CHAPTER XXX - The Building of
the Moon Pool
She paused,
running her long fingers through her own bronze-flecked ringlets. Selective
breeding this, with a vengeance, I thought; an ancient experiment in heredity
which of course would in time result in the stamping out of the tendency to
depart from type that lies in all organisms; resulting, obviously, at last, in
three fixed forms of black-haired, ruddy-haired, and silver-haired - but this,
with a shock of realization it came to me, was also an accurate description of
the dark-polled ladala, their fair-haired rulers and of the golden-brown
tressed Lakla!
How - questions
began to stream through my mind; silenced by the handmaiden's voice.
"Above, far,
far above the abode of the Shining One," she said, ”was their greatest
temple, holding the shrines both of sun and moon. All about it were other
temples hidden behind mighty walls, each enclosing its own space and squared
and ruled and standing within a shallow lake; the sacred city, the city of the
gods of this land -”
"It is the
Nan-Matal that she is describing," I thought.
"Out upon
all this looked the Taithu who were now but the servants of the Shining One as
it had been the messenger of the Three," she went on. ”When they returned
the Shining One spoke to them, promising them dominion over all that they had
seen, yea, under it dominion of all earth itself and later perhaps of other
earths!
"In the
Shining One had grown craft, cunning; knowledge to gain that which it desired.
Therefore it told its Taithu - and mayhap told them truth - that not yet was it
time for them to go forth; that slowly must they pass into that outer world,
for they had sprung from heart of earth and even it lacked power to swirl
unaided into and through the above. Then it counselled them, instructing them
what to do. They hollowed the chamber wherein first I saw you, cutting their
way to it that path down which from it you sped.
"It revealed
to them that the force that is within moon flame is kin to the force that is
within it, for the chamber of its birth was the chamber too of moon birth and
into it went the subtle essence and powers that flow in that earth child: and
it taught them how to make that which fills what you call the Moon Pool whose
opening is close behind its Veil hanging upon the gleaming cliffs.
"When this
was done it taught them how to make and how to place the seven lights through
which moon flame streams into Moon Pool - the seven lights that are kin to its
own seven orbs even as its fires are kin to moon fires - and which would open
for it a path that it could tread. And all this the Taithu did, working so
secretly that neither those of their race whose faces were set against the
Shining One nor the busy men above know aught of it.
"When it was
done they moved up the path, clustering within the Moon Pool Chamber. Moon
flame streamed through the seven globes, poured down upon the pool; they saw
mists arise, embrace, and become one with the moon flame - and then up through
Moon Pool, shaping itself within the mists of light, whirling, radiant - the
Shining One!
"Almost
free, almost loosed upon the world it coveted!
"Again it
counselled them, and they pierced the passage whose portal you found first; set
the fires within its stones, and revealing themselves to the moon king and his
priests spake to them even as the Shining One had instructed.
"Now was the
moon king filled with fear when he looked upon the Taithu, shrouded with
protecting mists of light in Moon Pool Chamber, and heard their words. Yet,
being crafty, he thought of the power that would be his if he heeded and how
quickly the strength of the sun king would dwindle. So he and his made a pact
with the Shining One's messengers.
"When next
the moon was round and poured its flames down upon Moon Pool, the Taithu
gathered there again, watched the child of the Three take shape within the
pillars, speed away - and out! They heard a mighty shouting, a tumult of terror,
of awe and of worship; a silence; a vast sighing - and they waited, wrapped in
their mists of light, for they feared to follow nor were they near the paths
that would have enabled them to look without.
"Another
tumult - and back came the Shining One, murmuring with joy, pulsing,
triumphant, and clasped within its vapours a man and woman, ruddy-haired,
golden-eyed, in whose faces rapture and horror lay side by side - gloriously,
hideously. And still holding them it danced above the Moon Pool and - sank!
"Now must I
be brief. Lat after lat the Shining One went forth, returning with its
sacrifices. And stronger after each it grew - and gayer and more cruel. Ever
when it passed with its prey toward the pool, the Taithu who watched felt a
swift, strong intoxication, a drunkenness of spirit, streaming from it to them.
