ade him think of jade--if jade could be mined in
such quantities as these five-story towers demanded.

Nalik'ideyu padded to him, and he could hear the faint click of her
claws on the pavement. There was a deep silence in this place, as if the
air itself swallowed and digested all sound. The wind which had been
with them all the day of their journeying was left beyond the cleft.

Yet there was life here. The coyote told him that in her own way. She
had not made up her mind concerning that life--wariness and curiosity
warred in her now as her pointed muzzle lifted toward the windows
overhead.

The windows were all well above ground level, but there was no opening
in the first stories as far as Travis could see. He debated moving into
the range of those windows to investigate the far side of the towers for
doorways. The mist and the message from Nalik'ideyu nourished his
suspicions. Out in the open he would be too good a target for whatever
or whoever might be standing within the deep-welled frames.

The silence was shattered by a boom. Travis jumped, slewed half around,
knife in hand.

Boom-boom ... a second heavy beat-beat ... then a clangor with a
swelling echo.

Kaydessa flung back her head and called, her voice rising up as if
tunneled by the valley walls. She then whistled as she had done when
they fronted the ape-thing and ran on to catch at Travis' sleeve, her
face eager.

"My people! Come--it is my people!"

She tugged him on before breaking into a run, weaving fearlessly around
the base of one of the towers. Travis ran after her, afraid he might
lose her in the mist.

Three towers, another stretch of open pavement, and then the mist lifted
to show them a second carved doorway not two hundred yards ahead. The
boom-boom seemed to pull Kaydessa, and Travis could do nothing but trail
her, the coyotes now trotting beside him.

8

They burst through a last wide band of mist into a wilderness of tall
grass and shrubs. Travis heard the coyotes give tongue, but it was too
late. Out of nowhere whirled a leather loop, settling about his chest,
snapping his arms tight to his body, taking him off his feet with a jerk
to be dragged helplessly along the ground behind a galloping horse.

A tawny fury sprang in the air to snap at the horse's head. Travis
kicked fruitlessly, trying to regain his feet as the horse reared, and
fought against the control of his shouting rider. All through the melee
the Apache