Read Online 3 - Barbarians of Mars by Edward P. Bradbury - Free Book Online

plainly cleaner than that of his fellows. At his
hip he wore a huge broadsword, the hilt of which he gripped as he looked down
at me, a vast grin spreading across his face.
                   "Which are you," he said in a deep,
humorous voice, "the Bradhi or the Bradhinak?"
                   "Which are you! "
I said, though I guessed the obvious.
                   "Bradhi, my friend, as
you well know if you've talked as much to my men as they say. Bradhi
Rokin the Gold, leader of these hounds, the Bagarad. Now - be civil and answer
me."
                   "I am the Bradhinak Michael Kane of
Vamal, City of the Green Mists, most beautiful in the whole of Vashu." I
spoke as grandiosely, using the Martian word for their planet.
                   He grinned again. "And you - the other
one. You must be the Bradhi, then, eh?"
                   "Bradhi of a long line," Hool Haji
said proudly. "Bradhi of the Mendishar - there is no greater boast."
                   "You think not, eh?"
                   Hool Haji did not reply. He looked at Rokin
with an unwinking stare.
                   Rokin did not seem to mind.
                   "You killed a lot of my men, I'm told,
including my finest lieutenant, Zonom the Render. I thought him
unkillable."
                   "It was easy," I said. "It was
incidental. I did not realize he was one of those I killed until after I had
done it."
                   Rokin roared with laughter. "What a
boaster! Better than a Bagarad!"
                   "Some, I've been told," I said.
"It is not difficult to believe if they are all like Zonom." He frowned
a little, though he still grinned, pointing at me, his golden armour creaking
at the joints. "You think so? You'll find there are few to beat the
Bagarad."
                   "Few what?"
                   "Eh? What d'you mean?"
                   "Few what? Children?"
                   "No! Men, my friend!" His face cleared. Like many primitive people he seemed to appreciate an insult
for its own sake, whether levelled at him or not. I knew, however, that there
was a point that could be over-stepped and it was not always easy to see it. I
did not bother to worry about it.
                   "What are you going to do with us
now?" I asked him.
                   "I'm not sure. They say you seemed
concerned about the weapons I've removed from that place we found. What do you
know about them?"
                   "Nothing," I said.
                   "They say you seemed to know a great deal
about them.”
                   "Then they were wrong."
                   *Tell him to give them back," growled
Hool Haji. "Tell him what we told his friend - they're fools to meddle
with such power!"
                   "So you do know something." Rokin
mused. "How much?"
                   "We only know that to tamper with them
will mean death for you all, at the very least. It could mean the destruction
of half of Mars!"
                   "Do not try to frighten me with such
threats," Rokin smiled. "I am no little boy to be told what is bad
for me and what is good."
                   "In this case," I said urgently,
"you are as the smallest child. And these are no toys you are playing
with!"
                   "I know that, my friend. They are
weapons. Weapons that will win me half Mars if I use them well."
                   "Forget about them!" I said.
                   "Nonsense. Why
should I?"
                   "For one thing," I told him,
"there is a plague in a city some distance from here. One of the machines
you have might be capable of checking it. If it is not checked it must soon
escape the confines of the city and begin to spread. Do you know what a plague
is? A