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The guru was shocked. “Caledonian clannsmen using ought but carbines? But that is against the bann by which they live.”

“Yeah,” Venizelou said sourly. “They’re learning fast.”

The approaching skimmer was growing now. It swooped in. hovered for a brief moment above the field, as though checking before descent, and then dropped quickly and settled to rest in the square’s middle. It was a craft of considerable size, quite capable of holding a score of men and their field equipment or an equivalent amount of freight.

The group, started off toward the aircraft, the guru walking diffidently to one side.

An entry port opened in the side of the vehicle, and a uniformed officer in his early middle years stepped forth. The soldiers, headed by the sublieuenant, snapped to the salute.

Marsten said, “At your command, Comet DeRudder.” He turned and indicated the orange clad religious leader. “May I present the Guru David of the town of Nairn?”

DeRudder’s face darkened in a scowl. He stepped closer to the Caledonian monk and stared upward into his face.

He said finally. “It’s been a long time, but I’ve been able to follow your career from a distance.”

He turned to the sublieutenant and snapped, “His name isn’t David, and he isn’t from Nairn. He was born in what was the town of Aberdeen, and his name is John Hawk. He’s also not a guru. He’s Sachem of the Clann Hawk and Supreme Raid Cacique of the Loch Confederation!”

DeRudder spun and shouted at the aircraft, “On the double!”

Chapter Two

But John of the Hawks was upon him.

He threw both arms around the smaller man and carried him flat to the ground.

Even as he did so, a beam of sizzling light reached out from the roof of the longhouse and, in a sweep, literally cut in two the sublieutenant and his three men. Troopers began to pour from the entry of the skimmer, arms in hand, the last two stumbling as the skycraft began to ascend.

The beam flamed them down and then touched as though with a magic finger the skimmer, which fell back to the ground in two parts and began to burn furiously.

John of the Hawks wrenched from the struggling cornet’s holster the handgun and rolled aside to direct the weapon at the door of the longhouse and the two remaining soldiers who came running forth. He cut them down, before they could bring their own weapons to bear.

All was death in the square now, save for John of the Hawks and Cornet DeRudder, both of whom now came to their feet.

John of the Hawks snapped, “Don’t move!”

From the longhouse came two of his fellow Caledonians, both of them shrugging out of their black robes. Beneath, they wore kilts. One of them contemptuously wiped his skean on the robe before he tossed it away.

When they came up, John snapped, “Quickly, both of you. Into the vehicle of the air before it is entirely consumed. Any weapons, especially, and books or tapes. Throw them out the door. Remain inside searching as long as you can bear the heat.”

The two ducked into the smoking, burning skimmer, and shortly various objects began to be tossed out onto the ground.

The remaining two Caldonians, also now in kilts, rather than black robes, issued from the longhouse and came up.

John said, “All are dead?”

One shrugged. “Why not? They are puny men. In close combat, any clannsman is worth a half dozen of such.”

John of the Hawks said, “Don’t be overconfident, Thomas of the Davidsons. It seldom becomes a matter of close combat with these men from Beyond. They deal their death at great distance.”

He looked at the skimmer, which was beginning now to burn more fiercely. “I had thought to build a signal fire for Don of the Clarkes,” he said. “But it will hardly be necessary. Aüi, their so-called laser rifles are a deadly tool.”

Thomas of the Davidsons looked at the silent, deep breathing Cornet DeRudder. “This is the one for the assembly of the Dail?”

“None else are left. Besides, he is a chief and hence more suitable.” He looked at the dead men. “You had best gather up their weapons. Then return to the longhouse and begin to gather such books and tapes, weapons and charges for the weapons as are here. And also their medicines. But above all, the books and weapons.”

The second of the two clansmen looked at him strangely but turned and followed Thomas of the Davidsons to obey his superior’s orders.

John turned back to DeRudder, even as his other two clannsmen stumbled out of the destroyed skimmer, coughing, their faces flushed from the fire.

One called, “We can do no more, John of the Hawks.”

DeRudder said, “We’d all better get away from the vicinity of the ship. It might go up at any time. Explode.”

John rapped, “Gather up the weapons. Get them away. They are the most valuable things on all Caledonia. They and the books.”

The others followed his command hurriedly, while John and DeRudder made their way to the side of the square.

“So we meet again, Mister of the DeRudders,” John said.

DeRudder, who was obviously shaken by the precipitous actions of the past ten minutes, said, “Mister is a title, something like your sachem or sagamore. My name is Samuel DeRudder, and my rank is cornet, somewhat similar to your rank of raid cacinue.”

“And what has happened to your companions of ten years and more ago? They who first came in the skyship Golden Hind and tried to cozen from us the products of our mines?”

DeRudder looked at him. “Harmon’s, ah, fate, I understand you are familiar with. He showed up at New Sidon and for a time spread the faith of the Shrine of Kalkin—since you stuffed soma down his throat. The skipper of the Golden Hind ? He died several years ago. He wasn’t a young man, and this exploitation of Caledonia didn’t go as quickly as we first hoped it would. Manola Perez? Manola is still with us. He holds down an executive position with United Interplanetary Mining.”

“And you?” John said. “You also hold a position with United Planetary Mining?”

“Yes, of course, and a military position with the Sidonian forces as well.”

A cloud of dust was beginning to manifest itself on the skyline. John looked in that direction, diverting his attention from DeRudder for the moment.

Approximately sixty clannsmen, carbines in hand, came riding up. Leading them was Don of the Clarks. His eyes went around the square, as did those of the whole troop.

“Aüi,” he blurted to John. “All succeeded. I hardly expected it to.”

He looked at the prisoner and scowled in memory. “It is Mister of the DeRudders. Older, but the same.”

The clannsmen were whooping and laughing in exuberation.

John snapped orders. “To the roof. Dismantle those two guns behind the emplacements. Rig litters on horses so that we can carry them. Get all the charges for them they have on hand. Go through the longhouse with care. I want every weapon, every book, all the medicine.”

One of the clannsmen, a sagamore of the Clann Fielding, said, “But we have no spare horses for such plunder as this.”

John looked at him. “We will dismount sufficient men to make room.”

Don said unhappily, “It is a poor place to be dismounted. We can ride two men on a horse. Double up.”

John shook his head at him. “No. We must ride hard, for these posts of the men from Beyond are in continual contact with the forces in New Sidon City. When communication is interrupted, they will send out additional craft to check on the reason. We must get these weapons and the prisoner back to the assembly of the Dail.”