before. It was only a few nights ago that I entered your room while the palace guards were hunting me."

"Of course!" Alurna exclaimed. "I remember. But you were caught and sentenced to the Games. Have you escaped from Sephar? And how did you happen to find me?" She broke off, laughing. "Not that I'm sorry you _did_ find me. If you hadn't--" She shivered, leaving the sentence unfinished.

"Your father sent me to take you from the Hairy Ones," Tharn explained.

"It was Katon's idea."

Whereupon he told of the agreement reached during his talk with Urim.

The princess was secretly elated by one particular provision of the pact--the promised return of the Cro-Magnard girl to this man for succeeding in his mission. With Dylara gone, there was no reason why Jotan could not be won by Urim's daughter.

"Will you take me home, now?" she asked.

Tharn nodded. "We will go on until darkness, then sleep in the trees until morning."

He stood upright on the swaying bow, then bent and caught Alurna about the waist and swung her lightly to his back. The girl's arms slipped instinctively about the strong neck, and the young cave lord set off along the leafy avenue he had been following.

The first few minutes of the journey were never to be forgotten by the awed princess. Tharn's path took him high above the ground to where enc.u.mbering ma.s.ses of tangled creepers did not reach. From one slender branch to another the majestic figure raced along with an easy sureness remarkable to behold.

Alurna forgot her fear of the heights, presently, admiration taking its place.

How confidently this G.o.d-like creature threaded his way across the network of bending boughs, where a slip might mean an awful death to them both! What splendid thews he possessed, to carry her as though she were a day-old babe!

Occasionally the rays of the sinking sun reached them through breaks in the foliage above, disclosing to the rapt eyes of the princess the horrid depths beneath.

Soon the dizzying bounds from one great tree pinnacle to the next ceased to be breath-taking, and Alurna rested against Tharn's warm shoulder, her nerves calm and relaxed.

Tharn's thoughts were far afield. Soon--another sun, in fact--Dylara and he would be on their way to the caves of Tharn. And Katon would go with them--Katon, his good friend.

The blue-eyed Sepharian and he would hunt in the forests with Barkoo and Korgul and Torbat. Katon would teach them to use the bow. Perhaps his friend would find a mate among the girls of the tribe. Then in truth would they be as blood-brothers!

How wonderful it would be to have such a companion! Always before he had spent much of his time alone, ranging the jungles for the adventures he craved. In all his tribe there had not been one he was drawn to; none he liked and respected enough to adopt as an intimate. Barkoo, of course, came closest to being such; but Barkoo carried far more years than he, and was given to the conservatism of old men.

The others were so far short of his own physical and mental stature.

They could not race at break-neck speed through tree tops; they could not scent game from afar; they feared the great cats, unless in the company of many warriors.

It would be different, now. He would teach Katon the forest lore that had made Tharn master of the wild places. They would be always together--inseparable.

Only a few minutes of daylight remained when Tharn and his burden reached the forest's edge near the base of the sheer cliff between them and Sephar. Tharn realized they could not hope to complete the ascent before the light failed; so, selecting a tall tree, he fashioned a rude platform of branches high above the ground and covered it with leaves as a comfortable bed for the princess.

As for himself, he curled in a crotch of the same tree, a few feet beneath her, and, after waiting until she had ceased turning uneasily on her primitive couch, dropped off to sleep.

The sun had barely cleared the eastern horizon when Alurna opened her eyes. For a long moment she gazed blankly at the ceiling of vegetation; then memory returned and she rose to her feet on the lattice of boughs that had served as her bed.

Something of the beauty of the untamed forest came to her as she stood there, drinking in the sea of green through sleep-freshened eyes. An early morning breeze stirred the vast expanse of leaves like an invisible hand; multi-colored birds flashed among the myriad branches and festooned vines, uttering strident cries or now and then surprising her with a burst of melody from some feathered throat. Already familiar were the ever-present troops of sure-footed monkeys, swinging and racing among the tree-top terraces--chattering, scolding, inquisitive.

This, she reflected, was the jungle--gaudy and sparkling and inviting on the surface; grim, and the lurking place of savage horror beneath its glamorous exterior.

There was a soft sound at her back, and she wheeled--to look into the quiet face of the cave-man. In his arms was a quant.i.ty of fruits; and Alurna was suddenly aware of being very hungry.

While they ate, seated on the bed of leaves, Alurna chattered continuously, asking many questions, seeking to explore the depths of her rescuer's mind and character. She found herself admiring the utter lack of self-consciousness in his replies and actions, while his habitual reserve and dignity of bearing compelled her respect.

Finally they descended to the ground and crossed the ribbon of gra.s.sland to the base of the lofty escarpment. Alurna, looking up at the upper rim so far above, shook her head in wonder.