erence, Tharn left the other leaders of the
band and flitted across the open ground, moving like a black shadow
toward the same doorway through which Trakor had raced to join him only
an hour or two earlier.

Those watching him from the shadowy foliage lost sight of him almost at
once; and when, a few moments later, he seemed to rise from the ground
almost under their noses, a startled gasp from a dozen throats made a
rustling sound against the heavy silence.

"The door is still unbarred," Tharn reported, frowning. "I am even surer
now, noble Jotan, that we are heading straight for a trap set up by the
wily Vokal."

"He could not know our plans," Jotan said impatiently. "It means simply
that they forgot to bar the door after the excitement you and your
friend caused them earlier. Things are working out well for us."

Tharn smiled his enigmatic smile and said no more. Quickly the five
leaders moved among their eager troops, issuing orders down the line.
And then, at a single word from Jotan the band of one hundred and fifty
armed men stepped into the open and started for the palace walls.

Suddenly the shrill cry of a woman rose against the weighted silence.
"Back!" the voice screamed from high above them. "Go back! It is a
trap!"

"Dylara!" Tharn shouted, and with great bounding strides he raced toward
the palace. Startled by the shrill shout, puzzled by Tharn's dash into
the jaws of what might be a trap, the hundred and fifty wavered
uncertainly, then charged after the racing cave man.

And as the first wave of Jotan's warriors reached the halfway mark in
the clearing, a hundred flaming branches were hurled from the open
windows into the courtyard beneath, their flames lighting up the entire
ribbon of open ground and disclosing the pitifully small army to the
waiting warriors of Vokal.

A rain of arrows, spears and clubs now rained down from those windows
upon the men beneath. Men reeled and fell, some instantly dead, others
badly wounded. Some of those unhit stopped in their tracks, looked
wildly around, then turned to flee for the safety of the street behind
them.

And it was then that Vokal's masterful plan was fully unveiled. From
those same openings through the stone wall encircling Vokal's estate,
came other of that nobleman's warriors, stationed in places of
concealment outside, their purpose to close off the last avenue of
escape for Jotan's troops.

* * * * *

In a