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He replaced the protective sheet, went back out the window, replaced the metal covering as well as he could, and whistled Windsplitter over, dropping down to the horse's back.
Jo
There was no reason at all for his people to stay cooped up there in the mountains. Here was shelter and to spare. Here was firewood growing in the streets. Here were rooms and rooms and rooms!
And come to think of it, he felt better since he had been away from the mountain meadow. Better physically.
And it hadn't taken a year– actually just a few days.
He gathered up the lead rope of his pack horse and they trotted briskly along the wide paths toward the eastern part of the Great Village.
Although his eyes were busy taking it all in, his mind was engrossed in organizing a migration from the mountains down to this place: what he would have to pick up for evidence to convince them; what he was going to say to Staffor; how they could transport their goods...maybe build a cart? Maybe there were carts right here in the Great Village. He could round up some horses. These piles of red dust he saw along either side of the wide paths from time to time might once have been carts of a sort. It was hard to figure out what shape they had really had, they were so caved in. The impression of a wheel. Sheets of translucent rock. No, they hadn't been horse carts, or had they? He began to look at such objects more closely.
And then he saw the insect.
Chapter 12
It was very bright daylight now. And there it sat. There could be no mistaking it.
Alien.
Surely it must be an insect. Only cockroaches looked like that. Or beetles. No, cockroaches.
But there were no cockroaches that big. Not thirty feet long and ten feet high and maybe twelve feet side to side.
A horrible brown color. And smooth.
Jo
He felt it was alive. There was something about it. Yes, alive. Not inanimate metal but a living thing. Then he saw what made him think so.
There had been a slight rocking motion. Something moved behind the slitted eyes.
Jo
There was open country to the east, not very far. He would go down a side path and then circle back and get out into the plains. Hopefully he could outrun it. If it moved.
There was an earsplitting roar!
Jo
He put Windsplitter into a gallop straight down the street. He passed one corner path, two. The thing was falling behind. It was now two corners back.
He swerved Windsplitter up a side path, yanking the lead horse with him. They reached another corner and again he turned. Up ahead were two tall buildings. He'd keep going and reach the open country. He'd make it.
And then suddenly there was a sheet of flame. Ahead of him the right-hand building exploded apart. It’s top slid slowly down and into the street ahead, blocking it.
Spattered with dust, Jo
He could hear the roaring of the thing somewhere beyond the rubble. He listened, holding his breath. The position of the roar was changing. It was shifting to the right.
He traced it with his ears. It was going on down the other street. Now it was level with him. Now it was getting behind him.
The thing had somehow blocked the street ahead of him and then gone on, pla
He was trapped.
Jo
There was no panic in him now. He slowed the hard pounding of his heart. The thing to do was wait until the monster was right in the street behind him– then go over that barricade.
He sidled Windsplitter back to get a good run.
The thing was roaring down the side path behind him. Now it was turning.
He glanced back. There it was, wisps of smoke coming out of its nostrils.
Jo
"EEYAH!" shouted Jo
The horses sprinted at the barricade. Rough and full of loose stones. Dangerous.
Up they scrambled. Rubble slid. Pray the gods no broken legs. Up they went.
They hit the top. One glance back showed the thing rolling up to the very bottom of the barricade.
Jo
They hit the street before them at a run and kept ru
The walls racketed with the thunder of their run. Jo
He could not hear the roaring thing now over the powerful thud of the ru
Further and further. The buildings were thi
As soon as he had free ru
Windsplitter and the lead horse were blowing and puffing. He walked them until they caught their breath, casting his eyes restlessly up and down the edges of the town behind them.
Then he caught the roaring again. He strained his eyes, watching. There it was!
It slid out from among the buildings and started straight toward him.
He put the horses up to a trot. The thing was closing the distance. He put the horses up to a run.
The thing not only closed the distance but started to pass him.
Jo
The thing banked into a turn and flashed by him, went well ahead, turned and blocked his way.
Jo
He turned around and began to run away from it.
It let out a blasting roar, scorched by him and again stopped, blocking his way.
Jo
He took his biggest kill-club from his belt. He put the thong solidly on his wrist. He cast off the lead horse.
Walking Windsplitter, he went up ahead of the thing. It didn't move. He went about a hundred feet in front of the thing. It didn't move. He carefully spotted the position of a slitted eye.
He began to whirl the kill-club. It swooshed in the air.
He put a heel to Windsplitter and they raced straight at the thing.
The kill-club, carried with the full speed of the ru
The crash of impact was deafening.
Jo
He trotted Windsplitter back to the original position, a hundred feet in front of the thing. He turned and made ready for a second run.
The lead horse came up behind him to its habitual place. Jo
He touched a heel. Windsplitter plunged forward.
And then a great gout of yellow bloomed out from between the eyes. Jo
Windsplitter caught the full force of it. Up into the air went horse and rider. Down they came with a shuddering crash against the earth.