"Alone, in the Wild Land?"
He laughed. "It's not so wild as you think. I've been there. And nothing so fearsome exists that we cannot overcome it. Nor will anyone ever find us. The natives are friendly—I know them well."
Once more she began to weep. "But we'll never get there. We cannot escape from the Valley. It is guarded at the exit by the Beast. None have ever escaped him."
Dahnjen patted the rifle strapped to his back. "Think you that the Priests alone know anything of science?" he asked.
She looked at the long barrel of the rifle. "What is it?"
"Something the Beast will not like," he promised. "And now, be still. Soon we will be on more level ground, and you will be able to walk."
Some minutes later he set her down, and she walked by his side. But as they moved deeper into the Valley, and into the gloom, a sound began behind them. It was a keening noise, shrill, penetrating, rising and falling with the chill of terror in its pitch.
"The Call!" cried Marima Saan. "Bra Naan calls the Beast! Now we shall surely die!" She clung to him.
He urged her forward again, looking swiftly about him as they went. Finally he spied the rock formation he wanted, and together they crouched in its shadow, waiting. Above them, lancing through the dark mists came the ray from atop the cliff. Dahnjen growled. "He wants to make sure—he's using the Hypno-ray. Good thing it only works on the Beast!"
Ahead of them now they heard sounds. Huge thumping sounds, earth-shaking motions as a monstrous body moved toward them in the darkness.