Free The Golden Enemy by Alexander Key Page B

everyone? Tell me—Why?”
    The great head tilted slightly as the cold eyes studied him. For long seconds it seemed that the beast would disdainfully refuse to answer. It came as a shock when the bear did speak. It was more thought than sound, and in it was a deadliness that struck him with stunning force.
    â€œYou are called Boy Jaim?”
    â€œY-yes. How did you know?”
    â€œI know. I am the last of my kind, and I am burdened with more than I want to know. So little of it is good. You belong to a hateful race, Boy Jaim. That is reason enough for seeing the end of you.”
    Shaken, Boy Jaim could only stare down at the creature, his mouth working without sound. The sun was gone now, and the bear was beginning to fade into the shadows. Suddenly he found his voice and begged, “Don’t go—please! I—I’ve got to talk to you.”
    â€œThere’s nothing more to say, Boy Jaim.”
    â€œBut—but there is! I—I’ve been looking for you. I came in friendship—”
    â€œYour friendship means nothing to me.”
    â€œIt should. They wanted me to kill you—but I told them I wouldn’t. And I won’t. I came here without weapons. But others are hunting you, and if they find you, you’ll die.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œThen why don’t you go and leave us alone? You started all this. You turned everything against us, and you even killed goats—”
    â€œYour archers are killing goats now, and for far less reason than I.”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œThey are, Boy Jaim. Does that explain anything to you?”
    â€œIf they’re killing goats,” he cried, “it’s because you drove them to it! You’ve upset everything! Your hating us doesn’t make sense—you’ve got the wrong idea about us—”
    â€œYou have the wrong idea about yourself, Boy Jaim. Are you so stupid that you would expect the serpent’s brood to be other than serpents?”
    â€œHuh?” He stared downward. “I don’t understand. W-what are you talking about?”
    There was no answer. A wind had sprung up, whipping the leaves below him. In the gathering gloom he could no longer make out the creature.
    In sudden fear he cried, “Wait—please! What’s going to happen? Tell me— What’s going to happen? ”
    A cold blast of wind and rain drowned his voice and sent the sled flying over the treetops.
    While L’Mara struggled to keep the sled under control, he managed to draw the fabric top over the cabin and make it secure against the rain. Then he sank into his seat, feeling sick and defeated.
    Not once had he been able to penetrate the curtain that hid the Golden One’s thoughts. All he’d learned was the terrible force behind that curtain.
    What was going to happen?

T he youngest herder unrolled a cape and drew it around him, for the night had clouded over and he could hear the rush of wind in the distance. His star was no longer visible, but the imagined planet was strong in his mind, and again it filled him with wondering.
    He tried to tell himself that vicious creatures had no rights whatever, and that it was man’s right to do as he chose about them, just because he was man. After all, wasn’t that the way it had always been?
    But the idea suddenly troubled him. There was something wrong about it. What if beasts everywhere really did have rights? …
    And was it possible that man wasn’t all that he pictured himself to be? …

6
    RAIN
    I t was black dark and raining furiously before they had been traveling ten minutes. Boy Jaim had expected an early dark, but nothing as swift and intense as the blackness that suddenly clamped down upon them. He turned on the searchlight for L’Mara, but it was practically useless. They could not see the threshing tree-tops below them nor the steep hills on all sides into which they could easily crash.
    L’Mara