There was no telling where the savages were, or how soon they would arrive. If the woods weren’t too lethal, he could hide there, bide his time to approach them. If they found him among the supplies, they might skewer him on the spot with a typical Pyrran reflex.

Walking warily, he approached the line of trees. Something move on a branch, but vanished as he came near. None of the plants near a thick-trunked tree looked poisonous, so he slipped behind it. There was nothing deadly in sight and it surprised him.

He let his body relax a bit, leaning against the rough bark.

Something soft and choking fell over his head; his body was seized in a steel grip. The more he struggled, the tighter it held him until the blood thundered in his ears and his lungs screamed for air.

Only when he grew limp did the pressure let up. His first panic ebbed a little when he realized that it wasn’t an animal that attacked him. He knew nothing about the grubbers, but they were human so he still had a chance.

His arms and legs were tied, the power holster ripped from his am He felt strangely naked without it. The powerful hands grabbed him again and he was hurled into the air, to fall face down across something warm and soft. Fear pressed in again for it was a large animal of some kind. And all Pyrran animals were deadly.

When the animal moved off, carrying him, panic was replaced by a feeling of mounting elation. The grubbers had managed to work out a truce of some kind with at least one form of animal life. He had to find out how. If he could get that secret-and get it back to the city-it would justify all his work and pain. It might even justify Welfs death if the age-old war could be slowed or stopped.

Jason’s tightly bound limbs hurt terribly at first, but grew numb wit the circulation shut off. The jolting ride continued endlessly; he ha no way of measuring the time. A rainfall soaked him, then he felt hi clothes steaming as the sun came out.

The ride was finally over. He was pulled from the animal’s back an dumped down. His arms dropped free as someone loosed the binding The returning circulation soaked him in pain as he lay there, struggling to move. Then his hands finally obeyed him, he lifted them to his face and stripped away the covering, a sack of thick fur. Light blinded him as he sucked in breath after breath of clean air.