“Zipacna?”
“He’s an opportunist, and she was his opportunity. The Varanel had her, but he wanted credit for the capture. He wanted to deliver her himself to The Hand. I believe he felt sure he could take her again, when he wished, and when it would serve his purpose.”
There was a scurry of movement and Johnny came around sharply, his pistol lifting.
Mike stepped into the shadows, his own gun drawn.
It was Kawasi, and with her another girl, a tall, blond girl, lithe and lovely.
“Now!” Kawasi said. “We have far to go before it is light. Quickly!”
XLIII
Mike built up the fire, adding fuel and clearing debris from around it so the flames could not spread, and then they went away into the night. They went away along the side of the ridge by a trail almost too narrow to see. Only their feet found the way, and they went into the hills.
The night was cool and there was no wind, nor were there stars or any light, at all but a vague, somewhere moon. Melisande took the lead and Mike followed third behind Kawasi, then Erik and Johnny, his rifle reloaded and ready.
It was so dark, Mike could not see Kawasi only a few feet ahead of him. Sandhills rose around them and, in the distance, the sheer walls of a mesa, and there were scattered towers of rock like fingers upheld in warning.
It was a fit night for ghosts, too dark for shadows, too black for anything but thought to penetrate. Like ghosts they moved, with only a whispering as their feet touched the ground and lifted. They wove among rocks, their moving bodies like needles in a tapestry of darkness. Melisande led the way and they followed on faith, trusting to her and to their feeling feet, searching out the way with each step along the ground.
They were mounting higher—this their legs told them, and their breathing, for Melisande moved swiftly, wasting no time. Finally, topping out on a ledge, she stopped and they gathered about her.
Mike had a bad feeling about the night. Something within him warned of trouble coming and he peered about, irritated that he could not see and that he must trust to another, not knowing where they went.
Johnny was beside him. “I think we’re headed for that red cross on the map,” he said. “I know some of this country.”
“It’s more than I do. I’ve no idea where we’re going.”
“Don’t worry about it. That girl’s lived her life here, knows it all better than me or any of them out there. She’d be a real catch for The Hand. I suspect he’s had wind o’ them for years, knowing they were somewhere out there.
“Her grandpa must have been some shakes of a man, carryin’ on like he done, always figurin’ to find a way out for her.”
“What I’m worried about is that spacequake or whatever it is. We’re overdue.”
“Nobody ever said those things was on schedule. They happen when they happen. All a body can do is hope. An’, Mister, I’m hopin’—an’ doin’ a little prayin’ on the side.”
Kawasi came back to them. “We will go on now, but stay close to the wall. On your right it drops away for several hundred feet.”
“Should be daylight soon.”
Mike moved over to Johnny. “Want me to bring up the rear? I can handle it.”
“No doubt you could, but you ain’t carryin’ a long rifle. I don’t want to be proddin’ anybody on a cliff trail.”
“Do you know where we are?”
“Guessin’ is all I can do. She’s been windin’ around some.” He paused. “Raglan? You get set for a scrap. There’s somebody comin’ up behind us.”
It was no more than he had expected. Mike Raglan turned in behind Kawasi. Erik had moved up behind Melisande, so Mike was now fourth in line.
There were flakes of fallen rock under their feet now and once in a while one would get pushed off into the vast depths on their right. They could hear a rock falling, striking something below, then falling again.
They were climbing now. Starting out, they had gone down for several hundred yards. Then the trail became steep and they were climbing up. He kept his shoulder against the wall, and occasionally had to use handholds. Yet it was growing lighter, only vaguely but enough so he could now see the path on which they climbed.
Again they paused. Erik or Melisande was moving a rock from their path. He heard it fall, a small cascade of rocks following it. “Where are we going?” Mike asked Kawasi.
“It is said to be an opening. An always place. He Who Had Magic had a look-through glass pointed at it. He was watching to see who came and went, or maybe how it happened—I do not know.”
They went on again, climbing more steeply. Mike was an agile and athletic man, but the climbing was not easy. He turned to look back. Johnny was very old, yet he seemed to be making out all right.
They emerged suddenly into daylight, or what passed for it in this strange, yellow world. The plateau about them was scattered with juniper, none over a dozen feet tall, most much shorter. There were a few scattered rock formations, a little grass, some scattered pools of water caught from recent rains or melted snow, none more than two inches deep. On their right was a huge red scar, scoured out from the top of the mesa. In the distance he could see a vast spread of canyons, mesas, and volcanic necks, all blue with morning light.
“Come,” Melisande said. “It is only a little way now.”
“You’ve been here before?”
She looked at him. “You are Mike? It is you he hoped would come. He said if anyone could get him out, you could.”
“Without you we’d be nowhere.”
She shrugged. “There are other places. This is the only one of which we can be sure.”
She started away and he caught her arm. “Wait!” he whispered. “And look!”
About fifty yards away, Volkmeer was standing, a rifle in his hands.
“Who is he?” Kawasi asked. “Is it—”
“Volkmeer. He’s supposed to be a friend of mine but he’s taken money from them.”
“Melisande? Where is the opening? I don’t see—”
“You can’t see. It is near that rock. The big one that looks like a dinosaur? Keep to the left and keep your eyes on the horizon. Look at the rounded mountain. Do not take your eyes from it. The opening is small, almost a window. When you are there you will see.”
“Don’t look like they’re goin’ to let us,” Johnny said. “Do I start shootin’?”
“Wait,” Erik said. “It is only one man.”
Mike moved ahead. “Hi, Volk! Didn’t know you ever came over to this side.”
“Time or two.” His rifle tilted. “Can’t let you go no further, Mike.”
“So you’ve turned against us, Volk? I didn’t expect it of you.”
“Didn’t expect it of me neither. Then I got to thinkin’. I ain’t a young man no more an’ I been livin’ soft on their money. You done me a turn one time, an’ I’m obliged, but that don’t cut no ice now.”
“You’ve still got a chance, Volk. Remember? You said once that one time I could do it all. I still can, Volk, and I’ve learned a lot since then.”
“Maybe, but I ain’t alone.”
“Kawasi? Melisande? When the shooting starts, run! Get through that opening, no matter how! Take Erik with you, even if you have to drag him. He’s not armed, and we are.”
Melisande hesitated. “The tubes they have are weapons. They must be within sixty feet to be effective.”
“Get going,” he said.
Volkmeer moved to stop them and Mike called out: “The last time, Volk! Get out of this!”
“Like hell! I—”
He swung his rifle as Raglan moved, and fired. He saw Volk’s knees buckle and the man collapsed into a sitting position, his rifle falling across his ankles.
Behind him Mike heard Johnny’s gun boom, and turned in time to see a row of Varanel rising from the ground, already nearly within range.
Johnny dropped his rifle and drew his six-shooter and fired rapidly. Mike joined in, and the line fell back. The girls were almost at the rock and he yelled at Johnny, “Let’s go, John! Back off and run!”
Johnny started backing toward them. Then, glancing around, he yelled, “Mike! Look out!”
Raglan turned swiftly, but not swiftly enough. A blow struck his gun hand and he dropped his pistol. Zipacna was facing him, smiling. “Now, you will begin to learn! And when we have put you away we shall teach you more!”
His right wrist was numb with pain, and Zipacna was closing in, his stick lifted to strike. He struck and Mike ducked under the blow and in close, not as Zipacna expected. Stooping low to avoid the blow, Mike swung a kick with his left foot, catching Zipacna on the knee. The larger man’s leg folded and he fell forward. Mike hit him as he was falling.