"No ... I guess not. But Lord Narf loves me in his own way, I think--and that's more than anyone else does."

Then her tone changed and she said, "I'm so glad that you're here today, Dale--I'm glad that there is someone who cares at least a little about what happens to me."

On her face was a poignant longing for someone to love and comfort her.

It seemed to him, now beyond any doubt, that there could never be anything for him in his career but loneliness. How different the warm love of Lyla would be from the cold austerity of the military and its endless succession of weapons and killing--

He moved, to sit beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Lyla," he said, "I want to tell you--"

"_Dale...._" The word was a despairing sob as her composure broke and she held tightly to him, crying, her voice coming m.u.f.fled as she pressed her face against his chest. "Help me, Dale! How can I marry that s.a.d.i.s.tic beast when it's someone else I can't live without--and he doesn't even know I love him!"

"But he does!" He hugged her closer, "He does know, and he loves you even more than you love him."

"Are you sure?" She raised a tear-stained face, hope like sunshine through clouds on it. "Are you really sure Val loves me, after all?"

"_Val?_"

The revelation was like the stunning concussion shock of a blaster beam pa.s.sing two inches overhead. His vision blurred and there was a hideous roaring in his ears. She was still holding to him for comfort and it seemed to him that was wrong--he should be clinging to her for support....

"_Dale_ ... what's the matter?"

"But I thought--" He swallowed with difficulty. "I thought you meant that I was the--"

Something struck the top of his head; this time, for certain, the concussion shock of a blaster beam pa.s.sing close above it. There was a vicious crack as the beam split the tree beyond, then a crash and explosion of wood fragments as a second beam followed the first.

He rolled from the log; taking Lyla with him. The arrow bushes shielded them briefly, long enough for them to reach the temporary safety of a small swale.

"Dale!" Her dark eyes were wide with puzzled surprise and one small foot was bare from the loss of a sandal. "Someone shot at us!"

He thought, _So Narf got his pictures, after all_.

"Rootenant!" Alonzo came running. "They are _that_ way--awr spread out to be sure to kirr you."

Alonzo motioned with his nose, a movement that seemed to cover all the high ground beyond them. At least, the enemy was not between them and camp. Not yet.

A distant shout came, an order from Narf to his men:

"_All of you--down that ridge! Get between Hunter and camp!_"

"_It's him!_" Her fingers gripped his arm. "He wants them to kill you!"

They had fired from a distance too great for his own blaster. He could not defy them from where he now stood.

"I'll have to try to get within range of them," he said. "I'll go back--"

"_No!_" Her grip on his arm tightened. "Don't leave me, Dale--don't let him find me here."

He looked down the length of the swale. At its lower end the ghost tree forest began, dense and concealing--but all down the length of the swale the snarevines lay in thick, viciously barbed entanglements, overlying a bed of sharp rocks and boulders. She could never get to the safety of the ghost trees in time.

Narf had his pictures, now. What would he do to her in the insanity of his hatred and triumph when he reached her?

"All right, Lyla," he said. "I'll see that you get to the trees--"

There was a crashing of explosions and debris leaped skyward behind them and along both sides of the swale. The firing continued, scattered but very effectively consistent, and he said as he drew his blaster, "I guess they don't want us to go away."

He set the regulator of the blaster at lowest intensity so that the beam would not clip dangerous flying fragments from the boulders. The green, tough vines disintegrated reluctantly while the precious minutes sped by; while the unhindered a.s.sa.s.sins would be hurrying to the point where the entire swale would be visible to them and under their fire.

Alonzo was following along near the top of the swale's side, ignoring the danger as he watched the progress of the enemy and reported it to Hunter: "Now they are halfway, Rootenant, hurrying faster--"

They reached the lower end of the swale. The last of the vines disintegrated and the ghost tree forest lay before them.

He touched her cheek in farewell. "Get on to camp, as fast as you can run."

The firing abruptly ceased as he spoke. There was an ominous silence.

Alonzo came running, his tone almost a yelp in its urgency:

"They are awrmost where they can see us! We got to get her out of here, Rootenant--awrfur quick!"

"_Lyla!_"

It was the voice of Val, sharp with concern for her. He came running out of the ghost trees, all his cold impa.s.siveness gone. "Are you hurt, Honey--are you hurt?"

"_You came for me!_" She whispered the words, her face radiant. Then she ran to meet him, her arms outstretched, crying, "_Val ... oh, Val...._"

Their arms went around each other.

Then the woods erupted as ten blasters laid down a barrage to block any escape to camp.

"I'll try to give you a chance to get through," Hunter said quickly.

"Be ready for it when it comes."

He ran toward the firing line, taking advantage of the concealment afforded by the first fringe of ghost trees. They should be almost within range of his own weapon, now--

Again, the firing abruptly ceased, as though by some signal. There came the furious raving of Narf:

"_It's that Boran she wants! Kill him, too!_"

Sonig cursed with bitter rage. "_Jardeen is lost to Verdam if any witness escapes--and we'll all hang, besides._"

There was a second of silence, and then Narf's command: