f to clear away such thoughts. Guided by
the dim light from candles in wall brackets set at wide intervals along
the corridor, he bent and stripped the corpse of its tunic and drew it
over his own shoulders. His late foe had been a tall man and the tunic
came a bit higher on Trakor's legs than Ammadian fashion dictated, a
grievous matter which he ignored. A keen-edged knife of stone went under
the tunic's belt; the heavy spear he left where the warrior originally
had placed it.

* * * * *

Trakor went back along that corridor with long swinging strides, his
naked feet soundless against the stone, his head erect, his ears and
eyes alert for the slightest sound or movement.

Ascending the same flight of stairs he had descended a few minutes
earlier, he paused at the top and looked carefully at the twin lines of
closed doors. The seventh on his left; he had counted them off carefully
while on his way to the floor below.

For a full minute he stood motionless outside that barred portal,
listening for some indication that others were up and about the palace.
Then he turned back, lifted the bar and pushed open the door with slow
care.

A flicker of motion from within the darkened room caused him to leap
sharply back, just in time to keep a heavy wooden chair from caving in
his head. Unchecked, the chair struck the floor with a resounding crash,
the impact tearing it loose from Dylara's hands.

By the time she had bent to pick it up for a second try, Trakor was
inside and the door closed. He threw out a hand to ward off Dylara's
impromptu club, whispering, "No, Dylara! It is I--Trakor!"

A muffled sob of relief and thanksgiving was torn from her throat, then
she was in his arms.

At the feel of her body against his, the heady scent of her hair in his
nostrils, Trakor felt his heart leap within him and his arms tightened
suddenly about the girl's smooth, softly rounded shoulders.

Then the moment was gone and they drew apart.

"I can't believe it, Trakor!" Dylara whispered. "How did you manage to
get away?"

"There's no time for that now," he said. "We've got to get out of this
place and back to the jungle where we belong. Tharn is out there
somewhere and we must find him before he enters Ammad in search of us."

"But how...."

"I don't know--yet. If we can reach the streets without being seen...."
He went to the door, pressed an ear against its planks for a moment,
then very gent