He had never tried anything like it before in his life, and the roar of anger that echoed in the canyon a moment later took him as much by surprise as anything else that had happened. It came from a figure who was even now staggering from the wide entrance of the cave.

"You bastard, you're almost as strong as I am and that's saying something."

Gryph opened his eyes, maintaining his fierce mental grip on the retreating frequencies. He was aware the rays he was trying to send back to their source had been halted by the other Shield. He also sensed that if he relaxed his grip for even a moment the other man would nail him.

It was a mental standoff, but it left Gryph physically helpless. It took every ounce of his energy and will to hold off the assault the other Shield was trying to send into his mind.

The cloaked figure Gryph had been about to drag off into the shadows coughed and sat up slowly. He looked at the two frozen Shields confronting each other and pushed back the hood of his cloak.

"Well," Erion Rakken said in a hoarse voice, "this is an interesting development. I always wondered what would happen if two Shields did battle with each other. I wonder what's going on inside your minds?"

"Get him in a twist," the other Shield grated through his teeth. "Hurry. He's far stronger than I would have guessed."

"Of course, Targyn," Rakken said soothingly. "I'll take care of everything. After all, we're partners, aren't we?"

Gryph was helpless to defend himself from Rakken as the banker deftly locked him in a twist, the device used on the frontier to chain bandits.

A few minutes later he was dragged into the cave and down a short corridor lined in a strange gray metal to a small chamber paneled in the same material.

When he was lying bound and helpless on the floor of the chamber the energy that had been beating at Gryph's mind finally relaxed.

Gryph looked up at the other Shield who was leaning against the door of the chamber and taking deep breaths to regain his strength.

"So much for a glorious death at the hands of bandits," Gryph remarked. "I hate to see a good legend ruined by reality, Targyn."

"The reality of what I am going to do with the prisma ship I have found in this mountain will create a legend that will last for a thousand years, Chassyn," Targyn said with grim satisfaction. He turned to Rakken. "Strip him."

Rakken glanced at Targyn. "Why? All we need is his weapon kit."

"You fool. Do you really think that all of a Shield's weapons are in his kit? A trained Shield can make a weapon out of almost anything. Strip him. He's safe enough while he's in that twist. When you're done I'll go through his clothing. Then you can give him back his trousers and his shirt. We'll leave him barefoot, however. A good pair of boots is a potential tool for a skilled man."

Etion Rakken hovered over his captive, loosening Gryph's clothing. Targyn went through everything carefully, removing a number of small nondescript strips of metal. When he was satisfied he flung the garments down on the floor. "Get dressed," he ordered.

Gryph slowly pulled on his clothes. The twist allowed very slow, very careful movements. His muscles

felt weak and shaky from the mental battle he had fought earlier.

"That should take care of him for now," Targyn decided. He smiled humorlessly at his captive. "We'll have more to say to each other later, Chassyn." He picked up Gryph's weapon kit.

"Let me have that," Rakken said quickly. "I am very curious about these weapon kits. I would like to examine one more closely."

"What good will that do?" Targyn asked impatiently. "You can't possibly open it. Even I can't open another Shield's kit."

"Nevertheless, I would like to take a close look at it," Rakken insisted. "As you wish, partner." Targyn slammed the door shut on the small chamber. Gryph heard a standard western style lock click shut outside the room. If he could have gotten his

hands on that lock, he could have probed its secrets in a matter of minutes. But he could no more reach the lock through the door than he could reach the moon. Or Sariana.

Sariana.

Gryph wondered if she was already on her way back to Little Chance. The only hope now was that Delek would get back in time with enough Shields to deal with Targyn and the prisma ship.

Gryph wondered how many of his friends would die before they figured out how to fight another Shield who had learned the trick of turning prisma into a mind-to-mind weapon.

Chapter 16

THE harsh ball of light slammed into Sariana's head and burst into a thousand fragments. It vanished in the next second.

Sariana awoke with a cry and jerked upright amid the folds of the travel quilt. She sat motionless on the gently rocking sled, her palms damp with sweat, her heart pounding. Lucky stuck its head out of a cloak pocket nearby and hissed inquiringly.

"It's all right," she whispered huskily to the lizard. "At least, I think it's all right. Just a nightmare." Sariana waited for pieces of the dream to trickle back into her consciousness, but there was nothing.

No lingering images or even people.

But she was filled with a sense of dread that no amount of rationalization could dispel. And as she calmed down she forced herself to acknowledge what she secretly feared' Something had happened to Gryph.

Sariana looked up at the narrow wedge of night sky overhead. It would be dawn soon. She dared not wait any longer.

"Come on. Lucky. We'd better get moving." The lizard sat on top of a storage locker and supervised Sariana's frantic preparations for departure.

"I wish I had paid more attention yesterday when Gryph showed me how to operate this thing," Sariana admitted to Lucky as she fumbled with the sled's propeller mechanism. The truth was she hadn't expected to have to run the boat on her own.

But her memory for detail stood her in good stead. Sariana pushed the sled farther out into the river, hopped back on board and settled herself on ttie bench Gryph had used. She took a firm hold on the hand grips and pulled back. With a soft slap of blades and fins hitting water, the river sled obediently leaped forward. The sled's cleverly designed system of gears, belts and pulleys created tremendous mechanical advantage that was translated into propulsion power. Another ingenious western invention, Sariana decided wryly. It was just as well her own people were so astute when it came to business and law. They were going to need whatever advantage they could get during the next few years to hold their own with the westerners.

There was barely enough starlight filtering down to the base of the canyon to enable Sariana to tell water from land. She aimed the craft deeper into the gorge. Lucky hopped onto Sariana's shoulder and settled there.