Latest / Classic Science Fiction Audiobooks: Free Public Domain Sci-Fi Stories / 🟡 Queen Of The Martian Catacombs (Full Audiobook) | Leigh Douglass Brackett

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🟡 Queen Of The Martian Catacombs (Full Audiobook) | Leigh Douglass Brackett · Classic Science Fiction Audiobooks: Free Public Domain Sci-Fi Stories

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  Speaker 1: Part one of Queen of the Martian Catacombs. This is
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  Speaker 1: the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Phil schinebet Baton Rouge Louisiana. Queen of the
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  Speaker 1: Martian Catacombs by Lee Douglas Sprackett. The story was first
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  Speaker 1: published in Planets Stories, Summer nineteen forty nine, Part one.
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  Speaker 1: For hours, the hard pressed beast had fled across the
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  Speaker 1: Martian desert with its dark rider. Now it was spent.
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  Speaker 1: It faltered and broke stride, And when the writer cursed
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  Speaker 1: and dug his heels into the scaly sides, the brute
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  Speaker 1: only turned its head and hissed at him. It stumbled
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  Speaker 1: on a few more paces into the lee of a
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  Speaker 1: sand hill, and there it stopped, crouching down in the dust.
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  Speaker 1: The man dismounted. The creature's eyes burned like green lamps
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  Speaker 1: in the light of the little moons, and he that
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  Speaker 1: it was no use trying to urge it on. He
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  Speaker 1: looked back the way he had come. In the distance,
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  Speaker 1: there were four black shadows grouped together in the barren emptiness.
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  Speaker 1: They were running fast. In a few minutes they would
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  Speaker 1: be upon him. He stood still, thinking what he should
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  Speaker 1: do next. A head far ahead with a low ridge,
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  Speaker 1: and beyond the ridge lay vulcus and safety, but he
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  Speaker 1: could never make it. Now, off to his right, a
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  Speaker 1: lonely tour stood up out of the blowing sand. There
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  Speaker 1: were tumbuled rocks at its foot. They tried to run
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  Speaker 1: me down in the open, he thought, put here, by
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  Speaker 1: the nine hells, they'll have to work for it. He
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  Speaker 1: moved then, running toward the tor with a lightness and
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  Speaker 1: speed incredible than anything but an animal or a savage.
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  Speaker 1: He was of earth stock, built tall and more massive
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  Speaker 1: than he looked by reason of his leanness. The desert
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  Speaker 1: wind was bitter cold, but he did not seem to
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  Speaker 1: notice it. Though he wore only a ragged shirt of
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  Speaker 1: Venusian spider silk open to the waist. His skin was
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  Speaker 1: almost as dark as his black hair, burned indelibly by
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  Speaker 1: years of exposure to some terrible sun. His eyes were
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  Speaker 1: startlingly light in color, reflecting back the pale glow of
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  Speaker 1: the moons. With the practiced ease of a lizard, he
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  Speaker 1: slid in among the loose and treacherous rocks. Finding a
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  Speaker 1: vantage point where his back was protected by the tor itself,
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  Speaker 1: he crouched down. After that, he did not move except
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  Speaker 1: to draw his gun. There was something eerie about his
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  Speaker 1: utter stillness, a quality of patience as inhuman as the
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  Speaker 1: patience of the rock that sheltered him. The four black
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  Speaker 1: shadows came closer, resolved themselves into mounted men. They found
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  Speaker 1: the beast where it lay, panting, and stopped. The line
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  Speaker 1: of the man's footprints, already blurred by the wind, but
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  Speaker 1: still plain enough, showed where he had gone. The leader
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  Speaker 1: motioned the others dismounted. Working with the swift precision of soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: they removed equipment from their saddle packs and began to
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  Speaker 1: assemble it. The man crouching under the tour saw the
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  Speaker 1: thing that took shape. It was a banning shocker, and
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  Speaker 1: he knew that he was not going to fight his
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  Speaker 1: way out of this trap. His pursuers were out of
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  Speaker 1: range of his own weapon. They would remain so the banning,
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  Speaker 1: with its powerful electric beam, could take him dead or senseless,
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  Speaker 1: as they wished. He thrust the useless gun back into
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  Speaker 1: his belt. He knew who these men were and what
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  Speaker 1: they wanted with him. They were officers of the Earth
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  Speaker 1: Police Control, bringing him a gift. Twenty years in the
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  Speaker 1: Luna cell blocks, twenty years in the gray catacombs, buried
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  Speaker 1: in the silence and the eternal dark. He recognized the inevitable.
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  Speaker 1: He was used to inevitables, hunger, pain, loneliness, the emptiness
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  Speaker 1: of dreams. He had accepted a lot of them in
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  Speaker 1: his time, Yet he made no move to surrender. He
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  Speaker 1: looked out at the desert and the night sky, and
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  Speaker 1: his eyes blazed the desperate, strangely beautiful eyes of a
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  Speaker 1: creature very close to the roots of life, something less
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  Speaker 1: and more than man. His hands found a short of
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  Speaker 1: rock and broke it. The leader of the fore Men
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  Speaker 1: rode slowly toward the tour, his right arm raised, his
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  Speaker 1: voice carried clearly on the wind. Eric John Stark, he called,
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  Speaker 1: and the dark man tensed in the shadows. The rider stopped.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke again, but this time in a different tongue.
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  Speaker 1: It was no dialect of Earth, Mars or Venus, but
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  Speaker 1: a strange speech, as harsh and vital as the blazing
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  Speaker 1: Mercurian valleys that bred it. Oh in Chuka O man
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  Speaker 1: without a tribe, I call you. There was a long silence.
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  Speaker 1: The writer and his mount were motionless under the low moons, waiting.
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  Speaker 1: Eric John Stark stepped slowly out from the pool of
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  Speaker 1: blackness under the tor who calls me and chucka The
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  Speaker 1: writer relaxed somewhat. He answered in English, you know perfectly
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  Speaker 1: well who I am. Eric. May we meet in peace?
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Stark shrugged. Of course. He walked on to meet the writer,
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  Speaker 1: who had dismounted, leaving his beast behind. He was a slight,
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  Speaker 1: wiry man, this EPC officer, with the raw high look
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  Speaker 1: of the frontier still on him. His hair was grizzled
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and his sun blackened skin was deeply lined. But there
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  Speaker 1: was nothing in the least aged about his hard, good
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  Speaker 1: humored face, nor his remarkably keen, dark eyes. It's been
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  Speaker 1: a long time, Eric, he said. Stark nodded, sixteen years.
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  Speaker 1: The two men studied each other for a moment, and
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  Speaker 1: then Stork said, I thought you were still on Mercury. Ashton,
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  Speaker 1: they've called all of us experienced hands in to Mars.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: He held out cigarettes smoke. Stark took one. They bent
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  Speaker 1: over Ashton's lighter and then stood there smoking while the
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: wind blue red dust over their feet, and the three
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: men of the patrol waited quietly beside the banning. Ashton
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: was taking no chances the electro beam could stun without injury. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: Ashton said, I'm going to be crude, Eric, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to remind you of some things. Save it. Stark retorted,
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  Speaker 1: you've got me. There's no need to talk about it. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: said Ashton, I've got you in a damned hard time
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  Speaker 1: I've had doing it. That's why I'm going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about it. His stark eyes met Stark's cold stare and
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  Speaker 1: held it. Remember who I am, Simon Ashton. Remember who
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  Speaker 1: came along when the miners in that valley on Mercury
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  Speaker 1: had a wild boy in a cage, and we're going
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  Speaker 1: to finish him off like they had the tribe that
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  Speaker 1: raised him. Remember all the years after that when I
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  Speaker 1: brought that boy up to be a civilized human being.
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  Speaker 1: Stark laughed, not without a certain humor. He should have
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  Speaker 1: left me in the cage. I was caught a little
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  Speaker 1: old for civilizing. Maybe I don't think so. Anyway, I'm
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  Speaker 1: reminding you, Ashton said. Stark said, with no particular bitterness.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have to get sentimental. I know it's your
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  Speaker 1: job to take me in, Ashton said deliberately. I won't
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  Speaker 1: take you in, Eric unless you make me. He went
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  Speaker 1: on then rapidly before Stark could answer, You've got a
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  Speaker 1: twenty year sentence hanging over you for running guns to
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  Speaker 1: the Middle Swamp tribes when they revolted against Tero Venusian medals,
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  Speaker 1: and a couple of similar jobs. All right, so I
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  Speaker 1: know why you did it, and I won't say I
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  Speaker 1: don't agree with you, but you put yourself outside the law,
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  Speaker 1: and that's that. Now you're on your way to Valcus.
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  Speaker 1: You're headed into a mess that'll put you on lunaf
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  Speaker 1: on life the next time you're caught, and this time
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  Speaker 1: you don't agree with me. No, why do you think
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  Speaker 1: I broke my neck to catch you before you got there?
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  Speaker 1: Ashton bent closer, his face very intent. Have you made
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  Speaker 1: any deal with del Gone of Vulcus? Did he send
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  Speaker 1: for you? He sent for me, But there's no deal yet.
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  Speaker 1: I'm on the beach broke. I got a message from
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  Speaker 1: this del Gone, whoever he is, that there was going
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  Speaker 1: to be a private war back in the dry Lands,
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  Speaker 1: and he'd pay me to help fight it. After all
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  Speaker 1: that's my business. Ashton shook his head. This isn't a
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  Speaker 1: private war, Eric, It's something a lot bigger and nastier
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  Speaker 1: than that. The Martian Council of City States and the
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  Speaker 1: Earth Commission are both in a cold sweat, and no
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  Speaker 1: one can find out exactly what's going on. You know,
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  Speaker 1: wh the low Canal towns are volcas, Jakara, Barakesh. No
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  Speaker 1: law abiding Martian let it own an earthman can last
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  Speaker 1: five minutes in them, and the back blocks are absolutely verboten.
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  Speaker 1: So all we get is rumors, fantastic rumors about a
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  Speaker 1: Barbarian chief named Kainon who seems to be promising heaven
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  Speaker 1: and earth to the tribes of Kesh and Shun some
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  Speaker 1: wild stuff about the ancient cult of the Ramas that
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  Speaker 1: everybody thought was dead a thousand years ago. We know
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  Speaker 1: that Kainon is tied up somehow with Delgone, who is
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  Speaker 1: a most efficient bandit, and we know that some of
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  Speaker 1: the top criminals of the whole system are filtering in
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  Speaker 1: to join up Knighton and Walshi of Terra, famous of
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  Speaker 1: Mercury Araut of Callisto Colony. And I believe your old
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  Speaker 1: comrade in arms Lujar. The Venusian Stark gave a slight start,
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  Speaker 1: and Ashton smiled briefly. Oh, yes, he said, I heard
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  Speaker 1: about that. Then he sobered. You can figure that set
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  Speaker 1: up for yourself. Eric. The barbarians are going to go
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  Speaker 1: out and fight some kind of a holy war to
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  Speaker 1: suit the entirely unholy purposes of men like a Delgone
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  Speaker 1: and the others. Half a world is going to be raped.
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  Speaker 1: Blood is going to run deep in the dry lands,
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  Speaker 1: and it will all be barbarian blood spilled for a
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  Speaker 1: lying promise, and the carrion crows of Valcus will get
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  Speaker 1: fat on it unless somehow we can stop it. He paused,
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  Speaker 1: then said flatly, I want you to go to Valcus, Eric,
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  Speaker 1: but as my agent, I won't put it on the
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  Speaker 1: grounds that you'd be doing civilization a service. You don't
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  Speaker 1: know anything to civilization, Lord knows, but you might save
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  Speaker 1: a lot of your own kind of people from getting slaughtered,
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  Speaker 1: to say nothing of the Border State's martians will be
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  Speaker 1: the first to get Kainin's axe. Also, you could wipe
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  Speaker 1: that twenty year hitch of Luna off the slate, maybe
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  Speaker 1: even work up a desire to make a man of
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  Speaker 1: yourself instead of a sort of tiger wandering from one
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  Speaker 1: killed to the next. He added, if you live, yes,
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  Speaker 1: said Ashton, I'm clever, but I'm not a liar. What
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  Speaker 1: I've told you is true. Stark carefully ground out the
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  Speaker 1: cigarette beneath his heel. Then he looked up. Suppose I
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  Speaker 1: agree to become your agent in this and go off
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  Speaker 1: to Valcus to prevent me from forgetting all about you.
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  Speaker 1: Then Ashton said, softly, you're a word, Eric. You get
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  Speaker 1: to know a man pretty well when you know him
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  Speaker 1: from boyhood on up. Your word is enough. There was
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  Speaker 1: a silence, and then Stark held out his hand. All right, Simon,
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  Speaker 1: but only for this one deal. After that, no promises.
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  Speaker 1: Fair enough. They shook hands. I can't give you any suggestions,
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  Speaker 1: Ashton said, You're on your own completely. You can get
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  Speaker 1: in touch with me through the Earth Commission office in Tarok.
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  Speaker 1: You know where that is. Stark nodded, on the dry
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  Speaker 1: Land border. Good luck to you, Eric. He turned and
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  Speaker 1: they walked back together to where the three men waited.
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  Speaker 1: Ashton nodded, and they began to dismantle the manning. Neither
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  Speaker 1: they nor Ashton looked back as they rode away. Stark
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  Speaker 1: watched them go. He filled his lungs with the cold
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  Speaker 1: air and stretched. Then he roused the beast out of
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  Speaker 1: the sand. It had rested and was willing to carry
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  Speaker 1: him again, as long as he did not press it.
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  Speaker 1: He set off again across the desert. The ridge grew
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  Speaker 1: as he approached it, looming into a low mountain chain
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  Speaker 1: much worn by the ages. A pass opened before him,
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  Speaker 1: twisting between the hills of barren rock. He traversed it,
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  Speaker 1: coming out at the farther end, above the basin of
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  Speaker 1: a dead sea, A lifeless land stretched away into darkness,
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  Speaker 1: a vast waste of desolation, more lonely even than the desert.
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  Speaker 1: And between the sea bottom and the foothills, Stark saw
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  Speaker 1: the lights of Valcus. End of Part one, Part two
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  Speaker 1: of Queen of the Martian Catacombs Lee Douglas Brackett. This
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Liebrevox recording is in the public domain. Part two. There
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  Speaker 1: were many lights far below, tiny print pricks of flame
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  Speaker 1: where torches burned in the streets beside the low canal,
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  Speaker 1: the thread of black water that was all that remained
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  Speaker 1: of a forgotten ocean. Stark had never been here before.
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  Speaker 1: Now he looked at the city that sprawled down the
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  Speaker 1: slope under the low moons, and shivered the primitive twitching
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  Speaker 1: of the nerves that an animal feels in the presence
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  Speaker 1: of death. For the streets where the torches flared were
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  Speaker 1: only a tiny part of Vulcus. The life of the
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  Speaker 1: city had flowed downward from the cliff tops, following the
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  Speaker 1: dropping level of the sea. Five cities, the oldest scarcely
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  Speaker 1: recognizable as the place of human habitation. Five harbors, the
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  Speaker 1: docks and keys still standing, half buried in the dust,
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  Speaker 1: five ages of Martian history browned on the topmost level
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  Speaker 1: with the ruined palace of the old pirate kings of Vulcus.
