"What are we going to tell the Bradhi?" The first guard spoke nervously. "This smacks of magic!" "There's no such thing!"

"So we're told these days, but my grandfather says there are stories ..."

"Shut your mouth! Magic—ghosts. Nonsense . . . Still, I must admit that he had a strange look about him. He seemed to belong to no nation I've ever seen. And I have heard that beyond the ocean lies another land where men have powers greater than normal. And then there are the Sheev..."

"The Sheev! That's it!"

"Hold your tongue. Chinod Sai will tear it out if he hears such language spoken in his palace!"

"What do we tell him?"

"Only the facts. The man was here—but he is no longer here."

"But will he believe us?"

"We must hope that he does."

I heard the guards clamber up and march away. The instant they had gone I slipped down the pipe as fast as I could and was soon standing up in what had been my prison, my head just above the level of the floor. Flagstones had been ripped out and the whole floor was in a mess. I was glad of that, at least.

No one was in the room, which seemed to be some sort of throne room judging by the huge, ornately carved, precious-metal gilded chair at one end.

I heaved myself up and stood in the room. As swiftly and as silently as I could, I ran towards the door and stood by it, listening.

It was half open. Angry voices came from the other side.

There were more sounds coming from outside the palace itself—shouts, cries. They sounded angry.

Somewhere in the distance several pairs of fists began to beat on a door.

Then I stepped back as, suddenly, someone came into the room.

It was Chinod Sai.

He stared at me in horror for a moment.

That moment was all I needed. In a flash I had darted forward and snatched his own sword from his belt!

I pressed the point gently against his throat and said with a grim smile on my lips: "Call for your guards, Chinod Sai—and you call for death!"

He paled and gurgled something. I gestured for him to come into the room and shut the door. I had been lucky. Everyone had been too busy with whatever else they were concerned with to notice what had happened to their "Bradhi".

"Speak in a low voice," I ordered. "Tell me what is happening and where my comrade is."

"How—how did you escape?"

"I am asking the questions, my friend. Now—answer!"

He grunted. "What do you mean?"

"Answer!"

"The scum are attacking my palace," he said. "Some petty dahara-thief seeks to replace me."

"I hope he makes a better chief than you. And where is my comrade?"

He waved a hand behind him.

"In there."