CHAPTER XXX
The Building of the Moon Pool
SHE PAUSED, running her long fingers through her own
bronze-flecked ringlets. Selective breeding this, with a vengeance, I thought; an ancient experiment in heredity which
of course would in time result in the stamping out of the
tendency to depart from type that lies in all organisms; resulting, obviously, at last, in three fixed forms of black-haired,
ruddy-haired, and silver-haired - but this, with a shock of
realization it came to me, was also an accurate description
of the dark-polled ladala, their fair-haired rulers and of the
golden-brown tressed Lakla!
How - questions began to stream through my mind; silenced by the handmaiden's voice.
"Above, far, far above the abode of the Shining One,"
she said, "was their greatest temple, holding the shrines both
of sun and moon. All about it were other temples hidden
behind mighty walls, each enclosing its own space and
squared and ruled and standing within a shallow lake; the
sacred city, the city of the gods of this land - "
"It is the Nan-Matal that she is describing," I thought.
"Out upon all this looked the Taithu who were now but
the servants of the Shining One as it had been the messenger
of the Three," she went on. "When they returned the Shining One spoke to them, promising them dominion over all
that they had seen, yea, UNDER IT dominion of all earth itself
and later perhaps of other earths!
"In the Shining One had grown craft, cunning; knowledge
to gain that which it desired. Therefore it told its Taithu -
and mayhap told them truth - that not yet was it time for
THEM to go forth; that slowly must they pass into that outer
world, for they had sprung from heart of earth and even it
lacked power to swirl unaided into and through the above.
Then it counselled them, instructing them what to do. They
hollowed the chamber wherein first I saw you, cutting their
way to it that path down which from it you sped.
"It revealed to them that the force that is within moon
flame is kin to the force that is within it, for the chamber of
its birth was the chamber too of moon birth and into it went
the subtle essence and powers that flow in that earth child:
and it taught them how to make that which fills what you call
the Moon Pool whose opening is close behind its Veil hanging upon the gleaming cliffs.
"When this was done it taught them how to make and how
to place the seven lights through which moon flame streams
into Moon Pool - the seven lights that are kin to its own
seven orbs even as its fires are kin to moon fires - and which
would open for it a path that it could tread. And all this the
Taithu did, working so secretly that neither those of their
race whose faces were set against the Shining One nor the
busy men above know aught of it.
"When it was done they moved up the path, clustering
within the Moon Pool Chamber. Moon flame streamed
through the seven globes, poured down upon the pool; they
saw mists arise, embrace, and become one with the moon
flame - and then up through Moon Pool, shaping itself within
the mists of light, whirling, radiant - the Shining One!
"Almost free, almost loosed upon the world it coveted!
"Again it counselled them, and they pierced the passage
whose portal you found first; set the fires within its stones,
and revealing themselves to the moon king and his priests
spake to them even as the Shining One had instructed.
"Now was the moon king filled with fear when he looked
upon the Taithu, shrouded with protecting mists of light in
Moon Pool Chamber, and heard their words. Yet, being
crafty, he thought of the power that would be his if he
heeded and how quickly the strength of the sun king would
dwindle. So he and his made a pact with the Shining One's
messengers.
"When next the moon was round and poured its flames
down upon Moon Pool, the Taithu gathered there again,
watched the child of the Three take shape within the pillars,
speed away - and out! They heard a mighty shouting, a
tumult of terror, of awe and of worship; a silence; a vast
sighing - and they waited, wrapped in their mists of light,
for they feared to follow nor were they near the paths that
would have enabled them to look without.
"Another tumult - and back came the Shining One, murmuring with joy, pulsing, triumphant, and clasped within its
vapours a man and woman, ruddy-haired, golden-eyed, in
whose faces rapture and horror lay side by side - gloriously,
hideously. And still holding them it danced above the Moon
Pool and - sank!
