"We've got to get out of here!" cried Spence. "The Dream Thief has found us!"

"What is it? What's happened?" Adjani sprang up at once.

"The demon is back-the Dream Thief's demon. I think there's more than one this time… Let's get out of here!"

Spence turned to rouse Gita, but Kyr scooped him up in one effortless motion and began striding off into the clearing toward the spacecraft.

Spence and Adjani hurried after him through the tall grass, glancing skyward as the sound of the dreadful buzzing increased.

They reached the vehicle as the first of Ortu's disciples swooped down. A voice in Spence's head said, Stop! Don't run!

Spence stopped and turned to see a creature touching down a few meters away. It looked at him with glowing green eyes and he saw its horrid, manlike face grimacing in the moonlight. It had huge membraned wings like a bat's attached to a human-looking torso that sprouted four arms. The lower half of the body resembled a serpent's-the thing looked exactly like the small charm Adjani had found.

Immediately another dark form came down behind it and another just off to one side. All stared at him malevolently with their hideous luminous eyes.

"Get in quickly!" Spence felt a touch on his shoulder and felt himself jerked around. "Spence!" Adjani cried. "Move!"

Adjani appeared before him, shouting at him, it seemed, from a great distance. He felt himself drawn toward the gruesome creatures with the glowing eyes. He wheeled around and started walking toward them; he could feel a will outside his own directing his steps.

"What am I doing?" he wondered.

Come here, directed the voices.

"Spence!" shrieked Adjani. "Come back!"

Spence stopped and shook his head. He was almost upon the wicked creatures when he felt himself lifted off the ground and carried bodily back toward the waiting vimana, now glowing bright red-orange. He twisted in the steely grasp and saw Kyr looking over his shoulder at the demons.

They had almost reached the spacecraft when he saw a glimmer out of the corner of his eye. One of the demons held a glittering thing in his hands which he aimed at them. In the same instant a mighty sound ripped through him-a sound which seemed to melt his bones and turn his bowels to jelly. Kyr stumbled and fell and Spence, in his grasp, was thrown to the ground.

Before he could think or move he felt icy fingers on him. He saw a thin, stick-fingered hand reach out for him, and the cold touch of those hideous hands on his flesh sent ripples of revulsion through him. Spence struggled weakly, but his will had abandoned him and he could not break the grasp. At the same moment he sensed his consciousness leaving him. Dark clouds seemed to gather before his eyes and it was as if his skull was being opened and his brain plucked from its cavity. He was powerless to stop it.

He teetered on the edge of consciousness and saw Kyr laying next to him, eyes open and staring up at the star-spattered sky. Then a grotesque face was peering into his own and Spence looked into the cold green eyes of one of the creatures. In its hands it held a silver sphere which it lowered toward him.

Spence sensed that when the sphere touched his head he would be completely under their control.

The sphere came nearer, bare centimeters away from him now. He squirmed on the ground, but the effort was futile and absurd. He lay still and closed his eyes.

Even as he did so, a piercing, ruby light flashed out and struck the sphere; the object shattered in the creature's grasp, and disintegrated.

He was released from the spell. He jumped to his feet and tore the clutching hands of the awful creature from him, lashing out at it with his feet.

He heard a shout and saw Adjani rushing up beside him with a long rod in his hand-the thing flashed in the moonlight and Spence recognized it as the weapon Kyr had used to save them on the road earlier that afternoon. The air smelled of scorched metal and Spence's head throbbed with a booming ache. His ears roared with the sound of a distant ocean. But he was free.

Adjani took the end of the object in his hands and swung into the foremost of the creatures. They all lurched away out of range, and Adjani grabbed Spence by the sleeve of his jumpsuit and pulled him back toward the spacecraft.

"Wait! Kyr is hurt," said Spence. "We've got to get him on board. Gita! Lend a hand! Hurry!"

They bent over the alien's body and lifted it, slinging it between them as they made for the ship. Spence heard the air buzz above his head and saw one of the demons dart past him. N o more stood between them and the Martian spacecraft. "They've got us cut off!"

The airborne naga swooped at them from above. Adjani spun and raised the rod in his hand and once more the ruby beam split the night. The shot hit the monster in the chest as it swung down toward them, grotesque hands outstretched and grasping. There was a bright flash and Spence saw the being jerked back through the air as if it had been yanked by an attached wire. An agonizing scream gurgled from its inhuman throat and the thing fell to earth. But to everyone's surprise, the creature climbed back onto its legs and rejoined the others.

"We can't stay here. We've got to run for it." Spence looked at the still-unconscious body of the alien at his feet. "I'll carry him. You cover our retreat. Let's go! "

Gita, his whole frame shaking with fright, helped lift the stricken Kyr onto Spence's shoulders while Adjani kept the naga demons at bay, brandishing the rod. The jolt to the first demon seemed to have made them cautious, but they had regrouped and were closing in.

"Gita, you lead the way. We're right behind you. There!" shouted Spence, shoving Gita ahead toward the forest. "Get going!"

The demons saw what was happening and began shrieking in rage. They leapt into the air to pursue the chase.

Spence, with Kyr slung across his shoulders, stumbled on as fast as he could, slamming now and again into branches and trunks of trees as they gained the forest. Adjani stayed at his elbow, steadying him and guiding him through the thick tangle. Occasionally he turned to loose a shot at the beings darting after them.

They ran on a downward course that grew steeper as they went along. To Spence it seemed that they had traveled for hours, but it must have been only a few minutes before his lungs began to burn and his legs tired. But he kept moving.

The forest began to thin out and the undergrowth became sparse. He imagined he saw lights through the trees ahead. "I think I see something!" cried Gita. "Yes! It is the village! Rangpo is ahead."

"Can you make it?" asked Adjani. "Let me take him."

"No, I can make it. Let's keep going." Spence allowed him self a quick backward look. "Where are they?"

"They're right behind. But they seem to be keeping their distance."

"They're afraid of your weapon there-"

"Or they're waiting for us to run out into the open."

"I hadn't thought of that." The thought made Spence's heart sink once more.

The way became steeper and rocky. Spence fell several times over rocks and landed on his knees. Each time Adjani hauled him to his feet and they hurried on. Then they were standing at the edge of the forest looking down at the village on the hillside below They could hear the obscene buzzing of the demons' wings growing louder and more ominous as the creatures closed in.

Spence, his heart pounding wildly, his breath coming hard, leaned heavily on Gita's arm. "Well, it's now or never. Let's go!"

Gita muttered a prayer and dashed out from the shelter of the trees; Spence followed on his heels. Instantly there was a shriek above as one of the creatures streaked down upon them. "Down!" cried Adjani. Spence threw himself to the ground and heard a raking claw whisper by his head. He glanced up just in time to see Adjani running toward him.