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It was about an hour to sundown; the two green men urged their mounts to trot faster toward the main Thark encampment many miles away. While they were not afraid, who could ever say that of a green man, they had no wish to engage in nonproductive combat with whatever nocturnal beast that might be abroad that night in the wilderness that stretched across the dry sea beds of Barsoom. It was more important for them to report what they had discovered. Their mission had been to investigate claims that a new monster had appeared. This creature was so proficient at killing that the few green men traveling through this area had broadcast warnings to others of their own warlike kind. This pair of Thark warriors was just one of many who had been sent out to hunt or at least gain knowledge of this strange ferocious beast.
Thus these two green men were dedicated to report on some tracks and kills they had found that the believed was of the new monster. It would have been greater glory to find and destroy the monster, but several days of hard searching had uncovered only clues. Their time was up and it was their duty to return to their Jeddak and establish their report.
One green man rode a little ahead of the other. This was only natural, since he had recently earned his second name, while his companion had not. There was no love between green men, and any comradeship was based on martial interests, but Vink Yar, the first, did have a small fondness for his companion. They had trained together as youths, often pairing against other youths in ritualualistic training combat. There was a bond of battle between them, and this was the only bond they would know for the Green Men of Barsoom know little of the gentle affection for others.
Lowar, the second, pulled up his thoat and stared into the dimming light behind him. Some hint of danger stirred his suspicions. He turned his eyes in a circle in an attempt to locate the source of what was bothering him. Nothing revealed itself.
"What's wrong, Lowar?" asked Vink Yar. "Something spook you?"
Lowar turned his eyes away from his companion-in-arms and chose not to reply. He had been caught displaying skittish behavior which was not the sort of behavior that is expected by his peers.
They had not rode more than a hundred yards when the a deep throated rumble reached them from behind. This time they wheeled together and stared into the swelling darkness. Coming out of the growing shadows was a creature neither had ever seen before. Their temperamental mounts trembled as the creature coughed and snarled. Even the Tharks were taken aback by a pair of gleaming yellow eyes staring at them with a hunger they had never before witnessed. Vink Yar reached for his rifle, defensively, and pulled it from his saddle scabbard.
Although the creature was a hundred feet away it sprang on Vink Yar with one tremendous leap. In a land of monsters and giants, this creature took a high place. Its body was nearly eight feet long and extremely thick set with gigantic rolling muscles under black striped yellow fur. It wielded fang and claw, but its fangs were hideously impressive. Eighteen inches of curved tooth sprouted with menace from the corners of its open mouth. As it leaped, it roared; a chilling, numbing roll of thunder that froze those proud Thark warriors.
The monster hit Vink Yar like a grown man slapping a new hatchling and dashed him to the ground. In an instant it had sunk its tusks into the green man's chest and tore up his stomach with the razor sharp claws on its hind legs. Vink Yar's mount reared in fear away from the alien beast, turned and ran away from this awful terror.
Lowar stared at the beast with incredulous eyes. He was not frightened, simply stunned by the brutal savagery of the monster's attack. In a few seconds, his companion had been killed. The young green man steeled himself against this numbing surprise and groped for his rifle. Nothing less would kill this beast.
Some primeval instinct warned the creature. It turned its massive head and watched the green man lift his rifle for a shot. Again it exploded into swift violence as it turned and leaped at Lowar from his companion's still bleeding body. As luck would have it, Lowar's thoat turned at the same time and the monster hit the thoat and drove his tusklike fangs into its body. All three hit the ground and tumbled over and over for several yards.
Lowar felt his leg break under the weight of his dying mount. The creature slashed the last of the thoat's life away and stood over both rider and mount with a triumphant gleam in his yellow eyes. Realizing he was helpless against the beast, Lowar froze and pretended to be dead. The beast sniffed at the dead thoat for a short time, then satisfied there was no danger he returned to the dead body of Vink Yar.
The beast found the flesh of the green man especially sweet. He fed.
Nu needed weapons. Wood was also very scarce since there were no trees to be found. Only endless rolling valleys and hills of moss covered ground. The cave-man had awakened naked and unarmed in this new land. As always, his primary intention had been to arm himself. The world he had come from had been a savage place where the meeting between strangers, either man or animal, usually resulted in mortal combat. As strong as Nu was, he needed a good spear and knife to kill beasts that were better outfitted by nature for fighting.
In the absence of proper stone materials, Nu discovered the ingredients of weapon making in the skeleton of some mighty beast. It had been killed and eaten by something mightier. Nu made a knife of bone, and fashioned a short spear of sorts from one of its long ribs. While not up to the standards of Kor, the best spearmaker among his people, it was better than bare hands against the savage carnivores he would eventually meet. Nu did not doubt this, because it had always been his experience.
