Oceaxe sat on the of mosses, and the
plums.
“You see, you had to kill him, Maskull,” she said, in a quizzical
voice.
He came away from the and her—still red, and still
breathing hard. “It’s no joking matter. You ought to keep
quiet.”
“Why?”
“Because he was your husband.”
“You think I ought to grief—when I none?”
“Don’t pretend, woman!”
Oceaxe smiled. “From your manner one would think you were me of
some crime.”
Maskull at her words. “What, you live with filth—you
live in the arms of a and then—”
“Oh, now I it,” she said, in a of perfect detachment.
“I’m glad.”
“Well, Maskull,” she proceeded, after a pause, “and who gave you the
right to my conduct? Am I not of my own person?”
He looked at her with disgust, but said nothing. There was another long
interval of silence.
“I loved him,” said Oceaxe at last, looking at the ground.
“That makes it all the worse.”
“What all this mean—what do you want?”
“Nothing from you—absolutely nothing—thank heaven!”
She gave a hard laugh. “You come here with your preconceptions
and us all to to them.”
“What preconceptions?”
“Just Crimtyphon’s are to you, you him—and
you would like to me.”
“Sports! That cruelty.”
“Oh, you’re sentimental!” said Oceaxe contemptuously. “Why do you need
to make such a over that man? Life is life, all the world over, and
one is as good as another. He was only to be a tree, like a
million other trees. If they can the life, why can’t he?”
“And this is Ifdawn morality!”
Oceaxe to angry. “It’s you who have ideas. You rave
about the of flowers and trees—you think them divine. But when
it’s a question of taking on this divine, fresh, pure, enchanting
loveliness yourself, in your own person, it a cruel
and degradation. Here we have a riddle, in my opinion.”
“Oceaxe, you’re a beautiful, wild beast—nothing more. If you
weren’t a woman—”
“Well”—curling her lip—“let us what would if I weren’t a
woman?”
Maskull his nails.
“It doesn’t matter. I can’t touch you—though there’s not the
difference of a you and your boy-husband. For this you may
thank my ‘foreign preconceptions.’... Farewell!”
He to go. Oceaxe’s at him through their long lashes.
“Where are you off to, Maskull?”
“That’s a of no importance, for I go it must be a change
for the better. You walking of crime!”
“Wait a minute. I only want to say this. Blodsombre is just starting,
and you had here till the afternoon. We can put that
body out of sight, and, as you to me so much, the place is
big enough—we needn’t talk, or see each other.”
“I don’t wish to breathe the same air.”
“Singular man!” She was and motionless, like a beautiful
statue. “And what of your with Surtur, and all the
undone which you set out to do?”
“You aren’t the one I shall speak to about that. But”—he her
meditatively—“while I’m still here you can tell me this. What’s the
meaning of the on that corpse’s face?”
“Is that another crime, Maskull? All people look like that. Ought
they not to?”
“I once it called ‘Crystalman’s face.’”
“Why not? We are all and sons of Crystalman. It is doubtless
the family resemblance.”
“It has also been told me that Surtur and Crystalman are one and the
same.”
“You have wise and acquaintances.”
“Then how it have been Surtur I saw?” said Maskull, more to
himself than to her. “That was something different.”
She her manner and, toward him,
gently his arm.
“You see—we have to talk. Sit me, and ask me your questions.
I’m not smart, but I’ll try to be of assistance.”
Maskull permitted himself to be with soft violence. She
bent toward him, as if confidentially, and that her sweet,
cool, should his cheek.
“Aren’t you here to the to the good, Maskull? Then what does
it who sent you?”
“What can you possibly know of good and evil?”
“Are you only the initiated?”
“Who am I, to anybody? However, you’re right. I wish to
do what I can—not I am qualified, but I am here.”
Oceaxe’s voice to a whisper. “You’re a giant, in and
soul. What you want to do, you can do.”
“Is that your opinion, or are you me for your own
ends?”
She sighed. “Don’t you see how difficult you are making the
conversation? Let’s talk about your work, not about ourselves.”
Maskull noticed a light in the northern
sky. It was from Alppain, but Alppain itself was the hills. While
he was it, a of self-denial, of a disquieting
nature, passed through him. He looked at Oceaxe, and it him for
the time that he was being to her. He had
forgotten that she was a woman, and defenceless.
