A FRIEND FROM THE ENEMY
Desmond, still weak, himself up, and looked about him; and as he did so, a from the entrance that to the city of the underworld.
“They are the place,” said Alan looking startled, “let us go through there,” and he pointed to the little passage that had been to them so strangely.
“We can it from the other side,” said Desmond, “and at least it will give us more time.”
A close to them a of that easily to and fro, and the that it in place was plain to see on the side. They into the passage, closed the after them, and and in of it as an protection. Again came a time of waiting—a time when the was with wild and ravings—when the of Hell itself let on the other side. The had an entrance, but too late. Their had them.
Alan and Desmond and to the of their voices, for the from the other was in this one. Then a fell, and they that the had once more gone. Hungrily they and ate them greedily—when a woman’s cry, clear and distinct, them. Again and again it came—“Ar-lane! Jez-mun!”
Their names were called in the of the folk.
96“Who is it?” asked Desmond.
“I’ll see.”—
“No don’t go—don’t go—it’s some trick—” but Alan had already the in of the stone.
“Ar-lane. Jez-mun.” Again the came. “Open—open I beg. I come to you.”
“I am going to speak to her,” said Alan grimly, and he put his close against the stone.
“Who are you and what do you want of us?”
A was his answer, and then quickly—“Let me through, O Ar-lane—I have come to thee.”
“What do you want of us?”
“Listen, O Ar-lane, I have from my home in the temple of Fire, and have come to thee. Years ago when a child, I the and it well. But Am-rab the Wise, my and priest, me with of to there again. Since then I have not set upon the place. Let me in, O Ar-lane, for the is on this side, and I cannot it.”
Desmond was suspiciously. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
And again came the voice. “Let me in, O Ar-lane. Oh, let me in.”
Alan looked at Desmond and he gave his a quick nod. “If it’s we’re done,” he remarked, as he touched the and the moved.
As soon as it was wide open the woman entered. They did not know her, but her were from and her with emotion, and they that she had suffered.
“Waste no time,” she imperiously. “My is already spoken of in the temple. Should they me, it will need all our strength, all our to from them. Close the door, O Ar-lane, and up a of in front, that is strong, and then let us on.” So once more the place was barricaded, and only when the was complete did she to her presence.
97“You know me not, O Men of the Upper World, for you have set upon me before; but I have you often. Behold, I am Jez-Riah, of the house of Bin-Nab, and Keeper of the Hall of Fire. It is the custom, know ye, in this land of ours, for the female of Bin-Nab to keep after they have the age of ten. I my yester-eve, and came to thee.”
“Why?” asked Alan curtly.
The woman was to look upon—her were and luminous, and her tear-stained them with pity. Yet to be with a woman to take from them every of their escape.
Jez-Riah to read their thoughts. “No, not your against me, for I can help you,” said she earnestly.
“Why have you us?” asked Alan, this time less curtly.
“I know a road in here—a road, said to be a thousand and ten miles long; a of unknown depths, along by the of it—a that is by than the of waters—there,” and she pointed in the direction from which she had come. “It leads to the of Korah, so they say, but was to all who would have in search of it. O Ar-lane, you know not what our are.”
“I have some,” said Alan grimly.
Jez-Riah laughed. “Nay, Ar-lane—you have what I have seen. You have the Curse of Fire.” As she spoke her big and her as she again the she had so often witnessed. “I have men alive. I have on the sufferers’ wounds. I have seen—” but Alan stopped her. “Enough!” he cried. “It’s horrible.”
She continued. “But were for those who would the of Korah. So none tried. I you would be safe for a while in these caves—but I too, that with some one to you, you might go than you 98dared hope. I am of my life, I am an child of a of the direct line of Bin-Nab; but I have the blood of the in my veins. I want to live the life of the People of the Sun—your people. That is the I my from me, O Men of the Outer World, and you. Oh not Jez-Riah from thee, but keep her as slave, for she will by of much use to thee.”
Jez-Riah had herself at the boys’ feet, and her and were fast. Desmond and Alan moved at the of this woman, so different from the they were used to in the world above.
