39.
"We will do that, young sir, if we can," the Hashon replied, staring at North's hood, almost as if he could see the man inside. "Thank you for coming to our aid. It is too bad you had to kill to save us."
"Better him than you," North said. "What they would have had in mind for you wouldn't have been very pleasant."
A moment later a young Hashon female ran up with the cup and plate they had been using in the tunnel. The old Hashon nodded at her and she hurried off down the trail.
"Thank you again, young sir," the old Hashon said. "you are a man far braver than your years, and more just than many of your world."
He turned and hurried off. Grey Mountain came up to his friend.
"Now what?" he said.
North looked at the crumpled figure on the ground before them- a full grown man, but he wasn't too large. "I think we both can get him into the air," he speculated, "and carry him where I want to go."
With great effort the two young men carried their burden to a nearby dropoff, and spreading their wings as far as they could, went over the edge. With tremendous effort, they carried their burden skyward, and over the rooftops of the buildings. Finally, they came to a line of blinking red lights along the rooftops.
"Hey!" Grey Mountain shouted, "We're flying right into a flier-way! Do you want to get us killed?"
"I know what I'm doing!" North cried back. "Just keep low, and keep going, and when I say 'now', drop him!"
After many frightening minutes with fliers passing overhead in both directions, North finally saw what he was looking for; The air shaft of a big apartment house. As they passed over it, he called "Now!" and their burden fell toward the whirling blades of fans far below. If the safety shields didn't hold, there wouldn't be anything left to think about. If they did, the body would still be too banged up to tell much.
As North and Grey sped over the rooftops they heard a loud bang, and alot of thump-thump-thumps. Grey must have known what North was thinking, because he called out,
"That takes care of that! The shields didn't hold. How about landing someplace and taking a rest? My wing muscles are killing me!"
"You're not the only one!" North sighed. "And my hand is bleeding again!"
The two boys landed on a nearby rooftop, and Grey Mountain took out a light and examined the bandage on North's hand.
"We've got to get help!" he said. "I don't like this, at all. The bandage has soaked through. You're losing an awful lot of blood. We've got to find a hospital. We'll tell them we went flying in the country