Jake noticed Tandro and Ennie entering the alcove while Tain spoke to Gordi and his friends, but the two just stopped near him and stood quietly. Somehow Tain had managed to put herself in charge of everyone and everything, and Jake still wasn’t quite sure how she had done that. And, in the back of his mind, he also wasn’t quite sure he liked the accomplishment…

“There’s one other thing I want to say before I free you,” Tain told the men. “I don’t want anyone knowing about this place, so once we’re out of here you’ll all forget about where you were kept and even what building you were brought to. Does everyone understand?”

Jake saw the three men nod, and oddly enough he, Ennie, and Tandro also nodded. Then Tain was telling the three men not to take orders from anyone but her, and once she left even that exception would expire. If she came back even a single day later, they would no longer have to take her orders. Gordi and the other two men looked extremely relieved, and then it was time to start leaving.

Jake joined Tandro in getting their gear together while Tain escorted Artro and Dimmis out first. Those two weren’t going back to Gordi’s house with the rest of them, so it made sense to let them leave first. If seven people left the warehouse at the same time someone might notice; as it was, keeping the five of them together might be pushing the bounds of luck.

When Tain came back it turned out that it still wasn’t time for the rest of them to leave.

“We can’t just leave Flam’s body there,” she said, looking down at the body in question. “We also can’t take the body out with us, so we have to choose the final option.”

“Which is what?” Jake asked, his eagerness to be on his way playing havoc with his temper. “Wave a magic wand to make the body disappear?”

“You’re close,” Tain said with barely a glance in his direction.

“Before the women left I asked them about a place to dump serious garbage, and they gave me directions. If you three men will pick up the body, we can take care of its disposal before we go.”

There was no choice at all, so Jake took Flam’s shoulders while Tandro took his legs, and once the two of them had the body off the floor Gordi helped by supporting his former opponent’s middle. Tain took a lamp and then led the way into the tunnel, turning toward the darkness rather than the other way.

They walked for what seemed like a very long time, long enough for Jake to feel the body he carried getting heavier and heavier. When they’d first started out he’d considered Gordi’s “help” unnecessary, but by the time Tain stopped by a fold in the rock of the wall Gordi was sharing a lot more of the weight of their burden.

“Now you have to be careful,” Tain said, holding the lamp close to the fold. “There’s supposed to be a deep pit just behind here, and we don’t want anyone but Flam going into it.”

Tandro had been leading the way with Flam’s feet, so Jake moved the other two men around until his part of the body was closest to the fold. A

glance inside showed the pit Tain had mentioned, so Jake eased the body down at the lip of the opening and let it go. Then he joined Gordi near the middle of the body, and the two of them pushed. A moment later Flam’s legs were disappearing into the dark hole, and that was that.

Ennie had been trailing along behind them, obviously unwilling to just sit and wait until everyone else got back, so they made a parade of it retracing their steps. Ennie seemed a bit green around the gills to Jake even in the dim light of the lamp, and Tandro apparently saw the same. The native put his arm around Ennie as they walked, and the girl leaned into Tandro as though trying to share his warmth.

When they finally made it back to the lit portions of the tunnel, Jake went directly to his saddlebags and Tandro did the same. If any other delays had come up Jake probably would have exploded, but Tain just replaced the lamp she’d been carrying and led the way to the stairs they’d come down. They were finally getting out of that place, the first step to being on their way to leaving this world entirely.

Tain checked the area carefully before she let any of them leave the warehouse, but then they were out in the afternoon sunshine and heat. Jake wasn’t the only one who took a deep breath of what seemed like freer air, and Gordi even smiled.

“I’d better move to the head of this little procession now,” the big man said, looking around at all of them. “My people will have been searching for me, and we don’t want them to think I’m your prisoner.” Then his smile disappeared. “I didn’t want to ask this earlier, but now I have to. If my people didn’t stop you from taking me to begin with, it can only be because they weren’t able to. Did you … hurt any of them seriously?”

“If you’re asking if we killed them, the answer is no,” Jake assured the man. “We only made them unconscious for a while, and by now they ought to be as good as new.”

“That’s a very great relief,” Gordi responded, his smile returning and widening. “Those people are my friends as well as my supporters, and if anything serious had happened to them…”

“If anything serious had happened to them you wouldn’t have been very happy with us,” Jake finished when Gordi didn’t. “We understand the point because we would have felt the same way, and that’s why we were careful. We don’t mind killing to protect ourselves, but killing someone just for the hell of it when making them unconscious will do as well isn’t something we’re willing to consider.”

“I’m really glad to hear that,” Gordi said as he began to walk. “It makes me eager to hear what other ways your people are willing to help us besides supplying that antidote to the slave drug. While you and your friends are my guests, you and I will have to talk.”

“My pleasure,” Jake agreed, surprised and delighted that things were working out so well. His department hadn’t expected anything beyond getting the natives of this world to abolish slavery, and hadn’t even been sure they could manage that much.

Now Gordi was all but offering his support of whatever else Jake’s people might have in mind to help his world, but the man wanted some details before he committed himself completely. That was as far from unreasonable as you could get, and suddenly Jake was also eager to have that talk. He did want to get back to base as quickly as possible, but the delay of an hour or two wasn’t likely to be all that hard to take.

They walked back toward Gordi’s house with Gordi and Jake leading the way, the two of them discussing what problems to expect when slavery was abolished. The slavers would hardly be the only ones who resisted the change, and Jake explained what Gordi’s people would have to be on the lookout for. They had just passed the house closest to Gordi’s and still hadn’t run into any searchers, which probably meant Gordi’s people were searching a different part of the town—The attack came so fast that Jake barely had time to understand what was going on, not to mention react. When he heard Ennie scream he whirled around and saw the slaver Himlin. Oddly enough Himlin was alone, but the slaver held a knife and clearly meant to use the weapon on Jake. In fact

Himlin had obviously intended to knife Jake in the back, but somehow Tain had gotten in the way. The blade had sliced open Tain’s arm, but she’d delayed Himlin long enough for Jake to take over.

Which Jake did as soon as he thrust his saddlebags at Gordi. The big man took the saddlebags and moved back out of the way, and then Jake had nothing to distract him from the slaver. Himlin slashed at Jake, obviously intending to cut Jake open, but Jake had no trouble avoiding the slash.

“You’re a dead man,” Himlin snarled as he slashed at Jake again.

“Guardsmen have arrested all my people, and I was only just able to get away myself. I don’t know how you managed to escape and report me, but you won’t live long enough to enjoy the betrayal. Now obey me and stand still while I kill you as slowly and painfully as I can.”