The Moon Pool

by Abraham Merritt

  CHAPTER XXX

  The Building of the Moon Pool

  She paused, running her long fingers through her own bronze-fleckedringlets. Selective breeding this, with a vengeance, I thought; anancient experiment in heredity which of course would in time result inthe stamping out of the tendency to depart from type that lies in allorganisms; resulting, obviously, at last, in three fixed forms ofblack-haired, ruddy-haired, and silver-haired--but this, with a shockof realization it came to me, was also an accurate description of thedark-polled _ladala_, their fair-haired rulers and of the golden-browntressed Lakla!

  How--questions began to stream through my mind; silenced by thehandmaiden's voice.

  "Above, far, far above the abode of the Shining One," she said, "wastheir greatest temple, holding the shrines both of sun and moon. Allabout it were other temples hidden behind mighty walls, each enclosingits own space and squared and ruled and standing within a shallowlake; the sacred city, the city of the gods of this land--"

  "It is the Nan-Matal that she is describing," I thought.

  "Out upon all this looked the _Taithu_ who were now but the servantsof the Shining One as it had been the messenger of the Three," shewent on. "When they returned the Shining One spoke to them, promisingthem dominion over all that they had seen, yea, _under it_ dominion ofall earth itself and later perhaps of other earths!

  "In the Shining One had grown craft, cunning; knowledge to gain thatwhich it desired. Therefore it told its _Taithu_--and mayhap toldthem truth--that not yet was it time for _them_ to go forth; that slowlymust they pass into that outer world, for they had sprung from heartof earth and even it lacked power to swirl unaided into and throughthe above. Then it counselled them, instructing them what to do. Theyhollowed the chamber wherein first I saw you, cutting their way to itthat path down which from it you sped.

  "It revealed to them that the force that is within moon flame is kinto the force that is within it, for the chamber of its birth was thechamber too of moon birth and into it went the subtle essence andpowers that flow in that earth child: and it taught them how to makethat which fills what you call the Moon Pool whose opening is closebehind its Veil hanging upon the gleaming cliffs.

  "When this was done it taught them how to make and how to place theseven lights through which moon flame streams into Moon Pool--theseven lights that are kin to its own seven orbs even as its fires arekin to moon fires--and which would open for it a path that it couldtread. And all this the _Taithu_ did, working so secretly that neitherthose of their race whose faces were set against the Shining One northe busy men above know aught of it.

  "When it was done they moved up the path, clustering within the MoonPool Chamber. Moon flame streamed through the seven globes, poureddown upon the pool; they saw mists arise, embrace, and become one withthe moon flame--and then up through Moon Pool, shaping itself withinthe mists of light, whirling, radiant--the Shining One!

  "Almost free, almost loosed upon the world it coveted!

  "Again it counselled them, and they pierced the passage whose portalyou found first; set the fires within its stones, and revealingthemselves to the moon king and his priests spake to them even as theShining One had instructed.

  "Now was the moon king filled with fear when he looked upon the_Taithu_, shrouded with protecting mists of light in Moon PoolChamber, and heard their words. Yet, being crafty, he thought of thepower that would be his if he heeded and how quickly the strength ofthe sun king would dwindle. So he and his made a pact with the ShiningOne's messengers.

  "When next the moon was round and poured its flames down upon MoonPool, the _Taithu_ gathered there again, watched the child of theThree take shape within the pillars, speed away--and out! They heard amighty shouting, a tumult of terror, of awe and of worship; a silence;a vast sighing--and they waited, wrapped in their mists of light, forthey feared to follow nor were they near the paths that would haveenabled them to look without.

  "Another tumult--and back came the Shining One, murmuring with joy,pulsing, triumphant, and clasped within its vapours a man and woman,ruddy-haired, golden-eyed, in whose faces rapture and horror lay sideby side--gloriously, hideously. And still holding them it danced abovethe Moon Pool and--sank!

