"Baar is here with two or three of his men. He talks with Tao's men. They talk about men from Twilight Country. Waiting for them now. Speak of storm. Worried—because men do not come. Waiting for light‑ray."
"They'll have a long wait," Mercer chuckled. "Let's get out of here, Anina."
He must have made a slight noise, or perhaps he and Anina, crouching there on the stairs, were seen by some one above. He never knew quite how it occurred, but, without warning, a man stood at the opening, looking down at them.
There was a shout, and the room above was in instant turmoil. Mercer lost his head. Anina pulled at him and said something, but he did not hear her. He only knew that they had been discovered, and that most of their enemies in the Water City were crowded together in this one room at hand. And he had the light‑ray—the only one in the city.
A sudden madness possessed him. He tore away from Anina and, climbing up the steps of the stairway, leaped into the room above.
Twenty or thirty men faced him, most of them about the table. Several had started hastily to their feet; two or three chairs were overturned.
The man who had been looking down into the opening darted back as Mercer came up, and shouted again.
Mercer saw it was Baar.
