Nelson found Lefty Wister bleeding from a slash in his forearm but not badly injured. The little Cockney was shaken.
"They weren't wolves!" he panted. "They were men that can change like the old stories! They must be that!"
The two prisoners — the bound, senseless youth and the wolf — had already been lifted and slung across horses by the warriors of Hoik, two of whom were to ride double.
"Why don't you just kill them?" Lefty demanded viciously of Shan Kar.
The other shook his head peremptorily. "No, these two captives are worth much to us Humanites! We take them to Anshan! Mount quickly, for we ride!"
* * *
Nelson's thoughts drummed in unison with the thudding of hoofs as they galloped with Shan Kar and Hoik's warriors across the rolling moonlit plain. His mind was bewildered, trying to reconcile this fantastic valley with the ordinary world.
L'Lan was not of that world. That was sure. This hidden pocket of Earth held a way of life of man and beast unheard of on the rest of the planet. Here reigned an ancient and unearthly way of life — one even now moving toward a climax of conflict within itself.
"Captain Nelson, to think it is all true!" came Li Kin's exclamation. "L'Lan, the legendary valley of the Brotherhood, unchanged!"
"Perish old legends!" Nelson thought. There was some normal explanation for all this. There must be.