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  Speaker 1: The towers still stood, broken but indomitable, and in the
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  Speaker 1: moonlight they had a sleeping look, as though they dreamed
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  Speaker 1: of blue water and the sound of waves, and of
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  Speaker 1: tall ships coming in heavy with treasure. Stark picked his
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  Speaker 1: way slowly down the steep descent. There was something fascinating
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  Speaker 1: to him in the stone houses, roofless and silent in
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  Speaker 1: the night. The paving stone still showed the rutting of
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: wheels where carters had driven to the marketplace and princes
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  Speaker 1: had gone by in gilded chariots. The keys were scarred
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: where ships had lain against them, rising and falling with
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the tides. Stark's senses had developed in a strange school,
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  Speaker 1: and the thin veneer of civilization he affected had not
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  Speaker 1: dulled them. Now it seemed to him that the wind
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  Speaker 1: had the echo of voices in it, and the smell
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: of spices and fresh spilled blood. He was not surprised when,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: in the last level above the living town, armed men
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  Speaker 1: came out of the shadows and stopped him. They were lean,
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  Speaker 1: dark men, very wiry, and light of foot, and their
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  Speaker 1: faces were the faces of wolves, not primitive wolves at all,
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  Speaker 1: but beasts of prey that had been civilized for so
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: many thousands of years that they could afford to forget it.
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  Speaker 1: They were courteous, and Stark would not have cared to
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: disobey their request. He gave his name Delgne, sent for me.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: The leader of the Valcissians nodded his narrow head. You're expected.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: His sharp eyes had taken in every feature of the earthmen,
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  Speaker 1: and Stark knew that his description had been memorized down
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  Speaker 1: to the last detail. Valcus guarded its doors with care.
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  Speaker 1: Ask in the city, said the sentry. Anyone can direct
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  Speaker 1: view to the palace. Stark nodded and went on down
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  Speaker 1: through the long dead street in the moonlight and the silence.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: With shocking suddenness, he was plunged into the streets of
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the living. It was very late now, but Valcus was
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: awake and stirring, seething. Rather, the narrow, twisting waves were crowded.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: The laughter of women came down from the flat roofs.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Torchlight flared gold and scarlet, lighting the wine shops, making
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: blacker the shadows of the alley mouse. Stark left his
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: beast at a sarry on the edge of the canal.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: The paddocks were already jammed. Stork recognized the long legged
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: brutes of the dry land breed, and as he left,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the caravan past him, coming in with a jangling of
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: bronze bangles and a great hissing and stamping in the dust.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: The riders were tall barbarians, Keshi, Stark thought, from the
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: way they braided their tawny hair, they wore plain leather,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: and their blue eyed women rowed like queens. Vulcus was
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: full of them for days. It seemed they must have
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: poured in across the dead sea bottom from the distant
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: oasises and the barren deserts of the back blocks. Brawny
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: warriors of Kesh and Shun making holiday beside the Low Canal,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: where there was more water than any of them had
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: seen in their lives. They were in vulcus, these barbarians,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: but they were not part of it. Shouldering his way
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: through the streets, Stark got the peculiar flavor of the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: town that he guessed could never be touched or changed
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: by anything. In a square, a girl danced to the
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: music of harp and drum. The air was heavy with
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: the smell of wine and burning pitch and incense. A
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: lithe swart Alcisian, in his bright kilt and jeweled girdle,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: leaped out and danced with the girl, his teeth flashing
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: as he whirled and postured. In the end he bore
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: her off, laughing, her black hair hanging down his back.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Women looked at Stark, women graceful as cats, bare to
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the waist, their skirts slit at the sides above the thigh,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: wearing no ornaments but the tiny golden bells that were
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the particular property of the Low Canal towns. So that
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: the air is always filled with their delicate, wanton, chiming.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Vulcus had a laughing, wicked soul. Stark had been in
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: many places in his life, but never one before that
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: beat with such a pulse of evil. Incredibly ancient, but
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: strong and gay. He found the palace at last, a great,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: rambling structure of quarried stone, with doors and shutters of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: beaten bronze, closed against the dust and the incessant wind.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: He gave his name to the guard and was taken inside,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: through halls hung with antique tas arpestries, the flagged floors
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: worn hollow by countless generations of sandaled feet. Again, Stark's
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: half wild senses told him that life within these halls
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: had not been placid. The very stones whispered of age,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: old violence, the shadows were heavy with the lingering ghosts
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of passion. He was brought before Delgone, the lord of Valcus,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: in the big central room that served as his headquarters.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Delgne was lean and catlike, after the fashion of his race.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: His black hair showed a stipling of silver, and the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: hard beauty of his face was strongly marked, the lines
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: drawn deep, and all the softness of youth long gone away.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: He wore a magnificent harness, and his eyes under fine
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: dark brows, were like drops of hot gold. He looked
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: up as the earthmen came in one swift, penetrating glance.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Then he said, you're Stark. There was something odd about
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: those yellow eyes, bright and keen as a killer hawks,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: yet somehow secret, as though the true thoughts behind them
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: would never show through. Instinctively, Stark disliked the man, but
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: he nodded and came up to the council table, turning
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: his attention to the others in the room, A handful
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: of martians, low canalers, chiefs and fighting men from their
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: ornaments and their proud looks, and several outlanders their conventional
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: garments incongruous in this place. Stark knew them all, Knighton
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and Walsh of terror, famous of Mercury, Arad of Callisto Colony,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and Luhar of Venus pirates, thieves, renegades, and each one
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: an expert in his line. Ashton was right, there was
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: something big, something very big and very ugly, shaping between
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Vulcus and the dry Lands. But that was only a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: quick passing thought in Stark's mind. It was on Luhar
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that his attention centered bitter memory and hatred had come
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: to savage life within him as soon as he saw
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the Venusian. The man was handsome, a cashier officer of
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the crack Venusian guards, very slim, very elegant, his pale
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: hair crops short and curling, his stark tunic fitting him
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: like a second skin. He said the Umborigine, I thought
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: we had enough barbarians here without sending for more. Stark
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: said nothing. He began to walk toward Luhar. Luhar said, sharply,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: there's no use in getting nasty, Stark. Past scores are past.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: We're on the same side now. The Earthman spoke then,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: with a peculiar gentleness. We were on the same side
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: once before against Tero Venus metals. Remember, I remember very well,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Luhar was speaking now, not to Stalk alone, but to
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: every one in the room. I remember that your innocent
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: barbarian friends had me tied to the block there in
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: the swamps, and that you were watching the whole thing
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: with honest pleasure. If the company men hadn't come along,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I'd be screaming there yet you sold us out. Stork said,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: you had it coming. He continued to walk toward Luhar,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Delgne spoke. He did not raise his voice, yet Stark
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: felt the impact of his command. There will be no
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: fighting here, Dalgne said, you are both hired mercenaries, and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: while you take my pay, you will forget your private quarrels.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Do you understand. Leuhar nodded and sat down, smiling out
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: of the corner of his mouth at Stark, who stood
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: looking with narrowed eyes at Delgne. He was still half
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: blind with his anger against Leehar. His hands ached for
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the kill, but even so he recognized the power in Delgne.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: A sound, shockingly akin to the growl of a beast,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: echoed in his throat. Then gradually he relaxed. The man Dalgne.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: He would have challenged, but to do so would wreck
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the mission that he had promised to carry out here
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: for Ashton. He shrugged and joined the others at the table.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Walsh of Terra rose abruptly and began to prowl back
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and forth. How much longer do we have to wait?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: He demanded. Delgne poured wine into a bronze goblet. Don't
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: expect me to know, he snapped. He shoved the flagon
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: along the table toward Stark. Stark helped himself. The wine
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: was warm and sweet on his tongue. He drank slowly,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: sitting relaxed and patient, while the others smoked nervously. A
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: rose to pace up and down. Stark wondered what or
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: who they were waiting for, but he did not ask.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Time went by. Stark raised his head, listening, what's that
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Their duller ears had heard nothing but del Gone rose
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: and flung open the shutters of the window near him.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: The Martian dawn, brilliant and clear, flooded the dead sea
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: bottom with harsh light. Beyond the black line of the canal,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: a caravan was coming toward Balkus through the blowing dust.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: It was no ordinary caravan. Warriors rode before and behind,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: their spearheads blazing at the sunrise, jeweled trappings on the beasts,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: a litter with curtains of crimson silk, barbaric splendor, clear
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and thin. On the air, came the wild music of
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: pipes and the deep throated throbbing of drums. Stark guest,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: without being told, who it was that rode out of
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the desert like a king. Dlgone made a harsh sound
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: in his throat. It's kind of At last, he said,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: and swung around from the window. His eyes sparkled with
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: some private amusement. Let us go and welcome the giver
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of life. Stark went with them out into the crowded streets.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: A silence had fallen on the town. Volcissian and Barbarian
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: alike were caught now in a breathless excitement. Pressing through
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the narrow ways flowing toward the canal. Stark found himself
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: beside del Gone in the great square of the slave market,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: standing on the auction block above the heads of the throng.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: The stillness the expectancy of the crowd were uncanny to
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the measured thunder of drums and the wild scurling of
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: desert pipes. Chynon of Shun came into Valcus, straight into
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the square of the slave market. The caravan came, and
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: the people pressed back against the walls to make way
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: for them, stamping of padded hoofs on the stones, ring
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and clash of harness, brave glitter of spears, and the
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: great two handed broad swords of the dry lands, with
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: drum beats to shake the heart, and the savage cry
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: of the pipes to set the blood leaping, Stark could
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: not restrain an appreciative thrill in himself. The advance guard
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: reached the slave block. Then, with a deafening abruptness, the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: drummers crossed their sticks, and the pipers ceased, and there
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: was utter silence in the square. It lasted for almost
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: a minute, and then from every Barbarian throat, the name
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of Canon roared out, until the stones of the city
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: echoed with it. A man leaped from the back of
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: his mouth to the block, standing at its outer edge,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: where all could see, his hands flung up. I greet you,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: my brothers, and the cheering went on. Stark studied Kinon,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: surprised that he was so young. He had expected a
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: gray beard prophet, and instead here was a brawny shouldered
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: man of war, standing as tall as himself. Cainon's eyes
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: were a bright, compelling blue, and his face was the
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: face of a young eagle. His voice had deep music
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: in it, the kind of voice that can sway crowds
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to madness. Stark looked from him to the rap faces
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: of the people. Even the Valcisians had caught the mood,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and thought that Kinon was the most dangerous man he
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: had ever seen this tawny haired barbarian in his kilt
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: of Bron's bossed leather, already half a god. Canon shouted
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: to the captain of his warriors, bring the captive and
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the old man. Then he turned again to the crowd,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: urging them to silence. When at last the square was still,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: his voice rang challengingly across it. There are still those
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: who doubt me. Therefore I have come to Valcus, and
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: this day now I will show proof that I have
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: not lied. A roar and a mutter from the crowd.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Canon's men were lifting to the block a tottering agent
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: so bowed with years that he could barely stand, and
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: a youth of terran stock. The boy was in chains.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: The old man's eyes burned, and he looked at that
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: boy beside him with a terrible joy. Stark settled down
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: to watch the litter with the curtains of and silk
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: were now beside the block. A girl, a Valkissian, stood
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: beside it, looking up. It seemed to Stark that her
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: green eyes rested on Kinnon with a smoldering anger. He
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: glanced away from the serving girl and saw that the
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: curtains were partly open. A woman lay in the cushions within.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: He could not see much of her, except that her
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: hair was like dark flame, and she was smiling, looking
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: at the old man and the naked boy. Then her glance,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: very dark in the shadows of the litter, shifted away,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and Stark followed it and saw Delgne. Every muscle of
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Delgon's body was drawn taut, and he seemed unable to
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: look away from the woman in the litter. Stark smiled
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: very slightly. The outlanders were cynically absorbed in what was
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: going on. The crowd had settled again to that silent,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: breathless tension. The sun blazed down out of the empty sky.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: The dust blew, and the wind was sharp with the
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: smell of living flesh. The old man reached out and
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: touched the boy's smooth shoulder, and his gums showed bluish
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: as he laughed. Canon was speaking again. There are those
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: who doubt me, I say, those who scoffed when I
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: said that I possessed the ancient secret of the ramas
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: of long ago, the secret by which one man's mind
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: may be transferred into another's body. But none of you,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: after today will doubt that I hold that secret. I
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: myself am not a rama. He glanced down along his
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: powerful frame, half consciously flexing his muscles, and laughed, Why
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: should I be a rama? I have no need as
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: yet for the sending of mines. Answering laughter, half riveled
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: from the crowd, No, said Canon, I am not a rama.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: I am a man like you. Like you, I have
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: no wish to grow old and in the end to die.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: He swung abruptly to the old man, You, grandfather, will
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: you not wish to be young again, to ride out
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: to battle to take the woman of your choice. The
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: old man wailed, yes, yes, and it's gazedwelt hungrily upon
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the boy. And you shall be the strength of a god,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: rang in Kinon's voice. He turned again to the crowd
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: and cried out, four years I suffered in the desert alone,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: searching for the lost secret of the Ramas, and I
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: found it. My brothers, I hold their ancient power, I
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: alone in these two hands, I hold it, and with
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: it I shall bring a new era for our dry
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: land races. There will be fighting, yes, there will be bloodshed.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: But when that is over and the men of Cash
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: and Shun are free from their ancient bondage of thirst,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and the men of the low canals have regained their own,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: then I shall give new life, unending life, to all
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: who have followed me. The agent and lamed and wounded
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: can choose new bodies from among the captives. There will
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: be no more age, no more sickness, no more death.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: A rippling, shivering sigh from the crowd, eyeballs gleaming in
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the bitter light, mouths open on the hunger that is
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: nearest to the human soul. Lest anyone's doll doubt my promise,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: said Kinon. Watch, Watch, and I will show you. They watched,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: not stirring, hardly breathing, They watched the drums struck up
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: a slow and solemn beat. The captains of the warriors,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: with an escort of six men, marched to the litter,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: and took from the woman's hands a bundle wrapped in silks,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: bearing it as though it were precious beyond belief. He
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: came to the block and lifted it up, and Kinon
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: took it from him. The silken wrappings fluttered loose, fell away,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and in Kinnon's hands gleamed two crystal crowns and a
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: shining rod. He held him high, the sunlight glancing in
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: coal fire from the crystal behold, he said, the crowns
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: of the The crowd drew breath, then one long, rasping ah.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: The solemn drum beat never faltered. It was as though
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: the pulse of the whole world throbbed within it. Kinon turned,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the old man began to tremble. Kinon placed one crown
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: on his wrinkle scalp, and the tottering creature winced, as
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: though in pain, but his face was ecstatic relentlessly. Chinon
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: crowned with the second circlet the head of the frightened
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: boy Neil. He said, they knelt standing tall above them.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Chinon held the rod in his two hands between the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: crystal crowns. Light was born in the rod. It was
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: no reflection of the sun, blue and brilliant. It flashed
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: along the rod and leaped from it to waken, answering
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: brilliance in the crowns, so that the old man in
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: the youth were haloed with a chill supernatural fire. The
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: drum beat ceased. The old man cried out, His hands
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: plucked feebly at his head, then went to his breast
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: and clenched there. Quite suddenly he fell forward over his knees.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: A convulsive tremor shook him. Then he lay still. The
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: boy swayed and then fell forward, also with a clashing
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: of chains. The light died out of the crowns Kinon
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: stood a moment longer, rigid as a statue, holding the rod,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: which still flickered with blue lightning. Then that also died.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Kinon lowered the rod. In a ringing voice, he cried, arise, grandfather.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: The boy stirred slowly, very slowly. He rose to his feet,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: holding out his hands. He stared at them, and then
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: touched his thighs, and his flat belly and the deep
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: curve of his chest, up the firm, young throat. The
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: wondering fingers went to the smooth cheeks, to the thick
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: fair hair above the crown. A cry broke from him,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: with the perfect accent of the dry lands. The earth
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: boy cried in Martian, I am in the Uth's body,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: I am young again. A scream, a whil of ecstasy
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: burst from the crowd. It swayed like a great beast.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: White faces turned upward. The boy fell down and embraced
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Kynon's knees. Eric John Stalk found that he himself was
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: trembling slightly. He glanced at Delgonne and the outlanders. The
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Alcision wore a look of intense satisfaction under his mask
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: of awe. The others were almost as rapt and open
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: mouthed as the crowd. Stork turned his head slightly and
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: looked down at the litter. One white hand was already
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: drawing the curtains, so that the scarlet silk appeared to
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: shake with silent laughter. The serving girl beside it had
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: not moved still. She looked up at Chinon, and there
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: was nothing in her eyes but hate. After that, there
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: was bedlam, the rushed and trample of the crowd, the
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: beating of drums, the screaming of pipes, deafening uproar. The
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: crowns and the crystal rod were wrapped again and taken away.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: Kinon raised up the boy and struck off the chains
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: of captivity. He mounted, with the boy beside him. Delgon
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: walked before him through the streets, and so did the outlanders.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: The body of the old man was disregarded except by
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: some of Kainon's barbarians, who wrapped it in a white
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: cloth and took it away. Kinon of Shun came in
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: triumph to Delgon's palace. Standing beside the litter, he gave
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: his hand to the woman, who stepped out and walked
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: beside him through the bronze door. The women of Shun
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: are tall and strong, bred to stand beside their man
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: in war as well as love. And this red haired
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: daughter of the dry Lands was enough to stop a
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: man's heart. With her proud step and her white shoulders,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: and her eyes that were the color of smoke. Stark's
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: gaze followed her from a distance. Presently, in the council
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: room were gathered Delgon at the Outlanders, Chinon and his
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: bright haired queen, and no other Martians but those three.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Chinon sprawled out in the high seat at the head
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: of the table. His face was beaming. He wiped the
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: sweat off it, and then filled a goblet with wine,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: looking around the room with his blue eyes. Fill up, gentlemen,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I give you a toast. He lifted the goblet. Here
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: the secret of the Ramas and the gift of life.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Stork put down his goblet, still empty. He stared directly
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: at Cainon. You have no secret, said Stork, deliberately. Cainon
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: sat perfectly still, except that very slowly he put his
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: own goblet down. Nobody else moved. Stork's voice sounded loud
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: in the stillness. Furthermore, he said that demonstration in the
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: square with a lie. From beginning to end end of
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Part two of Queen of the Martian Catacombs by Lee
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Douglas Brackett. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Part three. Stark's words had the effect of an electric
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: shock on the listeners. Del Gone's black brows went up,
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: and the woman came forward a little to stare at
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: the earthman with profound interest. Kinon asked a question of
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: nobody in particular who he demanded, is this great black ape?
