arrows and
clubs fell suddenly upon them from above, killing several before Tharn
could give the order to withdraw.

At a safe distance from the windows, Tharn, Vulcar and Katon held a
brief council of war, finally agreeing upon a strategic maneuver that
held promise of being effective.

Eight warriors left the group, returning with a heavy log, free of
branches. This was carried, four men to a side, to within a short
distance from the barred entranceway. Now, eight replacements came
forward, took up the massive tree trunk and started at a run toward the
doors, the log's heavy base aimed at a point where the two rough-hewn
sections joined.

Within a dozen paces of their objective, they swerved sharply to their
left and sent the great timber crashing through the slender stone
columns of a large window.

Following the log came those who had carried it, pouring through to the
hallway beyond. It was deserted; evidently the defenders were grouped at
the upstairs windows, intending to stage their defense from that point.

A second later the palace doors were thrown wide and, notwithstanding a
heavy barrage from overhead, the rebels soon over-ran the central
hallway.

Halfway up the wide staircase they were met by a withering volley from
the upper passageway and stairhead. But Tharn raised his voice once more
in the awesome war challenge of his people, and which seemed to lift his
followers bodily to the top of the steps.

Here, fighting was fast and furious. Although outnumbered at first by
four to one, the insurgents made up that handicap by the intensity of
their assault; and slowly but steadily Pryak's loyal troops were being
pushed back.

* * * * *

Tharn was in his element! Knife and spear had been cast aside or lost;
his only weapons were his mighty hands. Yet his was the most feared
figure among the rebels, as was attested to by the mound of strangled
and broken guards strewn about him.

Several times he saw Katon battling away close by, a long knife in
either hand. Once, an enemy in a badly torn tunic was preparing to drive
a knife into his unsuspecting back. Tharn had torn a spear from the
fingers of a neighboring comrade and without pausing to judge distance,
had thrown it across the hall to pass half its length into the side of
Katon's would-be slayer. The man had fallen, while Katon, unaware of his
narrow escape, was finishing the warrior with whom he had been engaged.