Murdock on his back, up at the which to make the roofing. Having been just to all one bruise, Ross had in the future. Only the present mattered, and it was a dark one. He might have Ennar to a standstill, but in the of the he had also been beaten, and he had not them as he had hoped. That he still was a minor wonder, but he that he to breathe only they wanted to him for the offered by the from out of time, an to contemplate.
His were over his to a into the ground; his were to another. He turn his from to side, but any movement was impossible. He ate only of food into his mouth by a dirty-fingered slave, a from a in the of the horsemen.
"Ho—taker of axes!" A toe into his ribs, and Ross the of pain which answered that for his attention. He saw in the light Ennar's and was to note the about the right and along the line, the left by his own knuckles.
"Ho—warrior!" Ross returned hoarsely, trying to that title with all the he summon.
Ennar's hand, a knife, into his limited range of vision. "To a is a good thing!" The as he the prisoner.
Ross a of than any pain. Ennar might be about to do just what he hinted! Instead, the knife up and Ross the at the about his wrists, the pain in the they had cut in his with that it was not which had Ennar to him. He that his arms were free, but to them from over his was almost more than he do, and he as Ennar his feet.
"Up!"
Without Ennar's hands at him, Ross not have his feet. Nor did he once he had been raised, on his as the other let him go, anger at him of his own helplessness.
In the end, Ennar two who Ross into the open where a assembled about a fire. A was in progress, sometimes so that the speakers their knife or ax when they their arguments. Ross not their language, but he was that he was the under and that Foscar had the vote and had not yet the to either side.
Ross sat where the had him, his wrists, so in mind and in that he was not in the they were for him. He was to be free of his bonds, a small favor, but one he dully.
He did not know how long the lasted, but at length Ennar came to over him with a message. "Your chief—he give many good for you. Foscar take you to him."
"My is not here," Ross wearily, making a he they would not heed. "My by the water and waits. He will be angry if I do not come. Let Foscar his anger——"
Ennar laughed. "You from your chief. He will be happy with Foscar when you again under his hand. You will not like that—I think it so!"
"I think so, too," Ross silently.
He the of that night the Ennar and another guard, though they had the not to him again. In the he was allowed to himself, and he of out of a with his fingers. But in of the messiness, it was the best food he had in days.
The trip, however, was not to be a one. He was on one of the horses, a rope under the animal's to one to the other. Fortunately, his hands were so he was able to the coarse, and keep his seat after a fashion. The nose rope of his was passed to Tulka, and Ennar him with only an for the path of his own and the of his attention for the prisoner.
They northeast, with the as a green-and-white against the sky. Though Ross's of direction was not too acute, he was that they were making for the of the village, which he the ship people had destroyed. He to something of the nature of the which had been the and the horsemen.
"How other chief?" he asked Ennar.
The man one of his across his and his to Ross squarely. "Your come our camp. Talk with Foscar—two—four ago."
"How talk with Foscar? With talk?"
For the time Ennar did not appear certain. He and then snapped, "He talk—Foscar, us. We right words—not talk. He speak to us good."
Ross was puzzled. How the out of time speak the proper language of a some thousands of years from his own era? Were the ship people also familiar with time travel? Did they have their own of transfer? Yet their with the Reds had been hot. This was a complete mystery.
"This chief—he look like me?"
Again Ennar appeared at a loss. "He wear like you."
"But was he like me?" Ross. He didn't know what he was trying to learn, only that it at that moment to press home to at least one of the that he was different from the man who had put a price on his and to he was to be sold.
"Not like!" Tulka spoke over his shoulder. "You look like people—hair, eyes—Strange no on head, not like——"
"You saw him too?" Ross eagerly.
"I saw. I to camp—they come so. Stand on rock, call to Foscar. Make magic with fire—it jump up!" He pointed his arm at a them on the trail. "They point little, little spear—fire come out of the ground and burn. They say our if we do not give them man. We say—not have man. Then they say many good for us if we and man——"
"But they are not my people," Ross cut in. "You see, I have hair, I am not like them. They are bad——"
"You may be taken in by them—chief's slave." Ennar had a reply to that which was logical according to the of his own tribe. "They want back—it is so."
"My people too, much magic," Ross pushed. "Take me to water and they pay much—more than chief!"
Both were amused. "Where water?" asked Tulka.
Ross his to the west. "Some away——"
"Some sleeps!" Ennar jeeringly. "We some sleeps, maybe many where we know not the trails—maybe no people there, maybe no water—all you say with so that we not give you to master. We go this way not one sleep—find chief, good things. Why we do hard thing when we can do easy?"
What Ross offer in to the logic of his captors? For a moment he at his own helplessness. But long ago he had learned that away to was no good unless one did it to impress, and then only when one had the upper hand. Now Ross had no hand at all.
For the most part they to the open, Ross and the other two had in on their through this same territory. So they approached the from a different angle, and though he tried, Ross out no familiar landmarks. If by some he was able to free himself from his captors, he only west and to the river.
At their party in a of trees by a spring. The weather was as warm as it had been the day before, and flies, out of cold-weather hiding, the and over Ross. He to keep them off with of his hands, for their blood.
Having been from his mount, he to a tree with a about his while the a fire and of deer meat.
It would that Foscar was in no to on, since after they had eaten, the men to at ease, some off to sleep. When Ross he learned that Tulka and another had disappeared, possibly to and the they were coming.
