he man shrugged. "Yeah. What about it?"

Don nodded. "You will remember that scene," he said. "Do you remember
that man's struggles? Do you remember the animal, chewing at him,
injecting its poison? Do you remember this man dropping, first to his
knees, then to his back? Do you remember----"

"Hey!" protested the other. His hands came up before his face.

"Put those hands down," snapped Don. "And listen closely. I want you to
have full recall on this. You remember this man who was bitten, how he
sobbed for breath--how his legs stretched out and his back arched, till
the muscles tore from the bones with their effort. You remember all
this?"

The man nodded wordlessly, his fascinated stare fixed on Don's face.

"Then I want you to fix this in your mind," Don told him. "Should you
be so unwise as to attempt to mention any of these things that have
happened since you came down those stairs--should you even allow your
memory to dwell on these things for too long--these are the things that
will happen to you.

"You will sink to your knees. Your muscles will be unable to support
you, and you will fall to your back. You will find it impossible to
breathe, for the muscles of your chest will distend the ribs. And in
your struggles, you will break bones. And you will tear your body to
bits. Do you understand this?"

The man sagged against the wall, panting. He managed a nod.

"Then forget about this afternoon," commanded Don. "Go about your
business in normal fashion. And forget about this afternoon. Nothing
happened that was worthy of note." He waved a hand in dismissal, then
turned to Korentona.

"I don't want to go into a lot of detail," he said. "As I said, there's
a detailed message in the pack. I'll wait for you to read it." He
glanced down at his clothing.

"I'd like a place, though, where I can clean up. And I could use some
other clothes, if you don't mind."

* * * * *

When he came back to the office, Korentona waved him to a chair.

"So," he said musingly, "they were right. You did go to the clans for
aid." He smiled.

"The police have been keeping close watch on everyone in the city who
might have even a remote connection with the hill clans. And they're
really keeping an eye on the Waern home. You're going to have a nice
time getting in there."

Don nodded. "I expected some trouble. Do you know whether they've done
any searching?"

Korentona shrugged. "I don