off the ledge, herlong limbs making easy going of the sloping detritus below. Secondslater she was running easily across the plain toward the ship, and I wassurprised to see the prince and the queen bow their knees to her, kneelbefore her as if praying to a goddess. She touched the bowed heads withher fingertips, and the three figures then entered the disk and the doorclosed. The ship lifted, took off alone in a southerly direction, flyinghigher and higher and out of sight. Even as it disappeared, anothergreat disk lifted from the city, set out in the same direction inpursuit.
But the smaller ships below lifted at once as they sighted this pursuit,set out after the second mother disk.
"I guess we're going to miss the fighting," I said to Holaf.
"We can get into it when the time is right. We've got to move at once.The Jivros know our location now. Come on!"
Holaf strode back into the cavern that had been the Zerv's hideout forso long. I followed, stopping curiously to examine the apparatus whichthe Croen had abandoned on the advent of the prince. It was a kind ofstill, bubbling now with a wick lamp under the red fluid, and nearly agallon of the end product had collected in a big jar.
"What was this distillation all about?" I asked Holaf.
"It was a medicine she was making for the Shinro. She said that aninjection into their blood would increase their perceptions to a humanrange of intelligence, and that then we could use their resulting rageagainst their mutilators. It is only a temporary effect. It will wearoff in a day, leave them again to the stupidity the Jivros gave them.Now, she's gone, I don't even know the dosage. It is useless, the princetook her from us."
"We can use it, if it is complete. I have the needle I used to revivethe Croen. Bring the stuff; we'll try it."
"We could circle the army, get into the city...." said Holaf, his eyesglittering on mine.
"Let's go," I cried, getting his idea.
* * *
We were near a hundred and fifty young Zerv fighters, and perhaps asmany women and old men and children. We wound through the passages ofthe tunnels in the mountain, came out on the far side from the valley.Along the mountainside we traveled, and I realized we were at the mercyof any force we met, being too few and too hampered with baggage and thehelpless members of the Zerv families.
But Holaf knew what to do. He pointed out a trail toward the wildernessto the thin little column, told them where to take cover and await hisreturn. Then with myself and a dozen of his best warriors, he turned hisface again toward the Jivro stronghold.
We circled the valley, marching hard, crossing the upper narrow end.Coming toward the city, twilight was closing down, and we made the lastfew miles in complete darkness.
Near the walls, Holaf chopped a thirty-foot sapling, which we carried tothe wall. A young Zerv swarmed up the pole, let down a rope to help theascent of the others. I climbed the rough pole after him. I hadn't theathletic ability of these Zervs who seemed to like to climb ropes handover hand. So over and down into the silent city we went, drawing uppole and rope after us, hiding them in the shadows of the wall.
Like shadows we stole along the streets, and after long minutes heardthe unmistakable feet of the Shinros. They came with that ghastlymechanical rhythmic tread, eyes staring, backs burdened. I guessed thatnow their burdens were materials for the defense of the wall. Wefollowed, and not far distant from the breach of the explosion of thedisk ship, found our chance. They were accompanied by four of thehopping Jivros, and upon the back of each a young Zerv sprang, silent asstalking cats, striking them down, crushing their skulls with vibro-gunbarrels.
Holaf and I set to work immediately on the mindless Shinros, injectingshots of the red fluid into their veins one by one, varying the shots togauge the effect. But it was potent stuff, and before I had the thirdman under the needle, the first was speaking in a hoarse, angry voice.
"What has happened to me, what--what?"
Holaf said: "These are almost all graft jobs, were once captives andnormal men. The result, if this shot works, is going to be a thoroughlyangry man, fighting mad for the blood of the Jivros." Then he raised hisvoice to the newly revived Shinro.
