Latest / 3 Weird Science Fiction Stories by Fritz Leiber / People of the Crater - Andre Norton

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People of the Crater - Andre Norton · 3 Weird Science Fiction Stories by Fritz Leiber

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  Speaker 1: Part one of the People of the Crater by Andre Norton.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by Greg Marguerite, The People
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  Speaker 1: of the Crater by Andre Norton, Part one. Send the
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  Speaker 1: Black Throne to dust, conquer the Black Ones, and bring
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  Speaker 1: the Daughter from the caves of darkness. These were the
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  Speaker 1: tasks Garin must perform to fulfill the prophecy of the
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  Speaker 1: ancient Ones and establish his own destiny in this hidden land.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Through the Blue Haze. Six months and three
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  Speaker 1: days after the Peace of Shanghai was signed and the
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  Speaker 1: Great War of nineteen sixty five nineteen seventy declared at
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  Speaker 1: an end by an exhausted world, a young man huddled
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  Speaker 1: on a park bench in New York, staring miserably at
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  Speaker 1: the gravel beneath his badly worn shoes. He had been
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  Speaker 1: trained to fill the pilot's seat in the control cabin
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  Speaker 1: of a fighting plane, and for nothing else. The search
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  Speaker 1: for a niche in civilian life had cost him both
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  Speaker 1: health and ambition. A newcomer dropped down on the other
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  Speaker 1: end of the bench. The flyer studied him bitterly. He
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  Speaker 1: had the decent shoes, a warm coat, and that air
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  Speaker 1: of satisfaction with the world which is the result of
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  Speaker 1: economic security. Although he was well into middle age. The
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  Speaker 1: man had a compact grace of movement and an air
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  Speaker 1: of alertness. Aren't you Captain garn Featherstone startled. The flier
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  Speaker 1: nodded dumbly from a plump billful. The man drew a
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  Speaker 1: clipping and waved it towards his seat mate. Two years before,
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  Speaker 1: Captain Garn Featherstone of the United Democratic Forces had led
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  Speaker 1: a perilous bombing raid into the wilds of Siberia to
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  Speaker 1: wipe out the vast expeditionary army secretly gathering there. It
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  Speaker 1: had been a spectacular affair and had brought the survivors
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  Speaker 1: some fleeting fame. You're the sort of chap I've been
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  Speaker 1: looking for. The stranger folded the clipping again. A flyer
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  Speaker 1: with carriage, initiative and brains. The man who led that
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  Speaker 1: raid is worth investing in. What's the proposition, asked Featherstone wearily.
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  Speaker 1: He no longer believed in luck. I'm Gregory Farson. The
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  Speaker 1: other returned, as if it should answer the question the
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  Speaker 1: Antarctic man just so. As you have probably heard, I
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  Speaker 1: was halted on the eve of my last expedition by
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  Speaker 1: the sudden spread of war to this country. Now I
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  Speaker 1: am preparing to sail south again. But I don't see
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  Speaker 1: how you can help me. Very simple, Captain Featherstone. I
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  Speaker 1: need pilots. Unfortunately the war has disposed of most of them.
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  Speaker 1: I'm lucky to contact one such as yourself. And it
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  Speaker 1: was as simple as that. But Karen didn't really believe
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  Speaker 1: that it was more than a dream until they touched
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  Speaker 1: the glacial shores of the Polar continent some months later.
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  Speaker 1: As they brought ashore the three large planes, he began
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  Speaker 1: to wonder at the driving motive behind Farson's vague plans.
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  Speaker 1: When the supply ship sailed, not to return for a year,
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  Speaker 1: Farson called them together. Three of the company were pilots,
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  Speaker 1: all war veterans, and two were engineers who spent most
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  Speaker 1: of their waking hours engrossed in the maps Farson produced. Tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: the leader glanced from face to face. We start inland here.
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  Speaker 1: On a map spread before him, he indicated a line
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  Speaker 1: marked in purple. Ten years ago, I was a member
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  Speaker 1: of the Verdane expedition. Once, when flying due south, our
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  Speaker 1: plane was caught by some freakish air current and drawn
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  Speaker 1: off its course. When we were totally off our map,
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  Speaker 1: we saw in the distance a thick, bluish haze. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed to rise in a straight line from the ice
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  Speaker 1: plain to the sky. Unfortunately, our fuel was low and
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  Speaker 1: we dared not risk a closer investigation, so we fought
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  Speaker 1: our way back to the base. Verdane, however, had little
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  Speaker 1: interest in our report, and we did not investigate it.
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  Speaker 1: Three years ago that Kadok expedition hunting oil deposits by
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  Speaker 1: the order of the Dictator, reported seeing the same haze.
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  Speaker 1: This time, we are going to explore it, why, Garon
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  Speaker 1: asked curiously, are you so eager to penetrate this haze?
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  Speaker 1: I gather that's what we're here to do. Farson hesitated,
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  Speaker 1: before answering. It has often been suggested that beneath the
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  Speaker 1: ice sheeting of this continent may be hidden mineral wealth.
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  Speaker 1: I believe that the haze is caused by some form
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  Speaker 1: of volcanic activity, and perhaps a break in the crust.
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  Speaker 1: Garren frowned at the map. He wasn't so sure about that. Explanation,
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  Speaker 1: but Farson was paying the bills. The flyer shrugged away
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  Speaker 1: his uneasiness. Much could be forgiven a man who allowed
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  Speaker 1: one to eat regularly. Again. Four days later they set
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  Speaker 1: out Helmley. One of the engineers ralson a pilot, and
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  Speaker 1: Farson occupied the first plane. The other engineer and pilot
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  Speaker 1: were in the second, and Garren, with the extra supplies,
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  Speaker 1: was alone in the third. He was content to be
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  Speaker 1: alone as they took off across the blue white waist.
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  Speaker 1: His ship, because of its load, was loggie, so he
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  Speaker 1: did not attempt to follow the other two. In the
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  Speaker 1: higher lane. They were in communication by radio, and Garron,
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  Speaker 1: as he snapped on his earphones, remembered something Farson had
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  Speaker 1: said that morning the haze effects radio on our trip
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  Speaker 1: near it. The static was very bad, almost with a
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  Speaker 1: laugh like speech in some foreign tongue. As they roared
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  Speaker 1: over the ice, Garran wondered if it might have been
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  Speaker 1: speech from perhaps a secret enemy expedition such as the
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  Speaker 1: Katak one. In his sealed cockpit, he did not feel
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  Speaker 1: the bite of the frost, and the ship rode smoothly.
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  Speaker 1: With a little sigh of content, he settled back against
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  Speaker 1: the cushions, keeping to the course set by the planes
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  Speaker 1: ahead and above him. Some five hours later they left
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  Speaker 1: the base, Garren caught sight of a dark shadow far ahead.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, Farson's voice chattered in his earphone.
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  Speaker 1: That's it. Set coarse straight ahead. The shadow grew until
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  Speaker 1: it became a wall of purple blue from earth to sky.
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  Speaker 1: The first plane was quite close to it, diving down
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  Speaker 1: into the vapor. Suddenly the ship rocked violently and swung
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  Speaker 1: earthward as if out of control. Then it straightened and
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  Speaker 1: turned back. Garren could hear Farson demanding to know what
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  Speaker 1: was the matter, but from the first plane there was
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  Speaker 1: no reply. As Farson's plane kept going, Garrn throttled down.
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  Speaker 1: The actions of the first ship indicated trouble. What if
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  Speaker 1: that haze were a toxic gas? Close up? Featherstone barked Farson. Suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: he obediently drew ahead until they flew wing to wing.
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  Speaker 1: The haze was just before them, and now Garrn could
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  Speaker 1: see movement in it, oily impenetrable billows. The motors bit
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  Speaker 1: into it. There was clammy foggy moisture on the windows. Abruptly,
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  Speaker 1: Garrn sensed that he was no longer alone. Somewhere in
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  Speaker 1: the empty cabin. Behind him was another intelligence, a measuring power.
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  Speaker 1: He fought furiously against it, against the very idea of it.
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  Speaker 1: But after a long, terrifying moment, while it seemed to
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  Speaker 1: study him, it took control. His hands and feet still
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  Speaker 1: manipulated the ship, but it flew on. The ship hurtled
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  Speaker 1: through the thickening mist. He lost sight of Farson's plane,
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  Speaker 1: and though he was still fighting against the will which
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  Speaker 1: overrode his, his struggles grew weaker. Then came the order
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  Speaker 1: to dive into the dark heart of the purple mists.
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  Speaker 1: Down they whirled once. As the haze opened, Garn caught
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  Speaker 1: a glimpse of tortured gray rock seamed with yellow. Farson
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  Speaker 1: had been right here. The ice crust was broken down
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  Speaker 1: and down. If his instruments were correct, the plane was
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  Speaker 1: below sea level. Now the haze thinned and was gone.
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  Speaker 1: Below spread a plane cloaked in vivid green. Here and
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  Speaker 1: there reared clumps of what might be trees. He saw too,
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  Speaker 1: the waters of a yellow stream. But there was something
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  Speaker 1: terrifyingly alien about that landscape. Even as he circled above it,
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  Speaker 1: Garren wrestled to break the grip of the will that
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  Speaker 1: had brought him there. There came a crackle of sound
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  Speaker 1: in his ear fones, and at that moment the presence withdrew.
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  Speaker 1: The noise of the plane went up. In obedience to
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  Speaker 1: his own desire, frantically, he climbed away from the green land. Again,
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  Speaker 1: the haze absorbed him. He watched the moisture bead on
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  Speaker 1: the windows. Another hundred feet or so and he would
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  Speaker 1: be free of it and that unbelievable world beneath. Then,
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  Speaker 1: with an ominous sputter, the port engine conked out. The
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  Speaker 1: plane lurched and slipped into a dive. Down it whirled
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  Speaker 1: again into the steady light of the green land. Trees
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  Speaker 1: came out of the ground, huge fern like plants with
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  Speaker 1: crimson scaled trunks. Toward a clump of these, the plane swooped. Frantically,
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  Speaker 1: Garron fought the controls. The ship steadied, the dive became
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  Speaker 1: a fast glide. He looked for an open space to land.
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  Speaker 1: Then he felt the landing gear scrape some surface. Directly
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  Speaker 1: ahead loomed one of the fern trees. The plane sped
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  Speaker 1: toward the long fronds. There came a ripping crash, The
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  Speaker 1: splintering of metal and wood. The scarlet cloud gathering before
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  Speaker 1: Gown's eyes turned black. Chapter two, The Folk of the
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  Speaker 1: tav Garrn returned to consciousness through a red mist of pain.