“Won’t you stay?” she asked all of a sudden, openly and frankly.
“Yes, I think I’ll stay,” he slowly. “And another thing,
Oceaxe—if I’ve your character, pray me. I’m a hasty,
passionate man.”
“There are men. Hard are a good medicine for
vicious hearts. And you didn’t my character, as as you
went—only, every woman has more than one character. Don’t you know
that?”
During the pause that followed, a of was heard, and both
looked around, startled. They saw a woman slowly across the
neck that them from the mainland.
“Tydomin,” Oceaxe, in a vexed, voice. She
immediately moved away from Maskull and up.
The was of middle height, very and graceful. She was no
longer young. Her the of a woman who her
way about the world. It was pale, and under its quiescence
there just was a of something and dangerous. It was
curiously alluring, though not beautiful. Her was
clustering and boyish, only to the neck. It was of a strange
indigo colour. She was in a and breeches, pieced
together from the square, blue-green plates of some reptile. Her small,
ivory-white were exposed. Her was black and sad—rather
contemplative.
Without once up at Oceaxe and Maskull, she glided
straight toward Crimtyphon’s corpse. When she a feet
of it, she stopped and looked down, with arms folded.
Oceaxe Maskull a little away, and whispered, “It’s Crimtyphon’s
other wife, who under Disscourn. She’s a most woman. Be
careful what you say. If she you to do anything, it
outright.”
“The looks enough.”
“Yes, she does—but the is of up Krag
himself.... Now, play the man.”
The of their voices to Tydomin’s notice, for she
now slowly her toward them.
“Who killed him?” she demanded.
Her voice was so soft, low, and refined, that Maskull was able to
catch the words. The sounds, however, in his ears, and
curiously to stronger, of fainter.
Oceaxe whispered, “Don’t say a word, it all to me.” Then she swung
her around to Tydomin squarely, and said aloud, “I killed
him.”
Tydomin’s by this time were in Maskull’s like an
actual physical sound. There was no question of being able to ignore
them; he had to make an open of his act, the
consequences might be. Quietly taking Oceaxe by the and putting
her him, he said in a low, but perfectly voice, “It was
I that killed Crimtyphon.”
Oceaxe looked and frightened. “Maskull says that so as to
shield me, as he thinks. I no shield, Maskull. I killed him,
Tydomin.”
“I you, Oceaxe. You did him. Not with your own strength,
for you this man along for the purpose.”
Maskull took a of steps toward Tydomin. “It’s of little
consequence who killed him, for he’s than alive, in my
opinion. Still, I did it. Oceaxe had no hand in the affair.”
Tydomin appeared not to him—she looked him at Oceaxe
musingly. “When you him, didn’t it to you that I would
come here, to out?”
“I once of you,” Oceaxe, with an angry laugh. “Do
you that I your image with me I go?”
“If someone were to your lover here, what would you do?”
“Lying hypocrite!” Oceaxe out. “You were in love with
Crimtyphon. You always me, and now you think it an excellent
opportunity to make it good... now that Crimtyphon’s gone.... For we
both know he would have a of you, if I had asked him. He
worshiped me, but he laughed at you. He you ugly.”
Tydomin a quick, at Maskull. “Is it necessary for
you to to all this?”
Without question, and it the right thing to do, he walked away
out of earshot.
Tydomin approached Oceaxe. “Perhaps my and I’m no
longer young, I needed him all the more.”
Oceaxe gave a of snarl. “Well, he’s dead, and that’s the end of it.
What are you going to do now, Tydomin?”
The other woman and pathetically. “There’s nothing
left to do, the dead. You won’t me that last
office?”
“Do you want to here?” Oceaxe suspiciously.
“Yes, Oceaxe dear, I wish to be alone.”
“Then what is to of us?”
“I that you and your lover—what is his name?”
“Maskull.”
“I that you two would go to Disscourn, and spend
Blodsombre at my home.”
Oceaxe called out to Maskull, “Will you come with me now to
Disscourn?”
“If you wish,” returned Maskull.
“Go first, Oceaxe. I must question your friend about Crimtyphon’s death.
I won’t keep him.”
“Why don’t you question me, rather?” Oceaxe, looking up
sharply.
Tydomin gave the of a smile. “We know each other too well.”
