Magos stood beyond, his face contorted into a mask that had only a faint humanity in it. And the power in him-Ray could feel it aimed at them-at the Loving One. Yet the monster was out of his control.
“Devil!” Magos screamed.
“Drinker of blood,” Cho returned. “Listen now to this beast of yours. I think it hungers. And is not true that when it comes to your call, it must be fed, one way or another? Behold-the reckoning!”
The Loving One, as if goaded beyond endurance, sprang-not at the Murians but at the priest. Its tentacles closed about Magos with the grim grip of a trap. The priest tore one arm free and thrust at the obscene roundness of the slug body. His dagger sank into the black hide, but when it was withdrawn again, there � was no trace of a wound on the sleek skin. And all the while the Loving One fed.
Ray’s head fell back on Cho’s arm. He had been too close to that himself to watch now. But the Murian did -r not look away, and when the monster would have turned at last, Cho held it with the beam.
There was one scream. Cho’s arm tightened about y the American. Then the Murian raised the crystal for the last time.
“It is done,” he said. “Now we destroy the doer.”
Ray looked once more. A tattered bundle of stained rags lay upon the stone. Above that oozed the monster, and it was crooning to itself. Just as Magos’s rage had earlier reached to them, so did now a horrible satisfaction.
The light became a sharp sword of radiance. At its touch the creature ceased to croon its contentment and moved uneasily. Then it whined, shrilly, its plaint hurting in one’s head.
Now the beam changed color, from white to faint rose, from rose to red. Then it rippled, as if rising in ever strengthening waves from a concealed source. And in Ray’s body he felt the rhythm of that rippling.
While the Loving One twisted, writhed, its whining became a vibration, too high for human ears to catch any longer. Then it started to dissolve. Its outlines blurred; a black pool oozed slowly from under it. And the stench was a sickness in the air.
Still Cho held the light steady on that writhing bulk. Once the creature seemed to make a last desperate effort to survive. Its head lifted, the body heaved as if to hurl itself at the Murian, but the light chained it fast.
So it perished, the body becoming a pool of liquid corruption, which, in turn, was consumed by the ray. Then there was a shouting on the platform, echoed from the street below.
“The city falls,” Cho said. “They throw down swords and call for mercy. And now-we must see to your wounds, brother-”
Another Murian in armor went to his knees beside the American. Under that helmet, surely-Ray frowned -a face he had seen. Yes-this was he who had led the prisoners.
“You-then Taut did as he promised-”
“Surely, lord, and better-” began the other, but Cho shook his head.
“Time for talking later. This now-” He smeared a paste across Ray’s breast. “Now, a cloak about you. We must get you into the hands of the Naacals as soon as we can-”
“Lord!” One of the Murians spoke; his hand rested on Uranos’s shoulder. “What of this Atlantean?”
“Cho.” Ray summoned what small strength he still possessed. “This is the real Poseidon, Uranos-their .their prisoner, too. Listen to him-”
“That shall be done.”
Ray sank back on the cloak. The invading party here .;
was a small one, eight Murrain and four wild-looking rogues who might have come from Taut’s own ship. Uranos knelt beside him.
“Warriors’ high salute to you, comrade. And for your courtesy in remembering me-my thanks. Of the Atlanteans taken-I do not think that one will find .< any to speak for him-”Ray looked in the direction the other pointed. Two of the Murians were tying the hands of Chronos behind his fat body.“He was captured-”“Yes. It was his hate and his cowardice that kept him d here. He wanted to witness our ending, and he feared the battle below. So for him the game is now lost, and I do not think he will relish what will follow.”3Ray listened in a dreamy detachment. The ointment Cho had used on his wounds had taken away the pain. And he felt queerly light and empty. The will was gone once more, and this time for good-or so he believed. All about him was hazy, as if the place, the men, all else save he himself, had no reality. He was alive; the Loving One-whatever that horror had been-was gone, taking Magos with it. And Chronos was a prisoner.“It seems”-Cho returned from the head of the stairs-“that we must stay here yet a while. To travel the streets now is a matter of fighting; there are pockets of desperate men who will not surrender.” He sat down on his heels by Ray and slipped from his own arm a band of black, transferring its coolness to the American’s limp arm. “This was, in a way, our key to the city.”“How?” The touch of the armlet had an odd effect on Ray. It steadied the world and brought it into focus again.“Captain Taut brought it and the Murians to speak for him. And Taut knew an inner way to bring troops inside the walls.”“As I said,” Uranos commented, “there were secrets of which Chronos knew nothing, which even the Red Robes had not explored.”“But-” Ray touched the armlet with his other hand, running his fingers along it. “How did Mu get here-so soon?”“Ask the Re Mu, ask the Naacals-ask those who appeared to us to be so blind to danger and so lacking in preparedness. The legions of Uighur came in from the east, and our fleet from Mayax. But I sailed with Taut in the vanguard, claiming my right-”“Your right?Cho looked surprised. “Are we not sword brothers? The Re Mu said that you were already in service within the Red Land-so thus I would come. I think we set a record-look-” He held out his palm and showed red blisters on the skin. “Even officers took their turn at the oars when there was need. Taut had the command, and I am but a. first-year swordsman when compared to his experience in such raids. He knows this coast better than any warder. Once, when he was pursued by a guard ship whose commander could not be bought off, he stumbled upon a secret. It is a narrow break in the cliffs, so small a fault one cannot believe that it gives upon aught worthwhile. But there is a scrap of beach and a cave, and then a tunnel that must have been cut by men before the recording of time. The tunnel leads under the city to the lower chambers of the temple of the Flame.“We lanced there by night. And a party remained to lead in later forces from the fleet. Taut swore that the sons of the Shadow depended so much upon their rings of walls and water that they would be part vanquished already if we appeared in their midst. And I believe he had the right of that.“At dawn we captured a Red Robe, and I think he mistook us for spirits of the murdered Sunborn, for he told us freely that Magos planned to summon the Loving One and feed it well. The nature of that monster was such that it would thereby be able to bring from its own pit others of its kind, loosing thus a weapon we could not stand against.“We thought that what he drooled about would happen in the temple of Ba-Al, and we fought to reach there. It was not until later we saw what chanced’ here and knew of our mistake. Without the walls the legions of Uighur are in action, and with them those of Atlantis who have never taken kindly to rule by the priests of the Greater Dark. Now such resistance that remains is being hunted out, pocket by pocket, while ever more men come through the temple passage-”“And this?” Ray pointed to the crystal.“Of the Naacals’ making, but they have only, a few of them. This was sent to me just before I entered the passage. We were warned that we must be very close to that monster before it could be used. But, Ray, twice we saw that evil thing retreat, and yet you were bound and had no weapon at all!”“He has done what I would have sworn none could do!” Uranos burst out. “He beat back that fear with his will, held the Dark at bay.”“No,” said Ray, his fingers still slipping about the jet armlet, that touch which tied him to the here and now. “I did what was set upon me to do, I summoned the Flame-”