All that day and the following night, Z led his warriors at breakneck pace through the wilderness. You must slow the pace! Our warriors are falling out. Half the force is gone! The best will keep up my pace! They are the ones I want to fight alongside me in the coming battle! At dawn on the next day, Z halted on a hillcrest and looked down at the horde encamped in a valley below. We have overtaken them! And now we will destroy them! The desert warriors, convinced that they were safe from pursuit, were feasting upon the rich food and drink that they had looted. It was Trigo—the slave-Emperor with the lost memory—who raised the alarm! We are being attacked! The Trigans rode through the encampment with fire and sword.Trigo’s master tossed him a weapon. Fight for your life, slave! The accursed Trigans will not be giving any quarter this day! Brag spurred forward as he saw a tall figure swinging a long blade. The figure turned to face him . . . and he was looking into the countenance of his own brother! By all the stars! . . . Trigo! There was no answering cry of recognition. Instead Brag’s world dissolved in a sea of pain, as his sword arm was beaten down and he fell from his careering Kreed with stunning force. Aaaaaagh! Trigo vaulted astride the riderless mount . . . I’ve no part of this quarrel!—I’m getting out of here! He was nearly clear of the scene of battle, when a Trigan guardsman took aim and fired at the figure on the galloping Kreed. Soon after, the last of the desert horde were overpowered, and the fighting ceased. Z looked about him. What of the prisoners, Imperial Majesty? They are to be spared. Send them back home on foot, without their Kreeds. They will never raid Trigan territory again! Meanwhile, Janno was tending his father. Brag tried to rise, and he called out frantically. Trigo! Trigo was here! What happened to him? Calm yourself, Father . . . He’s wandering in his mind!
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 676 on 28 December 1974.
