The Casting of the Shadow
Now we were toward that last had set it from all the other arches. The shell's speed slackened; we approached warily.
"We pass there?" asked O'Keefe.
The green nodded, pointing to the right where the ended in a high upon two piers, which ran a from the road. Platform and were with men-at-arms; they the parapets, looking upon us but with no of hostility. Rador a of relief.
"We don't have to our way through, then?" There was in the Irishman's voice.
"No use, Larree!" Smiling, Rador stopped the just the and one of the piers. "Now, well. They have had no warning, hence Yolara still think us on the way to the temple. This is the of the Portal—and the is closed by the Shadow. Once I here and I know its laws. This must I do—by Serku, the of the gateway, to the Shadow; or it myself. And that will be hard and it may well be that in the life will be of us all. Yet is it to die than to with the Shining One!"
He the around the pier. Opened a wide with the glass, but black as that which we had from the of the Moon Pool. It like a of jet; on each of it what at of the same obsidian; at second, themselves as and set in place by men; by of high, narrow windows.
Down each a fell, by small on which a door opened; they to a of the lip of this midnight and upon it also two wide from either of the platform. Along all four the were ranged; and here and there against the the shells—in a to in our own world.
The high; and ended in two from which, like a curtain, a of that which, though as itself, I now to be as as the life and death. In this murk, all others I had seen, I movement, a quivering, a and rhythmic; not to be seen, yet by some sense; as though through it a of—black light.
The green the slowly to the at the right; on toward where, not more than a hundred from the barrier, a low, wide entrance opened in the fort. Guarding its two guards, with broadswords, double-handed, in a wide mouthed with fangs. These they in and through the portal a as Rador, as he and only the that was the of office of Muria's captainry.
The green the against the ledge; out.
"Greeting, Serku!" he answered. "I was but looking for the of Lakla."
"Lakla!" Serku. "Why, the passed with her Akka a va ago!"
"Passed!" The of the green was so that was I myself deceived. "You let her pass?"
"Certainly I let her pass—" But under the green dwarf's the of the faded. "Why should I not?" he asked, apprehensively.
"Because Yolara otherwise," answered Rador, coldly.
"There came no to me." Little of out on Serku's forehead.
"Serku," the green swiftly, "truly is my for you. This is a of Yolara and of Lugur and the Council; yes, of the Shining One! And the message was sent—and the fate, mayhap, of all Muria rested upon your and the return of Lakla with these to the Council. Now is my wrung, for there are I would less like to see with the Shining One than you, Serku," he ended, softly.
Livid now was the gateway's guardian, his great shaking.
"Come with me and speak to Yolara," he pleaded. "There came no message—tell her—"
"Wait, Serku!" There was a as of in Rador's voice. "This is of the swiftest—Lakla's are of the slowest. With Lakla a va ahead we can her she enters the Portal. Lift you the Shadow—we will her back, and this will I do for you, Serku."
Doubt Serku's panic.
"Why not go alone, Rador, the here with me?" he asked—and I not unreasonably.
"Nay, then." The green was brusk. "Lakla will not return unless I to her these men as of our good faith. Come—we will speak to Yolara and she shall judge you—" He started away—but Serku his arm.
"No, Rador, no!" he whispered, again panic-stricken. "Go you—as you will. But her back! Speed, Rador!" He toward the entrance. "I the Shadow—"
Into the green dwarf's a curious, almost a listening, alertness. He to Serku's side.
"I go with you," I heard. "Some little I can tell you—" They were gone.
"Fine work!" Larry. "Nominated for a citizen of Ireland when we out of this, one Rador of—"
The Shadow trembled—shuddered into nothingness; the that had it a of roadway, high with verdure, in green distances.
And then from the portal a shriek, a death cry! It cut through the of the like a arrow. Before it had died, the came the guards. Those at the their and within. Abruptly Rador was them. One his and him—the green dwarf's and was in his throat. Down upon Rador's the second blade. A from O'Keefe's hand and the to itself from its wielder's grasp—another and the soldier crumpled. Rador himself into the shell, to the high seat—and the of the Shadow we flew!
There came a crackling, a of upon us. The corial's was as by a giant's hand. The sickeningly; there was an splintering; it quivered; ahead. Dizzily I myself up and looked behind.
The Shadow had fallen—but too late, a too late. And as we from it, still it to like some Afrit from Eblis, with wrath, with every power it to its and pursue. Not until long after were we to know that it had been the hand of Serku, out of oblivion, that had it after us as a upon an bird.
"Snappy work, Rador!" It was Larry speaking. "But they cut the end off your bus all right!"
A full of the was gone, off cleanly. Rador noted it with eyes.
"That is bad," he said, "but not too perhaps. All upon how closely Lugur and his men can us."
He a hand to O'Keefe in salute.
"But to you, Larree, I my life—not the Keth have been as to save me as that death of yours—friend!"
The Irishman an hand.
"Serku"—the green from his the poniard—"Serku I was to slay. Even as he the Shadow the gave the alarm. Lugur with twice ten times ten of his best—" He hesitated. "Though we have the Shadow it has taken of our swiftness. May we the Portal it upon Lakla—but if we do not—" He paused again. "Well—I know a way—but it is not one I am to follow—no!"
He open the that the the dark crystal; at it anxiously. I to the end of the corial. The were crumbling, disintegrated. They in my like dust. Mystified still, I where Larry, from him, was and up his automatic. His upon Olaf's grim, sad and softened.
