run.

There was no quiet way out of this one so Jason leaped out with an
echoing shout and lunged. The blade went right under the man's
guard--he must never have seen a sword before--and the tip caught him
full in the throat. He expired with a bubbling wail that stirred
voices deeper in the building. Jason sprang over the corpse and tore
at the multifold bolts and locks that sealed the door. Footsteps were
running in the distance when he finally threw the door open and ran
in.

"Get out and quick we're escaping!" he shouted at them and pushed the
dazed Ijale towards the door and exacted a great deal of pleasure from
landing a tremendous kick that literally lifted Mikah through the
opening, where he collided with Edipon who had just run up waving a
club. Jason leaped over the tumbled forms, rapped Edipon behind the
ear with the hilt of his sword and dragged Mikah to his feet.

"Get out to the engine works," he ordered his still uncomprehending
companions. "I have a _caroj_ there that we can get away in." He
cursed them and they finally broke into clumsy motion. There were
shouts from behind him and an armed mob of D'zertanoj ran into view.
Jason pulled down the hall light, burning his hand on the hot base at
the same time, and applied its open flame to one of his molotails. The
wick caught with a roar of flame and he threw it at approaching
soldiers before it could burn his hand. It flew towards them, hit the
wall and broke, inflammable fuel spurted in every direction and the
flame went out.

Jason cursed and grappled for another molotail, because if they didn't
work he was dead. The D'zertanoj had hesitated a moment rather than
walk through the puddle of spilled water-of-power and in that instant
he hurled the second fire bomb. This one burst nicely too, and lived
up to its maker's expectations when it ignited the first molotail as
well and the passageway filled with a curtain of fire. Holding his
hand around the lamp flame so it wouldn't go out, Jason ran after the
others.

So far the alarm had not spread outside of the building and Jason
bolted the door from the outside. By the time this was broken open and
the confusion sorted out they would be clear of the buildings. There
was no need for the lamp now and would only give him away. He blew it
out and from the desert came a continuous and ear-piercing scream.

"He's done it," Jason groaned. "That's the safety valve on the steam
engine!"

He bumped into Ijale