"Now must I be brief. Lat after lat the Shining One went
forth, returning with its sacrifices. And stronger after each
it grew - and gayer and more cruel. Ever when it passed
with its prey toward the pool, the Taithu who watched felt
a swift, strong intoxication, a drunkenness of spirit, streaming from it to them. And the Shining One forgot what it had
promised them of dominion - and in this new evil delight
they too forgot.
"The outer land was torn with hatred and open strife.
The moon king and his kind, through the guidance of the
evil Taithu and the favour of the Shining One, had become
powerful and the sun king and his were darkened. And the
moon priests preached that the child of the Three was the
moon god itself come to dwell with them.
"Now vast tides arose and when they withdrew they took
with them great portions of this country. And the land itself
began to sink. Then said the moon king that the moon had
called to ocean to destroy because wroth that another than
he was worshipped. The people believed and there was
slaughter. When it was over there was no more a sun king
nor any of the ruddy-haired folk; slain were they, slain down
to the babe at breast.
"But still the tides swept higher; still dwindled the land!
"As it shrank multitudes of the fleeing people were led
through Moon Pool Chamber and carried here. They were
what now are called the ladala, and they were given place
and set to work; and they thrived. Came many of the fairhaired; and they were given dwellings. They sat beside the
evil Taithu; they became drunk even as they with the dancing of the Shining One; they learned - not all; only a little
part but little enough - of their arts. And ever the Shining
One danced more gaily out there within the black amphitheatre; grew ever stronger - and ever the hordes of its
slaves behind the Veil increased.
"Nor did the Taithu who clung to the old ways check this
- they could not. By the sinking of the land above, their
own spaces were imperilled. All of their strength and all of
their wisdom it took to keep this land from perishing; nor
had they help from those others mad for the poison of the
Shining One; and they had no time to deal with them nor
the earth race with whom they had foregathered.
"At last came a slow, vast flood. It rolled even to the
bases of the walled islets of the city of the gods - and within
these now were all that were left of my people on earth face.
"I am of those people," she paused, looking at me proudly,
"one of the daughters of the sun king whose seed is still alive
in the ladala!"
As Larry opened his mouth to speak she waved a silencing hand.
"This tide did not recede," she went on. "And after a time
the remnant, the moon king leading them, joined those who
had already fled below. The rocks became still, the quakings
ceased, and now those Ancient Ones who had been labouring
could take breath. And anger grew within them as they
looked upon the work of their evil kin. Again they sought
the Three - and the Three now knew what they had done and
their pride was humbled. They would not slay the Shining
One themselves, for still they loved it; but they instructed
these others how to undo their work; how also they might
destroy the evil Taithu were it necessary.
"Armed with the wisdom of the Three they went forth -
but now the Shining One was strong indeed. They could not
slay it!
"Nay, it knew and was prepared; they could not even pass
beyond its Veil nor seal its abode. Ah, strong, strong, mighty
of will, full of craft and cunning had the Shining One become. So they turned upon their kind who had gone astray
and made them perish, to the last. The Shining One came
not to the aid of its servants - though they called; for within
its will was the thought that they were of no further use to it;
that it would rest awhile and dance with them - who had so
little of the power and wisdom of its Taithu and therefore
no reins upon it. And while this was happening black-haired
and fair-haired ran and hid and were but shaking vessels of
terror.
"The Ancient Ones took counsel. This was their decision;
that they would go from the gardens before the Silver Waters
- leaving, since they could not kill it, the Shining One with
its worshippers. They sealed the mouth of the passage that
leads to the Moon Pool Chamber and they changed the face
of the cliff so that none might tell where it had been. But
the passage itself they left open - having foreknowledge I
think, of a thing that was to come to pass in the far future -
perhaps it was your journey here, my Larry and Goodwin
- verily I think so. And they destroyed all the ways save that
which we three trod to the Dweller's abode.
