“They may have new weapons,” he said now, “strange ones-
“
Cho glanced at him. “I cannot ask questions, but you speak as one who knows.”
Though he had not been told to keep his dream journey a secret, Ray had, instinctively, never spoken of it since the visit to the tower. And this was the first time Cho had ever approached the subject even obliquely.
“I am not sure of what I know, if I know anything at all,” Ray said now. And though he spoke the truth, he was sure that the Murian took it as an evasion.
Cho shrugged. “No matter. We live under orders.”
Ray hesitated. He had so little in this world to cling to-Cho, by reason of chance and then through honest liking, the Lady Aiee-Suppose he lost even such little as he had? But before he could speak, the servants brought the evening meal, and they talked of the small surface things of the day.
The American ate what was set before him, not very much aware of taste or flavor, merely that he was hungry and this satisfied his need. But he noted after a while that the Lady Aiee scarcely touched the contents of the dishes offered her. At last she arose and went to
the edge of the terrace, looking beyond the garden wall to the lights of the city.
“How long will this last?” she asked. Her words were low, but they carried.” We shall survive this war-that the casting of the temple lots told us. But the end comes in time. Perhaps not during our own years or in the time lived by our sons’ sons. Still the darkness of the future shall swallow us up. And you tell me, Ray, in your time we are unknown. Atlantis falls and man remembers dimly; Mu goes and even legend is lost. The sea covers both of us, and new lands arise, with new races who know not the law, perhaps any law. And it all begins again. Nations form from savage bands, new cities, new learning, new struggles-but no end to pain and war and evil. Is that not also so?”
Ray nodded. “It is so.”
,- “You say in your time men land on the moon, reach for the other planets. But if they cannot conquer the war within them, then they only carry it out and out-perhaps some day to the stars. And what will be the good of that?”
“No good,” Ray agreed. “Yet-”
“Yet”-she caught the thought from him-“it is the nature of our species to be so, at war within, as well as without. And until we can conquer ourselves, we carry the touch of evil with us wherever we go. So perhaps we shall set black and bloody fingers even upon the brightness of the stars. But these are the thoughts the Shadow casts upon our minds to make us believe all struggle is for naught, so surrender comes the easier. We go up against Atlantis, lest in this time and place the Shadow does envelope the earth-our earth. Mu is old; Mayax, Uighur grow old. Atlantis is rotted by evil. What of the Barren Lands, Ray?”
“Great plains, and a forest-” He fell silent, thinking of that forest. “Trees-”
“Trees?” Cho repeated, rousing Ray to the fact that he must have said that aloud.
“Such trees as were not known in my day,” he explained. “At least not in that part of the land. It is a country that, I think, does not welcome men.” And he realized that he had unraveled a small part of the mystery. It was true that the forest did not welcome man, that it resisted, tried to expel the intruder.
“Yet, it is your country,” said the Lady Aiee.
“It will be. Now it is for no man unless he would battle it.”
“Which in time he shall.” That was a promise from her.
Lissa, the Lady Aiee’s maid, came through the beginning dusk.
“A messenger from the citadel. The Sunborn lords are to report at once.”
“Go in peace.” The Lady Aiee held out her hands, one to each. “Though I think we have but little of that left to us-so treasure what we have.”
No litters this time but a file of guards. And the clink of sword against body armor was sharp in the quiet side street, though lost in the hum of the main highway.
The Re Mu was enthroned in the audience chamber, but his only courtiers were two Naacals and a company of warriors. The escort with Ray and Cho saluted with bared swords, and the sullen rasp of metal against metal caused a man standing before the throne to glance malevolently at them.
“A bench for the Sunborn.” The Re Mu acknowledged their reverences. Two of the warriors pulled forward a narrow seat for them to share.
The Murian ruler turned his attention to the man before him.
“Your clearances state that you sail with grain to supply the eastern outposts of Mayax.”
“It is as those state, Great One.”
Ray started with surprise. This was the traitor from, Uighur. He would swear to it.
“Your home port is Chan-Chal?”
“That is so, Great One.”
He was a younger man than Ray had expected. And there was a kind of assurance about him that was
either a very well-maintained cover for a man skilled in meeting danger or else a reckless determination to defy his enemies to the end.
“How many years did you sail with the fleet?”
“The five of custom, Great One. I am no Sunborn to walk the decks for only three-”
No cover, Ray was sure. This man knew he was finished, but he would go down fighting. His defiance was now open.
“Have you heard of one Sydyk?”
“Aye. He was an officer of the fleet, outlawed for stealing public revenues.”
“Sentenced to five years’ outlawry. Yet now he walks the streets here. Have you seen him?”
“Why set riddles, Great One?” One of the guards stirred as if to correct the prisoner’s insolence. But a slight gesture from the Emperor kept him in his place. The dark blue eyes of the Re Mu glittered in the masked calm of his face.
“No riddle. You have been identified by the Sunborn Lady Ayna, one who has reason to know Sydyk well, as that man.”
“She is right. Who am I to argue with one of the Sunborn? I have broken outlawry, as have others before. Sell me in the open market according to the law.”
Ray wondered-was that why the man from Uighur was so bold? Did he believe that he was merely accused of breaking outlawry and did not suspect that they knew more of him? But would the Re Mu sit in judgment on such a minor case? Had Sydyk no suspicions because he had been brought here?
“Lord Ray!”
The American started, then got to his feet to answer the Emperor’s beckoning hand.
“You have heard the voice of this man before?”
“Yes, Great One. This is he of whom I spoke.”,
“You are willing to so swear?”
“I am.”
At the Re Mu’s nod Ray returned to his seat. If Sydyk suspected the worst now, he was tough enough or well enough trained to give no outward sign.
“Traitor!”
The force of that broke through Sydyk’s well maintained front. He paled under the dark of his sea tan.
“Your accomplice has betrayed all your plans. And now he has gone to the reward found fitting by those who serve the Flame he tried to befoul by his very presence in its temple. We know why you have come here. You pitiful fool, will Ba-Al now come to your aid? Will even his deluded followers raise a single sword in your behalf? Speak freely and mayhap compassion may temper justice-”
Sydyk might have been staggered a moment earlier, but he was again behind his shield of confidence or desperation.
“If I die, I die. But little will be learned from me-”
“No?” The Re Mu smiled, a very small and fleeting smile. Ray, seeing that, shivered. Never would he want to be so smiled upon
“You shall go with the Naacals.”
A shade passed over the face of the man from Uighur, then was gone again.
“To the Naacals do I go then. But while I can, I shall keep a still tongue.”
“Evil are you, and the willing servant of evil. Yet courage is yours if in an ill cause. But this is a time when some men must suffer for the good of many. The Sun of Mu decrees”- the Re Mu’s voice took on the formal tone of ceremony- “let it be so.”
They took Sydyk out, but as they passed Ray, the man from Uighur stared at the American.
“Remember me in days to come, Sunborn.” He made of that title words of contempt. “For Ba-Al shall show by whose aid his true servant dies. And his temple shall see you yet. I know this as we are sometimes given true sight before death approaches!” He laughed shrilly as the soldiers dragged him on.