Storm Over Warlock Part 27

Shann's hand went up to the marks left when he had so carefully ripped off the insignia.

"My badges? I have no rank," he replied, bewildered.

"Every team carries at least one cadet on strength."

Shann flushed. There had been one cadet on this team; why did Thorvald want to remember that?

"Also," the other's voice sounded remote, "there can be appointments made in the field--for cause. Those appointments are left to the discretion of the officer-in-charge, and they are never questioned. I repeat, you are not in uniform, Lantee. You will make the necessary alteration and report to me at headquarters dome. As sole representatives of Terra here we have a matter of protocol to be discussed with our witches, and they have a right to expect punctuality from a pair of warlocks, so get going!"

Shann still stood, staring incredulously at the officer. Then Thorvald's official severity vanished in a smile which was warm and real.

"Get going," he ordered once more, "before I have to log you for inattention to orders."

Shann turned, nearly stumbling over Taggi, and then ran back to the barracks in quest of some very important bits of braid he hoped he could find in a hurry.

STORM OVER WARLOCK

"A satisfying and mature novel which readers will seize upon if they want to enjoy a good adventure story.

"A survey base on a remote planet is wiped out by a raid of Earth's enemies, the Throgs; the only survivor must face the perils of an unexplored planet while trying somehow to strike back at the enemy....

"As always Norton creates both human and alien beings well, and tells a story that you can't stop reading."

--_New York Herald Tribune_

"UP TO NORTON'S BEST STANDARDS."

--_Library Journal_

The Throg task force struck the Terran survey camp a few minutes after dawn, without warning, and with a deadly precision which argued that the aliens had fully reconnoitered and prepared that attack. Eye-searing lances of energy lashed back and forth across the base with methodical accuracy. And a single cowering witness, flattened on a ledge in the heights above, knew that when the last of those yellow-red bolts fell, nothing human would be left alive down there.

And so Shann Lantee, most menial of the Terrans attached to the camp on the planet Warlock, was left alone and weaponless in the strange, hostile world, the human prey of the aliens from s.p.a.ce and the aliens on the ground alike.

ANDRE NORTON has become one of the highest rated authors of science-fiction adventure now writing. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, a book collector, and s-f fan, Ace Books have had the pleasure of presenting her best novels in newsstand editions.

A checklist of available Andre Norton books:

STAR GUARD (D-199) SARGa.s.sO OF s.p.a.cE (D-249) STAR BORN (D-299) PLAGUE SHIP (D-345) VOODOO PLANET (D-345) SECRET OF THE LOST RACE (D-381) THE SIOUX s.p.a.cEMAN (D-437) THE TIME TRADERS (D-461) GALACTIC DERELICT (D-498) STAR HUNTER (D-509) THE BEAST MASTER (D-509)