 They withdrew to a spot hacked from the edge of the jungle, leaving a screen of green between them and the traitorous upslope. But within the few hours of daylight left them, it was proven that Asaki had been overly optimistic in his hopes of discovering a water-tree. They were now in a narrow tongue of land between the range and the swamps, and this territory was limited. Naimani, still shaken, was of little help, and the spacemen did not dare to strike out into unexplored land alone. So they mouthed dry concentrates and dared not drink. Dane was tempted to pour out the liquid in his canteen. Water so close to hand was a continual torment. And now that they were away from the heights and the possibility of more finger-shaped rocks, surely the thread in that moisture was small in comparison to the needs of his body. Only that caution which was drilled into every free trader supplied a break to his thirst. Jeliko drew the back of his hand across cracked lips. "'Suppose we should draw lots. Some of us drink, one or two not. Could we manage that way until we were over the mountains?' "'I wouldn't want to chance it, unless we are left with no other choice. There's no way of telling how long the drug works. Frankly, right now I'm not even sure I could detect a hallucination for very long under these conditions,' was Tao's discouraging verdict. If any of them slept that night, they did so only in snatches. The apprehension which had come with the previous night was back, intensified, and that lurking, indefinable fear rode them hard. They were shaken out of their private terrors shortly before dawn. There were always sounds to be heard in the jungle, the cries of unseen birds, the crash of some tree eaten alive by parasitic sapping. But what broke now was no bird-call, no isolated tree falling. A trumpeting roar, the cracking smash of vegetation, heralded a real menace. Asaki spun to face northward, though there was nothing to be seen there except the unshaken wall of the jungle. "'Groz, groz on stampede,' Naimani joined his superior. Jellico arose swiftly, and Dane read on the captain's face the seriousness of this. The off-worlder turned to his own men with a sharp order. "'On your feet, we may have to move on the double. Up mountain?' he demanded of the chief ranger. The other was still listening, not only with his ears but with the whole of his tense body. Three of the deer-like creatures they had hunted for food broke out of the green wall, fled past the men as if the latter was invisible. And behind them, the hunted now and not the hunter, came a lion, its strikingly marked black-and-white hide dramatic in the light of the morning. It showed fangs in a snarl and then was gone in one huge bound. More deer-things, scurrying of other small creatures, moving too fast for clear identification, and behind them the fury of destruction which marked the headlong advance of Katka's largest mammals slamming through the jungle. They had started upslope when Naimani cried out. A white bulk hard to distinguish in that light against the gray of the earth, headed after them. Dane had a fleeting glimpse of curled tusks of an open mouth, raw red and wide enough to engulf his whole head, of shaggy legs driving at an unbelievable pace. Asaki snapped a beam from the needler. The white monster roared and came on. They dived for the scant cover offered as the grass-bull died, not two yards away from the chief ranger, its heavy body skidding along the earth with the force of its speed as it went down. That did it. Jeliko sighted Cooley with his blaster as a second bull, fighting mad, tore from the jungle and pounded at them. Behind it a third tusked head thrust out of the brush, large eyes searched for an enemy. Dane studied the dead bull, but the animal did not come to life this time. These were not hallucinations. And the malignancy of the rock apes, the cunning of the native Kotkan lion, were pallid things compared to a grass herd on the rampage. The second bull yelped with an almost canine complaint as Jeliko's blaster caught it head on. Blinded, the beast blundered ahead, climbing the mountain side. The third met a ray from Nymani's needler, but the chief ranger leaped from behind his sheltering rock to the one where the captain had taken refuge and pulled him into the open. They must not corner us here. Jeliko agreed to that. Come on, he barked to Tau and Dane. They fled along a rough way, trying to gain altitude but finding a rising cliff-wall which could not be easily climbed. Two more gras went down, one badly wounded, one safely dead. Behind them more white heads came from the brush. What original cause had started the stampede the fugitives could not guess, but now the fear and anger of the animals was centering upon them. And in spite of their efforts the party was being herded into a pocket between the jungle below, where the main body of gras crashed along, and a steep wall. Given time to find the necessary finger and toe-holds, a man might climb that wall, but they could not attempt it now. The portion of ledge in which they ran, stopped to fire, and then ran on again, angled to the southeast, and so they came to its end quickly, a drop ending in a plain of yellow-gray mud studded with clumps of bleached vegetation which led, like stepping-stones, toward a tangle of matted, sickly-looking plants and reeds. All right, Tau faced around, what do we do now? Space-lift? And using what for wings or jets? As if the gras could sense that they now had their victims safely cornered, what must have been a goodly segment of the herd hooked their way from the jungle and started up? Puffing, digging in those sturdy legs which had to take the massive weight of their barrel-shaped bodies, they made their way determinately upgrade. One might almost believe that they had intelligently planned this end for their drive. We go down! Asaki yelled, and used his needler on the leader of that climbing platoon. The brush islands, Naimani amended, I show you. He thrust his needler at Jeliko and