United States or Bangladesh ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Swift as the lithe white wolf hound she leaped, and one slender hand gripped Yolara's throat, the other the wrist that lifted the quivering death; white limbs wrapped about the hidden ones, I saw the golden head bend, the hand that held the Keth swept up with a vicious jerk; saw Lakla's teeth sink into the wrist the blood spurt forth and heard the priestess shriek.
And in the meantime we shall have disposed my Akka to meet Yolara's men. And on that disposal we must all take counsel, you, Larry, and Rador, Olaf and Goodwin and Nak, the ruler of the Akka." "Did the messenger give any idea when Yolara expects to make her little call?" asked Larry. "Yes," she answered.
Down long corridors we trod and out upon a gardened terrace as beautiful as any of those of Yolara's city; bowered, blossoming, fragrant, set high upon the cliffs beside the domed castle. A table, as of milky jade, was spread at one corner, but the Golden Girl was not there. A little path ran on and up, hemmed in by the mass of verdure.
A throbbing arpeggio dripped from the harps, and as the notes pulsed out, up from the globes, as though striving to follow, pulsed with them tips of moon-fire cones, such as I had seen before Yolara's altar. Weirdly, caressingly, compellingly the harp notes throbbed in repeated, re-repeated theme, holding within itself the same archaic golden quality I had noted in the singing.
The gigantic frog-man boomed a thunderous note of command, his grotesque guards turned and slowly followed their mistress; and last of all passed out the monster with the mace. Larry's Defiance A clamour arose from all the chambers; stilled in an instant by a motion of Yolara's hand.
I hope that you will pardon me for this somewhat academic digression, but I felt it was necessary, and it has, at least, put me more at ease. And now to resume. We had watched, Larry and I, the frog-men throw the bodies of Yolara's assassins into the crimson waters. As vultures swoop down upon the dying, there came sailing swiftly to where the dead men floated, dozens of the luminous globes.
Yolara crept close, just beyond the reach of its spirals. She murmured and the Dweller bent toward her, its seven globes steady in their shining mists, as though listening. It drew erect once more, resumed its doubtful scrutiny. Yolara's face darkened; she turned abruptly, spoke to a captain of her guards. A dwarf raced back between the palisades of dead-alive.
But I tell you that your measure of iniquity is full; the tale of your sin near ended! Yea the Silent Ones have been patient, but soon they will speak." He pointed at us. "A sign are they a warning harlot!" He spat the word. In Yolara's eyes, grown black, the devils leaped unrestrained. "Is it even so, Songar?" her voice caressed. "Now ask the Silent Ones to help you!
The frog-men reached down, swung each a dead dwarf in his arms, and filed, booming triumphantly away. And then I remembered the cone of the Keth which had slipped from Yolara's hand; knew it had been that for which her wild eyes searched. But look as closely as we might, search in every nook and corner as we did, we could not find it.
The tumult drew closer. I heard cries of "Lakla! Lakla!" Now it was at the very threshold and within it, oddly, as though punctuating the clamour, a deep-toned, almost abysmal, booming sound thunderously bass and reverberant. Abruptly the harpings ceased; the moon fires shuddered, fell, and began to sweep back into the crystal globes; Yolara's swaying form grew rigid, every atom of it listening.
Word Of The Day