The People of the Crater Read online

  _CHAPTER NINE_

  _Days of Preparation_

  Garin was awakened by a loud murmuring. Dandtan knelt beside him.

  "We must go. Even now the Gibi seal the last of the cells."

  They ate hurriedly of cakes of grain and honey, and, as they feasted,the Queen again visited them. The first of the swarm were alreadywinging eastward.

  With the Gibi nation hanging like a storm cloud above them, the threestarted off across the meadow. The purple-blue haze was thickening and,here and there, curious formations, like the dust devils of the desert,arose and danced and disappeared again. The tropic heat of Tavincreased; it was as if the ground itself were steaming.

  "The Mists draw close; we must hurry," panted Dandtan.

  They traversed the tongue of forest which bordered the meadow and cameto the central plain of Tav. There was a brooding stillness there. TheAna, perched on Garin's shoulder, shivered.

  Their walk became a trot; the Gibi bunched together. Once Thrala caughther breath in a half sob.

  "They are flying slowly because of us. And it's so far--"

  "Look!" Dandtan pointed at the plain. "The morgels!"

  The morgel pack, driven by fear, ran in leaping bounds. They passedwithin a hundred yards of the three, yet did not turn from their course,though several snarled at them.

  "They are already dead," observed Dandtan. "There is no time for them toreach the shelter of the Caves."

  Splashing through a shallow brook, the three began to run. For the firsttime Thrala faltered and broke pace. Garin thrust the Ana into Dandtan'sarms and, before she could protest, swept the girl into his arms.

  The haze was denser now, settling upon them as a curtain. Black hair,finer than silk, whipped across Garin's throat. Thrala's head was on hisshoulder, her heaving breasts arched as she gasped the sultry air.

  "They--keep--watch...!" shouted Dandtan.

  Piercing the gloom were pin-points of light. A dark shape grazed Garin'shead--one of the Gibi Queen's guards.

  Then abruptly they stumbled into a throng of the Folk, one of whomreached for Thrala with a crooning cry. It was Sera welcoming hermistress.

  Thrala was borne away by the women, leaving Garin with a feeling ofdesolation.

  "The Mists, Outlander." It was Urg, pointing toward the Cavern mouth.Two of the Folk swung their weight on a lever. Across the opening asheet of crystal clicked into place. The Caverns were sealed.

  The haze was now inky black outside and billows of it beat against theprotecting barrier. It might have been midnight of the blackest,starless night.

  "So will it be for forty days. What is without--dies," said Urg.

  "Then we have forty days in which to prepare," Garin spoke his thoughtaloud. Dandtan's keen face lightened.

  "Well said, Garin. Forty days before Kepta may seek us. And we have muchto do. But first, our respects to the Lord of the Folk."

  Together they went to the Hall of Thrones where, when he saw Dandtan,Trar arose and held out his jade-tipped rod of office. The son of theAncient Ones touched it.

  "Hail! Dweller in the Light, and Outlander who has fulfilled the promiseof Thran. Thrala is once more within the Caverns. Now send you to dustthis black throne...."

  Garin, nothing loath, drew the destroying rod from his belt, but Dandtanshook his head. "The time is not yet, Trar. Kepta must finish thepattern he began. Forty days have we and then the Black Ones come."

  Trar considered thoughtfully. "So that be the way of it. Thran did notsee another war...."

  "But he saw an end to Kepta!"

  Trar straightened as if some burden had rolled from his thin shoulders."Well do you speak, Lord. When there is one to sit upon the Rose Throne,what have we to fear? Listen, O ye Folk, the Light has returned to theCaverns!"

  His cry was echoed by the gathering of the Folk.

  "And now, Lord--" he turned to Dandtan with deference--"what are yourcommands?"

  "For the space of one sleep I shall enter the Chamber of Renewing withthis outlander, who is no longer an outlander but one, Garin, acceptedby the Daughter according to the Law. And while we rest let all be madeready...."

  "The Dweller in the Light has spoken!" Trar himself escorted them fromthe Hall.

  They came, through many winding passages, to a deep pool of water, inthe depths of which lurked odd purple shadows. Dandtan stripped andplunged in, Garin following his example. The water was tinglingly aliveand they did not linger in it long. From it they went to a bubble roomsuch as the one Garin had rested in after the bath of light rays, and onthe cushions in its center stretched their tired bodies.

  When Garin awoke he experienced the same exultation he had felt before.Dandtan regarded him with a smile. "Now to work," he said, as he reachedout to press a knob set in the wall.

  Two of the Folk appeared, bringing with them clean trappings. After theydressed and broke their fast, Dandtan started for the laboratories.Garin would have gone with him, but Sera intercepted them.

  "There is one would speak with Lord Garin...."

  Dandtan laughed. "Go," he ordered the American. "Thrala's commands maynot be slighted."

  The Hall of Women was deserted. And the corridor beyond, roofed andwalled with slabs of rose-shot crystal, was as empty. Sera drew aside agolden curtain and they were in the audience chamber of the Daughter.

  A semi-circular dais of the clearest crystal, heaped with rose and goldcushions, faced them. Before it, a fountain, in the form of a flowernodding on a curved stem, sent a spray of water into a shallow basin.The walls of the room were divided into alcoves by marble pillars, eachone curved in semblance of a fern frond.

