CHAPTER XXIII - IN KHALK'RU'S
TEMPLE
Twice I awakened. The first time it was the howling
of the wolves that aroused me. It was as though they were beneath my window. I
listened drowsily, and sank back to sleep.
The second time I
came wide awake from a troubled dream. Some sound in the chamber had roused me,
of that I was sure. My hand dropped to my sword lying on the floor beside my
bed. I had the feeling that there was someone in the room. I could see nothing
in the green darkness that filled the chamber. I called, softly:
"Evalie! Is
that you?"
There was no
answer, no sound.
I sat up in the
bed, even thrust a leg out to rise. And then I remembered the guards at my
door, and Dara and her soldiers beyond, and I told myself that it had been only
my troubled dream that had awakened me. Yet for a time I lay awake listening,
sword in hand. And then the silence lulled me back to sleep.
There was a
knocking upon my door, and I struggled out of that sleep. I saw that it was
well after dawn. I went to the door softly so that I might not awaken Evalie. I
opened it, and there with the guards was Sri. The little man had come well
armed, with spear and sickle-sword and between his shoulders one of the small,
surprisingly resonant talking drums. He looked at me in the friendliest
fashion. I patted his hand and pointed to the curtains.
"Evalie is
there, Sri. Go waken her."
He trotted past
me. I gave greeting to the guards, and turned to follow Sri. He stood at the
curtains, looking at me with eyes in which was now no friendliness at all. He
said:
"Evalie is
not there."
I stared at him,
incredulously, brushed by him and into that chamber. It was empty. I crossed to
the pile of silks and cushions on which Evalie had slept, touched them. There
was no warmth. I went, Sri at my heels, into the next room. Dara and a half
dozen of the women lay there, asleep. Evalie was not among them. I touched Dara
on the shoulder. She sat up, yawning.
"Dara - the
girl is gone!"
"Gone!"
she stared at me as incredulously as I had at the golden pygmy. She leaped to
her feet, ran to the empty room, then with me through the other chambers. There
lay the soldier women, asleep, but not Evalie.
I ran back to my
own room, and to its door. A bitter rage began to possess me. Swiftly, harshly,
I questioned the guards. They had seen no one. None had entered; none had gone
forth. The golden pygmy listened, his eyes never leaving me.
I turned toward
Evalie's room. I passed the table on which I had thrown the locket. My hand
fell on it, lifted it; it was curiously light... I opened it... The ring of
Khalk'ru was not there! I glared at the empty locket - and like a torturing
flame realization of what its emptiness and the vanishment of Evalie might
signify came to me. I groaned, leaned against the table to keep from falling.
"Drum, Sri!
Call your people! Bid them come quickly! There may yet be time!"
The golden pygmy
hissed; his eyes became little pools of yellow fire. He could not have known
all the horror of my thoughts - but he read enough. He leaped to the window,
swung his drum and sent forth call upon call - peremptory, raging, vicious. At
once he was answered – answered from Nansur, and then from all the river and
beyond it the drums of the Little People roared out.
Would Lur hear
them? She could not help but hear them... but would she heed... would their
threat stop her... it would tell her that I was awake and that the Little
People knew of their betrayal... and Evalie's.
God! If she did
hear - was it in time to save Evalie?
"Quick,
Lord!" Dara called from the curtains. The dwarf and I ran through. She
pointed to the side of the wall. There, where one of the carved stones jointed
another, hung a strip of silk.
"A door there,
Dwayanu! That is how they took her. They went hurriedly. The cloth caught when
the stone closed."
I looked for
something to batter at the stone. But Dara was pressing here and there. The
stone swung open. Sri darted past and into the black passage it had masked. I
stumbled after him, Dara at my heels, the others following. It was a narrow
passage, and not long. Its end was a solid wall of stone. And here Dara pressed
again until that wall opened.
We burst into the
chamber of the High-priest. The eyes of the Kraken stared at me and through me
with their inscrutable malignancy. Yet it seemed to me that in them now was
challenge.
All my senseless
fury, all blind threshing of my rage, fell from me. A cold deliberation, an
ordered purpose that had in it nothing of haste took its place... Is it too
late to save Evalie?... It is not too late to destroy you, my enemy...
"Dara - get
horses for us. Gather quickly as many as you can trust. Take only the
strongest. Have them ready at the gate of the road to the temple... We go to
end Khalk'ru. Tell them that."
I spoke to the
golden pygmy.
"I do not
know if I can help Evalie. But I go to put an end to Khalk'ru. Do you wait for
your people - or do you go with me?"
"I go with
you."
