"Damn you, Henderson! I'll get you for this! You wait, coward. .

Alex sucked air as if he'd been underwater too long. The ache in his chest was only just beginning to subside. Next to him, Mary-em was bent double, coughing, her ruddy face even darker than usual. These last five minutes he had run while pulling Mary-em along by her sword harness.

The monster had only given up the chase after the lot of them were totally exhausted. Henderson was on his side in the grass, wiping sweat from his face with a wet, dust-crusted sleeve. Gina lay sprawled beside him, her eyes closed, breath rasping in her throat.

McWhirter was up and spreading his pack. The Gods knew where he found the energy. He'd been ahead of Alex all the way, even before Mary-em started to fall behind.

S.J. balanced on his knees, dry-retching. He shook his head and looked at Dark Star venomously. Between coughing fits he was mumbling words that Griffin had to strain to hear: "I knew it. I knew I should have blown the whistle on those bastards. I knew it..."

Professional reflexes triggered. Griffin rolled over and stood up, though his head spun. He walked over to S. J. Waters and hovered

above him. Waters looked fearfully up into a big black shadow. Griffin dropped to his haunches beside the boy. He kept his voice low and matter-of-fact. "Tell me all about it, or we both talk to Henderson."

"W-what do you mean?" S.J.'s expression made the protest pitiful.

"If I can't get it out of you, maybe Henderson can. You were spying on Bowan and Dark Star. What did you see?"

Waters seemed to weigh his options. Griffin gave him some time, then started to stand up.

"Wait! Griffin, if Henderson finds out-"

"He won't. Not if you tell it straight."

"Sit down before someone notices!"

Griffin sat.

"All right. The first night of the game, everybody was hopping into the woods for some nookie. Hell, man, I just didn't have any­thing better to do."

"So you played peeping tom. You followed them. Why them?"

"Oh... Bowan's such a... I mean, the way he acts, you can't imagine the mighty sorcerer with his pants off. And Dark Star, why would anyone chase her? I just wondered about them. So I followed them.

"The only thing was, they weren't interested in fooling around. They cut across the Gaming area to where the workmen were set­ting up props and testing the holograms, and they spied. I just spied on them. The workmen turned on the giant monkey and ran it through its paces. I saw Bowan and Dark Star go into a whisper on it, and then they both scampered back to the Daribi village. They've been waiting for that thing to show up ever since." S.J. laughed. "They must have thought it was just a poor man's King Kong."

His face had finally lost some of its beet color. He hunched his shoulders. "Really, that was all there was to it." His eyes pleaded, and suddenly Griffin felt sorry for him. "Please don't tell Chester, huh? Honest to God, I wasn't trying to cheat. I was just lonely and thought I'd have a little fun. Please?"

What S.J. had said seemed to fit the facts. And it helped. Griffin patted his shoulder comfortingly. "I won't say anything. You just stay out of other people's business, okay?" The Engineer nodded with all the sincerity he could muster. Griffin stood, walked a few paces away, and flopped.

Acacia got unsteadily to her feet and walked over to join him. He held out his hand to her; it was clammy and cold with con­densing sweat. Her face was streaked with sweat and what looked suspiciously like tears. She hugged him, and said angrily: "God, Lopez made us pay for that."

"For running?"

She nodded. "Can you imagine what that rout is going to look like on tape? I wouldn't want to be Chester right now."

Mary-em's face turned angry. "What was he supposed to do, Acacia? You saw what that hairy freak did to Bowan."

Acacia sank to the ground and stared at her feet.

They looked like the aftermath of a disaster. Alex was in good condition, but it had been no picnic for him. The damnable thing, the haunting, humiliating thing, was the way Lopez had toyed with them. The monster had remained just close enough to keep them running, and far enough back that they wouldn't turn and make a stand.

Henderson was waving the group together with an unsteady hand. "Kasan!" he bellowed. He looked around for the guide. Kasan was having trouble getting up.

"All right, Kasan. What was it?"

The little guide kept one hand on his chest and swallowed air before trying to speak. "I have no clue, bwana. There are many such creatures known to us-"

"Clues? I'll give you clues. That critter's fur was the color of fire where it wasn't wet." Henderson stopped to pant, then:

"When Bowan tried to steal its power, it burned him crisp. And we saw it make a fire bum backward. Aren't those clues? Its power is fire. What kind of fire demon have you got for us?"

"Ah. Now I believe that I know what that creature was. The legends of my people speak-"

"Cut the bullshit, dammit." All heads swung around to face Dark Star, who was wiping the wet from her eyes with the side of a clenched fist. "I just want to know what killed Bowan."

Henderson gave her a warning glance, and she bit her lower lip, furious.

Even Maibang seemed a bit upset. "I was saying that we have a legend that might apply. The Haiavaha-"

"Nobody gives a good goddamn what its name is. What was it?" She was shaking now, her voice rising almost to a scream.

Chester crossed to her in two strides and took her by the shoul­ders.

"Now you listen to me, lady. You and Bowan wanted to have at Jumbo back there. In fact, you wanted it so damn bad that it re­ally makes me wonder. I didn't like it then, and I didn't like it when Bowan gave us his little prepared incantation. Frankly, I don't think he's good enough to come up with that off the cuff. Do you get my drift?" She tried to turn away from him, but his slen­der fingers bit into her shoulders without mercy. "Now you and I both know that I can't prove anything. But so help me, if you don't shut up and let the rest of us play this Game the way it's supposed to be played, I'll see to it that you join Bowan the Black."

The other players seemed embarrassed for them both. Dark Star nodded her head silently, a single teardrop drooling down her puffy red cheeks. Maibang cleared his throat politely. "Um... I was saying that my people have a legend about this creature." Chester had finally released Dark Star, and had turned to face Maibang. "It is said that centuries ago, Man was forced to eat his meat raw, and lie helpless in the darkness of night. He was denied the secret of fire. Fire was the sole possession of the gods, who felt that such a gift was more than mere humans could safely con­trol."

Chester had his mind back on the Game. "Was there no fire at all on Earth?"

"Ah, that is where the Monster comes in. Fire could be found in but one Earthly place, the lair of the dread Haiavaha. Whether itself a minor god, or merely a watchdog for the gods, was not known. But when men shivered in the cold, the Haiavaha had warmth. And where men depended upon the coming of dawn to rescue them from the clutches of night, the Haiavaha had some­how gained possession of a small piece of the sun, and kept it burning in its cave.

"Many men died trying to steal the secret. Then one night a dog was beaten and chased away from the camp for stealing a haunch of pig and insulting the cooking-woman. Its master shouted that it could not return unless it could redeem itself. The dog found the cave of the Haiavaha, and, seeing that the creature was asleep, snuck in and stole a burning branch. The monster woke and came after the dog. It ran for its life, the fire burning its mouth horribly.