Already a dozen of the tawny, sinuous bodies were sowing death
among the ranks of Jotan's followers.

The princess Alurna huddled among a heap of furs and sought to close her
eyes against the horrors of the growing massacre. But not seeing at all
was infinitely worse than reality, and so her eyes remained open and
staring.

Suddenly a huge, yellow-maned monster bounded toward her. A lithe spring
brought it atop a mound of supplies scarcely ten feet from where she lay
paralyzed with fear. Slowly the lordly head swung in a menacing circle
and the savage eyes fixed upon her shrinking form. The small ears
twitched back until they lay tight against the sleek skull, the mammoth
maw parted to disclose awesome fangs and a low growl rumbled low in the
deep chest.

Jotan, shouting orders in an effort to rally his scattered men to some
semblance of order, caught sight of the doomed princess as Sadu rose in
his spring toward her. Careless of his own safety, he drew back his
strong right arm and launched his heavy war spear. The keen blade
flashed across the intervening space and caught Sadu squarely in the
chest, knocking him to one side and killing him instantly.

* * * * *

While all this was taking place, Dylara, daughter of Majok, had remained
crouched close to one of the heaps of burning branches where she knew
Sadu would be reluctant to approach. She saw man after man go down
beneath the ravaging cats, and twice she saw lions leap back into the
darkness, carrying the limp corpse of some unfortunate Ammadian. She
witnessed, too, Jaton's rescue of the princess Alurna, and despite the
awful carnage about her, she smiled grimly as Urim's daughter ran
forward and threw her arms about the tall Ammadian noble.

At the moment it abruptly dawned on Dylara that this was her opportunity
to escape from those who held her an unwilling captive. She turned her
head and stared out into the open ground between camp and forest edge,
seeing the long shadows cast by the flickering flames. If she could but
cross that ribbon of grassland safely and gain the safety of the trees!

Even as she silently voiced the wish, her mind was made up for her. From
behind one of the piles of supplies emerged a tawny shape. Two blazing
eyes caught sight of the cave girl, and heedless of the nearby fire, the
giant cat began to slink toward her.

Dylara, wise to the ways of the jungle, acted. Without a second's
hesitation she