Rok and Old Ledo following, Toka was fleeting down the narrow path that dropped from the ledge in a great curve. Hissing laughter and voices drifting thinly through the eddying haze now, Toka and comrades slipped behind a huge moss drape and peered carefully about.
The path spread away onto the floor of the pit. Through crusty cracks in the red rock, vapor spiraled up to form the shifting haze. Stretching away right and left, the pit's moss-hung walls towered from view.
Rok and Old Ledo with him, Toka stepped from the moss drape and strode swiftly for a mighty column. Covered by the haze and taking advantage of these columns—
Around that column darted a redly mottled black Dragon Boy. His snaky features gaped. Also startled, Toka flashed his battle-ax to kill him. But the boy scrambled too agilely and raced away into the haze—his tail vibrating the warning!
Toka's gaze leaped to a nearby door. Battle-ax swinging, he stepped in. Old Ledo shut the door. In the pale green light given off by the low ceiling the storage den was unoccupied.
"To the back!" Toka was scrambling over the springy moss heaps, Rok and Old Ledo with him.
At the back the men burrowed from view. The den's door clanked open and the raucous sounds of the great search came clearer.
"How would they know where to hide!" a searcher hissed.
The moss transmitted the weights and movements of the searchers—directly over-head now. Toka could even hear them breathing.