He called back over his shoulder, "I'm taking Lusine with us! She can
help us get the Earthman from the Amphibians!"
The Giant lumbered up behind him, threw a rope down to the eager hands
of Lusine and pulled her up without effort to the top of the well. A
second later, Rastignac leaped upon Mapfarity's back, dug his hands
under the upper fringe of the huge Skin and, ignoring its electrical
blasts, ripped downwards.
Mapfarity cried out with shock and surprise as his skin flopped on the
stones like a devilfish on dry land.
Archambaud ran up then and, without bothering to explain, the
Ssassaror and the Man seized him and peeled off _his_ artificial hide.
"Now we're all free men!" panted Rastignac. "And the mucketeers have
no way of locating us if we hide, nor can they punish us with shocks."
He put the Giant on his right side, Lusine on his left, and the
egg-stealer behind him. He removed the Jail-breaker's rapier from his
sheath. The official was too astonished to protest.
"_Law, m'zawfa!_" cried Rastignac, parodying in his grotesque French
the old Gallic war cry of "_Allons, mes enfants!_"
The King's official came to life and screamed orders at the group of
mucketeers who had poured into the courtyard. They halted in
confusion. They could not hear him above the roar of horns and thunder
of drums and the people sticking their heads out of windows and
shouting.
Rastignac scooped up with his epee one of the abandoned Skins flopping
on the floor and threw it at the foremost guard. It descended upon the
man's head, knocking off his hat and wrapping itself around the head
and shoulders. The guard dropped his sword and staggered backwards
into the group. At the same time the escapees charged and bowled over
their feeble opposition.
It was here that Rastignac drew first blood. The tip of his epee drove
past a bewildered mucketeer's blade and entered the fellow's throat
just below the chin. It did not penetrate very far because of the
dullness of the point. Nevertheless, when Rastignac withdrew his sword
he saw blood spurt.
It was the first flower of violence, this scarlet blossom set against
the whiteness of a Man's skin.
It would, if he had worn his Skin, have sickened him. Now, he exulted
with a shout of triumph.
Lusine swooped up from behind him, bent over the fallen man. Her
fingers dipped into the blood and went to her mouth. Greedily, she
sucked her fingers.
Rastignac struck her cheek hard with the flat of his hand. She
staggered back, her eyes narrow, but she laughed.
The next moments were busy as they entered the castle, knocked down
two mucketeers who tried to prevent their passage to the Duke's rooms,
then filed across the long suite.
The Duke rose from his writing-desk to greet them. Rastignac,
determined to sever all ties and impress the government with the fact
that he meant a real violence, snarled at his benefactor, "_Va t'feh
fout!_"
The Duke was disconcerted at this harsh command, so obviously
impossible to carry out. He blinked and said nothing. The escapees
hurried past him to the door that gave exit to the outside. They
pushed it open and stepped out into the car that waited for them. A
chauffeur leaned against its thin wooden body.
Mapfarity pushed him aside and climbed in. The others followed.
Rastignac was the last to get in. He examined in a glance the vehicle
they were supposed to make their flight in.
It was as good a car as you could find in the realm. A Renault of the
large class, it had a long boat-shaped scarlet body. There wasn't a
scratch on it. It had seats for six. And that it had the power to
outrun most anything was indicated by the two extra pairs of legs
sticking out from the bottom. There were twelve pairs of legs, equine
in form and shod with the best steel. It was the kind of vehicle you
wanted when you might have to take off across the country. Wheeled
cars could go faster on the highway, but this Renault would not be
daunted by water, plowed fields, or steep hillsides.
Rastignac climbed into the driver's seat, seized the wheel and pressed
his foot down on the accelerator. The nerve-spot beneath the pedal
sent a message to the muscles hidden beneath the hood and the legs
projecting from the body. The Renault lurched forward, steadied, and
began to pick up speed. It entered a broad paved highway. Hooves
drummed; sparks shot out from the steel shoes.
Rastignac guided the brainless, blind creature concealed within the
body. He was helped by the somatically-generated radar it employed to
steer it past obstacles. When he came to the _Rue des Nues_, he slowed
it down to a trot. There was no use tiring it out. Halfway up the
gentle slope of the boulevard, however, a Ford galloped out from a
side-street. Its seats bristled with tall peaked hats with outspread
glowworm wings and with drawn epees.
Rastignac shoved the accelerator to the floor. The Renault broke into
a gallop. The Ford turned so that it would present its broad side. As
there was a fencework of tall shrubbery growing along the boulevard,
the Ford was thus able to block most of the passage.
But, just before his vehicle reached the Ford, Rastignac pressed the
Jump button. Few cars had this; only sportsmen or the royalty could
afford to have such a neural circuit installed. And it did not allow
for gradations in leaping. It was an all-or-none reaction; the legs
spurned the ground in perfect unison and with every bit of the power
in them. There was no holding back.
The nose lifted, the Renault soared into the air. There was a shout, a
slight swaying as the trailing hooves struck the heads of mucketeers
who had been stupid enough not to duck, and the vehicle landed with a
screeching lurch, upright, on the other side of the Ford. Nor did it
pause.
Half an hour later Rastignac reined in the car under a large tree
whose shadow protected them. "We're well out in the country," he said.
"What do we do now?" asked impatient Archambaud.
"First we must know more about this Earthman," Rastignac answered.
"Then we can decide."