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Del Gone told him. Ah, yes, said Canon Eric John Stark,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: the wild man from Mercury. He scowled threateningly. Very well,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: explain how I lied in the square, certainly. First of all,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: the earth boy was a prisoner. He was told what
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: he had to do to save his neck, and then
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: with careful fully coached in his part. Secondly, the crystal
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: rod and the crowns are a fake. You used a
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: simple purcell unit in the rod to produce an electronic
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: brush discharge that made the blue light. Thirdly, you gave
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: the old man poison, probably by means of a sharp
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: point on the crown. I saw him WinCE when you
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: put it on him. Stark paused, The old man died,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: the boy went through his sham, and that was that.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Again there was a flat silence. Luhar crouched over the table,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: his face avid with hope. The woman's eyes dwelt on
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: Stark and did not turn away. Then suddenly Khanon laughed.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: He roared with it until the tears ran. It was
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: a good show, though, he said, at last, damned good.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: You'll have to admit that. The crowd swallowed it. Horns,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: hoof and hide. He got up and came round to Stark,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: clapping him on the shoulder a blow that would have
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: laid a lesser man flat. I like you, while man
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: nobody else here had the guts to speak out. But
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: I'll give you odds. They were all thinking the same thing.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Stark said, Just where were you Kinon during those years
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: you were supposed to be suffering alone in the desert. Curious,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: aren't you? Well, I'll let you in on a secret.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Canon lapsed abruptly into perfectly good colloquial English. I was
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: on terror, learning about things like the Purcell electronic discharge.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Reaching over, he poured wine for Stark and held it
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: out to him. Now you know, now, we all know.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: So let's wash the dust out of our throats and
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: get down to business. Stark said, No. Canon looked at him.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: What now you're lying to your people? Stark said, flatly,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: you're making false promises to lead them into war. Kinon
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: was genuinely puzzled by Stark's anger, But of course, he said,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: is there anything new or strange in that? Luhar spoke up,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: his voice, acid with hate. Watch out for him, Chinon,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: he'll sell you out. He'll cut your throat if he
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: thinks it best for the barbarians. Del Gone said, Stark's
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: reputation is known all over the system. There's no need
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: to tell us that again. No. Kinon shook his head,
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: looking very candidly at Stark. We sent for you, didn't we?
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Knowing that all right, he stepped back a little so
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: that the others were included in what he was going
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: to say. My people have a just cause for war.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: They go hungry and thirsty. While the city states along
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: the dry land border hall all the water sources and
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: grow fat. Do you know what it means to watch
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: your children die crying for water on a long march,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: to come at last to the oasis and find the
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: well sanded in by a storm, and go on again
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: trying to save your people and your herd. Well I do.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: I was born and bred in the dry lands, and
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: many a time I've cursed the border states with a
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: tongue like a dry stick. Stark, you should know the
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: workings of the Barbarian mind as well as I do.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: The men of Kesh and Shun are traditional enemies, radying
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: and thieving, open warfare over water and grass. I had
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: to give them a rallying point, a faith strong enough
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: to unite them. Resurrecting the Rama legend was the only
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: hope I had, and it has worked. The tribes are
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: one people. Now they can go on and take what
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: belongs to them, the right to live. I'm not really
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: so far out in my promises at that. Now, do
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: you understand? Stork studied him with his cold cat eyes.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: Where do the men of Volcus come in, the men
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: of Jakara and Barrakesh, where do we come in? The
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: hired Bravos cannon smiled. It was a perfectly sincere smile,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: and it had no humor in it, only a great
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: pride and a cheerful cruelty. We're going to build an empire,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: he said softly. The city states are disorganized, too starved
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: or too fat to fight, and Earth is taking us over.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: Before long, Mars will be hardly more than another Luna.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: We're going to fight that Drylander and low Canal are together.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: We're going to build a power out of dust and blood,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and there will be loot in plenty to go round.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: That's where my men come in, said Dalgone and left.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: We low Ganalars live by Rapine and you, said Canon,
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: The hired Bravos are in it to help. I need
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: you and the Venusian Stark to train my men to
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: plan campaigns. To give me all you know of guerrilla fighting.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Knighton has a fast cruiser. He'll bring a supplies from outside.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Walsh is a genius, they tell me at fashion in Weapons.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Famous is a mechanic and also the cleverest thief this
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: side of Hell. Saving your presence, delgon Arod organized and
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: bossed the Brotherhood of the Little Worlds, which had the
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: Space Patrol going mad for years. He can do the
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: same for us. So there you have it, now, Stark,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: what do you say? The earthman answered slowly, I'll go
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: along with you as long as no harm comes to
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: the tribes. Kinon laughed, Ah, no need to worry about that.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: Just one more question, Stark said. What's going to happen
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: when the people find out that this rama stuff is
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: just a myth? They won't, said Kinon. The crowns will
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: be destroyed in battle, and it will be very tragic,
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: but very final. No one knows how to make more
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: of them. Oh, I can handle the people. They'll be
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: happy enough with good land and water. He looked around
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: then and said plaintively, And now can we sit down
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: and drink like civilized men. They sat, the wine went round,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: and the vultures of volkus strength to each other's luck
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: and loot, and Stark learned that the woman's name was beryld.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Kinon was happy he had made his point with the people,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: and he was celebrating. But Stark noticed that though his
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: tongue grew thick, it did not loosen. Leuhar grew steadily
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: more morose and silent, glancing covertly across the table at
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Stark dal gone toyed with his goblet and his yellow gaze,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: which gave nothing away, moved restlessly between Berold and Stark.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Berold drank not at all. She sat a little apart,
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: with her face in shadow, and her red mouth smiled.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Her thoughts, too, were her own secret, But Stork knew
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: that she was still watching him, and he knew that
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: dal Gone was aware of it. Presently, Canon said Dalgone,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: and I have some talking to do, so I'll bid you, gentlemen,
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: farewell for the present. You, Stark and loehar I'm going
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: back into the desert at midnight, and you're going with me,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: so you'd better get some sleep. Stork nodded, he rose
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: and went out with the others. An attendant showed him
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: to his quarters in the north wing. Stork had not
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: rested for twenty four hours, and he was glad of
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: the chance to sleep. He lay down, The wine spun
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: in his head, and Beryl's smile mocked him. Then his
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: thoughts turned to Ashton and his promise. Presently he slept
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: and dreamed he was a boy on Mercury again, running
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: down a path that led from a cave mouth to
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: the floor of a valley above him. The mountains rose
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: into the sky and were lost beyond the shallow atmosphere.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: The rocks danced in the terrible heat, but the soles
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: of his feet were like iron, and trod them lightly.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: He was quite naked. The blaze of the sun between
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: the valley walls was like the shimmering heart of hell.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: It did not seem to the boy in Chuka that
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: it could ever be cold again. Yet he knew that
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: when darkness came, there would be ice on the shallows
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: of the river. The gods were constantly at war. He
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: passed a place ruined by earthquake. It was a mine,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: and in Chaka remembered dimly that he had once lived
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: there with several white skinned creatures shaped like himself. He
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: went on without a second glance. He was searching for Tika.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: When he was old enough, he would mate with her.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: He wanted to hunt with her now, for she was
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: fleet and as keen. As he at scenting out the
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: great lizards, he heard her voice calling his name. There
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: was terror in it, and in Chaka began to run.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: He saw her crouch between two huge boulders, her light
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: fur stained with blood. A vast, black winged shadow swooped
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: down upon him. He glared at him with its yellow eyes,
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: and its long beak tore at him. He thrust his
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: spear at it, but Tellowans hooked into his shoulder, and
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: the golden eyes were close to him, bright and full
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: of death. He knew those eyes. Cheeka screamed, but the
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: sound faded. Everything faded, but those eyes. He sprang up,
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: grappling with a thing, a man's voice yelling, a man's hands,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: thrusting him away. The dream receated. Stork came back to reality,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: dropping the scared attendant who had come to waken him.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: The man cringed away from him. Dalgn sent me, he
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: want you in the council room. Then he turned and fled.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: Stark shook himself. The dream had been terribly real. He
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: went down to the council room. It was dusk now
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: and the torches were lighted. Dalgn was waiting, and Beryl
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: sat beside him at the table. They were alone there.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: Dalgon looked up with his golden eyes. I have a
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: job for you, Stark, he said, you remember the captain
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: of Canon's men in the today I do. His name
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: is Frika, and he's a good man. But he's addicted
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: to a certain vice. He'll be up to his ears
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: in it by now, and somebody has to get him
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: back by the time Canon leaves. Will you see to it?
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Stark glanced at Beryld. It seemed to him that she
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: was amused. Whether at him or at Dalgone, he could
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: not tell. He asked, where will I find him? There's
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: only one place where he can get his particular poison.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: Colla's out on the edge of Valcas. It's in the
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: old city, beyond the lower keys. Del Gone smiled. You
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: may have to be ready with your fists, Stark, Frica
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: may not want to come. Stark hesitated. Then I'll do
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: my best, he said, and went out into the dusky
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: streets of Alcas. He crossed a square heading away from
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: the palace. A twisting lane swallowed him up, and quite
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: suddenly some one took his arm and set rapidly. Smile
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: at me, and then turn aside into the alley. The
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: hand on his arm was small and brown, the voice
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: very pretty, with its accompaniment of little chiming bells. He
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: smiled as she had bade him, and turned aside into
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: the alley, which was barely more than a crack between
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: two rows of houses. Swiftly he put his hands against
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: the wall, so that the girl was prisoned between them.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: A green eyed girl with golden bells braided in her
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: black hair, and impudent breasts bare above a jeweled girdle.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: A handsome girl with a proud look to her, the
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: serving girl who had stood beside the litter in the
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: square and had watched Canan with such bleak hatred. Well,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: said Stork, and what do you want with me, little one?
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: She answered, My name is Fianna, and I do not
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: intend to kill you, neither will I run away. Stork
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: let his hand Antstrop. Did you follow me, Fiana? I did.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: Dlgon's palace is full of hidden ways, and I know
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: them all. I was listening behind the panel in the
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: council room. I heard you speak out against Kinon, and
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: I heard Delgon's order just now. So so if you
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: met what you said about the tribes, you had better
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: get away now while you have the chance. Kinon lied
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: to you. He will use you and then kill you,
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: as he will use and then destroy his own people.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: Her voice was hot with bitter fury. Stark gave her
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: a slow smile that might have meant anything or nothing.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: You're a valkissie, and Fiana, what do you care what
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: happens to the barbarians? Her slightly tilted green eyes looked
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: scornfully into his I'm not trying to trap you, Earthman.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: I hate Kinon, and my mother was a woman of
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the desert. She paused, and then went on somberly. Also,
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: I serve the lady Berold, and I have learned many things.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: There is trouble coming, greater trouble than Cainon knows. She
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: asked suddenly, what do you know about the Ramas? Nothing,
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: he answered, except that they don't exist. Now if they
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: ever did, Fianna gave him an odd look. Perhaps they don't.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: Will you listen to me, earthman from Mercury? Will you
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: get away now that you know you're marked for death?
