He heard a voice shouting hoarsely in the darkness, and other voices replying angrily, impatiently. "We've lost him!" "The devil's wounded Marl and Varo!" "Find him, you fools! He must be taken." Telis ran breathlessly along the wall, hoping against hope that the gate would not be covered. It was a vain hope. As he broke out of the shrubbery, the shouts began again and he was forced to retreat into the shelter of a towering desert plant. He waited there, breath coming in long rasping gasps, and his head singing from the blow he had taken. With pounding heart he listened to the attackers beating the bushes for him and shouting commands and advice to one another. More men must still be coming down from the air-sled, for there were fully ten in the dark courtyard now. "He can't have gotten far!" "See that the gate is covered--" "How the young devil does fight!" "Pierce that bush there! I saw something move!" Telis tried to smother his labored breathing as the group drew nearer to his hiding place. His hands cradled his two swords lovingly as the searchers spread out into a semicircle and moved steadily towards him. Telis tensed himself to leap. Within seconds, they would be upon him and assassins on Laurr showed no mercy, particularly to one who had wounded two of their craft. He doubled his legs under him and waited. "There he is!" Telis burst from hiding and braced himself for the rush. His back was once again against the wall and this time, he knew, there would be no escape. A glittering circle of naked swords surrounded him and he lashed out furiously, driving the attackers back by the main force of his charge. Then it was that a stray beam of light from the closely guarded gate caught a jewelled glyph on the harness of one of the assassins and Telis' heart froze. The insigne was the Sword and Atom--the ensign of the Secular Guard of the Holy Temple! The disclosure was like a blow. It was Gorla rather than Brand, who was trying to kill him! The bitter understanding seemed to sap his strength. When he felt the stun-gun's tingling impact, it was almost a relief. Blackness came ... darker than the primeval night, and he felt himself falling.... II There was wind on his face, and the air was bitterly cold. Telis stirred. His harness covered him only slightly, and his bare limbs and naked chest stung under the lash of the icy night air. From somewhere, muffled by the roaring of the wind, Telis could hear the familiar beat of a multiple-pulse jet engine. Under his questing hands lay the caulked deck of an air-sled, and he realized that the aircraft was under way and that he was lashed to rings in the afterdeck. With a shuddering sigh, he forced himself to relax. Since his abductors so obviously had the better of him at the moment, there was little he could do other than watch and wait.