was over the edge of the ledge, hanging by his hands and swinging his weight back and forth like a pendulum. At the upswing of his body to the right he let go and plunged out, landing half across one of the reed islets. The cotkin clawed his way to his knees, gained his feet, and leaped for the next bit of solid ground. You, Thorson! Jeliko jerked his head at Dane and the younger spaceman holstered his fire-ray, slipped gingerly over the drop, and prepared to repeat Naimani's feet as best he could. He was not quite as successful with his side-wise swing, landing with only his forearms across the islet, the rest of his body being swiftly embedded in what was ooze covered only with a thin crust of dried matter. The stench of the stuff was sickening, but the fear of being entrapped in it gave him the necessary impetus to push forward, though what was meant to be a swift half-dive was more of a worm's progress. He grabbed frantically at brittle stems, at coarse grass which cut like knives at his hands. But some of the material held and he lay face down on a lump which did not give under his weight. There was no time to linger. He had to get to the next patch to free this dubious landing-place for the men embattled on the rise above. Stumbling up, Dane judged the distance with a space-trained eye and jumped to a knob Naimani had already quitted. The cotkin was more than half way along toward that promise of solid ground which the tangled mass of leprous vegetation led to, zigzagging expertly from islet to islet. There was a crash and a roar behind. Dane balanced on the third of the minute islands to look back. He saw the lash of blaster fire on the top of the cliff, tow on his knees on the first of their chain of stepping-stones and a grass sprawled head and forequarters in the sucking muck where it had dived past the two defenders above. Water and blaster fired together again and then Jellico swung over the cliff-rim. Tau waved vigorously and Dane took off for the next islet, just making it by lucky chance. The rest of the journey he took in a rush, trying not to think of anything but the necessity of landing on some spot afirm ground. His last leap of all was too short so that he went knee-deep in a particularly evil-smelling pool where yellow scum spattered his breeches and he experienced the insidious pull of the bottomless stuff. A stout branch whipped across his shoulder and he caught it. With Naimani's wiry strength on the other end, Dane worked free and sat, white-faced and shivering on a mat of brush, while the cotkin hunter turned his attention to the safety of Tau the next arrival. More fortunate, or more skillful than Dane, the medic made the hop from the last tuft without mishap. But he was blowing heavily as he collapsed beside the other spaceman. Together they watched the progress of their captain. Safe on the second tusseck from the shore, Jellico halted, edged carefully around, and used the needler Naimani had left with him. A shaggy head tossed and the bull fronting a sake on the cliff went down. The chief ranger dodged quickly to the right and a second beast rushed out and over to join its mired comrade in the swamp below. As Jellico shot again the cotkin slung his needler and went over to gain the first islet. One more grasp was wounded but luckily it hunched about, turning its formidable tusks on those that followed, thus keeping the path clear for its enemies. Jellico was making the journey, sure footedly, with the chief ranger only one hillock behind. Tau sighed. Some day maybe this will be just another tall tale and we'll all be thought liars when we spout it, he observed. That is, if we survive to tell it. So now which way do we go? If I had my choice it would be up. When Dane pulled himself to his feet and surveyed their small refuge he was ready to agree to that. For the space, packed with dead and dying vegetable matter until one sank calf deep, was a triangle with a narrow point running east into the swamp. They don't give up easily, do they? Jellico looked back to the shore and the cliff. Though the wounded grass bull still held the heights against its fellows there were others breaking from the jungle on the lower level, wandering back and forth to paw the earth, rip up soil with their tusks, and otherwise threaten anyone who would try to return to the strip they patrolled. They will not, Ahsaki answered bleakly. Arouse a grass and it will trail you for days. Kill any of the herd and you have little hope of escaping them on foot. It would seem now that the swamp was a deterrent to pursuit. The two beasts that had fallen in the mire moaned in a pitiful rising note. They had ceased to struggle and several of their kind clustered on the shore near them, calling and treatingly. Ahsaki took careful aim with the needler and put one animal after another out of its misery. But the flash of those shots angered those on the shore to a higher pitch of rage. No going back, he said, at least not for several days. Tau slapped a black four-winged insect which had settled on his arm, its jaws wide open for a sampling bite. We can't very well perch here until they forget all about us, he pointed out, not without water we can trust, and with the local wildlife ready to test us for tasty eating. Naimani had prowled along the swampward point of their island, and now he made his report. There is more high land to the east, perhaps it will give us a bridge across. At that moment Dane doubted his ability to make any more leaps from island to island, and it would seem Tau shared his discouragement. I don't suppose you could discourage our friends on shore there with a few more shots. Ahsaki shook his head. We do not have clips enough to settle a whole herd. These might retreat from sight, but they would be waiting for us in the bush, and that would mean certain death. We shall half to take the swamp road. If Dane had considered their earlier march misery, this was sheer torture. Since footing was never secure, falls were frequent, and within a quarter hour