"Something the Beast will not like," he promised. "And now, be still.
Soon we will be on more level ground, and you will be able to walk."
Some minutes later he set her down, and she walked by his side. But as
they moved deeper into the Valley, and into the gloom, a sound began
behind them. It was a keening noise, shrill, penetrating, rising and
falling with the chill of terror in its pitch.
"The Call!" cried Marima Saan. "Bra Naan calls the Beast! Now we shall
surely die!" She clung to him.
He urged her forward again, looking swiftly about him as they went.
Finally he spied the rock formation he wanted, and together they
crouched in its shadow, waiting. Above them, lancing through the dark
mists came the ray from atop the cliff. Dahnjen growled. "He wants to
make sure--he's using the Hypno-ray. Good thing it only works on the
Beast!"
Ahead of them now they heard sounds. Huge thumping sounds,
earth-shaking motions as a monstrous body moved toward them in the
darkness.
"The Beast comes!" said Marima tragically. "Oh Dahnjen, what shall we
do?" She flung her arms around his neck and clung to him. "Is this the
way our love will end?"
He bent his head and kissed her, then he grinned at her. "In just a
moment you will learn more about that," he said. "But right now, you
crouch down behind me and stay there. As soon as I can see, you'll find
out that not only the Priests are possessed of wonderful instruments."
He slipped the rifle from his shoulder and held it ready in his hands.
The searching ray swept over them several times, and the third pass
found them. Momentarily it outlined them in its light, then swept on,
as though in disdain. Finally it halted, down the valley, centered on a
lumbering form, outlining it in the darkness so that its head could be
seen looming high above the ground.
"The Beast!" breathed Marima.
And now, moving more purposefully, heading straight toward them, the
monster came. Although they knew that it could not see them as yet, in
the darkness, it did not deviate from its course, and they know that
its feeble mind was under the control of the priests in the Temple far
above them on the cliff wall. As it came, its jowls slavered, and its
eyes glared ferociously. The light gleamed off its bared teeth, and
reflected from the scaly ugliness of its hide.
Dahnjen Saan lifted his newly invented weapon, sighted carefully.
Then as Marima Saan cringed back in terror, a sharp explosion echoed
and re-echoed in the confines of the valley. A brilliant flash of
light illuminated the scene for a moment, and then a second explosion
came from the neck of the Beast. It faltered, uttered a tremendous
roar of rage and pain, and blood gouted from its wound. Then roaring
continuously, it charged forward once more. Again and again Dahnjen
fired his rifle, and each time explosions shook the valley and jarred
the oncoming monster. First one eye, then the other vanished in a
shredding of gore, and then the mouth literally exploded, and the
brilliant white of the bared teeth vanished in red blood.
The monster stopped, stood swaying, then came on again, but it was
obvious that it had been seriously wounded, and was not guiding its own
movements. Its giant head was turned sideways in an awkward stiffness,
exposing its ear. Dahnjen aimed a shot directly into it, and the top of
the head seemed to disintegrate. Brains flew through the air, mingled
with red, and the monster halted again. For long moments it swayed,
then with a crash that shook the rock beside which the two fugitives
crouched, it collapsed to the floor of the valley and lay kicking
gigantically, thrashing about in monstrous death throes.
"Dahnjen!" screamed Marima. "You've killed the Beast!"
He shouldered his rifle and lifted her to her feet. Then he bent and
kissed her again. "It was what I had in mind," he admitted.
* * * * *
Before them lay the narrow entrance to the Valley's lower end. Beyond
the gap they saw blue sky and the rolling green of a forest.
"There," said Dahnjen, "lies our freedom. Once in the depths of that
forest, we will be safe. Hundreds of miles away lies a land where the
power of the priests does not reach."
Marima clasped his hand in hers and they both hastened forward.
But suddenly, across the narrow gap before them, rose a dozen red-robed
figures. In the fore was the menacing form of Bra Naan. Leveled at them
was the deadly crossbow of the Priesthood.
Marima uttered a cry of horror and leaped forward, placing her body
between that of Bra Naan and Dahnjen. There was a sharp twang of a
bowstring, and the arrow leaped from the priest's crossbow to bury
itself in her breast. With a scream she sank to the ground. But as she
did so Dahnjen recovered from his frozen surprise and whipped his
rifle from his shoulder. Crouching behind her fallen body, he leveled
it and pressed the trigger. Bra Naan's head exploded on his shoulders
and disintegrated. He fell to the ground. And as he did so, the
remaining priests charged forward. Methodically, cursing and sobbing,
Dahnjen shot them, one by one, and as the last two reached him, he
clubbed the rifle and swung it savagely about his head. There came a
satisfying crunch as the skull of the man in the lead cracked, and then
the last man was upon him. Dahnjen brought the stock of the rifle up
under the man's chin and almost drove it through his skull. Then, the
battle over, he stood there, swaying. Eyes glazing, he dropped to his
knees and sagged over the body of Marima Saan....
* * * * *
Mary Mason opened her eyes in bewilderment and looked up at Don Jensen
bending over her. On his forehead the silver electrode was still
strapped, but broken wires dangled from it, over one ear.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I don't exactly know," he said. "But I do know you suddenly dashed
over and clouted me in the face. Then everything went black for what
I judge was quite a period of time. I must have fallen off the couch,
finally, and broken the wires, which stopped the machine. Anyway, I
came to to find you lying beside me on the floor. Whatever was the idea
of bashing me?"
A flood of red suddenly rose to her cheeks. "Now I remember," she
said. "It was what you were thinking! It was on the screen!"