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  Speaker 1: He was pinned in the crumpled mass of metal which
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  Speaker 1: had once been the cabin. Through a rent in the
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  Speaker 1: wall close to his head thrust a long spike of green,
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  Speaker 1: shredded leaves. Still clinging to it, he lay and watched it,
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  Speaker 1: not daring to move lest the pain proved more than
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  Speaker 1: he could bear. It was then that he heard the
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  Speaker 1: pattering sound outside. It seemed as if soft hands were
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  Speaker 1: pushing and pulling at the wreck. The tree branch shook
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  Speaker 1: and a portion of the cabin wall dropped away with
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  Speaker 1: a clang. Garrn turned his head slowly through the aperture
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  Speaker 1: was clamoring a goblin figure. It stood about five feet tall,
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  Speaker 1: and it walked upon its hind legs in human fashion,
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  Speaker 1: but the legs were short and stumpy, ending in feet
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  Speaker 1: with five toes of equal length. Slender, shapely arms possessed
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  Speaker 1: small hands with only four digits. The creature had a high,
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  Speaker 1: well rounded forehead, but no chin, the face being distinctly
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  Speaker 1: lizard like in contour. The skin was a dull black,
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  Speaker 1: with a velvety surface about its loins. It wore a
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  Speaker 1: short kilt of metallic cloth, the garment being supported by
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  Speaker 1: a jeweled belt of exquisite workmanship. For a long moment,
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  Speaker 1: the apparition eyed Garn, and it was those golden eyes
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  Speaker 1: fixed unwinkingly on his which banished the flier's fear. There
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  Speaker 1: was nothing but great pity in their depths. The lizard
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  Speaker 1: man stooped and brushed the sweat dampened hair from Garran's forehead.
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  Speaker 1: Then he fingered the bonds of metal which held the flier,
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  Speaker 1: as if estimating their strength. Having done so, he turned
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  Speaker 1: to the opening and apparently gave an order. Returning again
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  Speaker 1: to squat by Garron, two more of his kind appeared
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  Speaker 1: to tear away the ruins of the cockpit. Though they
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  Speaker 1: were very careful, Garren fainted twice before they had freed him.
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  Speaker 1: He was placed on a litter swung between two clumsy beasts,
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  Speaker 1: which might have been small elephants, except that they lacked
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  Speaker 1: trunks and possessed four tusks each. They crossed the plane
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  Speaker 1: to the towering mouth of a huge cavern, where the
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  Speaker 1: litter was taken up by four of the lizard folk.
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  Speaker 1: The flier lay staring up at the roof of the cavern.
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  Speaker 1: In the black stone had been carved fronds and flowers
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  Speaker 1: in bewildering profusion. Shining motes, giving off faint light, sifted
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  Speaker 1: through the air. At times they advanced, these gathered in clusters,
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  Speaker 1: and the light grew brighter. Midway down a long corridor,
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  Speaker 1: the bearers halted while their leader pulled upon a knob
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  Speaker 1: on the wall. An oval door swung back, and the
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  Speaker 1: party passed through. They came into a round room, the
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  Speaker 1: walls of which had been fashioned of creamy quartz, veined
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  Speaker 1: with violet. At the highest point in the ceiling, a
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  Speaker 1: large globe of the moats hung furnishing soft light. Below.
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  Speaker 1: Two lizard men clad in long robes conferred with the
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  Speaker 1: leader of the Flier's party, before coming to stand over garn.
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  Speaker 1: One of the robed ones shook his head at the
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  Speaker 1: sight of the flier's twisted body and waved the litter
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  Speaker 1: on into an inner chamber. Here the walls were dull blue,
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  Speaker 1: and in the exact center was a long block of quartz.
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  Speaker 1: By this the litter was put down and the bearers disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: With sharp knives, the robed men cut away furs and
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  Speaker 1: leather to expose Garrn's broken body. They lifted him to
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  Speaker 1: the quartz table and there made him fast with metal bonds.
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  Speaker 1: Then one of them went to the wall and pulled
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  Speaker 1: a gleaming rod from the dome of the roof, shot
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  Speaker 1: an eerie blue light to beat upon Garran's helpless body.
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  Speaker 1: There followed a tingling through every muscle and joint, a
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  Speaker 1: prickling sensation in his skin, But soon his pain vanished
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  Speaker 1: as if it had never been. The light flashed off,
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  Speaker 1: and the three lizard men gathered around him. He was
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  Speaker 1: wrapped in a soft robe and carried to another room.
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  Speaker 1: This too was circular, shaped, like the half of a
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  Speaker 1: giant bubble. The floor sloped toward the center, where there
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  Speaker 1: was a depression filled with cushions. There they laid Garran.
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  Speaker 1: At the top of the bubble, a pinkish cloud formed.
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  Speaker 1: He watched it drowsily until he fell asleep. Something warm
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  Speaker 1: stirred against his bare shoulder. He opened his eyes for
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  Speaker 1: a moment, unable to remember where he was. Then there
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  Speaker 1: was a plucking at the robe twisted about him, and
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  Speaker 1: he looked down. If the lizard folk had been goblin
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  Speaker 1: in their grotesqueness, this visitor was elfin. It was about
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  Speaker 1: three feet high, its monkey like body completely covered with
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  Speaker 1: silky white hair. The tiny hands were human in shape
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  Speaker 1: and hairless, but its feet were much like a cat's paws.
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  Speaker 1: From either side of the small round head branched large
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  Speaker 1: fan shaped ears. The face was furred and boasted stiff
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  Speaker 1: cat whiskers on the upper lip. These annas, as Garrn
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  Speaker 1: learned later, were happy little creatures, each one choosing some
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  Speaker 1: mistress or master among the folk, as this one had
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  Speaker 1: come to him. They were content to follow their big protector,
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  Speaker 1: speechless with delight at trifling gifts. Loyal and brave, they
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  Speaker 1: could do simple tasks or carry written messages for their
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  Speaker 1: chosen friend, and they remained with him until death. They
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  Speaker 1: were neither beast nor human, but rumored to be the
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  Speaker 1: result of some experiment carried out eons ago by the
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  Speaker 1: ancient ones. After patting Garran's shoulder, the anna touched the
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  Speaker 1: flier's hair, wonderingly comparing the bronze lengths with its own
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  Speaker 1: white fur. Since the folk were hairless, hair was a
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  Speaker 1: strange sight in the caverns with a contented purr. It
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  Speaker 1: rubbed its head against his hand. With a sudden click,
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  Speaker 1: a door in the wall opened. The anna got to
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  Speaker 1: its feet and ran to greet the newcomers. The chieftain
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  Speaker 1: of the folk, he who had first discovered Garrn, entered,
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  Speaker 1: followed by several of his fellows. The flier sat up.
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  Speaker 1: Not only was the pain gone, but he felt stronger
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  Speaker 1: and younger than he had for weary months. Exultingly, he
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  Speaker 1: stretched wide his arms and grinned at the lizard being,
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  Speaker 1: who murmured happily in return. Lizard men busied themselves about Garran,
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  Speaker 1: girding on him the short kilt and jewel set belt,
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  Speaker 1: which were the only clothing of the caverns. When they
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  Speaker 1: were finished, the chieftain took his hand and drew him
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  Speaker 1: to the door. They traversed a hallway whose walls were
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  Speaker 1: carved and inlaid with glittering stones and metal work, coming
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  Speaker 1: at last into a huge cavern, the outer walls of
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  Speaker 1: which were hidden by shadows. When Adaeis stood three tall thrones,
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  Speaker 1: and Garrn was conducted to the foot of these. The
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  Speaker 1: highest throne was of rose crystal. On its right was
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  Speaker 1: one of green jade, worn smooth by centuries of time.
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  Speaker 1: At the left was a third carved of a single
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  Speaker 1: block of jet. The rose throne and that of jet
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  Speaker 1: were unoccupied, but in the seat of jade reposed one
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  Speaker 1: of the folk. He was taller than his fellows, and
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  Speaker 1: in his eyes as he stared at Garin was wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and a brooding sadness. It is well, the words resounded
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  Speaker 1: in the flier's head. We have chosen wisely. This youth
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  Speaker 1: is fit to mate with the daughter. But he will
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  Speaker 1: be tried as fire tries metal. He must win the
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  Speaker 1: daughter forth and strive with Kepta. A hissing murmur echoed
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  Speaker 1: through the hall. Garren guessed that hundreds of the folk
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  Speaker 1: must be gathered there. Erg, the being on the throne,
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  Speaker 1: commanded the chieftain moved a step toward the dais, do
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  Speaker 1: you take this youth? Then instruct him, and then I
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  Speaker 1: will speak with him again. For sadness colored the words.
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  Speaker 1: Now we would have the rose throne filled again and
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  Speaker 1: the black one blasted into dust. Time moved swiftly. The
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  Speaker 1: chieftain led a wondering Garron away. Chapter three, Garron hears
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  Speaker 1: of the black ones. Erg brought the flier into one
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  Speaker 1: of the bubble shaped rooms, which contained a low cushioned
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  Speaker 1: bench facing a metal screen, and here they seated themselves.
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  Speaker 1: What followed was a language lesson. On the screen appeared
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  Speaker 1: objects which erg would name to have his sibilant utterings
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  Speaker 1: repeated by garn As. The American later learned the ray
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  Speaker 1: treatment he had undergone had quickened his mental powers, and
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  Speaker 1: in an incredibly short time he had a working vocabulary.
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  Speaker 1: Judging by the pictures, the lizard folk were the rulers
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  Speaker 1: of the crater world, although there were other forms of
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  Speaker 1: life there. The elephant like tanned was a beast of burden.
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  Speaker 1: The squirrel like Eron lived underground and carried on a
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  Speaker 1: crude agriculture in small clearings, coming shyly twice a year
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  Speaker 1: to exchange grain for a liquid rubber produced by the folk.
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  Speaker 1: Then there was the gibbie, a monstrous bee also friendly
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  Speaker 1: to the lizard people. It supplied the cavern dwellers with wax,
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  Speaker 1: and in return, the folk gave the gibbee colonies shelter
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  Speaker 1: during the unhealthful times of the Great Mists. Highly civilized
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  Speaker 1: were the folk. They did no work by hand, except
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  Speaker 1: the finer kinds of jewel setting and carving. Machines wove
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  Speaker 1: their metal cloth machines prepared their food, harvested their fields,
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  Speaker 1: hollowed out nwe dwellings. Freed from manual labor, they had
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  Speaker 1: turned to acquiring knowledge. Erg projected on the screen pictures
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  Speaker 1: of vast laboratories and great libraries of scientific lore. But
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  Speaker 1: all they knew in the beginning they had learned from
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  Speaker 1: the ancient Ones, a race unlike themselves, which had preceded
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  Speaker 1: them in sovereignty over tav Even the folk themselves were
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  Speaker 1: the result of constant, forced evolution and experimentation carried on
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  Speaker 1: by these ancient ones. All this wisdom was guarded most carefully.
