glared at his men and they
drooped in their saddles. The gate creaked open and the horsemen from
Don Loris' castle filed inside. They showed no elation, because Hoddan
had promised to ram a spear-shaft its full length down the throat of any
man who gave away his stratagem ahead of time. The gate closed behind
them. Men appeared to take their horses. This could have revealed that
the newcomers were strangers, but Ghek would have recruited new and
extra retainers for the emergency of tonight. There would be many
strange faces in his castle just now.

"Good fight, eh?" bellowed an ancient, long-retired retainer with a wine
bottle in his hand.

"Good fight!" agreed Thal.

"Good plunder, eh?" bellowed the ancient above the heads of younger men.
"Like the good old days?"

"Better!" boomed Thal.

At just this instant the young Lord Ghek appeared. There were scratches
on his cheek, acquired during the ride with Fani across his saddlebow.
He looked thrilled by his victory but uneasy about his prize.

"What's this about prisoners with fancy news?" he demanded. "What is
it?"

"Don Loris!" whooped Thal. "Long Live the Lady Fani!"

Hoddan painstakingly opened fire; with the continuous-fire stud of this
pistol--his third tonight--pressed down. The merrymakers in the
courtyard wavered and went down in windrows. Thal opened fire with a
stun-pistol. The others bellowed and began to fling bolts at every
living thing they saw.

"To the Lady Fani!" rasped Hoddan, getting off his horse with as many
creakings as the castle gate.

His followers now rushed, dismounting where they had to. They fired with
reckless abandon. A stun-pistol, which does not kill, imposes few
restraints upon its user. If you shoot somebody who doesn't need to be
shot, he may not like it but he isn't permanently harmed. So the twelve
who'd followed Hoddan poured in what would have been a murderous fire if
they'd been shooting bullets, but was no worse than devastating as
matters stood.

* * * * *

There were screams and flight and utterly hopeless defiances by
sword-armed and spear-armed men. In instants Hoddan went limping into
the castle with Thal by his side, searching for Fani. Ghek had not
fallen at the first fire. He vanished, and the castle was plainly fallen
and he made no attempt to lead resistance against its invaders. Hoddan's
men went raging happily through corridors and halls as they came to
them. They used