Statius, his teeth fastened in the shoulder of his howling foe, brought up his hind legs, ripping and gouging, tearing, digging, within his foe's belly, a reflex perhaps genetically coded in long-vanished, unspeeched ancestors of the modern Kur, ancestors not yet Kurii. This modality of aggression, interestingly, frequently characterizes the feeding attack of the smaller Gorean forest panther. It is not unknown amongst larls and sleen, but the sleen usually strikes for the throat and the larl, where practical, particularly after it has bled and exhausted its prey, bites through the back of the neck.
Cabot saw loops of gut loose amongst the beating wings, and Statius’ foe, striking Statius’ jaws away from his shoulder with a mighty blow, turned about, erratically, and tried to strike away. Cabot saw fur and meat in Statius’ jaws. He was too weak to pursue his foe who fled, a rope of gut dangling behind him.
Cabot drew one of the arrows from his belt, and then leaped aside as a line of fire, narrow and perfect, as straight as a beam of light, seemed to stand still beside him, quiet in the air, and then, at the back of the arsenal, yards behind him, where it touched, a metal wall blackened, and drops of molten steel suddenly burst forth and floated in the atmosphere, as might have oil droplets in water.
To free the weapon, a shoulder weapon, the Kur had had to abandon his control of the wings, and he floated, without control, some yards from the ledge.
Lord Grendel thrust up the weapon with his wing, and then, spinning about, close to his foe, who floated before him, had one hand loose from the wing harness and tore the weapon from the Kur's grasp, and the Kur recovered control of the wings, and backed away, warily. Then its eyes grew wide. Lord Grendel had the weapon in one hand, had braced it against his chest, and leveled it. Cabot saw the chest cavity of the Kur disappear, as though punched into nothingness.
Two Kurii remained, other than the figure retreating in the distance.
Neither attempted to free their weapon.
Cabot aligned an arrow.
"No,” said Lord Grendel, in his Gorean.
He then spoke to the Kurii, and they, carefully, removed their weapons, and thrust them, floating, softly, toward the arsenal gate.
Lord Grendel, transferring his weapon to his harnessed arm, with his free hand flicked on his translator, that Cabot might follow what was said.
Seven Kurii, dead, were in the vicinity, winged, inert, floating, in the gravity-free zone. Another, he who had fled, he muchly eviscerated by Statius, had died within moments. The body, harnessed within the wings, was now little more than some fifty yards from the ledge, drifting aimlessly, eccentrically, sometimes rolling over, a length of its entrails wrapped about a leg.
"Now you will kill us,” said one of the two Kurii at bay.
"No,” said Lord Grendel. “There has been enough killing."
"Kill us,” said the other Kur. “Agamemnon will have us killed, if we return without the weapons."
"Free your hands,” said Lord Grendel. Then he spoke to Statius. “Return to them their weapons."
The hair on the back of Cabot's neck rose.
Statius, not questioning Lord Grendel, slipped his harness, and moved the weapons to the two Kurii.
"Lower your bow,” said Lord Grendel, to Cabot, who, however reluctantly, complied.
Lord Grendel then turned his back on the two Kurii, and, with one sweep of the wings, returned to the ledge.
"We have escaped,” said Lord Grendel to the two Kurii, without turning to face them.
"Yes,” said one of them. “You have escaped."
The two Kurii regarded one another, and then reslung their weapons, regained their harnessing, turned about, and moved away from the platform.
"They could have killed you, all of us,” said Cabot.
"True,” said Lord Grendel.
"Why did they not do so?” asked Cabot.
"They are Kur,” said Lord Grendel.
"I do not understand,” said Cabot.
"Would you have done so?” asked Lord Grendel.
"No,” said Cabot.
"You see,” said Lord Grendel. “You, too, are Kur."
"What now is to be done?” asked Cabot.
"We will gather the weapons,” said Lord Grendel.
"Agamemnon would have killed you, instantly, without a thought,” said Cabot.
"He is not Kur,” said Lord Grendel.
"He is Kur,” said Cabot.
"Not every Kur is Kur,” said Lord Grendel.
Cabot was silent.
"We will take you to the surface,” said Lord Grendel.
"They were waiting for us at the arsenal,” said Statius. “They knew we were coming."
"Clearly,” said Lord Grendel.
"You believe Agamemnon to have been informed of our plans?"
"Certainly,” said Grendel.
"He may have anticipated such a move,” said Cabot.
"It is unlikely,” said Lord Grendel, “that without intelligence he would have anticipated, and prepared so carefully for, even to the removal of guards, so unlikely and bold a stroke as an attempt on the arsenal itself."
"Even we ourselves,” said Statius, “regarded our attack as little more than an act of desperation, if not of madness. We expected to battle through legions of guards, in a venture in all likelihood foredoomed."
"Agamemnon is shrewd,” said Cabot. “The devising of such a trap would be well within his ken."
"How would he have known where to lay it, and when?” asked Statius.
"I do not know,” said Cabot.
"The Lady Bina,” said Statius, “fled the camp, days ago."
"Aii!” said Cabot, softly.
"It is true,” said Lord Grendel.
"She had overheard our plans,” said Statius.
"How could she escape from the camp,” asked Cabot. “Was she not belled. Was she not chained at night?"
"She slipped away from the camp master, before her chaining, perhaps with the assistance of a confederate,” said Statius. “As her hands were not bound behind her, as in our treks, she could hold the bell silent."
"You suspect her of revealing our plans?” said Cabot.
"Certainly,” said Statius.
"Agamemnon might have foreseen such an attack,” said Cabot.
"There was treachery, clearly,” said Lord Grendel. “Intelligence had described the security at the arsenal. It was only after the escape of the Lady Bina, and shortly prior to our attack, that it seemed to change, as though Agamemnon had decided at last, in virtue of our weakness, that such precautions were no longer necessary."
"And the ambush was laid,” said Cabot.
"In all its deadliness,” said Statius.
"Perhaps she is innocent,” said Cabot.