d for
the way he felt. After a moment I pointed to the notch in the ridge
again. "It's not so far. Once we get through Dammerung, it's easy going
into the trailmen's city. Beyond there, it's all civilized."

"Maybe _you_ call it civilization," Kendricks said, and turned away.

"Come on, let's finish drying our feet."

And at that moment they hit us.

* * * * *

Kendricks' yell was the only warning I had before I was fighting away
something scrabbling up my back. I whirled and ripped the creature away,
and saw dimly that the clearing was filled to the rim with an explosion
of furry white bodies. I cupped my hands and yelled, in the only
trailman dialect I knew, "Hold off! We come in peace!"

One of them yelled something unintelligible and plunged at me--another
tribe! I saw a white-furred, chinless face, contorted in rage, a small
ugly knife--a female! I ripped out my own knife, fending away a savage
slash. Something tore white-hot across the knuckles of my hand; the
fingers went limp and my knife fell, and the trailman woman snatched it
up and made off with her prize, swinging lithely upward into the
treetops.

I searched quickly, gripped with my good hand at the bleeding knuckles,
and found Regis Hastur struggling at the edge of a ledge with a pair of
the creatures. The crazy thought ran through my mind that if they killed
him all Darkover would rise and exterminate the trailmen and it would
all be my fault. Then Regis tore one hand free, and made a curious
motion with his fingers.

It looked like an immense green spark a foot long, or like a fireball.
It exploded in one creature's white face and she gave a wild howl of
terror and anguish, scrabbled blindly at her eyes, and with a despairing
shriek, ran for the shelter of the trees. The pack of trailmen gave a
long formless wail, and then they were gathering, flying, retreating
into the shadows. Rafe yelled something obscene and then a bolt of
bluish flame lanced toward the retreating pack. One of the humanoids
fell without a cry, pitching senseless over the ledge.

I ran toward Rafe, struggling with him for the shocker he had drawn from
its hiding-place inside his shirt. "You blind damned fool!" I cursed
him, "you may have ruined everything--"

"They'd have killed him without it," he retorted wrathfully. He had
evidently failed to see how efficiently Regis defended himself. Rafe
motioned toward the fleeing pack and sneered, "