Read Online Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen - Free Book Online

possible way for a human being to climb to the entrance of this cave of yours?”
    â€œWhoo. No. Unless they made a stairway in the rock.”
    â€œHow high a stairway would it have to be?”
    â€œEleven times as high as you.” On matters of height the birds were evidently very quick and accurate.
    â€œWe are none of us mountain climbers, and we are in a hurry.” Thomas began to pace nervously, then quickly stopped. “We do have ropes, of course. Is there some projection in this cave or about it, around which you could drop a loop of rope, to let us climb?”
    There was no such projection inside the upper cave, Feathertip said after some thought. On the opposite side of the canyon was a pinnacle where she could hang a rope; but a human climbing there would still have to get across the canyon and in beneath an overhang.
    â€œCould I jump this chasm? How wide is it?”
    The distance of a good running broad jump, it seemed. And it would have to be accomplished from a standing start of precarious footing.
    There was argument, and the rudiment of a plan emerged.
    â€œLook, we know a bird can’t lift an adult human,” said Thomas. “But we’ve two birds here now, both big and strong of their kind.”
    People interrupted with objections.
    â€œLet me finish. They can’t lift a man cleanly, but couldn’t they help him jump? Swing him, delay his fall, as he jumps from atop this pinnacle of rock to get across the canyon?”
    The birds both said they thought that something of the sort might just be possible. And no one was able to think of a better plan for getting a human quickly into the cave; of course the ground would have to be examined first. In any case no large party with ladders and other cumbersome equipment could be sent with any safety to work so near the Castle.
    Thomas’s enthusiasm was building steadily. “It must be done somehow, and the birds’ help may make it possible. We’ll see what way looks best when we get there. And there’s no time to waste. If I leave here within the hour, I can be hidden among the rocks on the north side of the pass before dawn. Just lie low during the daylight hours, and then tomorrow night—”
    Loford asked him, “You?”
    Thomas smiled wryly. “Well, you’ve been prodding me to assume some kind of leadership.”
    â€œThis is not a leader’s job. It’s one for a scout. Why you? You’re needed here to make decisions.”
    Others jumped into the argument. It was soon more or less agreed that two people ought to go, but there was no agreement on who they should be. Every man and woman who was not slow with age, or recovering from a wound, volunteered. “Heights don’t scare me at all,” Rolf offered.
    â€œMe neither!” Sarah wanted to go. She claimed that she was lighter than any of the others, certainly an advantage if it came to a matter of being partially supported by birds.
    â€œAh!” said Thomas to her, a spark of humor in his eye. “But what if Nils comes back and finds that you’ve gone off alone with me?”
    That quieted Sarah—for a while—but Thomas found the others’ squabbling harder to put down. At last he had to nearly shout, “All right, all right! I know the land as well as anyone. I suppose I can decide as well as anyone what to do about the Elephant when I reach it. So I am going. Loford will be the leader here—so far as I have any authority to name one. Mewick—you must stay in the swamps for a while, to talk to others of our people as they come in, tell them about the situation in the north and elsewhere, so they’ll understand we cannot expect any help…now, let’s see. Will I be light enough to jump into this cave with a boost from two birds?”
    He stretched out his arms. Strijeef and Feathertip took to the air and hovered about him, and each carefully clenched their