  "Now must I be brief. _Lat_ after _lat_ the Shining One went forth,returning with its sacrifices. And stronger after each it grew--andgayer and more cruel. Ever when it passed with its prey toward thepool, the _Taithu_ who watched felt a swift, strong intoxication, adrunkenness of spirit, streaming from it to them. And the Shining Oneforgot what it had promised them of dominion--and in this new evildelight they too forgot.

  "The outer land was torn with hatred and open strife. The moon kingand his kind, through the guidance of the evil _Taithu_ and the favourof the Shining One, had become powerful and the sun king and his weredarkened. And the moon priests preached that the child of the Threewas the moon god itself come to dwell with them.

  "Now vast tides arose and when they withdrew they took with them greatportions of this country. And the land itself began to sink. Then saidthe moon king that the moon had called to ocean to destroy becausewroth that another than he was worshipped. The people believed andthere was slaughter. When it was over there was no more a sun king norany of the ruddy-haired folk; slain were they, slain down to the babeat breast.

  "But still the tides swept higher; still dwindled the land!

  "As it shrank multitudes of the fleeing people were led through MoonPool Chamber and carried here. They were what now are called the_ladala_, and they were given place and set to work; and they thrived.Came many of the fair-haired; and they were given dwellings. They satbeside the evil _Taithu_; they became drunk even as they with thedancing of the Shining One; they learned--not all; only a little partbut little enough--of their arts. And ever the Shining One danced moregaily out there within the black amphitheatre; grew ever stronger--andever the hordes of its slaves behind the Veil increased.

  "Nor did the _Taithu_ who clung to the old ways check this--theycould not. By the sinking of the land above, their own spaces wereimperilled. All of their strength and all of their wisdom it took tokeep this land from perishing; nor had they help from those others madfor the poison of the Shining One; and they had no time to deal withthem nor the earth race with whom they had foregathered.

  "At last came a slow, vast flood. It rolled even to the bases of thewalled islets of the city of the gods--and within these now were allthat were left of my people on earth face.

  "I am of those people," she paused, looking at me proudly, "one of thedaughters of the sun king whose seed is still alive in the _ladala_!"

  As Larry opened his mouth to speak she waved a silencing hand.

  "This tide did not recede," she went on. "And after a time theremnant, the moon king leading them, joined those who had already fledbelow. The rocks became still, the quakings ceased, and now thoseAncient Ones who had been labouring could take breath. And anger grewwithin them as they looked upon the work of their evil kin. Again theysought the Three--and the Three now knew what they had done and theirpride was humbled. They would not slay the Shining One themselves, forstill they loved it; but they instructed these others how to undotheir work; how also they might destroy the evil _Taithu_ were itnecessary.

  "Armed with the wisdom of the Three they went forth--but now theShining One was strong indeed. They could not slay it!

  "Nay, it knew and was prepared; they could not even pass beyond itsVeil nor seal its abode. Ah, strong, strong, mighty of will, full ofcraft and cunning had the Shining One become. So they turned upontheir kind who had gone astray and made them perish, to the last. TheShining One came not to the aid of its servants--though they called;for within its will was the thought that they were of no further useto it; that it would rest awhile and dance with them--who had solittle of the power and wisdom of its _Taithu_ and therefore no reinsupon it. And while this was happening black-haired and fair-haired ranand hid and were but shaking vessels of terror.

  "The Anc
ient Ones took counsel. This was their decision; that theywould go from the gardens before the Silver Waters--leaving, sincethey could not kill it, the Shining One with its worshippers. Theysealed the mouth of the passage that leads to the Moon Pool Chamberand they changed the face of the cliff so that none might tell whereit had been. But the passage itself they left open--havingforeknowledge I think, of a thing that was to come to pass in the farfuture--perhaps it was your journey here, my Larry and Goodwin--verilyI think so. And they destroyed all the ways save that whichwe three trod to the Dweller's abode.