And the Shining One forgot what it had promised them of dominion - and in this
new evil delight they too forgot.
"The outer
land was torn with hatred and open strife. The moon king and his kind, through
the guidance of the evil Taithu and the favour of the Shining One, had become
powerful and the sun king and his were darkened. And the moon priests preached
that the child of the Three was the moon god itself come to dwell with them.
"Now vast
tides arose and when they withdrew they took with them great portions of this
country. And the land itself began to sink. Then said the moon king that the
moon had called to ocean to destroy because wroth that another than he was
worshipped. The people believed and there was slaughter. When it was over there
was no more a sun king nor any of the ruddy-haired folk; slain were they, slain
down to the babe at breast.
"But still
the tides swept higher; still dwindled the land!
"As it
shrank multitudes of the fleeing people were led through Moon Pool Chamber and
carried here. They were what now are called the ladala, and they were given
place and set to work; and they thrived. Came many of the fair-haired; and they
were given dwellings. They sat beside the evil Taithu; they became drunk even
as they with the dancing of the Shining One; they learned - not all; only a
little part but little enough - of their arts. And ever the Shining One danced
more gaily out there within the black amphitheatre; grew ever stronger - and
ever the hordes of its slaves behind the Veil increased.
"Nor did the
Taithu who clung to the old ways check this - they could not. By the sinking of
the land above, their own spaces were imperilled. All of their strength and all
of their wisdom it took to keep this land from perishing; nor had they help
from those others mad for the poison of the Shining One; and they had no time
to deal with them nor the earth race with whom they had foregathered.
"At last
came a slow, vast flood. It rolled even to the bases of the walled islets of
the city of the gods - and within these now were all that were left of my
people on earth face.
"I am of
those people," she paused, looking at me proudly, ”one of the daughters of
the sun king whose seed is still alive in the ladala!"
As Larry opened
his mouth to speak she waved a silencing hand.
"This tide
did not recede," she went on. ”And after a time the remnant, the moon king
leading them, joined those who had already fled below. The rocks became still,
the quakings ceased, and now those Ancient Ones who had been labouring could
take breath. And anger grew within them as they looked upon the work of their
evil kin. Again they sought the Three - and the Three now knew what they had
done and their pride was humbled. They would not slay the Shining One
themselves, for still they loved it; but they instructed these others how to
undo their work; how also they might destroy the evil Taithu were it necessary.
"Armed with
the wisdom of the Three they went forth - but now the Shining One was strong
indeed. They could not slay it!
"Nay, it
knew and was prepared; they could not even pass beyond its Veil nor seal its
abode. Ah, strong, strong, mighty of will, full of craft and cunning had the
Shining One become. So they turned upon their kind who had gone astray and made
them perish, to the last. The Shining One came not to the aid of its servants -
though they called; for within its will was the thought that they were of no
further use to it; that it would rest awhile and dance with them - who had so
little of the power and wisdom of its Taithu and therefore no reins upon it.
And while this was happening black-haired and fair-haired ran and hid and were but
shaking vessels of terror.
"The Ancient
Ones took counsel. This was their decision; that they would go from the gardens
before the Silver Waters - leaving, since they could not kill it, the Shining
One with its worshippers. They sealed the mouth of the passage that leads to
the Moon Pool Chamber and they changed the face of the cliff so that none might
tell where it had been. But the passage itself they left open - having
foreknowledge I think, of a thing that was to come to pass in the far future - perhaps
it was your journey here, my Larry and Goodwin - verily I think so. And they
destroyed all the ways save that which we three trod to the Dweller's abode.
"For the
last time they went to the Three - to pass sentence upon them. This was the
doom - that here they should remain, alone, among the Akka, served by them,
until that time dawned when they would have will to destroy the evil they had
created - and even now - loved; nor might they seek death, nor follow their
judges until this had come to pass. This was the doom they put upon the Three
for the wickedness that had sprung from their pride, and they strengthened it
with their arts that it might not be broken.
"Then they
passed - to a far land they had chosen where the Shining One could not go, beyond
the Black Precipices of Doul, a green land -”
"Ireland!"
interrupted Larry, with conviction, ”I knew it."