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: Stroke said no, even if I tell you that Dulgne
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: has set a trap for you at Collas. No, but
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: I will thank you for your warning, Fiona. He bent
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: and kissed her, because she was very young and honest.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: Then he turned and went on his way. End of
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: Part three, Part four of Queen of the Martian Catacombs
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: by Lee Douglas Brackett This LibriVox recording is in the
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: public domain. Part four. Night came swiftly. Stark left behind
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: him the torches and the laughter and the sounding harps,
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: coming into the streets of the old city, where there
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: was nothing but silence and the light of the low moons.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: He saw the lower keys, great looming shapes of marble,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: rounded and worn by time, and went toward them. Presently
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: he found that he was following a faint but definite
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: path threaded between the ancient houses. It was very still,
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: so that the dry whisper of the drifting dust was audible.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: He passed under the shadow of the keys and turned
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: into a broad way that had once led up from
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: the harbor. A little way ahead, on the other side,
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: he saw a tall building half fallen in ruin. Its
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: windows were shuttered, barred with light, and from it came
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: the sound of voices and a thin thread of music,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: Very reedy and evil. Stark approached it, slipping through the
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: ragged shadows, as though he had no more weight to
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: him than a drift of smoke. Once a door banged,
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: and a man came out of Collus and passed by.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: Going down to Valcus, Stark saw his face in the moonlight.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: It was the face of a beast rather than a man.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: He muttered to himself as he went, and once he laughed,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: and Stark felt a loathing in him. He waited until
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: the sound of footsteps had died away. The ruined houses
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: gave no sign of danger. A lizard rustled between the stones,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: and that was all. The moonlight lay bright and still
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: on Colla's door. Stark found a little short of rock
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: and tossed it so that it made a sharp snicking
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: sound against the shadowed wall behind him. Then he held
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: his breath listening. No one nothing stirred. Only the dry
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: wind sighed in the empty houses. Stark went out across
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: the open space, and nothing happened. He flung open the
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: door of Kala's dive. Yellow lights spilled out, and a
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: choking wave of hot and stuffy air. Inside there were
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: tall lamps with quartz lenses, each of which poured down
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: a beam of throbbing gold orange light. And in the
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: little pools of radiance on filthy furs and cushions on
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: the floor lay men and women whose faces were slack
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: and beasteel. Stark realized now what secret vice Kala sold here. Shanga,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: the going back the radiation that caused temporary artificial atavism
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: and let men wallow for a time in beasthood. It
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: was supposed to have been stamped out when the Lady
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Fan's dark shanga ring had been destroyed, but it still
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: persisted in places like this outside the law. He looked
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: for Frika and recognized the tall barbarian. He was sprawled
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: under one of the shanga lamps, eyes closed, face brutish,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: growling and twitching in sleep like the beast he had
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: temporarily become. A voice spoke from behind Stark's shoulder. I
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: am Kala. What do you wish, outlander? He turned. Kala
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: might have been beautiful once, a thousand years ago, as
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: you reckon sin. She wore still the sweet chiming bells
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: in her hair, and Stark thought of Fianna. The woman's
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: ravaged face turned him sick. It was like the reedy
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: pipy music woven out of the very heart of evil.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: Yet her eyes were shrewd, and he knew that she
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: had not missed his searching look around the room, nor
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: his interest in Rica. There was a note of warning
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: in her voice. He did not want trouble yet not
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: until he found some hint of the trap Fianna had
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: told him of. He said, bring me wine. Will you
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: try the lamp of going back outlander? It brings much joy?
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: Perhaps later now I wish wine. She went away, clapping
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: her hands for a slatternly wench, who came between the
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: sprawled figures with an earthen mug. Stark sat down beside
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: a table where his back was to the wall, and
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: he could see both the door and the whole room.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: Kla had returned to her own heap offers by the door,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: but her basilic eyes were alert. Stark made a pretense
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: of drinking, but his mind was very busy, very cold.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: Perhaps this in itself was the trap. Frika was temporarily
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: a beast. He would fight, and Kala would shriek, and
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: the other dull eyed brutes would rise and fight also,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: But he would have needed no warning about that, and
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: Delgone himself had said there would be trouble. No, there
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: was something more. He let his gaze wander over the room.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: It was large, and there were other rooms off of it.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: The openings hung with ragged curtains. Through the rents, Stark
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: could see others of Kala's customers sprawled under shanga lamps,
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: and some of these had gone so far back from
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: humanity that they were hideous to behold. But still there
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: was no sign of danger to himself. There was only
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: one odd thing. The room nearest to where Friko sat
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: was empty, and its curtains were only partly drawn. Stark
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: began to brood on the emptiness of that room. He
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: beckoned Kalla to him. I will try the lamp, he said,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: but I wish privacy have it brought to that room there.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: Palla said, that room is taken, but I see no one.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: It is taken, it is paid for, and no one
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: may enter. I will have your lamp brought here. No,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: said Stark. The hell with it, I am going. He
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: flung down a coin and went out, moving swiftly outside,
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: He placed his eye to a crack in the nearest
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: shutter and waited. Luhar of Venus came out of the
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: empty room. His face was worried, and Stark smiled. He
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: went back and stood flat against the wall beside the door.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: In a moment, it opened, and the Venusian came out,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: drawing his gun. As he did so, Stark jumped him
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: Louhar let out one angry cry. His gun went off
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: a vicious streak of flame across the moonlight, and then
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: Stark's great hand crushed the bones of his wrist together
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: so that he dropped it, clashing of the stones. He
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: whirled around, raking Stark's face with his nails as he
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: clawed for the earthman's eyes, and Stark hit him. Leuhar
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: fell rolling over, and before he could scramble up again,
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: Stark had picked up the gun and thrown it away
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: into the ruins across the street. Leuhar came up from
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: the pavement in one catlit's spring. Stark fell with him
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: back through Colin's door, and they rolled together among the
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: foul furs and cushions. Luhar was built of spring steel,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: with no softness in him anywhere, and his long fingers
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: were locked around Stark's throat. Kallas screamed with fury. She
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: caught a whip from among her cushions, a traditional weapon
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: among the low canals, and began to lash the two
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: men impartially, her hair flying in tangled locks across her face.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: The beast steel figures under the lamps shambled to their
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: feet and growled the long lash ripped Stark's shirt and
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: the flesh of his back beneath it. He snarled and
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: staggered to his feet, with Luhar still clinging to the
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: death grip on his throat. He pushed Luhar's face away
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: from him with both hands and threw himself forward over
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: a table, so that Luhar was crushed beneath him. The
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: Venusian's breath left him with a whistling grunt, his fingers relaxed.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: Stark struck his hands away. He rose and bent over
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: Luhar and picked him up, gripping him cruelly so that
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: he turned white with the pain, and raised him high
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: and flung him bodily into the growling, beast faced men
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: who were shambling toward him. Kala leaped at Stark, cursing,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: striking him with the coiling lash. He turned. The thin
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: veneer of civilization was gone from Stark, now erased in
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: a second by the first hint of battle. His eyes
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: blazed with that cold light. He took the whip out
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: of Colla's hand and laid his palm across her evil face,
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: and she fell and lay still. He faced the ring
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: of beast steel. Shaga sodden men who walled him off
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: from what he had been sent to do. There was
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: a reddish tinge to his vision, partly blood, partly sheer rage.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: He could see Rica standing erect in the corner, his
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: head weaving from side to side brutishly. Stark raised the
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: whip and strode into the ring of men who were
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: no longer quite men. Hands struck and clawed him, bodies
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: reeled and fell away. Black eyes glittered in, red mouths squealed,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: and there was a mingling of snarls and beet steal
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: laughter in his ears. The blood lust has spread to
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: these creatures now. They swarmed upon Stark and bore him
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: down with the weight of their writhing bodies. They bit
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: him and savaged him in a blind way, and he
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: fought his way up again, shaking them off with his
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: great shoulders, trampling them under his boots. The lash hissed
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: and sang, and the smell of blood rose on the
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: choking air. Frika's dazed, brutish face swam before Stark. The
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: martian growled and flung himself forward. Stark swung the loaded
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: butt of the whip. He cracked solidly on the Shoonees temple,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: and he sagged into Stark's arms. Out of the corner
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: of his eyes, Stark saw Luhar. He had risen and
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: crept around the edge of the fight. He was behind
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: Stark now, and there was a knife in his hand.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: Hampered by Frika's weight, Stark could not leap aside as
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: Leuhar rushed in. He crouched and went backward, his head
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: and shoulders, taking the Venusian low in the belly. He
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: felt the hot kiss of the blade in his flesh,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: but the wound was glancing, and before Leuhar could strike again,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: Stark twisted like a great cat and struck him down.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: Luhar's skull rang on the flagging the Earthman's fist rose
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: and fell twice. After that, Leuhar did not move. Stark
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: got to his feet. He stood with his knees bent
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: and his shoulders flexed, looking from side to side, and
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: the sound that came out of his throat was one
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: of pure savagery. He moved forward a step or two,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: half naked, bleeding, towering like a dark colossus over the
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: lean Martians, and the brutish Throng gave back from him.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: They had taken more mauling than they liked, and there
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: was something about the outlander sepal desire to rend them
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: apart that penetrated even their shanga clouded mines. Kala sat
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: up on the floor and snarled get out. Stork stood
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: a moment or two longer, looking at them. Then he
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: lifted Frika to his feet and laid him over his
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: shoulders like a sack of meal, and went out, moving
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: neither fast nor slow, but in a straight line, and
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: way was made for him. He carried the schoonye down
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: through the silent streets and into the twisting, crowded ways
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: of Valcus. There, too, the people stared at him and
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: drew back out of his path. He came to Delgn's palace.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: The guards closed in behind him, but they did not
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: ask that he stopped. Del Gone was in the council room,
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: and Beryl was still with him. It seemed that they
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: had been waiting over their wine and their private talk.
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: Dlgon rose to his feet as Stark came in, so
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: sharply that his goblet fell and spilled a red pool
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: of wine at his feet. Stark let the shoony drop
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: to the floor. I have brought Frika he said, Luhar
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: is still at Collis. He looked into Delgon's eyes, golden
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: and cruel, the eyes of his dream. It was hard
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: not to kill. Suddenly the woman laughed, very clear and ringing,
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: and her laughter was all for Delgne. Well done, wild man,
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: she said to Stark, Kinon is lucky to have such
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: a captain. One word for the future, though, watch out
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: for Frika. He won't forgive you this, Stark's said, thickly,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: looking at Delgone. This hasn't been a night for forgiveness.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: Then he added, I can handle Freaka. Beryl said, I
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: like you while man her eyes dwelt on Stark's face, curious, compelling.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: Ride beside me. When we go, I would know more
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: about you, and she smiled. A dark flush crept over
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: Delgone's face. In a voice tight with fury, he said,
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: perhaps you've forgotten something, beryled. There is nothing for you
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: in this barbarian, this creature of an hour. He would
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: have said more in his anger, but Beryl said, sharply,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: we will not speak of time. Go now, Stark, be
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: ready at midnight. Stark went, and as he went, his
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: brow was furrowed deep by a strange doubt. At midnight
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: in the great squire of the slave market. Kinan's carava
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: and formed again, and went out of Valcus with thundering
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: drums and scurling pipes. Dalgon was there to see them go,
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: and the cheering of the people rang after them. On
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: the desert wind. Stark rode alone. He was in a
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: brooding mood and wanted no company, least of all that
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: of lady Beryld. She was beautiful, she was dangerous, and
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: she belonged to Kinon, or to Dalgone, or perhaps to
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: both of them. In Stark's experience, women like that were
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: sudden death, and he wanted no part of her at
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: any rate. Not yet, Luhar rode ahead with Kinon. He
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: had come dragging into the square at the mountain, his
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: face battered and swollen, an ugly look in his eyes.
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: Kinon gave one quick look from him to Stark, who
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: had his own scars, and said, harshly, dal Gone tells
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: me there's a blood feud between you two. I want
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: no more of it. Understand, after you're paid off, you
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: can kill each other and welcome. But not until then,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: is that clear? Stark nodded, keeping his mouth shut. Luhar
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: muttered assent, and they had not looked at each other
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: since Frika rode in his customary place by Kinon, which
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: put him near to Luhar. It seemed to Stark that
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: their beasts swung close together, more often that was necessary
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: from the roughness of the track. The big Barbarian captain
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: sat rigidly erect in his saddle, but Stark had seen
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: his face in the tarch light, sick and sweating, with
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: the brute look still clowning his eyes. There was a
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: purple mark on his temple. But Stark was quite sure
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: that Beryl had spoken the truth. Frika would not forgive
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: him either the indignity or the hangover of his unfinished wallow.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: Under the lamps of Shuanga, the dead sea bottom widened
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: away under the black sky. As they left the lights
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: of Valcus behind, winding their way over the sand and
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: the ribs of Caral dropping lower with every mile into
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: the vast basin. It was hard to believe that there
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: could be life anywhere on a world that could produce
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: such cosmic desolation. The little moons fled away, trailing their
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: eerie shadows over rock formations tortured into impossible shapes by
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: wind and water, peering into clefts that seemed to have
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: no bottom, turning the sand white as bone. The iron
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: stars blazed so close that the wind seemed edged with
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: their frosty light. And in all that endless space, nothing moved,
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: and the silence was so deep that the coughing howled
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: of a sand cat far away in the east made
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: Stark jump with its loudness. Yet Stark was not oppressed
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: by the wilderness. Born and bred to the wild and barren,
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: this desert was more kin to him than the cities
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: of men. After a while, there was a jangling of
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: brazen bangles behind him, and Fianna came up. He smiled
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: at her, and she said, rather sullenly, the lady Beryl
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: sent me to remind you of her wish. Stark glanced
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: to where the scarlet curtained litter rocked along, and his
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: eyes glinted. She's not one to let go of a thing,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: is she No. Fianna saw that no one was within earshot,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: and then said, quietly, was it as I said at
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: Coulas Stark nodded, I think a little one that I
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: owe you my life. Luhar would have killed me as
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: soon as I tackled freakom. He glanced over and touched
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: her hand where it lay on the bridle. She smiled,
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: a young girl smile that seemed very sweet in the moonlight,
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: honest and comradely. It was odd to be talking of
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: day with a pretty girl in the moonlight. Stark said,
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: why does Delgone want to kill me? He gave no
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: reason when he spoke to the man from Venus, But
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: perhaps I can guess he knows that you're as strong
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: as he is, and so he fears you. Also. The
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: lady Beryl looked at you in a certain way. I
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: thought Beryl was Kinon's woman. Perhaps she is for the time,
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: answered Fiona enigmatically. Then she shook her head, glancing around
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: with what was almost fear. I have risked much already.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: Please don't let it be known that I've spoken to
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: you beyond what I was sent to say. Her eyes
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: pleaded with him, and Stark realized with a shock that
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: Keana too stood on the edge of a quicksand don't
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: be afraid, he said, admitted, we'd better go. She swung
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: her beast around, and as she did so, she whispered,
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: be careful, Eric John Stark. Stark nodded. He rolled behind her,
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: thinking that he liked the sound of his name on
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: her lips. The lady beryled lay among her furs and cushions,
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: and even then there was no indolence about her. She
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: was relaxed as a cat is perfectly at ease, and
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: yet vibrant with life in the shadows of the litter.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: Her skin showed silver white, and her loosened hair was
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: a sweet darkness. Are you stubborn, wild man, she asked?
