ur minds to see what he willed you to see."

"How does he do this?" asked the other simply. "Is it magic that we see
not Lumbrilo but a lion before us?"

"He weaves his spell with the drums, with the chant, by the suggestion
his mind imposes upon yours. And, having woven his spell, he cannot
limit it to just the picture he suggests if ancient racial memories
raise another. I merely used the tools of Lumbrilo to show you yet
another picture your people once knew well."

"And in so doing made an enemy." Asaki stood before a rack of very
modern weapons. Now he made his selection, a silver tube with a stock
curved to fit a man's shoulder. "Lumbrilo will not forget."

Tau laughed shortly. "No, but then I have merely done as you wished,
have I not, sir? I have focused on myself the enmity of a dangerous man,
and now you hope I shall be forced, in self-defense, to remove him from
your path."

The Khatkan turned slowly, resting the weapon across his forearm. "I do
not deny that, spaceman."

"Then matters here are indeed serious--"

"They are so serious," Asaki interrupted, speaking not only to Tau but
to the other off-worlders as well, "that what happens now may mean the
end of the Khatka that I know. Lumbrilo is the most dangerous game I
have faced in a lifetime as a hunter. He goes, or we draw his fangs--or
else all that I am, all I have labored here to build, will be swept
away. To preserve this I will use any weapon."

"And I am now your weapon, which you hope will be as successful as that
needler you are carrying." Tau laughed again, without much humor. "Let
us hope I shall prove as effective."

Jellico moved out of the shadows. It was just after dawn, and the
grayness of the vanishing night still held in the corners of the armory.
Deliberately he took his own stand before the arms racks and chose a
short-barreled blaster. Only when its butt was cupped in his hand did he
glance at his host.

"We came guesting, Asaki. We have eaten salt and bread under this roof."

"On my body and my blood it is," returned the Khatkan grimly. "I shall
go down to the blackness of Sabra before you do, if the flames of death
are against us." From his belt he flipped loose his knife and offered
the hilt to Jellico. "My body for a wall between you and the dark,
Captain. But also understand this: to me, what I do now is greater than
the life of any one man. Lumbrilo and the evil behind him must be rooted
out. There was no trickery in