"Since then
time upon time had passed," she went on, unheeding. ”The people called
this place Muria after their sunken land and soon they forgot where had been
the passage the Taithu had sealed. The moon king became the Voice of the
Dweller and always with the Voice is a woman of the moon king's kin who is its
priestess.
"And many
have been the journeys upward of the Shining One, through the Moon Pool - returning
with still others in its coils.
"And now
again has it grown restless, longing for the wider spaces. It has spoken to
Yolara and to Lugur even as it did to the dead Taithu, promising them dominion.
And it has grown stronger, drawing to itself power to go far on the moon stream
where it will. Thus was it able to seize your friend, Goodwin, and Olaf's wife
and babe - and many more. Yolara and Lugur plan to open way to earth face; to
depart with their court and under the Shining One grasp the world!
"And this is
the tale the Silent Ones bade me tell you - and it is done."
Breathlessly I
had listened to the stupendous epic of a long-lost world. Now I found speech to
voice the question ever with me, the thing that lay as close to my heart as did
the welfare of Larry, indeed the whole object of my quest - the fate of
Throckmartin and those who had passed with him into the Dweller's lair; yes,
and of Olaf's wife, too.
"Lakla,"
I said, ”the friend who drew me here and those he loved who went before him - can
we not save them?"
"The Three
say no, Goodwin." There was again in her eyes the pity with which she had
looked upon Olaf. ”The Shining One - feeds - upon the flame of life itself,
setting in its place its own fires and its own will. Its slaves are only shells
through which it gleams. Death, say the Three, is the best that can come to
them; yet will that be a boon great indeed."
"But they
have souls, mavourneen," Larry said to her. ”And they're alive still - in
a way. Anyhow, their souls have not gone from them."
I caught a hope
from his words - sceptic though I am - holding that the existence of soul has
never been proved by dependable laboratory methods - for they recalled to me
that when I had seen Throckmartin, Edith had been close beside him.
"It was days
after his wife was taken, that the Dweller seized Throckmartin," I cried.
”How, if their wills, their life, were indeed gone, how did they find each
other mid all that horde? How did they come together in the Dweller's
lair?"
"I do not
know," she answered, slowly. ”You say they loved - and it is true that
love is stronger even than death!"
"One thing I
don't understand" - this was Larry again -”is why a girl like you keeps
coming out of the black-haired crowd; so frequently and one might say, so
regularly, Lakla. Aren't there ever any red-headed boys - and if they are what
becomes of them?"
"That,
Larry, I cannot answer," she said, very frankly. ”There was a pact of some
kind; how made or by whom I know not. But for long the Murians feared the
return of the Taithu and greatly they feared the Three. Even the Shining One
feared those who had created it - for a time; and not even now is it eager to
face them - that I know. Nor are Yolara and Lugur so sure. It may be that the
Three commanded it: but how or why I know not. I only know that it is true - for
here am I and from where else would I have come?"
"From
Ireland," said Larry O'Keefe, promptly. ”And that's where you're going.
For 'tis no place for a girl like you to have been brought up - Lakla; what
with people like frogs, and a half-god three quarters devil, and red oceans,
an' the only Irish things yourself and the Silent Ones up there, bless their
hearts. It's no place for ye, and by the soul of St. Patrick, it's out of it
soon ye'll be gettin'!"
Larry! Larry! If
it had but been true - and I could see Lakla and you beside me now!
CHAPTER XXXI - Larry and the
Frog-Men
Long had been her
tale in the telling, and too long, perhaps, have I been in the repeating - but
not every day are the mists rolled away to reveal undreamed secrets of
earth-youth. And I have set it down here, adding nothing, taking nothing from
it; translating liberally, it is true, but constantly striving, while putting
it into idea-forms and phraseology to be readily understood by my readers, to
keep accurately to the spirit. And this, I must repeat, I have done throughout
my narrative, wherever it has been necessary to record conversation with the
Murians.
Rising, I found I
was painfully stiff - as muscle-bound as though I had actually trudged many
miles. Larry, imitating me, gave an involuntary groan.
