The men walked toward them slowly. They called out words. Fanning into an arc, they came on. Now their hands fell to their sides and they lifted long swords that dangled from the leather harness around their middles. Karola pulled her long legs up under the remnants of the gauze trousers. Thor lifted her beside him with a hand. Side by side they stood, awaiting the men. "They have swords and we only have your club, Slag," said Thor. "We want to work this together. Take the man at the left. I'll tackle him, going for his sword, while you clout him. In that way, we'll each have a weapon." "And me?" asked Karola. "I can handle a blade. Priestesses of Klogor are taught to defend themselves." "We'll see. They're coming head-on for us. Careful, Slag. Go for your man when I say the word." His muscles tightened in his legs. This was like a football game, in a way. The man with the sword was a ball carrier. Thor wanted that sword more than he had ever wanted a football. He shifted his feet, balancing himself. "_Now!_" They went off the rock together, dwarf and man. Slag brought his club around in a vicious arc. Thor slid under it, going for the arm. His fingers tightened on a wrist even as the club crunched home. The sword came free. He grabbed at it. With his hip he hit the man and drove him sideways into his companions. Thor landed on his knees, the hilt of the blade in his right fist. He looked around him, hearing Slag yell with superstitious fright. Karola screamed from the rock, "They've disappeared!" The meadows held only Slag and himself. Thor shook his head, and looked at the grasses. Even against the red, there should be bloodstains visible. But the blood had gone where the men had gone. "They don't even bleed," he said. "You sure you hit that guy, Slag?" "Slag hit him!" "I don't understand it. They come and go unseen. They must come from somewhere. They must have dwelling places." He lifted a long brown arm, thickly muscled. With it, he swept the red grasslands, the grey rocks, the sky with its gigantic orb of sun. For many days they had trod this world, and always found it as they saw it now. Empty and barren, like a newborn planet. Karola ran to catch them, and then the three walked on and on, into the sunset. * * * * * Eight days later, they found the Discoverer. At first Thor thought him another rock, so almost perfectly did his queer markings and sprawling, bloblike form match the stone. And then when he moved, in a peculiar, pouring sort of slide, and the electric tingles marched up and down his spine, Thor knew he was alive. "Hallo," called Thor. The blotched thing swung about. There were no eyes to be seen in its immense shape, but Thor knew he was being surveyed, and closely. "You are an Earthman," ran a thought in his mind. "The woman and the man are Klogorons." Thor said eagerly, "You know that? Then you must also know where we are--how we came here?" "I know, yes."