oach them. If they found him among the supplies, they might
skewer him on the spot with a typical Pyrran reflex.

Walking warily he approached the line of trees. Something moved on
a branch, but vanished as he came near. None of the plants near a
thick-trunked tree looked poisonous, so he slipped behind it. There was
nothing deadly in sight and it surprised him. He let his body relax a
bit, leaning against the rough bark.

Something soft and choking fell over his head, his body was seized in a
steel grip. The more he struggled the tighter it held him until the
blood thundered in his ears and his lungs screamed for air.

Only when he grew limp did the pressure let up. His first panic ebbed a
little when he realized that it wasn't an animal that attacked him. He
knew nothing about the grubbers, but they were human so he still had a
chance.

His arms and legs were tied, the power holster ripped from his arm. He
felt strangely naked without it. The powerful hands grabbed him again
and he was hurled into the air, to fall face down across something warm
and soft. Fear pressed in again, it was a large animal of some kind. And
all Pyrran animals were deadly.

When the animal moved off, carrying him, panic was replaced by a feeling
of mounting elation. The grubbers had managed to work out a truce of
some kind with at least one form of animal life. He had to find out how.
If he could get that secret--and get it back to the city--it would
justify all his work and pain. It might even justify Welf's death if the
age-old war could be slowed or stopped.

Jason's tightly bound limbs hurt terribly at first, but grew numb with
the circulation shut off. The jolting ride continued endlessly, he had
no way of measuring the time. A rainfall soaked him, then he felt his
clothes steaming as the sun came out.

The ride was finally over. He was pulled from the animal's back and
dumped down. His arms dropped free as someone loosed the bindings. The
returning circulation soaked him in pain as he lay there, struggling to
move. When his hands finally obeyed him he lifted them to his face and
stripped away the covering, a sack of thick fur. Light blinded him as he
sucked in breath after breath of clean air.

Blinking against the glare, he looked around. He was lying on a floor of
crude planking, the setting sun shining into his eyes through the
doorless entrance of the building. There was a ploughed field outside,
stretching down the curve o