“Play no tricks!” said Oceaxe, and she to go.
“Surely you must be dreaming,” said Tydomin. “That’s the way—unless you
want to walk over the cliffside.”
The path Oceaxe had across the isthmus. The direction which
Tydomin for her was over the of the precipice, into empty
space.
“Shaping! I must be mad,” Oceaxe, with a laugh. And she obediently
followed the other’s finger.
She walked on toward the of the abyss, twenty away.
Maskull his around, and what she was doing.
Tydomin with finger, her.
Without hesitation, without her step once, Oceaxe strolled
on—and when she had the end of the land she still took
one more step.
Maskull saw her as she over the edge. Her body
disappeared, and as it did so an sounded.
Disillusionment had come to her an too late. He himself out
of his stupor, to the of the cliff, himself on the
ground recklessly, and looked over.... Oceaxe had vanished.
He for minutes, and then to
sob. Tydomin came up to him, and he got to his feet.
The blood to his and it again. It was some
time he speak at all. Then he out the with
difficulty. “You shall pay for this, Tydomin. But I want to hear
why you did it.”
“Hadn’t I cause?” she asked, with eyes.
“Was it pure fiendishness?”
“It was for Crimtyphon’s sake.”
“She had nothing to do with that death. I told you so.”
“You are to her, and I’m to him.”
“Loyal? You’ve a terrible blunder. She wasn’t my mistress. I killed
Crimtyphon for another reason. She had no part in it.”
“Wasn’t she your lover?” asked Tydomin slowly.
“You’ve a terrible mistake,” Maskull. “I killed him
because he was a wild beast. She was as of his death as you
are.”
Tydomin’s took on a hard look. “So you are of two deaths.”
There was a silence.
“Why couldn’t you me?” asked Maskull, who was and sweating
painfully.
“Who gave you the right to kill him?” Tydomin sternly.
He said nothing, and did not her question.
She two or three times and to restlessly. “Since you
murdered him, you must help me him.”
“What’s to be done? This is a most crime.”
“You are a most man. Why did you come here, to do all this? What
are we to you?”
“Unfortunately you are right.”
Another pause ensued.
“It’s no use here,” said Tydomin. “Nothing can be done. You
must come with me.”
“Come with you? Where to?”
“To Disscourn. There’s a on the of it. He always
wished to be there after death. We can do that after Blodsombre—in
the meantime we must take him home.”
“You’re a callous, woman. Why should he be when that
poor girl must unburied?”
“You know that’s out of the question,” Tydomin quietly.
Maskull’s about agitatedly, nothing.
“We must do something,” she continued. “I shall go. You can’t wish to
stay here alone?”
“No, I couldn’t here—and why should I want to? You want me to carry
the corpse?”
“He can’t himself, and you him. Perhaps it will your
mind to it.”
“Ease my mind?” said Maskull, stupidly.
“There’s only one for remorse, and that’s pain.”
“And have you no remorse?” he asked, her with a eye.
“These are yours, Maskull,” she said in a low but voice.
They walked over to Crimtyphon’s body, and Maskull it on to his
shoulders. It than he had thought. Tydomin did not offer
to him to the burden.
She the isthmus, by Maskull. Their path through
sunshine and shadow. Branchspell was in a sky, the
heat was insufferable—streams of his face, and the
corpse to and heavier. Tydomin always walked in
front of him. His were in an on her white,
womanish calves; he looked neither to right left. His grew
sullen. At the end of ten minutes he allowed his to slip
off his on to the ground, where it every which
way. He called out to Tydomin.
She looked around.
“Come here. It has just to me”—he laughed—“why should I be
carrying this corpse—and why should I be you at all? What
surprises me is, why this has me before.”
She at once came to him. “I you’re tired, Maskull. Let us
sit down. Perhaps you have come a long way this morning?”
“Oh, it’s not tiredness, but a of sense. Do you know of any
reason why I should be acting as your porter?” He laughed again, but
nevertheless sat on the ground her.
Tydomin neither looked at him answered. Her was bent, so
as to the northern sky, where the Alppain light was still glowing.
Maskull her gaze, and also the for a moment or two
in silence.
“Why don’t you speak?” he asked at last.
“What that light to you, Maskull?”
“I’m not speaking of that light.”
“Doesn’t it anything at all?”
