The Jewels of Aptor

anging limbs. Urson broke down a branch as thick as his wrist and as tall as himself and smote the water with it, playfully. "That should put a wel

food soon," said Iimmi, "unless we wa

se from fibrous white pulp. "Here," he handed it t

ore a little, before it

taff. "There's not much here

e bank. We've got to find a

that is through th

h the thick growth was a rising shad

rson, "but it's

some of them, but for thirty feet, before the edge sank beneath the soft jungle floor it was easier going. Suddenly the growth became thin again and they were at the edge of a relatively clear area. Before them loomed the ruins of a great building. Six girders cleare

t, one side twisting into the ground where skeletal girders shown beneath ripped plating. A row of

m the ground. In the shadow of the door, ten feet from the ground, another shadow moved, resolving itself into an animal head, long, muzzled, gray. Then they c

"Come on." They moved forwa

ix blows it staggered and could not gain its feet. Then, as it threatened to heave to standing, Urson rushed forward and brought his stave straight down on the chest: bones snapped and tore through the brown pelt, only to have their blue sheen covered a moment later by a well of blood. It howled, kicked its hind feet at the stake w

d," sa

e knees bent as human feet dragged themselves through fragments of brown leaves over the ground and a human thigh gave a final contraction, stilled, and then one leg fell out straight again. A shaggy, black-haired man lay still on the gro

explosion from the ruined mess of lung. The bear man had raised his hand to his own c

r animal that had been dropped, and turned away. "Well," he s

not," G

the ruined building,

big man who was still holding his coin

hat broken in that way," he said slowly, "was

e of rubble, they managed to quarter the animal and rip most of the pelt from its red body. With thin branches to hold the meat, they did a passable job of roasting. Although partially burned, partially raw, and without seasoning, t

ve it going?"

animals away

he broken building. There was quiet-an insect hum, no un-namable

s about to reach over and touch Iimmi's outstretched arm when there was a noise behind him, like beaten cloth. He jerked his head around, and was staring at the gray wall by which they had camped. He looked up at the spreading plane that to

ed his face up and stared at the sky. Something crossed on the moon.

drop with expelled breath, the only recognition given. A few seconds later the chest rose again. Iimmi turned his face to Geo and raised his finger to his lips. Then he turned his face back

em fell twenty feet before their wings filled with air and they rose again. They

es dropped through the dark like kites, sixty feet above them, forty feet, thirty; then there was a

The wings beat insistently and darkly before them as they stood against the wall. The figures flew toward them

ell they can'

to their bodies in the moonlight. In the growing hoard of

he others and hurled themselves forward,

ts on the chest. They fell backwards in a sudden expansion of rub

m. He pulled it to the side, overbalancing the huge, sailed creature. It dropped its sword as it lay for a moment, struggling on its back. Geo grabbed the blade and brought it straight from the ground up into the gut of another of the creatures who spread open its wi

. jewe

w he flung it forward, spear-like, into the face of an advancing beast. Struck, it op

ripped the jewels from his neck and flung the confused handful of thong and chain over the heads of the shrieking beasts. The beads made

dge of a wing. A wing flamed, waved flame, and the burning beast tried to take air before it fell, splashing fire about it. Orange lig

now, and whips of light ran on the clearing floor. The beast

" Iimmi sud

them, and suddenly the beasts fell away, their sails sweeping over the dead leaves, moved by wi

s dying. They ran quickly toward the edge of the forest. "Snake," said Geo

his hand. "Gl

read your mind, so if you

e is a spy, it's going to get much too complica

, we better take Snake. Hey, Four Arms, I owe you a thrashing." He pa

Geo asked. He put his hand on t

ends again?" s

ly," sa

eld one han

h, you don't wa

hook hi

He took one jewel and

ht. Now Snake beckoned them to follow him back across the clearing. They came, stopping to pick up swords from the shriveled darknesses on the g

we going?"

inder and Snake scrambled up the rubble under the dark hole

seeped into the corners and crevices of the ruined entrance. Shreds of cloth hung at the windows, most of which were broken. Twigs and

SM ..

m their fixtures. Vines covered the front window in which only a few splinters of glass hung on the rim. Draped in rotten fabric, a few metal rings about

ey heard in

e floor and dislodged a chunk of rusted

ed it. "What's it go

shru

r diodes around?" asked Geo, re

hrugged

t to show us all

ing in the oval entrance, about to climb down, Iimmi pointed to the ruins

s, Snak

hat word,

where they used to keep soldiers all toge

ow?" Urson

the denser wood where only pearls of light scattered through the tree

t time," Geo said. "We

rest-these accompanied them as they lay down on the dried moss behind the larger rocks. And with

f the sea beyond the ship. The scene moved down the deck, until another gaunt figure approached from the other direction. The feat

," said t

mate gave an answer

was hollow, etiolated like a flower grown in darkness. The captain tu

d dust. The great desk seemed spindly, grotesque, and the papers on top of it were tissue thin, threatening to scutter and crumble with a breath. The ch

ce that sounded like the whisp

will stay at least

" asked t

ived a sign

on your authority, Pries

ot," inter

aised the obje

..." Here she paused, and her voice became more unsure, "... that I do not destroy him where h

egan the

n deck, they stopped to watch the sea. Near the indistinct horizon, a sharp tongue of land outlined itself with mountains. The cliffs were chalky on one side, then streaked with red and blue clays on the other. There was a reddish glow beyond one mountain, like the shimmering of a volcano. And dark as m

the thin