Free Victims of Nimbo by Gilbert L. Morris Page B

took the scorpion in the body, and the beast uttered a wild screech. Quickly she notched another, and it struck the creature also.
    By that time she saw that the second scorpion had reached Jere. He stood tall and straight, ready to use the staff like a baseball bat. The scorpion charged at him, its terrible stinger poised.
    Jere had timed it exactly right. He struck the stinger before it struck him—and with such force that the stinger broke away from the scorpion’s tail.
    Again there was a wild screech, and for a time the beast repeatedly tried to bite Jere with its serpentlike head.
    The scorpion lunged, but Jere fended it off. Finally he struck it a mighty blow to the head. There was a crunching, and the beast fell to the ground with all six legs kicking.
    “You’ve got him, Prince! Wonderful!”
    Jere turned toward her, his chest heaving. “I never would have thought I could do that,” he gasped. “And I never saw anyone shoot an arrow like you do.”
    “Who are you?”
    Both turned to the young woman they had rescued. She had large, dark eyes, and they were open wide.
    “My name is Prince Jere of the Cloud People. What is your name?”
    “I am Lomeen. And I thank you both for what you did.”
    “Are you perhaps one of the Earth Dwellers?” Sarah asked.
    “Yes. My father is Maroni, the chief.”
    Sarah’s heart leaped.
What a break!
she thought.
To save the daughter of the chief. That ought to help.
    She said quickly, “My name is Sarah. I am one of the Seven Sleepers. Have you ever heard of us?”
    Lomeen’s eyes grew even larger. “My mother used to speak of the Seven Sleepers often, but she died. Since then, we have not heard of them.”
    “We’ve come to talk to your father,” Sarah said. “Will you take us there?”
    “Of course. Come this way.”
    An hour later, Lomeen brought Sarah and the prince into the Earth Dwellers’ village. For the most part, it was made of mud huts with branches for covering. In one such structure she found the chief.
    “This is my father, Chief Maroni. Father, this young man and this young woman saved my life.” She related how the two of them had killed the scorpions, and now the chief’s eyes grew large. “No one has ever killed a scorpion singlehanded with just a staff,” he said.
    “He was
very
brave, Father,” Lomeen said.
    Maroni was thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. “We are grateful.”
    “Who are these strangers?”
A little man wearingthe teeth of animals made into a necklace stood in the doorway. He had fierce eyes, and, though he was small, everyone backed away from him immediately.
    “This is Nomus, the high priest,” the chief said.
    Sarah knew immediately that she was facing the enemy. But she looked long into the eyes of the high priest of Nimbo and did not flinch.
    “Chief,” she said, turning back to him, “we have been sent by Goél.”
    Nomus screamed.
“Goél!
We will have none of
his
people here!”
    Maroni seemed stunned. Grateful as he probably was to the young strangers, obviously he was intimidated by Nomus.
    Sarah saw that the battle would be fought on these grounds. “Chief, we come in peace, and we come to help your people.”
    Maroni gazed at her. Then, surprisingly ignoring the protests of Nomus, he said, “We will hear you. You are welcome to our village.”

9
The Priest’s Decision
    S arah walked along with Lomeen. On the other side of the chiefs daughter was Jere, accompanying them. Lomeen had offered to show them around the village of the Earth Dwellers and was pointing out what sights there were to see. In truth, there was not much. The village was not an attractive place, and there were few signs of wealth.
    “That is where my father, the chief, lives,” Lomeen said, indicating a larger house built of earth.
    Trying to think of something nice to say about the homely structure, Sarah said, “It looks very strong.”
    “Oh yes. We build our houses well. We put straw and rocks into the red mud that we