“Perhaps it doesn’t. What it matter?”
“Not sacrifice?”
Maskull again. “Sacrifice of what? What do you mean?”
“Hasn’t it entered your yet,” said Tydomin, looking in
front of her, and speaking in her delicate, hard manner, “that this
adventure of yours will come to an end until you have some
sort of sacrifice?”
He returned no answer, and she said nothing more. In a minutes’ time
Maskull got up of his own accord, and irreverently, and almost angrily,
threw Crimtyphon’s over his again.
“How do we have to go?” he asked in a tone.
“An hour’s walk.”
“Lead on.”
“Still, this isn’t the I mean,” said Tydomin quietly, as she
went on in front.
Almost they more difficult ground. They had to pass
from to peak, as from to island. In some cases they were
able to or jump across, but in others they had to make use of
rude of timber. It appeared to be a path.
Underneath were the black, abysses—on the surface were the
glaring sunshine, the gay, painted rocks, the of strange
plants. There were and insects. The were
thicker than those of Earth—consequently still more disgusting,
and some of them were of size. One insect, as large
as a horse, right in the centre of their path without budging. It
was armour-plated, had like scimitars, and its was
a of legs. Tydomin gave one look at it, and sent it
crashing into the gulf.
“What have I to offer, my life?” Maskull out. “And
what good is that? It won’t that girl into the world.”
“Sacrifice is not for utility. It’s a which we pay.”
“I know that.”
“The point is you can go on life, after what has
happened.”
She waited for Maskull to come with her.
“Perhaps you I’m not man enough—you that I
allowed Oceaxe to die for me—”
“She did die for you,” said Tydomin, in a quiet, voice.
“That would be a second of yours,” returned Maskull, just as
firmly. “I was not in love with Oceaxe, and I’m not in love with life.”
“Your life is not required.”
“Then I don’t what you want, or what you are speaking about.”
“It’s not for me to ask a from you, Maskull. That would be
compliance on your part, but not sacrifice. You must wait until you feel
there’s nothing else for you to do.”
“It’s all very mysterious.”
The was cut by a and frightful
crashing, sound, from a ahead. It was
accompanied by a of the ground on which they stood.
They looked up, startled, just in time to the final
disappearance of a of land, not two hundred yards in
front of them. Several of trees, plants, rocks, and soil, with all
its animal life, their eyes, like a magic story.
The new was cut, as if by a knife. Beyond its the
Alppain just over the horizon.
“Now we shall have to make a detour,” said Tydomin, halting.
Maskull of her with his third hand. “Listen to me, while I
try to what I’m feeling. When I saw that landslip, I
have about the last of the world came into my mind. It
seemed to me as if I were actually it, and that the world
were to pieces. Then, where the land was, we now have
this empty, gulf—that’s to say, nothing—and it to me as if
our life will come to the same condition, where there was something
there will be nothing. But that terrible on the opposite side
is like the of fate. It us, and what we have
made of our life, which is no more. At the same time, it is and
joyful. The in this—that it is in our power to give freely
what will later on be taken from us by force.”
Tydomin him attentively. “Then your is that your life is
worthless, and you make a present of it to the one who asks?”
“No, it goes that. I that the only thing for is
to be so that itself will be at us.
Understand me. It isn’t cynicism, or bitterness, or despair, but
heroism.... It’s hard to explain.”
“Now you shall what I offer you, Maskull. It’s a heavy
one, but that’s what you to wish.”
“That is so. In my present mood it can’t be too heavy.”
“Then, if you are in earnest, your to me. Now that
Crimtyphon’s dead, I’m of being a woman.”
“I fail to comprehend.”
“Listen, then. I wish to start a new in your body. I wish to
be a male. I see it isn’t while being a woman. I to dedicate
my own to Crimtyphon. I shall tie his and mine together, and
give them a common in the lake. That’s the I
offer you. As I said, it’s a hard one.”
“So you do ask me to die. Though how you can make use of my is
difficult to understand.”
“No, I don’t ask you to die. You will go on living.”
“How is it possible without a body?”
Tydomin at him earnestly. “There are many such beings, in
your world. There you call them spirits, apparitions, phantoms. They are
in wills, of material bodies, always to
act and enjoy, but unable to do so. Are you noble-minded to
accept such a state, do you think?”
