CHAPTER XIV
The Justice of Lora
AS I LOOKED at her the man arose and made his way round
the table toward us. For the first time my eyes took in
Lugur. A few inches taller than the green dwarf, he was far
broader, more filled with the suggestion of appalling strength.
The tremendous shoulders were four feet wide if an inch,
tapering down to mighty thewed thighs. The muscles of his
chest stood out beneath his tunic of red. Around his forehead
shone a chaplet of bright-blue stones, sparkling among the
thick curls of his silver-ash hair.
Upon his face pride and ambition were written large -
and power still larger. All the mockery, the malice, the hint
of callous indifference that I had noted in the other dwarfish
men were there, too - but intensified, touched with the
satanic.
The woman spoke again.
"Who are you strangers, and how came you here?" She
turned to Rador. "Or is it that they do not understand our
tongue?"
"One understands and speaks it - but very badly, O
Yolara," answered the green dwarf.
"Speak, then, that one of you," she commanded.
But it was Marakinoff who found his voice first, and I
marvelled at the fluency, so much greater than mine, with
which he spoke.
"We came for different purposes. I to seek knowledge of a
kind; he" - pointing to me "of another. This man" - he
looked at Olaf - "to find a wife and child."
The grey-blue eyes had been regarding O'Keefe steadily
and with plainly increasing interest.
"And why did YOU come?" she asked him. "Nay - I would
have him speak for himself, if he can," she stilled Marakinoff
peremptorily.
When Larry spoke it was haltingly, in the tongue that was
strange to him, searching for the proper words.
"I came to help these men - and because something I
could not then understand called me, O lady, whose eyes are
like forest pools at dawn," he answered; and even in the unfamiliar words there was a touch of the Irish brogue, and
little merry lights danced in the eyes Larry had so apostrophized.
"I could find fault with your speech, but none with its
burden," she said. "What forest pools are I know not, and the
dawn has not shone upon the people of Lora these many
sais of laya.1 But I sense what you mean!"
1 Later I was to find that Murian reckoning rested upon the extraordinary increased luminosity of the cliffs at the time of full moon
on earth - this action, to my mind, being linked either with the effect
of the light streaming globes upon the Moon Pool, whose source was
in the shining cliffs, or else upon some mysterious affinity of their
radiant element with the flood of moonlight on earth - the latter, most
probably, because even when the moon must have been clouded above,
it made no difference in the phenomenon. Thirteen of these shinings
forth constituted a laya, one of them a lat. Ten was sa; ten times ten
times ten a said, or thousand; ten times a thousand was a sais. A sais
of laya was then literally ten thousand years. What we would call an
hour was by them called a va. The whole time system was, of course,
a mingling of time as it had been known to their remote, surfacedwelling ancestors, and the peculiar determining factors in the vast cavern.
The eyes deepened to blue as she regarded him. She smiled.
"Are there many like you in the world from which you come?"
she asked softly. "Well, we soon shall - "
Lugur interrupted her almost rudely and glowering.
"Best we should know how they came hence," he growled.
She darted a quick look at him, and again the little devils
danced in her wondrous eyes.
Unquestionably there is a subtle difference between time as we know
it and time in this subterranean land - its progress there being slower.
This, however, is only in accord with the well-known doctrine of relativity, which predicates both space and time as necessary inventions of
the human mind to orient itself to the conditions under which it finds
itself. I tried often to measure this difference, but could never do so
to my entire satisfaction. The closest I can come to it is to say that
an hour of our time is the equivalent of an hour and five-eighths in
Muria. For further information upon this matter of relativity the
reader may consult any of the numerous books upon the subject. -
W. T. G.
"Yes, that is true," she said. "How came you here?"
Again it was Marakinoff who answered - slowly, considering every word.
"In the world above," he said, "there are ruins of cities
not built by any of those who now dwell there. To us these
places called, and we sought for knowledge of the wise ones
who made them. We found a passageway. The way led us
downward to a door in yonder cliff, and through it we came
here."
"Then have you found what you sought?" spoke she. "For
we are of those who built the cities. But this gateway in the
rock - where is it?"
"After we passed, it closed upon us; nor could we after
find trace of it," answered Marakinoff.
The incredulity that had shown upon the face of the green
dwarf fell upon theirs; on Lugur's it was clouded with furious
anger.
He turned to Rador.
"I could find no opening, lord," said the green dwarf
quickly.
And there was so fierce a fire in the eyes of Lugur as he
swung back upon us that O'Keefe's hand slipped stealthily
down toward his pistol.
"Best it is to speak truth to Yolara, priestess of the Shining
One, and to Lugur, the Voice," he cried menacingly.
"It is the truth," I interposed. "We came down the passage. At its end was a carved vine, a vine of five flowers" - the
fire died from the red dwarf's eyes, and I could have sworn
to a swift pallor. "I rested a hand upon these flowers, and a
door opened. But when we had gone through it and turned,
behind us was nothing but unbroken cliff. The door had
vanished."