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  Speaker 1: But against what or whom Erg could not tell, although
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  Speaker 1: he insisted that the danger was very real. There was
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  Speaker 1: something within the blue wall of the crater which disputed
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  Speaker 1: the folk's rule. As Garrn tried to probe further, a
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: gong sounded. Erg arose, it is the hour of eating,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: he announced, let us go. They came to a large
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: room where a heavy table of white stone stretched along
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: three walls benches before it. Erg seated himself and pressed
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: a knob on the table, motioning Garren to do Likewise,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the wall facing them opened and two trays slid out.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: There was a platter of hot meat covered with rich sauce,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: a stone bowl of grain porridge, and a cluster of
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: fruit still fastened to a leafy branch. This the anna
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: eyed so wistfully that Garran gave it to the creature.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: The folk ate silently and arose quietly. When they had
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: finished their trays, Vanishing back through the wall, Garrn noticed
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: only males in the room, and recalled that he had
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: as yet seen no females among the folk. He ventured
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: a question, Erg chuckled, So you think there are no
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: women in the caverns, well, we shall go to the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: hall of women that you may see. To the hall
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: of women they went. It was breathtaking in its richness,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: stones worth the nation's ransom, sparkling from its domed roof
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and painted walls. Here were the matrons and maidens of
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the folk, their black forms veiled in robes of silver net,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: each cross strand of which was set with a tiny gem,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: so that they appeared to be wrapped in glittering scales.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: There were not many of them, a hundred perhaps, and
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: a few led by the hands smaller editions of themselves,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: who stared at Karen with round yellow eyes and chewed
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: black finger tips shyly. The women were in trusted with
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the finest jewel work, and with pride they showed the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: stranger their handiwork. At the far end of the hall
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: was a wondrous thing in the making. One of the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: silver nets, which were the foundations of their robes, was
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: fastened there, and three of the women were putting small
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: rose jewels into each microscopic setting. Here and there they
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: had varied the pattern with tiny emeralds or flaming opals,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: so that the finished portion was a rainbow. One of
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the workers smoothed the robe and glanced up at garin
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: a gentle teasing in her voice, as she explained, this
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: is for the daughter when she comes to her throne.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: The daughter. What had the lord of the folk said,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: This youth is fit to mate with the daughter? But
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: erg had said that the ancient ones had gone from
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: tab Who is the daughter? He demanded, Thralla of the light?
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Where is she? The woman shivered, and there was fear
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: in her eyes. Thralla lies in the caves of darkness,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the caves of darkness? Did she mean Thralla was dead.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Was he garon featherstone to be the victim of some
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: right of sacrifice which was designed to unite him with
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the dead? Erg touched his arm. Not so, Thralla has
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: not yet entered the place of ancestors. You you know
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: my thoughts, Erg laughed. Thoughts are easy to read. Thralla lives.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Sarah served the daughter as handmaiden while she was yet
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: among us, Sarah, do you show us Thralla as she was?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: The woman crossed to a wall where there was a mirror,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: such as Erg had used for his language lesson. She
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: gazed into it, and then beckoned the flier to stand
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: beside her. The mirror missed it, and then he was
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: looking as if through a window, into a room with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: walls and ceiling of rose quartz. On the floor were
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: thick rugs of silver rose, and a great heap of
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: cushions made a low couch in the center the inner
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: chamber of the daughter. Sarah announced, A circular panel in
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the wall opened, and a woman slipped through. She was
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: very young, little more than a girl. There were happy
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: curves in her full crimson lips, joyous lights in her
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: violet eyes. She was human of shape, but her beauty
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: was unearthly. Her skin was pearl white, and other colors
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: seemed to play faintly upon it, so that it reminded
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Garren of Mother of Pearl, with its lights and shadows.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: The hair, which veiled her as a cloud, was blue
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: black and reached below her knees. She was robed in
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the silver net of the folk, and there was a
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: heavy girdle of rose shaded jewels about her slender waist.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: That was Thralla before the Black Ones took her, said Sya.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Garran uttered a cry of disappointment as the picture vanished.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Erga laughed, what care you for shadows? When the daughter
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: herself waits for you? You have but to bring her
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: from the caves of darkness? Where are these caves? Garran's
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: question was interrupted by the pealing of the cavern. Gung
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Sarah cried out the Black Ones. Erg shrugged when they spared,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: not the ancient ones, how would we hope to escape? Come?
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: We must go to the Hall of Thrones. Before the
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: jade throne of the Lord of the Folk stood a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: small group of the lizard men beside two litters. As
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Garran entered, the Lord spoke let the outlander come hither,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: that he may see the work of the black Ones.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Garran advanced unwillingly, coming to stand by those struggling things
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: which gasped their message between moans and screams of agony.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: They were men of the folk, but their black skins
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: were green with rot. The lord leaned forward on his throne.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: It is well, he said, you may depart, as if
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: obeying his command, the tortured things let go of the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: life to which they had clung, and were still look
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: upon the work of the black Ones, the ruler said
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to Garryn. Jiev and Bettiv were captured while on a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: mission to the Gibbee of the cliff. It seems that
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the black Ones needed material for for their laboratories. They
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: seek even to give the daughter to their workers. Of horror,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: A terrible cry of hatred arose from the hall, and
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Garrn's jaw set to give that fair vision he had
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: just seen to such a death as this. Jiev and
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Betev were imprisoned close to the daughter, and they heard
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the threats of Kepta. Our brothers, stricken with foul disease,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: were sent forth to carry the plague to us, But
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: they swam through the pool of boiling mud. They have died,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: but the evil died with them. And I think that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: while we breed such as they, the Black Ones shall
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: not rest easy. Listen now, Outlander, to the story of
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the Black Ones and the Caves of Darkness. Of how
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the Ancient Ones brought the folk up from the slime
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: of a long dried sea and made them great, And
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: of how the Ancient Ones at last went down to
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: their destruction. Chapter four, The Defeat of the Ancient Ones.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: In the days before the lands of the outer world
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: were born of the sea, Before even the land of
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the Sun Moo and the land of the Sea Atlantis
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: arose from molten rock and sand, there was land here
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: in the far south, a seer land of rock, plains
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: and swamps, where slimy life made it, lived and died.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Then came the Ancient Ones from beyond the stars. Their
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: race was already older than this earth. Their wise men
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: had watched its birth, rending from the sun, And when
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: their world perished, taking most of their blood into nothingness,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: a handful fled hither. But when they climbed from their spaceship,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: it was into hell. For they had gained in place
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of their loved home bare rock and stinking slime. They
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: blasted out this tav and entered into it with the
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: treasures of their flying ships, and also certain living creatures
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: captured in the swamps. From these they produced the folk,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the gibbee, the tanned, and the land tending Roon. Among these,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: the folk were eager for wisdom and climbed high, but
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: still the learning of the Ancient Ones remained beyond their grasp.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: During the eons, the Ancient Ones dwelt within their protecting
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: wall of haze, the outer world changed, cold came to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: the north and south. The Land of Sun and the
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Land of Sea arose to bear the foot of true man.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: On their mirrors of seeing, the ancient Ones watched man
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: life spread across the world. They had the power of
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: prolonging life. But still the race was dying. From without
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: must come new blood. So certain men were summoned from
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the Land of the Sun. Then the race flourished for
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: a space. The Ancient Ones decided to leave tab for
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the outer world, but the sea swallowed the Land of
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the Sun again. In the time of the Land of Sea,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: the stock within tav was replenished, and the Ancient Ones
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: prepared for exodus. Again, the sea cheated them. Those men
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: left in the outer world reverted to savagery. Since the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Ancient Ones would not mingle their blood with that of
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: almost beasts, they built the haze wall stronger and remained.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: But a handful of them were attracted by thee forbidden,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: and secretly they summoned the beast men of that monstrous
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: mating came the Black Ones. They live, but for the
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: evil they may do, and the power which they acquired
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: is debased and used to forward cruelty. At first their
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: sin was not discovered. When it was, the others would
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: have slain the offspring, but for the law which forbids
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: them to kill. They must use their power for good,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: or it departs from them. So they drove the Black
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Ones to the southern end of tav and gave them
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the caves of Darkness. Never were the Black Ones to
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: come north of the River of Gold, nor were the
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Ancient Ones to go south of it. For perhaps two
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: thousand years, the Black Ones kept the law, but they
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: worked building powers of destruction while matters rested. Thus the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Ancient Ones search the world, seeking men by whom they
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: could renew the race. Once there came men from an
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: island far to the north. Six lived to penetrate the
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: mists and take wives among the daughters. Again they called
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the yellow haired men of another breed, great sea rovers,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: but the black Ones called too. As the ancient Ones
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: searched for the best, the black Ones brought in the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: great workers of evil, and at last they succeeded in
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: shutting off the channels of sending thought, so that the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: ancient Ones could call no more. Then did the Black
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Ones cross the river of Gold and enter the land
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: of the Ancient Ones. Thron dweller in the light and
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: lord of the caverns, summoned the folk to him. There
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: will come one to aid you, he told us. Try
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the summoning again. After the black Ones have seemed to win. Thralla,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: daughter of the Light, will not enter into the room
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: of pleasant death with the rest of the women, but
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: will give herself into the hands of the black Ones,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: that they may think themselves truly victorious. You of the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: folk withdraw into the place of reptiles. Until the Black
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Ones are gone, Nor will all the ancient Ones perish.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: More will be saved, but the manner of their preservation
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: I dare not tell. When the sun haired youth comes
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: from the outer world. Send him into the caves of
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Darkness to rescue Thralla and put an end to evil.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: And then the lady Thralla arose and said, softly, as
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the Lord Thran has said, so let it be, I
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: shall deliver myself into the hands of the Black Ones,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: that their doom may come upon them. Lord Thran smiled
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: upon her as he said, so will happiness be your portion?
