Before he had gone ten feet more, he heard a cry off to his right. Suddenly men sprung up everywhere, swarming out at him from behind the barricade, out from the trees, and up from the steep riverbank.

“It’s Ricky,” someone shouted. When he saw the tall figure of his father among those at the barricade, he kicked the horses into a trot.

“Ken,” Eric said, as he swung down and thrust the reins at the nearest man, “can you cool these horses down and then water them? I’ve pushed them pretty hard.” Without waiting for a reply, he turned to face his father.

“Where’s Cliff?”

Eric looked down and his shoulders sagged. “He’s dead.”

Karl Lloyd flinched, as though slapped across the face.

“They shot him down without warning.”

His father’s face, normally a deep tan, turned the color of wet clay, and his lips tightened into a tight line. “Marauders?”

“No. You and Cliff were right about the lights. There are cars and trucks. It’s a regular army. Over a hundred men.” That brought renewed exclamations from the villagers. Eric went on quickly. “Cliff went down to talk to them. At first they seemed friendly. They know about the village and are looking for us. Cliff got suspicious and tried to disengage, and they opened fire.”

“We heard shooting and an explosion,” one of the men said.

Eric shook his head, still dazed by the searing reality of seeing Cliff go down. “Their weapons don’t make a sound. It was really strange. I was up on the ridge and opened fire, but it—” His voice caught in his throat, and he went on angrily. “Cliff made me stay out of sight. There was no way I could get to him. I—it all happened so fast.”

Karl Lloyd laid his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Where are they now? How far behind you?”

“I dynamited one of their trucks three or four miles back and blocked the road. But it won’t take them long to clear that up. At most they’re probably an hour behind me. Maybe less.”

His father swung around to face the men. “All right, we’d better get ready. We know now that they don’t come in peace.” He took one of the men next to him by the elbow. “Fred, get Eric a fresh mount, and—”

Eric jerked up. “What?”

“I want you to go back to the village, start the—”

“No, Dad! We’ve got to stop them here. You need me here!”

Karl shook his head, his eyes resolute. “We’ll try to stop them here, but if we can’t, they’ll roll right on into the valley. I want you and Travis to take the rest of the dynamite, mine every bridge, every culvert along the road to the village. Anything that will delay them.”