STORM'S ENDING
Shann had no answer from the transport, only the of a still open the and the miles above Warlock. The Terran slowly, deeply, the of the Throg bite his as his expanded. Then, as if a knife slashed, the of that was gone. He had time to know a small of triumph. He had done it; he had in the transport.
When the Throg officer to the the landing beam, Shann's grew. The beetle-head must have that cut in as normal; he was still the Terran ship to into his claws.
But Shann's was to be very short, only by a breaths. The Throg at the was the indicators. Now he reported to his superior, who to the prisoner. Although Shann read no on the beetle's face, he did not need any to the other's emotions. Knowing that his had somehow him, the would now to put into the he had threatened.
How long the would planet? That was used to alarms, and their speed was three or four times than that of the transports. If the Throgs didn't now, they be in one attack....
The wire rope which Shann to the chair was loosened, and he set his teeth against the pain of circulation, This was nothing to what he faced; he that. They him to his feet, him toward the door, and him through it with a speed and of their feelings.
The hour was close to and Shann at promising shadows, though he had up of by now. If he just free of his guards, he at least give the beetle-heads a good run.
He saw that the was deserted. There was no about the that any Throgs there. In fact, Shann saw no at all those who had come from the with him. Of course! The must be in ambush, waiting for the transport to planet. What about the Throg ship or ships? Those must have been also. And the only place for them would be aloft. There was a that the Throgs had so away their for any quick retreat.
Yes; the over the and so the blast from the cruiser. But they would themselves to be by landing parties who would the territory. The so their for a hours, maybe a days, but they were ended on that moment when the transport cut communication. Shann was sure that the officer, at least, that.
The Terran was away from the toward the river which he and Thorvald had once escaped. Moving through the in lines, he of other Throg squads, well armed, in order to that they were not yet alarmed. However, he had been right about the ships—there were no on the field.
Shann himself as much of a as he could. At the best, he so the with his safekeeping; at the worst, he earn for himself a quick by which would be than the one they had for him. He limp, into the grass. There was an from the Throg who had been him, and the Terran not to from a delivered by a foot.
Feigning unconsciousness, the Terran to the by Throgs over him. His now on how the officer's anger. If the beetle-head wanted to out his threats, he would have to order Shann's by the force. Otherwise his life might well end here and now.
Claws once more on Shann. He was up on the of a guard, the on his arms taken off and his hands forward, to be by his so that he helpless, a over the other's shoulders.
The of and plants in the gave a limited light to the scene. There was no way of the number of Throgs on the move. But Shann was sure that all the enemy ships must have been for crews, and others had been in from their in Circe's system.
He only see a little from his position on the Throg's back, but ahead a of over the bank of the river cut. The were their way into cover, into the with a skill which a long in such maneuvers. Did they plan to try to off a attack? That was pure madness. Or, Shann wondered, did they to have the Terrans met by one of their own major ships well above the surface of Warlock?
His away from the cut, Shann out into that which had the Terrans as a landing strip, then offered the same service to the Throgs. They passed two more parties of on the move, with them objects the Terran not identify. Then he was to the hard earth, only to there a he was over on a which against his shoulders, his and being fast so that his was spread-eagled. There was a of orders; the was and with a movement into a base, and he was erect, once more the Throg with the translator. This was it! Shann to every small he had had to end more cleanly. If he had one of the guards, with his hands bound, he might have the Throg into fire.
Fear a about him than the green of the illusion. Only this was no illusion. Shann at the Throg officer with eyes, that no one that a last will at him, that he had to a which had no existence.
"Lantee!"
The call in his with a painful force. His attention was on the with the translator, but that had him a shock.
"Here! Thorvald? Where?"
The other in again with an urgent through Shann's brain.
"Give us a point—away from but not too far. Quick!"
A point—what did the Survey officer mean? A point.... For some Shann of the on which he had to watch the Throg attack. And the picture of it was on his mind as as memory paint it.
