A huge king gorilla slammed an arm at him and screeched in anger as the smooth-skinned man eluded him. The gorilla gave his attention to alighting on the hard stones, and that was his mistake, for this smooth skin was on him like a charging buffalo, head lowered between his tremendous shoulders, and arms long as the gorilla's own shooting at him, hitting hard, like pistons. Kortha was laughing harshly in his throat as he hit. He had not fought in three years, and the taste of a battle was as old wine to his lips. He needed this test, badly. He wanted to learn if his reflexes were as they used to be. Kortha balled a fist and drove it into the gorilla's ribs. He hit again, and again, and something snapped. Blood flecked the wide, distorted mouth of the animal. His tiny eyes glared beneath shaggy brows. His dark brown coat bristled. The gorilla had got his balance by now, and Kortha darted beneath a blow that could have ripped his head off. He swung low, then veered up sharply, legs planted apart, arms pliant and big hands grasping. He caught the gorilla by a wrist, whirled, taking the screaming animal on his back. He humped his hips and flung the beast from him, into the air. But he kept tight hold of its wrist, and snapped downward with all the fury of his titanic strength. The gorilla hit the stones on its back. It screamed as its spine burst. Kortha stared down at the writhing, dying gorilla, saying, "So. This is the secret of Yassa. The extinct king gorilla is not extinct. Only an expedition in force could completely explore Yassa." Xax shrilled, "They dare not touch a tumblie. That is why we can come and go." He proved his point an instant later when another gorilla dropped from a low roof. Xax rolled beneath the falling beast who screeched in agony as the tumblie's long quills ripped into the pads of his feet. Chattering in pain, the gorilla ran off while Kortha laughed. "You're a good companion to have at a time like this, Xax," he chuckled. Xax clicked his needles. "We're coming to the Tower of Zut. A tumblie can't fight what dwells in there." Kortha said, "No living thing dwells there, Xax. And the dead cannot harm you." * * * * * The glory that was Yassa burst on them as they rounded a corner and stood in the square of Zut. A massive building of translucent white jadestone loomed solitary in the square. The face of the temple, gleaming lucid in the sunlight, fronted toward them, broad and tall and tapering to a triangular crown far above. From its base four bulbous domes stretched backward, fanshaped, like blunted and misshapen fingers. The symmetry of the building was awesome. The ancient architect who designed it had been an artist as well as an engineer. It was a thing of beauty, as well as a place of terror.