Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs (48 page)

Tarzan swung into the saddle and took the reins and yanked the dragon to the right, came in close over the rider carrying Zamona. The rider had seen what had occurred, and he threw one of his long spears at Tarzan. Tarzan caught it and flipped it, threw it at the rider, piercing his chest, knocking him from the winged monster. Tarzan swept in low and flew under the creature as it dropped down toward the trees. He reached out for Zamona, grasped her hand, yelled “Arboka.” The dragon holding her let her go, and Tarzan swung her onto the saddle behind him. She clutched her arms around his waist and they flew toward the rider that carried Zuppner. The rider had seen all that occurred, so as vengeance, as they flew over the trees, he yelled “Arboka,” and Zuppner was dropped.

There was a crash and a flutter, and Tarzan saw that Zuppner, having not dropped from too high, had fallen into a tree and was clinging to a limb. The rider who had dropped Zuppner pursued Tarzan. Tarzan gently tugged the reins, and the creature, easy as a trained quarter horse, responded, flew fast over the trees. Tarzan guided him up, saying to Zamona, “Hang tight.”

They shot up like a bullet, the beast tilting to such an extent that Tarzan could feel Zamona’s weight tugging back at him, a victim to gravity. Tarzan guided the monster into a surprising dive and was hurtling straight toward the rider whose beast had moments before held Zuppner in its grasp. They sped directly toward each other like cannon shots.

Tarzan pulled one of the spears from the tight sheath at the reptile’s side. He cocked it into throwing position with one hand, managed the reins with the other. He continued to fly directly toward the rider. He stood up in the stirrups, leaned back and came forward as he loosed the spear. By that time they were about to have a head-on collision.

The spear flew straight. It hit the rider in the head and parted his skull the way a comb will part hair. The rider toppled from his mount, and at the last moment Tarzan was able to veer his beast and avoid them clashing together.

Tarzan directed his dragon toward the trees where Zuppner had fallen. When he came to the tree, he was able to see Zuppner, struggling to manage a sound position near the top of the tree. Tarzan slowed his flying monstrosity, hooked a heel on one side of the mount, and swung out and extended his arm. It took a couple of tries, but Zuppner caught it, and Tarzan pulled him up. It was a tight fit, but he was able to slide on behind Zamona. He was bleeding from a number of places.

“Are you all right?” Tarzan said.

“All minor wounds,” Zuppner said. “But now we have company.”

Tarzan glanced back. The campfires looked far away, like lightning bugs. Then there was a dark mass touched with moonlight. It was like a rising of mosquitoes from the face of a pond. They were many, and they were coming fast. They appeared to change swiftly in the moonlight from mosquitoes to birds, and then Tarzan could see them clearly for what they were—men on their dragons. The ones who had dropped the broken men in the water were now in pursuit of Tarzan and his friends.

There was a wide path in the jungle. Tarzan guided the beast down close to the ground, and they sped along the trail, which proved man-made. He saw a break in the trees, and he went off the main trail, down that. This was a path made by animals, most likely in pursuit of water. The reptile’s wings beat at the edges of the trees. Leaves came loose and went fluttering about in the dark. Tarzan didn’t believe he could stay hidden, but if he could merely confuse their pursuers for a time, they might have a chance.

Peeking back, he saw a flock of dragons flying low along the wide man-made trail adjacent to the path he had taken with his beast. He saw the last of them pass. In a few moments they would realize they had been duped and would double back, but for now Tarzan flew on, low as possible to the ground.

Then things changed. Ahead the trail was too narrow for their flying mount, so Tarzan had no choice but to rein the creature up and into the moonlight.

“They have spotted us,” said Zamona.

Tarzan flew on, realizing their combined weight was slowing them. He flew over the great lake where the broken men bobbed like lily pads. He flew over great patches of jungle.

“They are falling back,” Zuppner said.

Tarzan took a look. They were indeed falling back. He had gained quite a gap between them and himself. The little venture down that narrow trail had given them just enough of a break, and even after being discovered, they were too far ahead to make it worth the warriors’ efforts. They already had their meals, broken and secure, tenderizing slowly in the river of the great lake. What were three more?

Zuppner laughed out loud. “We have beaten them, Tarzan.”

“Seems that way,” Tarzan said.

The great winged beast flapped on.

They reached the great inland sea by morning and skirted the edge of it, stopping once to rest their mount. Tarzan tied the reins of the beast to a stout tree near the shore of the sea, left Zuppner and Zomona, took a spear from the sheath strapped to the monster, and trekked toward the deeper woods to hunt. Two hours later he returned with a deer over his shoulders.

Zuppner and Zamona had built a fire from dead wood, because the sea air had turned surprisingly cool. Tarzan had lost his knife somewhere during their capture by the jungle men, so he broke one of the spears off near the blade to make a new knife. He was grateful that the knife he lost had not been the one he normally carried: his father’s knife from long ago. It was safe at his plantation in Africa. He skinned the deer with the makeshift knife, gutted it, made a wooden rack for the body, and cooked it over the fire.