"Faith,
mavourneen," he said to Lakla, relapsing unconsciously into English, ”your
roads would never wear out shoe-leather, but they've got their kick, just the
same!"
She understood
our plight, if not his words; gave a soft little cry of mingled pity and
self-reproach; forced us back upon the cushions.
"Oh, but I'm
sorry!" mourned Lakla, leaning over us. ”I had forgotten - for those new
to it the way is a weary one, indeed -”
She ran to the
doorway, whistled a clear high note down the passage. Through the hangings came
two of the frog-men. She spoke to them rapidly. They crouched toward us, what
certainly was meant for an amiable grin wrinkling the grotesque muzzles, baring
the glistening rows of needle-teeth. And while I watched them with the
fascination that they never lost for me, the monsters calmly swung one arm
around our knees, lifted us up like babies - and as calmly started to walk away
with us!
"Put me down!
Put me down, I say!" The O'Keefe's voice was both outraged and angry;
squinting around I saw him struggling violently to get to his feet. The Akka
only held him tighter, booming comfortingly, peering down into his flushed face
inquiringly.
"But, Larry
- darlin'!" - Lakla's tones were - well, maternally surprised -”you're
stiff and sore, and Kra can carry you quite easily."
"I won't be
carried!" sputtered the O'Keefe. ”Damn it, Goodwin, there are such things
as the unities even here, an' for a lieutenant of the Royal Air Force to be
picked up an' carted around like a - like a bundle of rags - it's not
discipline! Put me down, ye omadhaun, or I'll poke ye in the snout!" he
shouted to his bearer - who only boomed gently, and stared at the handmaiden,
plainly for further instructions.
"But, Larry
- dear!" - Lakla was plainly distressed -”it will hurt you to walk; and I
don't want you to hurt, Larry - darlin'!"
"Holy shade
of St. Patrick!" moaned Larry; again he made a mighty effort to tear
himself from the frog-man's grip; gave up with a groan. ”Listen, alanna!"
he said plaintively. ”When we get to Ireland, you and I, we won't have anybody
to pick us up and carry us about every time we get a bit tired. And it's
getting me in bad habits you are!"
"Oh, yes, we
will, Larry!" cried the handmaiden, ”because many, oh, many, of my Akka
will go with us!"
"Will you
tell this - BOOB! - to put me down!" gritted the now thoroughly aroused
O'Keefe. I couldn't help laughing; he glared at me.
"Bo-oo-ob?"
exclaimed Lakla.
"Yes,
boo-oo-ob!" said O'Keefe, ”an' I have no desire to explain the word in my
present position, light of my soul!"
The handmaiden
sighed, plainly dejected. But she spoke again to the Akka, who gently lowered
the O'Keefe to the floor.
"I don't
understand," she said hopelessly, ”if you want to walk, why, of course,
you shall, Larry." She turned to me.
"Do
you?" she asked.
"I do
not," I said firmly.
"Well,
then," murmured Lakla, ”go you, Larry and Goodwin, with Kra and Gulk, and
let them minister to you. After, sleep a little - for not soon will Rador and
Olaf return. And let me feel your lips before you go, Larry - darlin'!"
She covered his eyes caressingly with her soft little palms; pushed him away.
"Now
go," said Lakla, ”and rest!"
Unashamed I lay
back against the horny chest of Gulk; and with a smile noticed that Larry, even
if he had rebelled at being carried, did not disdain the support of Kra's
shining, black-scaled arm which, slipping around his waist, half-lifted him
along.
They parted a
hanging and dropped us softly down beside a little pool, sparkling with the
clear water that had heretofore been brought us in the wide basins. Then they
began to undress us. And at this point the O'Keefe gave up.
"Whatever
they're going to do we can't stop 'em, Doc!" he moaned. ”Anyway, I feel as
though I've been pulled through a knot-hole, and I don't care - I don't care - as
the song says."
When we were
stripped we were lowered gently into the water. But not long did the Akka let
us splash about the shallow basin. They lifted us out, and from jars began
deftly to anoint and rub us with aromatic unguents.
I think that in
all the medley of grotesque, of tragic, of baffling, strange and perilous
experiences in that underground world none was more bizarre than this - valeting.
