Warlock

those in the submarine when we found it; we threw them out. We speculate that foul play was involved. In those days, we believe, there were as many petty intrigues within the dying human culture as there were battles in the exterior war, the confrontation with the aliens. Guild against guild, race against race, age against age, religious group turned upon religious group. Something of that nature led to the nefarious plots here beneath the city-with the result that neither group of plotters lived to escape.”
        
        Richter turned to Shaker Sandow and his sons. “Your purposes were not the same as mine, sorcerer. You have had your mind settled: the main piece of knowledge has been delivered to you. You will be happy here with this treasurehouse of ancient wisdom. I will not hold it against you if you do not accompany us this last way. There really is no need.”
        
        “Oh, but there is!” Sandow said. “There is a need! It is not your need, nor the need of the Darklands, but my own desire. I have never sailed in a submarine, though I have long been fascinated with them. Aircraft fly like birds, but that does not excite me like this. True, fish have been swimming beneath the surface of the seas ever since man has known water. But this goes faster than the fish. And deeper than most all of them. In this, there will be much to see. In an airplane, there is only air to survey. I don't intend to turn my back upon the most fascinating wonder yet!”
        
        “But can we learn to operate it?” Growler asked.
        
        “Sleep-teach tapes will show you the way. It is mostly self-controlled and needs little guidance anyway. We have prepared the minimal tapes for ourselves, but you may have first chance at the dragon.”
        
        Richter nodded. “Let's hurry, then. The Darklands is already half gobbled by the hungry mouths of Jerry Matabain.”
        

----

    27
        
        
        
        Thirty-six hours after they put out from the city, they found themselves nearing the homeland of their enemy…
        
        They had departed the subterranean vaults of the city at three on the afternoon following the defeat of the Oragonians. They had slept in shifts so that some of them would always be free to continue with launching preparations. A large quantity of hand guns and ammunition had been loaded aboard to make certain that the Darklanders had more than bows and arrows with which to repel the Oragonian armies. The dragon could, after all, only do so much from its sea-locked battlefield. As for food, the submarine contained a food generation plant which sucked fish and seaweed from the water, broke the sludge to its component molecules, sifted for basic protein and vitamins, rejected what was not required. Little cubes of compressed edibles were delivered to hungry men, highly nutritious if tasteless. This they augmented with ancient canned goods still wholesome enough for consumption, though they did not waste much time on preparing the larder; the Banibaleers were accustomed to stale bread and beef jerky and did not need a fancy table. Seven fresh water storage ballast tanks were filled, and then all was in a state of readiness at last.
        
        They bade the mutants a temporary farewell.
        
        They dipped into the water of the subterranean lake.
        
        And they were gone.
        
        It was necessary to handle all the steerage on their own cognizance, for the computerized auto-pilot that had been built into the submarine was set to guide by a map of a world that was no longer accurate. The continents were far different than once they had been. There were new seas and new rivers, and many of the old ways had been sealed shut as if they had never existed at all. The builders of the dragon had originally intended the escape route to run beneath the Cloud Range by means of a subterranean river which fed from this lake, then into the Shatoga River, from there into a fjord at the bottom of the Banibals, far south and on into the Pacific Ocean (which was now called the Salamanthe Sea). But the Cloud Range had not even existed then. And the Banibals had been smaller and less extensive. Such a route now ceased to exist. Instead, the Darklanders found a water passage from the lake to the Great Inland Sea where the Salamanthe Islanders had once or twice ventured a short distance along the coast. From there, they passed