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: After the great mists does not light come again. The
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: women of the Ancient Ones then took their leave and
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: passed into the place of Pleasant Death, while the men
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: made ready for battle with the Black Ones. For three
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: days they fought, but a new weapon of the Black
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Ones won the day, and the chief of the Black
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Ones set up this throne of jet as proof of
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: his power. Since, however, the Black Ones were not happy
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: in the caverns, longing for the darkness of their caves.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: They soon withdrew and we the folk came forth again.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: But now the time has come when the Dark Ones
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: will sacrifice the daughter to their evil. If you can
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: win her free outlander, they shall perish as if they
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: had not been. What of the Ancient Ones, asked garon
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: those others, Thron said, would be saved. Of those, we
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: know nothing save that when we bore the bodies of
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the fallen too the place of ancestors, there were some missing.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: That you may see the truth of this story. Erg
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: will take you to the gallery above, the room of
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: pleasant Death, and you may look upon those who sleep there.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Erg guiding Garrn, climbed a steep ramp leading from the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Hall of Thrones. This led to a narrow balcony, one
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: side of which was clear crystal. Erg pointed down. They
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: were above a long room whose walls were tinted jade green.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: On the polished floor were scattered piles of cushions. Each
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: was occupied by a sleeping woman, and several of these
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: clasped a child in their arms. Their long hair rippled
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: to the floor. Their curved lashes made dark shadows on
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: pale faces. But they are sleeping, protested Garrn. Ergre shook
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: his head. It is the sleep of death. Twice each
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: ten hours vapors rise from the floor. Those breathing them
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: do not wake again, and if they are undisturbed, they
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: will lie thus for a thousand years. Look there, He
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: pointed to the closed double doors of the room there
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: lay the first men of the Ancient Ones Garrn had seen.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: They too seemed but asleep, their handsome heads pillowed on
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: their arms. Thron ordered those who remained after the last
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: battle in the Hall of Thrones to enter the room
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of pleasant Death, that the Black Ones might not torture
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: them for their beastly pleasures. Thron himself remained behind to
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: close the door, and so died. There were no aged
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: among the sleepers. None of the men seemed to count
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: more than thirty years, and many of them appeared younger.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Garrn remarked upon this. The Ancient Ones appeared thus until
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the day of their death, though many lived twice a
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: hundred years. The light rays kept them so even we
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: of the folk can hold back age. But come now,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: our lord Trar would speak with you again Chapter five.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Into the Caves of Darkness. Again, Garran stood before the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: jade throne of Trar and heard the stirring of the
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: multitude of the folk in the shadows. Trar was turning
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: a small rod of glittering greenish metal around in his
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: soft hands. Listen well, outlander, he began, for little time
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: remains to us. Within seven days, the Great mists will
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: be upon us. Then no living thing may venture forth
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: from shelter and escape death. And before that time Thralla
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: must be out of the caves. This rod will be
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: your weapon. The black ones have not its secret watch.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Two of the folk dragged an ingot of metal before him.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: He touched it with the rod. Great flakes of rust
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: appeared to spread across the entire surface. It crumpled away,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: and one of the folk trod upon the pile of
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: dust where it had been. Thralla lies in the heart
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of the caves, but kept his men have grown careless
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: with the years. Enter boldly and trust of fortune. They
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: know nothing of your coming or of Thran's words concerning you.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Erg stood forward and held out his hands in appeal.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: What would you, Erg, Lord? I would go with the outlander.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: He knows nothing of the forest of the Morgels or
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the pool of mud. It is easy to go astray
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: in the woodland. Trars shook his head. That may not be.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: He must go alone. Even as Thran said, the which
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: had followed in Garn's shadow all day, whistled shrilly and
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: stood on tiptoe to tug at his hand. Trar smiled
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: that one may go. Its eyes may serve you well.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Erg will guide you to the outer portal of the
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: place of Ancestors and set you upon the road to
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: the caves. Farewell, outlander, and may the spirits of the
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: ancient ones be with you. Garrn bowed to the ruler
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: of the folk and turned to follow Erg. Near the
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: door stood a small group of women. Sarah pressed forward
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: from them, holding out a small bag. Outlander, she said, hurriedly,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: when you look upon the daughter, speak to her of Sara,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: for I have awaited her many years. He smiled that
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I will, if you remember, Outlander, I am a great
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: lady among the folk, and have my share of suitors.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Yet I think I could envy the daughter. Nay, I
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: shall not explain that, she laughed mockingly. You will understand
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: in due time. Here is a packet of food. Now
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: go swiftly, that we may have you among us again
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: before the mists. So a woman's farewell sped them on
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: their way. Erg chose a ramp which led downward. At
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: its foot was a niche in the rock, above which
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: a rose light burned dimly. Erg reached within the hollow
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: and drew out a pair of high buskins which he
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: aided Garran to lace on. They were a good fit,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: having been fashioned for a man of the ancient ones.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: The passage before them was narrow and crooked. There was
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: a thick carpet of dust underfoot, patterned by the prints
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: of the folk. They rounded a corner, and a tall
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: door loomed out of the gloom. Erg pressed the surface.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: There was a click, and the stone rolled back. This
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: is the place of ancestors, he announced, as he stepped within.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: They were at the end of a colossal hall, whose
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: domed roof disappeared into shadows. Thick pillars of gleaming crystal
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: divided it into aisles, all leading inward to a raised
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: dais of oval shape. Filling the aisles were couches, and
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: each soft nest held its sleeper. Near to the door
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: lay the men and women of the folk, But closer
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: to the dais were the ancient ones. Here and there
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: a couch bore a double burden. Upon the shoulder of
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: a man was pillowed the drooping head of a woman.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Erg stopped beside such a one, see outlander. Here was
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: one who was called from your world. Marina of the
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: House of Light, looked with favor upon him, and their
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: days of happiness were many. The man on the couch
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: had red gold hair, and on his upper arm was
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: a heavy band of gold, whose mate Garrn had once
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: seen in a museum, a son of pre Norman Ireland.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Erg traced with a crooked finger the archaic lettering carved
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: upon the stone base of the couch. Lovers in the
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: light sleep sweetly. The light returns on the appointed day,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: who lies there? Garon motioned to the dais. The first
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: ancient ones come, look upon those who made this tab
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: On the dais. The couches were arranged in two rows,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: and between them, in the center was a single couch
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: raised above the others. Fifty men and women lay as
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: if but resting for the hour, smiles on their peaceful faces,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: but weary shadows beneath their eyes. There was an unhuman
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: quality about them which was lacking in their descendants. Erg
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: advanced to the high couch and beckoned Garran to join him.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: A man and a woman lay there, the woman's head
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: upon the man's breast. There was that in their faces
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: which made Garran turn away. He felt as if he
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: had intruded roughly where no man should go. Here lies
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: thron Son of Light, first Lord of the Caverns, and
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: his lady Thralla, dweller in the light. So have they
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: lain a thousand thousand years, and so will they lie
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: until this planet rots to dust beneath them. They led
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: the folk out of the slime and made tab such
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: as they we shall never see again. They passed silently
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: down the aisles of the dead. Once Garran caught sight
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: of another fair haired man, perhaps another outlander, since the
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: ancient Ones were all dark of hair. Erg paused once
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: more before they left the hall. He stood by the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: couch of a man wrapped in a long robe, whose
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: face was ravaged with marks of agony. Erg spoke a
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: single name, Thron, So this was the last lord of
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: the Caverns. Garrn leaned closer to study the dead face,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: but Erg seemed to have lost his patience. He hurried
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: his charge on to a paneled door. This is the
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: southern portal of the Caverns, he explained. Trust to the
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Anna to guide you, and beware of the boiling mud.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Should the morgrels scent you, kill quickly, they are the
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: servants of the Black Ones. May fortune favor you, outlander.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: The door was open, and Garren looked out upon Tav.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: The soft blue light was as strong as it had
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: been when he had first seen it. With the anna
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: perched on his shoulder, the green rod, and the bag
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: of food in his hands, he stepped out onto the
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: moss erg raised his hand in salute, and the door
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: clicked into place. Garrn stood alone, pledged to bring the
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: daughter out of the caves of darkness. There is no
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: night or day in Tav, since the blue light is steady,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: but the folk divide their time by artificial means. However, Garrn,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: being newly come from the rays of healing, felt no fatigue.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: As he hesitated, The annet chattered and pointed confidently. Ahead
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: before them was a dense wood of fern trees. It
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: was quiet in the forest as Garrn made his way
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: into its gloom, and for the first time he noted
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: a peculiarity of Tav. There were no birds. The portion
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: of the woodland that they had to transverse was but
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: a spur of the forest to the west. After an
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: hour of travel, they came out upon the bank of
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: a sluggish river. The turbid waters of the stream were
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: a dull saffron color. This thought Garrn must be the
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: river of Gold, the boundary of the lands of the
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Black One. He rounded a bend to come upon a
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: bridge so old that time itself had worn its stones
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: angles into curves. The bridge gave on a wide plaine
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: where tall grass grew sere and yellow. To the left
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: was a hissing and bubbling, and a huge wave of
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: boiling mud arose in the air. Garrn choked in the wind,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: thick with chemicals which blew from it. He smelled and
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: tasted the sulfur tainted air all across the plain, and
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: he was glad enough to plunge into a small fern grove,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: which half concealed a spring. There he bathed his head
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: and arms while the Anna pulled open Sirra's food bag.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Together they ate the cakes of grain and the dried fruit.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: When they were done, the Anna tugged at Garran's hand
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: and pointed on Cautiously. Garrn wormed his way through the
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: thick underbrush, until at last he looked out into a clearing,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: and at its edge the entrance of the Black One's caves.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Two tall pillars carved into the likeness of foul monster
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: guarded a rough edged hole. A fine greenish mist whirled
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: and danced in its mouth. The flier studied the entrance,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: there was no life to be seen. He gripped the
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: destroying rod and inched forward before the green mist. He
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: braced himself and then stepped. Within chapter six, Kepta's second prisoner,
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: the green mist enveloped Garen. He drew into his lungs.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Hot moist air, faintly tinged with a scent of sickly sweetness,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: as from some hidden corruption. Green moats in the air
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: gave forth little light and seemed to cling to the intruder.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: With the Anna pattering before him, the Americans started down
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: a steep ramp, the soft soles of his buskins making
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: no sound. At regular intervals along the wall, niches held
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: small statues, and about each perverted figure was a crown
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: of green moats. The anna stopped its large ears outspread,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: as if to catch the faintest murmur of sound. From
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: somewhere under the earth came the howls of a maddened dog.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: The anna shivered, creeping closer to Garrn. Down led the ramp,