I began to laugh, Larry joined me, and then Kra and Gulk joined in our
merriment with deep batrachian cachinnations and gruntings. Then, having
finished apparelling us and still chuckling, the two touched our arms and led us
out, into a room whose circular sides were ringed with soft divans. Still
smiling, I sank at once into sleep.
How long I
slumbered I do not know. A low and thunderous booming coming through the deep
window slit, reverberated through the room and awakened me. Larry yawned; arose
briskly.
"Sounds as
though the bass drums of every jazz band in New York were serenading us!"
he observed. Simultaneously we sprang to the window; peered through.
We were a little
above the level of the bridge, and its full length was plain before us.
Thousands upon thousands of the Akka were crowding upon it, and far away other
hordes filled like a glittering thicket both sides of the cavern ledge's
crescent strand. On black scale and orange scale the crimson light fell, picking
them off in little flickering points.
Upon the platform
from which sprang the smaller span over the abyss were Lakla, Olaf, and Rador;
the handmaiden clearly acting as interpreter between them and the giant she had
called Nak, the Frog King.
"Come on!"
shouted Larry.
Out of the open
portal we ran; over the World Heart Bridge - and straight into the group.
"Oh!"
cried Lakla, ”I didn't want you to wake up so soon, Larry - darlin'!"
"See here,
mavourneen!" Indignation thrilled in the Irishman's voice. ”I'm not going
to be done up with baby-ribbons and laid away in a cradle for safe-keeping
while a fight is on; don't think it. Why didn't you call me?"
"You needed
rest!" There was indomitable determination in the handmaiden's tones, the
eternal maternal shining defiant from her eyes. ”You were tired and you hurt!
You shouldn't have got up!"
"Needed the
rest!" groaned Larry. ”Look here, Lakla, what do you think I am?"
"You're all
I have," said that maiden firmly, ”and I'm going to take care of you, Larry
- darlin'! Don't you ever think anything else."
"Well, pulse
of my heart, considering my delicate health and general fragility, would it
hurt me, do you think, to be told what's going on?" he asked.
"Not at all,
Larry!" answered the handmaiden serenely. ”Yolara went through the Portal.
She was very, very angry -”
"She was all
the devil's woman that she is!" rumbled Olaf.
"Rador met
the messenger," went on the Golden Girl calmly. ”The ladala are ready to
rise when Lugur and Yolara lead their hosts against us. They will strike at
those left behind. And in the meantime we shall have disposed my Akka to meet
Yolara's men. And on that disposal we must all take counsel, you, Larry, and
Rador, Olaf and Goodwin and Nak, the ruler of the Akka."
"Did the
messenger give any idea when Yolara expects to make her little call?"
asked Larry.
"Yes,"
she answered. ”They prepare, and we may expect them in -” She gave the
equivalent of about thirty-six hours of our time.
"But,
Lakla," I said, the doubt that I had long been holding finding voice, ”should
the Shining One come - with its slaves - are the Three strong enough to cope
with it?"
There was
troubled doubt in her own eyes.
"I do not
know," she said at last, frankly. ”You have heard their story. What they
promise is that they will help. I do not know - any more than do you,
Goodwin!"
I looked up at
the dome beneath which I knew the dread Trinity stared forth; even down upon
us. And despite the awe, the assurance, I had felt when I stood before them I,
too, doubted.
"Well,"
said Larry, ”you and I, uncle," he turned to Rador, ”and Olaf here had
better decide just what part of the battle we'll lead -”
"Lead!"
the handmaiden was appalled. ”You lead, Larry? Why you are to stay with Goodwin
and with me - up there, there we can watch."
"Heart's
beloved," O'Keefe was stern indeed. ”A thousand times I've looked Death
straight in the face, peered into his eyes. Yes, and with ten thousand feet of
space under me an' bursting shells tickling the ribs of the boat I was in. An'
d'ye think I'll sit now on the grandstand an' watch while a game like this is
being pulled? Ye don't know your future husband, soul of my delight!"
