Sara quashed her initial reaction-to berate the ex-ploser for letting the star-man head into an unfamiliar wilderness all alone. The alien was a cripple, after all, and might get hurt or lost.

But then, she recalled, he was a strangely competent cripple. Clever and skilled in ways that had little to do with words. And for a man with such a peaceful demeanor, he fought very well.

With a shrug, Sara accepted what could not be changed and sat down to partake of the desert warriors’ wafer bread and a jug of leathery-tasting water.

“In the morning we must gather wood for a pyre, since we haven’t any scavenger toruses for proper mulching,” she said between mouthfuls, speaking more loudly than normal, because everyone was still rather hard of hearing. At best, it took a shout to carry over the steady ringing in her own ears. “And we should send someone for help.”

“I’ll go,” Jomah volunteered. “I’m the only one who wasn’t banged up in the battle. I’m strong an’ I’ve got a compass. Uncle Kurt knows I won’t get lost. And I can move real fast.”

The senior exploser looked uncomfortable. His nephew was very young. Still, after a moment’s reflection, Kurt nodded. “It makes sense. He can head—”

“Of course /an the one to send,” Ulgor interrupted, turning from tending the campfire. “I can run faster and farther than the child, and I know these hills well.”

Sara choked. “Not a chance! I can’t believe we haven’t tied you up yet with the others! Let you go? So you can hurry off and collect more of your fanatic friends?”

Ulgor turned her narrow head to peer at Sara sideways. “As if those friends are not already on their way, dear daughter of Nelo? UrKachu sent envoys ahead, don’t forget. Let us suffose that Kurt’s nephew could reach the Glade without encountering a ligger, or a fack of khoovrahs. If he heads north, I guarantee the first folks he encounters will ve UrKachu’s allies, hurrying to join us.”

Now it was Kurt’s turn to interrupt, with a short, hard laugh.

“And who says we’re headin’ north?” Both Ulgor and Sara looked at him. “What do you mean? Obviously we have to…”

Her voice trailed off as she saw the exploser smile. Come to think of it, Kurt never explicitly said the Glade was his destination. She had assumed, quite naturally, that his urgent business lay there. But he might have planned to leave our group at Crossroads, where the rest of us would turn uphill toward the Egg.

“Others of my guild have already gone to help the High Sages. But the boy and I have interests in another direction. And while we’re on the subject, I suggest you should consider coming along, Sara. For one thing, it’s the last direction the Urunthai are likely to look.”

It was the longest speech she had ever heard Kurt make, and her mind churned with implications. For instance, why was he saying this in front of Ulgor?

Because any determined urs could track a bunch of humans and donkeys over afresh trail. Obviously, Ulgor has to come along, or else be eliminated.

But then, didn’t the same logic require that they murder all the other survivors, too? Kurt surely knew that Sara would never permit that. Anyway, the problem would not go away simply because they got a couple of days’ head start. A good tracker, like Dwer, could hunt them even over a trail that had gone cold.

She started to raise these matters, then stopped, realizing that Kurt could not give a satisfactory answer with the seething outlaws listening nearby.

“You know I can’t go,” she said at last, shaking her head. “These men and urs will die if left here like this, all trussed up, and we clearly can’t release them.”

If she had any doubts about that, one look into Ded-inger’s wrath-filled eyes settled the matter. That cold fury was a problem only a great deal of time and distance would solve. The more the better. “I’ll stay and take care of them till their friends arrive,” she added. “The Urunthai will probably protect me, since I fought to help save some of them — though they may still keep me prisoner. I may even be able to stop ’em from slaughtering Dedinger’s gang.

“But you and Jomah ought to go ahead. Assuming we get some of the donkeys back, you can take Prity and the Stranger along. With tons of luck you might get them somewhere with a pharmacist and a strong militia outfit. I’ll follow for several arrowflights and brush away your trail, then I’ll use more donkeys to trample a mess of false paths leading out of here.”

A soft whistle of grudging respect escaped Ulgor. “You are, indeed, your vrother’s sister.”

Sara turned and pointed at the elegant tinker. “Of course this means you have used up the free time you earned by helping us at the battle’s end.” She bent to pick up a length of tent rope. “It’s time for you to join the others by the fire, neighbor.”

Ulgor backed away. “You and who else plan on enforcing that ruling?” she asked in defiant GalSix.

Kurt cocked the pistol. “Me and my magic wand, Ulgor. You just stop right there.”

Ulgorls long neck slumped in defeat. “Oh, all right,” she murmured, disconsolately. “If you’re going to ve so insistent. I suffose I can stand it for a little while.”

Amid Ulgor’s stream of placating words, it took a dura or two for Sara to realize — she’s still backing up!

Confused by mixed signals, Kurt wavered until Ded-inger cried out. “She’s faking, you fools!”

In a blur, Ulgor whipped around and plunged into the twilight dimness. Kurt fired once — and missed — as the urrish rump vanished amid the rocks. Their last sight of Ulgor was a flourish of twin braided tails. The captive urs lifted their heads from drug-hangover misery to chortle with amused glee. Several human captives laughed at the exploser’s discomfiture.

“You need more practice with that thing, grandpa,” Dedinger observed. “Or else hand it to a guy who hit something the one time he tried.”

Prity bared her teeth and snarled at the ex-sage, who sarcastically feigned terror, then laughed again.

He spent time around’chimps in Biblos, Sara thought, laying a hand on Prity’s knee to restrain her. He should know better.

Then again, there’s no fool like a bright fool.

“Well, that tears it,” Kurt muttered to Sara. “It’s my fault. I should’ve listened to you. Tied her up, even though she helped save my life. Now she can lurk out there watching us. Or run and bring her gang before we get far enough away.”

Sara shook her head. Far enough away for what? Surely Ulgor’s escape only hastened the inevitable.

The exploser motioned for her to come closer. When she sat down, Kurt’s lips pressed together hard before he finally decided to speak, so softly that her battered ears could barely hear.

“I’ve been thinkin’ lately, Sara … it seemed a gift from the Egg to find you traveling with us. A fluke-blessing of Ifni. Your skills could prove quite useful to something … a project I’m involved with. I was going to ask you at Crossroads.” “Ask me what?”

“To come south with us” — his voice lowered further still — “to Mount Guenn.”

“To Mount—” Sara blurted, standing up.

At Kurt’s panicked expression, she sat back down and dropped her voice. “You’re kidding, right? You know I have business at the Glade. Important business. If the radicals think the Stranger is important enough to kill over, don’t you think the sages ought to have a chance to look him over and decide what to do? Besides, if the aliens are his friends, it’s our duty to help him get modern medical—”

Kurt waved a hand. “All quite true. Still, with the path from here to the Glade blocked, and with another task waiting that could be more important—”

Sara stared at the man. Was he crazy as Dedinger? What could possibly be more important?