they were all plastered with evil-smelling slime and mud which hardened to rock consistency when exposed to the air. Painful as this was, it did protect a portion of their bodies from the insects with which the swamp was well stocked, and in spite of their efforts to find a way out, the only possible paths led them deeper into the center of the unexplored morass. At last Ahsaki called a halt and a council to consider retreat. To locate an island from which they could at least watch the shore appealed very strongly indeed. We have to have water. Tau's voice was a harsh croak, issuing out of a mask of green mud festooned with trailing weeds. This ground is rising. Ahsaki smacked the stock of his needler against the surface on which he crouched. I think perhaps there may be clean land soon to come. Jeliko hitched his way up a sapling, now bending under his weight. Through the vision lenses he studied the route ahead. You're right about that, he called to the Chief Ranger. There's a showing of the right sort of green to the left, about half a mile on. And, he glanced about at the westerning sun. We have about an hour yet of good light in which to make it. I wouldn't try such a run after dark. The promise of green bolstered their weary spirits for a last exhausting effort. Once again they were faced with a series of islet leaps, and now they carried with them brush culled from the bigger tussocks to aid in times of need. When Dane scrambled up the last pull, staggered and went down to his knees again. He knew he was done. He did not even move at an excited cry from Naimani, echoed a moment later by Ahsaki. It was not until the ladder leaned over him, a canteen open in his hand, that Dane aroused a little. Drink! the Kotkin urged. We have found a water-tree. This is fresh. The liquid might have been fresh, but it also had a peculiar taste, which Dane did not note until he had gulped down a generous swallow. At that moment he was past caring about anything but the fact that he did have a portion of drinkable stuff in hand. Here the stunted, unnatural growth of the swamplands had given away to the more normal vegetation of the lowlands. Had they come clear across the swamp, Dane wondered dully, or was this only a large island in the midst of the stinking boglands? He drank again and regained strength enough to crawl to where his shipmates lay. It was some time before he was interested in much besides the fact that he could drink when he wished. Then he watched Jeliko waver to his feet, his head turned eastward. Tau too sat up as if alerted by the Queen's alarm-buzzer. The Kotkins were gone, perhaps back to the water-tree. But all three of the spacemen heard that sound, a far-off throbbing rhythm which was a vibration as well. Jeliko looked to Tau. Drums. Could be. The medics screwed the cap back on his canteen. I'd say we have company. Only I'd like to know what kind. They might have been mistaken about the drums, but none of them could have been mistaken about the bolt which came out of nowhere to slice through a tree-trunk as a knife might slash wet clay. Blaster, and a particular type of blaster. Patrol issue. Tau lay flat, squeezing himself against the earth as if he wished he could ooze into it. Jeliko wriggled toward the bush in answer to a low call from Asaki, and the others made a worm's progress in his wake. Under cover they found the chief ranger readying his needler. Poacher camp here, he explained bleakly, and they know about us. A perfect end to a stinking day, remarked Tau dispassionately. We might have guessed something of this sort was waiting. He tried to rub away some of the dried clay coating his chin. But do poachers use drums? The chief ranger scowled. That is what Naimani has gone to find out. Reading by Mark Nelson. Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton. Chapter 7 Darkness closed in while they waited for Naimani's return. There had been no further attack from the blaster-wielder. Perhaps he was only trying to pin them down where they were. Out over the swamp, weird patches of phosphorescence moved in small ghostly clouds, and bright dots of insects, with their own built-in lighting systems, flashed spark fashion or sailed serenely on regular flight plans. At night the wonder of the place was far removed from the squalid reality of the day. They chewed on their rations, drank sparingly of the water, and tried to keep alert to any sight or sound. That monotonous undertone, which might or might not be drums, continued as a basic hum to the noises of the night, drowned out at intervals by a splash, a mutter or cry from some swamp creature. Beside Dane, Jellicoe stiffened, moved his blaster as someone wriggled through the brush, trilling softly. Off-worlders, Naimani reported in gasps to Asaki, and outlaws too. They make a hunting sing. Tomorrow they march for a killing. Asaki rested his chin on his broad forearm. Outlaws? They show no lords' badge. But each I saw wears a bracelet of three, five, or ten tails. They are trackers indeed, and hunters of the best. They have huts? Not so. There are no dwellers in the inner ports here. Out of habit, Naimani used the polite term for the women of his race. I would say they tarry only for the space of a hunt, and on the boots of one I saw salt crust. Salt crust? Asaki snapped and half arose. So that is the type of lure they use. There must be a saline mire near here to pull game. How many off-worlders, Jeliko broken? Three who are hunters, one who is different. How different, questioned Asaki. He wears upon his body garments which are strange, on his head a round covering, such as we see upon the off-worlders of the ships. A spaceman. Asaki laughed harshly. Why not? They must have some method of transporting their hides. You can't tell me, Jeliko returned, that anyone is able to set a ship down in this muck. It would simply be buried for all time. But Captain, what type of a spaceport does a free trader need? Do you not planet your own ship on worlds where there are no wading cradles, no fitter