“I don’t think it’s trickery, Alan, do you?” said Desmond. In his Alan in the truth of the woman’s story, yet he from past that it was to the of the underworld.
He looked Jez-Riah up and down. “Any weapons?” he asked suddenly.
Jez-Riah up her proudly and her fire and she her foot. “I come ‘feula-ri!’ Is it likely I am traitor, O Men who Doubt?”
Now the boys of the of the world in which they themselves, that if the word “feula-ri—” was spoken, no was contemplated; for that word meant more to them than the white man’s flag of truce. For in times of war, has not the white flag been violated?
“I you, Jez-Riah,” said Alan suddenly. “Show us Korah’s and we in turn may a way to you the sun and moon and stars. And green trees—and grass—and the sea—” He his sharply. His had away with him, and for the moment he almost he the of the as they came in on some shore; he saw the and the sun-decked beach. The to be singing—and above it all came the of the gulls. He sighed.
99“Don’t Lannie,” said Desmond affectionately. “I it too; shall we see those again—shall we the on our and the sun—”
Jez-Riah looking at them hungrily. “You speak your own tongue,” said she, “not mine. What say you each to the other that makes the lines of on your so deep?”
“It’s nothing, Jez-Riah,” answered Alan.
“You are sorry I am here?”
“No, we are glad—and you must help us with your knowledge of the ways.”
“See, I will you at once,” and she rose and the cavern. She pressed a in the in of them, and a on a and a beyond. The noise of came upon their ears—loud and thunderous.
“It is true,” she in triumph, “behold all I have said is true. The are calling—come,” and she through into the without a of fear. And Alan and Desmond their without any for the future.
Providence had sent them an for guide. Hope, the star they had almost in the clouds of that had them, came back, in all the and of fervour. With a “Thank God” the two boys forward, of step and at than they had been for some time.
“Ar-lane—Jez-mun,” came a voice from the darkness. “I am Jez-Riah—Child of the future—Gate of Hope—Guide of Strangers. Fear nothing—the will pass and we shall the way easy to tread.”
And it was as she had spoken. In a very little time they themselves in a of natural to the ones from which they had come. The of the water louder. It in their ears; it and as if some was the very earth itself. Jez-Riah was radiant.
“The of Korah is not far. I have it 100told that that and the of Korah, will live to see the sun. The sun that our Zurishadeel of, the sun that the God of our created. The puts new life into me—Come.”
On, on they went, the noise louder and louder every moment, until, upon a corner, a met their eyes. Belching from the themselves, itself out from regions unseen, like a from some high precipice, the rushed, making a of dimensions, which was overflowing its banks—a wild, mad, liquid. The rose a hundred in height, and all and the whole place was and ghostly.
At one end of the was a outlet, two wide, through which the ran at speed. The noise, the of the waters, the of the scene, boys with at their surroundings, but Jez-Riah was on her knees, her in the water, it over her hair, it from cups of her two hands. And above the and they her a of to the of the music of the waters. The boys eagerly, and again and again they the refrain—
“Korah—Korah—father of our people—the will lead us to where lie,
“Korah—Korah—thou not us—I am in the of and purity.”
Then Jez-Riah off her and into the waters. The boys in as she with the whirlpools, but she proved than they, and on until she the waterfall. Round and she was and but she her at last—a of out of the and under the of the itself. Standing upon it she a dance—a 101dance of joy. The almost her from their gaze, the rose in of her like a gauze. At moments, however, her was to view, and the boys at her agility. She did not to tire, but on, her voice in a of praise. Praise of the waters, of the light, to the God of the Sun. Then came a prayer that the might be opened to her—and that she might lead the to safety. And as she sang and prayed, her were moving fast in and the were over her and her.
When she had her prayer she to her in an of and asked for her one great sin—the she in the temple, where she was Watcher to the Fire.
There was a long silence—only by the voices of the in its dirge.
Alan moved. “Is she safe?” he asked “What will to her?”—but as he spoke the had once more into the and was almost with to the shore. Jez-Riah proudly them, her a that her. “Go—rest,” she commanded. “I with Korah,” and of foot, in purpose, she one of the passages near by, and was soon to sight.
102