  "For the last time they went to the Three--to pass sentence upon them.This was the doom--that here they should remain, alone, among the_Akka_, served by them, until that time dawned when they would havewill to destroy the evil they had created--and even now--loved; normight they seek death, nor follow their judges until this had come topass. This was the doom they put upon the Three for the wickednessthat had sprung from their pride, and they strengthened it with theirarts that it might not be broken.

  "Then they passed--to a far land they had chosen where the Shining Onecould not go, beyond the Black Precipices of Doul, a green land--"

  "Ireland!" interrupted Larry, with conviction, "I knew it."

  "Since then time upon time had passed," she went on, unheeding. "Thepeople called this place Muria after their sunken land and soon theyforgot where had been the passage the _Taithu_ had sealed. The moonking became the Voice of the Dweller and always with the Voice is awoman of the moon king's kin who is its priestess.

  "And many have been the journeys upward of the Shining One, throughthe Moon Pool--returning with still others in its coils.

  "And now again has it grown restless, longing for the wider spaces.It has spoken to Yolara and to Lugur even as it did to the dead_Taithu_, promising them dominion. And it has grown stronger, drawingto itself power to go far on the moon stream where it will. Thus wasit able to seize your friend, Goodwin, and Olaf's wife and babe--andmany more. Yolara and Lugur plan to open way to earth face; to departwith their court and under the Shining One grasp the world!

  "And this is the tale the Silent Ones bade me tell you--and it isdone."

  Breathlessly I had listened to the stupendous epic of a long-lostworld. Now I found speech to voice the question ever with me, thething that lay as close to my heart as did the welfare of Larry,indeed the whole object of my quest--the fate of Throckmartin andthose who had passed with him into the Dweller's lair; yes, and ofOlaf's wife, too.

  "Lakla," I said, "the friend who drew me here and those he loved whowent before him--can we not save them?"

  "The Three say no, Goodwin." There was again in her eyes the pity withwhich she had looked upon Olaf. "The Shining One--_feeds_--upon theflame of life itself, setting in its place its own fires and its ownwill. Its slaves are only shells through which it gleams. Death, saythe Three, is the best that can come to them; yet will that be a boongreat indeed."

  "But they have souls, _mavourneen_," Larry said to her. "And they'realive still--in a way. Anyhow, their souls have not gone from them."

  I caught a hope from his words--sceptic though I am--holding that theexistence of soul has never been proved by dependable laboratorymethods--for they recalled to me that when I had seen Throckmartin,Edith had been close beside him.

  "It was days after his wife was taken, that the Dweller seizedThrockmartin," I cried. "How, if their wills, their life, were indeedgone, how did they find each other mid all that horde? How did theycome together in the Dweller's lair?"

  "I do not know," she answered, slowly. "You say they loved--and it istrue that love is stronger even than death!"

  "One thing I _don't_ understand"--this was Larry again--"is why a girllike you keeps coming out of the black-haired crowd; so frequently andone might say, so regularly, Lakla. Aren't there ever any red-headedboys--and if they are what becomes of them?"

  "That, Larry, I cannot answer," she said, very frankly. "There was apact of some kind; how made or by whom I know not. But for long theMurians feared the return of the _Taithu_ and greatly they feared theThree. Even the Shining One feared those who had created it--for atime; and not even now is it eager to face them--_that_ I know. Nor areYolara and Lugur so _sure_. It may be that the Three commanded it: buthow or why I know not. I only know that it is true--for here am I andfrom where else would I have come?"

  "From Ireland," said Larry O'Keefe, promptly. "And that's whereyou're going. For 'tis no place for a girl like you to have beenbrought up--Lakla; what with people like frogs, and a half-god threequarters devil, and red oceans, an' the only Irish things yourself andthe Silent Ones up there, bless their hearts. It's no place for ye,and by the soul of St. Patrick, it's out of it soon ye'll be gettin'!"

  Larry! Larry! If it had but been true--and I could see Lakla and youbeside me now!