to accomplish.

All thoughts of the mysterious young woman who had raced from his
apartment earlier that night were forgotten as he whirled about to
confront the open-mouthed Ekbar.

"There is still time," he cried, "to save ourselves. Listen to me
closely, Ekbar, and do exactly as I say!"

* * * * *

As the heavily armed force of perhaps one hundred and fifty men entered
one of Ammad's broad avenues no more than two blocks from Vokal's
palace, Jotan called it to a halt while the leaders conferred.

Five men comprised the leadership of the relatively small army. They
were Jotan and his father, Tamar, Tharn and young Trakor. Almost from
the first it was Tharn to whom the others turned for guidance, despite
the fact that he was a complete stranger to Ammad.

"How many men," Tharn asked, "are likely to be defending Vokal's
palace?"

"No less than five hundred," Jotan said grimly. "We shall be badly
outnumbered my friend."

"We have something on our side worth hundreds of warriors," Tharn
observed. "Surprise is our biggest and best ally. If we can win our way
into Vokal's palace and reach the quarters of Vokal himself before his
guards are sufficiently alerted to interfere, the fight will be over
before it begins."

"And how do you propose this shall be done?"

Tharn rubbed his chin while his quick mind reviewed the situation. "I
think," he said finally, "That it would be better if Trakor and I went
ahead and removed the guards outside the wall gates. Then our entire
force can enter the grounds themselves and hide in the shrubbery there
until a door at the rear of the palace can be unbarred. It might serve
us best if Trakor and I go directly to Vokal's room and take him captive
before we give the signal for the rest of you to enter."

Garlud was shaking his head. "No. That is risking too much. If the two
of you were captured, the entire palace would be alerted before the rest
of us could put a foot inside it. Then indeed would we be helpless;
Vokal's men could cut us down from the safety of the palace walls."

The five stood there in the silent sleeping street, stone walls rising
steep and bleak on either side, the entire army behind them hidden from
chance view by the almost total lack of light. There was less than two
hours remaining before dawn and they must act quickly or lose their
chief aid: the darkness of the now moonless night.

It was finally decided that Tharn and Tr