Shades Against Shadow
The ended in a narrow of room, and the them was not the of the but a single of what appeared to be into and depressions.
Here were the Foanna, their once more them. Each held, point out, one of the rods. They moved slowly but with the of those about a and very as they each in the them with the points. Down, up, around ... as their had moved in the pattern, so now their moved to each line.
"Now!"
The points to the floor. The Foanna moved from one another. Then, as one, the were vertically, together with a single loud tap.
On the the lines they had with such darkened, melted. The shivered, shattered, in a of fragments. So the narrow room a above a large chamber.
Below a ran the full length of that hall, and on it were a line of disks. These had been to different and each light, a at them from a machine casing, antennae, was out of place here.
Once more the three of the Foanna as one in the air. This time, from the out over the blazed, not the of small sparks, but of light—blue light as it until it lines of almost substance.
When those the nearest they with lines which wide open. Shattered to the platform. There was a at the end of the where the machine stood. Figures ran into plain sight. Baldies! Ross out a as he saw those star men at the on which the Foanna stood.
Fire with the speed and of up at the balcony. The of light met the of dark, and there was a which Ross, a which open the whole world.
The Terran's opened, not upon but on light, of it which over him in great arcs. Dazed, sick, he to press his into the surface on which he lay. But there was no way of out of this wild of light and sound. Now under him the very of the and as if it were being into rubble.
All the will and ability to move was gone. Ross only there and endure. What had happened, he did not know save that what about him now was a of forces, on each other as they for mastery.
The play of crossing, fencing. Ross his arm over his to out the of that and counter. His and as the of energy and reclashed. He was beaten, stupid, as a man too long under a shelling.
How did it end? In one of and power? And when did it end—hours ... days later? Time was a thing set from this. Ross in the which his thirstily. Then he was of the touch of wind on his face, wind the hint of sea salt.
He opened his and saw above him a of sky. Shakily he himself up on his elbows. There were no complete any more, just points of masonry, teeth set in a skull's jawbone. Open sky, dark clouds rain.
"Gordon? Karara?" Ross's voice was a thin whisper. He his and again:
"Gordon!"
Had there been an whimper? Ross into a two blocks. A of water? No, it was the of one of the Foanna spread out across the in this of room. Then Ross saw that Ashe was there, the against the Terran's as he supported, the Foanna.
"Ynvalda!" Ashe called that with an which was demanding. Now the Foanna moved, an arm in the cloak's sleeve.
Ross sat on his heels.
"Ross—Ashe?" He his head. Karara here, then came forward, her with care, her hands outstretched, her wide and unseeing. Ross himself up and to her, that the once solid to and under him, until he, too, must and creep. His hands closed on her and he her to him in support.
"Gordon?"
"Over there. You all right?"
"I think so." Her voice was weak. "The Foanna ... Ynlan ... Ynvalda—" Steadying herself against him, she to look around.
The place which had once been a narrow room, then a balcony, was now a above stomach-turning space. The of the was gone, having into a the of which were by a which and as if, below, some above a fire.
Karara out and Ross her from that drop. He was clearer-headed now and looked about for some way from this perch. Of the other two Foanna there was no sign. Had they been up and out in the they had with their of energy against the Baldies' installation?
"Ross—look!" Karara's cry, her arm his attention aloft.
Under the of the a as a might the surface of a breaking. A ship—a Baldy ship taking off from the citadel! So some of the enemy had that trial of strength!
The was small, a used for within-atmosphere exploration, Ross judged. It first, and then moved inland, the storm, to be out of in moments. Inland, where the of the was to be. Retreating? Or to reinforcements?
"Baldies?" Karara asked.
"Yes."
She her hand across her face, and on her cheeks. As about them, Ross the girl with him into the where Ashe with the Foanna. The was up, her hand still one of the wands, now a half-melted ruin.
Ashe at them as if for the time he they might be there.
"Baldy ship just took off inland," Ross told him. "We didn't see either of the other Foanna."
"They have gone to do what is to be done," Ashe's replied. "So some of the enemy fled. Well, they have learned one lesson, not to with others' devices. Ahh, so much gone which will come again! Never again—"
She up the half-melted wand, it and her, she it away. It out, up, then into the of the which had been. A of rain, cold, the Terrans, across them.
The Foanna was helped to her by Ashe. For a moment she slowly, a look to the ruins. Then she spoke: "Broken no value. Take hands, my brothers, my sister, it is time we go hence."
Karara's hand in Ross's right, Ashe's in his left, and to Ynvalda in turn. Then—they were elsewhere, in a where under the of the rain. And moving among those were the two other Foanna, to one man after another. Perhaps over one in three they so they a was used in of the them. When they were finished, that man stirred, moaned, of life once more.
"Rosss—!" From a a Hawaikan who did not wear the of the others. Gill-pack, flippers, diver's belt, had been from him. There was a the of his face, and he his left arm against his body, supported by his right hand.
"Baleku!"
The Rover himself up to his and swaying. Ross him to catch him as he forward.
"Loketh?" the Terran asked.
"The women-killers took him." Somehow the Rover got that out as Ross supported, him to where the Foanna were those they had been able to revive. "They wanted to learn"—Baleku was making a great to tell his story—"about ... about where we came from ... where we got the packs."
