or lumps of clay, nor had she the power to quicken them to
life. Ever must they lie thus until dominated by the cold, heartless
brain of the kaldane. The girl sighed in pity even as she shuddered in
disgust as she picked her way over and among the sprawled creatures
toward the flier.

Quickly she and Ghek mounted to the deck after the latter had cast off
the moorings. Tara tested the control, raising and lowering the ship a
few feet within the walled space. It responded perfectly. Then she
lowered it to the ground again and waited. From the open doorway came
the sounds of conflict, now nearing them, now receding. The girl,
having witnessed her champion's skill, had little fear of the outcome.
Only a single antagonist could face him at a time upon the narrow
stairway, he had the advantage of position and of the defensive, and he
was a master of the sword while they were clumsy bunglers by
comparison. Their sole advantage was in their numbers, unless they
might find a way to come upon him from behind.

She paled at the thought. Could she have seen him she might have been
further perturbed, for he took no advantage of many opportunities to
win nearer the enclosure. He fought coolly, but with a savage
persistence that bore little semblance to purely defensive action.
Often he clambered over the body of a fallen foe to leap against the
next behind, and once there lay five dead kaldanes behind him, so far
had he pushed back his antagonists. They did not know it; these
kaldanes that he fought, nor did the girl awaiting him upon the flier,
but Gahan of Gathol was engaged in a more alluring sport than winning
to freedom, for he was avenging the indignities that had been put upon
the woman he loved; but presently he realized that he might be
jeopardizing her safety uselessly, and so he struck down another before
him and turning leaped quickly up the stairway, while the leading
kaldanes slipped upon the brain-covered floor and stumbled in pursuit.

Gahan reached the enclosure twenty paces ahead of them and raced toward
the flier. "Rise!" he shouted to the girl. "I will ascend the cable."

Slowly the small craft rose from the ground as Gahan leaped the inert
bodies of the rykors lying in his path. The first of the pursuers
sprang from the tower just as Gahan seized the trailing rope.

"Faster!" he shouted to the girl above, "or they will drag us down!"
But the ship seemed scarcely to move, though in reality she was rising
as r