BY THE TIME that they the mouth of the cavern, Blodsombre was
at its height. In of them the downward—a long
succession of in a sea of clouds. Behind them the
bright, of Disscourn up for a thousand or
more. Maskull’s were red, and his looked stupid; he was still
holding the woman by the arm. She no attempt to speak, or to get
away. She perfectly and composed.
After at the country for a long time in silence, he toward
her. “Whereabouts is the you spoke of?”
“It on the other of the mountain. But why do you ask?”
“It is just as well if we have some way to walk. I shall calmer,
and that’s what I want. I wish you to that what is going to
happen is not a murder, but an execution.”
“It will taste the same,” said Tydomin.
“When I have gone out of this country, I don’t wish to that I have
left a me, at large. That would not be to
others. So we will go to the lake, which promises an easy death for
you.”
She her shoulders. “We must wait till Blodsombre is over.”
“Is this a time for feelings? However it is now, we will
both be by evening. We must start at once.”
“Without doubt, you are the master, Maskull.... May I not carry
Crimtyphon?”
Maskull looked at her strangely.
“I no man his funeral.”
She the on her narrow shoulders, and they stepped
out into the sunlight. The them like a on the head.
Maskull moved aside, to allow her to him, but no compassion
entered his heart. He over the the woman had done him.
The way along the south of the great pyramid, near its base.
It was a road, with and by and
water gullies; they see the water, but not at it. There
was no shade. Blisters on their skin, while all the water in
their blood to up.
Maskull his own in his devil’s at Tydomin’s.
“Sing me a song!” he called out presently. “A one.”
She her and gave him a long, look; then, without
any of expostulation, started singing. Her voice was low and weird.
The song was so that he had to his to ascertain
whether he was or dreaming. The slow of the grotesque
melody to him in a fashion; the were pure
nonsense—or else their was too for him.
“Where, in the name of all things, did you that stuff,
woman?”
Tydomin a smile, while the about with ghastly
jerks over her left shoulder. She it in position with her two left
arms. “It’s a we not have met as friends, Maskull. I could
have you a of Tormance which now you will see.
The wild, side. But now it’s too late, and it doesn’t matter.”
They the of the mountain, and started to the
western base.
“Which is the way out of this land?” asked Maskull.
“It is to go to Sant.”
“Will we see it from anywhere?”
“Yes, though it is a long way off.”
“Have you been there?”
“I am a woman, and interdicted.”
“True. I have something of the sort.”
“But don’t ask me any more questions,” said Tydomin, who was becoming
faint.
Maskull stopped at a little spring. He himself drank, and then a
cup of his hand for the woman, so that she might not have to down
her burden. The water like magic—it to all
the of his as though they had been thirsty pores,
sucking up liquid. Tydomin her self-possession.
About three-quarters of an hour later they around the second
corner, and entered into full view of the north of Disscourn.
A hundred yards the on which they were walking, the
mountain ended in a chasm. The air above it was with a
sort of green haze, which like the atmosphere
immediately over a furnace.
“The is underneath,” said Tydomin.
Maskull looked about him. Beyond the the country sloped
away in a to the skyline. Behind them, a narrow path
channelled its way up through the toward the of
the pyramid. Miles away, in the north-east quarter, a long, flat-topped
plateau its above all the country. It was
Sant—and there and then he up his mind that that should be his
destination that day.
Tydomin meanwhile had walked to the gulf, and set down
Crimtyphon’s on the edge. In a minute or two, Maskull joined her;
arrived at the brink, he himself at full length on his
chest, to see what be of the of fire. A of hot,
asphyxiating air his and set him coughing, but he did not get
up until he had his at the sea of green, lava,
tossing and at no great below, like a will.
A of came up. He intently, and as he did
so his and the black rolled away from his soul.
All the world and its at that moment false, and without
meaning....
He to his feet. Tydomin was talking to her dead
husband. She was into the of ivory, and fondling
his hair. When she Maskull, she the
withered lips, and got up from her knees. Lifting the with all
three arms, she with it to the of the and,
after an instant’s hesitation, allowed it to into the lava. It
disappeared without sound; a came up. That
was Crimtyphon’s funeral.
