"'Could you overcome your guard?'
"'I am hobbled and my hands are bound. He has a pike and dagger.'
"The answer flashed into Theor even as he waited."
-Poul Anderson, Three Worlds To Conquer (London, 1966), Chapter 9, p. 67.
A moment of realization! That is a good start. Then:
Mark and Theor plan;
Theor looks out of the booth;
the guard growls and jabs;
Theor exclaims and points;
the guard looks around;
Theor tosses the communicator disc;
transmission lag;
Mark wails through the disc;
the guard leaps;
the disc reflects a lightning flash;
(that thunder storm was more than pathetic fallacy);
the guard jabs at the disc with his pike;
lurching forward, Theor draws the guard's sheathed knife and stabs with it;
they fight;
the guard dies;
holding the pike between his foreknees, Theor cuts the bonds on his wrists;
with the knife, he cuts the hobbles on his legs;
taking the belt, sheath, knife, pike and communicator, he runs to the beach and takes a boat;
one of the invaders' large, black, long-necked sea beasts pursues him;
end of chapter...
Not bad. Imagine it as the "cliff hanger" ending of a cinema serial installment.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Plainly, Chalkhiz made a mistake confining Theor to the communications booth! Allowing Theor access to abilities the Ulunt-Khazul did not yet fully grasp. The warmaster should have stashed Theor in an EMPTY booth.
Sean
Sean,
Theor had the human-made communicator on a chain round his neck. Superstition may have prevented his captors from removing it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Either superstition or simply not understanding what the communicator was.
Sean
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