Witches' Meat

He might be all of them, Ross knew. But if Ashe was in that over their heads, then the of Loketh would be it. However, Ross was his own did not that Karara need be into too. With the at her and the supplies, as those were, she would have a good to here safely.

"Holding out for what?" she asked after Ross on this subject, thus him to silence.

Because her question was just. With the gate gone the Terrans were to this time, just as they had been to Hawaika when on their home world they had entered the for the take-off. There was no from the past, which had their present.

"The Foanna," she continued, "these Wreckers, the sea people—all at with one another. Do we join any, then their must also ours."

Taua the the girl, a for attention. Karara looked around at Loketh; her look was as as the one the native had on her and Ross.

"He"—the girl at the Hawaikan—"wishes to know if you trust him. And he says to tell you this: Because the Shades to upon him a leg he is not one with those of the castle, but to them a broken, thing. Ross, I he thinks we have powers like the Foanna, and that we may be supernatural. But we did not kill him out of hand and have him, he himself to us."

"Ritual of and salt ... be." Though it might be to match to Terran, Ross of that very on his own world. Eat a man's food, his friend, or at least a you. Stiff and of marked nations on Terra, societies, and the same might be true here.

"Ask him," Ross told Karara, "what is the for food and drink friends or enemies!" The more he learn of such the protection he might be able to for them.

Long moments for the of that message, and then Loketh spoke into the micro-disk of the analyzer, slowly, with pauses, as if trying to make sure Ross every word.

"To give into the hands of one you have taken in battle, makes him your man—not as a to labor, but as one who at your bidding. When I took your I you as cup-lord. Between such there is no betrayal, for how may a man his lord? I, Loketh, am now a in your hands, a man in your service. And to me this is good, for as a one I have had a lord, one to to. Also, with this Sea Maid and her to to thoughts, how any man speak with a were he one who with the Shadow and the Cloak of Evil?"

"He's right," Karara added. "His mind is open; he couldn't his from Taua and Tino-rau if he wished."

"All right, I'll accept that." Ross about the ledge. They had the at the end. For Karara to move might be safe. He said so.

"Move where?" she asked flatly. "Those men from the are still out there. I don't think anyone of this cave."

Ross to Loketh. "He did, didn't he? I wouldn't want you here. And I don't want to those supplies. What is in those may be what saves us all."

"We can those over by the wall, weight them in a net. Then, if we have to move, they will be ready. Do not worry—that is my department." She at him with a of lips.

Ross subsided, though he was she was right. The management of the team and sea were her department. And while he her of that point he not the of her retort.

In of his leg, Loketh an which Ross. Freed from his bonds, he the Terran to the very where he had to watch Karara. Up he into that and in a second had from sight.

Ross followed, to it was not a after all but the opening of a crevice, leading as a vent. And it had been used as a passage. There was no light, but the native Ross's hands to the cut into the stone. Then Loketh pushed past and up the into the dark.

It was difficult to judge either time or in this black tube. Ross the for some check. His agent one part of his mind aware of such things; the need for a passage which into the enemy's was apparent. What the purpose of this had originally been he did not know, but on Terra had had their in and out for use in times of siege, and he was to that these had much in common with his own kind.

He had twenty in his and his senses, by and instinct, told him there was an opening not too above. But the so thick it in about his body. Ross almost out as about his when he for a new hold. Then by that grasp, he was up and out, into a passage. Far ahead was a of light.

Ross and then as up from his hands. The which had been on his to his shoulder, and with a Loketh the Terran to his feet.

The passage in which they was a in well above their heads, but narrow, not much than Ross's shoulders. Whether it was a natural fault or had been cut he not tell.

Loketh was ahead again, his making the of his a up-and-down shadow. Again his speed and the Terran. Loketh might be lame, but he had learned to to his very well.

The light and Ross marked in the to his right, no than the of his two fingers. He out of one and was looking into empty air while he the of the sea. This way must in the above the beach.

A of him on to join Loketh. Here was a of stairs, narrow of and very steep. Loketh and against these to climb, his hand on the as if it to him. For the time his leg was a disadvantage.

Ross again—ten, fifteen of those steps, them once more into darkness. Then they from a well-like opening into a room. A and of light the Terran his eyes. Loketh set a but on a shelf, and the Terran that the of light was only relative to the dark of the passage; it was very weak illumination.

The Hawaikan his against the wall. The of his effort, its purpose, was easy to read in the line of his shoulders. Then the under Loketh's urging, a slow move as if the weight of the he to was almost too great for his arms, or else the need for was here.