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: growing narrower and steeper, and louder sounded the insane coughing
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: howls of the dog. Then the passage was abruptly barred
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: by a grill of black stone. Garron peered through its
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: bars at a flight of stairs leading down into a pit.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: From the pit arose snarling, laughter, patting back and forth,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: were things which might have been conceived by demons. They
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: were sleek, rat like creatures, hairless and large as ponies.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: Red saliva dripped from the corners of their sharp jaws.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: But in the eyes which they raised now and then
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: toward the grill, there was intelligence. These were the morgrels,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: watchdogs and slaves of the black Ones. From a second
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: pair of stairs, directly across the pit arose a moaning call.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: A door opened, and two men came down the steps.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: The morgrels surged forward, but fell back when whips were
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: cracked over their heads. The masters of the morgrels were
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: human in appearance. Black loincloths were twisted about them, and
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: long wing shaped cloaks hung from their shoulders. On their heads,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: completely masking their hair, were cloth caps which bore ragged crests,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: not unlike cockscombs. As far as garrant could see they
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: were unarmed except for their whips. A second party was
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: coming down the steps. Between two of the black ones
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: struggled at prisoner. He made a desperate and hopeless fight
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: of it, but they dragged him to the edge of
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the pit before they halted. The morgrels, intent upon their
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: promised prey. Crouched before them five steps above were two
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: figures to whom the guards looked for instructions. One was
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: a man of their race, a slender, handsome body and
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: evil beautiful face. His hand lay possessively upon the arm
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: of his companion. It was throng Allah, who stood beside him,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: her head proudly erect. The laughter curves were gone from
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: her lips. There was only sorrow and resignation to be
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: read there now, but her spirit burned like a white
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: flame in her eyes. Look her warder ordered, does not
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: kept to keep his promises? Shall we give Dantan to
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the jaws of our slaves, or will you unsay certain
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: words of yours? Lady Thralla. The prisoner answered for her, Kepta,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: son of vileness, Thralla is not for you, remember, beloved one.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: He spoke to the daughter the day of deliverance is
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: at hand. Garren felt a sudden emptiness. The prisoner had
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: called Thralla beloved, with the ease of one who had
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: the right. I await Thralla's answer. Kepta returned evenly, and
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: her answer he got beast among beasts. You may send
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Dantan to his death. You may heap all manner of
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: insult and evil upon me. But still I say, the
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: daughter is not for your touch. Rather, I will cut
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: the line of life with my own hands, taking upon
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: me the punishment of the elder ones to Dantan. She
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: smiled down upon the prisoner. I say, farewell, we shall
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: meet again beyond the curtain of time. She held out
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: her hands to him, Thralla dear. One One of his
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: guards slapped a hand over the prisoner's mouth, putting an
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: end to his words. But now Thralla was looking beyond him,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: staring at the grill which sheltered Garron. Kepta pulled at
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: her arm to gain her attention. Watch, thus do my
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: enemies die to the pit with him. The guards twisted
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: their prisoner around, and the morgrels crept closer, their eyes
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: fixed upon that young, writhing body. Garn knew that he
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: must take a hand in the game. The Anna was
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: tugging him to the right, and there was an open
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: archway leading to a balcony running around the side of
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: the pit. Those below were two entrance by the coming
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: sport to notice the invader, but Thralla glanced up, and
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Garren thought that she sighted him. Something in her attitude
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: attracted Kepta. He too looked up. For a moment he
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: stared in stark amazement, and then he thrust the daughter
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: through the door behind him. Ho outlander, Welcome to the caves.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: So the folk have meddled greeting Kepta. Garren hardly knew
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: whence came the words which fell so easily from his tongue.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: I have come, as was promised, to remain until the
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: Black Throne is no more. Not even the morgirls boast
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: before their prey lies limp in their jaws, flashed Kepta.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: What manner of beast? Are you? A clean beast? Kepta?
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Which you are not bid your two legged morgrels loose
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: the youth lest I grow impatient. The flier swung the
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: green rod into view, kept his eyes narrowed, but his
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: smile did not fade. I have heard of old that
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: the ancient ones do not destroy as an outlander, I
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: am not bound by their limits, returned Garron, As you
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: will learn if you do not call off your stinking pack.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: The master of the caves laughed, You are as the tanned,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: a fool without a brain. Never shall you see the
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: caverns again. You shall owe me master. Yet Kepta, the
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Black chief, seemed to consider. Then he waved to his
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: men release him. He ordered, outlander, you are braver than
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: I thought we might bargain. Thralla goes forth from the caves,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: and the black throne is dust. Those are the terms
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: of the caverns. And if we do not accept, then
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: Thralla goes forth, the throne is dust, and tav shall
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: have a day of judging such as it has never
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: seen before. You challenge me again, words which seem to
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Garn to have their origin elsewhere came to him as
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: in you lak, I shall take. Before Kepta could reply,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: there was trouble in the pit. Dantan, freed by his guards,
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: was crossing the floor in running leaps. Garran threw himself
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: belly down on the balcony and dropped the jeweled strap
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: of his belt over the lip. A moment later, it
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: snapped taut, and he stiffened to an upward pull. Already
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Dantan's heels were above the snapping jaws of a morgrel.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: The flier caught the youth around the shoulders and heaved.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: They rolled together against the wall. They are all gone,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: all of them, Dantan cried as he regained his feet.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: He was right. The morgrels hold below, but Kepta and
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: his men had vanished. Thralla, Garran exclaimed. Dantan nodded. They
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: have taken her back to the cells. They believe her
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: safe there. Then they think wrong. Garran stooped to pick
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: up the green rod. His companion laughed, we'd best start
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: before they get prepared for us. Garon picked up the anna.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Which way Dantan showed him a passage leading from behind
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: the other door. Then he dodged into a side chamber
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: to return with two of the wing cloaks and cloth hoods,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: so that they might pass as black ones. They went
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: by the mouths of three side tunnels, all deserted. None
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: disputed their going. All the black Ones had withdrawn from
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: this part of the caves. Dantan sniffed uneasily. All is
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: not well. I fear a trap. While we can pass,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: let us The passage curved to the right, and they
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: came into an oval room. Again. Dantan shook his head,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: but ventured no protest. Instead, he flung open a door
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: and hurried down a short hall. It seemed to Garin
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: that there were strange rustlings and squeakings in the dark corners.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: Then Dantan stopped so short that the flier ran into him.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Here is the guard room, and it is empty. Garran
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: looked over his shoulder into a large room. Racks of
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: strange weapons hung on the wall, and the sleeping pallets
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: of the guards were stacked evenly, but the men were
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen. They crossed the room and passed
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: beneath an archway. Even the bars are not down, observed Dantan.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: He pointed overhead there hung a portcullis of stone. Garren
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: studied it apprehensively, but Dantan drew him on into a
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: narrow corridor where were barred doors the cells. He explained,
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: and withdrew a bar across one door. The portal swung back,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: and they pushed within and of part one of the
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: people of the Crater by Andre Norton. The People of
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: the Crater Part two by Andre Norton. This LibriVox recording
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: is in the Public Dome reading by Greg Marguerite. The
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: People of the Crater, Part two by Andre Norton. Chapter seven,
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: kept as trap Thralla arose to face them forgetting the
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: disguise he wore. Garren drew back, chilled by her icy demeanor,
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: but Dantan sprang forward and caught her in his arms.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: She struggled madly until she saw the face beneath her
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: captor's hood, and then she gave a cry of delight,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: and her arms were about his neck. Dantin, he smiled
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: even so, But it's the outlander's doing. She came to
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: the American, studying his face. Outlander, so cold a name
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: is not for you when you have served us. So
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: she offered him her hands, and he raised them to
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: his lips. And how are you named? d'Antin lamb left
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: thus the eternal curiosity of women Garren Garren, She repeated,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: how like a faint rose glowed beneath her pearl flesh.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: Dantan's hand fell lightly upon his rescuer's shoulder. Indeed, he
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: is like him from this day. Let him bear that
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: other's name, Garren, son of Light. Why not she returned calmly?
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: After all, the reward which might have been Garren's may
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: be his. Tell him the story of his namesake. When
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: we are again in the caverns, Dantan was interrupted by
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: a frightened squeak from the Anna. Then came a mocking voice.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: So the prey has entered the trap of its own will.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: How many hunters may boast the same. Kepta leaned against
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: the door, the light of vicious mischief dancing in his eyes.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: Garran dropped his cloak to the floor. But Dantan must
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: have read what was in the flier's mind, for he
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: caught him by the arm on your life, touch him not,
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: so you have learned that much wisdom while you have
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: dwelt among us. Dantan would that Thralla had done the same,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: But fair women find me weak. He eyed her proud
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: body in a way that would have sent garin at
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: his throat had Dantan not held him. So shall Thralla
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: have a second chance? How would you like to see
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: these men in the room of instruments? Lady, I do
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: not fear you. She returned. Thron once made a prophecy,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: and he never spoke idly. We shall win free. That
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: will be as fate would have it. Meanwhile, I leave
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: you to each other. He whipped around the door and
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: slammed it behind him. They heard the grating of the bar.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: He slid into place, Then his footsteps died away. There
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: goes evil, murmured Thralla softly. Perhaps it would have been
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: better if Garin had killed him as he thought to.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: We must get away. Garren drew the rod from his belt.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: The green light motes gathered and clung about its polished length.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: Touched not the door, Thralla advised, only its hinges. Beneath
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: the tip of the rod, the stone became spongy and
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: flaked away. Dantan and the Flier caught the door and
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: eased it to the floor With one quick movement. Thralla
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: caught up Garrn's cloak and swirled it about her, hiding
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: the glitter of her gem encrusted robe. There was a curious, cold,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: lifelessness about the air of the corridor, the light bearing
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: motes vanishing as if blown out. Harry the daughter urged.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: Kepta is withdrawing the living light, so that we will
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: have to wander in the dark. When they reached the
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: end of the hall, the light was quite gone, and
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: Garrn bruised his hands against the stone portcullis, which had
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: been lowered from somewhere on the other side of the barrier.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: Came rippling laughter. Ohle Lander called Kepta mockingly. You will
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: get through easily enough when you remember your weapon. But
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: the dark you cannot conquer so easily, nor that which
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: runs the halls. Garon was already busy with the rod.
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: Within five minutes their way was clear again, but Thralla
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: stopped them when they would have gone through. Kepta has
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: loosed the hunters. The hunters, the mor girls and others,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: explained d'antan. The black ones have withdrawn, and only death
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: comes this way. And the more girls see in the dark,
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: so does the Anna, well thought of, agreed the son
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: of the ancient Ones. It will lead us out. As
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: if in answer, there came a tug at Garin's belt.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Reaching back, he caught Thralla's hand and knew that she
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: had taken Dantan's. So linked they crossed the guard room.
