She was not there, she sat on a higher ledge and jeered at him. "Come and get me, Basil, darling, darling. Come up here and talk to me!" He looked at her as Lucifer must have looked back to Heaven. "Let us go," he said. "Give us a ship and send us home." "And have you bring our overlords back in?" She laughed aloud. "They aren't so bad, Valduma. The Empire means peace and justice for all races." "Who speaks?" Her scorn flamed at him. "You don't believe that." He stood there for a moment. "No," he whispered. "No, I don't." Stooping, he picked up the sheaf of spears and began to crawl back down the rocks. Valduma cursed him from the heights. There was a break in the combat around the hard-pressed Terran ring as the Arzunians drew back to pant and glare. Donovan ran through and flung his load clashing at the feet of Takahashi. "Good work," said the officer. "We need these things. Here, get into the formation. Here we go again!" The Arzunians charged in a wedge to gather momentum. Donovan braced himself and lifted his sword. The Terrans in the inner ring slanted their spears between the men of the outer defense. For a very long half minute, they stood waiting. The enemy hit! Donovan hewed at the nearest, drove the probing sword back and hammered against the guard. Then the whirl of battle swept his antagonist away, someone else was there, he traded blows and the howl of men and metal lifted skyward. The Terrans had staggered a little from the massive assault, but it spitted itself on the inner pikes and then swords and axes went to work. Ha, clang, through the skull and give it to 'em! Hai, Empire! Ansa, Ansa! Clatter and yell and deep-throated roar, the Arzunians boiling around the Solar line, leaping and howling and whipping out of sight--a habit which saved their lives but blunted their attack, thought Donovan in a moment's pause. Wocha smashed the last few who had been standing before him, looked around to the major struggle, and pawed the ground. "Ready, lady?" he rumbled. "Aye, ready, Wocha. Let's go!" The Donarrian backed up to get a long running space. "Hang on tight," he warned. "Never mind fighting, lady. All right!" He broke into a trot, a canter, and then a full gallop. The earth trembled under his mass. "Hoooo!" he screamed. "Here we come!" Helena threw both arms around his corded neck. When they hit it was like a nuclear bomb going off. In a few seconds of murder, Wocha had strewn the ground with smashed corpses, whirled, and begun cutting his way into the disordered main group of the Arzunians. They didn't stand before him. Suddenly they were gone, all of them, except for the dead. Donovan looked over the field. The dead were thick, thick. He estimated that half the little Terran force was slain or out of action. But they must have taken three or four times their number of Arzunians to the Black Planet with them. The stony ground was pooled and steaming with blood. Carrion birds stooped low, screaming.