It was the reappeared, as as they had gone. They Foscar with a report which the over to Ross. "We go. Your waits—"
Ross his swollen, and his protest. "Not my chief!"
Foscar shrugged. "He say so. He give good to you under his hand. So—he your chief!"
Once again Ross was on his mount, and bound. But this time the party into two groups as they off. He was with Ennar again, just Foscar, with two other up the rear. The of the men, leading their mounts, melted into the trees. Ross that speculatively. It that Foscar did not trust those he was about to do with, that he was taking of his own. Only Ross not see how that distrust, which might be only ordinary on Foscar's part, in any way be an for him.
They at a above a walk into a small open at the east. Then for the time Ross was able to place himself. They were at the entrance to the of the village, about a mile away from the narrow above which Ross had to and had been captured, for he had come from the north over the of ridges.
Ross's was up as Foscar his into the of his own mount, sending it at a toward the of the valley. There was a of there—more than one of the were waiting. Ross his lip his teeth and on it hard. He had up to the Reds, to Foscar's tribesmen, but he from meeting those with an odd that the the men of his own do would be but a to the he might meet at their hands.
Foscar was now a toy man a toy horse. He his to the of strangers. Ross four of them. They to be talking, though there was still a good the man and the suits.
Minutes passed Foscar's arm in a to the party Ross. Ennar his to a trot, Ross's behind, the other two men along more discreetly. Ross noted that they were with which they to the as they rode.
They were three of the way to join Foscar, and Ross see the of the as their in his direction. Then the struck. One of them a to the Ross knew, that it was longer in the barrel.
Ross did not know why he out, that Foscar had only an ax and which were still at his belt. The sat very still, and then his gave a as if in fright. Foscar collapsed, limp, bonelessly, to the turf, to down.
Ennar whooped, a and in one. He up with to set his rearing. Then, his on the leading rope of Ross's mount, he and set off in a wild for the trees to the left. A across Ross's shoulder, at the fabric, but his to the other, taking him out of of a second thrust. Having his opportunity, the man who had the by at Ennar's back.
Ross to the with hands. His was that he might from the and since he was by his feet, and under those hoofs. Somehow he managed to to the horse's neck, his by the while the animal on. Had Ross been able to the nose rope, he might have had a of that run, but as it was he only fast and hope.
He had only of what ahead. Then a fire, as as the which had up the Red village, from the ground a yards ahead, sending the wild. There was more fire and the through the smoke. Ross that the were trying to cut him off from the thin safety of the woodlands. Why they didn't just shoot him as they had Foscar he not understand.
The of the was thick, him and the woods. Might it also provide a which he to parties? The fire was sending the toward the waiting ship people. Ross a in the smoke. Then his a miscalculation, and a of red too close. The animal screamed, on two of the and away from the blue-clad men.
Ross coughed, almost choking, his as the of the smoke. But he had been out of the fire circle and was into the meadowland. Mount and were well away from the upper end of that space when another cut in from the left, speed to the animal to which Ross clung. It was one of the easily.
The worked, for the wild to a and the other rider, in a of at which Ross marveled, from his seat to catch the nose rope, the against his own steed. Ross shaken, still from the and unable to upright, to the mane. The to a and came to a halt, blowing, white-foam on their and their riders' legs.
Having his capture, the to Ross, looking at the wide of smoke, as he the spread of the fire. Muttering to himself, he the lead rope and Ross's to in the direction from which Ennar had the less than a hour earlier.
Ross to think. The death of their might well his own, should the tribe's for now be aroused. On the other hand, there was a that he now them with the that he was of another and that to him would be to work against a common enemy.
But it was hard to plan clearly, though alone save him now. The which had ended with Foscar's had Ross a small measure of time. He was still a captive, though of the and not the strangers. Perhaps to the ship people these were higher in than the animals.
Ross did not try to talk to his present guard, who him into the western sun of late afternoon. They at last in that same small where they had rested at noon. The the and then walked around to the animal Ross had ridden. With a he the and him on the ground while he the horse. Ross himself up to the mark of the across that where the fire had the skin.
Thick of from the of the were and over the strip. Then, having animals with of grass, the man came over to Ross, pushed him to the ground, and his left leg.
Ross understood. By rights, his should also have been where the had hit, yet he had no pain. Now as the him for a burn, he not see the of the fabric. He how the had through the village. As the had him against the cold of the ice, so it would that it had also protected him against the fire, for which he was thankful. His from was a puzzle to the tribesman, who, to any of on him, left Ross alone and to well away from his as if he him.
They did not have long to wait. One by one, those who had in Foscar's company at the grove. The very last to come were Ennar and Tulka, the of their chief. The of men were with and when the others the they, too, into their cheeks, a of and going one by one to touch the chieftain's right hand.
Ennar, his to the others, from his and for a long moment, his bowed. Then he at Ross and came across the to over the man of a later time. The which had been a part of him when he had at Foscar's was gone. His were as he to speak, each word with slow so that Ross the promise—that promise:
"Woods rat, Foscar goes to his fire. And he shall take a with him to him the sky—a to at his voice, to shake when he thunders. Slave-dog, you shall for Foscar the sky, and he shall have you to walk upon as a man walks upon the earth. I, Ennar, that Foscar shall be sent to the in the sky in all honor. And that you, dog-one, shall at his in that going!"
He did not touch Ross, but there was no in Ross's mind that he meant every word he spoke.