shops, none of the conveniences such as Mark the Field Combine maintains on Zeko? Of course I do. But one does need a reasonably smooth stretch of territory, open enough so the tail flames won't start a forest fire. You don't ever ride a tail push down in a swamp? Which testifies to a trail out of here, fairly well traveled, and some kind of a usable landing space not too far away, Asaki replied, and that could very well serve us. But they know we are here, Tal pointed out. It was Naimani's turn to laugh. Man from the stars, there is no trail so well hidden that a Ranger of the Preserves cannot knows it out. Nor any hunter, be he a two or five bracelet veteran who can keep pinned down a determined man of the forest service. Dane lost interest in the argument at that moment. He was at the edge of their line, the nearest to the swamp, and he had been watching patches of ghostly light flitting above the rank water-weeds. For the past few moments those wisps of faded radiance had been gathering into a growing anthropomorphic blot hanging over the morass several yards away, and the misty outlines were now assuming more concrete shape. He watched, unable to believe in what he was seeing. At first the general outline, non-defined as it was, made him think of a rock ape. But there were no pointed ears above the round skull, no snout on the visage turned in profile toward him. More and more patches of swamp luminescence were drawn to that glowing figure. What balanced there now as if walking the treacherous surface of the swamp land was no animal. It was a man, or the semblance of one, a small thin man, a man he had seen once before on the terrace of Asaki's mountain fortress. The thing stood almost complete, its head cocked in what was an attitude of listening. No. Dane identified it, still knowing that the witch-doctor could not be standing there listening for them. But to shake him still farther, the head turned at his cry. Only there were no eyes, no features on the white expanse which should have been a face. And somehow that made the monster more menacing, convincing Dane against saying logic that the monster was spying on them. Demon! That was Naimani, and over his sudden quaver, robbed of all the confidence which had been there only moments earlier, came Asaki's demand. What stands there, Medic? Tell us that. A whip to drive us out of hiding, sir. As you know, as well as I. If Naimani spied upon them, then they have spied upon us in turn. This, I think, also answers another question. If there is a canker of trouble on Kotka, then Lombrido is close to its root. Naimani! The chief ranger's voice was a crack of a lash. Will you forget again that you are a man and run crying for shelter against a shaft of light? As this off-world Medic says, Lombrido fashions such as that to drive us into our enemy's hands. The shadow thing in the swamp moved, putting its foot forward on surface which would not bear the weight of a human body, taking a deliberate step and then another, heading for the concealing brush where the fugitives lay. Can you get rid of it, Tao? Jeliko asked in his usual crisp voice. He might have been inquiring about some problem aboard the queen. I'd rather get at the source. There was a grim note in the Medic's reply. And to do that I want to look at their camp. Well enough! Asaki crept back in the brush. The ghost of that which was not a man had reached the shore of the island, stood there, its blank head turned toward them. Weird as it was, now that the first shock of sighting it was over, the spacemen could accept and dismiss it as they had not been so able to dismiss the Phantom Rockabe. If that thing was sent to drive us, Dane ventured, wouldn't we be playing their game by going inland now? The Chief Ranger did not pause in his crawl to the left. I think not. They do not expect us to arrive with our wits about us. Panic-stricken men are easy to pull down. This time Lumbrilo has overreached himself. Had he not played that game with the Rockabe, he might have been able to stampede us now. Though the white thing continued to move inland, it did not change course to fall in behind them on the new route. Whatever it was, it did not possess a mind. There was a rustling, faint but distinguishable. Then Dane caught Naimani's whisper. The one left to watch the inland trail does so no longer. We need not fear an alarm from him. Also here is another blaster for our use. Away from the open by the swamp, the gloom was deeper. Dane was guided only by the noises of the less experienced Jellico and Tao made in their progress. They edged down into a small cut, floored with reeds and mud, where some of the moisture from the soggy land about them gathered into a half pool. Straight through this swale the Kotkin set course. The drumbeat grew louder. There was a glow against the dark. Fire ahead? Dane squirmed forward and at last gained a vantage point from which to survey the poacher's camp. There were shelters erected there, three of them, but they were mainly roofs of leaves and branches. In two of them were stored bales of hides sewn into plastic cloth, ready to ship. Before the third hut, lounged four off-worlders. And Naimani was very right, one of them wore ship's uniform. To the right of the fire was a ring of natives and another man, slightly apart, who beat the drum. But of the witch-doctor there was no sign, and Dane, thinking of that mist-born thing in the swamp's edge, shivered. He could believe Tao's explanation of the drug which produced hallucinations back on the mountain side. But how that likeness fashioned a phosphorescence had been sent by an absent man to hunt his enemies was an eerie puzzle. Lumbrilo is not here. Naimani's thoughts must have been moving along the same path. Dane could hear movements in the dark beside him. There's a long-distance comm-unit in that third hut, Tao observed. So I see, Jelico snapped. Could you reach your men over the mountain with that, sir? I do not know. But if Lumbrilo is not here, how can he make his image walk