"Thorvald——" Again his voice and his mind call were of each other. But this time he had no answer. Had that meant Thorvald and the Wyverns were moving in, to use the distance-erasing power the of Warlock use by desire? But why had they not come sooner? And what they to against the now but enemy forces? The Wyverns had not been able to turn their power against one Throg—by their own accounting—how they possibly with well-armed and in the field?
"You die—slow——" The Throg officer clicked, and the emotionless, was all the more for that of color. "Your people come—see——"
So that was the they had him to the landing field. He was to a to the of the cruiser. However, there the Throgs were making a mistake if they that his death by any method off Terran retaliation.
"I die—you follow——" Shann to make that promise emphatic.
Did the Throg officer the Terran to for his life or a quick death? Again he his threat—straight into the web, it into clicks.
"Perhaps," the Throg returned. "But you die the first."
"Get to it!" Shann's voice up. He was close to the edge, and the last push toward the point had not been the Throg speech, but that message from Thorvald. If the Survey officer was going to make any move in the dusk, it would have to be soon.
Mottled dusk.... The Throgs had moved a little away from him. Shann looked them to the of the field, not he to see any from there. And when he did see a change, Shann his own was at fault.
Those of light which marked trees, bushes, and ground-hugging plants were spreading, together in pools. And from those center of glow, of out, as a many-armed of the sea might allow its to in the water which supported it. Tendrils crossed, met, and thickened. There was a river of light which spread, again a sea out onto the field. And where it touched, the wave, it did not retreat, but on. Was he actually that? Shann not be sure.
Only the light to build, now, its speed of its in bulk. Shann somehow it with the of illusion. If it was real, there was a purpose it.
There was an from the Throgs. A cracked, its spiteful, yellow into the nearest of gray. But that the blast and was not dispelled. Shann his around against the support which him. The across the from all quarters, them in.
Running at the which was their best at speed were a dozen Throgs from the river section. Their panic-stricken flight, and when one on some and down—to a of phosphorescence—he a high-pitched squeal, thin and faint, but still a note of complete, terror.
The Throgs Shann were at the fog, with precision, then raggedly, as their did nothing to cut that in about them. From that came other sounds—noises, calls, and all to him, and also to the Throgs. There were to be through the swirls; some were Throgs in flight. But others were non-Throg in outline. And the Terran was sure that at least three of those shapes, all different, had been in of one Throg, him off from that small open area still about Shann.
For the Throgs were being in from all sides—the who had come from the river, the others who had Shann there. And the action of the was pushing them into a tight knot. Would they turn on him, wanting to make sure of their they a last against in the fog? To Shann's the to have him. Even when one against the very of the on which the Terran was bound, the beetle-head did not look at this prey.
They were wildly, with in every of bolt. Then one Throg his blaster, his arms over his head, and the same high by his comrade-in-arms earlier, he ran into the where a shape materialized, closed in him, him off from his fellows.
That the others. The Throg two of his company with his blaster, but three more past him to the fog. One of the party his blaster, the stock against the officer's carapace, him to his knees, the on into the of the mist. Another himself on the ground and there, his against the earth. While a two with to fire at the which only be seen; and a third helped the officer to his feet.
The Throg against the frame, his Shann's nostrils. But he, too, paid no attention to the Terran, though his arms across Shann's. Holding of his to his head, he on, to be by a new arm of the fog.
Then, as if the of the officer had the a fresh appetite, the light in a last over the clear area about the frame. Shann its cold, slimy, on his skin. This was a of un-life.
He was weakened, of strength, so that he in his bounds, his on his breast. Warmth pressed against him, a warm wet touch on his cold skin, a of in his mind. Shann gasped, that he was no longer his with that which was the of the fog. He opened his eyes, to his head. The light had retreated, but though a Throg close to his feet, another only a beyond, there was no of the aliens.
Instead, on their to press against him in a for his attention, were the wolverines. And them, Shann to that the be true; somehow he was safe.
He spoke. And Taggi and Togi answered with whines. The was more slowly than it had come. Here and there very still on the ground.
