“You may hate us,” Wolff said, “but we have never done anything to you. Yet Vala. . .”
Theotormon said, “The seas will soon be flooding this level. Then we all die. And Vala, safe in her control room, will laugh. And she will take whatever vengeance she has been planning against Chryseis.”
Wolff felt helpless. He could not threaten Urizen to make him talk. What more could he do to him than had been done?
He said, “Let’s go. We can’t waste any more time.” To Urizen, he said, “Good-bye forever, Father. You must die and soon. You hold revenge against Vala in your heart, and if you would unlock your lips, you would get it. But hatred blinds you and makes you rob yourself.”
Urizen called after them, “Wait!”
Eagerly, Wolff returned to the cage. Urizen licked his lips and said, “If I tell you, will you do me one favor?”
“I can’t free you, Father,” Wolff said. “You know we have no time to figure out how to do it. Moreover, even if I could, I wouldn’t. I would kill you before I would loose you upon the world.”
“The favor I trade is exactly that,” Urizen said. “Death. I am suffering agonies, my son. My pride forbade me to say so until now. But one more minute of this life seems like a thousand years to me. If it were not for my pride, I would have gone down on my knees before you long ago, would have begged you to put me out of my torture. That I would never do. Urizen does not beg. But a trade, that is another thing.”
“I agree,” Wolff said. “An arrow between the bars will do it.”
Urizen whispered and in a few words told them what they needed to know. He had just finished when there was laughter at the far end of the room. Wolff whirled to see Vala walking towards them. He fitted an arrow to a bow-string, knowing as he did so that Vala would not have shown herself unless she felt sufficiently protected.
Then he saw through Vala to the wall behind her and knew that it was a projection. He hoped that she had not also overheard Urizen. If she had, she would be able to do what she wished with them.
“I could not have done better if I had planned it this way,” her image said. “It is fitting, and my greatest desire, to have all of you die together. A happy family reunion! You may witness each other’s death struggles. How nice!
“And I will be leaving this planet and this universe and may then trap the surviving brother, and my beloved sister, Anana. Only I will rest for a while and amuse myself with your Chryseis.”
“You have failed so far, and you will continue to fail!” Wolff shouted. “Even if you kill us, you will not live long to enjoy your triumph! You know about the etsfagwo poison of the natives of the waterworld, don’t you? How it can be served in food and leaves no taste? How it goes through the veins and stays there for a long time with no ill effect? And then it suddenly reacts and doubles the victim up in terrible pain that lasts for hours? And how there is no antidote?
“Well, Vala, I suspected you of treachery. So I had the etsfagwo put in your supper last night. It will soon take hold of you, Vala, and then you will not be able to laugh about us.”
Wolff had not done this and until this moment had not even thought of doing so. But he was determined that if he died, Vala would pay for it with some hours of mental anguish.
The image screamed with fury and desperation. It said, “You are lying, Jadawin! You would not do this; you could not! You are just trying to scare me!”
“You will know whether I tell the truth or not in a very short time!” Wolff shouted. He turned to shoot the arrow through the bars of the cage to fulfill his promise to Urizen. As he shifted, he saw Vala’s image flicker out of existence. Immediately thereafter, a green foam spurted out of hidden pipes in the ceiling. It shot down with great force, spread out, rose to the knees of the Lords, and set them to coughing with its acrid fumes. Wolff’s eyes watered, and he bent over. He leaned down to pick up the bow and arrow which he had dropped. The fumes made him cough even more violently.