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: Or do you find me distasteful? He had not realized
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: before how rich and soft her voice was. He looked
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: down at the magnificent, supple length of her and said,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: I find you most damnably attractive, and that's why I'm stubborn.
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: Afraid I'm taking Kinon's pay. Should I take his woman also?
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: She laughed, half scornfully. Kinons his ambitions leave no room
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: for me. We have an agreement because the king must
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: have a queen, and he finds my council useful. You see,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: I am ambitious too. Apart from that, there is nothing.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: Stark looked at her, trying to read her smoke gray
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: eyes in the gloom, and del gone. He wants me,
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: but she hesitated, and then went on in a tone
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: quite different from before, her voice low and throbbing, with
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: a secret pleasure, as vast and elemental as the star
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: shot sky. I belong to no one, she said, I
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: am my own. Stark knew that for the moment she
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: had forgotten him. He rode for a time in silence,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: and then he said, slowly, repeating Delgon's words, perhaps you
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: have forgotten something, Beryld. There is nothing for you and me,
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: the creature of an hour. He saw her start, and
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: for a moment her eyes blowed and her breath was
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: sharply drawn. Then she laughed and said, the wild man
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: is also a parrot, and an hour can be a
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: long time, as long as eternity, if one wills it. So, yes,
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: said Stork, I have often thought so, waiting for death
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: to come at me out of a crevice in the rocks.
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: The great lizard stings, and his bite is fatal. He
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: leaned over in the saddle, his shoulders looming above hers,
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: naked in the biting wind. My hours with women are
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: short ones, he said. They come after the battle, when
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: there is time for such things. Perhaps then I'll come
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: and see you. He spurred away, and left her without
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: a backward look, and the skin of his back tingled
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: with the expectancy of a flying knife. But the only
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: thing that followed him was a disturbing echo of laughter.
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: Down the wind came Canon beckoned Stalk to his side
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: and pointed out at the cruel waste of sand, with
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: here and there a reef of basalt black against the
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: burning white. This is the country you will lead your
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: men over. Learn it, he was speaking to Luhar as well.
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: Learn every water hole, every vantage point, every trail that
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: leads toward the border. There are no better fighters than
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: the dry land men when they are well led, and
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: you must prove to them that you can lead. You'll
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: work with their own chieftains, Frika and the others you'll
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: meet when we reach seine Harat, Luhar said, seen Harot
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: my headquarters. It's about seven days march, an island city
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: old as the moon's but Romaical was strong there. Legend
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: has it, and it's a sort of holy place to
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: the tribesmen, and that's why I picked it. He took
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: a deep breath and smiled, looking out over the dead
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: sea bottom toward the border, and his eyes held the
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: same pitiless light as the sun that baked the desert
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: very soon. Now, he said, more to himself than the others.
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: Only a handful of days before we drowned the border
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: states in their own blood. And after that he laughed
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: very softly and said no more. Stark could believe that
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: what Beryld has said of him was true. There was
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: a flame of ambition and chinon that would let nothing
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: stand in its way. He measured the size and the
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: strength of the tall Barbarian, the eagle look of his face,
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: and the iron that lay beneath his joviality. Then Stark
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: too stared off toward the border, and wondered if he
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: would ever see Tarak or hear Simon Eshton's voice again.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: For three days they marched without incident. At noon, they
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: made a dry camp and slept away the blazing hour,
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: and then went on again under a darkening sky, a
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: long line of tall men and rangy beasts, with a
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: scarlet litter blooming like a strange flower in the midst
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: of it, jingling bridles and dust and padded hoofs, trampling
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: the bones of the sea, toward the island city of
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: Seine Harat. Stark did not speak again to beryld, nor
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: did she send for him. Fiana would pass him in
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: the camp and smile sidelong and go on. For her sake.
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: He did not stop her. Neither Leehar nor Friga came
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: near him. They avoided him pointedly, except when Cannon called
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: him altogether to discuss some point of strategy. But the
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: two seemed to have become friends, and drank together from
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: the same bottle of wine. Stark slept all ways beside
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: his mount, his back guarded and his gun loose. The
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: hard lessons learned in his childhood had stayed with him,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: and if there was the footfall near him in the dust,
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: he woke often before the beast did. Toward morning of
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: the fourth night, the wind that never seemed to falter
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: from its steady blowing, began to drop. At dawn, it
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: was dead still, and the rising sun had a tinge
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: of blood. The dust rose under the feet of the
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: beasts and fell again where it had risen. Stark began
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: to sniff the air more and more often. He looked
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: toward the north, where there with a long slope as
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: flat as his palm, that stretched away farther than he
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: could see, a restless, unease grew within him. Presently, he
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: spurred ahead to join Chinon. There is a storm coming,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: he said, and turned his head northward again. Kinon looked
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: at him curiously. You have the right direction, he said,
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: One might think you were a native. He too, gazed
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: with brooding anger at the long sweep of emptiness. I
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: wish we were closer to the city. But one place
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: is as bad as another when the com sin blows,
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: and the only thing to do is keep moving. You're
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: a dead dog if you stop, dead and buried, he swore,
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: with a curious admixture of blunt Anglo Saxon in his
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: Martian profanity, as though the storm were a personal enemy.
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: Pass the word along to force it. Dump whatever they
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: have to lighten the loads, and get Beryl out of
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: that damned litter. Stick by her, will you, Stark. I've
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: got to stay here at the head of the line,
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: and don't get separated. Above all, don't get separated. Stork
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: nodded and dropped back. He got Beryl mounted, and they
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: left the litter. There a bright patch of crimson on
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: the sand, its curtains limp in the utter stillness. Nobody
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: talked much. The beasts were urged on to the top
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: of their speed. They were nervous and fidgety, inclined to
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: break out of line and run for it. The sun
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: rose higher one hour, the windless air shimmered, the silence
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: lay upon the caravan. With a crushing hand, Stark went
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: up and down the line, lending a hand to the
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: sweating drovers. With the pack animals that now carried only water, skins,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: and a bare supply of food, Fianna rode close beside
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: Beryld two hours. For the first time that day, there
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: was a sound in the desert. It came from far off,
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: a moaning wail, like the cry of a giantess in travail.
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: It rushed closer, rising as it did so to a
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: dry and bitter shriek that filled the whole sky, shook
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: it and tore it open, letting in all the winds
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: of hell. It struck swiftly. One moment the air was
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: clear and motionless, the next it was blind with dust
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: and screaming as it fled, tearing with demonic fury at
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: every everything in its path. Stark spurred toward the women,
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: who were only a few feet away but already hidden
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: by the veil of mingled dust. And sand. Someone blundered
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: into him in the murk. Long hair whipped across his face,
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: and he reached out, crying, Fianna, fianna. A woman's hand
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: caught his, and a voice answered, but he could not
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: hear the words. Then suddenly his beast was crowded by
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: other silly bodies. The woman's grip had broken, hard masculine
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: hands clawed at him. He could make out dimly the
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: features of two men close to his, Lujar and Frika.
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: His beast gave a great lurch and sprang forward. Stark
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: was dragged from the saddle to fall backward into the
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: raging sand. End of Part four, Part five of Queen
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: of the Martian Catacombs by Lee Douglas Brackett. This LibriVox
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Part five. He lay
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: half stunned for a moment, his breath knocked out of him.
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: There was a terrible reptilian screaming, sounding thin through the
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: roar of the wind. Vague shapes bolted past him, and
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: twice he was nearly crushed by their trampling hoofs Luhar
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: and Frika must have waited their chance. It was so
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: beautifully easy leave Stark alone and afoot, and the storm
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: in the desert between them would do the work with
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: no blame attached to any man. Stark got to his feet,
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: and a human body struck him at the knees, so
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: that he went down again. He grappled with it, snarling,
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: before he realized that the flesh between his hands was
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: soft and draped in silken cloth. Then he saw that
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: he was holding barreled. It was I, she gasped, and
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: not Fianna. Her words reached him very faintly, though he
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: knew she was yelling at the top of her lungs.
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: She must have been knocked from her own mount when
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: Lehar thrust between them, gripping her tightly so that she
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: should not be blown away. Stark struggled up again with
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: all his strength. It was almost impossible to stand. Blinded, deafened,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: half strangled, he fought his way forward a few paces,
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: and suddenly one of the packed beasts loomed shadow like
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: beside him, going by with a rush and a squeal.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: By the grace of providence and his own swift reflexes,
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: he caught its pack lashings, clinging with the tenacity of
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: a man determined not to die. It floundered about, dragging
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: them until Beryl managed to grasp its trailing halter rope
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: between them. They fought the creature down. Stark clung to
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: its head, while the woman clambered to its back, twisting
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: her arm through the straps of the pad. A silken
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: scarf whipped toward him. He took it and tied it
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: over the head of the beast so it could breathe.
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: And after that it was quieter. There was no direction,
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: no sight of anything in that howling inferno. The caravan
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: seemed to have been scattered like a drift of autumn leaves.
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: Already in the few brief moments he had stood still,
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: Stark's legs were buried to the knees in a substratum
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: of sand that rolled like water. He pulled himself free
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: and started on going nowhere. Remembering Canon's words, Beryl ripped
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: her thin robe apart and gave him another strip of
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: silk for himself. He bounded over his nose and eyes,
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: and some of the choking and the blindness abated, stumbling staggering,
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: beaten by the wind as a child is beaten by
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: a strong man. Stark went on, hoping desperately to find
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: the main body of the caravan, and knowing somehow that
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: the hope was futile. The hours that followed were nightmare.
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: He shut his mind to them in a way that
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: a civilized man would have found impossible. In his childhood,
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: there had been days and nights, and the problems had
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: been simple ones. How to survive one span of light
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: that one might then struggle to survive the span of
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: darkness that came after one thing, one danger at a time.
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: Now there was a single necessity. Keep moving. Forget tomorrow
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: or what happened to the caravana where the little fiana
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: with her bright eyes. Maybe forget thirst and the pain
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: of breathing, and the fiery lash of sand on naked skin.
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: Only don't stand still. It was growing dark when the
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: beast fell against a half buried boulder and snapped its foreleg.
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: Stark gave it a quick and mercy death. They took
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: the straps from the pad and linked themselves together. Each
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: took as much food as he could carry, and stark
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: shoulder the single skin of water that fortune had vouchsafed them.
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: They staggered on, and Berold did not whimper. Night came,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: and still the calm sin Blew Stark wondered at the
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: woman's strength, for he had to help her only when
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: she fell. He had lost all feeling himself. His body
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: was merely a thing that continued to move only because
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: it had been ordered not to stop. The haze in
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: his own mind had grown as thick as the black
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: obscurity of the night. Beryld had ridden all day, but
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: he had walked, and there was an end, even to
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: his strength. He was approaching it now and was too
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: weary even to be afraid. He became aware at some
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: indeterminate time that Beryl had fallen and was dragging her
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: weight against the straps. He turned blindly to help her up.
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: She was saying something, crying his name, striking at him
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: so that he should hear her words and understand. At
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: last he did. He pulled the wrappings from his face
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: and breathed clean air. The wind had fallen, the sky
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: was growing clear. He dropped in his tracks and slept
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: with the exhausted woman half dead beside him. Thirst brought
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: them both awake in the early dawn. They drank from
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: the skin, and then sat for a time, looking at
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: the desert and at each other, thinking of what lay ahead.
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: Do you know where we are? Stark asked, not exactly.
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: Beryl's face was shadowed with weariness. It had changed, and somehow,
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: to Stark, it had grown more beautiful, because there was
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: no weakness in it. She thought a minute, looking at
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: the sun, the wind blew from the north. She said,
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: therefore we have come south from the track. Seinhrot lies
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: that way across the waste they called the belly of stones.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: She pointed to the north and east. How far seven
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: eight days afoot. Stark measured their supply of water and
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: shook his head. It'll be dry walking. He rose and
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: took up the skin. Beryl came beside him without a word.
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: Her red hair hung loose over her shoulders. The rags
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: of her silken robe had been torn away by the wind,
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: leaving her only the loose skirt of the desert women
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: and her belt and collar of jewels. She walked erect
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: with a steady, swinging stride, and it was almost impossible
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: for Stark to remember her, as she had been riding
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: like a lazy queen in her scarlet litter. There was
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: no way to shelter themselves from the midday sun. The
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: sun of Mars at its worst, however, was only a
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: pale candle beside the sun of mercury, and it did
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: not bother Stark. He made Beryl lie in the shadow
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: of his own body, and he watched her face, relaxed
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: and unfamiliar in sleep. For the first time, then he
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: was conscious of a strangeness in her. He had seen
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: so little of her before in Valkus, and almost nothing
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: on the trail. Now there was little of her mind
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: or heart she could conceal from him, or was there.
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: There were moments when she slept, when the shadows of
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: strange dreams crossed her face. Sometimes, in the unguarded moment
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: of waking, he would see in her eyes that look
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: he could not reed, and his primitive senses quivered with
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: a vague ripple of warning. Yet all through those blazing
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: days and frosty nights, tortured with thirst and weary to exhaustion,
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: Beryld was magnificent. Her white skin was darkened by the sun,
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: and her hair became a wild red mane, but she
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: smiled and set her feet resolutely by his, and Stark
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: On the fourth day, they climbed a scarp of limestone
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: worn in ages past by the sea, and looked out
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: over the place called the Belly of Stones. The sea
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: bottom curved downward below them into a sort of gigantic basin,
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: the farther rim of which was lost in shimmering waves
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: of heat. Stark thought that never, even on Mercury, had
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: he seen a place more cruel and utterly forsaken of
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: gods or men. It seemed as though some primal glacier
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: must have met its death here in the dim dawn
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: of Mars, hollowing out its own grave. The body of
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: the glacier had melted away, but its bones were left,
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: bones of basalt, of granite, of marble, and porphyry of
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: every conceivable color and shape and size, picked up by
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: the ice as it marched southward from the pole and
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: dropped here as a corn to mark its passing the
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: Belly of Stones, Stark thought that its other name was death.
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: For the first time, Beryl faltered. She sat down and
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: bent her head over her hands. I am tired, she said, Also,
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: I am afraid, Stark asked, has it ever been frost once?
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: But they were a war party, mounted and well supplied.
