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A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance
Chapter Thirteen: The Angry Dance
Both fleets opened fire, but not upon each other. They bombarded the swarming
green men. Several shots flew wide of their marks, exploding not far from
where
Shis-Inday and I stood.
It occurred to me that so great an armada could not have been assembled merely
to wage war against the green men.
No, it must be that the fleets had come unexpectedly upon the savages. Before
moving on to whatever their real purpose might be, they had decided to
decimate the hordes. The huge Thark and Warhoon rifles turned from each other
and focused upon the common foe -- not without effect. More than one ship's
red captain plunged from the bow of his command as it hung, burning, in the
sky.
Shis-Inday and I retraced our way to Gooli, the thunderous belch of rifle and
canon echoing all about the sea bottom. Bal Zak, Moros Tar and the Jeddak's
Guard had heard the explosions. When we reached the village, they gathered to
hear my report.
"Perhaps the green men will gain us time," said Moros Tar. "A diversion, until
our forces arrive."
"Unlikely allies," commented a Guard. "But they should keep the enemy fleets
busy for a while."
"They're after our treasure," said one of the lunatics, as somberly as he'd
once measured the circumference of my head.
"Treasure?" said Moros Tar, raising an eyebrow in a way that suggested he
thought it possible, however doubtful.
"I think not," I commented, telling him of the chest of sea shells the Goolis
had shown me earlier in the day. Then, so as not to offend our hosts, I added,
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/Long_Jeff__A_Princess_of_Jasoom/A_Princ
ess_of_Jasoom/13.html (1 of 10)20-1-2007 17:31:09
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance
"Your treasure is too large for a foe to easily carry away."
"That is true," the lunatic noted. He wandered off to huddle with others of
his kind.
Shis-Inday, I noticed, had left our group to enter the forest. I called for
her to return, but she waved me off as if upon some errand that could not
wait.
Shrugging, I continued to discuss plans with the others -- keeping an eye on
the spot where the girl had gone into the underbrush. She returned some time
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
later, burdened with stout poles that had been carved from trees, as well as
various other items. A band of the Gooli lunatics followed her. Whooping and
shouting, they dragged several dead banths behind them.
Shis-Inday set about skinning a banth, while the lunatics leaped and shouted
all around her. My curiosity at its breaking point, I went over to see what
she was doing.
"The female is a great hunter!" cried the lunatic who had once planned to
behead me.
"A mighty fighter!" yelled another, unable to contain his excitement over
Shis-
Inday's accomplishment.
Shis-Inday motioned for the lunatics to gather 'round, including me and the
others of our party in the gesture.
"We need weapons, if we are to survive this battle," she said, drawing forth a
length of banth-gut "Rocks and branches alone will not help you, if the Green
Ones attack."
***
She called it "The Angry Dance."
Four warriors, Shis-Inday among them, approached a great fire from the east
-- an important Direction, one with Power, according to the Be-don-ko-he
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/Long_Jeff__A_Princess_of_Jasoom/A_Princ
ess_of_Jasoom/13.html (2 of 10)20-1-2007 17:31:09
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance princess.
She chanted:
"I am calling upon Sky and Earth.
"Bats will fly, and turn upside down with me in battle.
"Black Sky will enfold my body and give me protection, "And Earth will do this
also."
Shis-Inday was painted in the most auspicious manner. Many of the lunatics
were similarly stained. Splashes of white speckled their faces, with a single
stripe of red clay across the bridge of the nose.
I allowed the sacred symbols to adorn my face, though Moros Tar, Bal Zak and
the Jeddak's Guard would not. Soon, however, my fellow red men had become
intoxicated by the revelry led by my savage princess. A brew she called tizwin
helped intoxicate them, too.
"Right here in the middle of this place
"I am becoming Mirage.
"Let them not see me, "For I am of the Sun."
From the decorated pouch that Shis-Inday wore at her hip, she flung bits of
pollen into the air and into the fire, chanting in her native, alluring
tongue.
Black feathers from some unknown species of bird that inhabited the Great
Marsh hung from her leather loincloth.
Amulets -- tzi-daltai, she called them -- decorated her limbs. They were made
from the treasure shells of Gooli. Shis-Inday said they contained much Power.
For each of us, she'd also made an izze-kloth, or medicine cord: a loosely
braided sash of two banth-hide strands, twisted about each other. We wore them
draped across our bodies, from right shoulder to left side.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/Long_Jeff__A_Princess_of_Jasoom/A_Princ
ess_of_Jasoom/13.html (3 of 10)20-1-2007 17:31:09
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance
"Be good, O, winds," she prayed. "Be good, O, ittindi! Make strong the
medicine of Shis-Inday, that it may protect her and these warriors from their
enemies!"
The weapons seemed primitive, yet effective. Bows were strung with banth-
gut; arrows were tipped with carefully sharpened stones. Not since the
Page 47
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
legendary Bowmen of Lothar had such weapons been used in Barsoomian combat.
Lances, stone knives, war clubs and slings completed the accouterments with
which Shis-Inday fitted the lunatics.
I, of course, retained my long- and short-swords -- the weapons with which I
had always been most proficient. Bal Zak packed a monstrous radium pistol,
which he'd found in the disabled flier's cabin.
It was a night of sweaty, barbaric dancing beneath the watchful eyes of Klego-
na-ay's crazy cousins. I should have felt exhaustion when red streaked the
morning sky; but it was with exhilaration that I greeted the dawn. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance
Chapter Thirteen: The Angry Dance
Both fleets opened fire, but not upon each other. They bombarded the swarming
green men. Several shots flew wide of their marks, exploding not far from
where
Shis-Inday and I stood.