And so we started
toward the golden opening, squads of the frog-men following us soldierly and
disappearing about the huge structure. Nor did we stop until we came to the
handmaiden's boudoir. There we seated ourselves.
"Now,"
said Larry, ”two things I want to know. First - how many can Yolara muster
against us; second, how many of these Akka have we to meet them?"
Rador gave our
equivalent for eighty thousand men as the force Yolara could muster without
stripping her city. Against this force, it appeared, we could count, roughly,
upon two hundred thousand of the Akka.
"And they're
some fighters!" exclaimed Larry. ”Hell, with odds like that what're you
worrying about? It's over before it's begun."
"But,
Larree," objected Rador to this, ”you forget that the nobles will have the
Keth - and other things; also that the soldiers have fought against the Akka before
and will be shielded very well from their spears and clubs - and that their
blades and javelins can bite through the scales of Nak's warriors. They have
many things -”
"Uncle,"
interjected O'Keefe, ”one thing they have is your nerve. Why, we're more than
two to one. And take it from me -”
Without warning
dropped the tragedy!
CHAPTER
XXXII - "Your Love; Your Lives; Your Souls!"
Lakla had taken
no part in the talk since we had reached her bower. She had seated herself
close to the O'Keefe. Glancing at her I had seen steal over her face that
brooding, listening look that was hers whenever in that mysterious communion
with the Three. It vanished; swiftly she arose; interrupted the Irishman
without ceremony.
"Larry
darlin'," said the handmaiden. ”The Silent Ones summon us!"
"When do we
go?" I asked; Larry's face grew bright with interest.
"The time is
now," she said - and hesitated. ”Larry dear, put your arms about me,"
she faltered, ”for there is something cold that catches at my heart - and I am
afraid."
At his
exclamation she gathered herself together; gave a shaky little laugh.
"It's
because I love you so that fear has power to plague me," she told him.
Without another
word he bent and kissed her; in silence we passed on, his arm still about her
girdled waist, golden head and black close together. Soon we stood before the
crimson slab that was the door to the sanctuary of the Silent Ones. She poised
uncertainly before it; then with a defiant arching of the proud little head
that sent all the bronze-flecked curls flying, she pressed. It slipped aside
and once more the opalescence gushed out, flooding all about us.
Dazzled as
before, I followed through the lambent cascades pouring from the high, carved
walls; paused, and my eyes clearing, looked up - straight into the faces of the
Three. The angled orbs centred upon the handmaiden; softened as I had seen them
do when first we had faced them. She smiled up; seemed to listen.
"Come
closer," she commanded, ”close to the feet of the Silent Ones."
We moved, pausing
at the very base of the dais. The sparkling mists thinned; the great heads bent
slightly over us; through the veils I caught a glimpse of huge columnar necks,
enormous shoulders covered with draperies as of pale-blue fire.
I came back to attention
with a start, for Lakla was answering a question only heard by her, and,
answering it aloud, I perceived for our benefit; for whatever was the mode of
communication between those whose handmaiden she was, and her, it was clearly
independent of speech.
"He has been
told," she said, ”even as you commanded."
Did I see a
shadow of pain flit across the flickering eyes? Wondering, I glanced at Lakla's
face and there was a dawn of foreboding and bewilderment. For a little she held
her listening attitude; then the gaze of the Three left her; focused upon the
O'Keefe.
"Thus speak
the Silent Ones - through Lakla, their handmaiden," the golden voice was
like low trumpet notes. ”At the threshold of doom is that world of yours above.
Yea, even the doom, Goodwin, that ye dreamed and the shadow of which, looking
into your mind they see, say the Three. For not upon earth and never upon earth
can man find means to destroy the Shining One."
She listened
again - and the foreboding deepened to an amazed fear.
"They say,
the Silent Ones," she went on, ”that they know not whether even they have
power to destroy. Energies we know nothing of entered into its shaping and are
part of it; and still other energies it has gathered to itself" - she
paused; a shadow of puzzlement crept into her voice”and other energies still,
forces that ye do know and symbolize by certain names - hatred and pride and
lust and many others which are forces real as that hidden in the Keth; and
among them - fear, which weakens all those others -” Again she paused.
