in atriumphant voice, and shot a terrible blue bolt of force into the bodyof each of them. The second had snapped a little weapon from his breast,hidden in the folds of his white robe, and as he fell, the beam of itcut a long smoking channel in the floor rock. The prince calmly pickedit up, pressed the trigger lever, handed the thing to me. I pocketed it,then stepped over to the nude body of the Croen. I inserted the needlecarefully in the artery at her inner elbow, pushed the plunger slowlyhome, my eyes on her face with a deep awe.
The prince bent beside me, watching her face intently, and both of usstood rapt, waiting for I knew not what except that it would be moremarvelous to meet such a god-like creature as this face to face thananything else that had ever happened to me.
But a sound of feet up the corridor made Prince Genner spring to hisfeet.
"Quick, man, help me get these dead horrors out of sight! I do not trustall those warriors, though most of them are in sympathy with us."
We sprang to the dead things. I bent and picked one up by the shoulders.Surprisingly, frighteningly light they were, as if filled with cotton.Their limbs were truly skeletal, and curiously I tugged the white robefrom the strange insect body as I followed the prince. The thorax, thewasp-waist, the long pendulous abdomen, the atrophied center limbsfolded across the wasp-waist--the whole thing was like a great whitewasp without wings. As we flung them into an empty chamber, I turned theburden face down, and on the back were two thin wisps of residual wings.Once these things had been winged!
We sped back to the side of the sleeping Croen.
I stopped ten feet from the giant figure, surprise, awe, a thrill ofadmiration filling me! She was sitting up, her hands at her temples,peering about with her great eyes distracted. On her face, even in thiscondition of tension, still unaware of her surroundings, was thegreatest evidence of intelligence I had ever sensed. This Croen race, Irealized, was something truly beyond an earthman's understanding.
But the prince had no time for the awed, stupefied condition into whichsight of her had struck me.
"Come, Cyane, great one, we have released you, but you must flee atonce. I know how weak you must be, but if you can, please rise and flee.This man will accompany you. He is alien to us, and it is better that hebe out of the hands of the Jivros as quickly as possible. Go, dear one,swiftly, swiftly--we will find you later!"
The great body moved, gathered itself, stood tottering, gazing wildlyabout. The prince pointed at the cavern entrance where our footprintsstill showed in the dust. To me he cried: "Go up the rocky side as faras you can when you reach the slopes. The north side, earthman. Keepgoing, and conceal yourselves in the bush. I will guide the search awayfrom you."
I ran ahead of the tottering figure and she followed, her stepsgathering strength. Faster she followed until we raced along the dimcavern way. The rocky roof opened out and the blue sky showed overhead.The prince had gestured to me when we had entered to a ledge that angledupward from the gully, and I knew now what he had meant.
I could not keep up with the great strides of the now fully arousedCroen goddess. She turned back, picked me up like a child, and in greatleaps bounded up the side of the canyon along the ledge. Up and up andover, and still she ran, untiring. I was not rescuing, I was beingrescued!
As we ran beneath the shadow of the trees, a figure rose suddenly upbefore us. I was astounded to see it was Holaf, whom I had thought theJivros had already dealt with.
"I await you, Cyane, great one, to guide you to safety. The prince hassent me," he cried.
The great striding creature slowed, spoke to me with a voice full of adeep music.
"Do you trust this man?"
"He may be trusted in this case. He has already risked his life to setyou free."
She set me down. I looked at Holaf, who was too excited to be amused.
"Hasten, we must get under cover at once. A place awaits, and many men,arms, tools. We have long fought for this day, Cyane!" Holaf was whollyecstatic to see the success of his plans. I realized the prince had madean ally of him with the same kind of interview the queen had granted me.
Holaf led us around the side of the mountain, keeping in the shelter ofthe trees, and by a back route to the same hideaway in the mountainsidewhere I had first met him.
I greeted Nokomee with a glad smile, but her smile was not so glad andmy heart was hurt to find she was angry with me. But the great Croencreature left us no time for argument.
