Storm Over Warlock

ains Shann would not have believed that Warlock could hold such heat. The men discarded their jackets early as they swung to dip the poles. But they da

proximity. For the slash which held the river had narrowed. And the rock of its walls was naked of earth, save for s

with the poles would account for. With the narrowing of the bed of the stream,

hing the first

d wearily. The dust gritted between his teeth, i

replied somberly. "We have n

tablets they carried. But there was no going without water, and in this heat such an effort would finish them quickly. A

one of those black plates to come cruising the moment

e the cut walls. Here the river dug yet deeper into the beginning of a canyon. They could breathe better. The dust still sifted down but not as thickl

e used his pole as a pointer to indicate a rough pile of boulders ahead. Some former landslide had quarter dammed the r

ther

agerness of passengers deserting a sinking ship for certain rescue. Thorvald settled the map case more securely between his arm and side before he took the same lea

ste

eady, beating like some giant drum. Certainly it did not herald a Th

d interpreted that faint thunder. "Now, let'

more than one landslide having contributed to its fashioning. The landing stage paralleled the river for perhaps some fifty feet. Beyond it water splashed

ads, washing the dust from their skins. Then they began to climb the rough assent up which the wolverines had already va

ush of the wind he met there. A palm struck hard between his shoulders, nearly sending him sprawling. He had only wits enough

he was in a pocket in the cliff walls. Well overhead he caught a glimpse of natural a

re they faced a dead end. For the crevice, with the sheer descent to the river on the right, the cliff wall

ed such a break between the height on which they stood and the much taller peak beyond, Shann could not guess. But it must have been a cataclysm of spectacular dimensions. There was certainly no descending to the bottom of that cut and recli

into the crevice, so now did that officer jerk Shann from his feet, forcin

ross the bright b

k of the crevice. And he did not pause, nor allow Shann to do so, even when they were well undercover again. At last they re

r from his lungs, the ensuing pain so great that he feared his ribs had given under that thrust. Before his eyes fire lashed down the slit, searing him

the sake of breath. His whole body was jarred into a dull torment as a weight pressed upon his twisted legs. Then strong animal breat

colored by jagged flashes of red which he somehow guessed were actually inside his eyes. He groped through that fire-

ag

a painful crush on his aching ribs, as the wolverine responded to his na

ickened as he tried to make sense of what he could remember. A Throg ship! Then that fiery lash which had cut after them could on

nn called again, more urgently. Then he hunched forward on his hands and knees, pu

esh. And he half threw himself against the supine body of the Survey officer,

b of relief as he caught the faint mutter. He squatted back on his heels, p

e blinked again, the complete dark and the fiery trails had faded

f the Terrans would still be alive. Which meant, Shann's thoughts began to make sense-sense which brought apprehen

hereabouts for their flyer. The beetle-heads would have to set down at the edge of the desert land and clim

raight into the hands of the hunters. To descend again to the river, their raft gone, was worse than useless. There was only this side pocket in whic

nly aware that he had not hear

of some length, or even a passage running back into the interior of the peaks? With that faint hope spurring him, Shann bent again over Th

ime and dust on his cheeks. But he could make out what lay before them, a hole

levering himself up, his

nte

l-right behind you. The wo

e on Thorvald's usually straight-lipped mouth. "

ugh the sequence of past action to the sam

almost a reaching for reassurance, cut for the first time through the wall

when I first came to,"

s as blind as he himself had been, He caught at the of

ow. "By the look of that opening we had be

ann's slim waist until they gripped tight at his back. He start

wing became a passage high enough for even the tall Thorvald to travel without stooping. And then only a

rystals. Those might promise priceless wealth, but neither Terran paused to examine them more closely or touch their surfaces. From time to time Shann whistled. And always h

orch a moment!"

vanished. Yet there was still

rvald observed. "

turn to the left and east. Afterward Shann remembered that climb with wonder that they had actually made i

himself out into the open, his hands raw, his nails broken and tor

he torch to hold it for the officer. Then Thorvald c

owing things. Though the trees were stunted, the grass grew almost as high here as it did on the meadows of the lowlands

camp

his head. "We c

that hole through which they had just come, muffled and br

h it into the interior of the passage. As the beam slowly circled that

rol it. There will be no reason for them to attempt to. Those hounds obey their first orders: kill-or

out?" Shann relied now

him without understanding in the least, but aware that Thorvald did have some plan. The officer bent, searched the ground, and began to pull from under the loose surface dirt one of those nets o

but also acted as an adhesive for the vines themselves so that his task was not nearly as formidable as it had first seemed. With his force

ce more that cry of the hunter arose from the depths behind them. As the westering su

nock out a Throg. But a beam from a stunner ou

ning, drooling a little, the same eagerness in their pose as they had displayed when hunting. Shann remembered how that first howl

ld Thorvald what he had noted

er commented. "But we don't want them to a

age. Taggi snarled, backing away a few

the net slung from the pol

There was a tearing, scrambling sound from within. Then Shann fired at the jack

snapped fruitlessly. To Shann's relief the Terran animals appeared content to bait

izard mask-a head which was against all nature as the Terrans knew it-was quiet in the strangle leash of the rope, the rest of the body serving as a