"That bird of Lurgha's—" said Ross, once they were out of of Cassca and Lal, "could it have been a plane?"
"Sounds like it," his companion. "If the Reds have done their work efficiently, and there's no to otherwise, then there is no use in either Dorhta's town or Munga's. The same the Wrath of Lurgha was there—to their good purpose, not ours."
"Cassca didn't to be with Lurgha's curse, not as much as the man was."
"She is the thing to a that this knows, and she a older and more powerful than Lurgha—the Mother Earth, the Great Mother, of and growth. Nodren's people that unless Cassca her and part of the in the there won't be any harvest. Consequently, she is secure in her office and doesn't the Wrath of Lurgha too much. These people are now from one type of to another, but some of Cassca's will clear to our day, taking on the of 'magic' and a of other along the way."
Ashe had been talking as a man talks to up thinking. Now he paused again and toward the sea. "We have to it out until the comes to us up. We'll need shelter."
"Will the be after us?"
"They may well be. Let the right men to talking up a of those upon the Wrath of Lurgha has and we be in for of trouble. Some of those men are and trackers, and the Reds may have planted an agent to report the return of anyone to our post. Just now we're about the most time travelers out, for we know the Reds have appeared on this line. They must have a large post here, too, or they couldn't have sent a plane on that raid. You can't a time transport large to take through a amount of material. Everything used by us in this age has to be assembled on this side, and the use of all is limited to where they can not be by any natives. Luckily large of this world are mostly and in the where we the posts. So if the Reds have a plane, it was put together here, and that means a big post somewhere." Again Ashe was as he pushed ahead of Ross into the of a wood. "Sandy and I this well last spring. There is a about a mile to the west; it will us for tonight."
Ashe's plans would have been easily if the had been unoccupied. Without they came into a through which a small stream, its banks with a thin of ice. Under Ashe's direction Ross an of firewood. He was no and his to the him for the very of a cave, so that he carelessly. His came on a of mud, sending him on his face. There was a growl, and a white him. The cloak, up about his and shoulders, then saved his life, for only cloth was those fangs.
With a cry, Ross rolled as he might have to a man's attack, to his dagger. A white-hot of pain scored his upper arm. The was out of him as a over his body; he grunts, snarls, and was pommeled. Then he was free as the away. Shaken, he got to his knees. A away the was still in progress. He saw Ashe the of a white wolf, his about the animal's haunches, his arm under the beast's head, it up and while his rose and twice in the of the body.
Ross his own ready. He from a crouch, and his home the ribs. One of their must have the animal's heart. With an almost the convulsively. Then it was still. Ashe near it, his into the to clean the blade.
A red his where the of his kilt-tunic had been up to the link belt. He was hard, but otherwise he was as as always. "These sometimes in at this season," he observed. "Be with your bow—"
Ross his with the he had been the of his tunic. He an to the string, to be a marksman. The on his arm in as he moved, and he noted that Ashe did not try to up.
"A one?" Ross the blood now into a along Ashe's thigh.
Ashe away the and a looking on the of his hip. He pressed his against the and Ross to ahead. "See if the is clear. We can't do anything until we know that."
Reluctantly Ross the until he the cave, a snug-looking place with an to keep it dry. The of a about its mouth. He a from the stream, it into the dark opening, and waited. The as it an wall, but there was no other sound. A second from a different the first, with the same results. Ross was now that the was unoccupied. Once they were with a fire going at the entrance, they to keep it free of intruders. A little heartened, he about a and then to where he had left Ashe.
"No male?" the other him. "This is a female, and she was close to whelping—" He the white with his toe. His hands a of against his hip, and his was with pain.
"Nothing in the anyway. Let's see about this...." Ross the and to Ashe's wound. His own was more of a graze, but this tear was and ugly.
"Second plate—belt—" Ashe got the out set teeth, and Ross open the in the other's to out a small packet. Ashe a as he three of the pills within. Ross another onto the he prepared, and when the last was secure Ashe relaxed.
"Let us that works," he a little bleakly. "Now come here where I can my hands on you and let me see your scratch. Animal can be a business."
Bandaged in turn, with the of the anti-septo on his tongue, Ross helped Ashe to the cave. He left the older man while he up the of the and then his as as he on a of bracken. The fire Ross had for was built. They off their and it to dry. Ross a bird he had in and it under the to be roasted.
They had surely had luck, he thought, but they were now undercover, had a fire, and food of a sort. His arm ached, pain from to when he moved it. Though Ashe no complaint, Ross that the older man's was than his own, and he all of his own twinges.
They ate the bird, saltless, and with their fingers. Ross each bite, his hands clean while Ashe on the bed, his in the light of the fire.
"We are about five miles from the sea here. There is no way of our now that Sandy's is gone. I'll have to up, since I can't any more of blood. And you're not too good in the woods—"
Ross that with a new humbleness. He was only too well aware that if it had not been for Ashe, he and not the white would have died in the valley. Yet a him from trying to put his thanks into words. The only of he make for the other's was to provide hands, feet, and for the man who did know what to do and how to do it.
"We'll have to hunt—" he ventured.
"Deer," Ashe him up. "But the at the mouth of this a ground than inland. If the here very long, she has already away any large game. It isn't the of food which me——"
"It is being up here," Ross in for him with some daring. "But look here, I'll take orders. This is your territory, and I'm green at the game. You tell me what to do, and I'll do it the best that I can." He up to Ashe him intently, but as there was no on the other's face.
"The thing to do is the wolf's hide," Ashe said briskly. "Then the carcass. You'd it up here to work on it. If her is around, he might try to jump you."
Why Ashe should think it necessary to the skin puzzled Ross, but he asked no questions. His took four times as long and was from being the job the shock-haired man of the record tape had accomplished. Ross had to wash himself off in the over the in temporary burial. When he his to the cave, Ashe with his closed. Ross sat on his own of and not to notice the in his arm.
He must have asleep, for when he it was to see Ashe over to the fire from their store of wood. Ross, angry at himself, the other to the task.
"Get back," he said roughly. "This is my job. I didn't to fail."
Surprisingly, Ashe settled without a word, Ross to by the fire, a fire he was very to have a moment or so later when a down-wind. If this was not the white wolf's mate, then it was another of her who the upper of the small valley.
The next day, having provided Ashe with a supply of firewood, Ross to try his luck in the marsh. The thick which had over the land the day was gone, and he a clear, morning, though the had an snap. But it was a good to be alive and out in the open, and Ross's rose.
He to put to use all the he had learned at the base. But it was one thing to learn something and another to put that learning into practice. He was that Ashe would not have his very good.
The was a series of rank of and of grass, with of like islands. Ross, with caution, was of it, for from one of those a of white smoke, and he saw a black which was a hut. Why one should choose to live in the of such country he not guess, though it might be the temporary of some hunter.
Ross also saw thousands of on the of the grasses, in the pools, and setting up a to drive a man mad. They did not in the least by that camper.
Ross had to be proud of his that morning. He had in his a dozen of the for birds. In place of the and points used for game, these were with needle-sharp, light heads. He had a of four together by their almost as many minutes. For the rose in their only to settle again to feast.
Then he over a hare—a of its race—that at him from a tussock. The into a in its death struggle, however, and Ross was to to its body. But he was and he up, out and ready, to the man who the to watch him.
For a long minute into ones, and then Ross noted the other's and dress. The kilt-tunic with mud, and along one edge, was like his own. The his with a band, the of the local tribesman.
Ross, his still ready, the first. "I am a in the fire and the metal, the sun, and the moving water." He the speech of the Beakermen.
"The fire by the of Tulden, the metal is by the of the smith, the sun without our aid, and who can stop the water from running?" The stranger's voice was hoarse. Now that Ross had time to him more closely he saw the dark on his shoulder, the red mark of a across the man's chest. He to test his the other.
"I am of the of Assha. We returned to the hill——"
"Ashe!"
Not "Assha" but "Ashe!" Ross, though sure of that pronunciation, was still cautious. "You are from the hill place, where Lurgha with and fire?"
The man his long across the which had been his shelter. The across his was not his only brand, for Ross noticed another red stripe, and looking, which the of one leg. The man Ross closely, and then his moved in a which to the native might have been one for the off of evil, but which to Ross was the "thumbs up" of his own age.
"Sanford?"
At that name the man his head. "McNeil," he named himself. "Where is Ashe?"
He might be what he seemed, but on the other hand, he be a Red spy. Ross had not Kurt. "What happened?" he one question with another.
"Bomb. The Reds must have us, and we didn't have a chance. We weren't any trouble. I'd been to see about a missing and was about up the hill when she hit. When I came to I was all the way the hill with part of the on top of me. The rest.... Well, you saw the place, didn't you?"
Ross nodded. "What are you doing here?"
McNeil spread his hands in a little gesture. "I to talk to Nodren, but they me away. I that Ashe was through and to him when he the beach, but I was too late. Then I he would pass here to make with the sub, so I was waiting it out until I saw you. Where is Ashe?"
It all logical enough. Still, with Ashe injured, Ross was taking no chances. He pushed his into its and up the hare. "Stay here," he told McNeil, "I'll be back——"
"But—wait! Where's Ashe, you fool? We have to together."
Ross on. He was sure that the was in no shape to after him, and he would a he returned to the valley. If this man was a Red plant, he would have to with one who had already met Kurt Vogel.
The of that took time. It was past when Ross came to Ashe, who was up by the mouth of the at the fire, using his to fashion a out of a length of sapling. He Ross's with approval, but in the promise of food as soon as the other reported his meeting in the marsh.
"McNeil—chap with hair, eyes, a right which up toward his when he smiles?"
"Brown and eyes, okay—and he didn't any."
"Chip off a tooth—upper right?"
Ross his to the stranger. Yes, there had been a small on a tooth. He nodded.
"That's McNeil. Not that you didn't do right not to him here without being sure. What you so watchful? Kurt?"
Again Ross nodded. "And what you said about the Reds' someone here to wait for us."
Ashe the on his chin. "Never them—we don't do that. But the man you met is McNeil, and we'd him here. Can you him?"
"I think he's able to about, in of that leg. From his he's been around."
Ashe absent-mindedly into a piece of and when he his tongue. "Odd that Cassca didn't tell us about him. Unless she there was no use trouble by they had him away. You going now?"
Ross moved around the fire. "Might as well. He didn't look too comfortable. And I'll he's hungry."
He took the direct to the marsh, but this time no of into the air. Ross hesitated. That on the small was surely the place where McNeil had up. Should he try to work his way out to it now? Or had something to the man while he was gone?
Again that of disaster, which is into some men, Ross. Why he and against a willow, he not have explained. However, he did so the of rope meant for his his harmlessly. It to the ground, and he one on it. Then it was the work of to it and give it a quick jerk. The man who the other end was into the open.
Ross had that before. "Lal of the town of Nodren." He to the as his came up against the fellow's jaw, Lal so that he a knife. Ross it into the willows. "What do you here, Lal?"
"Traders!" The voice was weak, but it heat.
The did not try to against Ross's hold, and Ross, him by the of the neck, moved through a screen of to a hollow. Luckily there was no water there, for McNeil in the of that dip, his arms him and his together with no for the pain of his leg.
