nds of
carnivore would launch itself upon them.

Claws would rip their flesh, flashing fangs rend and tear them. Karn was
quite objective as he thought about it. They didn't have a chance.

A roar split the air. Karn had known it was coming. But the three below
were taken completely by surprise. Fear rooted them and froze them into
immobility. Crouching, Karn watched death come hurtling toward them.

But after all, they _were_ his own kind.

* * * * *

Karn met the wolf in mid-leap. No tiger could have made the leap more
surely than he. His plummeting weight landed squarely athwart the
beast's back, breaking short the trajectory of its bound.

Together they crashed to earth. Karn's legs encircled the wolf's middle
with the strength of a python. Steel fingers found its throat.

Claws raked at Karn's thighs, slavering fangs sought his hands. He
retaliated in kind. His own teeth were at the wolf's jugular. The animal
rolled, taking Karn along with him, but the man would not loose his
grip.

Bestial growls rumbled from two chests. Dust-covered and splattered with
gore, they fought across the glade. Karn's legs tightened inexorably and
the wolf's growl became an anguished squeal.

It could not shake the thing that clung to its back. Slowly, surely its
ribs were forced inward until they cracked. Then jagged ends dug at its
lungs, its heart. There was a gush of blood from its nostrils. It lay
still.

Karn spat out the salt sweat that ran into his mouth and wiped it from
his eyes. Slowly he rose and shook the tension from his leg muscles.
Blood dripped from a shallow gash in his thigh but that concerned him
little. He had suffered worse in the past.

For the duration of the fight he had forgotten completely the two men
and the woman. Now, turning, he saw them watching him. Fear clouded the
eyes of the men, but in the woman's gaze he read awed admiration.

Karn gestured, a motion meant to show peaceful intentions. His move was
misinterpreted, and as he came toward the three the men reached for the
little sticks that hung at their waists. Frantically they waved them at
him.

Were they trying to frighten him with those things? Anger flushed Karn's
face and a low growl issued from his throat. One blow from each of his
hands and these puny men would be dead. The woman he liked.

But the sticks had stopped waving. They were pointing directly at him.
He was caught suddenly in the grip of