Guns of Mars 58
A Martian action-adventure by The Legend Chuck Dixon
CHAPTER 16.1
He kept to the ruts and valleys between the windblown hills, sometimes riding, sometimes leading the thoat. The animal had to carry him a long way and he needed it to last.
And the country between him and his goal was making a long way longer. The bounty man did his best to maintain a general south by southeast course. But staying out of sight below the crests of the hills and ridges of the broken land would at least double the length of the journey if not more. There was no shortage of lichen growing the shadowed reaches of the deepest ravines for his mounts and enough small game for him to trap for himself.
Water would be the problem. It was always water. The irony of running dry before he could reach the source of water he sought was not lost on him. He might fall, parched, to never rise again, his bones bleached white while just over the next rise lay the mystic pool the ledger spoke of.
His first night out he camped in the hollow at the base of hillock. It was out of the wind that moaned and whined as it slowly ground the peaks above to nubs. He made a fire from the last of his fuel and worked to reload his spent rounds from the supplies he’d traded for back in Yttrium.
He had a sack of spent brass and worked with a tool to secure new percussion caps in place. The powder was of a coarser grain than he liked. He was uncertain of the accuracy of the measurements. But he did the best he could and sealed each round with a lead ball before crimping the charge home.
Before the light of the fire died and the darkness swallowed his sight, he looked over the ancient ledger once more. The map it contained was a simple one and labeled a place that lay to the north and east at the head of a narrow canyon cut into a vast plateau. The name matched the one on the stern of the wreck he and the thark had come across. The characters spelled out The Eye of Water. If the faded drawings did not lie, a vast lake lay under the mountain with the two-pronged summit.
He lay back against the flank of the sleeping thoat as the temperature dropped, the chill wind finding its way down into the arroyo where he made camp. The banth cloak wrapped about him, he tried to estimate the days he’d need to travel against the water in his chagals.
A cup a day was all he would allow himself. He was sure he could do this for seven days without risk to his health. By staying to the shaded hollows, he could retain his own body’s hydration longer than if he traveled under the sun that beat down on this plain like a hammer.
In any case, he had to stay out of sight by necessity. Atop the ridgelines or peaks, he would be visible against the sky for a great distance. And he knew by the night sounds that there were dangers to being seen. He heard the roars of banths echo from the surrounding expanse. He also heard the death shrieks of their prey. Caught in the open by even a small pride would be the end of him. Even if he sacrificed his pack thoat to allow him to escape, they’d stalk him and catch him up eventually. He took care to rub his skin down with lichen, it’s rich, loamy scent serving to hide his own. He did the same to the thoats despite the animals’ protests.
The bounty man nestled back against the warm hide of his beast, the rhythmic rising and falling of its flanks lulling him to sleep. Before he succumbed, he made certain to lay his pistols, cocked and charged within easy reach. His carbine lay across his legs.
As the last ember of his fire died away, he thought of the old geezer’s warning about the comrades of the men he’d killed on the road to Yttrium. He wondered if they’d feel enough loyalty to risk pursuing him out into these hostile lands. The First Born and his two vile companions did not seem the sort of men to inspire that brand of fidelity. Then again, one never knew what drove such low men. Come morning he vowed to pay closer attention to his back trail as he made his way east.
The habits of banths he could predict with some accuracy. But with men, all bets were off, all probabilities possible.
Special Note: GUNS OF MARS is now available in a hardcover edition. It is available at Amazon and at NDM Express.
