Onward he went, racing along swaying limbs, leaping outward across space to hurtle into the embrace of another tree at the dizzy height of the forest top, his free hand finding, unerringly, some waving bough at the very instant those sure feet came to rest on some strong branch. Now he threaded his way above the hard-packed earth with all the grace and agility of a tight-rope walker, prevented from falling only by an uncanny sense of balance. If handicapped by his burden, none might have guessed it; certainly he could not have moved with greater speed and surety had he been unencumbered.
Alurna lay quiescent within his grasp, looking up at the immobile face so near her own. It was restful to lie against the broad chest, her cheek pillowed on a firm shoulder, and be lulled to drowsiness by the rhythmic sway of this tireless body. A feeling of complete peace gradually suffused her entire being, her eyelids grew languorously heavy, closed of their own volition.... Alurna fell fast asleep.
How long she slept Alurna never knew, but her eyes opened as she felt the arms about her relax their grip and lower her to her feet. There was something almost of roughness in the action, and she looked up at Tharn quickly. To her surprise he was standing with head thrown back, nostrils twitching as he sniffed the wind from the north. His face seemed tense, strangely drawn.
She put a hand on his arm, her white fingers gleaming in sharp contrast to the tanned forearm.
"What has happened, Tharn?" She glanced uneasily about at the surrounding foliage. "Are we nearly to Sephar?"
Tharn was not listening. To his sensitive nostrils the wind was bringing the scent of a lion—and of a girl. The odors were commingled and of equal strength, sufficient evidence to Tharn that the girl might be in danger.
But the scents alone had not brought the tenseness to his face. There was a haunting familiarity to one of them—that of the girl.
And then he was galvanized into action. Whirling, he scooped up the girl and placed her on a thick branch, close to the bole.
"Remain here until I return," he commanded. "I will come back for you."