"Good. They're just leaving; they were probably just checking up on the
Carltons."
Crystal shivered. "When Serono Zeburzac checks up on someone, there
usually isn't much left. Come on." She started at a run down the trail.
They slowed at the sight of a clearing ahead. A faint sound reached
them, a sobbing, inarticulate moan of unexpressible agony that froze
them in their tracks.
"What's that?" Brian gasped.
Crystal's face was dead-white as they moved cautiously forward.
They stared out into the clearing in dumb horror. The huge, rambling
Carlton mansion was a smoking heap of ruins. A giant Venus thorn bush
in front of the house was scorched and charred by the flames. One of
its murderous, yard-long spikes carried a terribly gruesome burden.
Crystal whimpered and stumbled forward before Brian could stop her. She
collapsed in a sobbing heap in front of the gray-haired man impaled on
the giant thorn. The figure stirred feebly.
"He's alive," Brian muttered. "Crystal! Snap out of it. Get up and give
me a hand. We'll cut him down."
With Crystal's help Brian hacked off the thorn and gently eased the
frail, old man to the ground. His breath fluttered out between lips
flecked with pink-tinged froth. His eyes tried to smile his thanks
through their haze of pain.