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: Stark looked out across the stones. We will cross it,
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: he said. Beryld raised her head. Somehow, I believe you.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: She rose slowly and put her hands on his breast
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: over the strong beating of his heart. Give me your streth,
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: wild man, she whispered, I shall need it. He drew
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: her to him and kissed her, and it was a
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: strange and painful kiss, for the lips were cracked and
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: bleeding from their terrible thirst. Then they went down together
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: into the place called the belly of stones. The desert
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: had been a pleasant and kindly place. Stark looked back
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: upon it with longing, and yet this in fair noe
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: of blazing rock was so like the valleys of his
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: boyhood that it did not occur to him to lie
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: down and die. They rested for a time in the
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: sheltered crevice under a great leading slab of blood red stone,
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: moistening their swollen tongues with a few drops of stinking
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: water from the skin. At nightfall, they drank the last
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: of it, but Beryl would not let him throw the
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: skin away. Darkness and a lunar silence. The chill air
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: sucked the day's heat out of the rocks, and the
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: iron frost came down, so that Stark and the red
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: haired woman must keep moving or freeze. Stark's mind grew clouded.
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: He spoke from time to time in a croaking whisper,
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: dropping back into the harsh mother tongue of the twilight belt.
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: It seemed to him that he was hunting, as he
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: had so many times before in the waterless places, for
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: the blood of the great Lizard would save him from thirst.
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: But nothing lived in the belly of stones, nothing but
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: the two who crept and staggered across it. Under the
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: low moons. Beryl fell and could not rise again. Stark
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: crouched beside her. Her face stared up at him, white
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: in the moonlight, her eyes burning and strange. I will
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: not die, she whispered, not to him, but to the gods.
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: I will not die. And she clawed the sand and
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: the bitter rocks, dragging herself onward. It was uncanny, the
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: madness that she had for life. Stark raised her up
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: and carried her. His breath came in deep, sobbing gasps.
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: After a while, he too fell. He went on like
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: a beast on all fours, dragging the woman. He knew
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: dimly that he was climbing, there was a glimmering of
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: dawn in the sky. His hand slipped on a lip
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: of sand, and he went rolling down a smooth slope.
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: At length, he stopped and lay on his back like
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: a dead thing. The sun was high. When consciousness returned
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: to him, he saw Beryl lying near him and crawled
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: to her, shaking her until her eyes opened. Her hands
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: moved feebly, and her lips formed the same for words,
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: I will not die. Stark strained his eyes to the horizon,
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: praying for a glimpse of Sinharat, but there was nothing,
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: only emptiness and sand. With great difficulty, he got the
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: woman to her feet, supporting her. He tried to tell
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: her that they must go on, but he could no
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: longer form the words. He could only gesture and urge
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: her forward in the direction of the city. But she
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: refused to go. Two four die without water. He knew
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: that she was right, but still he was not ready
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: to give up. She began to move away from him,
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: toward the south, and he thought that she had gone
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: mad and was wondering. Then he saw that she was
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: peering with awful intensity at the line of the scarp
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: that formed this wall of the belly of stones. It
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: rose into a great ridge, serrated like the backbone of
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: a whale, and some three miles away, a long dorsal
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: fin of reddish rock curved out into the desert. Beryl
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: made a little sobbing noise in her throat. She began
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: to plod toward the distant promontory. Stark caught up to her.
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: He tried to stop her, but she would not be stopped.
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: Turning a feral glare upon him, she croaked otter and pointed.
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: He was sure now that she was mad. He told
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: her so, forcing the painful words out of his throat,
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: reminding her of Sinharat and that she was going away
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: from any possible help. She said again, quite sanely, two
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: far two three days without water. She pointed monastery, old
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: well h hands. Stork decided that he had little to
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: lose by trusting her. He nodded and went with her
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: toward the curve of rock. The three miles might have
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: been three hundred. At last they came up under the
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: ragged cliffs, and there was nothing there but sand. Stark
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: looked at the woman. A great rage and a deep
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: sense of futility came over him. They were indeed lost,
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: but Beryl had gone a few steps farther. With a
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: hoarse cry, she bent over what had seemed merely a
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: slab of stone fallen from the cliff, and Stark saw
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: that it was a carbon pillar. Half buried. He was
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: now able to make out the mounded shape of a ruin,
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: of which only the foundations and a few broken columns
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: were left. For a long while Beryl stood by the pillar,
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: her eyes closed, Stark got the uncanny feeling that she
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: was visualizing the place as it had been, though the
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: walls must have been dust a thousand years ago. Presently
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: she moved. He followed her, and it was strange to
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: see her on the naked sand, Treading the arbitrary patterns
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: of venue corridors. She came to a halt in a
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: broad flat space that might once have been a central courtyard.
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: There she fell on her knees and began to dig.
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: Stark got down beside her. They scrabbled like a pair
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: of dogs in the yielding sand. Stark's nails slipped across
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: something hard, and there was a yellow glint through the
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: dusty ochre. Within a few minutes they had bared a
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: golden cover six feet across, very massive and wonderfully carved
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: with the symbols of some lost god of the sea.
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: Stark struggled to lift the thing away. He could not
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: move it, then barreled pressed. They hid in the spring,
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: and the cover slid back of itself beneath it, sweet
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: and cold, protected through all these ages, water stirred gently
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: against mossy stones. An hour later, Stark and Beryl lay sleeping,
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: soaked to the skin, their very hair dripping with the
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: blessed dampness. That night, when the low moons robed over
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: the desert, they sat by the well, drowsy with an
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: animal sense of rest and repletion. And Stark looked at
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: the woman and said, I know you. Now, What do
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: you know, wild man? Stark said quietly, you are a rama.
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: She did not answer at once. Then she said, I
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: was bred in these deserts. Is it so strange that
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: I should know of this well? Strange that you didn't
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: mention it before? You were afraid, weren't you that if
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: you let me hear your secret would come out? But
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: it was that or die. He leaned forward, studying her.
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: If you had led me straight to the well, I
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: might not have wondered, But you had to stop and
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: remember how the halls were built, and where the doorways
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: were that led to the inner court. You lived in
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: this place when it was whole, and no one, not
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: even kind on himself, knows of it. But you you dream,
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: wild man. The moon is in your eyes. Struck shook
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: his head slowly. I know, she laughed, and stretched her
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: arms wide on the sand. But I am young, she said,
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: and men have told me I am beautiful. It is
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: good to be young, for youth has nothing to do
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: with ashes and empty skulls. She touched his arm, and
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: little darts of fire went through his flesh, warm from
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: his finger tips. Forget your dreams, wild man. Their madness
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: gone with the morning. He looked down at her in
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: the clear, pale light, and she was young and beautifully made,
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: and her lips were smiling. He bent his head, her
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: arms went round him, her hair blew soft against his cheek.
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly she set her teeth cruelly into his lip.
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: He cried out and thrust her away, and she sat
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: back on her heels, mocking him. That, she said, is
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: because you called Fiana's name instead of mine. When the
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: storm broke, Stark cursed her. There was a taste of
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: blood in his mouth. He reached out and caught her,
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: and again she laughed, a peculiarly sweet wicket sound. The
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: wind blew over them, sighing, and the desert was very still.
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: For two days there remained among the ruins. At evening
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: of the second day, Stark filled the water skin, and
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: Berold replaced the golden cover on the well. They began
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: the last long march toward Sinharat end of part five
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: Part six of Queen of the Martian Catacombs by Lee
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: Douglas Brackett. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: Part six Stark saw it rising against the morning sky,
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: a city of gold and marble, high on an island
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: of rose red coral, laid bare by the vanished sea, Sinharat,
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 1: the ever living, yet it had died. As he came
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: closer to it, plodding slowly through the sand, he saw
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: that the place was no more than a beautiful corpse,
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: the lovely towers broken, the roofless palaces open to the sky.
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: Whatever life Chinon and his armies might have foisted upon
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: senha Rat was no more than the fleeting passage of ants.
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: Across the perfect bones of the dead. What was it
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: like before, he asked, With the blue water around it
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: and the banners flying. Beryl turned a dark, calculating look
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: upon him. I told you before to forget that madness.
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: If you talk it, no one will believe you, no one.
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: You had best not anger me, wild man, she said quietly.
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: I may be your only hope of life before this
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: is over. They did not speak again, going with slow,
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: weary steps toward the city. In the desert below the
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: coral cliffs, the armies of Chinon were encamped, the tall
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: warriors of Cash and Shun, waiting with their women and
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: their beasts and their shining spears for the pipers to cry.
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: Over the border. The skin tints and the long picket
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: lines were too many to count. In the distance, a
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: convertible Kalman spacer that struck recognized as the Knightings, made
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: an ugly, jarring incongruity lookout sighted the two tarling figures
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: in the distance. Men and women began to stream out
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: across the sand, and presently a great cheering rose. Where
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: he had looked on emptiness for days. Stark was smothered
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: now by the press of thousands Beryld was picked up
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: and carried on the shoulders of two chiefs, and men
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: would have carried Stark also, but he fought them off.
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: Broad flights of steps were cut in the coral. The
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: throng flowed upward along them. The head of them all
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: went Eric John Stark, and he was smiling. From time
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: to time he asked a question, and men drew back
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: from that question and his smile. Up the steps and
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: into the streets of Sinharati went with slow, relentless stride,
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: asking where is Luhar of Venus. Every man there read
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: death in his face, but they did not try to
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: stop him. People came out of the graceful ruins, drawn
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: by the clamor, and the tide rolled down the broadways,
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: the rose red streets of Coral, until it spread out
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: in the square before a great palace of gold and
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: ivory and white marble, blinding in the sun. Luhar of
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: Venus came down the terraced steps, fresh from sleep, His
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: pale hair tumbled, his eyes still drowsy. Others came through
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: the door behind him. Stork did not see them. They
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: did not matter. Beryld didn't matter, calling his name from
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: where she sat on the shoulders of the chiefs. Nothing
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: no one mattered but himself and Louhar. He crossed the square,
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: not hurrying, a dark, ravaged giant in rags. He saw
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: Luhar pause on the bottom step. He saw the sleep
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: and the vagueness go out of the Venusian's eyes as
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: they rested first on the red haired woman, then on himself.
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 1: He saw the fear come into them, and the undying hate.
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: Some one got between him and Leehar. Stok lifted the
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: man and flung him aside without breaking his stride, and
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: went on Luhar half turned. He would have run away
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: back into the palace, but there were too many now
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 1: between him and the door. He crouched and drew his gun.
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: Stark sprang. He came like a great black panther, leaping,
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 1: and he struck low. Luhar's shot went over his back.
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: After that there was no more shooting. There was a
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: moment terribly short and silent, in which the two men
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: lay entangled, straining against each other in a sort of stasis.
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: Then leu Haar screamed. Stark knew dimly that there were hands,
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: many of them, trying to drag him away. He clung,
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: growling to the Venusian until he was torn loose by
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 1: main force. He struggled against his captors, and through a
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: red haze he saw Kinon's face close to his and
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 1: very angry. Leehar was not yet dead. I warned you, Stark,
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: said Kainon furiously. I warned you. Men were bending over
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 1: Luhar Knighton Walsh themis arad. Stark saw that Delgon was
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: among them. He did not question at the time how
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: Word had gone back to Valkus and sent Delgon racing
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: across the dead sea bottom with his hired bravos to
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: search for the red haired woman. It was right that
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: Delgon should be there. In short, ragged sentences, Stard told
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: how Luhar and Frika had tried to kill him, and
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: how Beryl had been lost with him. Kinon turned to
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 1: the Venusian death was already glazing the cloud gray eyes,
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: but it had not quenched the hatred and the venom.
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 1: He lies, whispered Luharan I saw him. He tried to
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: run away and take the woman with him, Luhar of Venus,
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 1: taking vengeance with his last breath. Freaka pushed forward, transparently,
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: eager to pick up his cue. It is so, he said,
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: I was with Luhar. I saw it also. Delgon laughed, cruel,
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: silent laughter. He stood up and looked at Beryl. Beryl's
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: eyes were blazing. She ignored Delgone and spoke to Chinon,
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: you fool. Can't you see that they hate him? What
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 1: Starks cesses true? And I would have died in the
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: desert because of them, if Stark hadn't been a better
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: man than all of you. Strange words, said Delgn, coming
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: from a man's own mate. Perhaps Lujar did lie after all.
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: Perhaps it was not Stark who tried to run away,
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: but you. She cursed him with an ancient curse. Kinon
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: looked at her sullenly. He said, to the men who
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: held Stark, chain him below in the dungeons. Then he
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 1: took Beryl's arm and went with her into the palace.
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: Stark fought until someone behind him knocked him on the
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: head with the butt of a spear. The last thing
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: he saw was the face of Fiana standing out from
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 1: the crowd, wide eyed with pity and love. He came
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: to in a place of cold, dry stone. There was
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: an iron collar around his neck, and a five foot
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: chain ran from it to a ring in the wall.
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: The cell was small, a gate of iron bars closed
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: the single entrance. Beyond was an open well with other
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: cell doors around it, and above were thick stone ratings
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: open to the sky. He guessed that the place had
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: been built beneath some inner court of the palace. There
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: were no other prisoners, but there was a guard, a
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: thick shouldered barbarian who sat on the execution block in
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: the center of the well with a sword and a
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 1: jug of wine, a guard who watched the captive Stark
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: and smiled Freaka. When he saw that Stark was awake,
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: Frika lifted up the jug and laughed. Here's to death,
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: he said, for no one else comes here. He drank,
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: and after that he did not speak, only sat and smiled.
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: Stark said nothing either. He waited with the same unhuman
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: patience he shone when he waited for his captors. Under
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: the tor the dim daylight faded from the gratings. Darkness came,
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: and the pale glimmering of the moon's Freka became a
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: silvered statue of a man sitting on the block. Stark's
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 1: eyes glowed. The empty jug dropped and broke. Freaka rose.
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 1: He took the naked sword in his hand and crossed
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: the open space to the cell. He lifted the outer
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: bar away. It fell with a great echoing clang, and
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: Frika entered. Stand up, out lander, he said, stand up
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: and face the steel. After that you'll sleep and a
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: coral pit, and not even the worms will find you.
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: Beast of Shanga, Stark said contemptuously, and set his back
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 1: against the wall to give himself all the slack of
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: the chain. He saw the bright steel glimmering the air
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: up and down again. But when the blow fell he
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: had leaped aside, and the point struck ringing against the stone.
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: Stark darted in to grapple. His fingers slipped on hard muscle,
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: and Freaka wrenched away. He was a fighting man and
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: no weakling. The iron collar dug painfully into the earthman's throat,
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: and the heavy chain threw him backward. Freka laughed deep
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: in his chest. The sword glinted hungrily, then, as though
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: she had taken shape, Suddenly from the shadows, Fianna was
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: in the doorway. The little gun in her hand made
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: a hissing spurt of flame. Freka screamed once and fell.
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: He did not move again. The swine Fianna said, without emotion.
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: Dlgon ordered him to wait until it was sure that
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: Kinon would not come down to talk to you. Then
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: the story was to be that you had escaped somehow,
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: Beryl's aid. She stepped over the body and unlocked the
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: iron collar with a key she took from her girdle.
