Elje coughed in his arms as he shifted weight from wings to feet. Electrified, he looked down, forgetting everything else in this new surprise. He had been certain she was dead or dying. She opened her eyes, looked at him blindly, and let the lashes flutter down again. But at least she was still alive.
The men of her band closed around them then and one of them took Elje from his arms. Kern looked around curiously as he followed Elje’s bearer across the rock.
A cavern lifted its high arched entrance before them, black rock without and within, and the lip of rock thrust out before it, black too. Above the platform, which must have been two hundred feet across, the air was still and no poisonous vapors swirled, but they still rose all around the edges of the rock and leaned together high above like a tent roof that blotted out the sky except for occasional rifts far overhead. It was like a painter’s concept of Hades, even to the winged men with the hard, violent faces swarming out to meet the newcomers.
The mutants were among them. Kern told them shortly of Bruce’s loss. He did not want to dwell on it, for it seemed a deathblow to the hopes of the others and perhaps to his own, too, if this world was ever to be peopled by any but automatons.
None of the mutants spoke after he had told them. The loss was a stunning one and Byrna’s sad, small face grew sadder and very pale, while Kua’s great blue eye filled with tears as she turned away. Sam Brewster muttered something under his breath and for an instant Kern saw the veiling secondary lids twitch across his eyes, as they always twitched when Sam was angry, in involuntary preparation to draw back.
“Sam!” Kern said sharply. Sam grimaced and turned away too, closing the secondary lids again.
Inside the cavern, on a straw mattress under a stretched crimson tent, Elje was lying. A fire burned in a crude hood of rocks, its heat cupped in the red tent and reflected back again upon the bed. Someone was holding a bowl of steaming liquid to her lips as Kern came up.
Kern watched her drain it slowly. When she lay back upon the cushions her eyes remained open and she looked around the circle of watching men with understanding dawning in her face. Color came back into it after awhile, and then she coughed again and sat up.
“All right,” she said. “I’m better. What happened?”
Kern told her.
“Gerd?” she asked when he had finished. The men looked at one another inquiringly. A growl of dissent went through the cavern. No one had seen him. Someone rose on heavy wings and flapped out under the dome to search the platform outside. Gerd was not to be found. Elje’s face darkened.
“We could afford to lose twenty men better than Gerd,” she said. “You say he was last behind you, Kern? Didn’t you hear any fighting as you came in?”
Kern shook his head. “I couldn’t tell. I thought he was following me. The last I saw was Bruce and his carriers going down.”
Elje bit her lip. “I’m sorry. We’ll miss him. He was one of the bravest and most loyal of us all. He’s been with us only a year, but I’d come to depend more on his judgment than—” She broke off. “Well, it can’t be helped. I suppose the light-cones got him. I wonder how they work.” She flexed her wings and tried her muscles out experimentally. “The rays don’t seem to leave any aftereffects. I suppose the fatalities are meant to come from the fall. Well, at least we’re lucky to have got away without any worse losses.”
She got to her feet and shook her head tentatively, shook her wings out and made two or three uncertain beats that nearly lifted her off the floor.
“I’m all right now.” She spread her hands to the blaze for it was damply chill in the cavern. “The Mountain’s angry,” she said. “It isn’t only our raid on the village that brought this army out against us. There was that storm, too. Kern, I think the Mountain knows you’re here and is trying to—to finish you. Have you any idea why?”
Kern had, vague theories too inchoate to put into words. He shook his head instead. Elje laughed shortly.
“Gerd wouldn’t trust you. If he were here, he’d say it was your fault the enemy had gathered against us. He’d say to put you out and let you shift for yourselves, all of you. Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?” Her voice was suddenly hard.
Disconcerted, Kern stared at her. “If you don’t know any—” he began, but she broke in quickly.
“You saved my life,” she conceded, “but we’re not a sentimental people. We can’t afford to be. If your presence here is a menace to the safety of us all, I can’t indulge my own gratitude by putting my men in danger. We must each contribute to the strength of the group, or perish.” She shrugged. “You’re one extra fighting man, but what about your friends? Have they abilities to counterbalance their being earthbound?”
“I think they have. This much is sure, Elje. Unless we can prevail against the Mountain somehow, I believe we mutants at least are doomed. Our coming has upset the balance in your world and the Mountain knows it and intends to be rid of us. Well, we’ve lost our best man, Bruce Hallam. With his help we might have moved openly against the Mountain. Without him, we are greatly handicapped.” Kern grimaced wryly. “Remember, Byrna and I have been in—call it in tune—with whatever it is that constitutes the Mountain. We know what we’re facing. But I don’t see any choice. It’s kill or be killed.”
Behind him Kua’s gentle voice
