THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

"Soon we will be in the fortress of the Big Grail! Let those who've meddled with our lives beware! We will conquer them though they be demons! Old Kung Fu Tze warned us that humans must not concern themselves with spirits, but I was never one to pay attention to that old man! I listen to no man! I follow my own spirit! I am Tai-Peng, and I know no superior!"

He howled, "Watch out, you things that hide and skulk and refuse to face us! Watch out! Tai-Peng comes! Burton comes! Joe Miller comes!"

And so on.

"Ve thyould fathe him our vay," Joe whispered to Burton. "Ve thyure could uthe all that hot air."

Burton was watching Gilgamesh and Ah Qaaq. They reacted just like the others, laughing and clapping Tai-Peng on. But that could be just good acting by one or both. He was worried. When they got to the cave—if they did—he would have to do something about them. Even if they were i

How could he do it?

And what—if anything—was one, or both, plotting?

He ran a scenario through his mind. When they started down the trail, he'd arrange it so that Joe Miller would be in the lead. He'd be second. Ah Qaaq and Gilgamesh would be in the rear. He didn't want them to be the first to get to the cave— if it was still there and not plugged up.

The Mayan and the Sumerian—if they were such—would come in last, and they'd be disarmed as they entered the cave. They carried long knives and .69-caliber plastic-bullet revolvers. Joe and de Marbot would see that they were relieved of them. He would warn Nur and Frigate about the deed, but he wouldn't have them in on it. He still wasn't sure about the American or the Moor. His experience with the agent, the pseudo-Peter Jairus Frigate, had made him very wary of the real Frigate, if he was indeed the original. Nur seemed to be what he claimed he was, but Burton trusted no one. Even the titanthrop might be an agent. Why not? He was intelligent and capable despite his grotesque size and facial features.

Burton had to trust someone, though. There were two, himself, and, after so many years of intimacy, Alice. The others— ah, the others! He'd have to watch them closely but his instincts, whatever that much-abused term meant, and it probably didn't mean much, told him that all but two were what they said they were.

With their much-reduced packs, Joe still carrying the largest, they let themselves down on the last ledge. Moving sidewise on the toes and front of their feet, their arms extended parallel to their shoulders most of the time, they held on to whatever grip they could find, it wasn't long before they came around the curve of the mountain, perhaps two hours, though it seemed like a very long time. Then Joe stopped, and he turned his head.'

"Qviet, everyone. You might be able to hear the thound of the thea beating againtht the bathe of the mountainth."

They listened intently, but only Burton, Nur, and Tai-Peng heard the waves against the rock and that might have been their imagination.

When they came around the shoulder, however, they could see the relatively bright heavens and, looming faintly in the upper regions, the hulk of the mountains that ringed the sea on the far side.

Of the tower, there was no indication, not even a dim bulk. Yet it was in the center of the sea according to Joe's own story and the reports from the airship Parseval.

Joe called, "Here'th vhere I came acrothth a grail thomebody left. Here'th vhere I thaw a thudden blathe of light vhen the Ethical'th aircraft came down to the top of the tower. And here'th vhere I thtumbled over the grail and fell to my death."

He paused.

"It ain't here now."

"What?"

"The grail."

"The Ethicals must've removed it."

"I hope not," Joe said. "If they did, then they knew that people could get here, and they vould've trathed the ledge down to the bottom and found the cave. Let'th hope that thomebody elthe came along and removed it. Maybe the Egyptianth did after I fell."

They moved on the seemingly thread-thin wet-slippery footing. The mists became thicker then, and Burton couldn't see more than twenty feet ahead with the aid of his lantern, which he had to lift from his belt hook when he wanted more visibility.

Presently, Joe stopped.

"What's the matter?" Burton said.

"Thyit! The ledge ninth out. Vait a minute. Lookth—and feelth—like it'th been melted down here. Yeah! It hath! The Ethicalth've cut the ledge out right here! Now vhat do ve do?"

"Can you see how far the melt goes?"

"Yeth. It lookth like it thtopth about forty feet from here. Might ath veil be a mile, though."

"How far up or down does the melt go?"

A minute passed.

"For ath far ath I can reach. Vait a minute. I'll thyine my light."

A few seconds passed.

"There'th thome fiththyureth about four feet above my fingertipth."

Burton removed his pack and got down on his hands and knees. Nur, who'd been just behind, crawled slowly over him. Joe and the Moor did a circus-acrobat balancing act while Nur climbed to the titanthrop's shoulders. Presently, Nur said, "It looks as if there are some fissures on a straight line. Enough for our pitons."

Nur continued standing on the titanthrop's shoulders. Burton handed the steel wedges and a hammer to Joe, who passed them on to the Moor. While Joe held Nur's legs firmly, Nur's hammer drove in two wedges. Burton sent up the end of a rope, thin but heavy enough, to Nur. He passed this through the eyes of the wedges and secured the end at the most remote piton.

The Moor got down onto the ledge by Joe's side where Burton held him from falling off while he put on a harness much like that which parachutists wear. These were made of fish leather and metal and had been part of the launch's stores. On the webbing on the chest were buckles to each of which strong plastic ribbons were attached. At the end of each was secured a small metal device containing a wheel.

Nur climbed back up on Joe. When he stood up on the titanthrop's broad shoulders, he passed one jaw of the wheeled device around the horizontal rope held through the eyes of the pitons. He snapped the device together and locked the jaws with a lever. Now he could slide along the rope attached to, the cliff face. When he got to the first piton, he locked the left-hand wheeled block to the part of the rope beyond the first piton. Then he unhinged the first block and slid along to the second piton.

Bracing his feet against the cliff wall, he leaned outward, supported by the ribbons, and began hammering the third piton into a fissure. This was hard labor and required many rests. The others needed food, but they were too concerned about Nur to have any appetite.

It took five hours for Nur, working patiently, hammering at the pitons, to reach the area above the ledge where it resumed. By then he was too exhausted to drive in another piton. He dropped down along the face of the cliff to the projection. Burton went next, climbing up on the giant's back to his shoulders, no undangerous feat. Without Joe's height and strength, the entire party would have been stopped at this point with no alternative except to go back. They would have starved then, since they did not have enough rations for the return trip.

Burton moved along the cliff face as Nur had and presently was at the other ledge. Nur caught and steadied Burton as he released the block and slid down with his hands extended to slow down his descent by their friction. Fortunately, the ledge here was broader than on the other side of the melt.

Those on that side had another problem. That was getting the heavy packs across. There seemed nothing else to do but to get rid of all except the most essential items. Unpacking was difficult, though, because of the very small space for footing. They helped each other, one clinging with a hand to a roughness in the wall while he or she reached over and opened the pack on the back of his neighbor. The items had to come out one by one and be dropped into the sea or placed on the ledge for repacking.