The Hunter Read online

  “You might want to know what I learned, before you die,” he said smugly, a strange light glowing from what little could be seen of his eyes. “The karks were wrong about the gods. I have seen them myself. I have found where Mother Moon goes at night. I have found her earthly lair. I have looked on the face of the gods.

  “I will return to the tribe. I will bring the box and save Auslic’s life. I will be made chief. You will die. You and the kark and this one too for she is dirty. She has lain with you without the blessing of the priests. She is filth just like you. And the priests will honor me for I have done their bidding.” And then, before they could stop him, Carn threw all of his weight behind the lever and it moved from top to bottom. The thing was done.

  A tremendous rumbling filled the room, louder, far louder than anything they had heard before. The floor and walls and ceiling began to shake and the room was filled with hot droplets of steam. The earth quivered and tossed beneath them and Keri screamed and fell to the ground. Carn began to laugh, clutching the white box to his chest. “I’ve done it, I’ve done it!” he cried insanely and staggered across the room toward them, raising the stunner. Beast began to howl.

  “But what has he done, that is the question,” yelled Batta Flor as he moved backward. Suddenly he switched his light beam off, and realizing what it was that he was trying to do, Braldt quickly did the same. Carn screamed with rage and fired the stunner where they had stood, but both of his targets had moved and the stunner struck nothing but the ground.

  The shaking had grown more violent and the noise was all but unbearable. Braldt found Batta Flor and they were crouched together in a huddle with Beast between them when suddenly the room was flooded with a brilliant icy blue light. Blinking their eyes against the glare, they looked up.

  Braldt blinked again and his heart was nearly stilled with a tremendous shock for there before him was a man, no two, no three men who were as much like his image as only a reflection could be. Their hair was white-blond like his, their eyes, the color of a cold mountain lake, their build, tall and slender yet well developed. He could only look at them and wonder if he had gone mad, there was no other explanation. They were dressed in clothing such as he had never seen before, fabric unlike any the Duroni women knew how to weave, a deep rich blue with a gold and crimson design worked on the breast and tall black boots rising nearly to their knees.

  “Protect us from the folly of fools!” cursed one of the men as they looked around them at the disaster of the room. “Listen to that, you know what they’ve done, don’t you!”

  “The river, it’s pouring into the core. By all the stars, we’re done for, we’ve got to get out of here before the whole thing goes up!”

  Braldt was still frozen with the shock of what he was seeing. Some part of his mind registered the fact that Keri was on her knees, now on her feet, her hand reaching for the lever. Carn was staggering toward the men, pointing at Keri, gibbering, falling, and then rising again.

  One of them noticed him and, turning, saw what Keri was about to do. He swore aloud and raised a weapon similar to the one that Carn held and pointed it at Keri.

  “No!” screamed Braldt as he hurled himself at the man who could have been his brother. He heard Beast attack another of the men and Batta Flor, screaming out his hatred, tackled the third.

  Braldt heard the metallic protest of the lever as it was raised and then just as the room vanished in a hideous rumbling of rock and steam he was seized by an invisible whirling, swirling whirlpool that seemed to suck him away down a long, dark tunnel that went on forever and ever and ever out of his world and time and away and gone.

  BRALDT THE HUNTER

  He is Braldt the Hunter, warrior lord and protector of his Ice Age tribe, trained to stalk evil predators that threaten his people. On this savage world, his legendary victories are unmatched. And his unparalleled prowess has made him destined to become chieftain and bearer of the sacred arms— until a search for magical healing crystals begins a deadly odyssey.

  Then, in a fateful moment of trickery and betrayal, Braldt is sold into slavery—and banished to the hi-tech deathtrap known as Arena. Here Braldt’s skills as a hunter are pushed to their limit against creatures from other worlds. But as his next opponent is ready to challenge him in this lethal tournament, Braldt’s thoughts are consumed with escape. First, though, he must stay alive—and cling desperately to the one glimmer of hope he has left…