I had taken my cue from Marakinoff. If he had eliminated
the episode of car and Moon Pool, he had good reason, I had
no doubt; and I would be as cautious. And deep within me
something cautioned me to say nothing of my quest; to stifle
all thought of Throckmartin - something that warned, peremptorily, finally, as though it were a message from Throckmartin himself!
"A vine with five flowers!" exclaimed the red dwarf. "Was
it like this, say?"
He thrust forward a long arm. Upon the thumb of the
hand was an immense ring, set with a dull-blue stone.
Graven on the face of the jewel was the symbol of the rosy
walls of the Moon Chamber that had opened to us their two
portals. But cut over the vine were seven circles, one about
each of the flowers and two larger ones covering, intersecting them.
"This is the same," I said; "but these were not there" -
I indicated the circles.
The woman drew a deep breath and looked deep into
Lugur's eyes.
"The sign of the Silent Ones!" he half whispered.
It was the woman who first recovered herself.
"The strangers are weary, Lugur," she said. "When they
are rested they shall show where the rocks opened."
I sensed a subtle change in their attitude toward us; a new
intentness; a doubt plainly tinged with apprehension. What
was it they feared? Why had the symbol of the vine wrought
the change? And who or what were the Silent Ones?
Yolara's eyes turned to Olaf, hardened, and grew cold
grey. Subconsciously I had noticed that from the first the
Norseman had been absorbed in his regard of the pair; had,
indeed, never taken his gaze from them; had noticed, too,
the priestess dart swift glances toward him.
He returned her scrutiny fearlessly, a touch of contempt in
the clear eyes - like a child watching a snake which he did
not dread, but whose danger be well knew.
Under that look Yolara stirred impatiently, sensing, I
know, its meaning.
"Why do you look at me so?" she cried.
An expression of bewilderment passed over Olaf's face.
"I do not understand," he said in English.
I caught a quickly repressed gleam in O'Keefe's eyes. He
knew, as I knew, that Olaf must have understood. But did
Marakinoff?
Apparently he did not. But why was Olaf feigning ignorance?
"This man is a sailor from what we call the North," thus
Larry haltingly. "He is crazed, I think. He tells a strange tale
of a something of cold fire that took his wife and babe.
We found him wandering where we were. And because he is
strong we brought him with us. That is all, O lady, whose
voice is sweeter than the honey of the wild bees!"
"A shape of cold fire?" she repeated.
"A shape of cold fire that whirled beneath the moon, with
the sound of little bells," answered Larry, watching her intently.
She looked at Lugur and laughed.
"Then he, too, is fortunate," she said. "For he has come
to the place of his something of cold fire - and tell him that
he shall join his wife and child, in time; that I promise him."
Upon the Norseman's face there was no hint of comprehension, and at that moment I formed an entirely new opinion of Olaf's intelligence; for certainly it must have been a
prodigious effort of the will, indeed, that enabled him, understanding, to control himself.
"What does she say?" he asked.
Larry repeated.
"Good!" said Olaf. "Good!"
He looked at Yolara with well-assumed gratitude. Lugur,
who had been scanning his bulk, drew close. He felt the giant
muscles which Huldricksson accommodatingly flexed for
him.
"But he shall meet Valdor and Tahola before he sees those
kin of his," he laughed mockingly. "And if he bests them -
for reward - his wife and babe!"
A shudder, quickly repressed, shook the seaman's frame.
The woman bent her supremely beautiful head.
"These two," she said, pointing to the Russian and to me,
"seem to be men of learning. They may be useful. As for this
man," - she smiled at Larry - "I would have him explain to
me some things." She hesitated. "What 'hon-ey of 'e wild
bees-s' is." Larry had spoken the words in English, and she
was trying to repeat them. "As for this man, the sailor, do
as you please with him, Lugur; always remembering that I
have given my word that he shall join that wife and babe of
his!" She laughed sweetly, sinisterly. "And now - take them,
Rador - give them food and drink and let them rest till we
shall call them again."
She stretched out a hand toward O'Keefe. The Irishman
bowed low over it, raised it softly to his lips. There was a
vicious hiss from Lugur; but Yolara regarded Larry with
eyes now all tender blue.
"You please me," she whispered.
And the face of Lugur grew darker.
We turned to go. The rosy, azure-shot globe at her side
suddenly dulled. From it came a faint bell sound as of chimes
far away. She bent over it. It vibrated, and then its surface
ran with little waves of dull colour; from it came a whispering so low that I could not distinguish the words - if words
they were.
She spoke to the red dwarf.
"They have brought the three who blasphemed the Shining One," she said slowly. "Now it is in my mind to show
these strangers the justice of Lora. What say you, Lugur?"
The red dwarf nodded, his eyes sparkling with a malicious
anticipation.
The woman spoke again to the globe. "Bring them here!"
And again it ran swiftly with its film of colours, darkened,
and shone rosy once more. From without there came a rustle
of many feet upon the rugs. Yolara pressed a slender hand
upon the base of the pedestal of the globe beside her.