“Now I am ready, Maskull.”
He did not answer, but past her. Another was standing,
erect and mournful, not her. It was Joiwind. Her was
wan, and there was an look in her eyes. Maskull that it
was a phantasm, and that the Joiwind was miles away, at
Poolingdred.
“Turn around, Tydomin,” he said oddly, “and tell me what you see behind
you.”
“I don’t see anything,” she answered, looking around.
“But I see Joiwind.”
Just as he was speaking, the vanished.
“Now I present you with your life, Tydomin. She it.”
The woman her thoughtfully.
“I little I should be for my life to one of my
own sex—but so be it. What to you in my cavern?”
“I saw Krag.”
“Yes, some must have taken place.” She shivered. “Come,
let us this spot. I shall come here again.”
“Yes,” said Maskull, “it of death and dying. But where are we to
go—what are we to do? Take me to Sant. I must away from this hellish
land.”
Tydomin standing, and hollow-eyed. Then she gave an
abrupt, little laugh. “We make our together in singular
stages. Rather than be alone, I’ll come with you—but you know that if I
set in Sant they will kill me.”
“At least set me on the way. I wish to there night. Is it
possible?”
“If you are to take with nature. And why should you not
take today? Your luck holds. But or other it won’t
hold—your luck.”
“Let us start,” said Maskull. “The luck I’ve had so is nothing to
brag about.”
Blodsombre was over when they set off; it was early afternoon, but the
heat more than ever. They no more at
conversation; were in their own painful thoughts. The land
fell away from Disscourn in all other directions, but toward Sant there
was a gentle, rise. Its dark, to
dominate the landscape, and after walking for an hour they none
the nearer to it. The air was and stagnant.
By and by, an object, the work of man, attracted
Maskull’s notice. It was a tree stem, with the still on,
imbedded in the ground. From the upper end three sprang
out, pointing at a angle. They were to and
leaves and, closer, he saw that they had been artificially
fastened on, at equal from each other.
As he at the object, a strange, of vanity
and self-sufficiency to pass through him, but it was so momentary
that he be sure of nothing.
“What may that be, Tydomin?”
“It is Hator’s Trifork.”
“And what is its purpose?”
“It’s a to Sant.”
“But who or what is Hator?”
“Hator was the of Sant—many thousands of years ago. He down
the they all live by, and that is his symbol. When I
was a little child my father told me the legends, but I’ve forgotten
most of them.”
Maskull it attentively.
“Does it affect you in any way?”
“And why should it do that?” she said, her lip scornfully. “I
am only a woman, and these are mysteries.”
“A of came over me,” said Maskull, “but I am
mistaken.”
They passed on. The in character. The solid
parts of the land more continuous, the and
more infrequent. There were now no more or upheavals. The
peculiar nature of the Ifdawn Marest appeared to be place to a
different order of things.
Later on, they a of in the
air. They were animals. Tydomin one in her hand and
began to eat it, just as one eats a from a tree.
Maskull, who had since early morning, was not slow in following
her example. A of electric at once entered his and
body, his their elasticity, his to beat
with hard, slow, throbs.
“Food and to agree well in this world,” he smiling.
She toward him. “Perhaps the is not in the food, but
in your body.”
“I my with me.”
“You your with you, but that’s fast, too.”
In a they came across a short, wide tree, without leaves, but
possessing a of thin, branches, like the of
a cuttlefish. Some of these were moving rapidly. A furry
animal, a wildcat, about among them in the
most way. But the next minute Maskull was to
realise that the was not at all, but was being from
branch to branch by the of the tree, as an imprisoned
mouse is by a cat from to paw.
He the a while with interest.
“That’s a of rôles, Tydomin.”
“One can see you’re disgusted,” she replied, a yawn. “But that
is you are a to words. If you called that plant an animal,
you would its perfectly natural and pleasing. And why
should you not call it an animal?”
“I am aware that, as long as I in the Ifdawn Marest, I
shall go on to this of language.”