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 1: Stork took her slender shoulders gently between his hands. Are
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: you a witch girl that you know all things and
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: always come when I need you? She gave him a deep,
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: strange look in the dusk. Her proud, young face was unfamiliar,
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: touched with something fay and sad. He wished that he
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: could see her eyes more clearly. I know all things
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: because I must, she told him wearily. And I think
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 1: that you are my only hope, perhaps the only hope
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: of Mars. He drew her to him and kissed her
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: and stroked her dark head. You're too young to concern
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: yourself with the destinies of worlds, he felt her tremble.
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: The youth of the body is only illusion when the
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: mind is old, and is yours old, little one old,
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 1: she whispered, as old as beryls. He felt her tears
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 1: warm against his skin, and she was like a child
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: in his arms. Then you know about her, said Stark. Yes,
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: he paused, and del gone, Del gone. Also, I thought so,
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: Stark said. He nodded, scowling at the barred moonlight in
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: the well. There are things I must know myself, but
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: we'd better get out of here. Did Beryl send you, Yes,
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 1: as soon as she could get the key from Canon.
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 1: She is waiting for you. She starred Frika's body with
• 2:00:48
  Speaker 1: her foot. Bring that, we'll hide it in the pit
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: he meant for you. Stark heaved the body over his
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 1: shoulder and followed the girl through a twisting maze of corridors,
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: some pitchdark, some feebly lighted by the moons. Fianna moved
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: as surely as though she were in the main square
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 1: at high noon. There was the silence of death in
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: these cold tunnels, and the dry, faint smell of eternity.
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: At length, Fianna whispered, here, be careful. She put out
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: a hand to guide him, but Stark's eyes were like
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 1: a cat's In the dark. He made out a space
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 1: where the rock with which the ancient builders had faced
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: these subterranean ways gave place to the original coral, ragged
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: black mouths opened in the coral entrances to some unguessed
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: catacombs beneath. Stark consigned Frika to the nearest pit, then
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: reluctantly threw his sword in after him. You won't need it,
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 1: Frianna told him, And besides it would be recognized. This
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: will be a bitter night enough without rousing the men
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: of shun Novafrika's death. Stork listened to the distant sliding
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: echoes from the pit and shivered. He had so nearly
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: finished there himself. He was glad to follow Fiana away
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: from that place of darkness and silent death. He stopped
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: her in a place where a bar of moonlight came
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: splashing through a great crack in the tunnel roof. Now,
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: he said, we will talk. She nodded, Yes, the time
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: has come for that. There are lies everywhere, said Stork.
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: I am tangled up in lies. You know the truth
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: that is behind this war of Canon's Tell me Kinon's
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 1: truth is simple, she answered, speaking slowly, choosing her words.
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: He wants land and power conquest. He will pour out
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: the blood of his people for that, and after that
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: he plans to use the men of the Lo Canals
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: on Delgone to keep the tribesmen in line. It may
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: be true, as he said that they would be satisfied
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: with grazing lands and water, but they would lose their
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: freedom and their pride. And I think he has judged
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: them wrongly. I think they would revolt. She looked up
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: at Stark. He planned to use your knowledge, then destroy
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: you if you became troublesome. I guessed that what about
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: the others. The outlanders use them, keep them as subordinates, Ark,
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: pay them off, kill them if necessary. Now, said Stark,
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: What of Delgone and beryled Fianna said softly, Their truth, too,
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: is simple. They took Cainon's idea of empire and stretched
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: it further. It was Delgon's idea to bring the strangers in.
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 1: They would use Chinon and the tribes until the victory
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 1: was won. Then they would do away with Chinon and
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 1: rule themselves with the outlanders and their ships and their
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: powerful weapons to oppress slow canalaries and dry lander alike.
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: That way they could rape a world. More outland vultures
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: would come, drawn by the smell of lute. The Martian
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 1: men would fight as long as there was the hope
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: of plunder. After that, they would be slaves to hold
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: the empire. Their masters would grow fat on tribute from
• 2:04:27
  Speaker 1: the city states and from the men of Earth who
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: have built here, or who wish to build an evil
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: plan but profitable. Stark thought about Knighton and Walsh of Terra,
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: famous of Mercury, Arod of Callisto Colony. He thought of
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: others like them, and what they would do with their talons.
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: Looked in the heart of Mars, he thought of Delgon's
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: yellow eyes. He thought of Beryl, and he was sick
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 1: with loathing. Fiona came close to him, speaking in a
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: different tone that had care and anxiety only for him.
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: I've told you this because I know what Beryl's plans.
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 1: To night, Oh to night is a black and evil time,
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: and death waits in seinehat. It is very close to me.
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: I know, and you must follow your own heart. Eric
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 1: John Stark, I cannot tell you more. He kissed her again,
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: because she was sweet and very brave. Then she led
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 1: him on through the dark labyrinth to where Beryl was waiting,
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 1: with her dangerous beauty and all the evil of the
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: ages in her soul. They came out of the darkness
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 1: so suddenly that Stark blinked in the unaccustomed light of
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 1: torches set in great silverisconces on the walls. The floor
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: had been artificially smoothed, but otherwise this crypt was as
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 1: the eroding action of the sea had shaped it out
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: of the coral reef. It was not large, and it
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 1: was like a cavern in a fairy tale, walled and
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 1: roofed with the fantastic wreathing shapes of the rose red coral.
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 1: At one end there was a golden coffer set with
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 1: flaming jewels. Beryld was there. Her wonderful hair was dressed
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 1: and shining, and her body was clothed all in white,
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: her arms and shoulders warm bronze from the kiss of
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 1: the desert sun. Canon was there also. He stood motionless
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: and silent, and he did not so much as turn
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: his head. When Fianna and Stark came in. His eyes
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: were wide open and blank as a blind man's. I
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 1: have been waiting, said Beryld, and the time is short.
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: She seemed angry and impatient, and Stark said, Frika is dead.
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: It was necessary to hide his body. She nodded and
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 1: turned to the girl. Go now, Fianna. Fianna bent her
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: head and went away. She did not look at Stark.
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: It was as though she had no interest in anything
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: that happened. Stark looked at Canon, who had not moved
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: or spoken. He is safe enough, said Beryl, answering Stark's
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 1: unspoken question. I drugged his wine so that his mind
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: was open to mine, and he is my creature as
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: long as I will it hypnosis. Stark thought his nerves
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: were beginning to do strange things. He wished desperately that
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 1: he was back in the cell, facing Freaka's sword, which
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 1: at least would deal with him openly and without guile
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 1: or subterfuge. Beryl set her hands on Stark's shouldersness and smiled,
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 1: as she had done that night by the ancient well.
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: I offer you three things to night, wild man, she said,
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 1: her eyes challenging him, And the scent of her hair
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: was sweet and maddening. Your life and power and myself.
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: Stark let his hand slip lightly down from her shoulders
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: to her waist. And how will you do this thing?
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: He asked? Easily, she said, and laughed. She was very
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: proud and sure of her strength, and glad to be alive. Oh,
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: very easily, you guessed the truth about me. I am
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 1: of the twice born, the Ramas. I hold a secret
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: of ascending on of minds which this great ox Canon
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 1: pretended to have. I can give you life now and forever,
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 1: remember wild Man forever. He bent his dark face to
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 1: hers so that their lips touched and murmured. Would I
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: have you forever beryld until you tire of me? Or
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: I of you? She kissed him, and then added mockingly.
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 1: Delgon has had me for a thousand years, and I
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 1: am weary of him, so very weary. A thousand years
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: is a long time, said Stark. And I am not Delgne. No.
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 1: You are a beast, a savage, a most magnificent, cold
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 1: eyed animal, and that is why I love you. She
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: touched the muscle of his breast and then his throat,
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: and added, it's a pity. There will never be another
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 1: body like this one. We must keep it as long
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: as we can. What is your plan, Stark asked her.
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: Simply this, I will place your mind in Kinon's body.
• 2:09:46
  Speaker 1: You will be Kinon with all his power. You will
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: be able then to keep Delgone in check. Later you
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 1: can destroy him, but not until after the battle is won,
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 1: For we need the man of Volkus and Jakara. You
• 2:10:03
  Speaker 1: can keep your own body safe from him, and at
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 1: the worst, if by some chance he should succeed in
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: slaying the man he believes to be you, you will
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 1: still be alive. And after the battle, said Stark softly,
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 1: what then, Beryld, we will rule together. She held her
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: palms against his. You have strong hands, wild man. Would
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 1: you not like to hold a world between them and me?
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 1: She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly shrewd and probing.
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 1: Or do you still believe the nonsense you talk to
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 1: Kinon about the tribes? Stark smiled. It's easy to have
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: principles when there's no gain involved. No, I am as
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 1: my name says, a man without a tribe. I have
• 2:10:59
  Speaker 1: no loyalties, and if I had, would I remember them? Now?
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 1: He held her, as she had said, between his hands,
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 1: and they were very strong. But even then Beryld would
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 1: warn him. Keep faith with me. Then. My wisdom is
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 1: greater than yours, and I have powers. You don't dream
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 1: of what I give I can take away for answer.
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 1: Stark silenced her mouth with his own. When she drew away,
• 2:11:34
  Speaker 1: she said, rather breathlessly, let us hurry. The tribes are gathered,
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 1: and Kinon was to have given the signal for war
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 1: at dawn. There is much I would teach you between
• 2:11:44
  Speaker 1: now and then, She paused, with her hand on the
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 1: lid of the golden coffer. This is a secret place,
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 1: she said, quietly, since before the ocean died. It has
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 1: been secret. Not even kai one knew of it. I
• 2:12:01
  Speaker 1: think only Dell Gone, and I, the last of the
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 1: twice born, knew. And now you what about Fiona? Beryl shrugged.
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: She is only my servant to her. This is only
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 1: a little cavern where I keep my private wealth. She
• 2:12:19
  Speaker 1: pressed a series of patterned bosses in intricate sequence, and
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 1: there was a sharp click of an opening lock. A
• 2:12:27
  Speaker 1: shiver ran up along struck spine. The beast in him
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: longed to run, to be away from this whole business
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 1: that smelled of evil. But the man in him knelt
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 1: at Beryl's wish and waited and did not flinch. When
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 1: the blank eyed Canon came like a moving corpse beside him.
• 2:12:49
  Speaker 1: Beryl raised the golden lid, and there was a great
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 1: silence on the slave block of Vulcus. Kinon had brought
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: forth two crowns of shiny crystal and a rod of flame,
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 1: as glass is to diamond, as the pallid moon to
• 2:13:08
  Speaker 1: the light of the sun. Were those things to the reality.
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: In her two hands, Beryl held the ancient crowns of
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 1: the ramas the givers of life, twin circles of glorious fire,
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: dimming the shallow glare of the torches, putting a nimbus
• 2:13:28
  Speaker 1: of light around the white clad woman, so that she
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: was like a goddess walking in a cloud of stars.
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: Stark's whole being contracted to a point of icy pain
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: at the beauty and the wonder and the terror of them.
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: She set one crown on Chinon's head, and even the
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 1: drugged automaton shivered and sighed at its touch. Stark's mind
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: veered away from the incredible thing that was about to happen.
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 1: It spoke words to him, hurried, desperate words of sanity,
• 2:14:02
  Speaker 1: about the electrical patterns of the mind, and the sensitivity
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 1: of crystals and conductors and electromagnetic impulses. But that was
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 1: only the top of his brain. At the base, it
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 1: was still the brain of Unchuka that believed in gods
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: and demons and all the sorceries of darkness. Only pride
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 1: kept him from cowering abjectly at Beryl's feet. She stood
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 1: above him, a creature of dreams and the unearthly light.
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 1: She smiled and whispered, do not fear, and she placed
• 2:14:40
  Speaker 1: the second crown upon his head. A strange, shuddering fire
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 1: swept through him. It was as though some chip of
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 1: the primal heart of all creation had been set by
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 1: an unguessed magic into the cells of the crystal that
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 1: shaped the universe, and scattered forth the stars and set
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 1: the great suns to spinning. There was something awesome about it,
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 1: something almost holy, And yet he was afraid, most shockingly afraid.
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 1: His brain was set free in some strange fashion. The
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 1: walls of his skull vanished, his mind floated in a dim, vastness.
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: It was like a tiny sun, glowing, spinning, swelling. Beryld
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 1: lifted a crystal rod from the coffer, a wand of
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 1: sorcerer's fire, And now Stark's thoughts had lost all track
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 1: of science. A cloud of misty darkness flowed around him, thickened,
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: a great, leaping flare of light, a distant echo of
• 2:15:57
  Speaker 1: a cry that he did not recognize as his own. Nothing.
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: End of Part six, Part seven of the Queen of
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: the Martian Catacombs by Lee Douglas Brackett. This libre vox
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Part seven, the last part.
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: He was lying on his face, his cheek pressed against
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: the cool coral. He opened his eyes, his mind groping
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: for the shreds of some remembered terror. He saw, vaguely
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 1: at first, and then with terrible clarity as his vision
• 2:16:44
  Speaker 1: became clear. A man lying close beside him, a tall man,
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: very strongly built, with skin burned almost to blackness by exposure,
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 1: A man who looked at him with eyes that were
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: startlingly light in his dark face, his own eyes, his
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: own face. He cried out and struggled to his feet, trembling, staggering,
• 2:17:10
  Speaker 1: and its body felt strange to him. He looked down
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 1: upon the strangeness of another man's limbs, the alien shaping
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 1: of flesh and sinew upon alien bones. The face of
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 1: the dark giant who lay upon the coral mocked him.
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 1: It watched, but did not see. The eyes were blank, empty,
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: without soul or intelligence. The mind of Eric John Stark
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 1: fought in its alien prison for sanity. Beryl's voice spoke
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 1: to him. Her hand was on his shoulder, Canon's shoulder.
• 2:17:49
  Speaker 1: All is well, wild man, do not fear. Canon's mind
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: is in your body, still sleeping at my command, and
• 2:17:57
  Speaker 1: you are cainon now. It was not an easy thing
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 1: to accept, but he knew that it was so, and
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 1: he knew that he had wished it to be so.
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: It was easier to be calm. After he turned his
• 2:18:11
  Speaker 1: back on the other, Beryl took him in her arms
• 2:18:16
  Speaker 1: and held him until he had stopped shuddering oddly, like
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: a mother with a frightened child. Then she kissed him,
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 1: smiling and said, the first time is hard. I can remember,
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 1: and that was very long ago. She shook him gently.
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 1: Now come, we'll take your body to a place of safety,
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 1: and then I must tell you all of Canon's plans
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: for those outside. She spoke to the thing that lay
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 1: upon the coral, saying get up, and it rose obediently
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: and followed where Beryl led to a tiny barred niche
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 1: in a side passage. It made no protest when it
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: was left locked safely in. Only I can give it
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: back to you, said Beryl, softly. Remember that stroke, said
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 1: I will remember. He went with Beryl to Canon's quarters
• 2:19:14
  Speaker 1: in the palace. He sat among Canon's possessions, clothed in
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: Cainon's flesh, and learned how Cainon's mind had planned to
• 2:19:24
  Speaker 1: loose a red tide upon the peaceful cities of the border.
