Universe Twister - Keith Laumer [79]
O'Leary struggled upright, groped for footing in the tangle of fallen greenery. This time he'd fool Goruble: about ten feet in that direction, he estimated. The snake was still there, looking him over. He ducked aside from it, crawled over a fallen tree limb and fanned at the warming insects. About here, he decided . . .
A movement caught by the corner of his eye made him whirl. A great striped feline with a bushy yellowish mane was poised in the crotch of a yard-thick tree six feet above O'Leary's head, the green eyes fixed on him like stabbing spears. The jaws parted in a roar that fluttered leaves all around. The cat drew in its hind legs, gathering itself for a leap, roared again and sprang.
O'Leary squeezed his eyes shut, muttered a quick specification, threw himself to one side as the heavy body hurtled past. He slammed into an unyielding wall as a tremendous impact sounded behind him, followed by an ear-splitting yell, a ripping of cloth.
He staggered upright. He was back inside the Traveler, just behind Adoranne's chair. The big cat recovered from its first thwarted spring, whirled toward the fleeing figure of Goruble, whose velvet doublet had been split from top to bottom in the first near-miss, revealing a monogrammed silk undershirt.
O'Leary caught an instant's glimpse of Yokabump's bignosed face in the dark passage beyond the king. Then Goruble was going down face-first as the attacking predator sailed over him, skidded to a halt, rounded to renew the assault. O'Leary grabbed for the lever Goruble had used and pulled it down as the half-lion, half-tiger bounded across Goruble, sprang for the threshold—and disappeared with a sharp whack! of displaced air.
O'Leary sagged and let out a long sigh. Yokabump waddled to the door and bent to rub his shin.
"The old boy moves pretty good," he said. "I nearly missed. He's down for the count, though."
O'Leary went to Adoranne, "I'll have you loose in a minute." He started in on the knots. Yokabump produced a large clasp knife and sawed at the heavy cord on her wrists. A moment later she rose out of the chair and threw herself into O'Leary's arms.
"Oh, Sir Lafayette . . ." He felt hot tears on the side of his neck and discovered that he was beaming broadly. He patted her silken hip in a comforting way.
"Now, now, your Highness," he soothed, "it's all over but the singing and dancing."
"Oh-oh, he's coming around." Yokabump indicated the fallen monarch, stirring and groaning on the floor.
"Better tie him up," O'Leary suggested. "He's too tricky to let wander around loose."
"By your leave, Sir Lafayette." The dwarf stepped to Goruble's side and squatted down on bowed legs.
"Ah, there, your Majesty," he said in a lugubrious tone. "Have you got any last words to say before . . . before . . ."
"What . . ." the king gasped. "Where—"
"Just lie quiet, your Majesty; it's easier that way, they say."
"Easier? Ow, my head . . ." Goruble tried to sit up. Yokabump pressed him back. "It was the best, your Majesty; he got you. Tore your insides out. Don't look. It's too horrible."
"My insides? But—but I don't feel a thing, just my head."
"A merciful provision of nature. But about those last words—better hurry."
"Then—it's all over for me?" Goruble slumped back. "Ah, the pity of it, Yokabump. And all because it was too tender hearted. If I'd done away with the infant—"
"Tender hearted?" O'Leary cut in. "You killed the king, stole his throne, lived it up for twenty-odd years, then brought in a goon to terrorize your own would-be subjects, gave him a dinosaur to assist in the job, and finally tried to do away with her Highness.