“If it’s possible, I accept it,” Maskull quietly. “Not in spite
of its heaviness, but of it. But how is it possible?”
“Undoubtedly there are very many possible in our world of which
you have no conception. Now let us wait till we home. I don’t hold
you to your word, for unless it’s a free I will have nothing
to do with it.”
“I am not a man who speaks lightly. If you can perform this miracle, you
have my consent, once for all.”
“Then we’ll it like that for the present,” said Tydomin sadly.
They on their way. Owing to the subsidence, Tydomin seemed
rather at as to the right road, but by making a long
divergence they got around to the other of the newly
formed chasm. A little later on, in a narrow a miniature,
insulated peak, they in with a man. He was himself against
a tree, and looked tired, overheated, and despondent. He was young. His
beardless an of sincerity, and in
other respects he a hardy, youth, of an intellectual
type. His was thick, short, and flaxen. He neither a sorb
nor a third arm—so he was not a native of Ifdawn. His
forehead, however, was by what looked like a haphazard
assortment of eyes, eight in number, of different and shapes. They
went in pairs, and two were in use, it was by a
peculiar shining—the dull, until their turn came. In
addition to the upper he had the two ones, but they were
vacant and lifeless. This of eyes, alternatively
alive and dead, gave the man an of almost alarming
mental activity. He was nothing but a of skin kilt. Maskull
seemed somehow to the face, though he had set
eyes on it before.
Tydomin to him to set the corpse, and sat to
rest in the shade.
“Question him, Maskull,” she said, carelessly, her head
toward the stranger.
Maskull and asked aloud, from his seat on the ground, “What’s
your name, and where do you come from?”
The man him for a moments, with one pair of eyes, then
with another, then with a third. He next his attention to
Tydomin, who him a still longer time. He at last, in a
dry, manly, voice. “I am Digrung. I have here from
Matterplay.” His colour changing, and Maskull of
whom he him. It was of Joiwind.
“Perhaps you’re going to Poolingdred, Digrung?” he inquired, interested.
“As a of I am—if I can my way out of this accursed
country.”
“Possibly you are with Joiwind there?”
“She’s my sister. I’m on my way to see her now. Why, do you know her?”
“I met her yesterday.”
“What is your name, then?”
“Maskull.”
“I shall tell her I met you. This will be our meeting for four
years. Is she well, and happy?”
“Both, as as I judge. You know Panawe?”
“Her husband—yes. But where do you come from? I’ve nothing like you
before.”
“From another world. Where is Matterplay?”
“It’s the country one comes to the Sinking Sea.”
“What is it like there—how do you yourselves? The same old murders
and deaths?”
“Are you ill?” asked Digrung. “Who is this woman, why are you following
at her like a slave? She looks to me. What’s that
corpse—why are you it around the country with you?”
Tydomin smiled. “I’ve already it said about Matterplay, that if
one an answer there, a rich of questions springs
up. But why do you make this attack on me, Digrung?”
“I don’t attack you, woman, but I know you. I see into you, and I see
insanity. That wouldn’t matter, but I don’t like to see a man of
intelligence like Maskull in your meshes.”
“I you Matterplay people sometimes misjudge
character. However, I don’t mind. Your opinion’s nothing to me, Digrung.
You’d answer his questions, Maskull. Not for his own sake—but
your friend is sure to be about your having been seen
carrying a man.”
Maskull’s out. “Tell your sister nothing, Digrung. Don’t
mention my name at all. I don’t want her to know about this meeting of
ours.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t wish it—isn’t that enough?”
Digrung looked impassive.
“Thoughts and words,” he said, “which don’t with the real
events of the world are most in Matterplay.”
“I’m not you to lie, only to keep silent.”
“To the truth is a special branch of lying. I can’t to your
wish. I must tell Joiwind everything, as as I know it.”
Maskull got up, and Tydomin his example.
She touched Digrung on the arm and gave him a look. “The dead
man is my husband, and Maskull him. Now you’ll why
he you to your tongue.”
“I there was some play,” said Digrung. “It doesn’t matter—I
can’t facts. Joiwind must know.”
“You to her feelings?” said Maskull, pale.
“Feelings which on illusions, and and die on realities,
aren’t considering. But Joiwind’s are not of that kind.”
“If you to do what I ask, at least return home without seeing
her; your sister will very little out of the meeting when
she your news.”
