The Greatest Works of Otis Adelbert Kline - 18 Books in One Edition. Otis Adelbert Kline

He offered a free pardon to Pasuki and his men.

      “You will return to His Majesty,” replied Pasuki, “our regrets that we are unable to comply with his order, as we have no usurper in the Black Tower.”

      “Who is that man in scarlet I see standing on the roof of the topmost segment?” demanded the herald. “If that be not Zinlo of Olba…” He checked himself, then continued, “If that be not the usurper who calls himself Zinlo of Olba, who is he?”

      “He is Zinlo of Olba. Tell that to your traitorous master, and bid him come and bend the knee to the man whose throne he has stolen.” Turning contemptuously, Pasuki walked away from the parapet.

      “Pasuki has played his part well,” I informed Vorn Vangal. “Now, remove your disguise; if possible get rid of that villainous-looking hair dye; array your self in the purple that suits your true station, and then report to me in my apartments.”

      “I will carry out Your Highness’s commands at once,” replied Vorn Vangal, and hurried to the elevator.

      I watched the herald as he picked his way through the encircling army to a point some distance behind it where a man stood, garbed in the royal scarlet, surrounded by officers and courtiers. I knew that he must be Taliboz.

      Scarcely had the herald bowed before him ere he sent a number of officers scurrying toward the front lines. A mattork spoke. The shell went screaming past the tower only a few feet from my head. A second shell exploded near me, tearing away part of the battlement.

      As our mattorks replied, a general bombardment started, and the soldiers of the encircling army took advantage of natural cover when it was to be had, or threw themselves flat and dug in. I judged that they planned to bombard the tower before attempting to storm it.

      Shells were rattling like hail against the upper battlements when ‘I took the elevator and descended to my apartments. Here I found Vorn Vangal, once more the great Olban noble I had first seen.

      Together we entered the elevator once more and descended to the fifth underground level, where Lotar’s men were mobilized. The young mojak saluted and then stood awaiting my orders. Even at this depth the thunderous sounds of the battle came faintly from above, and I could see that both men and commander longed, even as did I, to be in the thick of it. But I had other work for all, which might prove as exciting and far more dangerous.

      “Have you the lights, Lotar?” I asked.

      “Every man has been provided with a light, and there are several to spare, Highness.”

      “Then give one each to Vorn Vangal and me, and we will start for the palace at once, the way we came. Hurry!”

      Lotar quickly handed us a light each, and then led us to the pillar from beneath which we had entered the Black Tower. I led the way into the pit beneath it as soon as it was raised, closely followed by Vorn Vangal, and leaving Lotar to close the entrance and bring up the rear.

      Traveling with lights, it was easy to maintain a pace much faster than our previous one when we had walked in total darkness.

      “How many guards do you think there will be in the palace?” I asked Vorn Vangal as he jogged along beside me.

      “Normally there are a thousand constantly on duty in the palace and grounds. However, it may be that Taliboz has taken some of these with him in order to fill the ranks of his hastily organized army. If this is the case, he may have left two or three hundred, perhaps five hundred men.”

      “Whether there be two hundred or a thousand, we must take the palace,” I said. “In either case we will be tremendously outnumbered, but we have the advantage of surprise in our favor.”

      When we reached the palace, I called a halt to give the men a rest, and passed back word for Lotar to come up.

      As soon as he joined us, I told him my plans for taking the palace. Then I pulled the lever which operated the pillar above us, and we all snapped off our lights.

      When the pillar was high enough I drew myself up and peered over the edge of the floor through the dim light of the dungeon. Only one guard was in sight, and he was walking away from me. Silently I threw a knee over the edge, stood erect, and signed for the others to follow me. When every man was out, Lotar pressed the hidden button which closed the wall.

      At the suggestion of Vorn Vangal, our torks were loaded with the projectiles which paralyze for several hours but do not kill unless they happen to strike a vital spot. By using these bullets we could render our opponents helpless without actually killing them, and would not be bothered with guarding prisoners.

      As Vorn Vangal had surmised, Taliboz ‘had taken a number of the palace guards with him when he started for the Black Tower. We found only one man patrolling the corridors of the level we were on, and he was quickly put out of the way. On the next level we found two guards, and on each of the three dungeon levels above it, two. Although they were not taken completely by surprise, having heard our shots, they were easily overcome.

      On the ground level, Lotar took twenty men and started out in one direction while his lieutenant took another twenty and went in the opposite direction. With the ten remaining men, Vorn Vangal and I took an elevator to the roof.

      Here we found only a dozen men on guard, and quickly shot down all but one, who surrendered in terror, for he did not know that we were not using the deadly bullets in our torks. There were six aerial battleships on the roof but crews in none of them. I also noticed several small, one-man airships. One of these suddenly rose and started for the Black Tower, but Vorn Vangal leaped to a mattork and shot it down. It crashed in one of the busiest streets of Olba, drawing a great crowd and halting traffic.

      Quickly searching the other airships, we found them untenanted.

      By questioning the man we had captured, we found that

      Vinzeth, Mojak of the Palace Guards, had ordered most of his men to the dungeon, and had gone there himself to direct the fighting.

      “Now, Vorn Vangal,” I said when we were in control of the roof, “do you think that by spreading the knowledge of my return in Olba you can get us a few more fighting men?”

      “I can raise a vast army, and that quickly. They may not all be trained soldiers, but every male Olban knows how to use a tork and scarbo.”

      “Then you will remain here in charge of the roof, retaining five men at all times to defend the stairway. The other five you may use as messengers to summon your friends. As all these men are from an aerial battleship, I assume that they know how to handle the small airships.”

      “They do,” replied Vangal.

      I then sent for the prisoner. When he was brought before me I asked him where the Princess of Tyrhana was imprisoned.

      “I do not know, Your Highness,” he replied.

      “Have a care how you lie to me,” I warned him.

      “I swear it, Highness. I have no idea of her whereabouts.”

      “Cling to your falsehood, knave! We shall see if it will sustain you in mid-air. Pitch him over the battlements, men.”

      The two warriors who had brought him immediately began dragging him toward the battlements. He struggled unsuccessfully to break away from them, feet threshing, eyes rolling in terror.

      “Wait!” he shrieked. “I know! I will tell!”

      “Bring him back,” I ordered. “He shall have another chance.”

      Once more they brought him before me, this time trembling with terror and thoroughly cowed.

      “Speak,” I said. “And tell the truth this time.”

      “Her Highness has apartments on the floor just beneath us,” he said quaveringly. “The last floor at which the elevators stop.”

      ‘And how is she guarded?”

      “Two men guard her door, and she