“The ships must have come,” said Bo, explaining that they were to be met here by a Kosar fleet and then venture on to their destination by crossing the Korsar Az, as the sea was called. Searching the sea, Zartan could not even find specks on the horizon that might have been their crew; though there would have been no way to catch up, anyway, he was discouraged. He had traveled through the eternal gloom only to be nearly eaten and then deserted. Now there was no way forward and, for that matter, no way back. The sleds and dogs had also departed.
“Never mind,” said Bo. “If we venture through those trees we’ll find the city of Kosar, where my people have settled. We can hire a boat and then follow our comrades. We should catch up, too, since we won’t be laden with armaments as they are.”
He bounded off to the trees, and Zartan hastened to keep up, Bob fluttering and squawking his usual warnings.
Something in Bo’s tone had led Zartan to believe they didn’t have far to go, but after they’d walked until they dropped from exhaustion, slept in the hollows of trees to protect themselves from the beasts of the jungle (encountering only a savage sloth, which Zartan himself was able to dispatch), and walked for another endless day he began to wonder if they were close. Bo had fallen quiet, soldiering ruthlessly through the jungle and sharing only the briefest facts—that such a fruit, though enticing, was dangerous; or that the way to keep one’s direction was to find the ellipse of a shadow behind the sun, which was the world’s only moon. Bob had also tired even of complaining, and either flew overhead or settled on Zartan’s shoulder.
“Are we close?” Zartan finally asked, feeling like a petulant child. Bo stopped and shrugged.
“I only know the port city is north of us, but not how far,” he admitted. “These are unexplored jungles.”
The fierce life of Pellucidar had kept the human populations to a few small, savage tribes, so most of the world was unsettled. Though the inner world was necessarily smaller than the outer world, the seas and land were the inverse of those on the outer world, so the territories of land approximated those of earth. Zartan wondered at that, and for the first time realized the riches that they might hold, in addition to the terrors.
“There could be gold in those mountains,” he said. “There could be metals we’ve never known, and which surpass them all for strength and beauty.”
“There’s hardly a soul who’s been into those mountains and returned,” Bo admitted. “Though there are Kosar legends…” he stopped, regarding not the hills to their left, but something to the right.
“Draw your weapon,” he said. “I think I saw a Mahar.” He drew his own cutlass and scanned the trees.
Zartan did so, and noted that Bob was safe. He waved at the parrot to go high into the branches of a nearby tree to avoid whatever battle they faced.