Lin Carter - Down to a Sunless Sea Read Online Free PDF

Brant, and he would have been extremely surprised to have discovered that the police were looking for him this far from Sun Lake City. Nevertheless, Brant had not kept alive this long on Mars without learning how to take precautions.
    He reined in the loper a little distance from where the two men and the dead beasts were stationed, and slid down from the saddle. He held one of his power guns in his left hand, the barrel pointing down, but ready for use if necessary.
    The older man stepped forward, raising one hand in salute.
    "Good day, citizen! I am Dr. Will Harbin, an Aresologist, and this is my guide, Agila. We are fortunate that you came along."
    "Jim Brant," said the newcomer, with a curt nod to the native guide. "Prospecting. These two women are under my protection," he added, as the two plodded up to where the loper stood.
    He looked the scene over, noticing a second loper, seemingly unharmed, which knelt exhaustedly on the sand.
    "Looks like you had a run-in with a sandcat," he observed. "Lucky it didn't get all of your beasts."
    Will Harbin smiled wearily. "That we did, Cn. Brant. My man, Agila, brought it down just as it went after our pack-beast.''
    Brant was a trifle puzzled. "Why are you just sitting here, instead of piling everything on the lopers? The cliffwall isn't very far away—''
    Harbin shrugged. "We've been riding across the dustland for days now, trying to make for the Regio before our mounts foundered. The beasts are too exhausted to travel farther, and we sure weren't looking forward to spending another night out here—not with the chance of more sandcats on the prowl!"
    "Right," grunted Brant. "The scent of the slain beasts will bring them around by nightfall. Better chance it afoot and lead your beasts at any easy pace. We'll accompany you, of course. No sandcat is going to be crazy enough to risk attacking three men and two women. The quicker we get started, the better."
    Harbin followed Brant's advice, and, while Agila and the women loaded the saddlebags on the weary beast, the two Karthsiders drew aside for a brief conversation.
    "Are you looking for anything in particular on the Regio, or just making a survey?" inquired Brant.
    Will Harbin smiled: "Actually, I'm fossil-hunting, Martian paleontology being one of my fields. But as far as the Administration knows, I'm making a photo-survey of this part of the south." He grinned. "What they don't know, won't hurt them, I figure!"
    Brant chuckled. "Money's scarce for fossil-hunting, I guess?" The older man soberly agreed.
    "Mind telling me where you picked up this guide of yours?"
    "In Dakhshan, the trade city," he said. Brant nodded. Few and very far between were the permanent settlements of the People, but Dakhshan was the nearest—a sheltered spot where many merchant routes met.
    "What do you know about him? Looks aoudh, to me. ..."
    "Yes, Agila was driven into exile by a powerful native chieftain who envied him his prowess and his wealth," said Harbin. "Or so he says, anyway."
    Brant said nothing, chewing it over. Most outlaws profess innocence of any wrongdoing as a matter of course, whether they were actually innocent or not. He didn't much like the looks of this Agila: the man had the hard, wolfish way of a bandit, to his observance.
    All bandits are outlaws, of course. So ... if he was right about this Agila, what possible crime could he have committed that was deemed so horrendous that even the bandits would force him into flight?
    It was an interesting question.
    And, as it had weight to bear on their immediate future, he decided to find the answer to it as soon as possible.
    The Night
    On their way back to the cliffwall, the two Earthsiders conversed further, getting to know each other. Brant was convinced that Will Harbin was no police marshal, hence he had given the older man his proper name. Marshals run to a younger breed, harder in the face, shrewder about the eyes.
    Harbin cleared his throat at one point. "Ah, these women of yours