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: Then the Anna paused for a long time as if listening.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: There was nothing to see but the darkness, which hung
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: about them like the smothering folds of a cur Something
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: follows us, whispered Dantin nothing to fear, stated Thralla. It
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: dare not attack. It is I think of kept his fashioning,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: and that which has not true life dreads death above
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: all things. It is going. There came sounds of something
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: crawling slowly away. Capta will not try that, again, continued
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: the daughter disdainfully. He knew that his monstrosities would not attack.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: Only in the light are they to be dreaded, and
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: then only because of the horror of their forms. Again,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: the Ana tugged at its master's belt. They shuffled into
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: the narrow passage beyond, but there remained the sense of
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: things about them in the dark, things which Thralla continued
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: to insist were harmless, and yet which filled Garren with loathing.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: Then they entered the far corridor, into which led the
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: three Halls, and which ended in the Morgrel pit. Here,
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: Garrn believed was the greatest danger from the Morgrels. The
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: Anna stopped sure, dropping back against Garran's thigh. In the
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: blackness appeared two yellow disks, sparks of saffron in their depths.
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: Garren thrust the rod into Thralla's hands. What do you,
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: she demanded, I'm going to clear the way. It's too
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: dark to use the rod against moving creatures. He flung
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: the words over his shoulder as he moved toward the
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: unwinking eyes. Chapter eight, Escape from the Caves, keeping his
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: eyes upon those soulless yellow discs. Garn snatched off his hood,
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: wadding it into a ball. Then he sprang his fingers
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: slipped on smooth hide. Sharp fangs ripped his forearm. Blunt
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: nails scraped his ribs. A foul breath puffed into his face,
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: and warm slaver trickled down his neck and chest, but
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: his bland succeeded. The cap was wedged into the morgrel's throat,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: and the beast was slowly choking. Blood dripped from the
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Flyer's torn flesh, but he held on grimly until he
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: saw the light fade from those yellow eyes. The dying
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: morgrel made a last mad plunge for freedom, dragging his
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: attacker along the rock floor. Then Garrn felt the heaving
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: body rest limply against his own. He staggered against the wall, panting.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: Garn cried. Thralla, her questioning hand touched his shoulder and
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: crept to his face. Is it well with you, yes,
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: he panted, Let us go on. Thralla's fingers had lingered
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: on his arm, and now she walked beside him, her
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: cloak making whispering sounds as it brushed against the wall
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: and floor. Wait, she cautioned. Suddenly the morgrel pit. Dantan
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: slipped by them. I will try the door. In a moment,
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: he was back. It is open, he whispered. Kepta believes,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: mused Thralla, that we will keep to the safety of
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: the gallery. Therefore, let us go through the pit. The
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: morgirls will be gone to better hunting grounds. Through the
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: pit they went. A choking stancher rose from under foot,
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: and they trod very carefully. They climbed the stairs on
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: the far side, unchallenged. Dantan leading the rod here Garon,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: he called, this door is barred. Garran pressed the weapon
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: into the other's hand and leaned against the rock. He
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: was sick and dizzy. The long, deep wounds on his
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: arm and shoulder were stiffening and ached with a biting throb.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: When they went on, he panted with effort. They still
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: moved in darkness, and his distress passed unnoticed. This is wrong,
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: he muttered half to himself. We we go too easily,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: and he was answered, out of the blackness, well noted, outlander,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: But you go free for the moment, as does Thralla
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: and Dantan. Our full accounting is not yet, and now
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: farewell until we meet again in the hall of Thrones.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: I could find it in me to applaud your carriage, outlander.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: Perhaps you come to serve me. Yet Garon turned and
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: threw himself toward the voice, springing up with bruising force
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: against rock wall. Kepta laughed, not with the skill of
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: a bull tand will you capture me? His second laugh
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: was cut cleanly off, as if a door had been closed.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: In silence, the three hurried up the ramp. Then, as
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: through a curtain, they came into the light of tav
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: Thralla let fall her drab cloak, stood with arms outstretched
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: in the crater land her sparkling robe. Sheathed her in glory,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: and she sang softly, wrapped in her own delight. Then
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: Dantan put his arm about her. She clung to him,
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: staring about as might a beauty bewildered child. Garon wondered
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: dully how he would be able to make the journey
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: back to the caverns. When his arm and shoulder were
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: eaten with a consuming fire, Dinna crept closer to him,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: peering into his white face. They were aroused by a
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: howl from the caves. Thralla cried out, and Dantan answered
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: her unspoken question. They have set the morgrels on our trail.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: The howl from the caves was echoed from the forest.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: Morgirls before and behind them. Garran might set himself against one,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: Dantan another, and Thralla could defend herself with the rod,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: but in the end the pack would kill them. We
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: shall claim protection from the gibbee of the cliff by
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: the law they must give us aid, said Thralla, as
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: turning up her long robe. She began to run lightly.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: Garrn picked up her cloak and drew it across his
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: shoulder to hide his welts. When he could no longer
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: hold her pace. She must not guess the reason for
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: his falling behind of that flight through the forest. The
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: flier afterward remembered little. At last, the gurgle of water
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: broke upon his pounding ears as he stumbled along a
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: good ten lengths behind his companions. They had come to
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: the edge of the wood along the banks of the river.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: Without hesitation, Thralla and Dantan plunged into the oily flood,
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: swimming easily for the other side. Garrn dropped the cloak,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: wondering if once he stepped into the yellow stream he
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: would ever be able to struggle out again. Already the
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: Anna was in paddling in circles near the shore, and
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: pleading with him to follow. Wearily, Garrn waded out. The water,
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: which washed the blood and sweat from his aching body,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: was faintly brackish and stung his wounds to life. He
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: could not fight this sluggish current, and it bore him
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: down stream, well away from where the others landed. But
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: at last he managed to win free, crawling out near
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: where a smaller stream joined the river. There he lay panting,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: face down upon the moss, and there they found him,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: water dripping from his bedraggled finery, the Anna stroking his
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: muddied hair. Thralla cried out with concern and pillowed his
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: head on her knees while Dantan examined his wounds. Why
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: did you tell us, demanded Thralla. He did not try
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: to answer, content to lie there, her arms supporting him,
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: Dantan disappeared into the forest, returning soon his hands filled
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: with a mass of crushed leaves. With these he plastered
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: Garin's wounds. You'd better go on, Garn warned. Dantan shook
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: his head. The mor girls cannot swim if they crossed.
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: They must go to the bridge, and that is half
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: the crater away. The anna dropped into their midst its
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: small hands filled with clusters of purple fruit, and so
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: they feasted, Garn at ease on a fern couch, excepting
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: food from Thralla's hand. There seemed to be some virtue
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: in Dantan's leaf plaster, for after a short rest, Garran
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: was able to get to his feet with no more
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: than a twinge or two in his wounds. But they
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: started on at a more sober pace, through mossy glens
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: and sunlit glades, where strange flowers made perfume the trail.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: The stream they followed branched twice before on the edge
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: of meadow land. They struck away from the guiding water
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: toward the crater wall. Suddenly, Thralla threw back her head
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: and gave a shrill, sweet whistle. Out of the air
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: dropped a yellow and black insect as large as a hawk. Twice.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: It circled her head and then perched itself on her
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: outstretched wrist. Its swollen body was jet black, its curving
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: legs three to a side, chrome yellow. The round head
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: ended in a sharp beak, and it had large, many
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: faceted eyes. The wings, which lazily tested the air, were
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: black and touched with gold. Thralla rubbed the round head
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: while the insect nuzzled affectionately at her cheek. Then she
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: held out her wrist again, and it was gone. We
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: shall be expected now and may pass unmolested. Shortly they
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: became aware of a murmuring sound. The crater wall loomed ahead,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: dwarfing the trees at its bane. There is the city
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: of the Gibbie, remarked Dantan, clinging to the rock where
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: the towers and turrets of many eight sided cells. They
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: are preparing for the mists, observed Thralla. We shall have
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: company on our journey to the caverns. They passed the
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: trees and reached the foot of the wax skyscrapers, which
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: towered dizzily above their heads. A great cloud of gibbee
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: hovered about them. Garren felt the soft brush of their
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: wings against his body, and they crowded each other jealously
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: to be near Thralla. The soft hush hush of their
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: wings filled the clearing. As one large gibbie of outstanding
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: beauty approached, the commoners fluttered off, and Thralla greeted the
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: Queen of the Cells as an equal. Then she turned
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: to her companions with the information the gibbee queen had
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: to offer. We are just in time. Tomorrow the gibbee leave.
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: The morgirls have crossed the river and are out of control.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: Instead of hunting up, they have gone to ravage the
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: forest lands. All tav has been warned against them, but
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: they may be caught by the mist and so destroyed.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: We are to rest in the cliff hollows, and one
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: shall come for us when it is time to leave.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: The gibbie withdrew to the cell combs after conducting their
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: guests to the rock hollows. Chapter nine Days of preparation.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: Garren was awakened by a loud murmuring. Dantan knelt beside him.
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: We must go even now the gibbee seal the last
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: of the cells. They ate hurriedly of cakes of grain
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: and honey, and as they feasted, the queen again visited them.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: The first of the swarm were already winging eastward, with
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: the Gibbee nation hanging like a storm cloud above them.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: The three started off across the meadow. The purple blue
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: haze was thickening, and here and there curious formations, like
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: the dust devils of the desert arose and danced and
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: disad appeared again. The tropic heat of Tav increased. It
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: was as if the ground itself were steaming. The mists
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: draw close. We must hurry, panted Dantan. They traversed the
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: tongue of forest which bordered the meadow and came to
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: the central plain of Tav. There was a brooding stillness there.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: The anna, perched on Garren's shoulders, shivered. Their walk became
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: a trot. The gibbee bunched together once Thralla caught her
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: breath in a half sob. They are flying slowly because
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: of us, and it's so far look. Dantan pointed at
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: the plane. The morgrels. The Morgirl pack, driven by fear
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: Ran in leaping bounds. They passed within a hundred yards
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: of the three, yet did not turn from their course,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: though several snarled at them. They are already dead, observed Dantan.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: There was no time for them to reach the shelter
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: of the caves. Splashing through a shallow brook, the three
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: began to run for the first time. Thralla faltered and
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: broke pace. Garren thrust the Anna into Dantan's arms, and
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: before she could protest, swept the girl into his arms.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: The haze was denser, now, setting upon them as a curtain.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: Black hair finer than silk, whipped across Garran's throat. Thralla's
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: head was on his shoulder. Her heaving breasts arched as
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: she gasped the sultry air. They keep watch, shouted Dantin.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: Piercing the gloom were pin points of light. A dark
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: shape grazed Garran's head, one of the Gibby Queen's guards.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: Then abruptly they stumbled into a throng of the folk,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: one of whom reached for Thralla with a crooning cry.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: It was Sarah, welcoming her mistress. Thralla was borne away
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: by the women, leaving Garren with a feeling of desolation
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: the mists outlander. It was Erg, Pointing toward the cavern mouth.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: Two of the folk swung their weight on a lever
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: across the opening. As sheet of crystal cl into place,
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: the caverns were sealed. The haze was now inky black outside,
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: and billows of it beat against the protecting barrier. It
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: might have been midnight of the blackest starless night. So
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: will it be for forty days? What is without dies?