the night, the chief ranger demanded impatiently? We shall see. If Lumbrilo is not here, he shall come. And the promise in Tao's tone was sure. Those off-worlders will have to be out of action first. And with that walking thing sent to drive us in, they must be waiting for us. If they have sentries out, I will silence them, promised Naimani. You have a plan? Ahsaki's wide shoulders and upheld head showed for an instant against the light from the camp. You want Lumbrilo, Tao replied. Very well, sir. I believe I can give him to you. And in the doing discredit him with your cottons. But not with the off-worlders free to move. The program was not going to be easy, Dane decided. Every one of the poachers was armed with a patrol blaster of the latest type, and a small part of his mind speculated as to what would be the result of that information conveyed to official quarters. Free traders and patrolmen did not always see eye to eye over the proper action to be taken on the Galactic Frontier. The Queen's crew had had one such brush with authority in the immediate past. But each realized that the other had an important role in the general scheme of things, and if it came to a clash between the law and outlaws, free traders fought beside the patrol. Why not give them what they expect, with reservations, inquired Jellico? They've set us up to be stampeded into camp, flying ahead of that tame ghost of theirs. Suppose we do stampede after Naimani has removed any sentries, stampede so well we sweep right over them. I want to get at that comm-unit. You don't think they'll just mow us down as we come in? You deliver to blow to Lombrilo's pride. He won't be satisfied with just your burning, the captain answered, Tau. Not if I'm any judge of character. And we'd furnish hostages of a sort, especially the chief ranger. No, if they wanted to kill us they would have shot us off those islands when we came here. There would have been no playing around with ghosts and goblins. There is reason in your words. And it is true they would like to have me, those outlaws down there," Asaki commented. I am of the Magawiah, and we have pressed always for stronger security methods to be used against such as they. But I do not see how we can take the camp. We won't go in from the front as they expect us to do, but a try from the north, getting at the off-worlders first. Three men causing enough disturbance to cover operations of the other two. So there was a moment of silence as the chief ranger evaluated that. Then he added a few comments of his own. That off-worlder who wears Spaceman's clothing, his weapon is not drawn though the others are ready. But I believe that you are right in thinking they expect to be warned by sentries. Those we can see to. Suppose then, Captain, you and I play the fear-crazed men running from demons. Naimani will cover us from the dark, and your two men," Tao spoke up. Give me leave to flush out our other quarry, sir. I believe I can keep him occupied. Dane, you'll take the drum. Drum? With his mind on blasters, it was startling to be offered a noisemaker. It's your business to get that drum, and when you get it, I want you to beat out Terebound. You certainly can play that, can't you? I don't understand," Dane began, and then swallowed the rest of his protest, knowing that Tao was not going to explain why he needed to have the hackneyed popular song of the spaceways played in a cotton swamp. As a free trader, he had had quite a few odd jobs handed him during the past couple of years, but this was the first time he had been ordered to serve as a musician. They waited for Naimani through dragging minutes. Surely those in the camp would expect their arrival soon now. Dane's fire ray was in his hand as he measured the distance to the drummer's stand. It is done," Naimani whispered from the darkness behind them. Jeliko and the chief ranger moved to the left. Tao crept to the right, and Dane pushed level with the medic. When they move, Tao's lips were beside his ear, jump for that drum. I don't care how you get it, but get it and keep it. Yes, sir." There was a wailing cry from the north, a howl of witless fear. The singer stopped in mid-note. The drummer paused, his hand uplifted. Dane darted forward in a plunge which carried him to that man. The kotkin did not have time to rise from his knees as the barrel of the fire rod struck his head, sending him spinning. Then the drum was cradled in the spaceman's arm, close to his chest, his weapon aimed across it at the startled natives. The crackle of blaster fire, the shrill whine of needlers in action raised a bedlam from the other end of the camp. Backing up a little, Dane went down on one knee, his weapon ready to sweep over the bewildered natives, the drum resting on the earth against his body. Keeping the fire rod steady, his left hand went to work, not in the muted cadence of the kotkin drummer had chosen, but in hard and vigorous thumps which rolled across the clamor of the fight. There was no forgetting the beat of Tarabound, and he delivered it with force, so that the familiar da-da-da-da droned loud enough to awaken the whole camp. Dane's move appeared to completely baffle the kotkin outlaws. They stared at him, the whites of their eyes doubly noticeable in their dark faces, their mouths a little agape. As usual, the unexpected had driven them off guard. He dared not look away from that gathering to see how the fight at the other end of the camp was progressing, but he did see Tao's advance. The many came into the light of the fire, not with his ordinary loose-limbed spacemen stride, but mincingly with a dancing step, and he was singing to the drum-beat of Tarabound. Dane could not understand the words, but he knew that they patterned in and out of the drum-beats, weaving a net between singers and listeners as Lumbrilo had woven his net on the mountain terrace. Tao had them. Had every one of the native outlaws ensnared, so that Dane rested his weapon across his knee and took up the lower beat with the fingers of his