Fingers pried open his jaw, probed at the misshapen gum, sending fiery flashes of agony into his brain. Then a hard edge of pain struck, cutting, releasing a flood of warm wetness in his mouth. Yet it all seemed to be happening far away. He sensed Bidagha bending near once more. "Boy is going fast. Infection is deep." Another voice: "Move him to experimental hospital?" "He would not live to get there." A pause. "Go, bring forceps and bone knives. Hurry." A long roaring darkness. Then new movement around where he lay: and a sudden voice that he dimly recognized as his father's. "Stop! What is that tool in your hand?" "A new device for extracting teeth," came Bidagha's calm, resonant voice: "with which we may save your son's life." Shocked murmurs all over the hall, topped by his father's shout of outrage, "In Cave--in hands of Healer?" Bidagha relied, "What Immortals want new, they make new! Here and now, in my hands, they end our years of darkness! Let Immortals confound me if I lie!" * * * * * The multitude in Cave roared their approval, and Premier Karn hesitated. He appeared to be struggling within himself. As the echoes died away, a pebble rolled from a ledge, dislodged by the sound, and fell at Bidagha's feet. A second pebble fell, and a boulder which had rested above the hearth for untold centuries shifted its position. With a shout, Bidagha flung himself over Pehn's body as the boulder trembled and fell, crushing the life from the bodies of both men. Dust rose, and a rumble began near the ceiling. "Run!" cried Premier Karn. "Run for your lives!" As the others ran from Cave, Lord Karn rushed to the huge rock lying upon his son, but he had no hope. Neither Pehn nor Bidagha would ever move again. A trickle of sand pattered to the floor, and with a last backward glance Lord Karn ran from Cave. Boulders rained from the ceiling. The Premier had just reached the outside when a huge slab of rock crashed to the floor against the entrance. On the slope nearby, Pehn's mother and sister wept silently. Lord Karn stood motionless a long while. At last he spoke. "Cave is sealed," he said. "Let it never be opened again. Immortals have willed that my son should rest here forever, with impious Bidagha." Turning his face to the sky, he shook his fist at the bright spark of Topaz in the paling north. "So much for new things and foreign stars!" he said between his teeth. "This day's evil is enough." They extinguished their candles and went slowly up the valley path towards the city. * * * * *