Speaker 1: Part two of Tetric by E. E. Smith. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. That evening he selected
Speaker 1: a smooth, fine grained stone and wetted the already almost
Speaker 1: perfect cutting edge of his new sword, an edge which
Speaker 1: in cross section was rather more like an extremely sharp
Speaker 1: cold chisel than a hollow ground razor. He fitted the
Speaker 1: two hand grip meticulously with worked and tempered rawhide, thrilling
Speaker 1: again and again, as each touch of an educated and
Speaker 1: talented finger tip told him over and over that here
Speaker 1: was something brand new in metal, a real god metal.
Speaker 1: A piece of flat wrought iron, about three sixteenths by
Speaker 1: five inches and about a foot long, already lay on
Speaker 1: a smooth and heavy hard wood block. He tapped it
Speaker 1: sharply with the sword's edge. The blade rang like a bell,
Speaker 1: the iron showed a bright new scar that was all.
Speaker 1: Then a moderately heavy two handed blow, about as hard
Speaker 1: as he had ever dared swing an iron sword, still
Speaker 1: no damage. Then heart in mouth, he gave the god
Speaker 1: metal its final test, struck with everything he had, from
Speaker 1: heels and toes to finger tips. He had never struck
Speaker 1: such a blow before, except possibly with a war ax
Speaker 1: or a sledge. There was a ringing clang. Two sundered
Speaker 1: slabs of iron flew to opposite ends of the room.
Speaker 1: The atrocious blade went on half an inch deep into
Speaker 1: solid oak. He wrenched the weapon free and stared at
Speaker 1: the unmarred edge. Unmarred. For an instant, Tedric felt as
Speaker 1: though he were about to collapse. But sheerest joy does
Speaker 1: not disable. There was nothing left to do except make
Speaker 1: the lynx hinge pins and so on for his armor,
Speaker 1: which did not take long. Hence, when the minions of
Speaker 1: Sarpadion next appeared, armored this time in the heaviest and
Speaker 1: best iron they had, and all set to overwhelm him
Speaker 1: by sheer weight of numbers, he was completely ready. Nor
Speaker 1: was there palaver or poorly. The attackers opened the door,
Speaker 1: saw the smith, and rushed. But Tedric, although in plain sight,
Speaker 1: had chosen the battle ground with care, he was in
Speaker 1: a corner. At his back, a solid walled stairway ran
Speaker 1: up to the second floor. On his right, the wall
Speaker 1: was solid for twenty feet. On his left, beyond the stairwell,
Speaker 1: the wall was equally solid for twice as far. They
Speaker 1: would have to come after him, and as he retreated
Speaker 1: they would be fighting their way up, and not more
Speaker 1: than two at a time. The first swing, horizontal and
Speaker 1: neck high, was fully as fierce driven as the one
Speaker 1: that had clovened the test piece and almost ruined his
Speaker 1: testing block. The god metal blade scarcely slowed as it
Speaker 1: went through armor and flesh and bone. In fact, the
Speaker 1: helmet and the head within it remained in place upon
Speaker 1: the shoulders for what seemed like seconds before the body
Speaker 1: toppled and the arteries spurted crimson jets. He didn't have
Speaker 1: to hit so hard, then good. Nobody could last very
Speaker 1: long the way he had started out. Wherefore the next blow,
Speaker 1: a vertical chop, merely split a man to the chin
Speaker 1: instead of to the navel, and the third, a back
Speaker 1: handed return, didn't quite cut the victim's head clear off.
Speaker 1: And the blows his steel was taking aimed at head
Speaker 1: or neck or shoulder were doing no harm at all.
Speaker 1: In fact, except for the noise, they scarcely bothered him.
Speaker 1: He had been designing and building armor for five years,
Speaker 1: and this was his masterpiece. The helmet was heavily padded,
Speaker 1: the shoulders twice as much, so he had sacrificed some mobility.
Speaker 1: He could not turn his head very far in either direction.
Speaker 1: But the jointing was such that the force of any
Speaker 1: blow on the helmet from whatever direction coming was taken
Speaker 1: by his tremendously capable shoulders. The weapons of the mercenaries
Speaker 1: could not dent, could not even nick that case. Hardened
Speaker 1: high alloy steel swords, bent broke, twisted hammers and axes
Speaker 1: bounced harmlessly off. Nevertheless, the attack pressed forward, and even
Speaker 1: though each blow of his devastating sword took a life,
Speaker 1: Tedrick was forced backward up the stairs step by step.
Speaker 1: Then there came about that for which he had been waiting.