right hand as well. Da-da-da-da! The innocuous repetitive refrain of the original song which had been repeating itself in his mind faded, and somehow he caught the menace in the new words Tao was mouthing. Twice the medic shuffled about a circle of his own making. Then he stooped, took a hunting-knife from the belt of the nearest Kotkin, and held it point out toward the dark east. Dane would not have believed the medic knew the drill he now displayed, for with no opponent, save the dancing fire-light, he fought a knife-duel, fainting, striking, twisting, retreating, attacking. All in time to the beat of the drum, Dane was no longer conscious of playing, and as he strove it was very easy to picture another fighting against him, so that when the knife came up in a vicious thrust which was the finish of his last attack, Dane stared stupidly at the ground, half expecting to see a body lying there. Once more Tao ceremoniously saluted with his blade to the east. Then he laid it on the ground and stood astride its gleaming length. Lumbrilo His confident voice arose above the call of the drum. Lumbrilo, I am waiting. Vaguely aware that the clamor at the other end of the camp had died away, Dane muted the sound of his drum. Over its round top he could watch the Kotkin outlaws, their heads bobbed and swayed in time to the beat of his fingers. He too could feel the pull of Tao's voice, but what would come in answer? That shadowy thing which had been loose to drive them here, or the man himself? To Dane the ruddy light of the fire dimmed, yet there was no actual dying of those flames which coiled and thrust around the wood, and the accurate scent of burning was thick. How much of what followed was real, how much the product of his tense nerves Dane was never afterwards able to tell. In fact, whether all the witnesses there saw the same sights could be questioned. Did each man, Kotkin and Off-worlder, see only what his particular set of emotions and memories dictated? Something swept in from the east, something which was not as tangible as the creature born of swamp mist. Rather, it came as an unseen menace to the fire, and all that fire signifies to humankind, security, comradeship, a weapon against the age-old forces of the dangerous night. Was that threat too only in their minds? Or had Lombrilo some power to shape his hatred? The unseen was cold. It sapped a man's strength, bit at his brain, weighted his hands and feet, weakened him. It strove to soften him into clay another could remold. Nothingness, darkness, all that was opposed to life and warmth and reality arose in the night, gathered together against them. Yet still Tao fronted that invisible wave, his head high, and between his sturdily planted feet the knife gleamed bright with a radiance of its own. Ah! Tao's voice curled out to pierce that creeping menace. Then he was singing again, the cadence of his unknown words rising a little above the pattern wrought by the drum. Dane forced his heavy hands to continue the beat, his wrist to rise and fall in defiance of that which crept to eat their strength and make them less than men. Lombrilo, I, Tao, of another star, another sky, another world, bid you come forth and range your power against mine. Now there was a sharper note in that demand, the snap of an order. He was answered by another wave of the black negation, stronger, rolling up to smash them down, as a wave in the heavy surf of a wild ocean pounds its force against the beach. This time Dane thought he could see that dark mass. He tore his eyes away before it took on substance, concentrating on the movements of his hands against the drum-head, refusing to believe that hammer of power was rising to flatten them all. He had heard Tao describe such things in the past, but told in familiar quarters on board the Queen such experiences were only stories. Here was danger unleashed. Yet the medics stood unbowed as the wave broke upon him in full. And advancing under the crest of that lick of destruction came its controller. This was no ghost drawn from the materials of the swamp. This was a man, walking quietly, his hands as empty as Tao's, yet grasping weapons none of them could see. In the firelight, as the wave receded sullenly, men moaned, lay face down upon the ground, beat their hands feebly against the earth. But as Lombrilo came on from the shadows, one of them got to his hands and knees, moved with small tortured jerks. He crawled toward Tao, his head lulling on his shoulders as the head of the dead rock ape had done. Dane patted the drum with one hand, while with the other he groped for his fire-ray. He tried to shout in warning and found that he could not utter a sound. Tao's arm moved, raised from his side, made a circling motion. The creeping man, his eyes rolled up in his head until only the whites gleamed blindly in the limited light, followed that master. He drew level with the medic, passed beyond toward Lombrilo, whining as a hound prevented from obeying his master might lament. So be it, Lombrilo, Tao said. This is between you and me. Or do you dare to risk your power against mine? Is Lombrilo so weak a one that he must send another to do his will? Leasing both hands again, the medic brought them down, curling inward, until he stooped and touched them to the ground. When he straightened, once again the knife was in his grasp, and he tossed it behind him. The smoke from the fire swirled out in a long tongue, coiled about Lombrilo, and was gone. A black and white beast stood where the man had been, its tufted tail lashing, a muzzle, a mask of snarling hate and bloodlust. But Tao met that transformation with laughter which was like the lash of a whip. We both be men, you and I, Lombrilo. Meet me as a man and keep those trickeries for those who have not the clear sight. A child plays as a child, so? Tao's voice came in a rumble, but Tao was gone. The huge hairy thing which swayed in his place turned a gorilla's beast visage to his enemy. For a breathless moment, Terran Ape confronted Kotkan Lyon. Then