Guns of Mars 80
A Martian action-adventure by The Legend Chuck Dixon
CHAPTER 24.3
The next morning he ran a line of braided hide through the handles of the two of the amphorae. A full waterskin over his shoulder, he dragged the containers behind him into the sunlight. He trudged in the direction of the mountain pass to the west. When he’d walked until what he judged to be mid-afternoon he’d reached the top of the long slope. He rested for a moment, taking sips from his skin and scanning the land below.
A lazy circle of kite-like shapes whirled in the burning sky. He unsnapped his telescopticon and fixed it on a funnel of black carrion eaters swirling above some prey out of sight beyond a ridgeline. They were ugly creatures, leather-winged reptiles with long, fanged snouts, skulls covered with fine black scales for plunging their heads deep into dead flesh. He idly watched a pair wheeling about with a ropey length of innards or sinew clamped in their beaks. They clawed and beat against one another until one released his end. The other, triumphant, gulped down its meal as it banked away.
It was the remains of his thoat that they were probably feasting on, he reasoned. It had probably been visited by banths and other scavengers until there was only enough left for the worms and the birds.
He stood then and, using his hands, dug a shallow hole in the sand. Into this he placed the two amphorae. He covered them over and marked the spot with stones arranged in a rough cross shape. This would be the first stop on his way back to Yttrium over the badlands.
The bounty man shouldered the skin and returned the way he’d come at a steady trot. He would reach the refuge in plenty of time to fortify his sleeping chamber before the nightly march of the fascii.
The next day, he returned to the same spot with another amphora. He traveled what he thought was a good day’s progress past the cross of stones. It brought him past the remains of his dead thoat to the opening of the mountain pass. Here he buried the amphora as he had done the day before. He camped that night on a ledge of rock overlooking his freshly dug and marked cache.
He would, by stages, create watering stations that would allow him to cross the wastes to the northern range. There would be enough water in the buried amphorae at each station to water a pair of thoats he’d purchase in Yttrium. With these he would return and load them with tanks of water for sale in the city. Along the way he would replenish his caches to allow him to increase his pack train and thereby the amount of water he’d be able to carry for sale.
He fell into a sound sleep, dreaming dreams of water and gold.
He awakened to something prodding him in the chest. His eyes opened to a shadow over him blotting out the moonlight. A broad grinning face loomed toward him, a sneer twisting the flesh about its tusks.
“We’ve come a long way, little man,” Kal Keddaq said. “And now I go on alone.”
Special Note: GUNS OF MARS is now available in a hardcover edition. It is available at Amazon and at NDM Express.
