Ross the rope which had been meant to him around Lal. He the tribesman's arms tight to his he to cut his time traveler. Lal now against the of the cup, in every line of his small body. So was this that Ross no at the tables on him. Instead he uneasy.
"What is this all about?" he asked McNeil as he off his and helped him up.
McNeil his wrists, took a step or two, and with pain. "Our friend to be an of Lurgha."
Ross up his bow. "The is out to us?"
"Lurgha has ordered—out of thin air again—that any who are to be in and to him personally at the for the of the fields!"
The old, old gift of blood and life at the sowing. Ross from his lessons. Any or enemy taken in a that day would meet such a fate. On unlucky years when people were not available a deer or might serve. But the best of all was a man. So Lurgha had decreed—from the air—that were his meat? What of Ashe? Let any from the village him down.
"We have to move fast," Ross told McNeil as he took up the rope which a leading for Lal. Ashe would want to question the about this second order from Lurgha.
Impatient as Ross was, he had to his to McNeil. The man from the hill post was close to the end of his strength. He had started off enough, but now he wavered. Ross sent Lal ahead with a push, ordering him to there, while he to McNeil's aid. It was well into the they came up the and saw the fire the cave.
"Macna!" Ashe Ross's with the native of his name. "And Lal. But what do you here, Lal of Nodren's town?"
"Mischief." Ross helped McNeil the and to the of which was his own bed. "He was as a present for Lurgha."
"So—" Ashe upon the tribesman—"and by word did you go my kinsman, Lal? Was it Nodren's? Has he the blood us? For it was in the name of Lurgha himself that that was made——"
"Aaaah—" The against the where Ross had him. Unable to his in his arms, he his upon his so that only his of was exposed. Ross realized, with stupefaction, that the little man was like a child, his and with the of his sobs. "Aaaah—" he wailed.
Ashe allowed him a moment or two of noisy and then over to his and up his head. Lal's were shut, but there were on his cheeks, and his mouth in another wail.
"Be quiet!" Ashe him, but not too harshly. "Have you yet the bite of my knife? Has an your skin? You are alive, and you be dead. Show that you are you live and continue to breathe by telling us what you know, Lal."
The woman Cassca had a measure of and at their meeting upon the road. But it was very plain that Lal was of different stuff, a man in ideas house room at one time. And to him the present was all black. Little by little they the out of him.
Lal was poor, so that he had of owning for himself some of the the hill to the of Nodren's town. But he was also a of the Great Mother's, than one who to Lurgha. Lurgha was the god for and great men; he was too high to himself with such as Lal.
So when Nodren reported the end of the hill post under the of Lurgha, Lal had been only to a point. He was still it was none of his concern, and he of the which might in the buildings. It to him that Lurgha's Wrath had been upon the men who had owned them, but it would not to the themselves. So he had gone to the hill to explore.
What he had there had him to a in the of Lurgha and he had been out of his wits, without making the search he had intended. But Lurgha had him there, had read his thoughts....
At that point Ashe the of Lal's story. How had Lurgha Lal?
Because—Lal shuddered, to again, and spoke the next haltingly—that very when he had gone out to wild in the Lurgha had spoken to him, to Lal, who was less than a upon a worn-out rug.
And how had Lurgha spoken? Ashe's voice was softer, gentle.
Out of the air, as he had spoken to Nodren, who was a chief. He said that he had Lal in the hill post, and so Lal was his meat. But not yet would he eat him, not if Lal him in other ways. And he, Lal, had on the ground the voice of Lurgha and had that he would Lurgha to the end of his life.
Then Lurgha had told him to one of the who was in the marshes, and him with ropes. Then he was to call the men of the village and together they would the to the hill where Lurgha had his wrath, and there they would him. Later they might return and take what they there and use it to the at time, and all would be well with Nodren's village. And Lal had that he would do as Lurgha bade, but now he not. So Lurgha would eat him up—he was a man without hope.
"Yet," Ashe said more gently, "have you not the Great Mother all these years, to her a of the fruits when the of your one was small?"
Lal at him, his still with tears. It took a second or two for the question to his fear-clouded mind. Then he timidly.