“What are these relations you?” Digrung, eying
him with suspicion.
Maskull in a of bewilderment. “Good God! You don’t
doubt your own sister. That pure angel!”
Tydomin of him delicately. “I don’t know Joiwind, but,
whoever she is and she’s like, I know this—she’s more fortunate
in her friend than in her brother. Now, if you value her
happiness, Maskull, you will have to take some step or other.”
“I to. Digrung, I shall stop your journey.”
“If you a second murder, no you are big enough.”
Maskull around to Tydomin and laughed. “I to be a
wake of me on this journey.”
“Why a corpse? There’s no need to kill him.”
“Thanks for that!” said Digrung dryly. “All the same, some is
about to burst. I it.”
“What must I do, then?” asked Maskull.
“It is not my business, and to tell the truth I am not very
interested.... If I were in your place, Maskull, I would not hesitate
long. Don’t you how to these creatures, who set their
feeble, against yours?”
“That is a crime,” said Maskull.
“Who knows? He will live, but he will tell no tales.”
Digrung laughed, but colour. “I was right then. The has
sprung into the light of day.”
Maskull a hand on his shoulder. “You have the choice, and we are
not joking. Do as I ask.”
“You have low, Maskull. But you are walking in a dream, and I
can’t talk to you. As for you, woman—sin must be like a to
you....”
“There are Maskull and myself; but you are a
passer-by, a foreigner. I nothing for you.”
“Nevertheless, I shall not be out of my plans, which are
legitimate and right.”
“Do as you please,” said Tydomin. “If you come to grief, your thoughts
will have with the events of the world, which
is what you about. It is no of mine.”
“I shall go on, and not back!” Digrung, with angry emphasis.
Tydomin a swift, at Maskull. “Bear that I have
tried to this man. Now you must come to a quick decision
in your own mind as to which is of the importance, Digrung’s
happiness or Joiwind’s. Digrung won’t allow you to them both.”
“It won’t take me long to decide, Digrung, I gave you a last to
change your mind.”
“As long as it’s in my power I shall go on, and my sister against
her friends.”
Maskull again at him, but this time with violence. Instructed
in his by some new and instinct, he pressed the young
man to his with all three arms. A of wild, sweet
delight passed through him. Then for the time he
comprehended the of “absorbing.” It satisfied the hunger
of the will, as food the of the body. Digrung
proved feeble—he little opposition. His passed slowly
and into Maskull’s. The and gorged. The
victim and limper, until Maskull a in
his arms. He the body, and trembling. He had his
second crime. He no in his soul, but...
Tydomin a sad on him, like winter sunshine. He expected
her to speak, but she said nothing. Instead, she a to him to
pick up Crimtyphon’s corpse. As he obeyed, he why Digrung’s
dead did not wear the Crystalman mask.
“Why hasn’t he altered?” he to himself.
Tydomin him. She Digrung with her little foot. “He
isn’t dead—that’s why. The you is waiting for your
death.”
“Then is that my character?”
She laughed softly. “You came here to a world, and now it
appears you are yourself. Oh, there’s no about it, Maskull.
You needn’t there gaping. You to Shaping, like the of
us. You are not a king, or a god.”
“Since when have I to him?”
“What that matter? Perhaps since you the air of
Tormance, or since five minutes ago.”
Without waiting for his response, she set off through the copse, and
strode on to the next island. Maskull followed, physically distressed
and looking very grave.
The for an hour longer, without incident. The
character of the slowly changed. The loftier
and more from one another. The were with
rolling, white clouds, which the of the like a
mysterious sea. To pass from to was hard work, the
intervening were so wide—Tydomin, however, the way. The
intense light, the violet-blue sky, the of landscape,
emerging from the white vapour-ocean, a on
Maskull’s mind. The of Alppain was by the of
Disscourn, which up in of them.
The green on the top of the had by now completely
melted away. The black, gold, and of its out
with brilliance. They were directly the of the
mountain, which was not a mile away. It did not appear to
climb, but he was on which of it their lay.
It was from top to by fissures. A few
pale-green here and there, like narrow, motionless
threads. The of the was and bare. It was strewn
with boulders, and great, everywhere
like iron teeth. Tydomin pointed to a small black near the base,
which might be a cave. “That is where I live.”
