Storm Over Warlock

d been little change in the general scene. He wondered if the aliens were using the Terran dome shelters themselves. Even in the twilight it was

ding field...." Thorvald materialized from

ere they could scent the aliens. This was the nearest point to which the men could urge either animal, which was a disappointment, fo

ure of their obedience. The foray was a crazy idea, and Shann wondered again why he had agreed to it. Yet he had gone along with Thorvald

p a sound to chill the flesh of any listener, a wail which could not have come from the throat of any normal living thing, intelligen

wered that challenge from the camp, streaking out from under his hands. Yet both animals skidded to a stop before they passed the first dome and

hich the wind brought from the campsite. Shann readied the first sopping mess in his sling, snapped his fire sparker at it

e missile materialized out of the air, th

near the dome of the com station, the force of impact flattening it into a round splatte

nd forth, their hunched bodies casting weird shadows on the dome walls. They were making efforts to douse the fires, but Shann knew from careful experimentation tha

heir first night of partnership. Three round stones of comparable weight had each been fastened at the end of a vine cord, and those cords united at a center point. Thorvald had demonstrated the effectiveness of his cre

twice as forceful penetration power. The spears themselves were hardly more than crudely shaped lengths of wood, their points charred in the fire. Perhaps these missiles could neither kill nor seriously wound. But more than one thudded home in a satisfactory f

e majority of those balls broke on landing as the Terrans had intended. So, through the beetle smell of the aliens, spread the acrid, throat-parching fumes of the hot spring water. Whether

as a limit to their amount of varied ammunition, although they had dedicated every waking moment of the past few days to manufacture and testing

r of the camp area. A dark form moved between Shann and the nearest patch of burning moss. The Terran raised a spear to the ready before he caught a whiff of the pungent scent

er Taggi or his mate. Then a puff of mixed Throng and chemical scent from the camp

hard to measure, and Shann could not be sure. He began to count aloud, slowly, as they had agreed. When he reached on

ding places. Throgs seldom explored any territory on foot. For them to venture into that maze would be putting themselves

ied well above his head. All of his spears were gone, save for one he had kept, hoping for a last good target. One of the Throgs who appeared to be

ry lucky, he could knock the other from his clawed feet. But that chance which hovers over any battlefield turned in Shann's favor. At just the right moment the Throg stretched his head up from the usual h

ng his head at an unnatural angle. Without seeming to notice the others of his kind, the Throg came on at a shambling run, straight at Shann as if he could actually see through the dark and had marked down the Terran for personal vengeance. There was something so uncanny a

branches and kicked to gain solid earth under his feet. Then again he heard that piercing wail from the camp, as chilling as it had be

crashing through low brush. Two of the Throgs back on the firing line started up after their leader. S

ted a wan phosphorescence, varying in degree, but affording each an aura of light. And the path before Shann now was dotted by splotches of that radiance, not as brilliant as the chemical-born flames the attackers had kindled in the camp, but as quick to betray the unwary who passed within t

than this afternoon, a raft Thorvald had professed to believe would support them to th

"deer" just before they had left the raft. And instead of allowing both beasts to feast at leisure, Shann had lashed the

, usually burying it. He had hoped that to leave the carcass in such a way would draw both an

had come to look upon as an uneasy partnership that he considered himself far abler to manage in

sical effort he was expending, but because again from the camp had come that blood-freezing howl. A lighter line marked the lip of th

e strip of meadow behind him now had been spotted with light plants, the cut below showed an almost solid line of them stringing willow-wise along the water's edge. To go down at this poi

d made him freeze and turn his head cautiously. The camp was half hidden, and the fires there must

etween drawing stunner or knife. In his brush with the injured Throg at the wreck the stunner had had little impression on the enemy. A

rolled down upon three bright light plants. Dull sheen of Throg casing was reveal

se. The Throg leader dead? Shann hoped so. He slid his knife back into the sheath, tapped the hilt to make sure it was firmly in place, and crawled on. The river, twisting here and there, was a promising pool of dusky s

by cautious degrees over the bank and down to the water's edge. When his boots splashed into the oily flood he began to tramp downstream, feeling the pull of the water, first ankl

ad of the usual ghostly gray. Within the haze which tented the drooping branches, flitted small glittering, flying things; an

nd listened until it seemed that every cell in his thin body was occupied in that act, he heard no answering call f

d a Throg patrol splashing after him he would wait until he made sure of the others' fate. Both Taggi and Togi were as important to him as the Survey officer. Perhaps

as many hiding places as the fiord country. But Thorvald had suddenly become so set on this westward trek that he had given in. As much as he inwardly rebelled when he

n the bank, shaking the water from his boots as Taggi might shake such drops from a

s not the result of any normal tug of current. He heard an indignant squeal and relaxed with a little laugh. He need not have worried about the wolverines; that bai

ried his familiar scent to them. As the water climbed to his shoulders Shann put one hand on the outm

om upstream. Whoever followed his own recent trail was taking no care to keep tha

at if the aliens had followed him, both animals would give warning. Save when they had

Thorvald so advertise his coming, unless the need for speed was greater than caution? Shann drew taut the mooring cor

came in a hoarse,

er

e have to get

lodged by their efforts. But before the wolverines could follow it, the mooring vine snapped, and the river current took them.

ar, sounded that eerie howling, t

catch full lungfuls of air to back his words