There came a shout from the portal. The voice of a Japcan guard crying amusedly, "By the Serpent, O Grensu—we are attacked by a band of naked apes! Come you and view this wonder!"
All wheeled. And a swift hope flamed in Meg as she saw that the new besiegers were—a host of the Wild Ones!
Lora, at Meg's side in one swift bound, cried out hoarsely, "What other marvels shall the Gods send us this day, my priestess? Behold, even the skulking rats of the forest have this day turned against us! Are we, then, accursed?"
But Meg, forgetting her pain as for the moment she had been forgotten, gasped as the full import of this raid broke upon her.
"It is not us they attack, Lora! See who commands the Wild Ones!"
The leader was not hard to discern. His supple, hairless body stood out like a living white flame against the background of gnarled, hairy ones. His chestnut mane towered a full head above the tallest of the Wild Ones, and he bore a great, rusted, two-handed sword in one hand, waving it as a child a shaking-gourd. It was Daiv!
Then Grensu's hand was upon Meg's shoulder, spinning her about. To a brace of yellow warriors he was howling, "To the hoams with this prisoner. We will attend to her when we have broken these foolish Man-things from the forests. Come!"
He moved away with his lieutenants as Meg was taken to the hoam wherein her sisters had been confined. Brutally she was shoved inside; the two guards took their posts at the doorway. Meg pushed her way to a window to better watch the battle.
There was little—pitifully little—to watch. By the time she reached her vantage point, the horde of Wild Ones had deployed in a great circle about the Jinnia village; now, at a signal from Daiv, they rose like a great, swarthy tide and rushed down upon their enemy.