THE LAND BEYOND THE FLAME
By EVELYN GOLDSTEIN
Beyond the Flame Barrier lay knowledge of
the Originals. Long it stretched from horizon
to horizon, a thin stream of living light; a
thin path of peril for Allyn the Numan.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories May 1954.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
At his back, the jagged rocks rose and fused into wild hills. Before him stretched the Graysand Desert, cruel with heat and treacherous sands. And, shrill in the fiery air, came the squeals of the rat pack.
Giant carnivores, shaggy and foul-breathed, their wicked claws could tear a man fleshless. Fetid poison lay in the bite from their sharp yellow teeth, and those teeth were bared now in raging anticipation.
They were on the kill! Hunger in their voices and lust. And their gray bodies, a pollution on the landscape, surged after a desperate prey.
What did they pursue? Allyn strained to see.
An Olman!