"But within
it is nothing of that greatest of all, that which can make powerless all the
evil others, that which we call - love," she ended softly.
"I'd like to
be the one to put a little more fear in the beast," whispered Larry to me,
grimly in our own English. The three weird heads bent, ever so slightly - and I
gasped, and Larry grew a little white as Lakla nodded -
"They say,
Larry," she said, ”that there you touch one side of the heart of the
matter - for it is through the way of fear the Silent Ones hope to strike at
the very life of the Shining One!"
The visage Larry
turned to me was eloquent of wonder; and mine reflected it - for what really
were this Three to whom our minds were but open pages, so easily read? Not long
could we conjecture; Lakla broke the little silence.
"This, they
say, is what is to happen. First will come upon us Lugur and Yolara with all
their host. Because of fear the Shining One will lurk behind within its lair;
for despite all, the Dweller does dread the Three, and only them. With this
host the Voice and the priestess will strive to conquer. And if they do, then
will they be strong enough, too, to destroy us all. For if they take the abode
they banish from the Dweller all fear and sound the end of the Three.
"Then will
the Shining One be all free indeed; free to go out into the world, free to do
there as it wills!
"But if they
do not conquer - and the Shining One comes not to their aid, abandoning them
even as it abandoned its own Taithu - then will the Three be loosed from a part
of their doom, and they will go through the Portal, seek the Shining One beyond
the Veil, and, piercing it through fear's opening, destroy it."
"That's
quite clear," murmured the O'Keefe in my ear. ”Weaken the morale - then smash.
I've seen it happen a dozen times in Europe. While they've got their nerve
there's not a thing you can do; get their nerve - and not a thing can they do.
And yet in both cases they're the same men."
Lakla had been
listening again. She turned, thrust out hands to Larry, a wild hope in her eyes
- and yet a hope half shamed.
"They
say," she cried, ”that they give us choice. Remembering that your world
doom hangs in the balance, we have choice - choice to stay and help fight
Yolara's armies - and they say they look not lightly on that help. Or choice to
go - and if so be you choose the latter, then will they show another way that
leads into your world!"
A flush had crept
over the O'Keefe's face as she was speaking. He took her hands and looked long
into the golden eyes; glancing up I saw the Trinity were watching them intently
- imperturbably.
"What do you
say, mavourneen?" asked Larry gently. The handmaiden hung her head;
trembled.
"Your words
shall be mine, O one I love," she whispered. ”So going or staying, I am
beside you."
"And you,
Goodwin?" he turned to me. I shrugged my shoulders - after all I had no
one to care.
"It's up to
you, Larry," I remarked, deliberately choosing his own phraseology.
The O'Keefe
straightened, squared his shoulders, gazed straight into the flame-flickering
eyes.
"We
stick!" he said briefly.
Shamefacedly I
recall now that at the time I thought this colloquialism not only irreverent,
but in somewhat bad taste. I am glad to say I was alone in that bit of
weakness. The face that Lakla turned to Larry was radiant with love, and
although the shamed hope had vanished from the sweet eyes, they were shining
with adoring pride. And the marble visages of the Three softened, and the
little flames died down.
"Wait,"
said Lakla, ”there is one other thing they say we must answer before they will
hold us to that promise - wait -”
She listened, and
then her face grew white - white as those of the Three themselves; the glorious
eyes widened, stark terror filling them; the whole lithe body of her shook like
a reed in the wind.
"Not
that!" she cried out to the Three. ”Oh, not that! Not Larry - let me go
even as you will - but not him!" She threw up frantic hands to the
woman-being of the Trinity. ”Let me bear it alone," she wailed. ”Alone - mother!
Mother!"
The Three bent
their heads toward her, their faces pitiful, and from the eyes of the woman One
rolled - tears! Larry leaped to Lakla's side.
"Mavourneen!"
he cried. ”Sweetheart, what have they said to you?"
He glared up at
the Silent Ones, his hand twitching toward the high-hung pistol holster.
The handmaiden
swung to him; threw white arms around his neck; held her head upon his heart
until her sobbing ceased.
