Rescue On Avalon

The Ythrian passed overhead in splendor. Sunlight on feathers made bronze out of his six-meter wingspan and the proudly held golden-eyed head. His crest and tail were white as the snowpeaks around, trimmed with black. He rode the wind like its conqueror. Against his will, Jack Birnam confessed the sight was beautiful. But it was duty which brought up his binoculars. If the being made a gesture of greeting, he owed his own race the courtesy of a return salute; and Ythrians often forgot that human vision was less keen than theirs. I have to be especially polite when I’m in country that belongs to them, the boy thought. Bitterness rushed through him. And this does, now, it does. Oh, curse our bargaining Parliament! Under magnification, he clearly saw the arched carnivore muzzle with its oddly delicate lips; the talons which evolution had made into hands; the claws at the “elbows” of the wings, which served as feet on the ground, the gill-like slits in the body, bellows pumped by the flight muscles, a biological supercharger making it possible for a creature that size to get aloft. He could even see by the plumage that this was a middle-aged male, and of some importance to judge by the ornate belt, pouch, and dagger which were all that he wore. Though the Ythrian had undoubtedly noticed Jack, he gave no sign. That was likely just his custom. Choths differed as much in their ways as human nations did, and Jack remembered hearing that the Stornigate folk, who would be moving into these parts, were quite reserved. Nevertheless the boy muttered at him, “You can call it dignity if you want. I call it snobbery, and I don’t like you either.” The being dwindled until he vanished behind a distant ridge. He’s probably bound for Peace Deep on the far side, to hunt, Jack decided. And I wanted to visit there ..,. Well, why not, anyway? I’ll scarcely meet him; won’t be going down into the gorge myself. Tlie mountains have room for both of us-for a while, till liis people come and settle them.

He hung the glasses on his packframe and started walking again through loneliness.

The loftiest heights on the planet Avalon belong to the Andromeda Range. But that is a name bestowed by humans. Not for nothing do the Ythrians who have joined them in their colonizing venture call that region the Weathermother. Almost exactly two days-twentytwo hours-after he had spied the stranger, a hurricane caught Jack Birnam. Born and raised here, he was used to sudden tempests. The rapidly spinning globe was always breeding them. Yet the violence of this one astonished him.

He was in no danger. It had not been foolish to set off by himself on a trip into the wilderness. He would have preferred a companion, of course, but none of his friends happened to be free; and he didn’t expect he’d ever have another chance to visit the beloved land. He knew it well. He intended merely to hike, not climb. At age twentyfour (or seventeen, if you counted the years of an Earth where he had never been) he was huskier than many full-grown men. In case of serious difficulty, he need merely send a distress signal by his pocket transceiver. Homing on it, an aircar from the nearest rescue station in the foothills should reach him in minutes.

If the sky was fit to fly in!

When wind lifted and clouds whirled like night out of the north, he made his quick preparations. His sleeping bag, with hood and ‘breathing mask for really foul conditions, would keep him warm at ‘ lower temperatures than occurred anywhere on Avalon. Unrolled and t’erected over it as a kind of pup tent, a sheet of duraplast would stop faailstones or blown debris. The collapsible alloy frame, light but illy sturdy, he secured to four pegs whose explosive heads had “iven them immovably into bedrock. This shelter wasn’t going anywhere. When he had brought himself and his equipment inside, he had nothing to do but wait out the .several shrieking hours which followed.

Nonetheless, he was almost frightened at the fury, and half-stunned by the time it died away.

Crawling forth, he found the sun long set. Morgana, the moon, was full, so radiant that it crowded most stars out of view. Remote snowfields glittered against blue-black heaven; boulders and shrubs on the ridgetop where Jack was camped shone as if turned to silver, while a nearby stream flowed like mercury. The cluck and chuckle of water, the boom of a more distant cataract, were the only sounds. After the wind-howl, this stillness felt almost holy. The air was chill but carried odors of plant life, sharp trefoil, sweet livewell, and janie. Breath smoked ghostly.

