One loop of the harness settled over the Raider's neck, and behind it came Valleroy, his full weight falling from horseback height, forcing the Sime to the ground. It was sheer luck that Valleroy landed on the Raider's back where the steely tentacles could not get an immediate grip on him. He took full advantage of that fleeting instant to yank on the noose. The dull snap of the Raider's spine was ample reward. Valleroy didn't wait to watch the man die.

Disentangling his harness, he leaped back into the saddle. "Aisha! I'm going for Klyd. You get on the road south and I'll be right behind you. Don't stop for anything!" Thundering by her, Valleroy grabbed the reins of Klyd's horse and streaked for the cages, flattening him-self to the horse's back. Now that they'd been discovered, speed was their only hope.

And, thought Valleroy, concentrating on speed was his only hope. He dared not think about what he must do next, or what might happen after that

Plunging out of the alley between barracks buildings, Valleroy drew up next to Klyd's cage. The channel was still at the bars, scrabbling with feeble determination. Valleroy knew that Klyd was in no way responsible for his own actions. Given the slightest chance, need would drive him to a kill right then and there, regardless of the danger of being recaptured.

Leaving his harness straps dangling over the horse's neck, Valleroy stood up on his saddle and drew himself onto the cage roof. He inserted the key into the trap door's lock. Then he lay prone to peer over the edge of the roof before opening the door. "Klyd, I'm going to raise the door. Your horse is right there. Follow me, and when we're clear of the camp, I'll stop and let you catch up. Understand?"

There was no light of recognition in those tortured eyes. Valleroy uttered a prayer as he threw the trap door open. Then he leaped back into his saddle and whipped the gelding's flank. He had tried to pick the slower horse for Klyd, but that was no sure way to win a race.

Valleroy caught up to Aisha midway down the mountainside, and there he gave her horse an encouraging smack as he passed. In response, the horse leaned into the wind.

They came off the downhill trail and dove into the dense evergreen forest Tree trunks flashed by forming a solid wall. Out of the direct sunlight, Valleroy felt the chill bite of the mountain wind cutting through the flimsy garment he wore. Klyd was gaining on them too quickly. He forgot about the cold as he lashed his horse to one final sprint for safety. As he rode, he thought ahead to what he'd have to do.

All of their luck to this moment would be for nothing if he couldn't save Klyd to rebuild Zeor. But the emotions of that morning still plagued him. He knew that his only chance for survival lay in his willingness to sacrifice his life for Klyd's. But it had to be a genuine commitment. To the hypnotic beat of the horse's hoofs, he ran over and over the arguments.

In the end, it was that one word from Feleho Ambrov Zeor that made it all real to Valleroy. "Naztehr." He'd been honored with that title. Now that time had come to earn the honor. And he really wanted to earn it.

He allowed Aisha to draw ahead. When they had come to a small clearing where shafts of misty sunlight speared the dense gloom, he had reined in without warning her. By the time she had noticed, and had turned to come back, Klyd had caught up to Valleroy.

The two horses stood lathered and blowing clouds of steam into the rods of sunlight. The arching trees above were so much like a cathedral that Valleroy thought it would be a fine place to die. Wearily, he dismounted and stood ankle-deep in fragrant pine needles, waiting for the channel.

With an augmented burst of motion, the Sime was before Valleroy, tentacles outstretched, face drawn to such a tension that any Gen would have been terrified. But in that instant, Valleroy saw not a ferocious predator intent on murder, but his partner, who had sacrificed family and reputation and who now pleaded desperately for help to avoid the final disgrace of his name... the kill.

Something deep within Valleroy responded to that plea, sending his own hands out to meet those tentacles He could not allow Zeor to be disgraced!

As the dripping laterals flashed about his arms, Valleroy experienced a thrill of sensation, almost like the jolt of smelling salts clearing away the fog of unconsciousness. He was scarcely aware of the bruising lip contact that followed. That painful clarity of the senses grew until, through some trick of total empathy, Valleroy himself became both giver and receiver in that interchange.

Valleroy's own guts churned with need, and somehow he knew it for what it was.

In response to that need within himself, Valleroy poured forth all the selyn stored within him. With frenzied desperation he fed the demand that seemed at once to be so bottomless and so much his own.

Slowly, the speed of that draw diminished. As the demand fell off, Valleroy knew a double satisfaction that soothed both halves of him, dragging him down with weariness into the deepest darkness he'd ever known.