"Has she not with you well in return, Lal? You are a man, that is true. But you are not of belly, though this is the thin season when men fast the of the new harvest. The Great Mother over her own. And it is she who has you to us now. For this I say to you, Lal, and I, Assha of the traders, speak with a tongue. The Lurgha who our post, who spoke to you from the air, means you no good——"
"Aaaah!" Lal. "So do I know, Assha. He is of the and the of the dark!"
"Just so. Thus he is no to the mother, for she is of the light and of good things, of the new grain, and the for your flocks, of the who with men and sons to their fathers' spears, to by the and the yellow in the furrows. Lurgha's with us, Lal, not with Nodren with you. And we take upon us that quarrel." He into the air where the of were to across the ground.
"Hear me, Lurgha," he called into the night, "I am Assha of the traders, and upon myself I take your hate. Not upon Lal, upon Nodren, upon the people who live in Nodren's town, shall your lie. Thus do I say it!"
Ross, noticing that Ashe from Lal a of his hand, was prepared for some meant to the tribesman. It came in a of green fire the stream. Lal again, but when that fire was by no other he to his once more.
"You have how Lurgha answered me, Lal. Toward me only will his be turned. Now—" Ashe and out the white skin, it Lal—"this you will give to Cassca that she may make a for the Mother's home. See, it is white and so that the Mother will be pleased with such a gift. And you will tell her all that has and how you in her powers over the powers of Lurgha, and the Mother will be well pleased with you. But you shall say nothing to the men of the village, for this is Lurgha and Assha now and not for the of others."
He the rope which Lal's arms. Lal out a hand to the skin, his with wonderment. "This is a thing you give me, Assha, and the Mother will be pleased, for in many years she has not had such a for her place. Also, I am but a little man; the of great ones are not for me. Since Lurgha has your this is none of my affair. Yet I will not go to the village for a while—with your permission, Assha. For I am a man of and and I speak what I do not wish to say. So if I am asked questions, I answer. If I am not there to be asked such questions, I cannot answer."
McNeil laughed, and Ashe smiled. "Well enough, Lal. Perhaps you are a man than you think. But also I do not you should here."
The was already nodding. "That do I say, too, Assha. You are now the Wrath of Lurgha, and with that I wish no part. Thus I shall go into the for a while. There are and to hunt, and I shall work upon this skin so that when I take it to the Mother it shall be a gift her smiles. Now, Assha, I would go the night comes if it you."
"Go with good fortune, Lal." Ashe while the his in a shy, to the others, out into the valley.
"What if they him up?" McNeil asked wearily.
"I don't think they can," Ashe returned. "And what would you do—keep him here? If we that, he'd to and try to turn the tables on us. Now he'll keep away from Nodren's village and out of for the time being. Lal's not too in some ways, but he's a good hunter. If he has for out, it'll take a to him. At least we know now that the Reds are they did not make a clean here. What happened, McNeil?"
While he was telling his in more detail Ashe and Ross on his burns, making him comfortable. Then Ashe sat as Ross prepared food.
"How did they spot the post?" Ashe his and at the fire.
"Only way I can is that they up our post and the source. That means they must have been us for some time."
"No about lately?"
McNeil his head. "Our wasn't that way. Sanford was a wonder. If I hadn't better, I would have he was one of the Beaker folk. He had a network of all the way from here into Brittany. Amazing how he was able to work without any suspicions. I his being a of the smiths' was a big help. He up a of news from any village where there was one at work. And I tell you," McNeil himself up on his to more vehemently—"there wasn't a of trouble from here clear across the and to the north. We were already sure the south was clean we took as Beakers, since their are thick in Spain."
Ashe a reflectively. "Their permanent with the transport has to be the of the they in our own time."
"They plant it in Siberia and laugh at us," McNeil exploded. "No of our in there——"
"No." Ashe the into the fire and from his fingers. "Then they would be with the old problem of distance. If what they are their modern boundaries, we would have to the thing in the place. What the Reds want must their century holdings, a point in our favor. Therefore they will plant their shift point as close to it as they can. Our problem is more difficult than theirs will be.
