Everybody knew about that bottle—everybody but the Company Commander, maybe. But the top sergeant had never been known to offer anyone a drink—save one time when he had followed it by telling his victim that he was being recommended for a general court-martial.

"No, thanks."

"Come on, take it. Hair of the dog. You're going to need it. Then go take a shower and get yourself looking decent even if you aren't, before you see the Company Commander."

I stood up. I wanted that drink, I needed it. I would have settled for the worst rotgut—and Four Roses is pretty smooth—but I would have settled for the firewater old—what was his name? -- had used to burst my eardrums.

But I didn't want to drink with him. I should not drink anything at all here. Nor eat any—

I spat in his face.

He looked utterly shocked and started to melt. I drew my sword and had at him.

It got dark but I kept on laying about me, sometimes connecting, sometimes not.

Chapter 16

Someone was shaking my shoulder. "Wake up!"

"Le'me lone!"

"You've got to wake up. Boss, please wake up."

"Yes, my Hero—please!"

I opened my eyes, smiled at her, then tried to look around. Kee-ripes, what a shambles! In the middle of it, close to me, was a black glass pillar, thick and about five feet high. On top was the Egg. "Is that it?"

"Yep!" agreed Rufo. "That's it! He looked battered but gay.

"Yes, my Hero champion," Star confirmed, "that is the true Egg of the Phoenix. I have tested."

"Uh—" I looked around. "Then where's old Soul-Eater?"

"You killed it. Before we got here. You still had sword in hand and the Egg tucked tightly under your left arm. We had much trouble getting them loose so that I could work on you."

I looked down my front, saw what she meant, and looked away. Red just isn't my color. To take my mind off surgery I said to Rufo, "What took you so long?"

Star answered, "I thought we would never find you!"

"How did you find me?"

Rufo said, "Boss, we couldn't exactly lose you. We simply followed your trail of blood—even when it dead-ended into blank walls. She is stubborn."

"Uh...see any dead men?"

"Three or four. Strangers, no business of ours. Constructs, most likely. We didn't dally." He added, "And we won't dally getting out, either, once you're patched up enough to walk. Time is short."

I flexed my right knee, cautiously. It still hurt where I had been pinked on the kneecap, but what Star had done was taking the soreness out. "My legs are all right. I'll be able to walk as soon as Star is through. But"—I frowned—"I don't relish going through that rat tunnel again. Rats give me the willies."

"What rats, Boss? In which tunnel?"

So I told him.

Star made no comment. Just went on plastering me and sticking on dressings. Rufo said, "Boss, you did get down on your knees and crawl—in a passage just like all the others. I couldn't see any sense to it but you had proved that you knew what you were doing, so we didn't argue, we did it. When you told us to wait while you scouted, we did that, too—until we had waited a long time and She decided that we had better try to find you."

I let it drop.

We left almost at once, going out the "front" way and had no trouble, no illusions, no traps, nothing but the fact that the "true path" was long and tedious. Rufo and I stayed alert, same formation, with Star in the middle carrying the Egg.

Neither Star nor Rufo knew whether we were still likely to be attacked, nor could we have held off anything stronger than a Cub Scout pack. Only Rufo could bend a bow and I could no longer wield a sword. However, the single necessity was to give Star time to destroy the Egg rather than let it be captured. "But that's nothing to worry about," Rufo assured me. "About like being at ground-zero with an A-weapon. You'll never notice it."

Once we were outside it was a longish hike to the Grotto Hills and the other Gate. We lunched as we hiked—I was terribly hungry—and shared Rufo's brandy and Stars water without too much water. I felt pretty good by the time we reached the cave of this Gate; I didn't even mind sky that wasn't sky but some sort of roof, nor the odd shifts in gravitation.

A diagram or "pentacle" was already in this cave. Star had only to freshen it, then we waited a bit—that had been the rush, to get there before that "Gate" could be opened; it wouldn't be available for weeks or perhaps months thereafter—much too long for any human to live in Karth-Hokesh.

We were in position a few minutes early. I was dressed like the Warlord of Mars—just me and sword belt and sword. We all lightened ship to the limit as Star was tired and pulling live things through would be strain enough. Star wanted to save my pet longbow but I vetoed it. She did insist that I keep the Lady Vivamus and I didn't argue very hard; I didn't want ever to be separated from my sword again. She touched it and told me that it was not dead metal, but now part of me.

Rufo wore only his unpretty pink skin, plus dressings; his attitude was that a sword was a sword and he had better ones at home. Star was, for professional reasons, wearing no more.

"How long?" asked Rufo, as we joined hands.

"Count down is minus two minutes," she answered. The clock in Star's head is as accurate as my bump of direction. She never used a watch.

"You've told him?" said Rufo.

"No."

Rufo said, "Haven't you any shame? Don't you think you've conned him long enough?" He spoke with surprising roughness and I was about to tell him that he must not speak to her that way. But Star cut him off.

"QUIET!" She began to chant. Then—"Now!"

Suddenly it was a different cave. "Where are we?" I asked. I felt heavier.

"On Nevia's planet," Rufo answered. "Other side of the Eternal Peaks—and I've got a good mind to get off and see Jocko."

"Do it," Star said angrily. "You talk too much."

"Only if my pal Oscar comes along. Want to, old comrade? I can get us there, take about a week. No dragons. They'll be glad to see you—especially Muri."

"You leave Muri out of this!" Star was actually shrill.

"Can't take it, huh?" he said sourly. "Younger woman and all that."

"You know that's not it!"

"Oh, how very much it is!" he retorted. "And how long do you think you can get away with it? It's not fair, it never was fair. It—"

"Silence! Count down right now!" We joined hands again and whambo! we were in another place. This was still another cave with one side partly open to the outdoors; the air was very thin and bitterly cold and snow had sifted in. The diagram was let into rock in raw gold. "Where is this?" I wanted to know.

"On your planet," Star answered. "A place called Tibet."

"And you could change trains here," Rufo added, "if She weren't so stubborn. Or you could walk out—although it's a long, tough walk; I did it once."

I wasn't tempted. The last I had heard, Tibet was in the hands of unfriendly peace-lovers. "Will we be here long?" I asked. "This place needs central heating." I wanted to hear anything but more argument. Star was my beloved and I couldn't stand by and hear anyone be rude to her—but Rufo was my blood brother by much lost blood; I owed my life to him several times over.

"Not long," answered Star. She looked drawn and tired.

"But time enough to get this straightened out," added Rufo, "so that you can make up your own mind and not be carried around like a cat in a sack. She should have told you long since. She—"

"Positions!" snapped Star. "Count down coming up. Rufo, if you don't shut up, I'll leave you here and let you walk out again—in deep snow barefooted to your chin."

"Go ahead," he said. "Threats make me as stubborn as you are. Which is surprising. Oscar, She is—"