"So now they will know of us, or will if they the out of Loketh." Ashe with Ross to the Rover's arm. "How many of them were here, Baleku?"
The Rover's moved slowly from to side. "I do not know in truth. It is—was—like a dream. I was in the water through the sea gate. Then I was in another place where those from the waited about me. They had our and belts and these they us, to know these were. Loketh was like one in sleep and they left him so when they questioned me. Then there came a great noise and the under us shook, through the air. Two of the women-killers ran from the room and all of them were excited. They took up Loketh and him away, with him the and other things. And I was left alone, though I not move—as if they had left me in a I not see.
"More and more were the flashes. Then one of those of in the doorway. He his hand, and my were free, but I not move otherwise than to after him. We came along a and into this where men unstirring, although from the upon some of them and the ground shook—"
Baleku's voice shriller, his ran together. "The one who me after him by his will—he out and put his hands to his head. Back and he ran, into the men, and once into a as if he were blinded. And then he was gone and I was alone. There was more and one my so I was to the ground. There I until you came."
"So few—out of many so few—" One of the Foanna them, her with the rain. "And for these"—she the lines of those they had not revived—"there was no chance. They died as as if they into a meeting of with their arms to their sides! Evil have we here."
Ashe his head. "Evil has been here, Ynlan, but not by your seeking. And those who died here may be only a small of those yet to be sacrificed. Have you the at Kyn Add and those other where and children were also to some purpose we do not yet know?"
"Lady, Great One—" Baleku to up and Ross an arm him in aid. "She for I a bride-cup was meat for them at Kyn Add, along with many others. If these are not put to the sword's edge, there will be other so used. And these Shadow ones a magic to men to them to be killed. Great One, you have powers; all men know that wind and your call. Do you now use your magic! It is to with a power we know, than answer such as those have about the men here!"
"This is one which they shall not use again." Ynvalda rose from a where she had been sitting. "And in its way it was one of the most dangerous. But in it we have by so much ourselves also. And the place of these star men not on the coast, but inland. They will be by those who this place. Wind and wave, yes, those have our purpose in the past. But now we have that which our power will not best! Only—for this"—her was for the of the and the dead—"there shall be a payment exacted—to the of our desire!"
Whether the Foanna did have any over the or not, the present appeared not to them. The dazed, of the were to in some of the passages.
There appeared to be no other of the Wrecker which had the keep than those survivors. But hours some of those who had the Foanna for returned. And the Foanna themselves opened the sea gates so that the Rover in the small their walls.
A small force, and one ill-equipped to go up against the Baldies. Some five star men's had been in the citadel, but the ship had gone off to their base. To Ross's the still with the invaders.
But the Hawaikans to accept the idea that the were against them. As soon as the out its Ongal's to other where the Rovers kinship. And Afrukta on the same south. While some of the Wreckers were to the to their lords. Just how great a be through such means and how it would be, was a question to make the Terrans uneasy.
Karara with the Foanna into the cliff-burrows the citadel. But Ashe and Ross with Torgul and his officers, to organization out of the about them.
"We must know just where their lies," Torgul the obvious. "The you believe, and they can in sky ships to and from that point. Well"—he spread out a chart—"here are the on this island, so. An army be from sky ships. Also, there are many mountains. Which is the one or ones we must seek? It may take many of days to that place, while they will always know where we are, watch us from above, prepare for our coming—"
Again Ross paid to the Captain's quick of essentials.
"You have a solution, Captain?" Ashe asked.
"There is the river—here—" Torgul said reflectively. "Perhaps I think in terms of water I am a sailor. But here it run, and for this along it our may ascend." He pointed with his tip. "This lies, however, in Glicmas's land, and he is now the of the Wrecker lords, his always against us. I do not that we talk him into——"
"Glicmas!" Ross interrupted. They looked at him inquiringly, and he Loketh's of the Wrecker lord who had had with a "voice from the mountain" and so the to make him the lord of the district.
"So!" Torgul exclaimed. "That is the of this Shadow in the mountains! No, under those I do not think we shall talk Glicmas into any against those who have him great over his fellows. Rather will he turn against us in their cause."
"And if we do not use the up the river"—Ashe the map—"then a small party or parties the here, nearer to the uplands."
Torgul at the map. "I do not think so. Even small parties moving in that direction would be by Glicmas's people. The more so if they inland. He will not wish to his with others."
"But, say—a party of Foanna."
The Captain up to Ashe with a regard. "Then he would not dare. No, I am sure he would not to interfere. Not yet has he high to turn the of his against them. But would the Foanna do so?"
"If not the Foanna, then others like robes," Ashe said slowly.
"Others like robes?" Torgul. Now his was heavy. "No man would take on the of the Foanna; he would be by their power for so doing. If the Foanna will lead us in their persons, then we shall gladly, that their magic will be with us."
"There is also this," Ross in. "The Baldies have the gill-packs they took from Baleku and Loketh, and they have Loketh. They will want to learn more about us. We that the would provide to them and it did. That our plan for a there was was fortune. But I am sure that if the Baldies we are to them, they will off an all-out attack against our march, to us in intact. They'd that."
Ashe nodded. "I agree. We are the unknown they must solve now. And this much I am sure of—the of this world and her people on a very narrow line of choice. It is my that such a choice is still to be made."
Torgul thinly. "We live in times when the Shades our to go up against the Shadow!"
