und and get to the ship as fast as you can. There's no use
trying if I can't get through. Don't ask me how I know that. I just
do. That's an order. Understand?"

* * * * *

They understood. Gaar unbuckled his sword, handed his shield to Elgen.
Next to come off was the breastplate. When a man's greatest need was
stealth, he didn't want any metal on him.

A moment later he was off through the thin screen of trees, moving
silently around the great circle of stones. At every step he felt it
stronger, this voice inside himself. He had to keep out of the circle.
He knew that.

Then he was behind the slight rise in the earth that was the opening
of the cave. Very slowly now, Gaar moved, feeling his way. He felt the
rock beneath his fingers. A few steps more and there was no rock. He
turned inward.

Hugging the wall he inched forward. There was a shadow, darker then
the rest. Lips moved in the darkness, forming soundless words. Gaar's
hands reach out, found a throat. The lips stopped moving.

Gaar lifted the body, carried it back away from the mouth of the cave.
He almost fell down the stone staircase that yawned suddenly at his
feet. When Gaar had recovered his poise he went on, taking each step
gingerly.

He was going down into a darkness that smelled of the dungeon and even
worse. Walls grew damp and clammy where he touched them. Slimy things
scurried across the floor. The path Gaar was following twisted and
turned.

Then there was a door. Gaar fumbled in the darkness. The door opened
soundlessly. Beyond it was a faint and fitful light that led him
onward toward its source. It led him into the room.

Gaar knew it was the end of the search. Its bareness told him what he
had already suspected. There was no treasure. This was a people that
did not believe in jewelled trappings. But the girl was here, in this
very room. That was the only thing that mattered.

A black-robed figure hid the sarcophagus from Gaar's view. A broad
back, wearing the folds of the dark priesthood. The back shifted
uneasily, as though feeling eyes upon it, and Gaar caught a glimpse of
something white beyond.

He stepped forward, light as a giant cat. He took another step and his
foot scraped earth. The sound was minute, almost inaudible, but
Glendyn heard. He whirled, his hand flashing toward his girdle. Gaar
closed the gap between them in a single leap. His left hand caught
Glendyn's wrist, forced the knife b