"This they -
say - the Silent Ones," she gasped and then all the courage of her came
back. ”O heart of mine!" she whispered to Larry, gazing deep into his
eyes, his anxious face cupped between her white palms. ”This they say - that
should the Shining One come to succour Yolara and Lugur, should it conquer its
fear - and - do this - then is there but one way left to destroy it - and to
save your world."
She swayed; he
gripped her tightly.
"But one way
- you and I must go - together - into its embrace! Yea, we must pass within it
- loving each other, loving the world, realizing to the full all that we
sacrifice and sacrificing all, our love, our lives, perhaps even that you call
soul, O loved one; must give ourselves all to the Shining One - gladly, freely,
our love for each other flaming high within us - that this curse shall pass
away! For if we do this, pledge the Three, then shall that power of love we
carry into it weaken for a time all that evil which the Shining One has become
- and in that time the Three can strike and slay!"
The blood rushed
from my heart; scientist that I am, essentially, my reason rejected any such
solution as this of the activities of the Dweller. Was it not, the thought
flashed, a propitiation by the Three out of their own weakness - and as it
flashed I looked up to see their eyes, full of sorrow, on mine - and knew they
read the thought. Then into the whirling vortex of my mind came steadying
reflections - of history changed by the power of hate, of passion, of ambition,
and most of all, by love. Was there not actual dynamic energy in these things -
was there not a Son of Man who hung upon a cross on Calvary?
"Dear love
o' mine," said the O'Keefe quietly, ”is it in your heart to say yes to
this?"
"Larry,"
she spoke low, ”what is in your heart is in mine; but I did so want to go with
you, to live with you - to - to bear you children, Larry - and to see the
sun."
My eyes were wet;
dimly through them I saw his gaze on me.
"If the
world is at stake," he whispered, ”why of course there's only one thing to
do. God knows I never was afraid when I was fighting up there - and many a
better man than me has gone West with shell and bullet for the same idea; but
these things aren't shell and bullet - but I hadn't Lakla then - and it's the
damned doubt I have behind it all."
He turned to the
Three - and did I in their poise sense a rigidity, an anxiety that sat upon
them as alienly as would divinity upon men?
"Tell me
this, Silent Ones," he cried. ”If we do this, Lakla and I, is it sure you
are that you can slay the - Thing, and save my world? Is it sure you are?"
For the first and
the last time, I heard the voice of the Silent Ones. It was the man-being at
the right who spoke.
"We are
sure," the tones rolled out like deepest organ notes, shaking, vibrating,
assailing the ears as strangely as their appearance struck the eyes. Another
moment the O'Keefe stared at them. Once more he squared his shoulders; lifted
Lakla's chin and smiled into her eyes.
"We
stick!" he said again, nodding to the Three.
Over the visages
of the Trinity fell benignity that was - awesome; the tiny flames in the jet
orbs vanished, leaving them wells in which brimmed serenity, hope - an
extraordinary joyfulness. The woman sat upright, tender gaze fixed upon the man
and girl. Her great shoulders raised as though she had lifted her arms and had
drawn to her those others. The three faces pressed together for a fleeting
moment; raised again. The woman bent forward - and as she did so, Lakla and
Larry, as though drawn by some outer force, were swept upon the dais.
Out from the
sparkling mist stretched two hands, enormously long, six-fingered, thumbless, a
faint tracery of golden scales upon their white backs, utterly unhuman and
still in some strange way beautiful, radiating power and - all womanly!
They stretched
forth; they touched the bent heads of Lakla and the O'Keefe; caressed them,
drew them together, softly stroked them - lovingly, with more than a touch of
benediction. And withdrew!
The sparkling
mists rolled up once more, hiding the Silent Ones. As silently as once before
we had gone we passed out of the place of light, beyond the crimson stone, back
to the handmaiden's chamber.
Only once on our
way did Larry speak.
"Cheer up,
darlin'," he said to her, ”it's a long way yet before the finish. An' are
you thinking that Lugur and Yolara are going to pull this thing off? Are
you?"
The handmaiden
only looked at him, eyes love and sorrow filled.
"They
are!" said Larry. ”They are! Like HELL they are!"
