The Geg looked upward. The claw was coming down with a rapidity that Limbeck found quite annoying-considering how slowly they had descended the last time he’d seen them. He looked from the claw to the god to the dog.
“I’m sorry,” he said helplessly. “There just isn’t time!”
The god-eyes on the dog-tried to wrench his hands from the Geg’s grip. But the effort apparently taxed the god’s remaining strength, for suddenly the arms went limp and the god’s head lolled back. The dog, looking at its master, whimpered and increased its efforts to free itself.
“I’m sorry,” Limbeck repeated to the dog, who paid no attention to him. Gritting his teeth, hearing the sound of the claw coming closer and closer, the Geg pulled the body of the god across the debris-strewn floor. The dog’s struggles became frantic, its whimperings changed to yelps, but that was only- Limbeck saw-because it was watching its master being taken away and it couldn’t get to him.
A lump in his throat that was both pity for the trapped animal and fear for himself, Limbeck heaved and pulled and strained and finally reached the crack. With a great effort he dragged the god through. Depositing the limp body on the floor of the crater, Limbeck threw himself down beside the god just as the dig-claw smashed into the metal ship.
There was a shattering explosion. The concussion lifted Limbeck off the ground and slammed him back into it, driving the breath from his stout body. Small bits of shattered coralite fell down around him like rain, the sharp edges biting painfully into his skin. When that ceased, all was quiet.
Slowly, dazedly, Limbeck lifted his head. The dig-claw was hanging motionless, probably injured in the explosion. The Geg looked around to discover what had happened to the ship, expecting to see it a mass of twisted wreckage.
Instead, he didn’t see it at all. The explosion had destroyed it. No, that wasn’t quite right. There were no pieces of metal lying about; no remnant of the ship remained. It wasn’t only destroyed, it had vanished as though it had never been!
But there was the god to prove that Limbeck hadn’t lost his mind. The god stirred and opened his eyes. Gasping in pain, he turned his head, staring about.
“Dog,” he called feebly. “Dog! Here, boy!”
Limbeck, glancing at the coralite that had been blown to smithereens in the blast, shook his head. He felt unaccountably guilty, though he knew there’d been no way he could have saved the dog and themselves.
“Dog!” called the god, and there was a panicked crack in the voice that made Limbeck’s heart ache. Reaching out his hand, he started to try to soothe the god, fearful that he would do himself further injury.
“Ah, dog,” said the god with a deep, relieved sigh, his gaze fixed on the place where the ship had been. “There you are! Come here. Come here. That was quite a ride, wasn’t it, boy?”
Limbeck stared. There was the dog! Dragging itself out of the broken rock, it hobbled, limping on three paws, to its master. Its eyes shining brightly, its mouth open in what Limbeck could have sworn was a pleased grin, the dog gave its master’s hand a lick. The god-who-wasn’t relapsed into unconsciousness. The dog, with a sigh and a wriggle, sank down beside its master, laid its head on its paws, and fixed its intelligent eyes on Limbeck.
CHAPTER 18
THE STEPS OF TERREL FEN, LOW REALM
“I’VE COME THIS FAR. WHAT DO I DO NOW?”
Limbeck wiped his hand over his sweating forehead, rubbed his fingers under the wire rims of the spectacles that kept slipping down his nose. The god was in pretty bad shape, or so Limbeck thought, being uncertain as to the physical properties of gods. That deep gash on the head would have been critical in a Geg, and Limbeck had no choice but to assume it was critical in a god.
“The help-hand!”
Limbeck jumped up and, with a backward glance at the comatose god and his very remarkable dog, the Geg scrambled up the side of the crater. Reaching the edge, he saw all the dig-claws hard at work. The noise was ear-splitting-gouging and scraping, creaking and screeching: all very comforting to the Geg. Looking up quickly, ascertaining that there were no more dig-claws coming down, Limbeck crawled out of the crater and ran back to his own pit.
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