Vault of the Ages Read Free Page A

to fight the Lann. I’m supposed to get them from the smiths in return for the usual payment—meat, salt, cloth, furs, you know.”
    A wild dog howled again, closer this time. The woods were full of such packs, descendants, it was said, of tame animals which had run loose when the Doom scattered men. They were among the most dangerous beasts these days. Arn grunted, took a brand from the fire for light, and went out with Samwell to check the sheepfold.
    Carl sat letting his mind run over what he knew of the City. He had never been there, and his being sent on this errand was a proud sign that the son of the Chief was becoming a man.
    Once there stood towns and villages even in this region of theAllegheny Mountains. They had been abandoned during the Doom or shortly thereafter and had moldered to ruin. After early smiths had plundered all the metal in them, they had been left for the wind and the forests to bury, and today their fragments, thought to be haunted, were left alone by the tribes. As the other ancient metal—from houses, rusted machines, and the mysterious old railroad tracks—was used up, men looked toward the vaster ruins of the old cities.
    But by that time, taboos had grown up. Early explorers venturing into some of the empty metropolises—those which had been wrecked and burned by the terrible fury from the air which was the Doom—had often died of lingering sickness, and many thought that the “glowing death” was the sign of godly anger. So today the ruins, like other ancient works, were forbidden to tribesmen.
    Still, metal was needed. A hundred years, or perhaps two hundred, after the Doom, little groups of outcasts had drifted into the cities and lived there. Not belonging to any of the great tribes, they had not been kept from going; but today they were shunned and feared as witch-men, in spite of being usually a timid and unwarlike folk. It was they who salvaged steel and copper from the huge ruined buildings, sometimes forging it themselves into tools and weapons, sometimes selling the metal as it was. Tribesmen were allowed to come and buy from them, providing that afterward a Doctor said magic over the things to take the curse off.
    In all this region, only one such city remained—
the
City. No one remembered its name today. It lay some distance north of the Dalesmen’s territory, screened by the hills and forests which reached farther than anyone had ever traveled. Carl had long been eager to visit it, but this was the first time Ralph had allowed him.
    He spoke again, his words seeming loud in the quietness: “I need a guide. Will anyone come with me?”
    John shook his head. “The City is a bad place.”
    “I do not think so,” said Carl. “It was a great and glorious world before the Doom smashed everything. The ancient people were wiser men than we. Why should their works be evil?”
    It was a new thought, and they sat turning it carefully over in their minds. “Taboo,” said John at last.
    “I have leave to go there,” answered Carl.
    Tom leaned forward, his eyes alight, shivering a little. “Yes—Father, I can guide him!” he said.
    “You?”
    “And I,” said Owl. “It’s a shame, our living a day’s ride from the City and never having seen it.”
    “We’ll be back in two days,” cried Tom.
    “The Lann—” muttered John.
    “You said they were nowhere near,” grinned Owl.
    “But—”
    “It is the tribe which asks you,” said Carl urgently. “All the Dalesmen need those weapons.”
    John argued for a long time, but when Carl went to bed he knew he had won.
    They were up with sunrise, Owl groaning and complaining at the earliness of it. “He’s like that,” smiled Tom. “He won’t be really awake till after breakfast.”
    Carl rubbed his eyes, yawning. “I know how he feels.”
    They went out in a cool gray mist and helped with the morning’s work. When they came back to the house, leading saddled horses, breakfast was waiting, and Carl ate as