38.
bottom of which they could see The Hashons. One was on his knees before the elder, while the four others stood on either side. North watched what they were doing, and then whispered to Grey Mountain.
"It's the Ceremony of Adulthood, The Bread and the wine. It's absolutely forbidden! If they get caught, they'll be executed!"
"Then they're going to be executed!" said Grey Mountain, "Look, there!"
Sure enough, in another shaft on the opposite side from them, was another figure wearing a Guard helmet and cloak. Almost as Grey Mountain had spoken, the stranger had stepped out of the tunnel and called to those below.
"So!" he cried out, "You break our law and defile our world with your evil ceremonies! You'll pay for this dearly. All of you! Up here! Now!"
North saw the Guard did not have a sword, only a dagger, but it made little difference. The Hashons had no shields, and as a matter of fact, neither did he; or a weapon, for that matter! Turning to Grey Mountain, he spoke quickly.
"It looks like he's going to take them out the way he came in. Go back out this way, and cut around. When he comes out the tunnel, distract him just for a second, so he turns that dagger away from the Hashons."
Grey Mountain nodded and hurried off, while North searched the tunnel. Finally his eyes fell on what he was looking for: a discarded piece of old pipe, about three feet long. He picked it up and felt its weight.
"It'll do," he said, "if he hasn't got his shields on."
North hurried down the shaft and into the tunnel where the guard and Hashons had gone. He could hear the noise of the others ahead of him, and in a few moments he was only a few paces behind the guard. At the mouth of the tunnel the guard had just stepped clear, when Grey Mountain called "Hey! What's going on, there?" and dove behind a rock. The guard turned, and North brought the pipe down acrossed the back of his neck. The beam from the dagger struck the rock behind which Grey Mountain was hiding, and blew a chunk of it away, but it was only the guard's death grip that had fired the weapon.
"You all right?" cried North to his friend.
"Yes," Grey Mountain replied, "but that was damned close," he sighed.
"Yes," agreed North. "It was. Get over here and put his weapon back in its scabbard while I find something to bandage my hand with."
"You're hurt?" asked the eldest Hashon. He rushed forward and grabbed the hand North was trying to wrap with a handkerchief from his pocket. Quickly the elder Hashon took over binding the wound.
"You'd betteer get your people out of here," North told him, "and the next time you hold a ceremony, post guards! We might not be around to get you out if something like that interrupts you again!"