Part 32 (1/2)

”Trakor!” Tharn shouted, astonished.

The boy bent while still running and caught up a spear from beside the body of one of Tharn's victims. Hardly had he reached the cave lord's side when a third group of palace guards appeared on the scene from behind them.

Cut off in two directions by enemies, blocked in another by the palace itself, Tharn chose the only possible avenue of escape.

”To the wall!” he shouted, then wheeled and raced across the greensward with long flas.h.i.+ng strides, Trakor close at his heels.

Angling in sharply from two directions, the Ammadians sought to overtake them. Several spears were hurled but the distance was too great.

Trakor, seeing the high walls, knew it would be impossible to scale them in the few moments before the Ammadians arrived. But his faith in the cave lord remained unshaken; if a way to freedom could be found, Tharn would find it!

While still a few feet short of the wall, Tharn swerved sharply to the left, crashed through a thick growth of bushes and paused in front of a small gate. Even as Trakor was about to point out the futility of trying to force a way through those stubborn planks, Tharn drew open the barrier and leaped through.

Trakor, stricken dumb with astonishment at this new development, followed him into the street as Tharn slammed shut the gate and dropped its bar into place a split second before a heavy shoulder thudded against its opposite side.

What promised to be at least a breathing s.p.a.ce died in its infancy as a full dozen of the white-tunicked fighting men of Vokal's guard appeared at the juncture of streets to their left, and catching sight of them, came tearing along the pavement in their direction.

”This way,” Tharn said, and the two cave men raced into the night.

For nearly a quarter-hour the two Cro-Magnards fled through the black labyrinth of Ammad's streets, twisting and turning to throw off pursuit.

Twice they encountered patrols from other estates along their erratic pathway, but an arrow or two from Tharn's deadly bow drove them off.

Finally the two men slowed to a walk, their feet soundless against the stone surface of a narrow street between two walls in which no gates were visible. For the moment at least, it appeared their hunters had lost them, thus giving them a chance to gauge their present position.

Judging from the way this particular street slanted upward ahead of them they were on one of Ammad's hills. Further along a huge building loomed against the night sky from squarely across their path--a building larger and higher than any they had seen thus far.

”Dylara is back there,” Trakor said abruptly.

Tharn nodded without looking around. ”I know,” he said simply. ”We must find some place to hole up until another night comes. Then I am going back for her.”

”We were close to getting away--Dylara and I,” Trakor said ruefully. ”We were on the verge of stepping out into the open when I heard the guards attacking you.”

”You were that close to freedom?” Tharn asked, surprised.

Briefly Trakor recounted what had taken place in Vokal's palace. When he had finished, Tharn shook his head in savage disgust. ”That makes the second time she was almost within arm's reach of me! I suppose by this time they have her again and she is locked away.”

”Perhaps,” Trakor admitted. ”When I saw who it was Vokal's guards were after, I gave her my knife and she crawled under one of the tables to wait for us until we had killed the guards and could come back to get her.” He laughed shortly, bitterly. ”We _would_ have killed them, Tharn, if so many hadn't come to their aid.”

”It is always thus,” the cave lord said philosophically. ”Tomorrow night we shall try again.”

While talking, they continued on up the steep rise. Now their way was blocked by the wall they had glimpsed a few moments before. A narrow roadway skirted its base in two directions, and to the right, several hundred yards distant, they could make out the faint yellow rays of a lantern above a recessed gate.

”What now?” Trakor asked shortly.

Tharn shrugged. ”A tree with foliage so thick none can see us. Judging from the size of the building beyond this wall, its grounds should contain many trees. Let us enter and see if we can find one large enough for our purpose.”

Trakor glanced doubtfully up at the wall's edge fully fifteen feet from the ground. ”Do we go over it or through one of the gates?”