I knew where the
Witch-woman dwelt in the black citadel, and it was not far away. I knew I would
not find her there, but I must be sure. And she might have taken Evalie to the
Lake of the Ghosts, I was thinking as I went on, past groups of silent, uneasy,
perplexed and saluting soldiers. But deep in me I knew she had not. Deep within
me I knew that it had been Lur who had awakened me in the night. Lur, who had
stolen through the curtains to take the ring of Khalk'ru. And there was only one
reason why she should have done that. No, she would not be at the Lake of the
Ghosts.
Yet, if she had
come into my room - why had she not slain me? Or had she meant to do this, and
had my awakening and calling out to Evalie stayed her? Had she feared to go
further? Or had she deliberately spared me?
I reached her
rooms. She was not there. None of her women was there. The place was empty, not
even soldiers on guard.
I broke into a
run. The golden pygmy followed me, shrilling, javelins in left hand,
sickle-sword in right. We came to the gate to the temple road.
There were three
or four hundred soldiers awaiting me. Mounted – and every one a woman. I threw
myself on a horse Dara held for me, swung Sri up on the saddle. We raced toward
the temple.
We were half-way
there when out from the trees that bordered the temple road poured the white
wolves. They sprang from the sides like a white torrent, threw themselves upon
the riders. They checked our rush, our horses stumbled, falling over those the
fangs of the wolves had dropped in that swift, unexpected ambuscade; soldiers
falling with them, ripped and torn by the wolves before they could struggle to
their feet. We milled among them - horses and men and wolves in a whirling,
crimson-flecked ring.
Straight at my
throat leaped the great dog-wolf, leader of Lur's pack, green eyes naming. I
had no time for sword thrust. I caught its throat in my left hand, lifted it
and flung it over my back. Even so, its fangs had struck and gashed me.
We were through
the wolves. What was left of them came coursing behind us. But they had taken
toll of my troop.
I heard the clang
of an anvil... thrice stricken... the anvil of Tubalka!
God! It was
true... Lur in the temple... and Evalie... and Khalk'ru!
We swept up to
the door of the temple. I heard voices raised in the ancient chant. The
entrance swarmed... It bristled with swords of the nobles, women and men.
"Ride
through them, Dara! Ride them down!"
We swept through
them like a ram. Sword against sword, hammers and battleaxes beating at them,
horses trampling them.
The shrill song
of Sri never ceased. His javelin thrust, his sickle-sword slashed.
We burst into
Khalk'ru's temple. The chanting stopped. The chanters arose against us; they
struck with sword and axe and hammer at us; they stabbed and hacked our horses;
pulled us down. The amphitheatre was a raging cauldron of death...
The lip of the
platform was before me. I spurred my horse to it, stood upon its back and
leaped upon the platform. Close to my right was the anvil of Tubalka; beside
it, hammer raised to smite, was Ouarda. I heard the roll of drums, the drums of
Khalk'ru's evocation. The backs of the priests were bent over them.
In front of the
priests, the ring of Khalk'ru raised high, stood Lur.
And between her
and the bubble ocean of yellow stone that was the gate of Khalk'ru, fettered
dwarfs swung two by two in the golden girdles...
Within the
warrior's ring - Evalie!
The Witch-woman
never looked at me; she never looked behind her at the roaring cauldron of the
amphitheatre where the soldiers and nobles battled.
She launched into
the ritual!
Shouting, I
rushed on Ouarda. I wrested the great sledge from her hands. I hurled it
straight at the yellow screen... straight at the head of Khalk'ru. With every
ounce of my strength I hurled that great hammer.
The screen
cracked! The hammer was thrown back from it... fell.
The Witch-woman's
voice went on... and on... never faltering.
There was a
wavering in the cracked screen. The Kraken floating in the bubble ocean seemed
to draw back... to thrust forward...
I ran toward
it... to the hammer.
An instant I
halted beside Evalie. I thrust my hands through the golden girdle, broke it as
though it had been wood. I dropped my sword at her feet.
"Guard
yourself, Evalie!"
I picked up the
hammer. I raised it. The eyes of Khalk'ru moved... they glared at me, were aware of me... the
tentacles stirred! And the paralysing cold began to creep round me... I threw
all my will against it.
I smashed the
sledge of Tubalka against the yellow stone... again... and again -
The tentacles of
Khalk'ru stretched toward me!
There was a
crystalline crashing, like a lightning bolt striking close. The yellow stone of
the screen shattered. It rained round me like sleet driven by an icy hurricane.
There was an earthquake trembling. The temple rocked. My arms fell, paralysed.
The hammer of Tubalka dropped from hands that could no longer feel it. The icy
cold swirled about me ... higher... higher... there was a shrill and dreadful shrieking...
For an instant
the shape of the Kraken hovered where the screen had been. Then it shrank. It
seemed to be sucked away into immeasurable distances. It vanished.