"Lantee!"
This time the call came not into his mind but out of the air. Shann an at reply which was close to a croak.
"Over here!"
A new shape in the was moving with purpose toward him. Thorvald into the open, Shann, and to run.
"What did they——?" he began.
Shann wanted to laugh, but the which from his was very little like mirth. He until he managed to out some which sense.
"... hadn't started in on me yet. You were just in time."
Thorvald the which the man to the and to catch him as he forward. And the officer's away the last of the mist. Though he did not able to keep on his feet, Shann's mind was clear.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"The power." Thorvald was him but with attention for every cut and bruise. "The beetle-heads didn't to work on you——"
"Told you that," Shann said impatiently. "But what that and got the Throgs?"
Thorvald grimly. The light was as the retreated, but Shann see well to note that around the other's one of the Wyvern disks.
"It was a of the of illusion. You your memories under the of that; so did I. But it would that the Throgs had ones than either of us produce. You can't play the role of all over the and not store up in the a line of private and enemies. We provided the means for those, and they their own to order. Neatest rendered. It that the 'power' has a big kick—in a different way—when a Terran will to it."
"And you did?"
"I a small beginning. Also I had the full of the Elders, and a staff of Wyverns in support. In a way I helped to provide a for their concentration. Alone they can work 'magic'; with us they can spread out into new fields. Tonight we Throgs as a team—most successfully."
"But they wouldn't go after the one in the skull."
"No. Direct with a Throg mind to short-circuit them. I did the contacting; they me what I needed. We have the answer to the Throgs now—one answer." Thorvald looked over the where those so still. "We can kill Throgs. Maybe we can learn another trick—how to live with them." He returned to the present. "You did the transport?"
Shann what had in the dome. "I think when the ship that way they understood."
"We'll take it that they did, and be on the move." Thorvald helped Shann to his feet. "If a berths here shortly, I don't to be under its when it sets down."
The came. And a mop-up from the camp, up two Throgs, witlessly. But Shann only of that later. He slept, so and that when he he was dazed.
A Survey uniform—with a cadet's badges—lay across the seat his in the he had left ... how many days or before? The well enough, but he the to which he was not entitled. When he out he saw a dozen of the patrol, together with Thorvald, the again into the sky.
Taggi and Togi, leashes, out of to themselves at him in welcome. And Thorvald must have their through the blast of the ship, for he and Shann to join him.
"Where is the going?"
"To a Throg out of this system," Thorvald answered. "They it—on Witch."
"But we're on here?"
Thorvald at him oddly. "There won't be any settlement now. But we have to a post. And the has left a guard."
Embassy post. Shann that. Yes, of course, Thorvald, of his close with the Wyverns, would be left here for the present to act as officer-in-charge.
"We don't propose," the other was continuing, "to allow to any with the one we have who can us with full-time partnership to our benefit. And there mustn't be any here!"
Shann nodded. That sense. As soon as possible Warlock would the of another team, one this time to the of an and alliance, than for Terran colonists. Would they keep him on? He not; the wolverines' usefulness was no longer apparent.
"Don't you know your regulations?" There was a in Thorvald's which Shann. He up, the other him critically. "You're not in uniform——"
"No, sir," he admitted. "I couldn't my own kit."
"Where are your badges?"
Shann's hand up to the marks left when he had so off the insignia.
"My badges? I have no rank," he replied, bewildered.
"Every team at least one on strength."
Shann flushed. There had been one on this team; why did Thorvald want to that?
"Also," the other's voice remote, "there can be in the field—for cause. Those are left to the of the officer-in-charge, and they are questioned. I repeat, you are not in uniform, Lantee. You will make the necessary and report to me at dome. As of Terra here we have a of to be with our witches, and they have a right to from a pair of warlocks, so going!"
Shann still stood, at the officer. Then Thorvald's official in a which was warm and real.
"Get going," he ordered once more, "before I have to you for to orders."
Shann turned, nearly over Taggi, and then ran to the in of some very of he he in a hurry.
