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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] "Scipio!" The faint cry came from nearby, startling them. The Carthaginian's hand flew to his sword as he whispered. "Jansaiya!" -And again came the cry, plaintive, gull-sweet, Infinitely sad. "Help me!" With a muttered oath, Scipio whirled and ran. Court followed at his heels. A mound of bushes clustered a hundred feet away, and in its shelter lay Jansaiya. The fading moonlight washed her hair with gold. She lay broken, dying. . "Jansaiya," Scipio said tonelessly. - - He dropped to his knees beside the girl and lifted her in his mighty arms. With a tired sigh, she let her head fall on his bronzed shoulder. - - "My-my back-" - - After Court completed a hasty examination, his eyes met Scipio's. He did not need to speak, for the Carthaginian nodded slowly. Jansaiya's torn gown and bruised limbs told how she had dragged herself toward safety. - "Thordred left you?" Scipio asked in a queer, hoarse voice. The strangely beautiful green eyes misted with pain as she held herself close to Scipio's barrel chest. The Carthaginian's gargoyle face was the color and hardness of granite in the moonlight. "I-I think-I might have loved you-warrior," Jansaiya murmured. Then she sobbed restrainedly with unbearable agony. The golden lashes drooped to shield.the sea-green eyes. The tender lips scarcely moved as the girl whispered. "There was not ever-any pain-in old Atlantis-" Her head drooped on his arm and was motionless. Cently Scipio laid her in the shelter of the bushes. He touched her hair, her eyes, then tenderly he touched his lips to those red, silent ones, from which even the faint hint of cruelty had gone. As he drew back, the last glow of the sinking Moon failed. The eternal dark accepted Jansaiya and shrouded her. The starlight was cold as glittering ice on Scipio's savage eyes as he rose. He stood towering there, motionless, staring at nothingness. Slowly he turned to face the west. "Court," he rumbled distantly, "you heard her?" "Yes," Court said in a low, tense voice. "He left her to die. . . Abruptly the Carthaginian's face was that of a biqod-ravening demon. The mighty hands flexed into talons. "He is mine to slay!" Scipio breathed through flaring nostrils. "Remember that- He'is mine to slay!" But Jansaiya could no longer hear. She lay limp, slim and lovely and forever untouchable now, shielded from all hurt, She slept as a child might~ sleep. "You wish to kill me?" a harsh voice asked mockingly. "Well, I am waiting, Scipio." From the shadows of the bushes, Thordred's giant form rose into view. Startled bewilderment momentarily paralyzed Court. He cursed himself for .a fool. He might have expected this, but finding Jansaiya had made him relax his vigilance. Glaring at Thordred, he stepped aside to stand in front of Marion. - Li Yang's fat yellow face was expressionless. Scipio, after one hoarse oath, had drawn his saber. He was walking forward, his eyes burning with blood-hunger. Thordred's hand dipped into his garments, came up holding a lens-shaped crystal that shot forth a spear of green light. It touched Scipio. The Carthaginian halted in mid-stride with the saber lifted, a grin of fury frozen on the gargoyle face. Court leaped for Thordred, but the green ray caught him, -too. The life was drained from him in a shock of icy cold. He stood motionless, paralyzed as the ray darted aside. From the corner of his eye, Court saw Marion and Li Yang stiffen into immobility. The four stood helpless, while Thordred tossed his crystal from hand to hand and grinned. "You fools!" his harsh voice grated. "So I did not kill you that other time, did I, Court? Well, I shall rectify that omission now. If not for the interference of all of you, I should never have lost the ship. Yet I can still have my vengeance." He glanced down significantly at the lens he held. "You shall die slowly, in the utmost agony. You shall burn gradually as I increase the strength of the ray. After that, I do not know what I shall do. Perhaps I can build another space ship. The knowledge I have stolen should enable me to do that. But that comes after my revenge." The bearded face was murderous in the moonlight. The crystal Hashed a ray that struck Court on the chest. The green light turned yellow. Simultaneously blinding pain racked the man. He smelled the odor of his own burning flesh. "You shall die," Thordred gritted. "All of you. This is my vengeance." - CHAPTER XVIII - The Man Who Lived Again When Thordred placed Ardath's body in the small space ship and sent it hurtling toward the Sun, he had thought the Kyrian dead. His fear of Ardath's giant intellect had been-so great that he would feel safe only when the solar inferno had utterly consumed it. Yet by making doubly sure that his former master would meet death, Thordred had committed -a serious error. For Ardath was not dead. He awoke slowly, painfully, only vaguely conscious of his surroundings. For a time he lay quietly, blinking and striving to understand. He kept his eyes closed after a single glance at a dazzling glare. He turned his head away from the bright light and reopened h1~ eyes. His gaze took in his surroundings. He was in a -space ship, a small one that was unfamiliar to him. Through the ports in the walls showed the starlit blackness of inter- -planetary space. He was incredibly weak. lie sat up, massaging his limbs until his numbed circulation was restored to normal. Then he rose with a great effort and looked around. Sunlight flamed through a row of ports. Ardath instantly realized that he was falling directly into the rapidly enlarging Sun. He saw the controls, sprang toward them, almost collapsing in his weakness. He examined the unfamiliar apparatus, tentatively fingering the panel. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |