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.He thought better of it.Some times the leopard got even.Another beast reached in.This time Michael laid his blade along the flashing paw.The thing yelped, but Trebilcock knew he had not injured it seriously.Wounds bothered them very little.During the Great Eastern Wars only one means of handling them had been found.That required burying them too deep for escape.The things growled among themselves and paced.„Michael, old friend, I think you miscalculated.You should have kept going.They wouldn't have caught you before dawn.They're working themselves up to jump in here now."Though the heat was murderous, he built his fires higher.He was not afraid of death, but the pointlessness of its occurring here irked him.He had always expected a more useful end.The growling and spitting hit a new note.They were ready.He braced himself, his sword poised to skewer the first monster through the fire.The caterwauling changed tone.Michael could see noth ing through the intensified flames, but would have sworn that one beast's howls were fading into the distance.The others were not pleased.A second monster voice hurtled away.Then another.But one remained, and he could read its thoughts from its low, soft sounds of rage.It was coming.He burrowed into his brush pile and waited.The thing roared.Its claws cut stone.Michael's eyes widened as a darkness blotted his wall of flame.He thrust, every ounce of strength behind his pitiful toothpick of a blade.The monster halted in mid-leap.Trebilcock's stroke fell short.He gaped as the savan dalage hurtled back through the fire, screaming and writhing.„What the hell?" he murmured.„Just what in the hell?"Claws scraped stone.Michael crouched.Another was coming.The angry protests began.Three repeats and then there was no sound in the wilder ness.Michael Trebilcock seated himself cross-legged and faced his fire, sword across his lap, his forehead puckered in a frown.The fire suddenly died.And Michael said, „You.Of course.I should have guessed."Ragnarson and Varthlokkur had taken turns dozing.Now Bragi wakened as a bar of sunlight slipped over the east wall and smacked his face.He moved a few feet to the right, cracked one eyelid.The wizard was awake too, and as groggy as he.Bragi asked, „Think we ought to give up? It's got to be too late now."„Not necessarily.Radeachar will bring him back."„In pieces, maybe."„If it comes to that."„That pigeon restored my faith.I'd hate to lose him just when he turned me around.Wouldn't hardly be fair, would it?"Irritably, the wizard said, „Do we have to talk? I'm a little old for these vigils.Give me a break."„You got it." Ragnarson leaned back, closed his eyes, let the torpor steal over him.Damn, but it was hard to sleep on a stairstep.Next thing he knew, someone was shaking him.He grabbed his sword.„Take it easy," Michael said.„We're all friends."Ragnarson looked round quickly.The sun had risen to the ten o'clock position.Varthlokkur was trying to wake up too.The wizard asked, „Michael, will you crack my neck for me? I think I popped it out, leaning against this damned wall."Trebilcock placed one hand on the side of the wizard's head, the other under his chin.„Don't everybody get excited at once." He rolled Varthlokkur's head a few times, yanked.The courtyard walls echoed the pop.„Ey! Don't break it!"„Yes sir, Mister Crab-Ass Wizard, sir.Maybe I should fly back and keep walking.Give you time to organize the parades."Bragi grumbled, „Glad you're back, Michael.Glad you're alive.Where the hell have you been? We waited up all night."„The Unborn didn't find me till almost sunrise.Then he wanted to play with the savan dalage.Flying is something! I've got to try it again.You can see half the world.You look down and it's like seeing a perfect map."Varthlokkur rubbed his neck.„Next time you feel one of these mysterious jaunts coming on, tell somebody.Save us some time and grief."Ragnarson growled, „I want to talk to you about that, Michael.Somehow, I got to get the word through to you.Stop being so damned secretive.You were lucky this time.Your pigeon beat the odds.But what if it hadn't? Your whole damned outfit would have died with you.Nobody else knows what the hell is going on."Michael sighed.He turned to the Unborn.„How about taking me back? Let's try this homecoming again tomor row."Varthlokkur asked, „What did you mean about the savan dalage?"„He kept them off me till the sun came up.Then he plopped me on top of a pillar of sandstone.Then he dragged one out of hiding, backed off about ten miles, and came at me so fast I wouldn't have seen him if he wasn't coming right at me
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