"The exile!" one of the men whispered fearfully. "She is truly a Sasso-creature! Kill her!" "Wait!" Bolan spoke as though dazed. "Why did you--?" Krasna did not answer. Instead she seized the Luvan's dagger in her uninjured hand and carved a gaping cross-shaped gash in the chest of the carcass beside her. Through glazing eyes Eldon watched as she plunged her hand into the slimy, quivering mess and felt disgusted at her exhibition of rank savagery. She brought her arm out, fouled and defiled to the elbow with the Luvan's evil-smelling blood. In her hand was a tiny glittering capsule. She tossed it to the ground. "Smash it!" she said weakly. Uncomprehendingly one of the men crushed it beneath his heel. Instantly the bloated, obscene, mangled carcass vanished as though it had never existed. Even its spilled blood was gone. The men drew unsteady breaths and a look of awed understanding appeared on their faces. "The other one!" Krasna writhed as pain from her blasted hand penetrated her consciousness. "I--can't." Eager swords hacked at the remaining monster and eager hands pawed among the filth of its body. "We have killed a Luvan!" One of the men shouted exultantly as the second capsule shattered under his foot and the second carcass disappeared. "We know their secret now." Bolan had recovered from his stupefaction. "The Chamber!" he ordered. "Be quick!" "But it is forbidden," a man objected. "She is an exile. The Council--" "Damn the Council!" Bolan picked up his sword and brandished it. "To the Chamber!" he repeated. The man looked to where the two Luvans had been and nodded. "Take--him." Krasna spoke with great effort. "He--must--be--El-ve-don." "Both!" Bolan decided instantly. He whistled and three more Forest People emerged from the trees. One was a tall, rawboned woman who took charge of administering first aid while the men prepared makeshift litters. Eldon knew he was dying, but he tried to speak. "Be still!" the woman ordered without rancor, continuing her ministrations. One of the men picked up a small furry bundle and deposited it tenderly beside Krasna. The lemur-thing whined softly and snuggled against her. Eldon felt no pain as he was rolled onto a stretcher. He was too far gone for that. As everything grew dark Krasna was looking at him, and now for the first time there was no pity in her glance. Instead there was dawning admiration. Her thought reached him, bypassing his ears and entering his brain as a telepathic whisper. "Call me. I will be near." VI Dead. Dead. No bodily sensations. No _being_. But still thought. The individuality of Eldon Carmichael looked without eyes, listened without ears. It was absolutely, utterly alone in _nothingness_. Nothing but terrible _aloneness_. But something--someone--had said, "Call me." What? Whom? Shreds of memory began to coalesce. "Krasna!" The individuality of Eldon Carmichael shouted without lungs or mouth. "Krasna!"