as those killers have netted about the men here!"

"This is one weapon which they shall not use again." Ynvalda rose from a
stone block where she had been sitting. "And perhaps in its way it was
one of the most dangerous. But in defeating it we have by so much
weakened ourselves also. And the strong place of these star men lies not
on the coast, but inland. They will be warned by those who fled this
place. Wind and wave, yes, those have served our purpose in the past.
But now perhaps we have found that which our power will not best!
Only--for this"--her gesture was for the ruins of the citadel and the
dead--"there shall be a payment exacted--to the height of our desire!"

Whether the Foanna did have any control over the storm winds or not, the
present deluge appeared not to accommodate them. The dazed, injured
survivors of the courtyard were brought to shelter in some of the
underground passages.

There appeared to be no other reminders of the Wrecker force which had
earlier besieged the keep than those survivors. But within hours some of
those who had served the Foanna for generations returned. And the Foanna
themselves opened the sea gates so that the Rover cruisers anchored in
the small bay below their ruined walls.

A small force, and one ill-equipped to go up against the Baldies. Some
five star men's bodies had been found in the citadel, but the ship had
gone off to warn their base. To Ross's thinking the advantage still lay
with the invaders.

But the Hawaikans refused to accept the idea that the odds were against
them. As soon as the storm blew out its force Ongal's cruiser headed
northwest to other clan fairings where the Rovers could claim kinship.
And Afrukta sailed on the same errand south. While some of the Wreckers
were released to carry the warning to their lords. Just how great a
force could be gathered through such means and how effective it would
be, was a question to make the Terrans uneasy.

Karara disappeared with the Foanna into the surviving inner
cliff-burrows below the citadel. But Ashe and Ross remained with Torgul
and his officers, striving to bring organization out of the chaos about
them.

"We must know just where their lair lies," Torgul stated the obvious.
"The mountains you believe, and they can fly in sky ships to and from
that point. Well"--he spread out a chart--"here are the mountains on
this island, running so. An army marching hither could be sighted from
sky ships. Also, the