s have left the key in the lock." He pulled off the
stiffest of his leather wrappings and after flattening it out pushed
it under the badly fitting bottom edge of the door, leaving just a bit
to hold onto. Then he poked lightly at the key through the keyhole and
heard it thud to the ground outside. When he pulled the leather back
in the key was lying in the center of it. The door unlocked silently
and a moment later they were outside, staring tensely into the
darkness.

"Let's go! Run, get away from here," Snarbi said and Jason grabbed him
by the throat and pulled him back.

"Isn't there one drop of constructive intelligence on this planet? How
are you going to get to Appsala without food or water, and if you find
some--how can you carry enough? You want to stay alive follow my
instructions. I'm going to lock this door first so that no one
stumbles onto our escape by accident. Then we are going to get some
transport and leave here in style. Agreed?"

The answer was only a choked rattle until Jason opened his fingers a
bit and let some air into the man's lungs. A labored groan must have
meant assent because Snarbi tottered after him when he made his way
through the dark alleys between the buildings.

Getting clear of the walled refinery town presented no problem since
the few sentries were only looking for trouble from the outside. It
was equally easy to approach Jason's leather-walled worksite from the
rear and slip through it at the spot where Jason had cut the leather
and sewn up the opening with thin twine.

"Sit here and touch nothing or you will be cursed for life," he
commanded the shivering Snarbi, then slipped towards the front
entrance with a small sledge hammer clutched in his fist. He was
pleased to see one of Edipon's other sons on guard duty, leaning
against a pole and dozing. Jason gently lifted his leather helm with
his free hand and tapped once with the hammer: the guard slept even
more soundly.

"Now we can get to work," Jason said when he had returned inside, and
clicked a firelighter to the wick of a lantern.

"What are you doing? They'll see us, kill us--escaped slaves."

"Stick with me Snarbi and you'll be wearing shoes. Lights here can't
be seen by the sentries, I made sure of that when I sited the place.
And we have a piece of work to do before we leave--we have to build a
_caroj_."

They did not have to build it from scratch, but there was enough truth
in the statement to justify it.