Vaguely aware that the at the other end of the had died away, Dane the of his drum. Over its top he watch the Khatkan outlaws; their and in time to the of his fingers. He, too, the of Tau's voice. But what would come in answer? That thing which had been to drive them here? Or the man himself?
To Dane, the light of the fire dimmed, yet there was no of those which and around the wood. And the of was thick. How much of what was real, how much the product of his nerves, Dane was able to tell. In fact, all the there saw the same be questioned. Did each man, Khatkan and off-worlder, see only what his particular set of and memories dictated?
Something in from the east, something which was not as as the of mist. Rather it came as an to the fire, and all that fire to kind—security, comradeship, a against the age-old of the night. Was that threat, too, only in their minds? Or had Lumbrilo some power to so shape his hatred?
The was cold; it a man's strength, at his brain, his hands and feet, him. It to him into another remold. Nothingness, darkness, all that was to life and and reality, in the night, together against them.
Yet still Tau that wave, his high. And his planted the knife with a of its own.
"Ahhh—" Tau's voice out, to that menace. Then he was again, the of his unknown a little above the pattern by the drum.
Dane his hands to continue the beat, his to and in of that which to eat their and make them less then men.
"Lumbrilo! I, Tau, of another star, another sky, another world, you come and range your power against mine!" Now there was a note in that demand, the of an order.
He was answered by another of the black negation—stronger, up to them down, as a in the of a wild its against the beach. This time Dane he see that dark mass. He his away it took on substance, on the movements of his hands against the head, to that of power was to them all. He had Tau such in the past. But told in familiar on the Queen, such were only stories. Here was unleashed. Yet the as the upon him in full.
And, under the of that of destruction, came its controller. This was no from the materials of the swamp; this was a man, walking quietly, his hands as empty as Tau's, yet none of them see.
In the firelight, as the sullenly, men moaned, upon the ground, their hands against the earth. But, as Lumbrilo came on from the shadows, one of them got to his hands and knees, moving with small jerks. He toward Tau, his on his as the of the had done. Dane the with one hand while, with the other, he for his fire ray. He to in and that he not a sound.
Tau's arm moved, from his side, a motion.
The man, his rolled up in his until only the in the limited light, that gesture. He level with the medic, passed toward Lumbrilo, as a from his master might lament.
"So be it, Lumbrilo," Tau said. "This is you and me. Or do you not to your power against mine? Is Lumbrilo so weak a one that he must send another to do his will?"
Raising hands again the them down, inward, until he and touched them to the ground. When he once again the knife was in his and he it him.
The from the fire out in a long tongue, about Lumbrilo and was gone. A black and white where the man had been, its lashing, its a of and blood lust.
But Tau met that with which was like the of a whip.
"We be men, you and I, Lumbrilo. Meet me as a man and keep those for those who have not the clear sight. A child plays as a child, so—" Tau's voice came in a rumble, but Tau was gone. The huge, thing which in his place a gorilla's to his enemy. For a moment Terran Khatkan lion. Then the was himself again. "The time for is over, man of Khatka. You have to us to our deaths, have you not? Therefore death shall be the of the now."
Lion vanished, man watching, alertly, as might with a blood on their blades. To Dane's the Khatkan no move. Yet the fire high, as if fed, and from the wood, into the air, red and birds, at Tau until they him from the ground under his to an over his head. They and until Dane, with eyes, saw the wheel a of light, Tau its core. His own with the of his as he one hand and to his from the of that of fire.
Lumbrilo was chanting—a blast of words. Dane stiffened; his hands were into the of that other song! Straightaway he from the head, them in a series of which no relation to either the song Tau wanted or that which Lumbrilo was now crooning. Thump—thump—thump—Dane it out frantically, the as he wanted to his home on the of the Khatkan doctor.
The of fire swayed, as if a wind it—and was gone. Tau, unmarked, smiled.
"Fire!" He pointed his at Lumbrilo. "Would you try earth, and water, and air also, wizard? Call your whirlwind, up your flood, the land to quake. None of those shall me down!"
Shapes came out of the night, some monstrous, some human, past Lumbrilo to into the circle of firelight. Some Dane he knew, some were strangers. Men space uniforms, or the dress of other worlds, women—they strode, wept, with the to laugh, curse, threaten.
Dane that Lumbrilo sent now against the Terran the of the medic's own memories. He his against this upon another's past, but not he saw Tau's face, strained, to the well-shaped the thin flesh, still a as he met each memory, the pain it for him, and set it unshaken.
"This, too, has no power any longer, man who walks in the dark."
Dane opened his eyes. Those were fading, substance. Lumbrilo crouched, his from his teeth, his plain to read.
"I am not to be by your hands, Lumbrilo. And now I say that the time has come to call an end—"
Tau his hands slowly once again, them away from his body, pointing earthward. And them, on either of the spaceman, two black on the surface of the ground.
"You have with your own bounds. As you have been the hunter, so shall you now be the hunted."
Those were as plants might issue from the packed of the ground. When his hands were high, Tau them steady. Now on either of his one of the black-and-white lions with which Lumbrilo had his own of magic the year.
Lumbrilo's "lion" had been larger than life, more intelligent, more dangerous, different from the normal animal it counterfeited. So now were these. And of them their to into the medic's face.
"Hunt well, in fur," he said slowly, almost caressingly. "Him you shall you sport in the going."
