re lost. My
men and I have been foraging in the world above for these--and have
helped ourselves to your cattle when we could.

"The waters are back to their old level, but they left a soggy, ruined
world behind them. There is a deal of work to be done before it will be
like the world that you knew. And our sun is of so little use that it can
scarcely dry out the sloughs.

"Meanwhile, Wolden and his men are working on another ship. Even a larger
ship than the one which Grim Hagen stole. They work day and night. Grim
Hagen took his choice of our treasures. He stole our princess, and he
killed millions. We are going after him, even if he drives to the edge
of space. And I am going because of a promise I made long ago, and because
of the love that I have for Maya. And because of you, Jack Odin. The sword
is forged now. It is white-hot upon the anvil. The sparks leap out like
stars as the hammer of the smith clangs down. And I will follow Grim Hagen
as far as a man can go--even a league beyond the outer shell of space--or
a day's journey beyond the grave." (So Gunnar's tale was ended. And the
two sat there in silence, watching the coals wink out, and feeling the
all-devouring dark coming back into the cavern.)

"Then I will go with you," Jack Odin told Gunnar. "To fight at your right
side until we find my princess--"

"And until Grim Hagen is dead," Gunnar added. "For he is a noisome leaven
that will pollute all of space that he touches."

The last coal went back to ashes. Odin turned on his light, and Gunnar
blinked in pain at the sudden glare. Then they went onward and downward,
past columns of limestone that were already old when the world was young.

CHAPTER 4

Soon the floor of the cavern was slippery beneath their feet.

"The waters came up to here," Gunnar said. "Now, take a deep breath,
Nors-King, for the air gets worse before it gets better."

He was right. The stench of dead things came crawling upward to meet them.
Soon the floor was littered with the things from Opal's sea that had crept
here to die. Huge, fanged saurians, lizards, toads, snakes. The cave was
strewn with their carcasses, some half-decayed, others drying into hardened
shells, others already reduced to stinking bones and sinew.

* * * * *

Gunnar kicked several out of the way as he made a trail for Odin to follow.

The short man did not tire. He went on and on at his steady shuffling gait
which l