now was forced

to admit that - as his Southern brothers had already found out - a

wagon train was a tough nut to crack.

Cadillac pulled more pictures from the stone. This time of the

arrowheads; the twelve Skyhawks, neatly racked with folded wings in the

flight compartment and, in the adjacent car, the ten cloud warriors and

their ground crewmen.

'It is strange,' said Cadillac. 'Their faces are shrouded in

darkness.

All except one. Him I see. His face and heart are strong but Death

sits on his shoulder. Is he the cloud warrior the Sky Voices

prophesied?"

'He may be,' replied Mr Snow. 'If you have been shown his face when

those of the others around him are hidden, the vision must have some

purpose. Mark him well, then break your bond with the seeing-stone and

return to the time of this present earth."

Cadillac appeared to make an extra effort of concentration then his

head sagged backwards. His fingers opened limply; the stone rolled

forwards over his knees onto the ground. Mr Snow picked it up and

examined it again but could see nothing. He tossed it aside with a

frustrated sigh, stood up and hauled Cadillac to his feet.

Cadillac's eyelids fluttered open. He seemed unable to focus on his

surroundings; his legs were like rubber. 'What happened?" he gasped,

making an unsuccessful attempt to stand upright.

Mr Snow got his shoulder under Cadillac's left arm and held him around

the waist. 'You did well. You drew many pictures from the stone."

Cadillac smiled unsteadily. 'Truly?"

'Why do you keep asking me that?" snapped Mr Snow.

'When you were a child, you accepted everything I said without

question. Now you believe nothing and you make me repeat myself. At

my time of life I don't have time to fill my mouth with empty words."

'I am sorry, Old One."

'And don't start saying "sorry",' grumped Mr Snow.

'That's an even bigger waste of time."

'My tongue wanders, Old One. The stone has loosened the bond between

my mind and my body."

'It happens,' said Mr Snow. He patted Cadillac on the back. 'Take it

easy. For the first time out that was a good trip but you are going to

have to work on it."

'What must I do?" asked Cadillac, sagging in Mr Snow's arms.

'Well, it's no good waking up and asking me what happened,' said Mr

Snow. 'I may not always be here. You're the one that sees the

pictures. From now on you're going to have to try and remember

them."

'It is difficult,' said Cadillac.

'It's never been any other way,' replied Mr Snow.

Motor-Head strode over to them. 'It is time to run, Old One. The sun

wakes under his grey sleeping furs by the eastern door."

'Okay, let's move,' said Mr Snow. 'Can you carry your clan-brother?"

Motor-Head hoisted the unprotesting Cadillac into the air and dumped

him over his shoulder like a side of beef.

'The stone has drained his strength,' explained Mr Snow.

Motor-Head snorted disdainfully. 'Magic ...!" 'Don't knock it,' said

Mr Snow. 'If that Mother in the sky delivers, it may save your

gravelly, hide."

When Steve and the other wingmen woke with a tingle of anticipation to

the electronic bugle blast at six am, they found that there had been a

radical change in the weather. In contrast to the clear, heat-laden

skies of the previous weeks, the temperature had dropped sharply

overnight. A heavy mist now surrounded the wagon train cutting

visibility to less than thirty yards.

Hartmann unwound The Lady, parked her in a straight line ready to begin

the advance north then called Kazan and the Flight Operations Officer

up to the saddle.

'What do you think, gentlemen?"

Jodi Kazan grimaced. 'It's not good, sir. I've been up on the flight

deck. You can't even see the front and rear command cars from the

middle of the train. It's really weird.