"Stop it!" A man from the the doctor. Firelight plain his off-world dress, and he up a blaster, at the nearest of the waiting beasts. That true, but it neither killed the of the animal's pelt.
As the blaster's was from to man, Dane first. His a from the other, who his from a hand to back, cursing.
Tau his hands gently. The great animal obediently, until the red were set on Lumbrilo. Facing them, the doctor straightened, out his at the medic:
"I do not to be hunted, man!"
"I think you do, Lumbrilo. For you must taste now as you have other men drink of it, so that it your blood and through your body, clouds your mind to make of you less than a man. You have out those who your power, who in your path, you wanted from the earth of Khatka. Do you that they wait in the last dark for you now, to you, doctor? What they have known, you shall also know. This night you have me all that in my past that is weak, that was evil, that I may or for. So shall you also through the hours left you. Aye, you shall run, Lumbrilo!"
As he spoke, Tau approached the other, the two black-and-white him. Now he and up a pinch of and upon it three times. Then he the of earth at the doctor. It Lumbrilo just above the and the man under what might have been a blow.
The Khatkan then, completely. With a he and ran, into the as one who and without hope. Behind him the two together and all three were gone.
Tau swayed, put his hand to his head. Dane away the drum, from his position to go to him. But the was not yet done. He returned to over the native and he his hands sharply.
"You are men, and you shall act as men henceforth. That which was, is no longer. Stand free, for the dark power him who it, and no longer eats from your basins, drinks from your cups, or you on the sleep mats."
"Tau!" Jellico's them over the of the Khatkans. But Dane was there first, the he to the ground; but he was with that weight until he sat with the medic's on his shoulder, the other's against him. For one horror-filled moment Dane that he did a man, that one of the Hunters must have a last for his leader. Then Tau and to breathe deeply. Dane up, amazed, at the captain.
"He's asleep!"
Jellico and his hand to test beat, then to touch the medic's and dirty face. "Best thing for him," he said briskly. "He's had it."
It took some time to the of their out. Two of the off-worlder were dead. The other and the were prisoners, while Nymani up in the man Dane had to save Tau. When the returned from making the in the shelter, he Asaki and Jellico an of inquiry.
The native Hunters had been together by Nymani and, a little from them, the off-worlders were under examination.
"An I-C man, eh?" Jellico, a mud-spattered with a hand, the latest measuringly. "Trying to in and a Combine charter, were you? You'd the facts; your own office will you, you ought to know that. They any in these deals."
"I want medical attention," the other, his hand to his chest. "Or do you plan to turn me over to these savages?"
"Seeing as how you to blast our medic," the captain with a which was close to shark-like, "he may not much like up those of yours. Stick 'em in where they have no business, and they're to burned. At any he's not going to look at 'em until he's had a to rest. I'll give you aid. And while I'm we'll talk. I-C going into the now? That news is going to Combine; they have no use for you boys anyway."
His answer was and uninformative. But the the other not be so easily away. Dane, out, his length on a of and all in the argument.
Two days later they once more on the same where Lumbrilo had his magic and met his defeat. This time no played along the and the of the sun was so and clear that one in the of that where men had with not by hands. The three from the Queen moved away from the to meet the Chief Ranger as he came the stairs.
"A messenger has just arrived. The was indeed, and his going was by many—though they did not see those which him. Lumbrilo is dead; he came to his end by the Great River."
Jellico started. "But that is almost fifty miles from the swamp, on this of the mountain!"
"He was and he fled—as you promised," Asaki said to Tau. "You magic, off-world man."
The his slowly. "I but his own methods against him. Because he in his power, that same power, back, him. Had I been one who did not believe...." He shrugged. "Our meeting set the pattern. From that moment he a little that I match him, and his a in his armor."
"Why on earth did you want 'Terra Bound?'" out Dane, still an for that one small among the others.
Tau chuckled. "In the place, that has us all for so long that I its was the one you keep to without that you were it out. And, in the second place, its pattern was a part of our particular background, to Lumbrilo's native Khatkan music, which was a big in his stage setting. He must have that we would not out about the water and so would be prepared for any he to produce. When they saw us out over the they us easy takings. His had always been with Khatkans, and he us by their to he well how to use. So he failed...."
Asaki smiled. "Which was good for Khatka but for Lumbrilo and those using him to make here. The and the Hunters will meet with our justice, which I do not they will relish. But the other two, the and the company agent, are to be sent to Xecho to Combine authorities. It is my that those will not accept the of another company in their territory."
Jellico grunted. "Kindness and Combine are in such matters. But we can now take passage on the same ship as your prisoners—"
"But, my friend, you have not yet the preserve. I you that this time there shall be no trouble. We have days yet you must return to your ship—"
The captain of the Queen up his hand. "Nothing would give me than to the Zoboru preserve, sir—next year. As it is, my is over and the Queen is waiting for us on Xecho. Also, permit me to send you some with the of flitters—guaranteed against failures."
"Yes, guaranteed," Tau added guilelessly, "not to down, course, or otherwise a excursion."
The Chief Ranger his and his deep-chested was from the above them. "Very well, Captain. Your will you to Xecho at intervals. Meanwhile I shall study your the non-expendable flitters. But you shall visit Zoboru—and pleasantly, very pleasantly, I you, Medic Tau!"
"I wonder," Tau and Dane heard. "Just now the of space is a far, more proposition!"