Abruptly the light faded from all, and on the same instant
the four walls of blackness vanished, revealing on two sides
the lovely, unfamiliar garden through the guarding rows of
pillars; at our backs soft draperies hid what lay beyond;
before us, flanked by flowered screens, was the corridor
through which we had entered, crowded now by the green
dwarfs of the great hall.
The dwarfs advanced. Each, I now noted, had the same
clustering black hair of Rador. They separated, and from
them stepped three figures - a youth of not more than twenty,
short, but with the great shoulders of all the males we had
seen of this race; a girl of seventeen, I judged, white-faced,
a head taller than the boy, her long, black hair dishevelled;
and behind these two a stunted, gnarled shape whose head
was sunk deep between the enormous shoulders, whose white
beard fell like that of some ancient gnome down to his waist,
and whose eyes were a white flame of hate. The girl cast herself weeping at the feet of the priestess; the youth regarded
her curiously.
"You are Songar of the Lower Waters?" murmured Yolara
almost caressingly. "And this is your daughter and her
lover?"
The gnome nodded, the flame in his eyes leaping higher.
"It has come to me that you three have dared blaspheme
the Shining One, its priestess, and its Voice," went on Yolara smoothly. "Also that you have called out to the three
Silent Ones. Is it true?"
"Your spies have spoken - and have you not already
judged us?" The voice of the old dwarf was bitter.
A flicker shot through the eyes of Yolara, again cold grey.
The girl reached a trembling hand out to the hem of the
priestess's veils.
"Tell us why you did these things, Songar," she said. "Why
you did them, knowing full well what your - reward - would be."
The dwarf stiffened; he raised his withered arms, and his
eyes blazed.
"Because evil are your thoughts and evil are your deeds,"
he cried. "Yours and your lover's, there" - he levelled a
finger at Lugur. "Because of the Shining One you have made
evil, too, and the greater wickedness you contemplate -
you and he with the Shining One. But I tell you that your
measure of iniquity is full; the tale of your sin near ended!
Yea - the Silent Ones have been patient, but soon they will
speak." He pointed at us. "A sign are THEY - a warning -
harlot!" He spat the word.
In Yolara's eyes, grown black, the devils leaped unrestrained.
"Is it even so, Songar?" her voice caressed. "Now ask the
Silent Ones to help you! They sit afar - but surely they will
hear you." The sweet voice was mocking. "As for these two,
they shall pray to the Shining One for forgiveness - and
surely the Shining One will take them to its bosom! As for
you - you have lived long enough, Songar! Pray to the Silent
Ones, Songar, and pass out into the nothingness - you!"
She dipped down into her bosom and drew forth something that resembled a small cone of tarnished silver. She
levelled it, a covering clicked from its base, and out of it
darted a slender ray of intense green light.
It struck the old dwarf squarely over the heart, and spread
swift as light itself, covering him with a gleaming, pale film.
She clenched her hand upon the cone, and the ray disappeared. She thrust the cone back into her breast and leaned
forward expectantly; so Lugur and so the other dwarfs.
From the girl came a low wail of anguish; the boy dropped
upon his knees, covering his face.
For the moment the white beard stood rigid; then the
robe that had covered him seemed to melt away, revealing
all the knotted, monstrous body. And in that body a vibration began, increasing to incredible rapidity. It wavered before us like a reflection in a still pond stirred by a sudden
wind. It grew and grew - to a rhythm whose rapidity was
intolerable to watch and that still chained the eyes.
The figure grew indistinct, misty. Tiny sparks in infinite
numbers leaped from it - like, I thought, the radiant shower
of particles hurled out by radium when seen under the
microscope. Mistier still it grew - there trembled before us
for a moment a faintly luminous shadow which held, here
and there, tiny sparkling atoms like those that pulsed in the
light about us! The glowing shadow vanished, the sparkling
atoms were still for a moment - and shot away, joining those
dancing others.
Where the gnomelike form had been but a few seconds
before - there was nothing!
O'Keefe drew a long breath, and I was sensible of a prickling along my scalp.
Yolara leaned toward us.
"You have seen," she said. Her eyes lingered tigerishly
upon Olaf's pallid face. "Heed!" she whispered. She turned
to the men in green, who were laughing softly among themselves.
"Take these two, and go!" she commanded.
"The justice of Lora," said the red dwarf. "The justice of
Lora and the Shining One under Thanaroa!"
Upon the utterance of the last word I saw Marakinoff start
violently. The hand at his side made a swift, surreptitious
gesture, so fleeting that I hardly caught it. The red dwarf
stared at the Russian, and there was amazement upon his
face.
Swiftly as Marakinoff, he returned it.
"Yolara," the red dwarf spoke, "it would please me to
take this man of wisdom to my own place for a time. The
giant I would have, too."
The woman awoke from her brooding; nodded.
"As you will, Lugur," she said.
And as, shaken to the core, we passed out into the garden
into the full throbbing of the light, I wondered if all the tiny
sparkling diamond points that shook about us had once been
men like Songar of the Lower Waters - and felt my very soul
grow sick!
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