"You are a man of power!"
Tau his in answer to that from Asaki.
"Not so, sir. Your Lumbrilo is a man of power. I upon his power and you saw the results."
"Deny it not! What we saw walked this world."
Tau the of a over his shoulder. "Sir, once men of your blood, men who your race, the elephant. They took his for their treasure, upon his flesh—yes, and died the of his when they were unlucky or unwary. So there is that you which can now be to in his might when he was king of the and need nothing save the and of small, weak men. Lumbrilo had already your minds to see what he you to see."
"How he do this?" asked the other simply. "Is it magic that we see not Lumbrilo but a lion us?"
"He his spell with the drums, with the chant, by the his mind upon yours. And, having his spell, he cannot limit it to just the picture he if memories another. I used the of Lumbrilo to you yet another picture your people once well."
"And in so doing an enemy." Asaki a of very modern weapons. Now he his selection, a with a stock to fit a man's shoulder. "Lumbrilo will not forget."
Tau laughed shortly. "No, but then I have done as you wished, have I not, sir? I have on myself the of a man, and now you I shall be forced, in self-defense, to remove him from your path."
The Khatkan slowly, the across his forearm. "I do not that, spaceman."
"Then here are serious—"
"They are so serious," Asaki interrupted, speaking not only to Tau but to the other off-worlders as well, "that what now may the end of the Khatka that I know. Lumbrilo is the most game I have in a lifetime as a hunter. He goes, or we his fangs—or else all that I am, all I have here to build, will be away. To this I will use any weapon."
"And I am now your weapon, which you will be as successful as that you are carrying." Tau laughed again, without much humor. "Let us I shall prove as effective."
Jellico moved out of the shadows. It was just after dawn, and the of the night still in the of the armory. Deliberately he took his own the arms and a short-barreled blaster. Only when its was in his hand did he at his host.
"We came guesting, Asaki. We have salt and under this roof."
"On my and my blood it is," returned the Khatkan grimly. "I shall go to the of Sabra you do, if the of death are against us." From his he his knife and offered the to Jellico. "My for a you and the dark, Captain. But also this: to me, what I do now is than the life of any one man. Lumbrilo and the him must be out. There was no in my invitation!"
They to eye, equal in height, in authority of person, and that something which them masters in their own different worlds. Then Jellico's hand out, his the of the blade.
"There was no trickery," he conceded. "I that your need was great when you came to the Queen."
Since the captain and Tau appeared to accept the situation, Dane, not it all, was prepared to their lead. And for the moment they had nothing more in plan than to visit the Zoboru preserve.
They by flitter—Asaki, one of his Hunter pilots, and the three from the Queen—lifting over the of the fortress-palace and north with the sun a to the east. Below, the country was stark—rocks and peaks, marking the of crevices. But that was and they were over a sea of greens, many of green, with yellow, blue, red into the of treetops. Another of and then open land, of tall already yellow by the sun. There was a river here, a crazy, nearly upon itself at times.
Once more land, land so by action that it was a of erosion-whittled and mesas. Asaki pointed to the east. There was a dark out into a wedge.
"The of Mygra. It has not yet been explored."
"You air map it," Tau began.
The Chief Ranger was frowning. "Four have been trying that. Com reports fail when they that last eastward. There is some of which we do not yet understand. Mygra is a place of death; later we may be able to travel along its and then you shall see. Now—" He spoke to the pilot in his own and the pointed up-nose at an as they over the they had yet in this land, to at last a country of open with small stands. Jellico approvingly.
"Zoboru?"
"Zoboru," Asaki assented. "We shall go up to the northern end of the preserve. I wish to you the of the fastals. This is their season and the is one you will long remember. But we shall take an course; I have two Ranger to check on the way."
It was after they left the second station that the out eastward, again over the of to one of the newly the staff at the last station had reported—a lake.
And the across water which was a rich in hue, the from one to the other with no beach at the of those cliffs. As the machine to clear the wall, Dane tensed. One of his the Queen was pilot for trips. And since they had taken off that he had with the Khatkan pilot, each or of the controls. Now he that response to the other's signal, and his own hand out to a power lever.
They the rise, were well above the of the wall. But the machine was not properly. Dane did not need to watch the pilot's moving hands to that they were in trouble. And his into something else as the to nose again. In of him, Captain Jellico uneasily, and Dane that he, too, was alerted.
Now the pilot had the power to the against the board. But the nose of the as if it were or by the below. The best of the man it not keep it level. They were being earthward, and all the pilot do only the crack-up. The Khatkan was the machine north to avoid what below, for here a long arm of the Mygra about the of the mountain.
The Chief Ranger spoke into the of the unit while the pilot to against the which was them down. Now the small machine was the level of the which the lake, and the them and the preserve.
Asaki gave a exclamation, the box, spoke more into the mike. It was he was not the results he wanted. Then with a quick about he an order:
"Strap in!"
His Terran had already the wide belts to save them from crash shock. Dane saw the pilot push the to cushions. In of his heart, a small of his brain the other's skill as the Khatkan took a to them on a level of and gravel.
