Overhead, the shaft-cap loomed closer ... closer. They reached the top level, hung there, suspended. Then Craig slid back the panel, and they stepped out into the bare, echoing hallway's darkness. Still gripping the girl's wrist, he groped his way up the stairway and out onto the flat top of the tower. * * * * * The disc still lay where he had left it. Far to the west, the sky was already turning turquoise, Roh's blue beams dimming. In minutes the great green morning sun called Boh would climb above the far horizon. Pulling Narla to the edge of the roof, Craig peered down. Ant-like, men were moving through the street below--spreading out, forming a cordon. "Too bad I'll have to miss the reception." He chuckled and turned back to Narla. "Now; about the crystal--" "The crystal--?" Her grey eyes clouded. "I know nothing of it." Craig stared. "But Tumek said--" "He sent it to me to hold for him. That was all. He never told me its use." A numbness gripped Craig. The girl said, "Besides, even if I did know, why should I trust you--you, who came as murderers come, with that creature Vydys to whom only pain is passion?" Craig turned on her. "What--?" "You held her, did you not? Else how could I surprise you--?" "Are you jealous, then--because it was she I held, and not you?" Narla's face turned white with fury. "Not even a sadat would say such a thing!" She jerked free of Craig's hand, beat her small fists on his chest. "Go, you rabble! Leave me! Go back to the scum, the Baemae!" Craig reached for her hands. She jumped back and slapped his face. The sting of her palm was like a trigger. With a curse, he lunged for her and caught her to him, still struggling and flailing. "Is this what you want?" Savagely, brutally, he kissed her. Her lips were like ice. Her eyes blazed grey fire. "Is that quite all, Earthman?" Craig sucked in air. "No. Not quite." Pinioning her arms, once again he glanced down at the cordon of guards in the street below. "You see ... you're going with me." "No!" "Yes." He flashed a tight, hard grin. "Without a knowledge of how to use Tumek's crystal, the Baemae will need a weapon against your father. And what better could they find than you, his daughter, as a hostage?" Shoving her aside, he lifted the great disc from the rooftop; spun it. It jerked ... caught ... hovered. "Please, Craig Nesom...." "Please indeed, my lady Narla! We're sailing south this morning--away from Torneulan, beyond the reach of your father and his cursed Kukzubas barons." "You mean--?" "Yes!" Bodily, he lifted her and set her on the hovering disc. "We are traveling south to the djevoda range, and freedom!" CHAPTER V