Speaker 1: A copper clad priest appeared behind the last rank of mercenaries,
Speaker 1: staring upward at something behind the iron master, beckoning frantically.
Speaker 1: The priest had split his forces, had sent part of
Speaker 1: them by another way to the second floor to trap
Speaker 1: him between two groups had come in close to see
Speaker 1: the traps sprung. This was it. Taking a couple of
Speaker 1: quick upward backward steps, he launched himself into the air
Speaker 1: with all the power of his legs, and when two
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty pounds of man dressed in eighty or
Speaker 1: ninety or one hundred pounds of steel, leaps from a
Speaker 1: height of eight or ten feet upon a group of
Speaker 1: other men. Those other men go down. Writing himself quickly,
Speaker 1: Tedrick sprang toward the priest and swung, swung with all
Speaker 1: the momentum of his mass and speed, and all the
Speaker 1: power of his giant frame, swung, as though he were
Speaker 1: concentrating into the blow all his hatred of Sarpadion and
Speaker 1: everything for which Sarpadion stood, which in fact he was.
Speaker 1: And what such a saber scimitar so driven did to
Speaker 1: thin showy copper armor and to the human flesh beneath
Speaker 1: it is simply nothing to dwell upon. Here Hold, he
Speaker 1: roared at the mercenaries, who hadn't quite decided whether or
Speaker 1: not to resume the attack, And they held, But you're dead,
Speaker 1: the non com stuttered. You must be the great Sarpadion,
Speaker 1: would a right lively corpse, I, Tedric snarled. Your Sarpaedion,
Speaker 1: false god and coward, drinker of blood and slayer of
Speaker 1: the helpless, is weak, puny and futile beside my loser. Hence,
Speaker 1: under Losir's shield and at Loser's direction, I shall this
Speaker 1: day kill your foul and depraved God shall send him
Speaker 1: back to the grizzly hell from whence he came. Nor
Speaker 1: do I ask you to fight for me? Nor would
Speaker 1: I so allow, for I trust you not though you
Speaker 1: swore by all your gods? Do you fight for pleasure
Speaker 1: or for pay? A growl was the only answer, but
Speaker 1: that was answer enough. He of Sarpaedion, who paid your wages,
Speaker 1: lies there dead. All others of his ilk will die
Speaker 1: ere this day's sunset be advised. Therefore, fight no more
Speaker 1: until you know who pays? Wouldst any more of you
Speaker 1: be split like whitefish? Ere I go? Time runneth short,
Speaker 1: But I would stay and oblige if pressed. He was
Speaker 1: not pressed, Tedrick whirled and strode away. Should he yet
Speaker 1: his horse or not? No? He had never ridden mighty
Speaker 1: Drigar into danger wearing armor less capable than his own,
Speaker 1: and he wouldn't begin now. The Temple of Sarpadion was
Speaker 1: a tall, narrow building with a far flung outside staircase
Speaker 1: leading up to the penthouse like excrescence in which the
Speaker 1: green altar of sacrifice was. Tedric reached the foot of
Speaker 1: that staircase and grimly, doggedly cut his way up it.
Speaker 1: It was hard work, and he did not want to
Speaker 1: wear himself out too soon he might need a lot,
Speaker 1: and suddenly later on would be a good idea to
Speaker 1: have something in reserve. As he mounted higher and higher, however,
Speaker 1: the opposition became less and less, instead of greater and
Speaker 1: greater as he had expected. Priests were no longer there
Speaker 1: he hadn't seen one for five minutes, and in the
Speaker 1: penthouse itself, instead of these solid phalanks of opposition he
Speaker 1: had known would bar his way, there were only half
Speaker 1: a dozen mercenaries who promptly turned tail and ran. The
Speaker 1: way is clear hasten, Tedrick shouted, and his youthful squire
Speaker 1: rushed up the ramp with his axe and hammer, and
Speaker 1: with those ultra hard, ultra tough implements, Tedric mauled and
Speaker 1: chopped the image of the god Divon. Sarpadion's high priest
Speaker 1: was desperate. He believed thoroughly in his God. Equally thoroughly, however,
Speaker 1: he believed in the actuality and in the power of
Speaker 1: Teddrick's new God. He had to for the miracle he
Speaker 1: had performed spoke for itself. While Sarpadion had not appeared
Speaker 1: personally in Divan's lifetime, he had so appeared many times
Speaker 1: in the past, and by a sufficiently attractive sacrifice, he
Speaker 1: could be persuaded to appear again, particularly since this appearance
Speaker 1: would be in self defense. No slave or any number
Speaker 1: of slaves would do, nor criminals, no ordinary version of
Speaker 1: the common people. This sacrifice must be of supreme quality.
