inferno of crashing explosions, twisting and
dodging on ground that trembled and heaved under his feet, while
razor-sharp rock shrapnel filled the air with shrill, deadly screaming
sounds.

Something ripped through his shoulder, to spin him around and send him
rolling. He scrambled up, firing as he did so, and ran drunkenly on.

Something struck the side of his head and he went down again. He tried
to rise and fell back, a blackness sweeping over him that he could not
hold away despite his efforts to do so.

It seemed to him that the firing had suddenly stopped, that in its place
was the hoarse buzz of a police stun-beam. It seemed he saw helicopters
overhead, bearing the bright blue insignia of the Royal Guard and then
there was nothing but the blackness.

* * * * *

There was a brief, dreamlike return to consciousness. He was in a Royal
Guard helicopter and Alonzo was beside him, grinning, and saying, "You
be O.K.--I grad! And my Princess Ryra--rook at her now, Rootenant!"

He saw Lyla, her hand in Val's, and her face was glowing and beautiful
in its new-found happiness. Then she was bending down, kissing him, and
saying, "Dale ... Dale ... how can we ever thank you for what you did?"

* * * * *

When the blackness lifted the second time he was lying, bandaged, on a
cot in the meeting hall and the voice of Rockford was saying, "... Ready
to go in just a minute."

The hall was filled with members of the royal court who had come for the
wedding. He saw the white robes of Church of Vesta dignitaries who had
come to officiate at the wedding. Then he saw the seven grim old men
seated at the far end of the table.

The Royal Council--with the judicial power to give even death sentences
in crimes committed against royalty.

Sonig, his face white and staring, was being half led, half carried,
away from them.

Narf, in the grip of another Guardsman, was standing before the Council
and saying in a tone both incredulous and sneering:

"Is that my sentence?"

"There is a qualification to it," one of the Council said. "It seems
only just, in view of your crime, that you be tortured until death--"

The rest of the words were lost as the blackness swept back. But before
unconsciousness was complete, when all else in the hall was gone from
him, he heard Narf's cry; an animal-like bawl of protest, raw and hoarse
with anguish....

* * *