turn this way--and we must travel fast!"

For Sssuri who would face and had faced up to a snake-devil with a
spear his sole weapon, this timidity was new. Dalgard was wise enough
to accept his verdict of the wisdom of flight. Together they ran along
the underground corridor, soon putting a mile between them and the
point where the merman had first taken alarm.

"From what do we flee?" As the merman began to slacken pace, Dalgard
sent that query.

"There are those who live in this darkness. By one, or by two, we
could speedily remove them from life. But they hunt in packs and they
are as greedy for the kill as are the snake-devils scenting meat. Also
they are intelligent. Once, long before the days of burning, they
served Those Others as hunters of game. And Those Others tried to make
them ever more intelligent and crafty so they might be sent to hunt
without a huntsman. At last they grew too knowing for their masters.
Then Those Others, realizing their menace, tried to kill them all with
traps and tricks. But only the most stupid and the slowest were so
disposed of. The others withdrew into underground ways such as this,
venturing forth only in the dark of night."

"But if they are intelligent," countered the scout, "why can they not
be reached by the mind touch?"

"Through the years they have developed their own ways of thought. And
these are not the simple creatures of the sun, or such as the runners.
Once they were taught to answer only to Those Others. Now they answer
only to each other. But"--he spread out his hands in one of his quick,
nervous gestures--"to those who are cornered by one of their packs,
they are sudden death!"

Since they could not, by Sssuri's reckoning, turn back, there was only
one course before them, to follow the passage they had chanced upon.
The merman was certain that it underran the river and that eventually
they would reach the sea--unless some side turn before that point
would make them free in the countryside once more.

Dalgard doubted if it had ever been a well-used way. And the presence
of earth falls here and there, over which they stumbled and clawed
their way, led him to consider the wisdom of keeping on to what might
be a dead end. But his trust in Sssuri's judgment was great, and as
the merman plowed forward with every appearance of confidence, he
continued to trot along without complaint.

They snatched moments of rest, taking turns at guard. But the walls
about them