“Yes, any one of those level corridors would make him a good cover for ambush. But if we cannot get up, we can bring help from the surface to take him in the rear.” Again Reme tried to flex his upper arms. “If you will just loose me the rest of the way, Horan, I can bring in reinforcements.”
“No.” Troy’s dissent was flat and quick.
“Why?” Reme did not sound angry, merely interested.
“We are criminals—remember?”
“Where there is a common enemy there can be a truce. In the Wild I do have some small authority.”
Troy considered that. Trust was a rare commodity in the Dipple. If he gave his now to this man, as he was so greatly tempted to do, he would be putting a weapon in Rerne’s hands just as surely as if he were to hand over the blaster. And again his suspicion warred with his desire to believe in the other.
“A truce, until we are out of here,” Rerne suggested. “I am willing to swear knife oath if you wish.”
Troy shook his head. “Your word, no oaths—if I accept.” He paid that much tribute openly to the ranger. “Truce and a head start for me, with them.”
“The chase will i oe up again,” Rerne warned. “You have no chance with the Clans out to quarter the field. Better surrender and let the law decide.”
“The law?” Troy laughed harshly. “Which law, Hunter—Clan right, patrollers’ code, or Zul’s extermination policy? I know we are fair game. No, give me your promise that we can have a start of at least half a day.”
“That is freely yours, for what you can make of it, which I am afraid will be very little.”
“We shall take our chances.” Troy applied heat to the other’s remaining bonds.
“Always we. Why, Horan?” Rerne rubbed his wrists.
“Men have used animals as tools,” Troy said slowly, trying to fit into words something he did not wholly understand himself. “Now some men, somewhere, have made better tools, tools so good they can turn and cut the maker. But that is not the fault of the tools—that they are no longer tools but—“
“Perhaps companions?” Reme ended for him, his fingers still stroking his ridged flesh, but his eyes very intent on Troy.
“How did you know?” the younger man was startled into demanding.
“Let us say that I am also a workman who can admire fine tools, even when they have ceased, as you point out, to be any longer tools.”
Troy grasped at that hint of sympathy. “You understand—“
“Only too well. Most of our breed want tools, not companions. And the age-old fear of man, that he will lose his supremacy, will bring all the hawks and hunters of the galaxy down on your trail, Horan. Do not expect any aid from your own species when it is threatened by powers it cannot and does not want to understand. But you will have your truce—and your head start—and what you do with them is up to you. Now, let us see what we can do about getting a clear road out of here before what prowls over there takes a fancy to come out.” Rerne waved a hand toward the jungle.
He slipped a small object from a loop on his belt. On its surface was a tiny dial he set with care, holding it into the beam of an atom torch. Then he smiled at Troy.
“Broadcaster. It is beamed for a ranger aid call, and I have alternated that with a warning code, so they will not head blindly into any ambush of Zul’s. He may have another man with him, possibly two. We know that he went to the Guild in Tikil before he coasted in here. I think he hired blaster men.”
“Then he must have robbed Kyger’s. He would not have credits enough on his own to pay blaster man prices to the Thieves’ Guild.”
“Did you ever think that perhaps Kyger was not the top man of his organization on Korwar?” returned Rerne. “If he was not, then it is up to that head to close down the whole enterprise as quickly and with as little fuss as possible. You have already been posted in Tikil as a murderer who has stolen valuable animals. Someone issued that complaint.”
“I thought that would happen.” Troy governed his dismay speedily. Posted as a murderer! Which meant that even the city patrollers could shoot first and ask troublesome questions after. Only this was the Wild, not Tikil, and he thought he had an advantage over that set of trackers here.
“You say that you did not kill him?”
“I found him dead.” Swiftly Troy outlined the events before his escape from the shop and from Tikil that night.
“That account I can readily believe. Kyger had some odd acquaintances and had stepped hard on the wrong toes,” Rerne commented obscurely, “apart from these other activities. And do you realize that I can supply you with an alibi? At the time Kyger died you were with Rogarkil and me.”
“Did you say that to the patrollers?” Troy’s throat felt tight. If that was the truth, why had Rerne not cleared him?
“Not so far—“
“You wanted a bargaining point to use with me?” Troy demanded. That seesaw of belief, then suspicion, within him swung once more to the chilling side.
“Perhaps.”
“I am not interested. I will take what I have.” Troy was cooling rapidly. He was sure Rerne would keep his word to the strict letter of his promise. But why the ranger had revealed this other matter—that he could clear Troy with the law of the city but had not done so—remained a mystery. It smelled of the desire to push Horan into some pattern of Clan devising, just as he and the other had obliquely suggested at that cafe meeting. And having tasted freedom, Troy was not minded to walk again another’s road.
“As you wish.” Rerne neither urged nor explained. He raised the miniature corn unit to his ear, listened for a moment, and then nodded.
“They are coming, have laid down a haze ahead—as far as the levels. Should not be long before that reaches Zul.”
So the rangers were using that most up-to-date subduing weapon—and one Zul, Troy was certain, was not armored against.
“Will they arrest Zul?”
Rerne glanced at him. “Is that what you wish?”
“Why not?”
“There is no reason to believe that Zul is top man. He was wholly Kyger’s subordinate, not the other way around. Zul, left free, could lead someone to his employer.”
“If that trailer had time—and the inclination,” snapped Troy. “Just a present I have more important things—“ He paused. Rerne was right in a way. To trace Zul’s contacts to their sources. If it were not for the animals, he would like to do just that. But he must make the best use of his truce, and he could not waste time on Zul. “Your move, if you wish,” he suggested.
Rerne was holding the broadcaster to his ear again. “Our move is up.” He gestured to the ramp.
“Zul?”
“No sign of him. But there is a Guildsman sleeping sweetly at the second level. They have collected him for the patrollers. Let Zul believe that he has made a safe escape in his hiding place. He will sleep off the haze and he can be watched later.”
So Rerne was going to investigate Zul? Though what he would make of more exact knowledge, except to use it as a lever for some Clan dispute with the authorities in Tikil, Troy did not see. He gathered up Sahiba, motioned Rerne to precede them.
“I have a blaster. You have granted me a truce. May- be some of the rest up there will not be so generous.”
Rerene smiled. “It pays to be cautious. But I think you will find I speak for the rangers. Up it is.”
To Troy the climb was as long and exhausting as had been the descent of the winding way in the well. There was no one waiting at the first level of corridors. On and up, Simba and Sargon forging a little ahead, a twin pair of scouts Troy was sure no human being could equal. Shang was on his shoulder, Sheba beside him. None of the animals paid any attention to Rerne outwardly, but Troy knew they kept an expert watch on the ranger. They passed the second level. Ahead lay the open.
Troy pushed his weary brain to plan action beyond that point. He could not hope that he would have any chance at mechanical transport; his bargain did not reach that far. But the barrier about Ruhkarv must have been lowered to let the searchers in, so they could leave this scar on foot. Tired as he was, without supplies, he did not see how they would be able to cover much ground. But even if they could reach the fringe of forest lands, the animals could escape. Then he would take his chances with the men.