“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured her. “Nor could you convince one of your people who stood in the temple this night that I am not Tur. Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception of mortal man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur, and you will find me all-powerful enough for my purposes.” I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged forth a flier, aboard which we placed her, and turned the craft’s nose towards a lofty tower where Hovan Du told us lay Sag Or. “I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus, with a laugh. “And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told him, “as soon as ever we can come again to the pits of Ras Thavas.” “Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara Vasa,” he sighed. “Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure of my gratitude would be yours.” “Where may we find her?” “Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for her that I was apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had been to her father’s palace only to learn that he had been assassinated and his property confiscated. The whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or would not divulge; but they held me there upon one pretext or another until a detachment of the Jeddara’s Guard could come and arrest me.” “We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said. We were now coming to a stop alongside a window of the tower Hovan Du had indicated, and he and Dar Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared within. We were all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by the three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier beneath our feet and all our little company reunited, with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they were now conducting aboard, we were indeed in high spirits. As we got under way again, setting our nose towards the east, I asked Sag Or if he knew what had become of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in surly tones, that he did not. “Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think hard, for perhaps upon your answer your life depends.” “What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an ugly look towards Dar Tarus. “You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in the hollow of my hand; and you serve me well it shall be yours, though in your own body and not in that belonging to Dar Tarus.” “You do not intend destroying me?” “Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live on in her own body and you in yours.” “I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the Jeddara. Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his own body like some disembodied soul—as weird a situation as I have ever encountered. “Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara Vasa. When my body has been restored to me and yours to you I shall hold no enmity against you if you have not harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.”