ith an expertness telling of lengthy
experience.

Mowbray was thankful for the way it turned out. He knew not why the
giant put up no resistance. The man seemed stunned as from a great
blow and before he could recover, the troopers had him bound hand and
foot with their belts.

Mulcahey Davis got to his feet and wiped the sweat from his face.
"There's one for the psychos and a padded cell afterwards."

"You said it," Mowbray agreed heartily. "Let's take him in."

CHAPTER X

_The Road to Nadia_

The stads of Abaria, like the masters who rode them, were
ill-accustomed to the clear cold air of Nadia. They snorted visible
jets of vapor into the crisp air as their splayed feet scratched and
slipped, seeking purchase on the ice-covered, up-tilted rocky plain.

"It's an accursed country, lord," Hultax told the king of the Abarians
as their steeds advanced shoulder and shoulder.

Retoc sat tall and straight on the stad's broad back, his black cloak
with the royal emblem billowing in the stiff wind, his hard handsome
face ruddy with the cold air, his cruel eyes mere slits against the
Nadian wind. "Quiet, you fool," he admonished Hultax. "Everything we
Abarians say and do in Nadia must be sweetness and light--now."

The vanguard of the long column of Abarian riders had reached a
rushing mountain stream, its waters too swift to freeze in the
sub-zero temperature. Lifting one hand overhead, Retoc called a halt.

"They'll find out, lord," Hultax persisted. "They'll find out what you
did. I know they will. They'll find out it was you who killed Jlomec,
their ruler's brother."

Retoc smiled. The smile made Hultax' blood run cold, for he had seen
such a smile before--when Retoc witnessed the execution of disloyal
Abarian subjects. The smile hardened on Retoc's face, as if it had
frozen there in the cold Nadian wind. "Dismount your steed," he said
in a soft voice which only Hultax heard.

Trembling, Hultax obeyed his master's command. His stad, suddenly
riderless, pawed nervously at the frost-hardened ground on the edge of
the stream. Retoc withdrew his whip-sword and fondled the
jewel-encrusted haft. "If you ever say that again, here in Nadia or
elsewhere, I will kill you," he warned his lieutenant.

"But the brown girl--"

"The brown girl be damned!" roared Retoc in sudden fury.

"We haven't been able to find her. That day at the cave, she came
rushing out, lord, while you--"

"I was detained," Retoc said,