October-December 1964
Artist: Sparling?
Writer: ?
Published Quarterly by Dell Publishing Co.
October-December 1964
Artist: Sparling?
Writer: ?
The Gairn search for a place to wait out the storm, and soon Keena spots a curious, almost frightening figure ahead. Lightning flashes and reveals a temple high on a hill constructed of stone slabs. Naza investigates the stone temple alone, holding a torch for light, and marvels at its amazing construction. His people were simple cave dwellers so the construction of this place was something the Lone One had never imagined possible. In the building he finds a single, huge room, with some human bones in a corner. He also finds a narrow, window like opening, and when he looks out through this opening he sees a bright star in the sky. He wonders why the builders of the stone building would build only one window, and if it was to see that one uncommonly bright star, then why would they want to do it.
Satisfied that there is no immediate danger, Naza invites his companions
inside. They reluctantly enter and spend the night out of the rain,
while Naza keeps guard. In the morning they come out of the building
to a greeting of a thrown spear and the hostility of angry shouts.
It seems that most of the men in the area around the home of the Gairn spoke the same language, so Naza and his companions have no trouble understanding these new people. Unlike most of the people they had met in their travels, these new people wear garments of real cloth, not animal skins. They call the building that the Gairn had been in 'the Star Shrine', and condemn the Gairn for trespassing on what seems to be their holy ground. Naza tries to explain that the storm drove them into the shrine's shelter, but the Larns, as the new people call themselves, will accept no excuse. The Gairn climb up on the top of the Shrine and wait, but for some reason the Larn do not pursue them. The answer comes quickly after Naza requests that the Larns let he and his tribesmen join their tribe.
The leader shouts, " The Larns are masters of this and all the known
land! No mind is as clever as ours! No hand as skilled! What
do we need the remnants of some vanished tribe for?
Only the medicine man can lead us into the shrine to see if the bright
star is visible through the narrow slit!"
Naza replies that he has seen the star through the window, and the spokesman for the Larn explains that the star is a sign that a great disaster is coming. He also states that if the Gairn leave they will be speared, or they will be speared when the medicine man comes and leads the Larn warriors up into the shrine.
Fortune smiles on the Gairn again. A herd of giant stags suddenly storms past the shrine. Naza leads his companions alongside the herd, hidden by the dust of their passage over the sun dried land, and the Gairn escape the Larns.
They run a while and then stop to rest inside a nearby woods. But Roon howls a warning, and Keena sees men in the distance. They are a band of savages, who spot the Gairn in turn. These savages had intended to raid the Larns, and now they run after the Gairn, fearing that Naza's people will warn the Larns of their hostile intentions. The Gairn flee, until Keena trips over a rock. While Naza helps Keena up, Sola attacks the rushing hostiles, until a thrown stone injures Sola's shoulder. Seeing Sola down, the hostiles rush forward. Sola shouts for Naza to leave him and save the women. Naza, as leader, will not do that. He pushes on a dead tree trunk, breaking it near the bottom, and causes the trunk to fall upon the charging hostiles. Then he helps Sola to his feet and the Gairn escape.
Naza and his companions circle back to the Larn village. Naza takes a chance that he can get into the good graces of the Larns by warning of the impending attack by the hostiles. He finds them troubled by the prominence of the star in the sky. They are certain disaster is at hand. Naza steps forward and tells them that the disaster can be avoided. He has seen the disaster, (he mistakenly believes that the hostiles are the disaster) and warns the Larns about the savages in the woods. But the Larns are contemptuous of any threat the savages might represent; they call them 'the face painting Kralgs'. They feel that they are more intelligent and have better weapons than the Kralgs. Naza explains that the Kralgs are many, and sometimes brute force can "overturn your stones, set your homes ablaze, shatter your spears and wipe out the Larns! That is the lesson we have learned--for our tribe was almost killed off by a simpler, but more brutish tribe!"
Instead of being grateful for Naza's warning, the Larns decide to sacrifice he and his companions to appease the 'sky god'. The Gairn try to escape but are caught in a fishing net. They take the Gairn to the Star Shrine and bind them to a large sacrificial slab.
Dern, the leader of the Larns, insist that sacrificing the Gairn will
prevent the sky god from being angry and bringing disaster upon them.
Naza retorts that it is the savages in the woods who are the true
disaster. Roon barks at the Larns but is kicked away. Then
the leader raises his spear above Naza, granting him the privilege of being
sacrificed first because he is the leader of his group.
Before Dern can strike, the Kralgs attack the village. The men rush down to defend their people, leaving the Gairn bound on the sacrificial slab. Naza warns Dern that it is a trick to lure the warriors from the sound, military position of the shrine. Dern disdains Naza's advise, pointing out that if he was really wise he wouldn't be a prisoner.
One of the Larn mentions to Dern that the star is glowing brighter. Dern replies that it is a signal that the catastrophe will be the end of the Kralgs.
As they lay on the slab, the prisoners feel the wind blowing harder. Naza realizes that the star is signaling the coming of a different kind of disaster. He summons Roon, who chews open the ropes binding him. Naza frees his companions.
The sky is black. Suddenly torrential rains fall, and many wild animals are driven out of the forest. A group of chimpanzees rush up the Star Shrine in a frenzy, to reach the safety of solid, higher ground. They attack the Gairn, and threaten to over run them until Naza comes up with the plan to use the Larn net. He throws it over the apes, and they bundle them tightly together.
As Dern and his men fight the savages, he realizes that Naza had been
right, and the shrine would have been a better place to fight. He
commands his warriors and people to run to the Star Shrine.
But the Star was really a comet, and its passage close to the Earth
has brought all kinds of natural disasters. A nearby ocean
rises up into a tidal wave and it hits the Larns before they can reach
the Star Shrine, drowning all of them. From the protection of the
Shrine, the Gairn watch the Larn people die by water.
Though some stones are washed away, the shrine holds against the tidal wave, and the Gairn survive.
They must continue on to find some other tribe to join. Mair wonders if the next tribe will be like the Larns.
"No one like the Larns live long. Despite their skill, despite
their superior knowledge, in the end, their arrogant pride doomed them--that
was the true star-predicted disaster.," says Naza wisely.
Like all Naza stories this one had a moral. Pride comes before the fall. When a people are blinded by a feeling of superiority, and lured into a blind complacency from it, then brute force can overwhelm them, whether it be savages or natural forces. While there is a feeling of safety in superiority, the only true safety is in vigilance, strength and wisdom.
One can only wonder where the Larns got the wisdom to build the Star Shrine. Or where did they obtain the knowledge of prophecy. Note that they are neighbors of the Lars, and their names are similar. Both are people who live near water.
copyright by Rod Hunsicker 7-9-98
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