Dane his from the of his arms. The Chief Ranger was with the pilot, who against the controls. Captain Jellico and Tau were already at the of their crash belts. But one look at the of the told Dane that it would not take to the air again without repairs. Its nose was up and back, the view completely. However, the pilot had a safe landing the terrain.
Ten minutes later, the pilot to and the in his bandaged, they a of war.
"The was off, too. I did not have a to report the crash," Asaki put the straightly. "And our parties have not yet this of the range; it has a of the swamp."
Jellico the now to their west with eyes. "Looks as if we climb."
"Not here," the Chief Ranger him. "There is no through the region on foot. We must travel south along the of the area until we do a way into the region."
"You very we are not going to be if we right here," Tau observed. "Why?"
"Because I'm to that any that to us may into the same trouble. Also, they have no on us. It will be at least a day or more they will to count us missing, and then they will have the whole northern of the to comb; there are not men here—I can give you a of reasons, Medic."
"One of which might be sabotage?" Jellico.
Asaki shrugged. "Perhaps. I am not loved in some quarters. But there may also be something to here as there is over Mygra. We the safely the influence, but it may not be so."
But you took the of traveling over it, Dane thought, though he did not aloud. Was this another of the Chief Ranger's to involve them in some private trouble of his own? Though to up a and set them all in this was a move.
Asaki had started to from the flitter. They each had a for a pack. But when the pilot over to out a set of belts and Jellico to them, the Chief Ranger his head.
"With the off by the mountains, I those will no longer work."
Jellico one on the nose of the and its with the of the barrel. Then he a at the belt. The landed, taking the wide with it to the ground. That which should have off the was not working.
"Oh, fine!" Tau opened his to pack concentrates. Then he crookedly. "We aren't in for killing licenses, sir. Do you pay our if we are to shoot a through something that the right of way?"
To Dane's surprise, the Chief Ranger laughed. "You are off now, Medic Tau. The do not wild land. But I would we now a nightfall."
"Lions?" asked Jellico.
Dane, the black and white Lumbrilo had presented, did not that thought. They had—his from man to man weapons—the Asaki carried, and another the pilot had by its over his shoulder. Tau and the captain were with and he had a fire and a blade, small arms but to a lion's for the chase.
"Lions, graz, apes," Asaki the mouth of his bag. "All are or killers. The send out scouts, and they are big and to have no enemies. Lions with and skill. Rock are dangerous, but they cannot keep when they their and so give one warning."
As they up-slope from the flitter, Dane, looking back, saw that Asaki was right in his that they had try to help themselves than wait for rescue. Putting the of another crack-up, the no mark on the ground. The higher they climbed, the less it be from the of about it.
He had a little and, when he to catch up, Jellico with his to his eyes, them toward that marking the swamp. As the him, the captain the and spoke:
"Take your knife, Thorson, and it close to that rock—over there." He pointed to a black from the a little off their path.
Dane obeyed, only to have the in his hand. And when he his in amazement, the tight against the stone.
"Magnetic!"
"Yes. Which might our crash. Also this." Jellico out a to that its had gone mad.
"We can use the range itself for a guide," Dane said with more than he felt.
"True enough. But we may have trouble when we west again." Jellico let the free on their about his neck. "If we were on purpose"—his mouth and the old on his as did his set—"then someone is going to answer a of questions—and fast!"
"The Chief Ranger, sir?"
"I don't know. I just don't know!" The captain as he his pack and started on.
If had failed them earlier, she on them now. Asaki a sundown, not too from a stream. The Ranger the air that dark opening as the Hunter pilot his and on his hands and knees, his up and his as he, too, the from the mouth.
Scent? It was closer to a stench, and one to turn the of an off-worlder. But the Hunter over his and reassuringly.
"Lion. But old. Not here five days at least."
"Well enough. And old lion will keep away apes. We'll clean some and then we can undisturbed," was his superior's comment.
The was easy for the of and the had left quickly, with fire and smoke. When they the out with branches, Asaki and Nymani in of which they and on the floor, an odor which most of the foulness.
Dane, at the with the to fill, upon a small where there was a spread of yellow sand. Knowing well the many one might into on a world, the Terran carefully, up the with a stick. Sighting not so much as a water or a fish, he off his boots, rolled up his and in. The water was and refreshing, though he not drink it until the was added. Then, with the together by their straps, he put on his and to the where Tau waited with water tablets.
Half an hour later Dane sat cross-legged by the fire, a with three small Asaki had in. One closer to the to and he off his boot; his to have in size. He was wide-eyed at these same toes, puffed, red, and painful to the touch, when Nymani him, his closely, and ordered him to take off his other boot.
"What is it?" Dane that the other was a minor in itself.
Nymani was splinters, than a needle, from a stick.
"Sand worm—lays eggs in flesh. We them out or you have foot."
"Burn them out!" Dane echoed, and then as he Nymani a to the fire.
"Burn them," the Khatkan firmly. "Burn tonight, some tomorrow; all well soon. No burn—very bad."
Dane prepared to pay the of his with the Khatka had to offer.