the spaceman was himself again. The time for games is over, man of Kotka. You have tried to hunt us to our deaths, have you not? Therefore death shall be the portion of the loser now. Lyon vanished. Man stood watching, alertly, as swordsmen might face swordsmen with a blood feud lying on their blades. To Dane's eyes the Kotkan made no move. Yet the fire leaped high as if freshly fed, and flames burst from the wood, flew into the air red, and perilous birds darting at Tao until they outlined him from under his boots to an arch over his head. They united and spun faster until Dane, watching with dazzled eyes, saw the wheel become a blur of light, hiding Tao with its fiery core. His own wrists ached with the strain of his drumming as he lifted one hand and tried to shield his sight from the glare of that pillar of fire. Lumbrilo was chanting, a heavy blast of words. Dane stiffened. His traitorous hands were falling into the rhythm of that other song. Straight away he raised both from the drum-head, brought them down in a discordant series of thumps which bore no relation to either the song Tao wanted, or that which Lumbrilo was now crooning. Thump, thump, thump, Dane beat it out frantically, belaboring the drum-head as he wanted to sink his fists home on the body of the Kotkan witch-doctor. The pillar of fire swayed, fluttered as if a wind drove it and was gone. Tao, unmarked, smiled. Fire! He pointed his fingers at Lumbrilo. Would you try earth and water and air also, wizard? Called hither your whirlwind, up your flood, some on the land to quake, none of those shall bring me down. Shapes came flooding out of the night, some monstrous, some human, streaming past Lumbrilo to crowd into the circle of firelight. Some Dane thought he knew, some were strangers, men wearing space uniforms or the dress of other worlds, women, they strode, wept, mingled with the monsters to laugh, curse, threaten. Dane guessed that Lumbrilo sent now against the Terran the harvest of the medics' own memories. He shut his eyes against this enforced intrusion upon another's past, but not before he saw Tao's face, strained, fine to the well-shaped bones beneath the thin flesh, holding still a twisted smile as he met each memory, accepted the pain it held for him, and set it aside, unshaken. This too has no power any longer, man who walks in the dark. Dane opened his eyes. Those crowding wraiths were fading, losing substance. Lumbrilo crouched, his lips drawn back from his teeth, his hatred plain to read. I am not clay to be molded by your hands, Lumbrilo, and now I say that the time has come to call an end. Tao raised his hands slowly once again, holding them away from his body, palms pointing earthward, and beneath them, on either side of the spaceman, two black shadows gathered on the surface of the ground. You have fettered yourself with your own bounds. As you have been the hunter, so shall you now be the hunted. Those shadows were growing as plants might issue from the packed soil of the camping ground. When his hands were shoulder high, Tao held them steady. Now on either side of his tautly held body crouched one of the black and white lions with which Lumbrilo had identified his own brand of magic throughout the year. Lumbrilo's lion had been larger than life, more intelligent, more dangerous, subtly different from the normal animal it counterfitted. So now were these, and both of them raised their heads to gaze intently into the medics' face. Hunt well, brothers in fur, he said slowly, almost caressingly, him who you hunt shall grant you sport in the going. Stop it! A man leaped from the shadows behind the witch-doctor. Firelight made plain his off-world dress, and he swung up a blaster aiming at the nearest of the waiting beasts. That flash struck true, but it neither killed nor even singed the fine fur of the animal's pelt. As the blaster's aim was swung from beast to man, Dane fired first. His ray brought a scream from the other, who dropped his weapon from a badly seared hand to reel back, cursing. Tao waved his hands gently. The great animal heads turned obediently, until the red eyes were set on Lumbrilo. Facing them, the witch-doctor straightened, spat out his hate at the medic. I do not run to be hunted, devil-man. I think you do, Lumbrilo, for you must taste fear now as you have made other men drink of it, so that it fills your blood and races through your body, clouds your mind to make of you less than a man. You have hunted out those who doubted your power, those who stood in your chosen path, whom you wanted to remove from the earth of Katka. Do you doubt that they wait in the last dark for you now, ready to greet you, witch-doctor? What they have known, you shall also know. This night you have shown me all that lies in my past that is weak, that is evil, that I may regret or find sorrow for. So shall you also remember through the few hours left you. I, you shall run, Lumbrilo. As he spoke, Tao approached the other, the two black and white hunters pacing beside him. Now he stooped and caught up a pinch of soil and spat upon it three times. Then he threw the tiny clot of earth at the witch-doctor. It struck Lumbrilo just above the heart and the man reeled under what might have been a murderous blow. The kotkin broke then completely. With a wailing cry he whirled and ran, crashing into the brush as one who runs blindly and without hope. Behind him the two beasts leaped noiselessly together and all three were gone. Tao swayed, put his hand to his head. Dane kicked away the drum, arose from his cramped position stiffly to go to him. But the medic was not yet done. He returned to stand over the prostrate native hunters, and he clapped his hands sharply. You are men, and you shall act as men henceforth. That which was is no longer. Stand free, for the dark power follows him who misused it, and fear no longer eats from your basins, drinks from your cups, or lies beside you on the sleep-mats. Tao! Jeliko's shout reached them over the cries of the rousing kotkans. But Dane was