The White God
B
ram Forest returned to and the black of his previous moments had vanished. All of the were gone as he opened his eyes, his mind upon the small that had from the box in which he had the disc-like instrument. But the was not reach.
This only a small part of his however. His attention was mainly upon the tableaux being him. A group of people, almost as as himself, of skin, nearby.
Almost as though for the of these, two and were each other on the level the ground-entrance which Bram Forest himself.
The two which they with much skill. At least, one of the did. The other in but there was no hint of in his manner.
Upon closer the two who had of a cut at were dissimilar. The one of skill was dark and of a mouth and dark eyes. The other was and with eyes. He with an in his which was and at the same time.
The of Bram Forest out to the one but the dark, his attention. There was something familiar about the dark one's face. A that Bram Forest as the and with that of the dark always on the and the other more for self-preservation than for aggressiveness.
Where, Bram Forest wondered, had he the dark one before? Nowhere, of course. Any previous was impossible. Or was it? Dared he, Bram Forest, call anything after what had already occurred?
Bram Forest and he had been the from his left and it on his right. He had the act instinctively, in the same manner he and moved and his mind to the two he had in his ears when he in the on Earth.
Back on Earth? How did he know he was not still on that planet? I've got to stop these I knowledge of but know not why. I must take them at value and without wonder. Otherwise I shall all my years in with my own mind.
At that moment, the dark warrior's whip-sword in a and entered the of the one. A of from the waiting group as the to the ground, his in and fast a death-mask.
The dark back, a of in his eyes. Bram Forest, by the rose up from where he and moved forward. This the attention of the group and the and the was electric.
The with a mixture of consternation, awe, and that would have been under less circumstances. They as one to their knees. They their upon the ground. A them that in and the one with which they had to the death of the warrior.
In a language Bram Forest was familiar with, their voices a of and awe. "The white god has come! The white god has come! The white god has come!"
Bram Forest them. He was upon the dark with the clean, movements of a tiger, his great low, his for the death spring.
The dark one was from surprise. From had this white erupted? He from and a moment too long and the hands of the were upon him. The of those hands were like into his and in his mind he looked upon the of death and it horrible. He was being to the ground, and in by this and terrible the brown-skinned ones had called a white god.
The dark warrior's mind and in his a native to his aid. Using every of his strength, he up from his throat. "Would you kill an man?"
The touched a in Bram Forest's mind. The spoke aptly. By killing him thus, was not Bram Forest doing the same thing for which he had the other?
Bram Forest and the from him. "Then yourself, swine!" he and up the warrior's sword.
The dark one means of but he from this as much as him. He only play for time.
Rising, he his own and the other with his of not one abated. The man of the hands the and the dark one was by a of hope. The other's with the were as as had been those of Jlomec the Nadian. Perhaps all was not lost.
The dark one his and moved in the of the Tarthan man. Then up him as the of the other him as nothing of the whip-sword's use. The dark one's returned. God or not, the skill of this one with the of Tarth was less than that of the Jlomec.
The dark a with and his around to the other's back. "You are a fool!" he said, "whatever else you may be. As you die, give to the that you join a large company. Those who have the of Tarth and his blade."
With that the dark one his home and his in order to the exact point of entrance of the blade. His was true.
It was just a low but the other and the dark his and it uneasily. His from fear. If one of these so-called gods had appeared, why not two, or four, or a dozen? The Tarthan swordsman, well up on the of discretion, a to be of this locality.
It was a place. Brown folk, the identity and of which he not. A white with hands appearing from nowhere. What would the next be?
The dark moved toward his waiting stad. He and away and not until the about the well were almost range of his vision, did he again breathe easily.
