The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

a tree but a thin deposit of ash on seared ground.
    “They can control us with the caller as they did before. If we go up against them, then we are once more gathered into their net—before we reach their ship.”
    “That is true for you of the Horde; it does not affect the People,” Travis returned. “And suppose we burn out their machines? Then will you not be free?”
    “To burn up a tree? Lightning from the skies can do that.”
    “Can lightning,” Buck asked softly, “also make rock as sand of the river?”
    Menlik’s eyes turned to the second example of the alien weapon’s power.
    “Give us proof that this will act against their machines!”
    “What proof, Shaman?” asked Jil-Lee. “Shall we burn down a mountain that you may believe? This is now a matter of time.”
    Travis had a sudden inspiration. “You say that the ’copter is out. Suppose we use that as a target?”
    “That—that can sweep the flyer from the sky?” Menlik’s disbelief was open.
    Travis wondered if he had gone too far. But they needed to rid themselves of that spying flyer before they dared to move out into the plain. And to use the destruction of the helicopter as an example, would be the best proof he could give of the invincibility of the new Apache arms.
    “Under the right conditions,” he replied stoutly, “yes.”
    “And those conditions?” Menlik demanded.
    “That it must be brought within range. Say, below the level of a neighboring peak where a man may lie in wait to fire.”
    Silent Apaches faced silent Mongols, and Travis had a chance to taste what might be defeat. But the helicopter must be taken before they advanced toward the ship and the settlement.
    “And, maker of traps, how do you intend to bait this one?” Menlik’s question was an open challenge.
    “You know these Reds better than we,” Travis counterattacked. “How would you bait it, Son of the Blue Wolf?”
    “You say Kaydessa is leading the Reds south; we have but your word for that,” Menlik replied. “Though how it would profit you to lie on such a matter—” He shrugged. “If you do speak the truth, then the ’copter will circle about the foothills where they entered.”
    “And what would bring the pilot nosing farther in?” the Apache asked.
    Menlik shrugged again. “Any manner of things. The Reds have never ventured too far south; they are suspicious of the heights—with good cause.” His fingers, near the hilt of his tulwar, twitched. “Anything which might suggest that their party is in difficulty would bring them in for a closer look—”
    “Say a fire, with much smoke?” Jil-Lee suggested.
    Menlik spoke over his shoulder to his own party. There was a babble of answer, two or three of the men raising their voices above those of their companions.
    “If set in the right direction, yes,” the shaman conceded. “When do you plan to move, Apaches?”
    “At once!”
    But they did not have wings, and the cross-country march they had to make was a rough journey on foot. Travis’ “at once” stretched into night hours filled with scrambling over rocks, and an early morning of preparations, with always the threat that the helicopter might not return to fly its circling mission over the scene of operations. All they had was Menlik’s assurance that while any party of the Red overlords was away from their well-defended base, the flyer did just that.
    “Might be relaying messages on from a walkie-talkie or something like that,” Buck commented.
    “They should reach our ship in two days…three at the most…if they are pushing,” Travis said thoughtfully. “It would be a help—if that flyer is a link in any com unit—to destroy it before its crew picks up and relays any report of what happens back there.”
    Jil-Lee grunted. He was surveying the heights above the pocket in which Menlik and two of the Mongols were piling brush. “There…there…and there.…” The Apache’s chin made three juts. “If the pilot swoops for a quick look, our cross fire will take out his blades.”
    They held a last conference with Menlik and then climbed to the perches Jil-Lee had selected. Sentries on lookout reported by mirror flash that Tsoay, Deklay, Lupe, and Nolan were now on the move to join the other three Apaches. If and when Manulito’s trap closed its jaws on the Reds at the western ship, the news would pass and the Apaches would move out to storm the enemy fort on the prairie. And should they blast any caller the