Part 44 (1/1)

”Half a moon”

”Half a--!” He sought to sit up, but sank back as a stabbing pain shot through his chest

”No, no, Tharn!” cried Nada ”You still are not well The wound in your back is not cole fever left you only a little while ago”

Tharn frowned He was so very tired ”But--DylaraI o after her I should have found her before this I must not lie here while she--”

Then, as an unsupportable weariness flooded his body, he closed his eyes In anothersoundly

Another half ht and fair Dyta, the sun, had pulled his blazing head above the eastern earth-line an hour before, tearing the jungle fog into rapidly dissolving streamers of mist

A group of three--two ates in Sephar's rock walls and le south of the city A few yards short of the green wall they carass-covered elevation

”ITharn ”Within a few suns--a moon, at most--I will return Dylara will be with me”

The olderWe shall wait there for you and your mate”

”You will not need to wait long,” said the young man confidently

He placed an arm about the man's wide shoulders, pressed the hand of his mother in silent farewell, then turned and strode toward the wall of verdure and towering forest giants to the south

Together, Tharn, the elder, and Nada, his ure of their only son until it disappeared into the forbidding jungle Beyond that first raled vines and creepers, lay a mysterious land, never before trod by any known ers lurked there? What savage tribes? What unknown and terrible beasts?

A shudder passed through the wo ar

”He will come back?” she asked, her voice unsteady It was half question, half stateled hope and fear

”Yes,” said theand very certain ”He will come back”