The Moon Pool

by Abraham Merritt

  CHAPTER XIV

  The Justice of Lora

  As I looked at her the man arose and made his way round the tabletoward us. For the first time my eyes took in Lugur. A few inchestaller than the green dwarf, he was far broader, more filled with thesuggestion of appalling strength.

  The tremendous shoulders were four feet wide if an inch, tapering downto mighty thewed thighs. The muscles of his chest stood out beneathhis tunic of red. Around his forehead shone a chaplet of bright-bluestones, sparkling among the thick curls of his silver-ash hair.

  Upon his face pride and ambition were written large--and power stilllarger. All the mockery, the malice, the hint of callous indifferencethat I had noted in the other dwarfish men were there, too--butintensified, touched with the satanic.

  The woman spoke again.

  "Who are you strangers, and how came you here?" She turned to Rador."Or is it that they do not understand our tongue?"

  "One understands and speaks it--but very badly, O Yolara," answeredthe green dwarf.

  "Speak, then, that one of you," she commanded.

  But it was Marakinoff who found his voice first, and I marvelled atthe fluency, so much greater than mine, with which he spoke.

  "We came for different purposes. I to seek knowledge of a kind;he"--pointing to me "of another. This man"--he looked at Olaf--"tofind a wife and child."

  The grey-blue eyes had been regarding O'Keefe steadily and withplainly increasing interest.

  "And why did _you_ come?" she asked him. "Nay--I would have him speakfor himself, if he can," she stilled Marakinoff peremptorily.

  When Larry spoke it was haltingly, in the tongue that was strange tohim, searching for the proper words.

  "I came to help these men--and because something I could not thenunderstand called me, O lady, whose eyes are like forest pools atdawn," he answered; and even in the unfamiliar words there was a touchof the Irish brogue, and little merry lights danced in the eyes Larryhad so apostrophized.

  "I could find fault with your speech, but none with its burden," shesaid. "What forest pools are I know not, and the dawn has not shoneupon the people of Lora these many sais of laya.[1] But I sense what youmean!"

  The eyes deepened to blue as she regarded him. She smiled.

  "Are there many like you in the world from which you come?" she askedsoftly. "Well, we soon shall--"

  Lugur interrupted her almost rudely and glowering.

  "Best we should know how they came hence," he growled.

  She darted a quick look at him, and again the little devils danced inher wondrous eyes.

  [Unquestionably there is a subtle difference between time as we know itand time in this subterranean land--its progress there being slower.This, however, is only in accord with the well-known doctrine ofrelativity, which predicates both space and time as necessaryinventions of the human mind to orient itself to the conditions underwhich it finds itself. I tried often to measure this difference, butcould never do so to my entire satisfaction. The closest I can come toit is to say that an hour of our time is the equivalent of an hour andfive-eighths in Muria. For further information upon this matter ofrelativity the reader may consult any of the numerous books upon thesubject.--W. T. G.]

  "Yes, that is true," she said. "How came you here?"

  Again it was Marakinoff who answered--slowly, considering every word.

  "In the world above," he said, "there are ruins of cities not built byany of those who now dwell there. To us these places called, and wesought for knowledge of the wise ones who made them. We found apassageway. The way led us downward to a door in yonder cliff, andthrough it we came here."

  "Then have you found what you sought?" spoke she. "For we are ofthose who built the cities. But this gateway in the rock--where isit?"

  "After we passed, it closed upon us; nor could we after find trace ofit," answered Marakinoff.

  The incredulity that had shown upon the face of the green dwarf fellupon theirs; on Lugur's it was clouded with furious anger.

  He turned to Rador.

  "I could find no opening, lord," said the green dwarf quickly.

  And there was so fierce a fire in the eyes of Lugur as he swung backupon us that O'Keefe's hand slipped stealthily down toward his pistol.

  "Best it is to speak truth to Yolara, priestess of the Shining One,and to Lugur, the Voice," he cried menacingly.

  "It is the truth," I interposed. "We came down the passage. At itsend was a carved vine, a vine of five flowers"--the fire died from thered dwarf's eyes, and I could have sworn to a swift pallor. "I resteda hand upon these flowers, and a door opened. But when we had gonethrough it and turned, behind us was nothing but unbroken cliff. Thedoor had vanished."

  I had taken my cue from Marakinoff. If he had eliminated the episodeof car and Moon Pool, he had good reason, I had no doubt; and I wouldbe as cautious. And deep within me something cautioned me to saynothing of my quest; to stifle all thought of Throckmartin--somethingthat warned, peremptorily, finally, as though it were a message fromThrockmartin himself!

  "A vine with five flowers!" exclaimed the red dwarf. "Was it likethis, say?"

  He thrust forward a long arm. Upon the thumb of the hand was animmense ring, set with a dull-blue stone. Graven on the face of thejewel was the symbol of the rosy walls of the Moon Chamber that hadopened to us their two portals. But cut over the vine were sevencircles, one about each of the flowers and two larger ones covering,intersecting them.

  "This is the same," I said; "but these were not there"--I indicatedthe circles.

