Key Out of Time

tle

n the deck. Had the raiders' ship been boarded? Was it now under attack? H

hat the Hawaikan had been

m's progress he realized that the ship itself had changed. The vibration which had carried through the planks on which he lay was stilled.

up against

ket

f-intelligible answer held no meaning for th

rd the opposite side of the hold. There was a roar of voice, bull stro

h-" Loketh's voic

ship was more pronounced. Remembering the two vessels he had seen pounded to bits on the reef, Ross wondered if the same doom loome

anna had their own means of protection at the sea gate and this was the result. The dolphins.... What had made Tino

ruggled against the drying strands which bound him f

o direction again. The Terran heard sounds he could not ident

d judge, they were

earable frustration. If they were now prisoners in a ship leaving the island behind.... The thre

awaikan could make

" But of cours

nded oddly weak as if it issued fr

ed to you?"

ing ... eating...." Loketh's reply ca

beyond the unceremonious handling they had received as captives. This whole s

" he stated to himself as

n your head? So yo

N

Fire eating so that a man is nothin

to go crazy. Karara had then called out something about the Foanna. So the dolphins m

contact with the dolphins. Loketh had a mind which those c

possessed, a subtle power beyond the body, a part of mind, was humbling. Just as he had felt shut out and cr

cked out as the others appeared to be. But for the bad luck of having been captured before the raiders had succumbed, Ross could, perhaps, have been master of this ship

, and a figure swung over and down a side ladder, coming to stand over Ross, feet apart

rst representative of the third party i

been colored or overlaid with a pearly hue in which other tints wove opaline lines. His head was bare except for a broad, scaled band running fro

ted a formidable figure, and Ross recognized in him the

the raider's shoulder to catch the Terran in its full glare, and Ross fought the need f

the will and nerve enough to face his captors without any display of anxiety. Such brava

re not of the Foanna-" He paused as if waiting a

or of the scum of the coa

f Torgul?" He called an order aloft. "A rope h

lie but, at a gesture from the officer, Ross was set on his feet. He could see the nature of his bonds now, a network

does not like the net! You have teeth,

w answered that mild taunt. Ross

e teeth." He used the most defiant words

en the officer clapped his hands toge

, fish?" he asked and his

feeling, which often came to him in tight quarters, that he was being supplied from some har

aying those same teeth, wondering for one startled m

!" More than on

arms well muscled. There were scars on his forearms, the seam of one up his jaw. He looked wha

h?" Again the officer had a formal note in his qu

he stands-no other wea

Vistur's intentions. But Ross caught also the fact that two or three of them had gone sile

"Well said, fish

erran could not see clearly. A new weapon? Only the officer made no move to touch it

s no unlaw

what need have I to fear the spell

earty answer. The statement held more comple

or tone. "But does a fish swim with its fins bound to its si

and he was ready to meet Vistur. The Terran did not doubt that the Rover champion was a formidable fighter, but he had not had the advantage of going through one of the Agent training courses. Every trick of un

st be an extra padding for that strangely narrowed helm. Then he peeled off his armor, peeled it literally indeed, catching the lower edge of the scaled covering with his han

the crew had made. From above came a strong light, centering from

ment. But if the Rover had confidence, he also possessed the more intelligent and valuable trait of caution in the face

fraction of change in the other's balance. There would be something to tel

see the prisoner taught a lesson. But Ross did not believe it was that which sent

ver flat to the deck. It had been quick but not so vicious as it might have been. The Terran had no desire to kill or even disable Vistur for more than a few minutes. His victim would carry a couple of

hh

d the crew now rush him? He had gambled on the element of fair play which existed in a primitive Terran warrior society after

that same whooping, and both of his hands rose unsteadily to his chest. The majority of his fel

mpty knife sheath was uppermost. One of the crew came forward and slammed back into its proper place the long diver's knife which had been there when Ross

oss nodded at Loketh still lying bound where th

n to you?"

e

man are you? Do you come from the Foanna, after all? You have a magic which is not o

Loketh had once made before Karar

, they are no friend to me, since they hold ca

, yet I have never seen your like before. Perhaps your coming means ill to me and mine, but by the Law of Battle, you have won your freedom on this ship. I swear to you, however, s

toward you and yours. There is only one wish I hold: to bring him who

is night of the power of the sea gate. Though we went in under the Will of Phutka, we were as w

have a score to sett

with them are of our fleet-clan. There is the work of the Shadow stretching dark and heavy across the sea, new come into these waters. But there remains nothing w

where they might be in relation to the island, how far from

her prisoners?"

re of you?" To

to say how many

ed on the still-clustered crew, "get about your work! We

was faced with barbaric splendor in carvings, hangings, a wealth of plate and furnishing not too different from th

anger. Do not ask more of me, unless you have

to be returned to wher

t it is all one. Through it you must have your own paths. Take any you choose. But

you go the

ur own choice, stranger-

ith the gill-pack he could not swim back to where he had been taken. There were

y and establish himself with this Rover, seating himself at the