The caves where the two hundred or so Zervs had hidden for so long werequite numerous and confusingly branched. There was room there to hide anarmy if needed.
I went at once to the small chamber where Nokomee had placed the packsand camping equipment from the horses, and took out one of Hank's bigold forty-fives, belted it on. The old-fashioned belt was filled withcartridges. I also took my own Winchester Model .70. I had a plentifulsupply of 130-grain Spitzer-point bullets, a high-velocity, long-rangekiller that I might get a chance to use. I filled my pockets withcartridges, took a knapsack and filled that. So, burdened down withlethal equipment, I hurried back to Cyane's side. I didn't want to missa move of that visitor from far space. I wanted to learn, and I had anidea she would show plenty of science if she got into action. The princewasn't gambling on her for nothing, not with that glorious sister of hisin jeopardy.
She had seated herself on that same big bench where I had first met theZoorph, Carna, and the Zervs were coming and going to her rapidly-givenorders. A dozen of the older Zervs were assembling apparatus under herdirection, and if I expected to learn something, I saw I was going to bedisappointed, for the stuff was inexplicable to me.
I went on outside to the ledge from which the city could be seen. I wasworried about how Genner had explained to the Jivros the death of thetwo who had accompanied him. I had taken a pair of small binoculars frommy packs, and seeing activity near the gates of the wall, I trained thelenses upon the wall.
I gave a cry which brought the Zervs speeding to me. I handed thefocused glasses to Holaf, pointed at the gates. He put them to his eyes,then he too gave a cry of warning, and raced back to the Croen.
For, filing out of the gates and spreading out across the valley was thevanguard of an army. The glass had shown the streets filled withmarching men.
For a few minutes I could not understand exactly what had happened, thenI guessed. The prince had asked for permission to use the entire forcesof the city in a search for the Croen! The strategy of the man wasexquisite. He was playing on the Jivro fear of the Croen to get themilitary power fully in his hands!
Even as the great limbs of the Croen woman brought her to my side, as Ihanded her the glasses, round disk ships began to rise from the centerof the city one after the other until at least five score of the smallertype were in the sky. After them came two of the larger craft that Iknew were really space ships with huge inner chambers in the bottomwhere the small craft nested.
An all-out search for the Croen was on in earnest!
But now quite suddenly an astonishing thing happened. One of the greatmother ships swung in a circle, came alongside the other, and from thegreat center bulge of the upper surface a blue beam lashed out, struckthe other in a slicing flare and sheared off the entire upper bulge inone blow. The great ship faltered for an instant, then began to fall. Itstruck the ground near the wall with a blinding explosion. As the greatmushroom of white smoke began to lift up, the stem of the mushroom blewaway, and where the ship had fallen was only a hole, surrounded by bitsof shattered metal. The wall near the explosion was breached in afifty-foot-wide break, and the bodies of men could be seen through thebreach, killed by concussion.
From the city a blazing yellow beam lanced here and there in pursuit ofthe traitor disk, but it darted like a dragonfly, up, down, and zig-zag.The pursuing beam came nowhere near it. Somehow I knew the prince, andperhaps Wananda too, were in that ship, and my heart was in my throat asI thought of the queen in that ship, being shot at by the repulsiveinsect men.
The army deploying on the plain
kept right on marching, columns slantingoutward from the center, forming three columns that spread out like theextending prongs of a trident. I could make nothing of it.
Several dogfights had broken out among the smaller disk ships since thefall of the mother disk, but these were quickly over, and the flightcame on, swift as arrows.
The remaining mother disk settled to earth on the level land directlybelow our hiding place, and the smaller disk settled now around it. Thearmy marched on, nearer and nearer.
I looked at Holaf, handed him the glasses.
"I don't know whether we are lost, or, whether the prince has joined us,deserting the Jivros in the city you Zervs built."
"None but Prince Genner knew our hiding place, and who else would placethemselves under our fire range, knowing we were here?" Even as hespoke, the door opened in the side of the great disk, and the princesprang out, turning to assist his sister to the ground.
The Croen, Cyane, standing beside me, suddenly leaped