  The woman drew a deep breath and looked deep into Lugur's eyes.

  "The sign of the Silent Ones!" he half whispered.

  It was the woman who first recovered herself.

  "The strangers are weary, Lugur," she said. "When they are restedthey shall show where the rocks opened."

  I sensed a subtle change in their attitude toward us; a newintentness; a doubt plainly tinged with apprehension. What was it theyfeared? Why had the symbol of the vine wrought the change? And who orwhat were the Silent Ones?

  Yolara's eyes turned to Olaf, hardened, and grew cold grey.Subconsciously I had noticed that from the first the Norseman had beenabsorbed in his regard of the pair; had, indeed, never taken his gazefrom them; had noticed, too, the priestess dart swift glances towardhim.

  He returned her scrutiny fearlessly, a touch of contempt in the cleareyes--like a child watching a snake which he did not dread, but whosedanger be well knew.

  Under that look Yolara stirred impatiently, sensing, I know, itsmeaning.

  "Why do you look at me so?" she cried.

  An expression of bewilderment passed over Olaf's face.

  "I do not understand," he said in English.

  I caught a quickly repressed gleam in O'Keefe's eyes. He knew, as Iknew, that Olaf must have understood. But did Marakinoff?

  Apparently he did not. But why was Olaf feigning ignorance?

  "This man is a sailor from what we call the North," thus Larryhaltingly. "He is crazed, I think. He tells a strange tale of asomething of cold fire that took his wife and babe. We found himwandering where we were. And because he is strong we brought him withus. That is all, O lady, whose voice is sweeter than the honey of thewild bees!"

  "A shape of cold fire?" she repeated.

  "A shape of cold fire that whirled beneath the moon, with the sound oflittle bells," answered Larry, watching her intently.

  She looked at Lugur and laughed.

  "Then he, too, is fortunate," she said. "For he has come to the placeof his something of cold fire--and tell him that he shall join hiswife and child, in time; that I promise him."

  Upon the Norseman's face there was no hint of comprehension, and atthat moment I formed an entirely new opinion of Olaf's intelligence;for certainly it must have been a prodigious effort of the will,indeed, that enabled him, understanding, to control himself.

  "What does she say?" he asked.

  Larry repeated.
>
  "Good!" said Olaf. "Good!"

  He looked at Yolara with well-assumed gratitude. Lugur, who had beenscanning his bulk, drew close. He felt the giant muscles whichHuldricksson accommodatingly flexed for him.

  "But he shall meet Valdor and Tahola before he sees those kin of his,"he laughed mockingly. "And if he bests them--for reward--his wife andbabe!"

  A shudder, quickly repressed, shook the seaman's frame. The woman benther supremely beautiful head.

  "These two," she said, pointing to the Russian and to me, "seem to bemen of learning. They may be useful. As for this man,"--she smiled atLarry--"I would have him explain to me some things." She hesitated."What 'hon-ey of 'e wild bees-s' is." Larry had spoken the words inEnglish, and she was trying to repeat them. "As for this man, thesailor, do as you please with him, Lugur; always remembering that Ihave given my word that he shall join that wife and babe of his!" Shelaughed sweetly, sinisterly. "And now--take them, Rador--give themfood and drink and let them rest till we shall call them again."

  She stretched out a hand toward O'Keefe. The Irishman bowed low overit, raised it softly to his lips. There was a vicious hiss from Lugur;but Yolara regarded Larry with eyes now all tender blue.

  "You please me," she whispered.

  And the face of Lugur grew darker.

  We turned to go. The rosy, azure-shot globe at her side suddenlydulled. From it came a faint bell sound as of chimes far away. Shebent over it. It vibrated, and then its surface ran with little wavesof dull colour; from it came a whispering so low that I could notdistinguish the words--if words they were.

  She spoke to the red dwarf.

  "They have brought the three who blasphemed the Shining One," she saidslowly. "Now it is in my mind to show these strangers the justice ofLora. What say you, Lugur?"

  The red dwarf nodded, his eyes sparkling with a maliciousanticipation.

  The woman spoke again to the globe. "Bring them here!"

  And again it ran swiftly with its film of colours, darkened, and shonerosy once more. From without there came a rustle of many feet upon therugs. Yolara pressed a slender hand upon the base of the pedestal ofthe globe beside her. Abruptly the light faded from all, and on thesame instant the four walls of blackness vanished, revealing on twosides the lovely, unfamiliar garden through the guarding rows ofpillars; at our backs soft draperies hid what lay beyond; before us,flanked by flowered screens, was the corridor through which we hadentered, crowded now by the green dwarfs of the great hall.

  The dwarfs advanced. Each, I now noted, had the same clustering blackhair of Rador. They separated, and from them stepped three figures--ayouth of not more than twenty, short, but with the great shoulders ofall the males we had seen of this race; a girl of seventeen, I judged,white-faced, a head taller than the boy, her long, black hairdishevelled; and behind these two a stunted, gnarled shape whose headwas sunk deep between the enormous shoulders, whose white beard felllike that of some ancient gnome down to his waist, and whose eyes werea white flame of hate. The girl cast herself weeping at the feet ofthe priestess; the youth regarded her curiously.