It wasn't the darkness of unconsciousness... not quite. It was a darkness of separation. The darkness of disunity. The darkness of disintegration. The darkness that follows a dangerously bright flash of light. He was alone, with only one self again, with only the ache of sore muscles, and without awareness of the glittering sustenance... selyn. The selyn nager was gone. His body no longer could sense even the strongest field-gradient. Even... and now he knew what the term meant... the selur nager was gone. He shuddered, once, sharply, severed from a higher reality that had become his norm in one brief flash.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the pine needles. Beside him, cross-legged, sat Klyd, gently holding his hand and frowning. The channel's face was restored to its vigorous youthful glow, and his eyes were once more lit with rationality.

Tears stung Valleroy behind the nose. "We did it!"

"We did, but I'm not exactly certain what we did. I've never felt anything like that before."

"Whatever it was, it didn't hurt."

"Apparently not," said Klyd, smiling so that his sharp features softened. "Can you stand?"

Valleroy sat up, surprised that he felt not the slightest twinge of the agony that had haunted his first days and nights at Zeor. "I'm fine," he said, climbing to his feet as Klyd did likewise.

As he reached his full height, Aisha came running, arms wide to embrace him. "Hugh!" She sobbed on his shoulder, letting her full weight fall against him. "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm glad you're so glad I'm not dead. I love you."

"I love you, too, you beast!"

He kissed her and she kissed back as if they'd just been married. After several moments, Klyd interrupted. "Do I take it Zeor has gained another Gen member? The Sectuib of a Householding is empowered to perform marriages, you know."

The couple parted as if just realizing they weren't alone. Something told Valleroy that the channel was feeling an even more intense awareness of Aisha's feminity that he himself was. And from what he'd learned of the Householding custom, Valleroy knew that the channel's gene was so valuable that he was allowed to take whatever woman he fancied... whenever he liked.

Strangely enough, Valleroy wasn't jealous even when Klyd put a hand on Aisha's cheek. But if the Sime had any ideas regarding her, he forgot them immediately. She fainted.

Before she'd half closed her eyes, Klyd had eased her to the ground and was conducting a very impersonal check on her condition. "She's been burned slightly," he announced. "Tell me what happened with Andle."

Valleroy told him, ending with the condition they'd left the corpse in. The channel was horrified, "No human being should be forced to suffer that. If he's a channel, it will take him weeks to die, and the Runzi won't know that death is inevitable because they don't have any channels to diagnose him. That the hand of Zeor could be involved in this! Will history ever forgive us?"

Valleroy actually saw tears start to the Sime's eyes. "Andle was responsible for the death of your grandfather, your wife, and your heir... and Feleho. He deserved what he got."

"No. You should have finished the job."

"I thought it was finished. I'm sorry if I besmirched the name of Zeor. But I did what I saw had to be done."

Across Aisha's still form, Klyd reached out and took Valleroy's hand. "How can you find the capacity to be angry with me... after what we've just done?"

Something of that deep rapport that had welded the two of them in transfer still lingered in that touch. Valleroy said, "I can't be angry."

"Then come, let's take your bride home to Zeor. I have two funerals to conduct. We'll need a marriage to remind us that existence continues. In a few years, perhaps, you'll understand about Andle."

"We can't go to Zeor with you. Stacy's waiting, and I have a small reward to collect. I think I know now what I want to do with it. Unless Aisha's hurt..."

"No, she'll be all right. She's really an extraordinary person. You're lucky."

"Klyd, I'm sorry about Yenava. It was my fault..."

"No, not at all. No more than it's my fault for having been born with the Farris genes. While I live, there is yet the chance there may be an heir. That chance we owe to you."

"I still feel that I owe Zeor more than Zeor owes me. But I think I've hit on a way to balance the scales."

Aisha stirred and opened her eyes. Instantly, Klyd was all physician and healer, soothing, encouraging, and concerned. But she brushed that aside impatiently, though not trying to get up. "Balance what scales?"

Valleroy took a deep breath. "Aisha, will you marry me?"

"Of course. I made up my mind about that several years ago. But you always were slow. What scales are we balancing?"

"I'm not sure. Justice maybe. How would you like to establish an underground link across the territory border und spend the rest of your days dodging the law on both sides?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Valleroy told her about the land and pension he'd been promised and about how he'd wanted to spend the rest of his life painting. "I could take those acres in border property... maybe even adjacent to Zeor... Perhaps they'd grant a few more acres because border land is so cheap. Then we could establish a Householding of our own. I haven't chosen a name..."