Nu didn't bother to wonder how he got to this strange place. His people had little religion beyond a need to rationalize a natural fear of extraordinary events such as an earthquake or hurricane. They had no gods, myths or rituals. His people were a primitive order of mankind who had barely achieved control over fire, and whose language was little better than the communication of vocally expressive man-apes.
But he was fully human. Magnificently so, with his tall muscular body and clear black eyes. He was a transition between beast and Man. His senses were finely tuned to his environment. He could smell with a hound's efficiency and hear nearly as well as a doe. His eyesight was sharp. His strength and endurance was at human maximum. His people had the belief that children born to loving parents were stronger, brighter and more beautiful than children born of women forced to accept an unwanted mate or situations of outright rape. His tribe had many strong and beautiful children.
But Nu was alone now. Desperately alone. None of the tribe of his father, Nu, chief of chiefs, was to be found. The young cave-man knew that they had planned to migrate the north of the great cliffs where they had lived for generations. The mountain had trembled too often for their elders not to notice the warning it was giving them. Soon their caves would crumble with the movement of the earth. The tribe of Nu hadn't thought to offer sacrifice to placate some distant god in the vain hope that they could avert a natural disaster. They had simply voted to move.
This was not the place of Nu's birth. There was no steaming jungle, restless sea, or hot sticky atmosphere hiding a huge, dull red sun. Once before Nu had traveled to a strange land. Now it appeared that he had done so again.
He wondered where his love was. Where was the beautiful Nat-ul? Could she be found in this place as he had found her before in that other place in the form of woman who was Nat-ul and was not Nat-ul? These questions burned in Nu's mind and caused his heart to ache. What was a man without his mate?
His woodland and jungle skills were less effective on the dead sea beds of Barsoom. His quick mind adapted to his environment, though, and he was soon picking up sign and spoor. Strange beasts, some of them as large or larger than the monsters that terrorized his home, roamed this new land. Nowhere did he find any sign of the people of Nu. He was alone.
No, he wasn't. His heart raced as he saw a sign he recognized. It was the track of Oo, the great saber-tooth tiger. He was not alone.
Nu laughed and set upon the trail of his old enemy, the Hunter of Men.
Under a mass of dead flesh Nu discovered one of Oo's victims alive. It was a creature that looked like a man with extra arms. It was green, alien and large. The cave-man had never seen such a beast. Its protruding eyes stared at Nu through a glaze of pain. It was quiet as Nu stalked over with his bone spear in hand.
Nu stared down at the creature with a look of puzzlement. There were many departures from the norm about the creature, but the most difficult to believe was its green color. In Nu's mind only plants were green, at least in nature, and nature was all that Nu knew. He reminded himself of the colorful plumage of birds or the scaly hides of some reptiles where traces of green might be found. This manlike giant was totally green. Nu found that amusing.
Another thing that interested Nu was its tusks. Many wild beasts have tusks, not the least was Oo, the saber-toothed tiger. Nu's short life had possessed little comedy, so the laughter that came from his lips at the sight of this giant's face was unusual and out of character for the cave-man. Protruding eyes, antenna-like ears, and tusks. Green skin and six appendages. And it was helpless. All these things the cave-man found amusing.
Here was a living source of information. Nu realized he needed to know more about where he was and what else lived in this new place. The green giant was obviously injured; probably one or more of his six appendages trapped under the beast was broken or crushed. The caveman looked upon the green man without fear, for cowardice was unknown among his people, and now that he was armed Nu considered himself a match for any man or beast.
As for himself, Lowar was troubled to find himself at the mercy of this human. As a green man he expected no mercy from the Red Men of Barsoom, and the only thing that might give him a bit of hope was the fact that his man was not red. His skin was a tan-brown, without the redness that is found in the predominant race of men on Barsoom. Because of this physical difference it was possible that his outlook concerning green men might be different as well. It was a small hope to cling to.
Since the language of Nu's people was so primitive they had evolved a system of hand-signal communication that was nearly as articulate as ordinary speech. Using this mode of communication, the cave-man asked the green giant if he would like to be released. Nu heard things in his head that he didn't understand. Or rather, he nearly understood and could understand if he had more exposure to the new experience of telepathy. His primitive mind, though as advanced as any normal human race, was clear of speculative meandering that cluttered the minds of civilized men allowing him to concentrate more clearly on communicating with the green man.
Of course the Green Man, whose name he learned was Lowar, wanted to be free. It would be no simple act to free Lowar, however, since he was half buried under the massive weight of the thoat. Nu doubted that his strength was sufficient to lift that great mass, nor was he sure that he wanted to get close enough to the Thark to try; at least not until they had worked out some sort of agreement between them so Nu could feel comfortable to lower his guard within the fighting range of the green man.
Nu fed the green man and tried to make him comfortable, and spent a long time attempting to converse with him. It was another oddity that he couldn't speak to this tall manlike creature, because in the Niocene world from which Nu was from, most creatures spoke a common language. It seemed to Nu that long journeys necessitate the learning of a new language. Not long before he had been forced to learn conversational English in that land where the woman who was Nat-ul and yet not Nat-ul lived.
When Nu was certain he would not be attacked by the green man he bent his shoulder to the task of moving the dead thoat. He was stronger than he had ever been, but the thoat would not budge. With a grimace, Nu lifted one of the Thark's sword and began to butcher his way through the thoat's body.
He was only halfway done when something Nu had been waiting for occurred. From several hundred feet away came the roar of the Oo. Nu laughed and turned from his work to see the tiger slowly advancing on the place where it had left his kill. Nu welcomed the impending combat with an uninhibited joy. Wherever Nat-ul was Nu would kill Oo for her once more.
When it got closer, the Hunter of Men recognized Nu. Many consider Oo to be a stupid creature, with an intelligence that was useful for little more than directing its primitive body to execute its poor victims. Oo did recognize Nu, from their fight in its den at the Barren Cliffs, and with that recognition it desired the caveman's death more than anything else. In a fit of red rage, Oo charged the Niocene hunter in a series of obscenely long leaps. The Hunter of Men roared so loud that even the fearless green man shivered in his helpless position.
Nu did not shiver. Instead he answered the roar of the beast with the dynamic war cry of his people. He raced toward Oo at a speed he had never before achieved, his throwing arm arced back to make his cast. As it drew close enough Oo left the ground in a tremendous leap; Nu kept on his feet and cast his heavy spear at the saber-tooth's pure white belly. The Thark lance was unbalanced and Nu's throw went wide. Its sharp metal point seared a long wound along the saber-tooth tiger's ribs and passed through part of its back. Oo twisted in the air and landed on his back. The lance broke on impact. Oo scrambled to all fours and jerked its massive head around in search of the son of Nu.
The blood of Oo was richly flowing onto the moss covered sea bed. Enraged at the wound, Oo decided not to leap at its ancient enemy, and instead charged along the ground with the speed of a hurricane. Its charge passed the dodging caveman, and as it did Nu sliced another wound on one of its thick legs. Oo stumbled and fell, rolled on the ground and came up on three legs this time. The fourth couldn't contribute to supporting its great weight.
Oo, the Hunter of Men, was a terrible fighter, although a stupid one, and it came at the cave man again. There was an exchange of wounds as Nu was tossed aside and Oo's hide was torn by Thark's sword.
A flap of skin had been torn loose from Nu's heaving chest. Ten yards away, the saber-tooth tiger snapped at the spear head still lodged in its back. It glared at the caveman and then at the food behind Nu. Like many animals of the Niocene, the Hunter of Men yearned to fight to the death. In his tiny brain, Oo hated Nu beyond all other things in life. Every fiber in its being urged it to hurl itself at the man again and again until the thing it abhorred was dead. An almost mindless, instinctual compulsion to bury its eighteen inch fangs in this hated thing launched the saber-tooth tiger at Nu again . The two primordial combatants crashed together in a clash of sword and claw, tooth and fang. This time they locked and rolled over and over on the moss covered ground. Nu almost screamed as a terrible agony streaked through his back, yet he still managed to stick the Thark sword into Oo's immensely muscular body. The Hunter of Men jerked away and rolled free of the cave man.
The two fighters paused and lay on the ground. Two mighty chests rose and fell with pained effort. This moment of reflection changed the rules of combat. Oo knew it was dying. Or it would if it continued to fight. Its bitter foe was rising to his feet, blood flowing from his chest and back from the terrible wounds Oo had inflicted. The sword was clenched tightly in his right hand. The tide turned in the mind of Oo. No longer did it wish to kill. Now it wanted to live. The battle had become too expensive. With its foe still up and fighting, the Hunter of Men turned and bounded away. Several times Oo stumbled and fell. Sometimes it had to crawl. Nu watched the saber-tooth escape his sword. He had failed to kill Oo.
Nu rested on his hands and knees. His wounds ground agony into his body. As strong as the pain was, Nu was stronger. Men such as he were more hardened to pain than ordinary men. Nu felt the blood run freely down his back. Someone had to stitch up that wound or he would bleed to death. Nu staggered over to where Lowar was pinned. In a furious surge of strength, his last strength, Nu cut the green man free of his prison. There was a blinding pain and the caveman collapsed unconscious.
In addition, Lowar was severely wounded. His thoat was dead, and he was many miles from home. It was not unreasonable to aid this human in the hope that he might combine his strength with Nu's so that they could both survive the harsh Barsoomian wilderness. What prompted this hope was the fact that Nu did not know the universal language of Barsoom and had appeared surprised when he first saw Lowar. Perhaps it was the first time he had seen any green man. If this was true, then Lowar as a chance to use the ignorant man to help him survive.
With this in mind, the green man set about sewing the caveman back together.
copyright by Rod Hunsicker 11-13-1997
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