THE VALLEY OF THE MASTERS
By CHARLES MINOR BLACKFORD
His sin was curiosity—his crime was
witchcraft—but Henry's real offense
against his strange world was that it
was dying—and he wanted it to live!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, September 1961.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Henry stopped and squatted in the underbrush, well hidden from thepath but close enough to see the coming group. Within a minute theybecame visible. There were twenty-five to thirty boys, girls and youthswalking slowly in ragged groups, talking and laughing. The youngestwere ahead, a group just entering their teens, dressed like the restin jackets and shorts, with sandals of plast on their feet. The dark,synthetic cloth made them a uniformed body.
Henry's nose wrinkled in distaste. Again his hideaway would be invadedand he would have to move on. But where to?
They were opposite him now, a bare twenty feet away. Most of themlooked as alike as brothers and sisters, logically enough; there wasnot one who wasn't a cousin in some degree to the others. Plump,round-faced and dull-eyed, they lived from cradle to grave accordingto custom. It was the custom, when they were old enough to feel theurge, to join a group like this. Together they tramped the valley fromspring to fall, gathering fruit and nuts as they came in season. When acouple felt like settling down they awaited a vacant Mastership—a plotof orchard and the house that went with it—and moved in. They tookover the responsibilities of the place and bred or adopted the threechildren necessary to hold it. They remained there until they becameElders. Then they moved into Town, where they worked in the factories,idled and gossiped until death overtook them.
They were ignorant, superstitious, living out their dull routine asgenerations before them had. Only a few questioned it. Almost none madeany active challenge.
The youngsters sighted the tavern and made for it at a dead run,wanting to claim favorable bunks before the others arrived.
Henry was impatient. Ants were crawling over his foot, but it wouldnever do for him to be seen, especially in the woods. One didn't gointo them. They were inhabited by goblins, ghosts and fearsome animals.
Finally they were past. He straightened, started to step into the path,then squatted again quickly. Coming alone, behind the others, was thegirl.
Her slimness and pale hair made her stand out from the rest. Histhoughts had been upon her since that day when his group passed thehouse of her father, an avocado Master, down in the lower valley. Shehad called to them to wait, had run inside to come back with her twopouches, one for her personal belongings, the other for food. Livingon a fruit diet as they did, they ate most of their awakened hours.
"I'm Theta!" she called out happily as she joined them. "Mama says I'mold enough to go with you." She recognized a cousin and ran over tojoin her, her hair a spot of brightness among the dark. He wanted herfrom that moment, but she was far too young. He would have to wait.
Coming towards Theta from the opposite direction was the slap of flatfeet.
In a moment Henry recognized Ole. He was considerably older than theothers; his only object in life was enjoying all the young girls whojoined the group. He was a bulky dullard and a bully, his eyes smalland mean.
It was evident that he was looking for