And life rushed
back into me!
There were jagged
streamers of the yellow stone upon the rocky floor... black of the Kraken
within them... I beat them into dust...
"Leif!"
Evalie's voice,
shrill, agonized. I swung round. Lur was rushing upon me, sword raised. Before
I could move Evalie had darted between us, flung herself in front of the
Witch-woman, struck at her with my own sword.
The blade of Lur
parried the stroke, swept in... bit deep... and Evalie fell... Lur leaped
toward me... I watched her come, not moving, not caring... there was blood upon
her sword... Evalie's blood...
Something like a
flash of light touched her breast. She halted as though a hand had thrust her
back. Slowly, she dropped to her knees. She sank to the rock.
Over the rim of
the platform leaped the dog-wolf, howling as it ran. It hurled itself straight
at me. There was another flash of light. The dog-wolf somersaulted and fell -
in mid-leap.
I saw Sri,
crouching. One of his javelins was in Lur's breast, the mate to it in the
dog-wolf's throat... I saw the golden pygmy running to Evalie... saw her rise,
holding a hand to a shoulder from which streamed blood...
I walked toward
Lur, stiffly, like an automaton. The white wolf tried to stagger to its feet,
then crawled to the Witch-woman, dragging itself on its belly. It reached her
before I did. It dropped its head upon her breast. It turned its head, and lay
glaring at me, dying.
The Witch-woman
looked up at me. Her eyes were soft and her mouth had lost all cruelty. It was
tender. She smiled at me.
"I wish you
had never come here, Yellow-hair!"
And then -
"Ai - and -
Ai! My Lake of the Ghosts!"
Her hand crept
up, and dropped on the head of the dying wolf, caressingly. She sighed -
The Witch-woman
was dead.
I looked into the
awed faces of Evalie and Dara. "Evalie - your wound -”
"Not deep,
Leif... Soon it will heal... it does not matter...”
Dara said:
"Hail -
Dwayanu! It is a great thing you have done this day!"
She dropped on
her knees, kissed my hand. And now I saw that those of mine who had survived
the battle in the temple had come up on the platform, and were kneeling - to
me. And that Ouarda lay beside Tubalka's anvil, and that Sri too was on his
knees, staring at me, eyes filled with worship.
I heard the
tumult of the drums of the Little People... no longer on Nanbu's far side... in
Karak... and closer.
Dara spoke again:
"Let us be
going back to Karak, Lord. It is now all yours to rule."
I said to Sri:
"Sound your
drum, Sri. Tell them that Evalie lives. That Lur is dead. That the gate of
Khalk'ru is closed forever. Let there be no more killing."
Sri answered:
"What you
have done has wiped out all war between my people and Karak. Evalie and you we
will obey. I will tell them what you have done."
He swung the
little drum, raised his hands to beat it I stopped him.
"Wait, Sri,
I shall not be here to obey."
Dara cried:
"Dwayanu - you will not leave us!"
"Yes,
Dara... I go now to that place whence I came... I do not return to Karak. I am
done with the Little People, Sri."
Evalie spoke,
breathlessly:
"What of me
- Leif?"
I put my hands on
her shoulders, looked into her eyes:
"Last night
you whispered that you would go with me, Evalie. I release you from that
promise... I am thinking you would be happier here with your small folk...”
She said,
steadily:
"I know
where happiness lies for me. I hold to my promise... unless you do not want
me...”
"I do want
you - dark girl!"
She turned to
Sri: "Carry my love to my people, Sri. I shall not see them again."
The little man
clung to her, cast himself down before her, wailed and wept while she talked to
him. At last he squatted on his haunches, and stared long at the shattered gate
of the Kraken. I saw the secret knowledge touch him. He came to me, held up his
arms for me to lift him. He raised my lids and looked deep into my eyes. He
thrust his hand in my breast, and placed his head on my breast, and listened to
the beating of my heart. He dropped, bent Evalie's head to his, whispering.
Dara said:
"Dwayanu's will is our will. Yet it is hard to understand why he will not
stay with us."
"Sri
knows... more than I do. I cannot, Dara."
Evalie came to me.
Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
"Sri says we
must go now, Leif... quickly. My people must - not see me. He will tell them a
tale upon his drum... there will be no fighting... and henceforth there will be
peace."
The golden pygmy
began to beat the talking drum. At the first strokes the hosts of other drums
were silent. When he had ended they began again... jubilant, triumphant...
until in them crept a note of questioning. Once more he beat a message... the
answer came - angry, peremptory - in some queer fashion, incredulous.
Sri said to me:
"Haste! Haste!"
Dara said:
"We stay with you, Dwayanu, until the last."