Speaker 1: The king himself too old and tough and sinful, ah,
Speaker 1: the King's daughter. At the thought, the pit of his
Speaker 1: stomach turned cold. However, desperate situations required desperate remedies. He
Speaker 1: called in his henchmen and issued arders. Thus it came
Speaker 1: about that a towering figure clad in flashing golden armor,
Speaker 1: the king himself, with a few courtiers scrambling far in
Speaker 1: his wake, dashed up the last few steps just as
Speaker 1: Tedric was wrenching out Sarpedion's liver. Tedrick attend the monarch panted,
Speaker 1: the priests have taken Rowan and are about to give
Speaker 1: her to Sarpadion. They can't, sire, I've just killed Sarpadion
Speaker 1: right here, but they can. They've taken the holiest one
Speaker 1: from the innermost shrine, have enshrined him on the temple
Speaker 1: of Scaney. Slay me, those traitor priests, for they slay Rowan,
Speaker 1: and you may Tedric did not hear the rest of it,
Speaker 1: nor was his mind chiefly concerned with the plight of
Speaker 1: the royal maid. It was Sarpadion he was after. With
Speaker 1: a blistering oath. He dropped the god's liver, whirled around,
Speaker 1: and leaped down the stairway. It would do no good
Speaker 1: to kill only one Sarpadion. He would have to kill
Speaker 1: them both, especially since the holiest one was the major image.
Speaker 1: The holiest one, the sarpadion never before seen except by
Speaker 1: first rank priests. Of course, that would be the one
Speaker 1: they'd use in sacrificing a king's daughter. He should have
Speaker 1: thought of that himself sooner, Damn him for a fool.
Speaker 1: It probably wasn't too late yet, but the sooner he
Speaker 1: got there, the better would be his chance of winning.
Speaker 1: Hence he ran, and farther and farther behind him came
Speaker 1: the king and the courtiers. Reaching the temple of Skanea,
Speaker 1: he found, to his immense relief that he would not
Speaker 1: have to storm that heavily manned rampart alone. A full
Speaker 1: company of the royal Guard was already there. Battle was
Speaker 1: in progress, but very little headway was being made against
Speaker 1: the close packed defenders of the God, and Tedrick knew
Speaker 1: why a man fighting against a god was licked before
Speaker 1: he started, and he knew it. He'd have to build
Speaker 1: up their morale. But did he have time? Probably they
Speaker 1: couldn't hurry things too much without insulting Sarpadion, for the
Speaker 1: absolutely necessary ceremonies took a lot of time. Anyway, He'd
Speaker 1: have to take the time or he'd never reach the
Speaker 1: god art. Lord Tedric, a burly captain, disentangled himself from
Speaker 1: the front rank and saluted, I'm Tedrick, Yes, newest I
Speaker 1: was coming. Yes, Lord, orders came by Helio, but now
Speaker 1: you are in command. You speak with the vice of
Speaker 1: King Fagon himself. Good, Call your men back thirty paces.
Speaker 1: Pick me out the twelve or fifteen strongest to lead
Speaker 1: men of the Royal Guard. He raised his voice to
Speaker 1: a volume audible not only to his own men, but
Speaker 1: also to all the enemy. Who is the most powerful
Speaker 1: swordsman among you, stand forward. This armor I wear is
Speaker 1: not of iron, but of God metal, the metal of Loser,
Speaker 1: my personal and all powerful God that all may here
Speaker 1: see and know. I command you to strike at me
Speaker 1: your shrewdest and most effective, most powerful blow. The soldier,
Speaker 1: after a couple of false starts. Did manage a stroke
Speaker 1: of sorts? I said, strike tetric roared, Think you ordinary
Speaker 1: iron can harm the personal metal of a god. Strike
Speaker 1: where you please, at head or neck, or shoulders or guts.
Speaker 1: But strike as though you meant it. Strike to kill,
Speaker 1: shatter your sword. Strike convulsively. The fellow struck, swinging for
Speaker 1: the neck, and at the impact his blade snapped into
Speaker 1: three pieces. A wave of visible relief swept over the guardsmen,
Speaker 1: one of dismay and shock over the ranks of the foe.
Speaker 1: I implore parton, lord, the soldier begged, dropping to one knee.
Speaker 1: Up man, tis nothing, and by my direct order, Now men,
Speaker 1: I can tell you a thing you would not have
Speaker 1: fully believed before. I have just killed half of Sarpadion,
Speaker 1: and he could not touch me. I am about to
Speaker 1: kill his other half. You will see me do it.
