The gold dulled. Gordon woke from his stupor to see that twilight had replaced the sunlight. And the guards in the doorway were now looking nervously along the street. As the dusk deepened they stepped farther away from the doorway, out into the street, as though they were doing everything possible to keep from being too near this room when the Lord Susurr came to do what he would do to the captives.
The hall was darkening, faster than the outside street. Gordon suddenly stiffened against his shackles. He heard a sound approaching.
Something was in the shadowy hall with them, something that came softly toward them from behind.
12
The skin between Gordon's shoulders crawled. He heard the sound shift position as whoever had stealthily entered moved softly around in front of them.
Then, close in front of him and silhouetted against the last twilight of the open doorway, he saw the profile of Shorr Kan.
'Listen, and keep your mouths shut,' whispered Shorr Kan. 'You'll be dead, and worse than dead, before morning comes unless I get you out of here. There's a chance I can do it.'
'And why would you do a thing like that?' asked Gordon, keeping his voice well down.
'He loves us, that's why,' muttered Hull Burrel. 'He's so full of loving kindness that he just can't bear to see us hurt.'
'Oh, God,' whispered Shorr Kan, 'give me a smart enemy rather than a stupid friend. Look, I may have only minutes before the cursed H'Harn comes.'
'H'Harn?'
'What you call the Magellanians. The H'Harn is the name they call themselves. The Lord Susurr is one of them and when he comes here, you're through.'
Gordon did not doubt that. But all the same he asked dubiously, 'If the creature is such a terrific telepath, won't he know that you're here right now?'
There was contempt in Shorr Kan's answer. 'You people all think the H'Harn are omnipotent and omniscient. They're not. In fact, they're a bit on the stupid side in some ways. They
Gordon knew that from his own experience at Teyn, but he made no comment. Shorr Kan jerked his head around to peer at the guards who waited uneasily out in the dusky street, and then continued in a hurried whisper.
'I have to be quick. Listen... I've been here in the Marches ever since the defeat of the Dark Worlds. I figure that sooner or later I could manipulate these popinjay counts the way I wanted to... set them against each other, get them to fighting, and when the smoke cleared away, Shorr Kan would be king of the Marches. And I would have done it, but for one thing.
'The agents of the H'Harn came from outside the galaxy, and made contact with Cyn Cryver and Narath Teyn and certain other counts. The H'Harn took a beating when they tried to invade long ago and it's taken them all that time to recover from it, but they're strong again and they still mean to come into our galaxy, in a different way.'
'What way?' asked Gordon.
'I don't know,' answered Shorr Kan. 'I'm not sure that even Cyn Cryver knows. I do know that the H'Harn are preparing something big out there in the Magellanic Clouds, something against which our galaxy will be defenseless. What it is, I haven't the slightest idea.'
He went on. 'Those of the H'Harn who have come here so far, like Susurr and others, are agents sent ahead to make alliance with the counts and prepare the way for some kind of assault. The H'Harn have assured Cyn Cryver and the others that they'll be given half the galaxy for their aid. And the bloody fools believe it!'
'But you don't?'
'Look, Gordon, did you find me an idiot when we fought each other in the old days? The H'Harn are inhuman, so inhuman that they take good care not to show themselves bodily least they scare off their allies. Of course they'll use the counts, and of course they'll brush them aside when they've succeeded in their plans, and what will their promises be worth?'
'About as much,' muttered Gordon, 'as the promises of Shorr Kan.'
Shorr Kan chuckled briefly. 'I asked for that. But no matter. I've had to guard my thoughts carefully. The moment that damned alien gets suspicious and probes my mind I'll be through, and I can't keep my guard up forever. I've got to get out of here. But one man can't operate a ship. Three men could. That's why I need you.' His whisper was emphatic. 'Give me your word that you'll go where I want to go, once we get a ship, and I'll free you right now!'
'Give our word to Shorr Kan?' said Hull. 'That would really be a brilliant thing to do...'
'Hull, listen!' said Gordon swiftly. 'If Shorr Kan double-crosses us the moment we're out of this room, we'd still not be as bad off as when that alien gets through with us. Give him your word. I do.'
The Antarian sullenly muttered. 'All right. It's given.'
Shorr Kan produced something from under his coat that glistened dully in the last light from the doorway. It was a heavy semi-circular metal hook whose inner cutting edge was serrated.
'I've no key to your shackles but this should cut them,' he whispered. 'Hold your hands wide, Gordon, unless you want one of them sliced off.'
He slipped around behind the pillar and began sawing at the shackle. The sound seemed loud to Gordon's ears but the shadowy figures of the guards out in the street did not move.
'Almost through,' muttered Shorr Kan after a few moments. 'If you'll...'
His whisper suddenly stopped. The sawing stopped and then there was a stealthy sound of rapid withdrawal.
'What...' Gordon began, and then his heart throbbed painfully as he saw.
Out in the dusk-wrapped street that was still not as dark as the interior of the hall, the guardsmen were moving away, shrinking back until they met the wall of a building on the opposite side and could go no farther.
And a cowled, robed figure of shimmering gray, not quite as tall as a man, appeared in the doorway. In complete silence it moved, with that horridly fluid gliding motion that Gordon had seen once before, into the darkness of the hall toward them.
Gordon's whole body stiffened involuntarily. He heard a sharp indrawing of breath from the Antarian, who had not seen one of the H'Harn until now. There was a moment in which the shadowy figure seemed to hesitate between them, and then the choice was made and it swayed toward Gordon and he waited for the blasting mental force to burst into his brain.
A shadow skittered in the darkness, a low anguished hissing came from the H'Harn, and its body swayed unsteadily aside. And against the dim oblong of the doorway, Gordon saw Shorr Kan's silhouette as he dug the serrated hook deep, deep into the Gray One's back.
In an access of revulsion, Gordon strained violently and the almost-severed shackle snapped.
He could not see clearly the nightmare that was going on now in the dark hall. The H'Harn seemed to be tottering away, mewing and hissing, as Shorr Kan stabbed and stabbed.
'Help me kill it!' panted Shorr Kan. 'Help me...!'
There was no weapon, but Gordon grabbed up the chair beside the table. He rushed and struck. The mewing thing went down.
Pain. Pain. It shot the terrible waves though Gordon's brain, coming consciously or unconsciously from the stricken alien. He staggered, fell to his knees.
A wave of black agony swept over him and receded. He got up, shakily. He glimpsed the dark figures of the two guards in the street, running now toward the doorway of the building. There they hesitated.
'Lord Susurr?' called one, his voice high-pitched and shrill.
Shorr Kan's stunner buzzed in the dark and the two men in the doorway dropped.
