And then, in pure surprise, Shannach spoke inside Trevor's mind. "I grow old indeed! I misjudged the toughness and the secrecy of a fresh, strong mind. I was too used to my obedient Korins." "Do you see what's happening to the last of them?" Trevor asked savagely. "Can you see?" The last of the Korins who had been outside with the slaves seemed to have been stunned and bewildered by the collapse of their world. And with the spontaneity of a whirlwind, the slaves had risen against this last remnant of their hated masters. They had waited for a long, long time, and now the Korins and the hawks were being done to death. "Can you see it, Shannach?" "I can see, Trevor. And--they're coming now for you!" They were. They were coming, blood-mad against all who wore the sun-stone, and Jen was in the forefront of them, and Saul, whose hands were red. Trevor knew that he had less than a half-minute to speak for his life. And he was aware that Shannach, still withdrawn, watched now with an edged amusement. Trevor said harshly to Saul and all of them, "So I give you your freedom, and you want to kill me for it?" Saul snarled, "You betrayed us in the cave, and now...." "I betrayed you, but without intent. There was someone stronger than the Korins, that even you didn't know about. So how should I have known?" Trevor talked fast, then, talking for his life, telling them about Shannach and how the Korins themselves were enslaved. "A lie," spat Saul. "Look for yourselves in the crypts underneath the city! But be careful." He looked at Jen, not at Saul. After a moment Jen said slowly, "Perhaps there is a--Shannach. Perhaps that's why we were never allowed in the city, so the Korins could go on pretending that they were gods." "It's another of his lies, I tell you!" Jen turned to him. "Go and look, Saul. We'll watch him." Saul hesitated. Finally, he and a half-dozen others went off toward the city. Trevor sat down on the hot, scorched grass. He was very tired, and he didn't like at all the way the withdrawn shadow of Shannach hovered just outside his mind. The mountains leaned away from the Sun, and the shadows crawled up the lower slopes. Then Saul and the others returned. Trevor looked up at their faces and laughed without mirth. "It's true, isn't it?" "Yes," said Saul, and shivered. "Yes...." "Did he speak to you?" "He started to. But--we ran." And Saul suddenly cried, out of the depths of fear this time and not of hate, "We can never kill him. It's his valley. And oh God, we're trapped in here with him, we can't get out." "We can get out," said Trevor. VII Saul stared at him sickly. "There's no way over the mountains. There isn't even air up there." "There's a way. I found it in the ship." Trevor stood up, speaking with a sudden harshness. "Not a way for us all, not now, but if three or four of us go, one may live to make it. And he could bring back men with ships for the others."