"You know why we the for our base; it in a of the world by other than hunters. But I'll anything you want to name that their point is in Europe where they have people to with. If they are using a plane, they can't its being seen——"
"I don't see why not," Ross in. "These people couldn't possibly know what it was—Lurgha's bird—magic—"
Ashe his head. "They must have the interference-with-history worry as much as we have. Anything of our own time has to be or in such a way that the native who may upon it will know it is man-made. Our is a to all appearances. Possibly their plane is a bird, but neither can too close an examination. We don't know what result from a of knowledge in this or any time ... how it might history——"
"But," Ross what he to be the best against that reasoning, "suppose I Lal a gun and him to use it. He couldn't the weapon—the technology so this age. These people couldn't such a thing."
"True enough. On the other hand, don't the of the or the native of men in any era. These might not be able to your gun, but it would set them along new lines. We might that they would think our time right out of being. No, we not play with the past. This is the same we after the of the bomb. Everybody to produce that new and then sat around and for we'd be to use it on each other.
"The Reds have new which we have to match, or we will go under. But in time we have to be careful, of us, or the world we do live in."
"What do we do now?" McNeil wanted to know.
"Murdock and I came here only for a trial run. It's his test. The is to call for us about nine days from now."
"So if we tight—if we can tight—" McNeil again—"they will take us out. Meanwhile we have nine days."
They three more days in the cave. McNeil was on his and to Ashe was able to well to travel. Though Ross and McNeil took at and duty, they saw no that the were them. Apparently Lal had done as he promised, to the and there from his people.
In the of pre-dawn on the fourth day Ashe Ross. Their fire had been with earth, and already the bleak. They ate the night and out into the of a fog. A little way the McNeil joined them out of the from his post. Keeping their to one which Ashe's wound, they their way in the direction of the the villages.
Crossing that road they northward, the land to under them. Far away they the of sheep, the of a dog. In the fog, Ross in a which a field. Ashe paused to look about him, his as if he were a out their trail.
The three on, a whole series of small, fields. Ross was sure that the from any of these must be scanty. The was thickening. Ashe pressed the pace, using his carefully. He gave an of when they were at last by two like pillars. A third across them, a through which they saw a narrow into the hills.
Through the Ross the of the the gate. He would have said that he was not superstitious, that he had these as lessons; he had not them. Yet now, if he had been alone, he would have that place and from the valley, for that which waited was not for him. To his Ashe paused by the to wait.
The older man the other two into cover. Ross willingly, though the of on his and wet his as he against prickly-leafed shrubs. Here were of plants and almost as if this of year-round had been planted with some purpose in mind. Once his had themselves, Ashe called, but sweetly, with a bird's notes. Three times he that a moved in the fog, the gray-white of its long melting in the of mist.
Down that green tunnel, out of the of the valley, the other came, a of the entire figure. It right in of the and Ashe, making a to the others to where they were, the stranger.
"Hands and of the Mother, she who what may be reaped——"
"Outland who is under the Wrath of Lurgha," the other him in the voice of Cassca. "What do you want, outlander, that you to come here where no man may enter?"
"That which you know. For on the night when Lurgha came you also saw——"
Ross the of a breath. "How you that, outlander?"
"Because you the Mother and you are for her and her service. If Lurgha is a god, you wanted to see his with your own eyes."
When she answered, there was anger as well as in her voice. "And you know of my then, Assha. For Lurgha came—on a bird he came, and he did as he said he would. So now the village will make to Lurgha and his favor, and the Mother will no more have those to to her and offer her the fruits——"
"But from came this bird which was Lurgha, can you tell me that, she who upon the Mother?"
"What it make from what direction Lurgha came? That not add take from his power." Cassca moved the arch. "Or it in some way, Assha?"
"Perhaps it does. Only tell me."
She slowly and pointed over her right shoulder. "From that way he came, Assha. Well did I watch, that I was the Mother's and that Lurgha's not eat me up. Does that make Lurgha smaller in your eyes, Assha? When he has up all that is yours and your with it?"
"Perhaps," Assha repeated. "I do not think Lurgha will come so again."
She shrugged, and the flapped. "That shall be as it shall be, Assha. Now go, for it is not good that any man come hither."
Cassca into the of the green tunnel, and Ross and McNeil came out of concealment. McNeil in the direction she had pointed. "Northeast—" he thoughtfully, "the Baltic in that quarter."