They along for an hour or more without talking. The day became
overcast. A thin to the landscape, and the sun changed
into an which be at without flinching. A
chill, wind against them. Presently it still darker, the
sun and, at his and then at
himself, Maskull noticed that their skin and were by a
kind of green hoarfrost.
The land was now solid. About a mile, in of them,
against a of dark fog, a moving of tall waterspouts
gyrated slowly and and thither. They were green and
self-luminous, and looked terrifying. Tydomin that they were
not at all, but of lightning.
“Then they are dangerous?”
“So we think,” she answered, them closely.
“Someone is there who to have a different opinion.”
Among the spouts, and by them, a man was walking
with a slow, calm, gait, his toward Maskull and
Tydomin. There was something in his appearance—his looked
extraordinarily distinct, solid, and real.
“If there’s danger, he ought to be warned,” said Maskull.
“He who is always to teach will learn nothing,” returned the
woman coolly. She Maskull by a pressure of the arm, and
continued to watch.
The of one of the touched the man. He unharmed,
but around, as if for the time aware of the
proximity of these waltzers. Then he himself to his full
height, and arms above his head, like a diver. He
seemed to be the columns.
While they looked on, the electric themselves, with a
series of loud explosions. The alone, uninjured. He
dropped his arms. The next moment he of the two, and stood
still, waiting for them to come up. The of his person
grew more and more as they approached; his to be
composed of some and than solid matter.
Tydomin looked perplexed.
“He must be a Sant man. I have no one like him before. This
is a day of days for me.”
“He must be an of great importance,” Maskull.
They now came up to him. He was tall, strong, and bearded, and was
clothed in a shirt and of skin. Since his to the
wind, the green deposit on his and had to streaming
moisture, through which his natural colour was visible; it was that of
pale iron. There was no third arm. His was and frowning, and
a pushed the forward. On his there were
two membranes, like eyes, but no sorb. These membranes
were expressionless, but in some way to add to the
stern underneath. When his rested on Maskull, the latter
felt as though his brain were being through. The
man was middle-aged.
His physical nature. By with him,
every object in the looked and blurred. Tydomin’s
person appeared faint, sketch-like, without significance, and
Maskull that it was no with himself. A queer, quickening
fire through his veins.
He to the woman. “If this man is going to Sant, I shall him
company. We can now part. No you will think it high time.”
“Let Tydomin come too.”
The were delivered in a rough, tongue, but were as
intelligible to Maskull as if spoken in English.
“You who know my name, also know my sex,” said Tydomin quietly. “It is
death for me to enter Sant.”
“That is the old law. I am the of the new law.”
“Is it so—and will it be accepted?”
“The old skin is cracking, the new skin has been forming
underneath, the moment of has arrived.”
The gathered. The green against them, as they stood
talking, and it cold. None noticed it.
“What is your name?” asked Maskull, with a heart.
“My name, Maskull, is Spadevil. You, a across the dark of
space, shall be my and follower. You, Tydomin, a daughter
of the sex, shall be my second.”
“The new law? But what is it?”
“Until sees, of what use it is for ear to hear?.... Come, of
you, to me!”
Tydomin to him unhesitatingly. Spadevil pressed his hand on her
sorb and it there for a minutes, while he closed his own eyes.
When he it, Maskull that the was into
twin like Spadevil’s own.
Tydomin looked dazed. She about for a little while,
apparently her new faculty. Then the started to her eyes
and, up Spadevil’s hand, she over and it hurriedly
many times.
“My past has been bad,” she said. “Numbers have from me,
and none good. I have killed—and worse. But now I can all that
away, and laugh. Nothing can now me. Oh, Maskull, you and I have
been together!”
“Don’t you your crimes?” asked Maskull.
“Leave the past alone,” said Spadevil, “it cannot be reshaped. The
future alone is ours. It fresh and clean from this very minute.
Why do you hesitate, Maskull? Are you afraid?”
“What is the name of those organs, and what is their function?”
“They are probes, and they are the gates opening into a new world.”
Maskull no longer, but permitted Spadevil to his sorb.
While the iron hand was still pressing his forehead, the new law quietly
flowed into his consciousness, like a smooth-running of clean
water which had been by his will. The law
was duty.
