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made me wonder where ye’d come from.”
    Lari looked down at his garb and stammered, “It’s of the very best material.”
    “Wearing the costume of the play saves the cleaning bills,” said Kial with an ingratiating smile.
    “I see,” said Magg, still looking into Lari’s eyes. “Ye’ve a very nice-looking face and I suppose that’s why ye chose the stage, eh, Lari?”
    Lari beamed. He started to speak.
    “Truth of the matter is,” Kial said, cutting in, “we’re looking for two of our company that came this way.”
    Magg smiled at Lari.
    “A man and a woman,” said Kial, leaning forward and almost touching Magg’s flaxen hair with his nose.
    Lari smiled at Magg.
    “Flash Gordon and Dale Arden,” said Kial, poking his face in between Magg and Lari.
    “Aye,” said Magg, almost whispering. She reached out her hand and took hold of Lari’s.
    “Are they here in the inn?” Kial asked with annoyance.
    “Aye,” said Magg dreamily. The firelight flickered on her face. Kial looked at Lari and almost flew into a rage. “Snap out of it!”
    “Aye,” said Lari with a smile.
    “What room?” Kial demanded loudly, reaching out and putting a firm clamp on Magg’s shoulder.
    “Room?” she repeated mistily. “Oh. Flash Gordon has the last room on the end. Dale Arden is in the one next to that. I think they have a thing about each other.” Magg giggled.
    Kial nodded. “Lari,” he said.
    Lari and Magg were close together now, their chairs next to each other against the wall. Magg’s arm was around Lari’s neck and Lari’s arms were around Magg’s waist.
    “ ’Tis a beautiful man ye be,” Magg sighed, closing her eyes.
    Kial leaped to his feet. The chair went over backward behind him.
    “Nincompoop!” he snapped. “I’ll find the man myself!”
    “And ’tis a beautiful girl ye be,” Lari said. “Now isn’t that a coincidence?”
    He was speaking with a beautiful forest-kingdom accent.
    And then neither said much of anything.

CHAPTER 7
    I n the darkened hallway of the Spaceport Inn, Kial gripped the large iron key ring in his hand and smiled grimly.
    “It’s a good thing I ordered Lari to distract that barmaid’s attention. Once she was occupied with him, it was easy to take the key ring from her belt.”
    He moved slowly down the darkened hall.
    “Last door on the end,” he said musingly. “Let’s see. Here we are.” He squinted. “It’s certainly dark here. And the smell! Whew! I don’t see why these forest-kingdom types cling so scrupulously to their ancient woodsy traditions. Why, the smell alone would make me tear down all these ancient inns and put up some new modern clean-air buildings.”
    He inserted the third key in the lock after trying the first two. Number three fit.
    “But I forget that it’s three hundred years ago. People had a different idea of life-styles then. Too bad.”
    The door creaked open. Kial winced. “Sh!” he cautioned himself. Then he realized he was talking to himself. He pushed the key ring aside and moved into the room. The door closed creakingly behind him.
    Kial closed it as slowly as he could to mute the noise.
    There was a small window at one side of the room. A bit of Mongo’s fifth moon cast dull orange light onto the forest outside, but not enough to see by. However, Kial did make out the shape of a bunk in the center of the room. And he heard steady breathing.
    Gordon? he wondered. It’s got to be him.
    Kial moved stealthily across the room and looked down at the bunk. Yes. A long body lay sleeping under a fur coverlet. Kial frowned. He was after the holster with the blaster pistol in it.
    Then his roving eye spotted it hanging on one of the bedposts; the holster was buckled to the belt and the blaster pistol was in the holster.
    Kial crept toward it.
    The bunk creaked.
    Startled, Kial turned, halting in midstep.
    Flash Gordon must have turned over in his sleep, he thought. No problem.
    And he reached out for the holster. It felt