“It’s my fault, Sorgan,” Longbow said tersely. “The signs were there, and I should have seen them.”

“This is starting to get real familiar, isn’t it?” Rabbit suggested. “First we find a stairway that doesn’t really go anyplace, because all it was there for was to hide the caves that led to that imitation village, and now we find out that the village doesn’t mean very much either, because the snake-men made their main attack from those mole-holes down by the bench. Every time we turn around, that Vlagh thing seems to outsmart us.”

“To make things even worse, they all just stayed in their holes and let us go on up to the head of the ravine,” Sorgan added. “Now we’re trapped up here, and the snake-men are between us and Lady Zelana’s territory. I don’t think we’re earning our pay. Keselo, why don’t you hustle on up to the rim and wave your flag? I have to talk with Narasan. I think we’re in a whole lot of trouble here.”

“Do you think we should chase them, Cap’n?” Rabbit asked.

“I don’t see much point to that,” Sorgan replied. “Like you said, that village doesn’t really mean anything. Narasan and I’ve got to come up with some way to get live men back down the ravine, and things don’t look very promising right now.”

Keselo and Rabbit moved very cautiously as they made their way back up to the rim, shying away from any depression or patch of raw dirt. The speed of the snake-men who’d attacked the Maags down on the bench had been most alarming, and Keselo and his small friend were both quite jumpy.

Sergeant Grolt was standing on the south rim of the ravine, and his first signal was very colorful. It roughly came out as “Why haven’t you been watching?” but there were some slight flares and wiggles involved, and they carried a strong suggestion that Grolt was inventing swearwords as he went along. The fact that Commander Narasan was standing by his side might have restrained the sergeant’s eloquence to some degree.

Keselo signaled emergency and then conference. Then he pointed his flag at the bottom of the ravine. It probably hadn’t been necessary, since Commander Narasan had almost certainly seen what had happened on the north bench, and most likely he’d ordered Sergeant Grolt to make the same suggestion. Grolt signaled immediately several times and then furled his flag to cut off any further discussion.

“Well?” Rabbit asked.

“The commander was way ahead of us,” Keselo replied. “Grolt was signaling for a conference almost before I was. Let’s get back to Captain Sorgan. Commander Narasan wants to confer with him right now.”

“I hope they can come up with some sort of solution,” Rabbit said as they started on back down the slope. “The way things stand right now, we’re in deep trouble.”

“You noticed,” Keselo replied dryly.

5

Sorgan’s Maags were busily erecting a barricade along the front ledge of the dry creek bed where they’d concealed themselves to protect Longbow’s archers.

“It keeps them busy,” Sorgan said a bit deprecatingly. “I don’t know that it’ll do much good, though. I’ve never come up against an enemy who charges my position from under the ground before. What did Narasan have to say?”

“Sergeant Grolt was signaling conference almost before I’d shaken the wrinkles out of my flag, Captain,” Keselo replied. “Commander Narasan agrees that it’s time to talk.”

“I was fairly sure he’d see things that way. Let’s go on down and find out if he can come up with some way to get us out of this mess.”

“Carefully, though,” Longbow added. “Try not to step into any hidden burrows.”

“I’ll make a special point of that,” Sorgan replied.

The need for extreme caution made for slow going, and it was late afternoon before they reached the bench where Ox had put his men to work draining more venom from the numerous dead enemies piled in heaps there. “I sort of stole an idea from you, Cap’n,” Ox confessed. “That notion you had down near Skell’s fort about sharp stakes dipped in poison come poppin’ back to me when I saw that my people are right out in the open here and they ain’t got enough time to build no fancy forts. I figured that stakes might slow ’em down just a bit.”

“Poisoned stakes are probably a good way to even things up,” Sorgan agreed. “Tell your men to keep at it, and then you’d better come along with us. Narasan and I’ve set up a meet, and you were a lot closer to those mole holes than anybody else. I’m sort of hoping that you might be able to tell the rest of us what we should be looking for. We’re not going to be able to move very fast if we’ve got to probe every inch of ground with our spears.”

“That’s for certain, Cap’n,” Ox agreed.

They crossed the rock-strewn bench to the brushy slope that led down to the narrow stream that was the headwaters of the sizeable river farther on down the ravine.

Just then, from deep within the earth there came a deep booming sound such as Keselo had never heard before, and it was followed by a sharp crack. Then the ground beneath their feet seemed to shudder.

“What was that?” Rabbit demanded, his voice a bit shrill.

Longbow dropped to his knees and put his ear to the ground. When he rose again, he had a broad grin on his face. “I think life for our enemies just got very exciting,” he said. “I’d say that we’re getting some help.”

“I don’t quite follow you, Longbow,” Keselo said.

“That was an earthquake,” Longbow explained. “Not a very big one, but it was probably just the beginning. I’d imagine that there’ll be more of them as time goes by. They won’t bother us very much, but we’re out in the open air. The creatures of the Wasteland are down below in caves and tunnels and burrows, and being down under the ground isn’t a good idea when the earth starts to rattle and shake.”

“Do you think it might be Eleria again?” Keselo suggested.

Longbow shook his head. “Eleria and Lillabeth are more closely associated with the weather. This has to do with the earth, so it’s probably Yaltar or Ashad.”

“What are you two talking about?” Hook-Beak demanded suspiciously.

“We seem to be getting some help, Captain,” Longbow replied just a bit evasively.

“I’ll take all the help I can get,” Sorgan declared. “Let’s get on down to that little brook. Narasan and I need to talk, and it won’t be long before the daylight fades. Snakes are bad enough in the daytime, but the notion of coming up against them at night sends chills up my back.”