After his long lying motionless, he couldn’t sleep. He decided to make a fire, cook a snack and coffee, watch dawn when it came. Here above timberline, the low, tough vegetation wasn’t much damaged. But he was sure to find plenty of broken-off wood. The trees below must have suffered far worse. He’d see in the morning. At present, to him those depths were one darkness, hoar-frosted by moonlight.

His transceiver beeped. He stiffened. That meant a general broadcast on the emergency band. Drawing the flat object from his coverall, he flipped its switch for two-way. A human voice lifted small: “—Mount Farview area. Andromeda Rescue Station Four calling anyone in the Mount Farview area. Andromeda—”

Jack brought the instrument to his mouth. “Responding,” he said. Inside his quilted garment, he shivered with more than cold. “John Birnam responding to ARS Four. I ... I’m a single party, on foot, but if I can help—”

The man at the other end barked: “Where are you, exactly?”

“It doesn’t have a name on the map,” Jack replied, “but I’m on the south rim of a big canyon which starts about twenty kilometers east-north-east of Farview’s top. I’m roughly above the middle of the gorge, that’d be, uh, say thirty kilometers further east.” It docs have a name, though, went through his mind. I named it Peace Deep, five years ago when I first came on it, because the forest down there is so tall and quiet. Wonder what the Ytlirians will call it, after I can’t come here anymore?

“Got you,” answered the man. He must have an aerial survey chart before him. “John Birnam, you said? I’m Ivar Holm. Did you come through the storm all right?”

“Yes, thanks, I was well prepared. Are you checking?”

“In a way.” Holm spoke grimly. “Look, this whole sector’s in bad trouble. The prediction on that devil-wind was totally inadequate, a gross underestimate. Not enough meteorological monitors yet, I suppose. Or maybe the colonies are too young to’ve learned every trick that Avalon can play. Anyhow, things are torn apart down here in the hills-farms, villages, isolated camps-aircars smashed or crashed, including several that belonged to this corps. In spite of help being nished in from outside, we’ll be days in finding and saving the survivors. Our pilots and medics are going to have to forget there ever was such a thing as sleep.”

“I ... I’m sorry,” Jack said lamely.

“I was praying someone would be in your vicinity. You see, an Ythrian appears to have come to grief thereabouts.”

“An Ythrian!” Jack whispered.

“Not just any Ythrian, either. Ayan, the Wyvan of Stormgate.”

“What?”

“Don’t you know about that?” It was very possible. Thus far, the two races hadn’t overlapped a great deal. Within the territories they claimed, they had been too busy adapting themselves and their ways to a world that was strange to them both. Jack, whose family were sea ranchers, dwelling on the coast five hundred kilometers westward, had seldom encountered one of the other species. Even a welleducated person might be forgiven for a certain vagueness about details of an entire set of alien societies.

“In the Stormgate choth,” Holm said, “‘Wyvan’ comes as close to meaning ‘Chief or ‘President’ as you can get in their language. And ‘Stormgate, needing more room as its population grows, has lately Acquired this whole part of the Andromedas.”

‘ “I know,” Jack couldn’t help blurting in a refreshed rage. “The Parliament of Man and the Great Khruath of the Ythrians made their nice little deal, and never mind those of us who spent all the time we .. could up here because we love the country!”

Huh? What’re you talking about? It was a fair exchange. They over some mighty good prairie to us. We don’t live by and ranching the way they do. We can’t use alps for anything except recreation-and not many of us ever did-and why are you and I wasting time, Biinam?”

Jack set his teeth. “Go on, please.”

“Well. Ayan went to scout the new land personally, alone. That’s Ythrian style. You must be aware what a teiritorial instinct their race has got. Now I’ve received a worried call from Stormgate headquarters. His family says he’d have ladioed immediately after the blow, if he could, and asked us to relay a message that he wasn’t hurt. But he hasn’t. Nor did he ever give notice of precisely where he’d be, and no Ythrian on an outing uses enough gear to be readily spotted fioin the air.”