It occurred to me that so great an armada could not have been assembled merely
to wage war against the green men.
No, it must be that the fleets had come unexpectedly upon the savages. Before
moving on to whatever their real purpose might be, they had decided to
decimate the hordes. The huge Thark and Warhoon rifles turned from each other
and focused upon the common foe -- not without effect. More than one ship's
red captain plunged from the bow of his command as it hung, burning, in the
sky.
Shis-Inday and I retraced our way to Gooli, the thunderous belch of rifle and
canon echoing all about the sea bottom. Bal Zak, Moros Tar and the Jeddak's
Guard had heard the explosions. When we reached the village, they gathered to
hear my report.
"Perhaps the green men will gain us time," said Moros Tar. "A diversion, until
our forces arrive."
"Unlikely allies," commented a Guard. "But they should keep the enemy fleets
busy for a while."
"They're after our treasure," said one of the lunatics, as somberly as he'd
once measured the circumference of my head.
"Treasure?" said Moros Tar, raising an eyebrow in a way that suggested he
thought it possible, however doubtful.
"I think not," I commented, telling him of the chest of sea shells the Goolis
had shown me earlier in the day. Then, so as not to offend our hosts, I added,
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/Long_Jeff__A_Princess_of_Jasoom/A_Princ
ess_of_Jasoom/13.html (1 of 10)20-1-2007 17:31:09
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance
"Your treasure is too large for a foe to easily carry away."
"That is true," the lunatic noted. He wandered off to huddle with others of
his kind.
Shis-Inday, I noticed, had left our group to enter the forest. I called for
her to return, but she waved me off as if upon some errand that could not
wait.
Shrugging, I continued to discuss plans with the others -- keeping an eye on
the spot where the girl had gone into the underbrush. She returned some time
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
later, burdened with stout poles that had been carved from trees, as well as
various other items. A band of the Gooli lunatics followed her. Whooping and
shouting, they dragged several dead banths behind them.
Shis-Inday set about skinning a banth, while the lunatics leaped and shouted
all around her. My curiosity at its breaking point, I went over to see what
she was doing.
"The female is a great hunter!" cried the lunatic who had once planned to
behead me.
"A mighty fighter!" yelled another, unable to contain his excitement over
Shis-
Inday's accomplishment.
Shis-Inday motioned for the lunatics to gather 'round, including me and the
others of our party in the gesture.
"We need weapons, if we are to survive this battle," she said, drawing forth a
length of banth-gut "Rocks and branches alone will not help you, if the Green
Ones attack."
***
She called it "The Angry Dance."
Four warriors, Shis-Inday among them, approached a great fire from the east
-- an important Direction, one with Power, according to the Be-don-ko-he
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/Long_Jeff__A_Princess_of_Jasoom/A_Princ
ess_of_Jasoom/13.html (2 of 10)20-1-2007 17:31:09
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance princess.
She chanted:
"I am calling upon Sky and Earth.
"Bats will fly, and turn upside down with me in battle.
"Black Sky will enfold my body and give me protection, "And Earth will do this
also."
Shis-Inday was painted in the most auspicious manner. Many of the lunatics
were similarly stained. Splashes of white speckled their faces, with a single
stripe of red clay across the bridge of the nose.
I allowed the sacred symbols to adorn my face, though Moros Tar, Bal Zak and
the Jeddak's Guard would not. Soon, however, my fellow red men had become
intoxicated by the revelry led by my savage princess. A brew she called tizwin
helped intoxicate them, too.
"Right here in the middle of this place
"I am becoming Mirage.
"Let them not see me, "For I am of the Sun."
From the decorated pouch that Shis-Inday wore at her hip, she flung bits of
pollen into the air and into the fire, chanting in her native, alluring
tongue.
Black feathers from some unknown species of bird that inhabited the Great
Marsh hung from her leather loincloth.
Amulets -- tzi-daltai, she called them -- decorated her limbs. They were made
from the treasure shells of Gooli. Shis-Inday said they contained much Power.
For each of us, she'd also made an izze-kloth, or medicine cord: a loosely
braided sash of two banth-hide strands, twisted about each other. We wore them
draped across our bodies, from right shoulder to left side.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/Long_Jeff__A_Princess_of_Jasoom/A_Princ
ess_of_Jasoom/13.html (3 of 10)20-1-2007 17:31:09
A Princess of Jasoom: The Angry Dance
"Be good, O, winds," she prayed. "Be good, O, ittindi! Make strong the
medicine of Shis-Inday, that it may protect her and these warriors from their
enemies!"
The weapons seemed primitive, yet effective. Bows were strung with banth-
gut; arrows were tipped with carefully sharpened stones. Not since the
Page 47
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
legendary Bowmen of Lothar had such weapons been used in Barsoomian combat.
Lances, stone knives, war clubs and slings completed the accouterments with
which Shis-Inday fitted the lunatics.
I, of course, retained my long- and short-swords -- the weapons with which I
had always been most proficient. Bal Zak packed a monstrous radium pistol,
which he'd found in the disabled flier's cabin.
It was a night of sweaty, barbaric dancing beneath the watchful eyes of Klego-
na-ay's crazy cousins. I should have felt exhaustion when red streaked the
morning sky; but it was with exhilaration that I greeted the dawn. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]