“You live here alone?”
“Yes.”
“It’s an odd choice for a woman—and you are not unbeautiful, either.”
“A woman’s life is over at twenty-five,” she replied, sighing. “And I am
far older than that. Ten years ago it would have been I who lived
yonder, and not Oceaxe. Then all this wouldn’t have happened.”
*****
A of an hour later they the mouth of the cave. It
was ten high, and its was black.
“Put the in the entrance, out of the sun,” Tydomin.
He did so.
She a at him. “Does your resolution
still hold, Maskull?”
“Why shouldn’t it hold? My are not feathers.”
“Follow me, then.”
They into the cave. At that very moment a crash,
like just over their heads, set Maskull’s heart
thumping violently. An of boulders, stones, and dust, swept
past the entrance from above. If their going in had been by
a single minute, they would have been killed.
Tydomin did not look up. She took his hand in hers, and started
walking with him into the darkness. The temperature as cold as
ice. At the the light from the world disappeared,
leaving them in blackness. Maskull over the
uneven ground, but she tight of him, and him along.
The of length. Presently, however, the
atmosphere changed—or such was his impression. He was somehow to
imagine that they had come to a larger chamber. Here Tydomin stopped,
and then him with pressure. His hand
encountered and, by it all over, he that it was
a of slab, or couch, a or eighteen from
the ground. She told him to down.
“Has the time come?” asked Maskull.
“Yes.”
He there waiting in the darkness, of what was going to
happen. He her hand his. Without any gradation,
he all of his body; he was no longer able to his
limbs or organs. His mind active and alert. Nothing
particular appeared to be taking place.
Then the to light, like very early morning. He could
see nothing, but the of his was affected. He that he
heard music, but while he was for it, it stopped. The light
grew stronger, the air warmer; he the of
distant voices.
Suddenly Tydomin gave his hand a powerful squeeze. He someone
scream faintly, and then the light up, and he saw everything
clearly.
He was on a couch, in a room, lighted
by electricity. His hand was being squeezed, not by Tydomin, but by a
man in the of civilisation, with he was
certainly familiar, but under what he not recall.
Other people in the background—they too were to him.
He sat up and to smile, without any reason; and then
stood upright.
Everybody to be him with and emotion—he wondered
why. Yet he that they were all acquaintances. Two in particular he
knew—the man at the end of the room, who restlessly
backward and forward, his by stern, grandeur; and
that other big, man—who was himself. Yes—he was looking at his
own double. But it was just as if a crime-riddled man of middle age were
suddenly with his own photograph as an earnest, idealistic
youth.
His other self spoke to him. He the sounds, but did not comprehend
the sense. Then the door was open, and a short, brutish-
looking in. He to in an extraordinary
manner to around him; and after that came up to
him—Maskull. He spoke some words, but they were incomprehensible. A
terrible came over the newcomer’s face, and he his
neck with a pair of hands. Maskull his and
breaking, pains passed through all the nerves of his body,
and he a of death. He out, and sank
helplessly on the floor, in a heap. The and the company
vanished—the light out.
Once more he himself in the of the cave. He was this
time on the ground, but Tydomin was still with him, his
hand. He was in agony, but this was only a setting for
the that his mind.
Tydomin him in of reproach. “Why are you so
soon? I’ve not had time yet. You must return.”
He of her, and himself up to his feet. She gave a low
scream, as though in pain. “What this mean—what are you doing,
Maskull?”
“Krag—” Maskull, but the to produce his him,
so that he was to stop.
“Krag—what of Krag? Tell me what has happened. Free my arm.”
He her arm tighter.
“Yes, I’ve Krag. I’m awake.”
“Oh! You are awake, awake.”
“And you must die,” said Maskull, in an voice.
“But why? What has happened?...”
“You must die, and I must kill you. Because I am awake, and for no other
reason. You blood-stained dancing mistress!”
Tydomin hard for a little time. Then she to
regain her self-possession.
“You won’t offer me violence, surely, in this black cave?”
“No, the sun shall look on, for it is not a murder. But assured
that you must die—you must your crimes.”
“You have already said so, and I see you have the power. You have
escaped me. It is very curious. Well, then, Maskull, let us come
outside. I am not afraid. But kill me courteously, for I have also been
courteous to you. I make no other supplication.”
