Between them they worked the sodden weight of the dead magter through the hole, their exposed backs crawling with the expectation of instant death. No further attack came as they ran from the tower, other than a grenade that exploded too far behind them to do any harm.

One of the armored sand cars circled the keep, headlights blazing, keeping up a steady fire from its heavy weapons. The attackers climbed into it as they beat a retreat. Telt and Brion dragged the Disan behind them, struggling through the loose sand towards the circling car. Telt glanced over his shoulder and broke into a shambling run.

“They’re following us!” he gasped. “The first time they ever chased us after a raid!”

“They must know we have the body,” Brion said.

“Leave it behind …” Telt choked. “Too heavy to carry … anyway!”

“I’d rather leave you,” Brion said sharply. “Let me have it.” He pulled the corpse away from the unresisting Telt and heaved it across his own shoulders. “Now use your gun to cover us!”

Telt threw a rain of slugs back towards the dark figures following them. The driver of the sand car must have seen the flare of their fire, because the truck turned and started towards them. It braked in a choking cloud of dust and ready hands reached to pull them up. Brion pushed the body in ahead of himself and scrambled after it. The truck engine throbbed and they churned away into the blackness, away from the gutted tower.

“You know, that was more like kind of a joke, when I said I’d leave the corpse behind,” Telt told Brion. “You didn’t believe me, did you?”

“Yes,” Brion said, holding the dead weight of the magter against the truck’s side. “I thought you meant it.”

“Ahhh,” Telt protested, “you’re as bad as Hys. You take things too seriously.”

Brion suddenly realized that he was wet with blood, his clothing sodden. His stomach rose at the thought and he clutched the edge of the sand car. Killing like this was too personal. Talking abstractedly about a body was one thing, but murdering a man, then lifting his dead flesh and feeling his blood warm upon you is an entirely different matter. But the magter weren’t human, he knew that. The thought was only mildly comforting.

After they had reached the other waiting sand cars, the raiding party split up. “Each one goes in a different direction,” Telt said, “so they can’t track us to the base.” He clipped a piece of paper next to the compass and kicked the motor into life. “We’ll make a big U in the desert and end up in Hovedstad. I got the course here. Then I’ll dump you and your friends and beat it back to our camp. You’re not still burned at me for what I said, are you? Are you?”