“A low-power sender won’t work out of that particular forest,” Jack said. “Too much ironleaf growing there.”

“Sunblaze!” Holm groaned. “Things never do go wrong one at a time, do they?” He diew breath. “Ordinarily we’d have a fleet of cars out searching, regardless of the difficulty. We can’t spare them now, especially since he may well be dead. Nevertheless-You spoke as if you had a clue to his whereabouts.”

Jack paused before answering slowly, “Yes, I believe I do.”

“What? Quick, for mercy’s sake!”

“An Ythrian flew by me a couple of days ago, headed the same way I was. Must’ve been him. Then when I arrived on this height, down in the canyon I saw smoke rising above the treetops. Doubtless a fire of his. I suppose he’d been hunting and-Well, I didn’t pay close attention, but I could point the site out approximately. Why not send a team to where I am?”

Holm kept silent a while. The moonlight seemed to grow more cold and white.

“Weren’t you listening, Birnam?” he said at last. “We need every man and every vehicle we can get, every minute they can be in action. According to my map, that gorge is heavily wooded. Do you mean we should tie up two or three men and a car for hours or days, searching for the exact place-when the chances of him being alive look poor, and ... you’re right on the scene?

“Can’t you locate him? Find what the situation is, do what you can to help, and call back with precise information. Given that, we can snake him right out of there, without first wasting man-hours that should go to hundreds of people we know we can save. How abou it?”

Now Jack had no voice.

“Hello?” Holm’s cry was tiny in the night. “Hello?”

Jack gripped the transceiver till his knuckles stood bloodless. “I’m not sure what I can manage,” he said.

“How d’you mean?”

“I’m allergic to Ythrians.”

“Hull?”

“Something about their feathers or-It’s gotten extremely bad in the last year or two. If I come near one, soon I can hardly breathe. And I didn’t bring my antiallergen, this trip. Never expected to need it.”

“Your condition ought to be curable.”

“The doctor says it is, but that requires facilities we don’t have on Avalon. RNA transformation, you know. My family can’t afford to send me to a more developed planet. I just avoid those creatures.”

“You can at least go look, can’t you?” Holm pleaded. “I appreciate the risk, but if you’re extra careful—”

“Oh, yes,” Jack said reluctantly. “I can do that.”

With the starkness of his folk, Ayan had shut his mind to pain while he waited for rescue or death. From time to time he shrilled forth hunting calls, and these guided Jack to him after the boy leached the general location. They had grown steadily weaker, (hough.

y Far down a steep slope, the Ythrian sprawled rather than lay, festing against a chasuble bush. Everywhere around him were ripped ; branches and fallen boles, a tangle which had made it a whole day’s uggle for Jack to get here. Sky, fading toward sunset, showed ugh rents in the canopy overhead. Mingled with green and gold other trees was the shimmering, glittering purple foliage of nleaf.

alatan bone in Ayan’s left wing was bent at an ugly angle. at fracture made it alike impossible for him to fly or walk. Gaunt, tusted, he still brought his crest erect as the human blundered view. Hoarseness thickened the accent of his Anglic speech: Welcome indeed!”

Jack stopped three meters off, panting, sweating despite the chill, wobbly beneath him. He knew it was idiotic, but could think f nothing else than: “How ... are you, ... sir?” And why call him ‘ this land-robber?

poor case,” dragged out of Ayan’s throat. “Well it is that you arrived. I would not have lasted a second night. The wind cast a heavy bough against my wing and broke it. My rations and equipment were scattered; I do not think you could find them yourself.” The three fingers and two thumbs of a hand gestured at the transceiver clipped on his belt. “Somehow this must also have been disabled. My calls for help have drawn no response.”