Speaker 1: Come what may, of God or devil, You need not
Speaker 1: fear it. For I and all with me fight under
Speaker 1: Losir's shield. We men will have to deal only with
Speaker 1: the flesh and blood of those runty mercenaries of tark.
Speaker 1: He study the enemy formation briefly, A solid phalanx of
Speaker 1: spearmen with shields latticed and braced close, set spears outthrust,
Speaker 1: and anchored strictly defensive. They hadn't made a move to
Speaker 1: follow nor throw a single javelin when the King's forces withdrew.
Speaker 1: This wasn't going to be easy, but it was possible.
Speaker 1: We will make the formation of the wedge with me
Speaker 1: as point, he went on, Sergeant, you will bear my
Speaker 1: sword and hammer. The rest of you will ram me
Speaker 1: into the center of that phalanx. With everything of driving
Speaker 1: force that in you lies, I will make and maintain
Speaker 1: enough of opening. We'll go up that ramp like a
Speaker 1: fast ship plowing through waves, make wedge drive. Except for
Speaker 1: his armor of god metal, Tedric would have been crushed
Speaker 1: flat by the impact of the flying wedge against the
Speaker 1: soldier he packed so solidly on the stair. Several of
Speaker 1: the foe were so crushed. But the new armor held,
Speaker 1: Tedric could scarcely move his legs enough to take each step.
Speaker 1: His body was held as though in a vice, but
Speaker 1: his giant arms were free, and by dint of sharp,
Speaker 1: savage punching jabs and prods and strokes of his atrocious
Speaker 1: war ax, he made and maintained the narrow opening upon
Speaker 1: which the success of the whole operation depended, and into
Speaker 1: that constantly renewed opening, the smith was driven irresistibly, driven
Speaker 1: by the concerted and synchronized strength of the strongest men
Speaker 1: of Lomar's Royal Guard. The result was not exactly like
Speaker 1: that of a diesel powered snowplow, but it was good enough.
Speaker 1: The mercenaries did not flow over the sides of the
Speaker 1: ramp in two smooth waves, however, unable with either weapons
Speaker 1: or bodies to break through the slanting walls of iron
Speaker 1: formed by the smoothly overlapping shields of the guardsmen, over
Speaker 1: the edges, they went, the living and the dead. The
Speaker 1: dreadful wedge drove on as the guardsmen near the top
Speaker 1: of the stairway the mercenaries disappeared. Enough of that kind
Speaker 1: of thing was a great plenty, and Tedric, after a
Speaker 1: quick glance around to see what the situation was, seized
Speaker 1: his sword from the bearer. Old Divan had his knife aloft,
Speaker 1: but in only the third of the five formal passes.
Speaker 1: Two more to go kill those priests, he snapped at
Speaker 1: the captain. I'll take the three at the altar, you
Speaker 1: fellows take the rest of them. When Tedric reached the
Speaker 1: green altar. The sacrificial knife was again aloft, but the
Speaker 1: same stroke that severed Divan's upraised right arm severed also
Speaker 1: his head and his whole left shoulder. Two more whistling
Speaker 1: strokes and a moment's study of a scene of action
Speaker 1: assured him that there would be no more sacrifices that day.
Speaker 1: The King's archers had followed close behind the guards. The
Speaker 1: situation was well in hand. He exchanged sword for axe
Speaker 1: and hammer, and furiously, viciously went to work on the god.
Speaker 1: He yanked out the holiest one's brain, liver, and heart,
Speaker 1: hammered and chopped the rest of him to bits. That done,
Speaker 1: he turned to the altar. He had not even glanced
Speaker 1: at it before, stretched taut, spread eagled by wrists and
Speaker 1: ankles on the reeking blood fouled green horror stone. The
Speaker 1: lady Rowan lay her yard long, thick brown hair, a
Speaker 1: wide flung riot. Six priests had not immobilized Rowan of
Speaker 1: Lomar without a struggle. Her eyes went from shattered image
Speaker 1: to blood covered armored giant, and back to image. Her
Speaker 1: face was a study of part horrified, part terrified, part
Speaker 1: worshipful amazement. He slashed the ropes extended his mailed right hand.
Speaker 1: Ar't hurt, Lady Rowan, no, just if taking his hand.
Speaker 1: She sat up a bit groggily and flexed wrists and
Speaker 1: ankles experimentally while behind his vizor. The man stared and
Speaker 1: stared tall, wide but trim, superbly, made a true scion
Speaker 1: of the old blood, lo serious liver. What a woman.
