"Loki, the Mischief-Maker, running through creation--" Gunnar muttered.

Grim Hagen may not have heard him for he continued in that same desperate,
pleading voice. "So here is my proposition, Ato. Give me your father's
secret. In return, I give you the treasures, the Old Ship, the prisoners,
and even Maya. Is not that complete surrender?" He smiled disarmingly.

* * * * *

Ato stood tall and proud as he answered. His eyes were blazing now, as he
saw through Grim Hagen's plan. "So, you thought I would bargain away
Wolden's secret, did you? Well, your surmises were wrong. When last I saw
him his work was not finished. I know so little about it that I could tell
you nothing of any value. But if I did," Ato's voice was trembling in
disgust. "If I did, Hagen, would I turn you and your hells' spawn loose
upon the stars to perplex them forever?"

Grim Hagen's face was almost blue with rage. "You have said enough. And
there are other ways to make you talk. Make these swine prisoners," he
screamed.

A dozen knives flashed. A dozen death-tubes were pointed toward Ato and
his followers.

But one of Grim Hagen's lieutenants, a Bron who was now silver-haired,
intervened. "No, Grim Hagen. They are under truce. The week is not yet up.
I will not see you go back on your own word--"

Grim Hagen flamed. "You will die on the hook for this--"

"Maybe so. One thing is certain: I will die. And I can face it. But you
can't, can you, Grim Hagen? You would prefer to be some sort of eternal
devil, working its fury upon the stars. Now, where is the new thinking that
you used to preach? That dream is as old as the incantations beside the
cave-fires--"

"Arrest them all," Grim Hagen screamed. "Arrest Rama too," he added with
rage.

But the knives and swords were back in their holsters. The guns were
lowered. One by one his men filed out of the council room. Grim Hagen's
face was so dark that Odin feared a stroke. But with a curse at Ato and
Odin, Hagen lifted his chin high and followed his men from the room. Only
the one called Rama remained.

"I will do what I can, Ato," he said quietly. "I was nearly fifty when we
started this journey. And we lived hard and fast. I am old now. I married
one of the slave-girls. We have children. Were it not for that, I would go
with you. But I am tired. God, I'm tired--"

He saluted them as he went out the door.

They never saw Rama again.

CHAPTER 11

Al