“They wouldn’t, here.” Jack pointed to the sinister loveliness which flickered in a breeze above. “Didn’t you know? That’s called ironleaf. It draws the metal from the soil and concentrates pure | particles, to attract pollinating bugs by the shininess. Absorbs radio , waves. Nobody should go into an area like this without a partner.” j “I was unaware-even as the weather itself caught me by surprise. The territory is foreign to me.” i

“It’s home country to me.” Fists clenched till nails bit into palms. Ayan’s stare sharpened upon Jack. Abruptly he realized how peculiar his behavior must seem. The Ythrian needed help, and the human only stood there. Jack couldn’t simply leave him untended; he would die. i

The boy braced himself and said in a hurry: “Listen. Listen good, because maybe I won’t be able to repeat this. I’ll have to scramble ] back up to where I can transmit. Then they’ll send a car that I can guide to you. But I can’t go till morning. I’d lose my way, or break my neck, groping in the dark through this wreckage the storm’s made. First I’ll do what’s necessary for you. We better plan every move in advance.”

“Why?” asked Ayan quietly. !

“Because you make me sick! I mean-allergy-I’m going to get asthma and hives, working on you. Unless we minimize my exposure, I may be too ill to travel tomorrow.”

“I see.” For all his resentment, Jack was awed by the self-control. “Do you perchance carry anagon in your first-aid kit? No? Pity—I believe that is the sole painkiller which works on both our species. Hrau. You can toss me your filled canteen and some food imme—\ diately. I am near collapse from both thirst and hunger.”

“It’s human-type stuff, you realize,” Jack warned. While men and Ythrians could eat many of the same things, each diet lacked certain j essentials of the other. For that matter, native Avalonian life did not , hold adequate nutrition for either colonizing race. The need to maintain separate ecologies was a major reason why they tended o live apart. / can’t ever return, Jack thought. Even if the new dwellers allowed me to visit, my own body wouldn’t.

“Calories, at least,” Ayan reminded him. “Though I have feathers to keep me warmer than your skin would, last night burned most of what energy I had left.”

Jack obliged. “Next,” he proposed, “I’ll start a fire and cut enough wood to last you till morning.”

Was Ayan startled? That alien face wasn’t readable. It looked as if the Ythrian was about to say something and then changed his mind. The boy went on: “What sort of preliminary care do you yourself need?”

“Considerable, I fear,” said Ayan. Jack’s heart sank. “Infection is setting in, and I doubt you carry an antibiotic safe for use on me; so my injuries must be thoroughly cleansed. The bone must be set and splinted, however roughly. Otherwise-I do not wish to complain, but the pain at every slightest movement is becoming quite literally unendurable. I barely managed to keep the good wing flapping, thus myself halfway warm, last night. Without support for the broken one, I could not stay conscious to tend the fire.”

Jack forgot that he hated this being. “Oh, gosh, no! I wasn’t thinking straight. You take my bag. I can, uh, sort of fold you into it.”

“Let us see. Best we continue planning and preparations.” Jack nodded jerkily. The time soon came when he must take a breath, hold it as long as possible, and go to the Ythrian. It was worse than his worst imagining.

At the end, he lay half-strangled, eyes puffed nearly shut, skin one great burning and itch, wheezed, wept, and shuddered. Crouched ,^iear the blaze, Ayan looked at him across the meters of cold, /thickening dusk which again separated them. He barely heard the ^nonhuman voice:

•1 “You need that bedroll more than I do, especially so when you imust have strength back by dawn to make the return trip. Take your Jack crept to obey. He was too wretched to realize what the past must have been like for Ayan.

First light stole bleak between trees. The boy wakened to a ragged call: “Khrraah, khrraah, khrraah, human—” For a long while, it seemed, he fought his way through mists and cobwebs. Suddenly, with a gasp, he came to full awareness.

The icy air went into his lungs through a throat much less swollen than before. Bleariness and ache still possessed his head, but he could think, he could see ....