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 1: Only a small part of his mind was attentive to this.
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 1: The rest of it was concerned with the redness of
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 1: Beryl's hair and the warmth of her lips, and with
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: the heady knowledge that it was possible to be alive
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 1: and young forever, never to lose the pride of stress,
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: never to know the dimming sight and feeling mind of age,
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 1: to go on like a child in an endless playground,
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 1: with no fear of tomorrow. It was nearly dawn beryld Rose.
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: She had told him much, but not the things Fianna
• 2:20:07
  Speaker 1: had told him of secret treachery she had planned with Delgon.
• 2:20:12
  Speaker 1: She helped Stark to clothe Cainon's body in the harness
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 1: of war with the long sword and the shield and
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: the shining spear. Then she set her lips to his,
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 1: so that his borrowed heart threatened to choke him with
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: its pounding. And her eyes were wondrously bright and beautiful.
• 2:20:31
  Speaker 1: It is time, she whispered. She walked beside him, as
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 1: he had seen her beside Canon in Valcus, Stepping like
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: a queen. They came out of the palace on to
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 1: the steps where Lehar had died. There were beasts waiting,
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 1: trapped for war, and an escort of tall chiefs with
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 1: pipers and drummers and link boys to light the way.
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 1: Stark mounted Kinnon's beast. It sensed the wrongness in him,
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 1: hissing and rearing, but he held it down and imperiously
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 1: raised his hand, throbbing drums and scurling pipes, tossing flames
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 1: where the link boys ran with the torches, a clash
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: of metal and a cheer, and Canon of Shun rode
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 1: down through the streets of Sinhaat to the coral cliffs,
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 1: with the red haired woman at his side. They were waiting.
• 2:21:33
  Speaker 1: The men of Cash and the men of Shun were
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 1: gathered below the cliffs, waiting. Stark led the way as
• 2:21:40
  Speaker 1: Beryld had told him to, on to a ledge of coral.
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: Above them, Dlgon was there with the outlanders and a
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 1: handful of Balchissians. He looked tired and ill tempered. Stark
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 1: knew that he had been busy for hours, with last
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 1: minute preparations. The first pale rays of dawn broke across
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: the desert, A vast ringing cry went up from the
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 1: gathered armies. After that there was silence, a taut, expectant hush.
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: There was no fear, and Stark now he was past that.
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 1: Fear was too small an emotion for what was about
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 1: to be. He saw Delgon's golden eyes hot with a
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 1: cruel excitement. He saw Beryl's secret triumph in her smile.
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 1: He looked down upon the warriors and let the magnificent
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 1: voice of Kinnon ring out across the soundless air. There
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 1: will be no war, he said, you have been betrayed.
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: In the moment that was left to him, he confessed
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: the lie of the Ramas crowns. And then Beryl, who
• 2:22:57
  Speaker 1: was behind him now, had moved like a red haired fury,
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: to drive her dagger into his heart. In his own body,
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: Stark might have escaped the blow, but the reflexes of
• 2:23:09
  Speaker 1: Chinon were not as his. They were swift enough to
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 1: postpone death. The blade bit deep, but not where Beryld
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 1: had wished it. He turned and caught her by the
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 1: wrists and said to Delgon, she has betrayed you. Too
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 1: freak our eyes and a coral pit, and I am
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: not cainon Berold tore away from him. She spurred her
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: beast toward the Valchisian. She would have broken past him,
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 1: through the escort and up the cliffs to safety in
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: the tunnels under Sinharat. But Delgon was too quick. One
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 1: hand caught in the masses of her hair. She was dragged,
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 1: screaming from the saddle, and even then her screams were
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 1: not of fear but a fury. She clawed at Delgon,
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 1: and he fell with her to the ground. The tall
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 1: chieftains of the escort came forward, but they were dazed
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: and confused by the anger that was rising in them.
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 1: Delgon's wiry body arched. He flung the woman over the ledge,
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: and what happened to her after that, Stark did not see,
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: nor wished to see. He was shouting again to the barbarians,
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 1: the tail of Delgn's treachery behind him on the ledge.
• 2:24:26
  Speaker 1: There was turmoil where Delgon ran on foot between the
• 2:24:30
  Speaker 1: beasts and the outlanders made their try for safety. Below him.
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 1: In the desert, where there had been silence, a great,
• 2:24:38
  Speaker 1: deep muttering was growing, like the first growling of a storm,
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 1: and the ranks of spears rippled like wheat before the wind,
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: and Stark felt the slow running out of Kainon's blood
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: inside him, where Beryl's dagger stood out from his back.
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: They had headed Delgon away from the path up the cliff.
• 2:25:02
  Speaker 1: The two loose mounts had been caught and held. They
• 2:25:05
  Speaker 1: had tried to catch Dalgone, but he was light and
• 2:25:07
  Speaker 1: fast and slipped away from them. Now he broke back
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 1: toward Canon's great beast, knocked the dying man from the saddle,
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 1: charged through the milling chieftains, who were hampered by their
• 2:25:20
  Speaker 1: own numbers. In that narrow space, he leaped, and the
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 1: arms of Canon, driven by the will of Eric John Stark,
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 1: encircled him and held him and would not let him go.
• 2:25:35
  Speaker 1: The two men crashed to the ledge. Stark let out
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 1: one harsh cry of agony, and then was still, his
• 2:25:44
  Speaker 1: hands locked around the Volcazian's throat. His eyes intint, and
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 1: strange men came up, and he gasped, he is mine,
• 2:25:55
  Speaker 1: and they let him be. Dalgarn did not die easily.
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 1: He managed to get his dagger out and gash the
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: other side until the naked ribs showed through, But once
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: again Stark's mind was free, in some dark immensity of
• 2:26:12
  Speaker 1: its own. He was living again the dream he had
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 1: in Valcus. And this was the end of the dream.
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 1: And Chaka had a grip at last on the demon
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 1: with yellow eyes that hunger for his life, and he
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 1: would not let go. The yellow eyes widened, they blazed,
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: and then they slowly dimmed, until the last flicker of
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 1: life was gone. The strength went out of Inchoka's hands.
• 2:26:44
  Speaker 1: He fell forward over his prey. Below on the sand,
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 1: Beryl lay and her outstretched hair was as red as blood.
• 2:26:53
  Speaker 1: In the fiery dawn, the men of Kesh and the
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 1: men of Shun flowed in a result listless tide up
• 2:27:01
  Speaker 1: over the coral cliffs. The chieftains and the pipers, and
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 1: the link boys joined them, hunting the outlanders and the
• 2:27:09
  Speaker 1: wolves of Valcus through the streets of Sinharat unnoticed. A
• 2:27:15
  Speaker 1: dark haired girl ran down the path to the ledge.
• 2:27:19
  Speaker 1: She bent over the body of Chinon, pressing her hand
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: to its heart. Tears ran down and mingled with the blood.
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 1: A low, faint moan came from the man's lips, weeping
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: like a child. Fiana drew a tiny vial from her
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 1: girdle and poured three drops of pale liquid on the
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 1: unresponsive tongue. He had come a long way. He had
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 1: been down in the deep black valleys of the place
• 2:27:49
  Speaker 1: of Darkness, and the iron frost was in his bones.
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 1: He had climbed the bitter mountains, where no creature of
• 2:27:57
  Speaker 1: the Twilight Belt might go and live. There was light now.
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 1: He had been lost in wondering, but he had won
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 1: back to the light. His tribe, his people would be
• 2:28:09
  Speaker 1: waiting for him, but he knew that he would never
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: see them. He remembered then, with the old terrible loneliness,
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: that they were not truly his people. They had raised him,
• 2:28:23
  Speaker 1: but they were not of his blood. And he remembered
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: also that they were dead, slain by the miners who
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: had needed all the water of the valley for themselves,
• 2:28:33
  Speaker 1: slain by the miners who had taken in Chaka and
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 1: put him in a cage. With stark terror, he thought
• 2:28:41
  Speaker 1: he was again in that cage, with the leering, bearded
• 2:28:44
  Speaker 1: faces peering in at him. But in the blinding, dazzled light,
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 1: he could see no bars. There was only one face,
• 2:28:53
  Speaker 1: the anxious, pitying face of a girl Fiana. His brain
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 1: began to clear. Memory returned bit by bit, the fragments
• 2:29:06
  Speaker 1: fitting themselves gradually into place. Kind Noon delgne beroled, seeing
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 1: her rot the ever living. He remembered now with perfect clarity,
• 2:29:21
  Speaker 1: that he was dying, and it seemed a terrible thing
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 1: to die in the body of another man. For the
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: first time fully he felt the separation from his own flesh.
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 1: It seemed a blasphemous thing, more terrible than death. Fianna
• 2:29:38
  Speaker 1: was weeping. She stroked his hair and whispered, I am
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 1: so glad. I was afraid, afraid you would never wake.
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 1: He was touched because he knew that she loved him
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 1: and would be sad. He lifted his hand to touch
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 1: her face, to comfort her. He saw the fingers of
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 1: that hand dark against her cheek, dark his own fingers,
• 2:30:05
  Speaker 1: his own hand. He was not on the ledge. He
• 2:30:09
  Speaker 1: was back in the coral crept beneath the palace. The
• 2:30:13
  Speaker 1: light that had dazzled his eyes was not the sun,
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: but only the flare of torches. He sat up, his
• 2:30:19
  Speaker 1: heart pounding wildly. Kinon of Shun lay beside him on
• 2:30:24
  Speaker 1: the coral. He was quite dead, his head encircled by
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 1: a crown of fire, his side opened to the white
• 2:30:32
  Speaker 1: bone where Dhlgon's blade had struck, the wound that Kinon
• 2:30:36
  Speaker 1: himself had never felt. The golden coffer was open. The
• 2:30:42
  Speaker 1: second crown lay near Fiona, with the rod beside it.
• 2:30:46
  Speaker 1: Stark looked at her, deep into her eyes. Very softly,
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 1: he said, I would not have dreamed it. You will
• 2:30:56
  Speaker 1: understand now many things she said, And I was glad
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 1: of my power today because I could truly give you life.
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: She rose, and he saw that she was very tired.
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 1: Her voice was dull, as though it counted over old
• 2:31:14
  Speaker 1: things that no longer mattered. You see why I was afraid.
• 2:31:20
  Speaker 1: If they had ever suspected that I too was of
• 2:31:23
  Speaker 1: the twice born Beryl or Delgone, each alone I might
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 1: have destroyed, But I could not destroy both of them.
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 1: And if I had, there was still kind on. You
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 1: did what I could not, Eric John Stark, Why were
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 1: you against them, Fiona? How were you proof against the
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 1: poison that made them what they were? She answered angrily,
• 2:31:49
  Speaker 1: because I am weary of evil, of scheming for power,
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 1: and shedding the blood of men as though they were sheep.
• 2:31:56
  Speaker 1: I am no better than Beryl was to have lived
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 1: a long time, and my hands are not clean, but
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 1: perhaps by what you helped me to do, I have
• 2:32:08
  Speaker 1: made up a little for my sins. She paused, Her
• 2:32:13
  Speaker 1: thoughts turned darkly inward, and it was strange to see
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 1: the shadow of age touching her sweet young face. Then
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 1: she said, very slowly, like an old old woman speaking,
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 1: I am weary of living. No matter where I go,
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 1: I am a stranger. You can understand that, though not
• 2:32:35
  Speaker 1: so well as I, there is an end to pleasure,
• 2:32:40
  Speaker 1: and after that only loneliness is left. I have remembered
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 1: that I was human once. That is why I set
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 1: myself against their plan of empire. After all these ages,
• 2:32:54
  Speaker 1: I have come round full circle to the starting point,
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 1: and things seem to me now as they seemed then
• 2:33:01
  Speaker 1: before I was tempted by the sending on of mines.
• 2:33:07
  Speaker 1: It is a wicked thing, she cried suddenly, against nature
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 1: and the gods, and it has never brought anything but evil.
• 2:33:18
  Speaker 1: She caught up the rod and held it in her hands.
• 2:33:21
  Speaker 1: This is the last, she said. Cities die, and nations perish,
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 1: and material things, even such as these, are destroyed one
• 2:33:32
  Speaker 1: by one. The twice born have perished also through accident,
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: our swift, disease, our murder, as Speryl would have slain dlgone.
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: Now only this and I are left. Quite Suddenly, she
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 1: flung the rod against the coral, and it broke in
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 1: a cloudy flame and a tinkling of crystal shards. Then
• 2:33:52
  Speaker 1: one by one she broke the crowns. She stood still
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 1: for a long moment. Then she whispered, Now only I
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 1: am left. Again. There was silence, and Stork was shaken
• 2:34:09
  Speaker 1: by the magnitude of the thing that she had done.
• 2:34:13
  Speaker 1: Her slim girl's body somehow took on the stature of
• 2:34:17
  Speaker 1: a goddess. After a while, he went to her and said, awkwardly,
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 1: I have not thanked you, Fianna. You brought me here,
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 1: you saved me. Kiss me once, then, she answered, and
• 2:34:33
  Speaker 1: raised her lips to his for I love you, Eric
• 2:34:37
  Speaker 1: John Stark, And that is the pity of it, because
• 2:34:42
  Speaker 1: I am not for you, nor for any man. He
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: kissed her very tenderly, and there was the bitter taste
• 2:34:51
  Speaker 1: of tears on her soft lips. Now come, she whispered
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 1: and took his hand. She let him back through the
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 1: labyrinth into the palace, and then out again into the
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 1: streets of Sinharat. Stark saw that it was sunset, and
• 2:35:09
  Speaker 1: that the city was deserted. The tribes of Kesh and
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 1: Shun had broken camp and gone. There was a beast
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 1: ready for him, supplied with food and water. Fiana asked
• 2:35:22
  Speaker 1: him where he wished to go, and pointed the way
• 2:35:25
  Speaker 1: to Tarak and you, He asked, where will you go?
• 2:35:30
  Speaker 1: Little one? I have not thought. She lifted her head,
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 1: and the wind played with her dark hair. She did
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 1: not smile, and yet suddenly Stark knew that she was happy.
• 2:35:45
  Speaker 1: I am free of a great burden, she whispered. I
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 1: shall stay here for a while and think, and after
• 2:35:52
  Speaker 1: that I shall know what to do. But whatever it is,
• 2:35:57
  Speaker 1: there will be no evil in it and in the
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 1: and I shall rest. He mounted, and she looked up
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 1: at him with a look that wrung his heart, although
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 1: it was not sad. Go now, she said, and the
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 1: gods go with you, and with you. He bent and
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 1: kissed her once again, and then rode away down to
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 1: the coral cliffs far out on the desert. He turned
• 2:36:27
  Speaker 1: and looked back once at the white towers of Sinharat
• 2:36:32
  Speaker 1: rising against the larger moon. End of Port seven, End
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 1: of Queen of the Martian Catacombs by Lee Douglas Brackett
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 1: This book performed by Phil Chevert January twenty twenty one,