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Yet several times she found herself laughing hilarious; and from Maida's warning glance, and the steadying odor which Maida wafted to her, she knew that Tarrano was using the alcholite fumes to intoxicate her. The Red Woman and Tarrano were upon the dais. There came a flash; then darkness. Elza went cold with terror. She sat stiff and silent, while around her surged that turmoil of confusion.
I could win them again. Tarrano will play them false you know it, and so do I." Pathetic earnestness in this girl still no more than seventeen! And Georg, sitting beside her, gazing into her solemn, beautiful face, felt that indeed she could win them, with those limpid blue eyes and her words which rang with sincerity and truth.
Terror surged within Elza's heart. "Tarrano!" "Elza dear my Elza " "Tarrano!" She fought with him. "Tarrano, do you dare I tell you " The frightened pleading of a woman at bay. And then abruptly he cast her off. His laugh was grim. "What a fool I am! Tarrano the weakling!" He leaped from the couch and began pacing the room. "Tarrano the weakling! To what depths has Tarrano fallen!"
A dozen intent men sat at the tables; a silent room, but for the hum and click of the instruments. Tarrano said softly: "We have been very busy while you below were engaged with your petty hates." He seated himself at a table apart, upon which was a single mirror, and he gathered us around him. The mirror was dark. He called: "Rax let me see Mars you have them by relay? The Hill City?"
He smiled slightly. "As you know, there is no one else in our habitable universe to whom I would speak thus frankly." "I am honored, Tarrano. But here, at this hour of sleep " He waved away the words. "I have asked your pardon for that. My confession as once before, Lady Elza, I come to you most humbly, confessing that my affairs are not going as I would like.
A clever piece of trickery, and it was awkward to deal with. One had only to watch its effect upon the public to realize how insidious it was. Tarrano had told us in the tower in Venia: "I shall have to bargain with them." And chuckled as he said it. A series of notes from the Earth Council and back again, followed during the next few days. But the patrol was not withdrawn; nor was war declared.
In the main hall of the pavilion, midway to its roof, a line of mirrors was placed along the wall facing Tarrano. A hundred small mirrors, side by side. On them were moving images of what was taking place in different parts of the festival so that Tarrano and the others might see the merry-making, not only in the pavilion, but elsewhere, as well.
"Fools!" muttered Georg. "That Little People government they'll have a revolution of their own to fight at this rate. Can't you see what Tarrano is doing? Working everywhere with propaganda working on the public the gullible public ready always to swallow anything " On Earth, lay the crisis. Our own governments only had taken a firm stand. What could Tarrano do with this ultimatum?
The Sun hung level as the vehicle advanced. In these latitudes it would swing side-wise in a slow, low arc, to dip again below the horizon and vanish. Here in the Cold Country it was morning of the Long Day. Summer! On over the crags and glaciers Tarrano guided their frail flying platform. Houses occasionally showed now huts of ice, congealed dwellings, blue-white in the flat sunlight.
"A spy," said Tarrano very gently. "Not a traitor. That you would have been had you served me a traitor to your Princess." Wolfgar's head tried to nod; relief was on his face. "I'm glad you understand. I would not want to die having you think harshly of me " "You are a man I honor you." Abruptly Tarrano turned away and strode across the room.
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