  "You are Songar of the Lower Waters?" murmured Yolara almostcaressingly. "And this is your daughter and her lover?"

  The gnome nodded, the flame in his eyes leaping higher.

  "It has come to me that you three have dared blaspheme the ShiningOne, its priestess, and its Voice," went on Yolara smoothly. "Alsothat you have called out to the three Silent Ones. Is it true?"

  "Your spies have spoken--and have you not already judged us?" Thevoice of the old dwarf was bitter.

  A flicker shot through the eyes of Yolara, again cold grey. The girlreached a trembling hand out to the hem of the priestess's veils.

  "Tell us why you did these things, Songar," she said. "Why you didthem, knowing full well what your--reward--would be."

  The dwarf stiffened; he raised his withered arms, and his eyes blazed.

  "Because evil are your thoughts and evil are your deeds," he cried."Yours and your lover's, there"--he levelled a finger at Lugur."Because of the Shining One you have made evil, too, and the greaterwickedness you contemplate--you and he with the Shining One. But Itell you that your measure of iniquity is full; the tale of your sinnear ended! Yea--the Silent Ones have been patient, but soon they willspeak." He pointed at us. "A sign are _they_--a warning--harlot!" Hespat the word.

  In Yolara's eyes, grown black, the devils leaped unrestrained.

  "Is it even so, Songar?" her voice caressed. "Now ask the Silent Onesto help you! They sit afar--but surely they will hear you." The sweetvoice was mocking. "As for these two, they shall pray to the ShiningOne for forgiveness--and surely the Shining One will take them to itsbosom! As for you--you have lived long enough, Songar! Pray to theSilent Ones, Songar, and pass out into the nothingness--you!"

  She dipped down into her bosom and drew forth something that resembleda small cone of tarnished silver. She levelled it, a covering clickedfrom its base, and out of it darted a slender ray of intense greenlight.

  It struck the old dwarf squarely over the heart, and spread swift aslight itself, covering him with a gleaming, pale film. She clenchedher hand upon the cone, and the ray disappeared. She thrust the coneback into her breast and leaned forward expectantly; so Lugur and sothe other dwarfs. From the girl came a low wail of anguish; the boydropped upon his knees, covering his face.

  For the moment the white beard stood rigid; then the robe that hadcovered him seemed to melt away, revealing all the knotted, monstrousbody. And in that body a vibration began, increasing to incrediblerapidity. It wavered before us like a reflection in a still pondstirred by a sudden wind. It grew and grew--to a rhythm whose rapiditywas intolerable to watch and that still chained the eyes.

  The figure grew indistinct, misty. Tiny sparks in infinite numbersleaped from it--like, I thought, the radiant shower of particleshurled out by radium when seen under the microscope. Mistier still itgrew--there trembled before us for a moment a faintly luminous shadowwhich held, here and there, tiny sparkling atoms like those thatpulsed in the light about us! The glowing shadow vanished, thesparkling atoms were still for a moment--and shot away, joining thosedancing others.

  Where the gnomelike form had been but a few seconds before--there wasnothing!

  O'Keefe drew a long breath, and I was sensible of a prickling along myscalp.

  Yolara leaned toward us.

  "You have seen," she said. Her eyes lingered tigerishly upon Olaf'spallid face. "Heed!" she whispered. She turned to the men in green,who were laughing softly among themselves.

  "Take these two, and go!" she commanded.

  "The justice of Lora," said the red dwarf. "The justice of Lora andthe Shining One under Thanaroa!"

  Upon the utterance of the last word I saw Marakinoff start violently.The hand at his side made a swift, surreptitious gesture, so fleetingthat I hardly caught it. The red dwarf stared at the Russian, andthere was amazement upon his face.

  Swiftly as Marakinoff, he returned it.

  "Yolara," the red dwarf spoke, "it would please me to take this man ofwisdom to my own place for a time. The giant I would have, too."

  The woman awoke from her brooding; nodded.

  "As you will, Lugur," she said.

  And as, shaken to the core, we passed out into the garden into thefull throbbing of the light, I wondered if all the tiny sparklingdiamond points that shook about us had once been men like Songar ofthe Lower Waters--and felt my very soul grow sick!

  [1] Later I was to find that Murian reckoning rested upon theextraordinary increased luminosity of the cliffs at the time of fullmoon on earth--this action, to my mind, being linked either with theeffect of the light streaming globes upon the Moon Pool, whose sourcewas in the shining cliffs, or else upon some mysterious affinity oftheir radiant element with the flood of moonlight on earth--thelatter, most probably, because even when the moon must have beenclouded above, it made no difference in the phenomenon. Thirteen ofthese shinings forth co
nstituted a laya, one of them a lat. Ten wassa; ten times ten times ten a said, or thousand; ten times a thousandwas a sais. A sais of laya was then literally ten thousand years. Whatwe would call an hour was by them called a va. The whole time systemwas, of course, a mingling of time as it had been known to theirremote, surface-dwelling ancestors, and the peculiar determiningfactors in the vast cavern.