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But Tara of Helium made no reply Already had she spoken She stood in silence now facing the burly warrior who approached her He ca, tried to draw her lips to his

Lan-O saw the woman froht hand from where it had lain upon her breast She saw the hand shoot from beneath the arm of E-Med and rise behind his shoulder and she saw in the hand a long, sli closer to those of the wohtened, stiffly, a shriek upon his lips, and then he crumpled like an empty fur and lay, a shrunken heap, upon the floor Tara of Helium stooped and wiped her blade upon his harness

Lan-O, wide-eyed, looked with horror upon the corpse "For this we shall both die," she cried

"And ould live a slave in Manator?" asked Tara of Heliuirl, "and life is sweet and there is always hope"

"Life is sweet," agreed Tara of Helium, "but honor is sacred But do not fear When they come I shall tell them the truth-that you had no hand in this and no opportunity to prevent it"

For adeeply Suddenly her eyes lighted "There is a way, perhaps," she said, "to turn suspicion from us He has the key to this cha him out-maybe we shall find a place to hide him"

"Good!" exclaimed Tara of Heliuested Quickly they found the key and unlatched the door and then, between theed, the corpse of E-Med from the room and down the stairway to the next level where Lan-O said there were vacant chah this the two bore their grisly burden into a sleThe apart-rooree of coht of about seven feet fro were decorated with faded paintings of another day

As Tara's eyes ran quickly over the interior her attention was drawn to a section of paneling that see it Quickly she crossed to it, discovering that one vertical edge of an entire panel projected a half-inch beyond the others There was a possible explanation which piqued her curiosity, and acting upon its suggestion she seized upon the projecting edge and pulled outward Slowly the panel swung toward her, revealing a dark aperture in the wall behind