"For the last time they went to the Three - to pass sentence upon them. This was the doom - that here they should
remain, alone, among the Akka, served by them, until that
time dawned when they would have will to destroy the evil
they had created - and even now - loved; nor might they
seek death, nor follow their judges until this had come to
pass. This was the doom they put upon the Three for the
wickedness that had sprung from their pride, and they
strengthened it with their arts that it might not be broken.
"Then they passed - to a far land they had chosen where
the Shining One could not go, beyond the Black Precipices
of Doul, a green land - "
"Ireland!" interrupted Larry, with conviction, "I knew it."
"Since then time upon time had passed," she went on,
unheeding. "The people called this place Muria after their
sunken land and soon they forgot where had been the
passage the Taithu had sealed. The moon king became the
Voice of the Dweller and always with the Voice is a woman
of the moon king's kin who is its priestess.
"And many have been the journeys upward of the Shining
One, through the Moon Pool - returning with still others in
its coils.
"And now again has it grown restless, longing for the
wider spaces. It has spoken to Yolara and to Lugur even as
it did to the dead Taithu, promising them dominion. And it
has grown stronger, drawing to itself power to go far on the
moon stream where it will. Thus was it able to seize your
friend, Goodwin, and Olaf's wife and babe - and many
more. Yolara and Lugur plan to open way to earth face; to
depart with their court and under the Shining One grasp the
world!
"And this is the tale the Silent Ones bade me tell you -
and it is done."
Breathlessly I had listened to the stupendous epic of a
long-lost world. Now I found speech to voice the question
ever with me, the thing that lay as close to my heart as did
the welfare of Larry, indeed the whole object of my quest -
the fate of Throckmartin and those who had passed with
him into the Dweller's lair; yes, and of Olaf's wife, too.
"Lakla," I said, "the friend who drew me here and those
he loved who went before him - can we not save them?"
"The Three say no, Goodwin." There was again in her
eyes the pity with which she had looked upon Olaf. "The
Shining One - FEEDS - upon the flame of life itself, setting in
its place its own fires and its own will. Its slaves are only
shells through which it gleams. Death, say the Three, is the
best that can come to them; yet will that be a boon great indeed."
"But they have souls, mavourneen," Larry said to her.
"And they're alive still - in a way. Anyhow, their souls have
not gone from them."
I caught a hope from his words - sceptic though I am -
holding that the existence of soul has never been proved by
dependable laboratory methods - for they recalled to me that
when I had seen Throckmartin, Edith had been close beside
him.
"It was days after his wife was taken, that the Dweller
seized Throckmartin," I cried. "How, if their wills, their life,
were indeed gone, how did they find each other mid all that
horde? How did they come together in the Dweller's lair?"
"I do not know," she answered, slowly. "You say they
loved - and it is true that love is stronger even than death!"
"One thing I DON'T understand" - this was Larry again -
"is why a girl like you keeps coming out of the black-haired
crowd; so frequently and one might say, so regularly, Lakla.
Aren't there ever any red-headed boys - and if they are what
becomes of them?"
"That, Larry, I cannot answer," she said, very frankly.
"There was a pact of some kind; how made or by whom I
know not. But for long the Murians feared the return of the
Taithu and greatly they feared the Three. Even the Shining
One feared those who had created it - for a time; and not
even now is it eager to face them - THAT I know. Nor are
Yolara and Lugur so SURE. It may be that the Three commanded it: but how or why I know not. I only know that it
is true - for here am I and from where else would I have
come?"
"From Ireland," said Larry O'Keefe, promptly. "And
that's where you're going. For 'tis no place for a girl like you
to have been brought up - Lakla; what with people like
frogs, and a half-god three quarters devil, and red oceans,
an' the only Irish things yourself and the Silent Ones up
there, bless their hearts. It's no place for ye, and by the soul
of St. Patrick, it's out of it soon ye'll be gettin'!"
Larry! Larry! If it had but been true - and I could see
Lakla and you beside me now!
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