They now a narrow opening, and the light of the only a into the space. Loketh to Ross and they on. Here the left was cut in many places of light in a way which no to windows. It was like walking a screen which no logical pattern in the portions. Ross out and gasped.

He was above the center of the castle, and the life and his attention. He had the life of a castle. This them and yet, as Ross the closer, the the Terran past and this more distinct.

In the place there were those animals—or were they animals?—being up to a cart. They had six limbs, walking on four, the two under their necks. Their of a network over their shoulders, to the limbs. Their heads, and on necks, their bodies, were scaled. Ross was by a he to the sea he had met in the of this world.

But the were to the men them. And the activity in other respects ... Ross had to a and in all he see, himself to on learning what might be to his own mission. But Loketh did not allow him to watch for long. Instead, his hand on the Terran's arm the other the the screen and once more into the of the fortress.

Another narrow way ran through the of the walls. Then a of light, not that of day, but a from an opening high. There Loketh to his good knee, Ross to his example.

What was a with a of color and glitter. There were long of on the walls, touched here and there with which were jewel-like. And set at among the were objects Ross's on which were designs and patterns out in paint and metal. Maybe the of native plants and animals.

The whole gave an of color, just as the of those there were in turn.

There were three Hawaikans on the two-step dais. All to the upper of their bodies, to their with belts, then in long points to level, the points being off with tassels. Their were with tight which were a of strips, as they moved. And the mixture of colors in their was such as to Terran with their of against shade.

Drawn up the were two of guards. But the for the Ross, since he not the speech.

There came a as from a gong. The three on the straightened, their attention to the other end of the hall. Ross did not need Loketh's to know that something of was about to begin.

Down the was a note in the of color. The Terran the gray-blue of the Foanna. There were three of the ones this time, one in of the other two. They came at a as if they along above that flooring, not by upon it. As they the the men there rose.

Ross read their to make that in the slowness of their movements. They were being to when they to it. Then the middle one of the spoke first.

"Zahur—" Loketh in Ross's ear, his pointed the speaker.

Ross for the ability to ask questions, a to know what was in progress. That the meeting of the two Hawaikan was he did not doubt.

There was an of after the lord speaking. To the Terran this on and on and he the tension. This must be a showdown, a of open Wreckers and the older race. Or the pause was a of the Foanna, used to a less-sophisticated enemy off balance, as a might use an opponent's attack as part of his own defense.

When the Foanna did make answer it came in the of words. Ross Loketh shiver, the of along his own spine. The words—if those were and not just to play upon the mind and of a listener—cut into one. Ross wanted to close his ears, his into them to out that sound, yet he did not have the power to his hands.

It to him that the men on the were now as if the were a rope about them, them and forth. There was a clatter; one of the had to the and there, rolling, his hands to his head.

A from the dais. The a note so high that Ross the in his ears. Below, the lines of had broken. A party of them were for the end of the hall, making a wide around the Foanna. Loketh gave a small cry; his on Ross's with painful as he whispered.

What was about to meant something important. To Loketh or to him? Ashe! Was this with Ashe? Ross against the opening, to see the direction in which the had disappeared.

The wait him impatient. One of the men on the had on the bench there, his on his hands, his quivering. But the one Loketh had as Zahur still the Foanna spokesman, and Ross gave to the of will which him there.

They were returning, the guards, and their lines three men. Two were Hawaikans, their dark easily identifiable. But the third—Ashe! Ross almost his name aloud.

The Terran along and there was a above his knee. He had been to his trunks, all his taken from him. There was a dark on his left temple, the angry of a mark on and shoulder.

Ross's hands clenched. Never in his life had he so wanted a as he did at that moment. To the company with a machine gun would have him great satisfaction. But he had nothing but the knife in his and he was as cut off from Ashe as if they were in of some prison.

The which had been one of his gifts and which had been by his training, on his wild for action. There was not the of his doing Ashe any good at the present. But he had this much—he that Gordon was alive and that he was in the aliens' hands. Faced by those Ross plan his own moves.

The Foanna again, and the three moved; the two Hawaikans turned, set themselves on either of Ashe, and gave him support. Their had a quality as if they were by a will their own. Ashe about him at the Wreckers and the figures. His of them to Ross that if the had come under the of the Foanna, the Terran their influence. But Ashe did not try to the of his two prisoners, and he with their the hall, the Foanna.

Ross that the had been transferred from the lord of the to the Foanna. Which meant Ashe was on his way to another destination. The Terran was on his and back, on returning to the sea and starting out after Ashe as soon as he could.