"What?"

Sssuri turned his head. His round eyes which blinked so seldom stared
into Dalgard's as if by the intensity of that gaze he could drive home
deeper his point.

"What lies to the north was protected in the days before the falling
fire. Even _Those_"--the distorted mermen symbol for Those Others was
sharpened by the very hatred of all Sssuri's kind, which had not paled
during the generations since their escape from slavery to Astra's
one-time masters--"could not venture into some of their own private
places without special leave. It is perhaps true that the city we are
seeking is one of those restricted ones and that this wilderness is a
boundary for it."

Dalgard's pace slowed. To venture into a section of land which had
been used as a barrier to protect some secret of Those Others was a
highly risky affair. The first expedition sent out from Homeport after
the landing of the Terran refugee ship had been shot down by
robot-controlled guns still set against some long-dead invader. Would
this territory be so guarded? If so they had better go carefully now--

Sssuri suddenly struck off at an angle, heading not northeast now, but
directly north. The brush lands along the foot of the cliffs gave way
to open fields, bare except for the grass rippled by the wind. It was
not the type of country to attract the night runners, and Dalgard
wondered a little. They should discover water, preferably a shallow
stream, if they wanted to find what the monkey creatures liked best.