Speaker 1: He had undressed her mentally more than once, but his
Speaker 1: visionings had fallen short, far short of the entrancing the
Speaker 1: magnificent truth. What a woman a virgin hu technically so,
Speaker 1: perhaps more shame to those pusi laminous half breed midges
Speaker 1: of the court if he had been born noble. She
Speaker 1: slid off the altar and stood up, her eyes still
Speaker 1: dark with fantastically mixed emotions. She threw both arms around
Speaker 1: his armored neck and snuggled close against his steel, heedless
Speaker 1: that breasts and flanks were being smeared anew with half
Speaker 1: dried blood. He put an ironclad arm around her, moved
Speaker 1: her arm enough to open his visor, saw sea green
Speaker 1: eyes only a few inches below his own. Staring straight
Speaker 1: into his The man's quick passion flamed again. Gods of
Speaker 1: the ancients. What a woman there was a mate for
Speaker 1: a full grown man. Thank the gods. The king dashed up, panting,
Speaker 1: but in surprisingly good shape for a man of forty
Speaker 1: odds who had run so far in gold armor. Thanks
Speaker 1: be to all the gods. You are in time, just barely, sire,
Speaker 1: But in time name your reward, Lord Tedrick. I will
Speaker 1: be glad to make you my son, not that, sire. Ever,
Speaker 1: if there's anything in the world or the next I
Speaker 1: don't want to be, it's Lady Rowan's brother. Make him
Speaker 1: lord of the marches. Father, the girl said, sharply, knowest
Speaker 1: what the sages said, twhis to be better. The monarch agreed,
Speaker 1: Tedrick of old Lomar, I appoint you lord of the upper,
Speaker 1: the Middle, and the lower marches, the highest of the high.
Speaker 1: Tedrick went to his knees. I thank you, sire, have
Speaker 1: I your backing and wiping out what is left of
Speaker 1: Sarpadion's power. If you will support the throne with the
Speaker 1: strip I so clearly see as to be yours, I
Speaker 1: will back you with the full power of the throne
Speaker 1: in anything you wish to do. Of course, I will
Speaker 1: support you, sire, as long as I live. And with
Speaker 1: all that in me lies since time first was my
Speaker 1: blood has been vassal to yours, and ever will be.
Speaker 1: My brain, my liver, and my heart are yours. I
Speaker 1: thank you, Lord Tedrick proceed Tedrick snapped to his feet,
Speaker 1: his sword flashed high in the air. His heavy voice
Speaker 1: rang out, People of Lomar, listen to a herald of
Speaker 1: the throne. Sarpedion is dead. Loser lives. Human sacrifice, yes,
Speaker 1: all sacrifice except the one I am about to perform
Speaker 1: of Sarpadion himself to Losir is done. That is and
Speaker 1: will be the law. To that end, there will be
Speaker 1: no more priests, but a priestess only. I speak as
Speaker 1: herald for the throne of Lomar. He turned to the
Speaker 1: girl still clinging to his side. I had it first
Speaker 1: in mine, Lady, rowan to make you priestess, but not I,
Speaker 1: she interrupted vigorously, No priestess, I Lord Tetrick. By Lowsier's brain, girl,
Speaker 1: you're right, You've been wasted long enough. In another time track,
Speaker 1: another scandals and another firmin almost but not quite identical
Speaker 1: with those first so named, poured over a thronoviagram. The
Speaker 1: key point in time is there, the prime physicist said thoughtfully,
Speaker 1: placing the point of his pencil near one jagged peak
Speaker 1: of the trace. The key figure is Lord Tetrick of Lomar,
Speaker 1: the discoverer of the carburization of steel. He could be
Speaker 1: manipulated very easily. But after all, the real catastrophe is
Speaker 1: about three hundred eighteen years away. There is nothing alarming
Speaker 1: about the shape of the curve, and any interference with
Speaker 1: the actual physical events of the past would almost certainly
Speaker 1: prove calamitous. Over the years, I have found your judgment good.
Speaker 1: What is your thought on this matter? Ferman I would
Speaker 1: say to wait at least for a few weeks or months,
Speaker 1: even though eight hundred twelve fails, Number eight hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty or number nine hundred may succeed. At the very worst,
Speaker 1: we will be in the same position then as now,
Speaker 1: to take the action which has for a hundred years
Speaker 1: been specifically forbidden by both counsel and school. So be
Speaker 1: it end of Tedrick by E. E. Smith, this recording
Speaker 1: by Phil Schinevert. Thank you for listening.