I nodded, and
looked at Lur. Upon her hand the ring of Khalk'ru sent out a sudden gleam. I
went to her, lifted the dead hand and took from it the ring. I smashed it on
the anvil of Tubalka as I had the ring of Yodin.
Evalie said:
"Sri knows a way that will lead us out into your world, Leif. It lies at
the head of Nanbu. He will take us."
"Is the way
past the Lake of Ghosts, Evalie?"
"I will ask
him... yes, it passes there."
"That is
good. We go into a country where the clothing I wear would be hardly fitting.
And some provision must be made for you."
We rode from the
temple with Sri on my saddle, and Evalie and Dara on either side. The drums
were very close. They were muted when we emerged from the forest upon the road.
We went swiftly. It was mid-afternoon when we reached the Lake of the Ghosts.
The drawbridge was down. There was no one in the garrison. The Witch-woman's
castle was empty. I searched, and found my roll of clothes; I stripped the
finery of Dwayanu from me. I took a battle-ax, thrust a short sword in my belt,
picked javelins for Evalie and myself. They would help us win through, would be
all we had to depend upon to get us food later on. We took food with us from
Lur's castle, and skins to clothe Evalie when she passed from the Mirage.
I did not go up
into the chamber of the Witch-woman. I heard the whispering of the waterfall -
and did not dare to look upon it.
All the rest of
that afternoon we galloped along the white river's banks. The drums of the
Little People followed us... searching... questioning...
calling...”Ev-ah-lee... Ev-ah-lee... Ev-ah-lee...”
By nightfall we
had come to the cliffs at the far end of the valley. Here Nanbu poured forth in
a mighty torrent from some subterranean source. We picked our way across. Sri
led us far into a ravine running steeply upward, and here we camped.
And that night I
sat thinking long of what Evalie must meet in that new world awaiting her
beyond the Mirage - the world of sun and stars and wind and cold. I thought
long of what must be done to shield her until she could adjust herself to that
world. And I listened to the drums of the Little People calling her, and I
watched her while she slept, and wept and smiled in dream.
She must be
taught to breathe. I knew that when she emerged from this atmosphere in which
she had lived since babyhood, she would cease instantly to breathe -
deprivation of the accustomed stimulus of the carbon-dioxide would bring that
about at once. She must will herself to breathe until the reflexes again became
automatic and she need give them no conscious thought. And at night, when she
slept, this would be trebly difficult. I would have to remain awake, watch
beside her.
And she must
enter this new world with eyes bandaged, blind, until the nerves accustomed to
the green luminosity of the Mirage could endure the stronger light. Warm
clothing we could contrive from the skins and furs. But the food - what was it
Jim had said in the long and long ago - that those who had eaten the food of
the Little People would die if they ate other. Well, that was true in part.
Yet, only in part - it could be managed.
With dawn came a
sudden memory - the pack I had hidden on Nanbu's bank when we had plunged into
the white river with the wolves at our heels. If that could be found, it would
help solve the problem of Evalie's clothing at least. I told Dara about it. And
she and Sri set out to find it. And while they were gone the soldier-women
foraged for food and I instructed Evalie upon what she must do to cross in
safety that bridge which lay, perilous, between her world and mine.
Two days they
were gone - but they had found the pack. They brought word of peace between the
Ayjir and the Little People. As for me -
Dwayanu the
Deliverer had come even as the prophecy had promised... had come and freed them
from the ancient doom... and had gone back as was his right to that place from
which, answering the prophecy, he had come... and had taken with him Evalie as
was also his right. Sri had spread the tale.
And next morning
when the light showed that the sun had risen over the peaks that girdled the
Valley of the Mirage, we set forth - Evalie like a slim boy beside me.
We climbed until
we were within the green mists. And here we bade farewell, Sri clinging to
Evalie, kissing her hands and feet, weeping. And Dara clasped my shoulders:
"You will
come back to us, Dwayanu? We will be waiting!"
It was like the
echo of the Uighur captain's voice - long and long ago...
I turned and
began to climb, Evalie following. I thought that so might Euridice have
followed her lover up from the Land of Shades in another long and long ago.
The figures of
Sri and the watching women became dim. They were hidden under the green
mists...
I felt the bitter
cold touch my face. I caught Evalie up in my arms – and climbed up and on - and
staggered at last out into the sun-lit warmth of the slopes beyond the pit of
the precipices.
The day dawned
when we had won the long, hard fight for Evalie's life. Not easily was the grip
of the Mirage loosed. We turned our faces to the South and set our feet upon
the Southward trail.
And yet...
Ai! Lur -
Witch-woman! I see you lying there, smiling with lips grown tender - the -
white wolf's head upon your breast! And Dwayanu still lives within me!
THE END