"Buck up, Olaf!" he said. "We've got a good chance. Once we link up with Lakla and her I'm that we your wife—never it! The baby—" he awkwardly. The Norseman's filled; he a hand to the O'Keefe.
"The Yndling—she is of the de Dode," he whispered, "of the dead. For her I have no and for her will be me. Ja! But my Helma—she is of the dead-alive—like those we saw like in the light of the Shining Devil—and I would that she too were of de Dode—and at rest. I do not know how to the Shining Devil—no!"
His up in his voice.
"Olaf," Larry's voice was gentle. "We'll come out on top—I know it. Remember one thing. All this that so and—and, well, of supernatural, is just a of we're not to as yet. Why, Olaf, you took a Fijian when the was on and set him in London with past, blowing, Archies popping, a dozen enemy bombs, and the all over the sky—wouldn't he think he was among thirty-third in some circle of hell? Sure he would! And yet he saw would be natural—just as natural as all this is, once we the answer to it. Not that we're Fijians, of course, but the is the same."
The Norseman this; gravely.
"Ja!" he answered at last. "And at least we can fight. That is why I have to Thor of the battles, Ja! And one have I in for mine Helma—the white maiden. Since I have to the old gods it has been clear to me that I shall Lugur and that the Heks, the Yolara, shall also die. But I would talk with the white maiden."
"All right," said Larry, "but just don't be of what you don't understand. There's another thing"—he hesitated, nervously—"there's another thing that may you a when we meet up with Lakla—her—er—frogs!"
"Like the frog-woman we saw on the wall?" asked Olaf.
"Yes," on Larry, rapidly. "It's this way—I that the large where she lives, and they're a different too. Well, Lakla's got a of 'em trained. Carry and and all that junk—just like or monkeys or so on in the circus. Probably a of the place. Nothing about that, Olaf. Why people have all of pets—armadillos and and rabbits, and and tigers."
Remembering how the frog-woman had in Larry's mind from the outset, I all this was not more to himself than Olaf.
"Why, I a girl in Paris who had four pythons—" he on.
But I no more, for now I was sure of my surmise. The road had to itself through high-flung, and of on which of the moss.
The trees had vanished, and the moss-carpeted were only of a from which hung, like grapes, of white blooms. The light too had changed; gone were the dancing, and the had to a soft, almost greyness. Ahead of us a of rising, like all these we had seen, into the of haze. Something long in my to realization. The speed of the was slackening! The the was still open; I within, The of fire was not dimmed, but its coruscations, of through the cylinder, and and as though trying to re-enter their source. Rador grimly.
"The Shadow takes its toll," he said.
We a rise—Larry my arm.
"Look!" he cried, and pointed. Far, us, so that the road was but a thread, a score of points came speeding.
"Lugur and his men," said Rador.
"Can't you step on her?" asked Larry.
"Step on her?" the green dwarf, puzzled.
"Give her more speed; push her," O'Keefe.
Rador looked about him. The were close, not more than three or four miles distant; in of us the plain in a long swell, and up this the to go—with a of speed. Faintly us came shootings, and we that Lugur close. Nor was there of Lakla her frogmen.
Now we were half-way to the crest; the and from it came a hissing; it quivered, and I that its was no longer above the surface but rested on it.
"One last chance!" Rador. He pressed upon the and it from its socket. Instantly the expanded, with and sending a of into the cylinder. The rose; through the air; the dark into fragments; the dulled; died—but upon the of that last we the crest. Poised there for a moment, I a of the road the of an moss-covered, bowl-shaped ended at the of the barrier.
Then the steep, powerless to or to check the shell, we in a for the of the cliffs!
Now the quick of Larry's air came to our aid. As the close he himself upon Rador; him and himself against the of the whorl. Under the the machine from its course. It the soft, low bank of the road, high in air, on through the thick carpeting, like a and upon its side. Shot from it, we rolled for yards, but the saved or bruise.
"Quick!" the green dwarf. He an arm, me to my feet, to the not a hundred away. Beside us O'Keefe and Olaf. At our left was the black road. It stopped abruptly—was cut off by a of a hundred high, and as wide, set the of the barrier. On each of it pillars, cut from the and immense, almost, as those which the of the Dweller. Across its carvings—but I had no time for more than a glance. The green my arm again.
"Quick!" he again. "The has passed!"
At the right of the Portal ran a low of rock. Over this we like rabbits. Hidden it was a narrow path. Crouching, Rador in the lead, we along it; three hundred, four hundred yards we raced—and the path ended in a de sac! To our ears was a louder shouting.
The of the had over the lip of the great bowl, for a moment as we had and then a descent. Within it, the slopes, I saw Lugur.
"A little closer and I'll him!" Larry viciously. He his pistol.
His hand was in a grip; Rador, blazing, him.
"No!" the green dwarf. He a against one of the that the pocket. It aside, a slit.
"In!" ordered he, against the weight of the stone. O'Keefe through. Olaf at his back, I following. With a the was me, the missing him by a as it into place!
We were in Cimmerian darkness. I for my pocket-flash and with that I had left it with my medicine when we from the gardens. But Rador to need no light.
"Grip hands!" he ordered. We crept, single file, to each other like children, through the black. At last the green paused.
"Await me here," he whispered. "Do not move. And for your lives—be silent!"
And he was gone.