there first, catching the medic before he slumped to the ground. But he was dragged with that dead weight until he sat with the medic's head on his shoulder, the other's body resting heavily against him. For one horror-filled moment Dane feared that he did indeed hold a dead man, that one of the outlaw hunters must have struck a last blow for his discredited leader. Then Tao sighed, and began to breathe deeply. Dane glanced up, amazed at the captain. He's asleep! Jeliko knelt and his hand went to test heartbeat, then to touch the medic's worn and dirty face. Best thing for him, he said briskly. He's had it. It took some time to get the facts of their triumph sorted out. Two of the off-worlder poachers were dead. The other and the spaceman were prisoners, while Naimani rounded up in addition the man Dane had burned to save Tao. When the younger spaceman returned from making the medic comfortable in the shelter, he found Asaki and Jeliko holding an impromptu court of inquiry. The day's native hunters had been expertly looped together by Naimani, and a little apart from them the off-worlders were under examination. An IC man, eh? Jeliko smoothing a mud-spattered chin with a grime hand regarded the latest arrival measuringly. Trying to run in and break a combine charter, were you? You spell the facts. Your own head office will disown you. You ought to know that. They never back any failures in these undercover deals. I want medical attention," snapped the other, cradling his seared hand to his chest. Or do you plan to turn me over to these savages? Seeing as how you tried to blast our medic, replied the captain with a grin which was close to shark-like, he may not feel much like patching up those fingers of yours. Stick him in where they have no business and they're apt to get burned. At any rate, he's not going to look at him until he's had a chance to rest. I'll give you first aid, and while I'm working we'll talk. IC going into the poaching trade now. That news is going to please combine. They have no use for you boys, anyway. His answer was lurid and uninformative. But the uniformed tunic the other wore could not be so easily explained away. Dane, worn out, stretched his aching length on a pile of mats and lost all interest in the argument. Two days later they stood once more on the same terrace where Lombrilo had wrought his magic and met his first defeat. This time no lightning played along the mountain ridges and the rays of the sun was so bright and clear that one could hardly believe in the fantastic happenings of that swamp clearing where men had fought with weapons not made by hands. The three from the queen moved away from the parapet to meet the chief ranger as he came down the stairs. A messenger has just arrived. The hunter was hunted indeed, and his going was witnessed by many, though they did not see those which hunted him. Lombrilo is dead. He came to his end by the great river. Jelico started. But that is almost fifty miles from the swamp on this side of the mountain. He was hunted and he fled as you promised, Asaki said to Tao. You made strong magic off-world, man. The medic shook his head slowly. I but turned his own methods against him. Because he believed in his power, that same power reflected back broke him. Had I been facing one who did not believe, he shrugged. Our first meeting set the pattern. From that moment he feared a little that I could match him, and his uncertainty pierced a hole in his armor. Why on earth did you want terra bound, burst out Dane, still seeking an explanation for that one small mystery among the others? Tao chuckled. In the first place that blasted tune has haunted us all for so long that I knew its rhythm was probably the one you could keep to without hardly knowing that you were beating it out. And in the second place its alien pattern was a part of our particular background to counteract Lombrilo's native Kotkin music, which was certainly a big factor in his stage setting. He must have believed that we would not find out about the drugged water, and so would be prepared for any fantasy he cared to produce. When they saw us coming out of the swamp they counted us easy takings. His practice had always been with Kotkins, and he judged us by their reactions to stimuli he knew well how to use, so he failed. Asaki smiled. Which was good for Kotka, but ill for Lombrilo and those using him to make mischief here. The poacher and the outlaw hunters will meet with our justice, which I do not believe they will relish. But the other two, the spaceman and the company agent, are to be sent to Zeko to face combine authorities. It is my thought that those will not accept kindly the meddling of another company in their territory. Jeliko grunted. Kindness and combine are widely separated in such matters. But we can now take passage on the same ship as your prisoners. But, my friend, you have not yet seen the preserve. I assure you that this time there shall be no trouble. We have several days yet before you must return to your ship. The captain of the queen held up his hand. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to inspect the Zaboro Preserve, sir, next year. As it is, my holiday is over and the queen is waiting for us on Zeko. Also, permit me to send you some tapes dealing with the newest types of flitters, guaranteed against flight failures. Yes, guaranteed, Tao added guilelessly. Not to break down, lose course, or otherwise disrupt a pleasant excursion. The chief ranger threw back his head, and his deep-chested laughter was echoed from the heights above them. Very well, captain. Your mail run will bring you back to Zeko at intervals. Meanwhile, I shall study your sales tapes concerning the non-expendable flitters. But you shall visit Zaboro. And pleasantly, very pleasantly, I assure you, medic Tao. I wonder, Tao muttered and Dane heard. Just now the quiet of deep space is a far, far more entrancing proposition. End of Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton This recording is in the public domain.