Ayan lay by the ashes of the fire. He had raised himself on his hands to croak aloud. His crest drooped, his eyes were glazed. “Khrraah—”

Jack writhed from his bag and stumbled to his feet. “What happened?” he cried in hoiror.

“I ... fainted ... only recovered this moment-Pain, weariness, and ... lack of nourishment-I feared I might collapse but hoped I would not—”

It stabbed through Jack: Wlnj didn’t I stop to think? Night before last, pumping that wing-the biological supercharger kindling his metabolism beyond anything a human can experience-burning not just what fuel Jiis body had left, but vitamins that weren’t in the rations I could give him”Why didn’t you insist on the bedding?” the human cried in anguish of his own. “I could’ve stayed awake all right!”

“I was not certain you could,” said the harsh whisper. “You appeared terribly ill, and ... it would have been wrong, that the young die for the old .... I know too little about your kind—” The Ythrian crumpled.

“And I about yours.” Jack sped to him, took him in his arms, brought him to the warm bag and tucked him in with enormous care. Presently Ayan’s eyes fluttered open, and Jack could feed him. The asthma and eruptions weren’t nearly as bad as earlier. Jack hardly noticed, anyway. When he had made sure Ayan was resting comfortably, supplies in easy reach, he himself gulped a bite to eat and started off.

It would be a stiff fight, in his miserable shape, to get past the ironleaf before dark. He’d do it, though. He knew he would. The doctors kept him one day in the hospital. Recovered, he borrowed protective garments and a respirator, and went to the Ythrian ward to say goodbye.

Ayan lay in one of the frames designed for his race. He was alone in his room. Its window stood open to a lawn and tall treesAvalonian king’s-crown, Ythrian windnest, Earthly oak-and a distant view of snowpeaks. Light .spilled from heaven. The air sang. Ayan looked wistfully outward.

But he turned his head and, yes, smiled as Jack entered, recognizing him no matter how muffled up he was. “Greeting, galemate,” he said.

The boy had spent his own time abed studying usages of Stormgate. He flushed; for he could have been called nothing more tender and honoring than “galemate.”

“How are you?” he inquired awkwardly.

“I shall get well, because of you.” Ayan grew grave. “Jack,” he murmured, “can you come near me?”

“Sure, as long’s I’m wearing this.” The human approached. Talons reached out to clasp his gloved hand.

“I have been talking with Ivar Holm and others,” Ayan said very low. “You resent me, my whole people, do you not?”

“Aw, well—”

f “I understand. We were taking from you a place you hold dear. Jack, you, and any guests of yours, will forever be welcome there, to roam as you choose. Indeed, the time is over-past for our two kinds }|to intermingle freely.”

(, “But ... I mean, thank you, sir,” Jack stammered, “but I can’t.”

“Your weakness? Yes-s-s.” Ayan uttered the musical Ythrian equivent of a chuckle. “I suspect it is of largely psychosomatic origin, jftnd might fade of itself when your anger does. But naturally, my will send you off-planet for a complete cure.”

Jack could only stare and stutter.

Ayan lifted his free hand. “Thank us not. We need the closeness of i like you, who would not abandon even an enemy.”

But you aren’t!” burst from Jack. “I’ll be proud to call you my To those who have traveled with him this far, Hloc-h gives thanks. It is his hope that he has aided you to a little deeper sight, and thereby done what honor he was able to his choth and to the memory of his mother, Rennhi the wise.

Countless are the currents which streamed together at Avalon. Here we have flown upon only a few. Of these, some might well have been better chosen. Yet it seems to Hloch that all, in one way or another, raise a little higher than erstwhile his knowledge of that race with which ours is to share this world until God the Hunter descends upon both. May this be true for you as well, O people. Now The Earth Book of Stormgate is ended. From my tower I see the great white sweep of the snows upon Mount Anrovil. I feel the air blow in and caress my feathers. Yonder sky is calling. I will go. Fair winds forever.