Tarzan gave a raw leg of the deer to their flying stallion of sorts, and then he and his friends sat down to eat.

“That flying thing is quite amazing,” said Zuppner.

“For his size he is astonishingly light,” Tarzan said. “His bones must be hollow. And yet, it is strong.”

“I think we should name him,” Zuppner said.

“I never name anything I might have to eat,” said Tarzan.

Once they were filled with food, fresh water, and rested, they took to the air again, flew over the great inland sea. It took some time, but they finally reached the opposite shore. They rested again for a while, and come morning they flew on with no set destination, just making sure they were putting space between themselves and the cannibals.

After a few days of travel and stops to hunt and eat, they came to the great, rock wall that surrounded the land that time forgot. Tarzan landed the beast. There was jungle and plenty of game along the edge of the wall. They made a good camp there. When the mist that surrounded the strange world thinned, they could see the ocean raging against the rock barrier below.

“How do we go home?” Zuppner said.

“Swimming won’t do,” Tarzan said.

Zuppner laughed. “I suppose not.”

Zamona turned and looked back at the jungle and said nothing.

They built a fine hut that housed them comfortably and had plenty of room left over. They left a gap at the top of it to let out the smoke. They built a well-made corral with a roof for the flying creature, and kept it fed with game, of which they found plenty. From time to time they flew in trio on the back of the beast, looking to see what they could find, but never traveling too far from camp.

After many days, the three of them walked to their spot on the wall, the place where they liked to look out at the ocean. As they stood there, watching the pounding waves break against the blockade of stone, Tarzan said, “When we were first carried off by the winged things, I saw below us a place with wooden walls, like a fort, with buildings inside of it. It looked to me that it might be a kind of civilized settlement. I thought I might try and go there. It will take many days, and I would have to stop to find water and food, but perhaps there might be someone there who could help us, or assist us. If so, I will come back for you. They might be enemies. On this world that seems more likely. But I thought I might try. I must find a way to go home. I must see my wife, Jane.”

Zuppner looked at Zamona, then back at Tarzan.

“This may sound odd, Tarzan,” Zuppner said, “but Zamona and I, we want to stay. Right here. Where the game is thick and there seem to be fewer dangerous predators. Most importantly, we have each other. This is a world not too unlike the one from which she came, and I have nothing to go back to. And to be honest, I have learned to love this life. All that I need is right here, with her. We talked it over and decided a few days back. We have wanted to tell you for quite some time, and now we must.”

Tarzan almost smiled. “I have suspected. And I understand. If Jane were with me, I might stay. If she is by my side, I can be anywhere in the world and find happiness.”

Tarzan clamped Zuppner on the shoulder and smiled at Zamona. “Have your life and your love, but I must go. I must find a way to leave and go home to Jane.”

When the morning light came, the mist was heavy. Tarzan and Zuppner and Zamona were all at the corral. Tarzan saddled up and reined the beast, guided it out through the open gate. It walked with a hobbling motion on its slightly bent legs. By the time he led the creature clear of the corral, the sun had started to penetrate the mist, but still they could not see the sky.

Tarzan had made himself a bow and arrows and a quiver of wood, and he had fashioned fresh spears with flint points to replace the broken ones from the quiver that was strapped to the reptile’s saddle. He still had the knife he had made from one of the spears, the broken part of the shaft now wrapped in hide and strapped to his side in a sheath he had made from wild boar skin. He wore a loin cloth of spotted antelope hide. He arranged his weapons, the bow over his shoulder, the quiver strapped to his back, the knife at his side, the spears tucked tight into the sheath next to the saddle. He climbed on top of the beast and looked down at Zuppner and Zamona.

“Make a life,” he said.

“We will,” said Zamona, looking beautiful in the gossamer-veiled light. “We still live.”

Tarzan tugged at the reins. The dragon flapped its wings, lifted into the air, and finally high into the mist where it was swallowed up, wrapped tight in white. Zuppner and Zamona could hear the monster’s wings beating for a while, and then there was only silence, leaving them to their life, and Tarzan to further adventure.

Story Notes

(1) Tarzan’s adventure on the lost world would have taken place about 1929, when planes were nowhere as advanced or as able of flying long ranges. Besides, it’s very likely that Tarzan’s universe is an alternate universe that only crisscrosses ours from time to time.

(2) The sun of Pellucidar, the world inside our world, is always central and always bright. Pellucidar is a world of constant daylight.

(3) Although Tarzan could not discern the purpose of the pools, they are part of the evolutionary process of The Land That Time Forgot. When humans of a certain evolutionary scale are ready and prepared to move to a higher form, they enter the pools, and come out transformed. For more information on these pools, check out THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, THE PEOPLE TIME FORGOT, and OUT OF TIME’S ABYSS by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

(4) He’s looking down on Ft. Dinosaur, built by previous adventurers. Again, see the books in the LAND THAT TIME FORGOT series by Burroughs.