He crawled toward Tau, his head
lolling on his shoulders as the head of the dead rock ape had done. Dane
patted the drum with one hand while, with the other, he groped for his
fire ray. He tried to shout in warning and found that he could not utter
a sound.
Tau's arm moved, raised from his side, made a circling motion.
The creeping man, his eyes rolled up in his head until only the whites
gleamed blindly in the limited light, followed that gesture. He drew
level with the medic, passed beyond toward Lumbrilo, whining as a hound
prevented from obeying his master might lament.
"So be it, Lumbrilo," Tau said. "This is between you and me. Or do you
not dare to risk your power against mine? Is Lumbrilo so weak a one that
he must send another to do his will?"
Raising both hands again the medic brought them down, curling inward,
until he stooped and touched them to the ground. When he straightened
once again the knife was in his grasp and he tossed it behind him.
The smoke from the fire swirled out in a long tongue, coiled about
Lumbrilo and was gone. A black and white beast stood where the man had
been, its tufted tail lashing, its muzzle a mask of snarling hate and
blood lust.
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118