City of the Cyborgs Read Free

there, but take what you want. You’re welcome.”
    At once Sarah smiled. “Thank you so much, Rainor. We are really very hungry.”
    “We’ll be glad to pay you. I did come away with a little gold.”
    Rainor stared at Josh as he produced from under his shirt a leather bag hanging from a thong. Then he said, “Never mind payment. And you’d better keep that out of sight. There are people that would cut your throat for your shoes in this country.”
    Hastily Josh dropped the bag back down inside his shirt. “That’s good advice,” he said. “I guess I’m not thinking very clearly. And thanks for your generosity.”
    “Is there a village close by—or a place we can buy something to eat?” Jake asked. His eyes were on the girls as they began taking food out of Rainor’s knapsack.
    “You’d starve to death before you got there,” Rainorsaid. Ignoring them, he went over to the spring, lay flat on his stomach, and drank deeply.
    Dave leaned over to see what the girls had found in the knapsack. “What’s in there?” he asked.
    “There’s some meat and bread. Not a whole lot. I’d hate for us to eat it all. It’s all he has.”
    “He can buy more when we get to a village,” Dave said. “We all can.” He eyed the food ravenously, and so did the rest of the Sleepers.
    Sarah divided up the food and called out to Rainor, who was now walking around the campsite, standing on rocks at times and gazing off into the distance. “Come and have breakfast with us, Rainor. This is your food. We don’t want to eat it all.”
    He shook his head but did not answer, and she said, “He certainly doesn’t have very good manners.”
    “But he
is
good-looking,” Abbey commented.
    Josh smiled and took a bite of sandwich. The bread was not fresh, and the meat was dry, but it was food. He thought it tasted wonderful.
    When he and the others had finished what little there was of Rainor’s food supply, they walked to where their rescuer was again scanning the horizon. Josh felt awkward. He said to Rainor, “We don’t usually allow ourselves to get into this kind of a fix, and I’ll have to tell you I’m worried.”
    “You should be!” Rainor motioned back toward the dead Grobundians. “There are plenty more where they came from. They’ll probably be back in an hour or two with the whole tribe. Bloodthirsty weasels they are!”
    “I hate to have to ask you, but could you tell us how to get out of here?”
    Rainor just looked at him. He was silent for a longtime, while Josh waited anxiously. Then Rainor sighed. “You can follow me,” he said finally. “If you can keep up.”
    Walking to where his knapsack lay, he snatched it up and strapped it onto his back. Without even a glance at the others or another word, he picked up his bow and strode off.
    “Let’s go with him!” Reb said quickly. “That guy’s the only game in town. Let’s not lose him.”
    It was one of the hardest marches that the Seven Sleepers had ever been on. They had tramped through swamps and jungles, mountains and deserts, but Rainor seemed determined to walk their legs off. He did stop in the middle of the morning to take a drink from his water bottle and rest a few minutes, and the others did the same. At noon he simply stopped, lay down on the ground, and pulled his hat down over his eyes. He seemed to go to sleep at once, and this amazed the Sleepers.
    “He sleeps just like a cat,” Sarah whispered to Josh.
    “Well, we’d better rest, too. My legs are killing me. I never saw such a walker.”
    Forty-five minutes later the march was on again. It continued all afternoon. By the time the sun was dropping low in the sky, Abbey whispered, “My water’s all gone again.”
    “Mine too,” Sarah said. “This has been the hardest march I can remember.”
    They staggered on until, thirty minutes later, Rainor abruptly halted. He waited until everyone had caught up with him. “Look,” he said, “there is water.” He pointed to his left,