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: Said Erg. Then we have forty days in which to prepare.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: Garrant spoke his thought aloud. Dantan's keen face lightened well,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: said Garran. Forty days before Kepta may seek us, and
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: we have much to do. But first our respects to
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: the Lord of the folk. Together they went to the
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: Hall of Thrones, where when he saw Dantan, trar arose
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: and held out his jade tipped rod of office. The
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: son of the ancient Ones touched it. Hail dweller in
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: the light, an outlander who has fulfilled the promise of
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: thron Thralla is once more within the caverns. Now, send
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: you to dust this black throne. Garn nothing loath drew
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: the destroying rod from his belt, but Dantan shook his head.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: The time is not yet, Trar. Kepta must finish the
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: pattern he began. Forty days have we and then the
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: black ones come? Trar considered thoughtfully, so that be the
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: way of it. Thran did not see another war, but
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: he saw an end to Kepta. Trar straightened, as if
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: some burden had rolled from his thin shoulders. Well do
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: you speak, Lord, when there is one to sit upon
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: the rose throne? What have we to fear? Listen, o
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: ye folk, the light has returned to the caverns. His
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: cry was echoed by the gathering of the folk. And now, Lord,
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: he turned to Dantan with deference, what are your commands
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: for the space of one's sleep? I shall enter the
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: chamber of renewing with this outlander, who is no longer
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: an outlander, but one Garran accepted by the daughter according
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: to the law. And while we rest, let all be
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: made ready. The dweller in the light has spoken. Trar
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: himself escorted them from the hall. They came through many
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: winding passages to a deep pool of water, in the
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: depths of which lurked odd purple shadows. Dantan stripped and
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: plunged in Garrn, following his example. The water was tinglingly alive,
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: and they did not linger in it long. From it,
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: they went to a bubble room, such as the one
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: Garrn had rested in after the bath of light rays,
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: and on the cushions in its center stretched their tired bodies.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: When Garron awoke, he experienced the same exultation he had
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: felt before. Dantan regarded him with a smile. Now to work,
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: he said, as he reached out to press a knob
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: set in the wall. Two of the folk appeared, bringing
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: with them clean trappings. After they dressed and broke their fast,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: Dantan started for the laboratories. Garran would have gone with him,
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: but Sarah intercepted them. There is one who would speak
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: with Lord Garran. Dantan laughed, go, he ordered the American
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: Thralla's commands may not be slighted. The Hall of women
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: was deserted, and the corridor beyond roofed and walled with
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: slabs of rose shot crystal was as empty. Syra drew
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: aside a golden curtain, and they were in the audience
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: chamber of the daughter. A semicircular dais of the clearest crystal,
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: heaped with rose and gold cushions faced them. Before it,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: a fountain in the form of a flower, nodding on
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: a curved stem, sent a spray of water into a
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: shallow basin. The walls of the room were divided into
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: alcoves by marble pillars, each one curved in semblance of
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: a fern frond, from the domed ceiling on chains of
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: twisted gold. Seven lamps, each wrought from a single yellow sapphire,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: gave soft light. The floor was a mosaic of gold
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: and crystal. Two small Annas, who had been playing among
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: the cushions, pattered up to exchange greetings with Garrens, but
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: of the mistress of the chamber there was no sign.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: Garran turned to Sarah, but before he could phrase his question,
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: she asked, mockingly, who is the Lord Garran? That he
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: cannot wait with patience, but she left in search of
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: the daughter. Garran glanced uneasily about the room. This jeweled
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: chamber was no place for him. He had started toward
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: the door. When Thralla stepped within, greetings to the daughter.
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: His voice sounded formal and cold, even to himself. Her hands,
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: which had been out heeld in welcome, dropped to her sides.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: A ghost of a frown dimmed her beauty. Greetings, Garran,
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: she returned slowly. You sent for me, he prompted, eager
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: to escape from this jewel box and the unattainable treasure
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: it held. Yes, the coldness of her tone was an
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: order of exile. I would know how you fared, and
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: whether your wounds yet troubled you. He looked down at
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: his own smooth flesh, cleanly healed by the wisdom of
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: the folk. I am myself again and eager to be
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: at such work as Dantan can find for me. Her
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: robe seemed to hiss across the floor as she turned
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: upon him. Then go, she ordered, Go quickly and blindly.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: He obeyed. She had spoken as if to a servant,
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: one whom she could summon and dismiss by whim. Even
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: if Dantan held her love, she might have extended him
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: her friendship, But he knew within him that friendship would
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: be a poor crumb beside the feast. His pulses pounded,
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: for there was a pattering of feet behind him, so
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: she would call him back. His pride sent him on.
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: But it was Sarah, her head thrust forward until she
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: truly resembled a reptile, fool morgrel. She spat. Even the
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: black ones did not treat her. So get you out
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: of the place of women, lest they divide your skin
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: among them. Garren broke free, not heeding her torrent of reproach.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: Then he seized upon one of the folk as a guide,
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: and sought the laboratories far beneath the surface of tav
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: where the light motes shone ghostly in the gloom. They
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: came into a place of ceaseless activity, where there were
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: tables crowded with instruments, coils of glass and metal, tubing,
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: and other equipment and supplies. These were the focusing point
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: for ceaseless streams of the folk. On a platform at
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: the far end, Garran saw the tall sun of the
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: ancient ones working on a framework of metal and shining crystal.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: He glanced up as Garrn joined him. You are late,
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: he accused, But your excuse is a good one. Now
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: get you to work. Hold this here and here while
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: I fasten these clamps. So Garran became extra hands and
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: feet for Dantan, and they worked feverishly to build against
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: the lifting of the mists. There was no day or
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: night in the laboratories. They were steadily without rest and
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: without feeling fatigue. Twice they went to the chamber of renewing,
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: but except for these trips to the upper ways, they
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: were not out of the laboratories. Through all those days
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: of Thralla, there was no sign, nor did any one
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: speak of her. The cavern dwellers were depending upon two defenses,
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: an evil green liquid to be thrown in frail glass globes,
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: and a screen charged with energy. Shortly before the lifting
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: of the mists, these arms were transported to the entrance
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: and installed there. Dantan and Garren made a last inspection.
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: Kepta makes the mistake of underrating his enemies. Dantan reflected,
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: feeling the edge of the screen carelessly. When I was
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: captured on the day my people died, I was sent
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: to the Black One's laboratories so that their seekers after
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: knowledge might learn the secrets of the ancient ones. But
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: I proved a better pupil than teacher, and I discovered
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: the defense against the black Fire. After I had learned that,
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: Kepta grew impatient with my supposed stupidity and tried to
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: use me to force Thralla to his will. For that,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: as for other things, shall he pay, and the paining
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: will not be in coin of his own striking. Let
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: us think of that. He turned to greet Erg and
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: Trar and the other leaders of the folk who had
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: approached unnoticed. Among them stood Thralla, her gaze fixed upon
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: the crystal wall between them and the thinning mist. She
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: noticed Garrn no more than she did the Annas playing
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: with her train, and the women whispering behind her. But
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: Garrn stepped back into the shadows, and what he saw
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: was not weapons of war, but cloudy black hair and
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: graceful white limbs, veiled in splendor. Erg and one of
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: the other chieftains bore down upon the door lever with
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: a protesting squeak. The glass wall disappeared into the rock.
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: The green of tav beckoned them out to walk in
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: its freshness. It was renewed with lusty life. But in
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: all that expanse of meadow and forrest, there was a
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: strange stillness post sentries, ordered Dantan, the black ones will
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: come soon. He beckoned Garin forward as he spoke to Thralla,
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: let us go to the hall of thrones. But the
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: daughter did not answer his smile. It is not meet
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: that we should spend time in idle talk. Let us
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: go instead to call upon the help of those who
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: have gone before us. So speaking, she darted a glance
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: at Garin as chill as the Arctic lands beyond the
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: tip of Tav, and then swept away with Syrah bearing
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: her train. Dantan stared at Garn. What has happened between
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: you two? The flyer shook his head. I don't know.
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: No man is born with an understanding of women. But
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: she is angered with you. What has happened? For a moment,
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: Garn was tempted to tell the truth that he dared
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: not break any barrier she chose to raise lest he
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: sees what in honor was none of his. But he
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: shook his head mutely. Neither of them saw Thralla again
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: until death entered the caverns. Chapter ten, Battle and Victory.
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: Garran stood with Dantan looking out into the plain of Tave.
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: Some distance away were two slender steel tipped towers, which
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: were in reality but hollow tubes filled with the black fire.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: Before these dark clad figures were busy. They seemed to
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: believe us already defeated. Let them think, so, commented Dantan,
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: touching the screen they had erected before the cavern entrance.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: As he spoke, kept us waggered through the tall grass
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: to call a greeting. Ho rock dweller, I would speak
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: with you, Dantan edged around the screen, garn a pace behind.
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: I see you, Kepta good. I trust that your ears
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: will serve you as well as your eyes. These are
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: my terms. Give Thralla to me to dwell in my chamber,
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: and the Outlander to provide sport for my captains. Make
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: no resistance, but throw open the cavern so that I
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: may take my rightful place in the Hall of thrones.
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: Do this and we shall be at peace. And this
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: is our reply. Dantan stood unmovingly before the screen. Return
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: to the caves, break down the bridge between your land
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: and ours. Let no black one come hither again. Ever,
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: Kepta laughed. So that be the way of it. Then
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: this shall we do, take Thralla to be mine for
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: a space. And then go to my captain's Garan hurled
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: himself forward, felt kept his lips mashed beneath his fist.
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: His fingers were closing about the other's throat. As Dantan,
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: who was trying to pull him away from his prey,
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: shout at a warning watch out. A morgrel had leapt
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: from the grass, its teeth snapping about Garin's wrist, forcing
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: him to drop Kepta. Then Dantan laid it senseless by
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: a sharp blow with his belt on hands and knees.
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: Kepta crawled back to his men. The lower part of
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: his face was a red and dripping smear. He screamed
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: in order with savage fury. Dantan drew the still raging
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: flier behind the screen. Be a little prudent, he panted,
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: keptakin be dealt with in other ways than bare hands.
