the crypt.

"Well?" Cyngled demanded.

"We are having trouble following them. Their thoughts are shrouded.
Something comes between us and them."

Cyngled's eyes darted back to Marna. He knew what it was that
protected these strangers. Even in her sleep the girl had power.
Glendyn was right.

"Tomorrow, then," Cyngled murmured. "In the meantime, watch her. You
here, Glendyn, and you above, Twyn."

* * * * *

Gaar moved swiftly. Behind him came the others. They had covered miles
but they were not tired. Not much farther, Gaar knew. The growth was
thinner.

"We'll come at them straight ahead," Elgen said, moving up to Gaar's
side. "They'll never know what hit them."

In the starlight Gaar could see his outline. Asgar's bulk loomed close
behind. Maybe the usual method of attack was best. Maybe Elgen was
right. Yet there was this knowledge that swords would not be enough.

Then he caught the sound of voices. Out of the darkness ahead came a
deep-throated, monotonous chant. With startling abruptness the forest
ended and they were at the edge of a vast clearing.

Huge stones, too great for a man to move, formed a perfect circle.
Towering thirty feet above the others were two monoliths standing a
few feet apart. And directly before them was an altar, a great slab of
rock supported by four stone legs.

About the altar hooded shadows moved slowly, murmuring their endless
chants. Gaar was tempted. The surprise should be complete. But this
thing held him.

He waited, and was glad that he had. There was the faint and
flickering light of a torch. It seemed to come out of the very ground
beyond the circle of stones. It _did_ come out of the ground.

There was an opening of some sort, the mouth of a cave. Two figures
emerged and he saw them clearly before the torch was extinguished.
Then, even in the dim starlight, Gaar saw one of the figures move
away.

"One of them is guarding the cave," Asgar whispered.

"In that case there must be something to guard." He thought he knew
what it was. He was certain he knew.

"Listen," Gaar whispered. "I'm going to try to get inside."

"Alone?"

"One is better than a dozen for this job. That fellow seems to have
pulled back into the mouth of the cave. If I can get him quickly his
friends may never notice he's gone."

"What about us?"

"You wait here. It's almost dawn. By then I should be back."

"And if you're not back by then?"

"Turn aro