  From the domed ceiling, on chains of twisted gold, seven lamps, eachwrought from a single yellow sapphire, gave soft light. The floor was amosaic of gold and crystal.

  Two small Anas, who had been playing among the cushions, pattered up toexchange greetings with Garin's. But of the mistress of the chamberthere was no sign. Garin turned to Sera, but before he could phrase hisquestion, she asked mockingly:

  "Who is the Lord Garin that he can not wait with patience?" But she leftin search of the Daughter.

  Garin glanced uneasily about the room. This jeweled chamber was no placefor him. He had started toward the door when Thrala stepped within.

  "Greetings to the Daughter." His voice sounded formal and cold, even tohimself.

  Her hands, which had been outheld in welcome, dropped to her sides. Aghost of a frown dimmed her beauty.

  "Greetings, Garin," she returned slowly.

  "You sent for me--" he prompted, eager to escape from this jewel box andthe unattainable treasure it held.

  "Yes," the coldness of her tone was an order of exile. "I would know howyou fared and whether your wounds yet troubled you."

  He looked down at his own smooth flesh, cleanly healed by the wisdom ofthe Folk. "I am myself again and eager to be at such work as Dandtan canfind for me...."

  Her robe seemed to hiss across the floor as she turned upon him. "Thengo!" she ordered. "Go quickly!"

  And blindly he obeyed. She had spoken as if to a servant, one whom shecould summon and dismiss by whim. Even if Dandtan held her love, shemight have extended him her friendship. But he knew within him thatfriendship would be a poor crumb beside the feast his pulses poundedfor.

  There was a pattering of feet behind him. So, she would call him back!His pride sent him on. But it was Sera. Her head thrust forward untilshe truly resembled a reptile.

  "Fool! Morgel!" she spat. "Even the Black Ones did not treat her so. Getyou out of the Place of Women lest they divide your skin among them!"

  Garin broke free, not heeding her torrent of reproach. Then he seizedupon one of the Folk as a guide and sought the laboratories. Far beneaththe surface of Tav, where the light-motes shone ghostly in the gloom,they came into a place of ceaseless activity, where there were tablescrowded with instruments, coils of glass and metal tubing, and otherequipment and supplies. These were the focusing point for ceaselessstr
eams of the Folk. On a platform at the far end, Garin saw the tallson of the Ancient Ones working on a framework of metal and shiningcrystal.

  He glanced up as Garin joined him. "You are late," he accused. "But yourexcuse is a good one. Now get you to work. Hold this here--andhere--while I fasten these clamps."

  So Garin became extra hands and feet for Dandtan, and they workedfeverishly to build against the lifting of the Mists. There was no dayor night in the laboratories. They worked steadily without rest, andwithout feeling fatigue.

  Twice they went to the Chamber of Renewing, but except for these tripsto the upper ways they were not out of the laboratories through allthose days. Of Thrala there was no sign, nor did any one speak of her.

  The Cavern dwellers were depending upon two defenses: an evil greenliquid, to be thrown in frail glass globes, and a screen charged withenergy. Shortly before the lifting of the Mists, these arms weretransported to the entrance and installed there. Dandtan and Garin madea last inspection.

  "Kepta makes the mistake of under-rating his enemies," Dandtanreflected, feeling the edge of the screen caressingly. "When I wascaptured, on the day my people died, I was sent to the Black Ones'laboratories so that their seekers after knowledge might learn thesecrets of the Ancient Ones. But I proved a better pupil than teacherand I discovered the defense against the Black Fire. After I had learnedthat, Kepta grew impatient with my supposed stupidity and tried to useme to force Thrala to his will. For that, as for other things, shall hepay--and the paying will not be in coin of his own striking. Let usthink of that...." He turned to greet Urg and Trar and the other leadersof the Folk, who had approached unnoticed.

  Among them stood Thrala, her gaze fixed upon the crystal wall betweenthem and the thinning Mist. She noticed Garin no more than she did theAnas playing with her train and the women whispering behind her. ButGarin stepped back into the shadows--and what he saw was not weapons ofwar, but cloudy black hair and graceful white limbs veiled in splendor.

  Urg and one of the other chieftains bore down upon the door lever. Witha protesting squeak, the glass wall disappeared into the rock. The greenof Tav beckoned them out to walk in its freshness; it was renewed withlusty life. But in all that expanse of meadow and forest there was astrange stillness.

  "Post sentries," ordered Dandtan. "The Black Ones will come soon."

  He beckoned Garin forward as he spoke to Thrala:

  "Let us go to the Hall of Thrones."

  But the Daughter did not answer his smile. "It is not meet that weshould spend time in idle talk. Let us go instead to call upon the helpof those who have gone before us." So speaking, she darted a glance atGarin as chill as the arctic lands beyond the lip of Tav, and then sweptaway with Sera bearing her train.

  Dandtan stared at Garin. "What has happened between you two?"

  The flyer shook his head. "I don't know. No man is born with anunderstanding of women--"

  "But she is angered with you. What has happened?"

  For a moment Garin was tempted to tell the truth: that he dared notbreak any barrier she chose to raise, lest he seize what in honor wasnone of his. But he shook his head mutely. Neither of them saw Thralaagain until Death entered the Caverns.