7

MANY EYES, MANY EARS


This was not the first time Dalgard had faced the raging fury of a
snake-devil thirsting for a kill. The slaying he had done in the arena
was an exception to the rule, not the usual hunter's luck. And now
that he saw the creature crouched at the far end of the hall he was
ready. Sssuri, also, followed their familiar pattern, separating from
his companion and slipping along the wall toward the monster, ready to
attract its attention at the proper moment.

Only one doubt remained in Dalgard's mind. This devil had not acted in
the normal brainless fashion of its kin. What if it was able to assess
the very simple maneuvers, which always before had completely baffled
its species, and attacked not the moving merman but the waiting
archer?

It was backed against another door, a closed one, as if it had fled
for refuge to some aid it had expected and did not find. But as Sssuri
moved, its long neck straightened until it was almost at right angles
with its narrow shoulders, and from its snake's jaws proceeded a
horrific hissing which arose to a scream as its leg muscles tensed for
a spring.

At just the right moment Sssuri's arm went back, his spear sang
through the air. And the snake-devil, with an incredible twist of its
neck, caught the haft of the weapon between its teeth, crunching the