“Do we cross the river?” To my mind that would be the point of greatest vulnerability. I did not see how we could pass that under the fire of an alerted camp.
“For so much favor we may thank whatever gods or powers your species recognizes,” Eet returned. “Luckily this representative of your law chose to set down on this bank. But it is necessary to flank their post and to avoid any party coming from their ship to reinforce the guard there. Now- right-“
I had been watching the sweep of the beam and it now touched the point farthest from us. So no prompting from Eet was needed to send me scuttling to the next patch of dark I had already marked as a good hiding place. Hory did not leap with me, but my move must have spurred him to action, for he was little behind me in reaching that new lurking place.
Unfortunately the cover seemed designed to lead us farther and farther from our real goal. Yet we could now hear sounds from over the river and see the flash of beamers, which marked a search party setting out from the ship. One of those beamers was set up to illuminate not only their bridge, but a goodly portion of land on our side, an open field of light I saw no way to avoid.
“Not over, but under – at that next hole.” Eet’s hind claws dug convulsively into my flesh as I gathered my legs under me, readying for the next dash.
He must mean the next patch of deep shadow, but what his “under, not over” meant I was not to learn until I reached it, or rather was engulfed in it. For it was not merely a lurking place behind a pile of stones, but indeed a hole, into which I tumbled.
I flung out my arms and my fingers scraped rock on three sides. Then Hory landed half on me, sending me teetering toward the fourth. I did not strike any barrier there as I fought for my balance, my feet in their pack coverings skidding on a smooth stone surface. Again I felt about me. Walls not too far away on either side – but open before. And I heard Hory scuffling behind.
“Ahead-“ Eet urged.
“How do you know?” I demanded.
“I know.” He was confident. “Ahead.”
I felt my way along. I was in a passage. Whether it was indeed some runway planned by the builders I did not know. It might have been fashioned by the tumbling of walls. The flooring inclined and I splashed into a pool of water. There was a dank smell which grew thicker as we advanced.
“Where do we travel? Under the river?” I asked.
“No. Though perhaps river water does seep here. Look now to your right”
Ahead was a faint glow which brightened as I slipped and slid on. Through my mind shot a memory of those slime trails within the wreck. Would we find those here also? But at least we could depend upon Eet for a warning-
I came to the site of the glow. There was a square opening in the wall to my right where a block had been removed or had fallen out. And through this improvised window, I looked down into a chamber of some size. Down its center ran a table of the same stone as formed the walls, save that this was not so eroded. And set on it were boxes. They had been metal; now they were pitted and worn, and some had fallen into rusty dust, only their outlines marked on the table. But there was one very near to our window which appeared whole, and in it were stones which gave forth feeble sparks of life. The glow which had drawn my attention did not come from those, but from what lay beside the box. Eet uncurled from my shoulders and passed in a leap through the window to the surface of the table. He raced along it until he came to the ring, thrusting one of his handpaws through it, using the other to draw it farther up his shoulder like a barbaric armlet.
He made a second leap, back onto the stone ledge of the window, then climbed to my shoulders, stuffing the ring inside my tunic, where it lay, almost too warm for comfort, against my skin.
“What is it?” To my surprise Hory’s voice did not come from behind me, but from some distance farther back along the passage. “Where are you? What did you stop for?”
“There is a wall opening here,” Eet reported smoothly. “But it is of no service to us. The way ahead, however, is clear.”
I was puzzled. I had believed Hory directly on my heels and I had been sure he must have seen what lay in the room. Now it appeared that he had not. But I asked no questions of Eet.
Once more the passage sloped – but now up. It was leading us in the direction we had been aiming for. We took it step by careful step. I listened intently and knew the others must be doing the same.
“There are many loose stones ahead,” Eet informed us. “You must move with the greatest care. But it is not too far now before we reach the fringe of the ruins. Beyond that we have yet to avoid the sniffers.”
We emerged into heaps of loose rubble. My sight had returned to normal and I saw enough to guess that this material marked the miners’ dump. We plotted a path through it with caution. But luckily the higher heaps were between us and the sweeping beam. The activity was now on the cliff side of the river, and at the ruins nearest the tunnel beamers were turning the night to day.
But our luck held as we crept from the edge of the last rubble pile into the brush. This was tangled and thick, but it made a curtain for us.
“They will expect us to make for the Patrol ship,” I pointed out to Eet.
“Naturally. But they will expect that to be bait in a trap for both of you. Probably they have already taken steps there-“
“What!” Hory stopped short. “But they could not interfere with the ship itself – it is on personal time lock.”
“Such trifles might not deter a determined Guild expert,” Eet replied. “But Nactitl has not been able to foresee my presence or some other minor mishaps. I tell you, keep on. Once we reach the ship we need not worry about escape off world.”
Knowing Eet, I trusted that tone of assurance. Hory probably did not, but he followed as if he had no choice – which in truth he did not, unless he proposed to skulk about the terrain or go into suicidal battle with the Guild.
FOURTEEN
“Sniffers!”
Eet’s warning halted me. There was enough light and noise behind us to inform the natives that those of the ship’s camp were hunting.
“Where?” Perhaps Hory was now willing to depend upon Eet’s senses, if not to accept his advice.
“Left – in the tree.”
That was not as tall as the forest giants, but it did tower well above us. And its foliage made so impenetrable a cone of dark that no eyes of ours could sight what might hide there.
“He waits to leap as we pass beneath,” Eet informed us. “Swing well away; he will leap but fall short.”
This time we were not unarmed. Hory had one of the X-Tee’s lasers, I another. To spray about without a definite target, however, would be folly. I held the weapon at ready and started around the tree.
It was like a blow in my face, striking deep into my head, then seeming to center in my ears. I staggered under it and heard Hory cry out in equal torment.
Eet twisted on my shoulders, thrust in his claws to keep his position. I forgot all about any menace from the natives; all I wanted was to be rid of the agony in my head.
“-hand – take Hory’s hand – hold-“
Eet’s mind voice was almost muffled by the pain in my head. His hand-paws had gone to my ears, gripping them, and I could feel his body resting against my head, an addition to my misery.
“Take Hory’s hand!” The command was emphasized by a sharp twist of my ears. I tried to lift my hand to pull that tormentor from my shoulders, but found that, instead of obeying me, my flesh and muscle were flung around, and my fingers seemed to close of their own accord on warm skin and bone, in a grip riveted past my breaking. The Patrolman, moaning, tried to break away from me, to no effect.
“Now- on!” Again Eet twisted my ears. Dazed from the pain in my head, I stumbled in the direction he aimed me, towing Hory behind.