An hour's travel brought them under the crumbling basalt palisade. Traz suddenly halted, sniffed the air. Reith could smell nothing, but long since had learned to defer to Traz's perceptions.
"Phung* droppings," said Traz. "About two days old."
Reith nervously checked the availability of his handgun. Eight explosive pellets remained. When these were gone the gun became useless. It might be, thought Reith, that his luck was running out. He asked Traz, "Is it likely to be close at hand?"
Traz shrugged. "The Phung are mad things. For all I know, one stands behind that boulder."
Reith and Anacho looked uneasily about. Anacho finally said, "Our first concern must be the Dirdir. The critical period has begun. They will have traced us aboard the motor-wagon; they can easily follow us to Siadz. Still, we are not completely without advantage, especially if they lack game-finding instruments."
"What instruments are these?" asked Reith.
"Detectors of human odor or heat radiation. Some trace footprints by residual warmth, others observe exhalations of carbon dioxide and locate a man from a distance of five miles."
"And when they catch their game?"
"The Dirdir are conservative. They do not recognize change," said Anacho. "They need not hunt but are driven by inner forces. They consider themselves beasts of prey, and impose no restraint upon themselves."
"In other words," said Traz, "they will eat us."
Reith was gloomily silent. At last he said, "Well, we must not be captured."
"As Zarfo the Lokhar said, 'Death comes but once.' "
Traz pointed. "Notice the break into the palisade. If ever a road existed, there it must go."
Across barren hummocks of compacted gray soil, around tangles of thorn and tumbled beds of rubble, the three hurried, perspiring and constantly watching the sky. At last they reached the shadow of the notch, but could find no trace of the road. If ever it existed, detritus and erosion had long ago expunged it from view.
Anacho suddenly gave a low sad call. "The sky-car. It comes. We are hunted."
Reith forced back a panicky urge to run. He looked up the notch. A small stream trickled down the center, to terminate in a stagnant tarn. To the right rose a steep slope; to the left, a massive buttress overhung an area of deep shade, at the back of which was an even deeper shadow: the mouth of a cave.
The three crouched behind the tumble which choked half the ravine. Out over the plain the Dirdir boat, with chilling deliberation, slid toward Siadz.
Reith said in a neutral voice, "They can't detect our radiation through the rocks. Our carbon dioxide blows up the notch." He turned to look up the valley.
"No point in running," said Anacho. "There's no sanctuary. If they follow us this far they will chase us forever."
Five minutes later the sky-car returned from Siadz, following the road east, at an altitude of two or three hundred yards. Suddenly it swerved and circled.
Anacho said in a fateful voice, "They have found our tracks."
The sky-car came across the plain, directly toward the notch. Reith brought forth his handgun. "Eight pellets left. Enough to explode eight Dirdir."
"Not enough to explode one. They carry shields against such missiles."
In another half-minute the sky-car would be overhead. "Best that we take to the cave," said Traz.
"Obviously the haunt of Phung," muttered Anacho. "Or an adit of the Pnume. Let us die cleanly, in the open air."
"We can walk through the pond," said Traz, "and stand below the overhang. Our trail is then broken; they may follow the stream up the valley."
"If we stand here," said Reith, "we're finished for sure."
The three ran through the shallow fringes of the pond, Anacho gingerly bringing up the rear. They huddled under the loom of the cliff. The odor of Phung was strong and rich.
Over the shoulder of the mountain opposite came the skyboat. "They'll see us!" said Anacho in a hollow voice. "We're in plain sight!"
"Into the cave," hissed Reith. "Back, further back!"
"The Phung-"
"There may be no Phung. The Dirdir are certain!" Reith groped back into the dark, followed by Traz and finally Anacho. The shadow of the sky-car passed over the pond, flitted on up the valley.
Reith flashed his light here and there. They stood in a large chamber of irregular shape, the far end obscured in murk. Light brown nodules and flakes covered the floor ankle-deep; the walls were crusted over with horny hemispheres, each the size of a man's fist.
"Night-hound larvae," muttered Traz.
Anacho stole to the cave-mouth, looked cautiously forth. He jerked back.
"They've missed our trail; they're circling."
Reith extinguished the light and looked cautiously from the cave-mouth. A
hundred yards away the sky-car descended to the ground, silent as a falling leaf. Five Dirdir alighted. For a moment they stood in consultation; then, each carrying a long transparent shield, they advanced into the notch. As if at a signal, two leaped forward like silver leopards, peering along the ground. Two others came behind at a slow lope, weapons ready; the fifth remained to the rear.
The pair in the lead stopped short, communicating in odd squeaks and grunts.
"The hunting language," Anacho muttered, "from the time they were yet beasts."
"They look no different now."
The Dirdir halted at the far shore of the pond. They looked, listened, smelled the air, obviously aware their prey was close at hand.
Reith sighted along his handgun, but the Dirdir continually twitched their shields, frustrating his aim.
One of the leading Dirdir searched the valley through binoculars; the other held a black instrument before his eyes. At once he found something of interest. A
great bound took him to the spot where Reith, Traz and Anacho had halted before crossing to the cave. Sighting through the black instrument, the Dirdir followed the tracks to the pond, then searched the space below the overhang. He gave a series of grunts and squeaks; the shields jerked about.
Anacho muttered, "They see the cave. They know we're here."
Reith peered into the back reaches of the cave.
Traz said in a matter-of-fact voice, "There is a Phung back there. Or it has not long departed."
"How do you know?"
"I smell it. I feel the pressure."
Reith turned to the Dirdir. Step by step they came, effulgences sparkling up from their heads. Reith spoke in a fateful croak: "Back, into the cave. Perhaps we can set up some kind of ambush."
Anacho gave a stifled groan; Traz said nothing. The three retreated through the dark, across the carpet of brittle granules. Traz touched Reith's arm. He whispered, "Notice the light behind us. The Phung is close at hand."
Reith halted, to strain his eyes into the dark. He saw no light. Silence pressed upon them.
Reith now thought to hear the faintest of scraping sounds. Cautiously he crept back through the dark, gun ready. And now he sensed yellow light: a wavering glimmer reflecting against the cave-wall. The scrape-scrape-scrape was somewhat louder. With the utmost caution Reith peered around a jut of rock, into a chamber. A Phung sat, back half-turned, burnishing its brachial plates with a file. An oil lamp emitted a yellow glow; to the side a broad-brimmed black hat and a cloak hung from a peg.
Four Dirdir stood in the mouth of the cave, shields in front, weapons ready; their effulgences, standing high, furnished their only light.
Traz plucked one of the horny hemispheres from the wall. He threw it at the Phung, which gave a startled cluck. Traz pressed Anacho and Reith back behind the jut of rock.
The Phung came forth; they could see its shadow against the glimmer of lamp-light. It returned into its chamber, once more came forth, and now it wore its hat and cloak.
For a moment it stood silent, not four feet from Reith, who thought the creature must surely hear the thud-thud-thud of his heart.