The Asutra

by Jack Vance

Far to the south of the swampy middle region and beyond the ken of most of the people of Shant, lay Caraz, the wild continent, peopled by exiles, nomads and slave traders. It was from this southern wilderness that disturbing rumours began to filter north. Men said that the Rogushkoi had returned to Durdane, that magic airships landed in the night to spirit men away and that other ships came to engage them in fierce battles. Etwane feared that behind these strange rumours lay the dread presence of the Asutra, a race of parasites who combined their hosts' strength with their own advanced interplanetary intelligence. Unless they were stopped, Durdane would be turned into a vast fishpond for the enslavers. Etwane had already delivered his world from slavey. But could he alone save Durdane from the terrible threat of the Asutra?