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Updated: May 29, 2025
The creature turned upon the leader of the party that had brought Bradley. "Is the thing with weapons?" it asked. "No," was the response. "Then go; but tell the guard to remain close by," commanded the high one. The Wieroos salaamed and withdrew, closing the door behind them. He Who Speaks for Luata grasped a sword nervously in his right hand. At his left side lay the second weapon.
The blade struck at the junction of the neck and torso and with such force as to completely decapitate the Wieroo, the hideous head dropping to the floor and the body falling forward upon the Englishman. Pushing it from him he rose to his feet and faced the wide-eyed girl. "Luata!" she exclaimed. "How came you here?" Bradley shrugged.
As he did so, he rested his weight upon his hands, one upon either side of the Wieroo's body, his right hand upon the hilt of the spare sword lying at the left of Him Who Speaks for Luata.
When he struck it, An-Tak gave a cry of terror. Bradley held the light far into the opening before him and in its flickering rays saw the top of a ladder descending into a black abyss below. How far down it extended he could not guess; but that he should soon know definitely he was positive. "You have found it! You have found the way out!" screamed An-Tak. "Oh, Luata! And now I am too weak to go.
Take me with you! Take me with you!" "Shut up!" admonished Bradley. "You will have the whole flock of birds around our heads in a minute, and neither of us will escape. Be quiet, and I'll go ahead. If I find a way out, I'll come back and help you, if you'll promise not to try to eat me up again." "I promise," cried An-Tak. "Oh, Luata! How could you blame me?
Bradley could distinctly hear the words of the creature, who was urging the girl to accompany him to another Wieroo city. "Come with me," he said, "and you shall have your life; remain here and He Who Speaks for Luata will claim you for his own; and when he is done with you, your skull will bleach at the top of a tall staff while your body feeds the reptiles at the mouth of the River of Death.
He stopped swaying to and fro and appeared to be startled into an attempt to master his faculties of concentration and thought. Bradley repeated his questions sharply. "I am An-Tak, the Galu," replied the man. "Luata alone knows how long I have been here maybe ten moons, maybe ten moons three times" it was the Caspakian equivalent of thirty. "I was young and strong when they brought me here.
"Now bear him to the Blue Place of Seven Skulls," directed the chief Wieroo, "and one take the word of all that has passed to Him Who Speaks for Luata." Each of the creatures raised a hand, the back against its face, as though in salute.
As the Wieroos approached the figure upon the dais, they leaned far forward, raising their wings above their heads and stretching their necks as though offering them to the sharp swords of the grim and hideous creature. "O Thou Who Speakest for Luata!" exclaimed one of the party. "We bring you the strange creature that Fosh-bal-soj captured and brought thither at thy command."
The word is derived from two others: Lua, meaning sun, and ata, meaning variously eggs, life, young, and reproduction. She told me that they worshiped Luata in several forms, as fire, the sun, eggs and other material objects which suggested heat and reproduction.
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