"Then a whole line of them came down at us, faster than a squire can put a horse over a hurdle, and the forest yet a good half mile away! I had one dagger left, and my trusty small Jerran up behind me. The squires were ashooting, but ineffectively, and the roan was carrying us well and truly; but here came the gods, may they boil in my mother's cook-pot in Hell! "I looked wildly for something to beat 'em off with, for as you've seen, a touch of their radiance burns your flesh from your bones if they wish it so. Well! The only thing on the whole cursed nag is the scabbard in which a squire keeps his long gun. It's a thing some three feet long or over, of light metal, covered with satin and velvet and silk. I tore it from its moorings, and as the globes came at me, I stood up in the stirrups, naked as your hand, and started to swat 'em. Jerran leaning forward past me, guiding the stallion, for his reach is not half mine." "Brag and bounce!" said a voice that was surely Jerran's. Lady Nirea grinned and walked toward the cavern. "So I swatted, I beat at them, I swiped and almost fell, I did the work of twenty men--don't shake your head, Jerran, you know 'tis not brag!--for half a mile, and not one globe touched a hair of our heads! They came at the last from all sides, like a swarm of angered bees, and one burnt the horse so that he streaked even faster; which saved our necks, for my arm was nearly dead by then. "I tell you, there is one protection only against these things, and that is quickness: for let one come within a few inches of you, and you are a dead man." Nirea stepped into the cave. "I thought you were a dead man, Revel the Mink," she said quietly, still with the ghost of her grin. * * * * * He stared at her, while the men in the place turned and sprang up and stood uncertainly, looking from her to their leader. He was dressed in miner's clothing again, and his skin was a perfect fright of scars and scabs and half-closed wounds. But he was whole, barring part of an ear, and he was smiling as only he could smile. "Here, men of the ruck, is the woman you owe my life to. Here is--" he cocked an eyebrow quizzically--"here is, I think I can say, the Lady of the Mink." "Here she is," said Nirea, and was stifled and crushed in a great bear-hug. "And here's Rack, your brother, who I think may be rebel material." "I think so," said Rack heavily, staring at Revel with his good eye. "If you want me, brother." "Gods, yes! We need every man we can get this night. Did you note the slaughter beyond?" "We did see a corpse or two." "I think we kept that secret, for two of my fellows stood on the ladders and slew the gods who tried to pass. But it will soon be discovered, and the gods will do to this place what they did to eastern Dolfya, unless we can fight them some way. I think I have a clue to help us. What that is I'll show you now." "Revel, dearest," she said, "are you all right?"