"You were made into a beast of burden by the Jivro insects! Tonight youwill get your revenge. This shot of sense we are giving you will lastonly till daylight, so your life does not matter--it will revert to thebeast in the morning. Go and spend your time where it will hurt theJivros most--spill their blood. Their power is ending this night! This isthe beginning of the end for all the Jivro parasites of our race. Whatwe begin tonight will not stop till every Jivro in the ancient Schreegroup of planets is dead and gone!"
As we completed our injections, the column stood waiting, but a columnof sane men, ready to shed Jivro blood for their revenge.
"Go as if to get more burdens of stone to repair the wall. When theJivros show themselves, kill, get weapons, do not stop killing untilthey are gone or you are dead. You have but this night; make the most ofit."
The column plodded off, in the same apparent condition we had first metthem. But in their brains was boiling, enraged sanity, in a condition ofcomplete rebellion, of murderous intent.
"They'll sell their lives for something worthwhile, tonight," said Holafinto my ear, as we set off on their trail. We intended to make the mostof any opening the revived Shinros made for us.
Two more columns of toiling Shinros we liberated with injections, thenour supply of fluid was exhausted. Just what more to do to hurt theJivros we didn't know.
"How many ships do those Jivros have? Why are they always in hiding?Since I've been around here I haven't seen a dozen of 'em at one time!"I asked Holaf, my feet tired from sneaking along the deserted streets.
"They never come out in the open except for some express reason, such asdriving the Shinros to work. They still have probably a score of ships."
"Twenty of those big disks?" I asked.
"Yes, I would say that many. But they will not bring them out to battleunless there is no other way. A Jivro never does anything he can get ahuman to do. Now that they have only the Shinros in the city, with thearmy out there searching for the Croen--and maybe the most of itdeserting to some rendezvous the prince sent them word about--they willdo nothing unless they must. You know how a spider hides when it sensesdanger?"
"There are many insects that hide when they are in fear."
"They have that trait, but they also have courage when desperationdrives them. Now they are holed up in their strongholds, waitingdevelopments. They will only come out to fight if they see anopportunity to crush their opposition, or if they are driven forth."
Suddenly the long beam of a searchlight lanced across the night skyabove, then another and another. For an instant a huge disk showed inthe beam. It tilted and drove abruptly sideways out of the light. Thebeam danced after. It was not seen again, and still more beams winkedon, began to search, systematically quartering the sky.
"I would say our friends, the Jivros, were in for it. The prince and theCroen are attacking," I said to Holaf.
He grunted.
"I didn't expect it so soon. They do not have the strength in ships. Butthe Croen must have some stunt figured out to equalize their power."
We moved along pretty rapidly, keeping to the shadows, and soon wereagain at the side of that flat, paved place from which the disk shipstook off. Overhead loomed the beetling walls of the palace from whichthe prince had led his people in revolt--manned now by the Jivros. Iwondered how it felt to them to have to do their own fighting.
The beams moving about from the top of the building lit the streetsabout us with a distinct glow. It was no place to remain. We moved backalong the parallel street, and I had an idea. Whatever was I carryingall this weight of heavy game rifle and knapsack of cartridges, and noteven getting in position for a shot? I gestured to Holaf and tapped therifle, pointing up.
He got the idea, led me to a dark doorway and we entered the building,made our way to the roof. Lying prone along the parapet of the roof, Iadjusted th
e sights for two hundred yards, and swung the rifle sightslowly across the flat roof of the palace. The reflections of the bigsearchlights made the surface quite bright, and about each light was agroup of the tall white-robed Jivros. They made perfect targets!
I began to fire, taking my time, centering each figure exactly. At eachshot, one Jivro fell. I had fired but a score of times, and thewhite-robed creatures began to leave the lights, to cluster about thearchway over the roof stair.
Grouped as they now were, I did not need to aim. I fired four more clipsas rapidly as I could load them. Then the remaining Jivros began toswing the great beams in a frantic search for the deadly fire. As thebeam swung toward us, Holaf seized my head, pushed it beneath theparapet. The beam swept on without pausing. I raised my head and kept onfiring.
All of the beams but two were now stationary and unattended. I