y down which the escaping prisoners had come. To Raf's eyes
none of them paid any attention to the two humans as they went, though
they were probably in mental touch with his companion.

"You are already termed one of us in _their_ eyes," Dalgard was
careful to use oral speech this time. "When you came to our rescue in
the arena they believed that you were of our kind. Do you think you
can return to walk safely through the city? So"--he drew a hissing
breath of surprise when the thought which leaped into Raf's mind was
plain to Dalgard also--"you have--there are more of you there! But
already Those Others may be moving against them because of what you
have done!"

Raf who had been about to join the mermen stopped short. That aspect
had not struck him before. What had happened to Soriki and the
flitter, to the captain and Lablet, who had been in the heart of the
enemy territory when he had challenged the aliens? It would be only
logical that the painted people would consider them all dangerous now.
He must get out of here, back to the flitter, try to help where
unwittingly he had harmed--

Dalgard caught up with him. He had been able to read a little of what
had passed through the other's mind. Though it was difficult to sort
order out of the tangled thoughts. The longer he was with the
stranger, the more aware he became of the differences between them.
Outwardly they might appear of the same species, but inwardly--Dalgard
frowned--there was something that he must consider later, when they
had a thinking space. But now he could understand the other's
agitation. It was very true that Those Others might turn on the
stranger's fellows in retaliation for his deeds.

Together they joined the mermen. There was no talk, nothing to break
the splashing sound of bodies moving against the current. As they
pressed on, Raf was sure that this was not the same way they had come.
And once more Dalgard answered his unspoken question.

"We seek another door into the city, one long known to these
tribesmen."

Raf would gladly have run, but he could not move faster than his
guides, and while their pace seemed deliberate, they did not pause to
rest. The whole city, he decided, must be honeycombed with these
drains. After traversing a fourth tunnel, they climbed out of the
flood onto a dry passage, which wormed along, almost turning on itself
at times.

Side passages ran out from this corridor like rootlets from a parent
root, and s