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: The towers were swinging their tips toward the entrance. Dantan
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: ordered the screen wedged tightly into place outside. The morgrel
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: Dantan had stunned got groggily to its feet when it
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: had limped half the distance back to its master. Kepta
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: gave the order to fire the broad beam of black
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: light from the tip of the nearest tower caught the
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: beast head on. There was a chilling scream of agony,
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: and where the morgrel had stood, gray ashes drifted on
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: the wind. A hideous crackling arose. As the black beam
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: struck the screen. Green grass beneath seared away, leaving only
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: parched earth and naked blue soil. Those within the cavern
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: crouched behind their frail protection, half blinded by the light
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: from the seared grass, coughing from the chemical ridden fumes
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: which curled about the cracks of the rock. Then the
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: beam faded out. Thin smoke plumed from the tips of
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: the towers. Steam arose from the blackened ground. Dantan drew
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: a deep breath it held. He cried, betraying at last
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: the fear which had ridden him. Men of the folk
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: dragged engines of tubing before the screen, while others brought
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: forth the globes of green liquid. Dantan stood aside, as
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: if this matter were the business of the folk alone,
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: and Garren recalled that the ancient ones were opposed to
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: the taking of life. Trar was in command now. At
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: his orders, the globes were posed on spoon shaped holders
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: loopholes in the screen clicked open. Trar brought down his
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: hand in signal. The globes arose lazily, sliding through the
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: loopholes and floating out toward the towers. One aimed short
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: struck the ground where the fire had burned it bare
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: and broke. The liquid came forth, sluggishly, forming a gray
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: green gas as the air struck it. Another spiral of
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: gas arose almost at the foot of one of the towers,
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: and then another and another. There quickly followed a tortured screaming,
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: which soon dwindled to a weak, yamoring. They could see shapes,
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: no longer human or animals, staggering about in the fog.
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: Dantan turned away, his face white with horror. Garran's hands
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: were over his ears to shut out that crying. At
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: last it was quiet. There was no more movement by
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: the towers. Erg placed a sphere of rosy light upon
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: the nearest machine and flipped it out into the camp
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: of the enemy as if it were a magnet. It
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: drew the green tendrils of gas to leave the air clear.
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: Here and there lay shrunk in livid shapes, the towers
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: brooding over them. One of the folk burst into their
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: midst a woman of Thralla's. Following haste, she clawed at
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: Garin Kepta takes Thralla, She ran and wildly back the
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: way she had come, with the American pounding at her heels.
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: They burst into the Hall of Thrones and saw a
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: struggling group before the Dais. Garron heard some one howl
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: like an animal. Became aware the sound came from his
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: own throat for the second time. His fist found its
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: mark on kept his face with a shriek of rage.
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: The Black One threw Thralla from him and sprang at Garran,
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: his nails tearing gashes in the flier's face twice. The
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: American twisted free and sent bone crunching blows into the
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: other's ribs. Then he got the grip he wanted, and
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: his fingers closed around kept his throat in spite of
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: the Black One's struggles. He held on until a limp
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: body rolled beneath him. Panting. The American pulled himself up
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: from the blood stained floor and grabbed the arm of
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: the jade throne for support. Garren Thralla's arms were about him,
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: her pitying fingers on his wounds, and in that moment
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: he forgot Dantan forgot everything he had steeled himself to remember.
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: She was in his arms, and his mouth sought hers possessively.
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: Nor was she unresponsive, but yielded as a flower yields
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: to the wind. Garrn. She whispered softly, Then almost shyly,
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: she broke from his hold. Beyond her stood Dantan, his
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: face white, his mouth tight. Garrn remembered, and a little
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: mad with pain and longing. He dropped his eyes, trying
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: not to see the loveliness which was Thralla. So, outlander,
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: Thralla flies to your arms. Garran whirled about. Kepta was
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: hunched on the broad seat of the jet throne. No
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: I am not dead, outlander, nor shall you kill me
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: as you think to do. I go now, but I
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: shall return. We have met and hated, fought and died
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: before you and I. You were a certain Garran, marshal
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: of the air fleet of you lac on a vanished world,
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: and I was Lord of Coomb, that was in the
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: days before the Ancient One's pioneered space. You and I
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: and Thralla, we are bound together, and even fate cannot
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: break those bonds. Farewell, garrn, And do you, Thralla, remember
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: the ending of that other garron? It was not an
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: easy one. With a last malicious chuckle, he leaned back
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: in the throne. His battered body slumped. Then the sharp
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: lines of the throne blurred. It shimmered in the light abruptly.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: Then both it and its occupant were gone. They were
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: staring at empty space, above which loomed the rose throne
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: of the ancient Ones. He spoke true, murmured Thralla. We
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: have had other lives, other meetings, so will we meet again.
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: But for the present he returns to the darkness which
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: sent him forth. It is finished. Without warning, a low
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: rumbling filled the cavern. The walls rocked and swayed. Lizard
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: and human, they huddled together until the swaying stopped. Finally,
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: a runner appeared with news that one of the Gibbeye
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: had ventured forth and discovered that the caves of Darkness
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: had been sealed by an underground quake. The menace of
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: the Black Ones was definitely at an end Chapter eleven,
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: Thralla's mate. Although there were falls of rock within the
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: caverns and some of the passages were closed, few of
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: the folk suffered injury. Gibbey scouts reported that the land
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: about the entrance to the caves had sunk, and that
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: the river of gold, thrown out of its bed, was
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: fast filling this basin to form a lake. As far
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: as they could discover, none of the black ones had
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: survived the battle and the sealing of the caves, but
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: they could not be sure that there was not a
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: handful of outlaws somewhere within the confines of tav The
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: crater itself was changed. A series of raw hills had
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: appeared in the central plain, the pool of boiling mud
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: had vanished, and trees in the forest lay flat, as
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: if cut by a giant scythe Upon their return to
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: the cliff city, the Gibbee found most of their wax
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: skyscrapers in ruins, but they set about rebuilding without complaint.
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: The squirrel farmers emerged from their burrows and were again
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: busy in the fields. Garren felt out of place in
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: all the activity that filled the caverns. More than ever,
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: he was the outlander with no true roots in tab
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: Restlessly he explored the caverns, spending many hours in the
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: place of ancestors, where he studied those men of the
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: outer worlds, who had preceded him into this weird land.
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: One night, when he came back to his chamber, he
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: found Dantan and Trar awaiting him. There. There was a
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: curious hardness in Dantan's attitude, a somber sobriety in Trar's carriage.
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: Have you sought the hall of women since the battle?
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: Demanded the son of the ancient Ones? Abruptly, no, retorted Garn.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: Shortly did Dantan accuse him of double dealing? Have you
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: sent a message to Thralla? Garren held back his rising temper.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: I have not ventured where I cannot. But Dantan nodded
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: to Trar as if his suspicions had been confirmed. You
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: see how it stands, Trar. Trars shook his head slowly.
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: But never has the summoning been at fault? You forget,
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: Dantan reminded him sharply. It was once, and the penalty
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: was exacted, So shall it be again. Garan looked from
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: one to the other, confused. Dantan seemed possessed of a
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: certain ruthless anger, but Trar was manifestly unhappy. It must
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: come after counsel the daughter willing, the lord of the folk, said,
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: Dantan strode toward the door. Thralla is not to know.
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: Assemble the council tonight. Meanwhile, see that he he jerked
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: his thumb toward Garin, does not leave this room. Thus
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: Garan became a prisoner under the guard of the folk,
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: unable to discover of what Dantan accused him, or how
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: he had aroused the hatred of the cavern ruler, unless
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: Dantan's jealousy had been aroused and he was determined to
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: rid himself of a rival. Believing this, the flier went
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: willingly to the chamber where the judges waited. Dantan sat
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: at the head of a long table, Trar at his
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: right hand, and lesser nobles of the folk beyond you
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: know the charge. Dantan's words were tipped with venom as
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: Garran came to stand before him, out of his own mouth,
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: as this outlander condemned himself. Therefore, I ask that you
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: decree for him the fate of that outlander of the
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: second calling who rebelled against the summoning. The outlander has
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: admitted his fault, questioned one of the folk. Trar inclined
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: his head sadly he did. As Garran opened his mouth
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: to demand a stating of the charge against him, Dantan
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: spoke again, what say you lords? For a long moment
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: they sat in silence, and then they bobbed their lizard
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: heads in assent. Do as you desire, dweller in the light,
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: Dantan smiled, without the mirth. Look outlander. He passed his
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: hand over the glass of the seeing mirror set in
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: the table top. This is the fate of him who rebels.
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: In the shining surface, Garran saw pictured a break in
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: Tav's wall. At its foot stood a group of men
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: of the ancient Ones, and in their midst struggled a prisoner.
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: They were forcing him to climb the crater wall. Garran
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: watched him reach the lip and crawl over to stagger
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: across the steaming rock, dodging the scalding vapor of hot springs,
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: until he pitched face down in the slimy mud. Such
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: was his ending, and so will you end. The calm
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: brutality of that statement aroused Garran's anger. Rather would I
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: die that way than linger in this den? He cried hotly,
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: You who owe your life to me, would send me
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: to such a death without even telling me of what
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: I am accused. Little is there to choose between you
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: and Kepta, after all, except that he was an open enemy.
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: Tan sprang to his feet, but Trar caught his arm.
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: He speaks fairly. Ask him why he will not fulfill
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: the summoning. While Dantan hesitated, Garran leaned across the table,
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: flinging his words weapon like straight into that cold face.
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: I'll admit that I love Thralla, have loved her since
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: that moment when I saw her on the steps of
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: the morgrel pit in the caves. Since when has it
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: become a crime to love that which may not be
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: yours if you do not try to take it? Trar
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: released Dantan, his golden eyes gleaming. If you love her,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: claim her, it is your right? Do I not know?
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: Garran turned to him, that she is Dantan's thron had
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: no idea of Dantan's survival when he laid his will
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: upon her. Shall I stoop to holding her to an
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: unwelcome bargain? Let her go to the one she loves.
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: Dantan's face was livid, and his hands resting on the
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: table trembled one by one. The lords of the folk
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: slipped away, leaving the two face to face, and I
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: thought to order you to your death. Dantan's whisper was
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: husky as it emerged between dry lips. Garan, we thought
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: you knew, and, knowing had refused her, knew what that.
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: I am Thran's son and Thralla's brother. The floor swung
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: beneath Karen's unsteady feet. Dantan's hands were warm on his shoulders.
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: I am a fool, said the American slowly. Dantan smiled,
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: A very honorable fool. Now get you to Thralla, who
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: deserves to hear the full of this tangle. So it
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: was that, with Dantan by his side, Garran walked for
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: the second time down that hallway to pass the golden
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: curtains and stand in the presence of the daughter. She
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: came straight from her cushions to his arms when she
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: read what was in his face. They needed no words,
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: and in that hour began Garin's life in Tath and Dove,
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: Part two of the People of the Crater by Andre
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: Norton