CHAPTER XXXIII
The Meeting of Titans
It is not my intention, nor is it possible no matter how interestingto me, to set down _ad seriatim_ the happenings of the next twelvehours. But a few will not be denied recital.
O'Keefe regained cheerfulness.
"After all, Doc," he said to me, "it's a beautiful scrap we're goingto have. At the worst the worst is no more than the leprechaun warnedabout. I would have told the Taitha De about the banshee raid hepromised me; but I was a bit taken off my feet at the time. The oldgirl an' all the clan'll be along, said the little green man, an' Ibet the Three will be damned glad of it, take it from me."
Lakla, shining-eyed and half fearful too:
"I have other tidings that I am afraid will please you little,Larry--darlin'. The Silent Ones say that you must not go into battleyourself. You must stay here with me, and with Goodwin--forif--if--the Shining One does come, then must we be here to meet it.And you might not be, you know, Larry, if you fight," she said,looking shyly up at him from under the long lashes.
The O'Keefe's jaw dropped.
"That's about the hardest yet," he answered slowly. "Still--I seetheir point; the lamb corralled for the altar has no right to strayout among the lions," he added grimly. "Don't worry, sweet," he toldher. "As long as I've sat in the game I'll stick to the rules."
Olaf took fierce joy in the coming fray. "The Norns spin close to theend of this web," he rumbled. "_Ja!_ And the threads of Lugur and theHeks woman are between their fingers for the breaking! Thor will bewith me, and I have fashioned me a hammer in glory of Thor." In hishand was an enormous mace of black metal, fully five feet long,crowned with a massive head.
I pass to the twelve hours' closing.
At the end of the _coria_ road where the giant fernland met the edgeof the cavern's ruby floor, hundreds of the _Akka_ were stationed inambush, armed with their spears tipped with the rotting death andtheir nail-studded, metal-headed clubs. These were to attack when theMurians debauched from the _corials_. We had little hope of doing morehere than effect some attrition of Yolara's hosts, for at this placethe captains of the Shining One could wield the _Keth_ and their otheruncanny weapons freely. We had learned, too, that every forge andartisan had been put to work to make an armour Marakinoff had devisedto withstand the natural battle equipment of the frog-people--and bothLarry and I had a disquieting faith in the Russian's ingenuity.
At any rate the numbers against us would be lessened.
Next, under the direction of the frog-king, levies commanded bysubsidiary chieftains had completed rows of rough walls along theprobable route of the Murians through the cavern. These afforded the_Akka_ a fair protection behind which they could hurl their darts andspears--curiously enough they had never developed the bow as a weapon.
At the opening of the cavern a strong barricade stretched almost tothe two ends of the crescent strand; almost, I say, because there hadnot been time to build it entirely across the mouth.
And from edge to edge of the titanic bridge, from where it sprangoutward at the shore of the Crimson Sea to a hundred feet away fromthe golden door of the abode, barrier after barrier was piled.
Behind the wall defending the mouth of the cavern, waited otherthousands of the _Akka_. At each end of the unfinished barricade theywere mustered thickly, and at right and left of the crescent wheretheir forest began, more legions were assembled to make way up to theledge as opportunity offered.
Rank upon rank they manned the bridge barriers; they swarmed over thepinnacles and in the hollows of the island's ragged outer lip; thedomed castle was a hive of them, if I may mix my metaphors--and therocks and gardens that surrounded the abode glittered with them.
"Now," said the handmaiden, "there's nothing else we can do--savewait."
She led us out through her bower and up the little path that ran tothe embrasure.
Through the quiet came a sound, a sighing, a half-mournful whisperingthat beat about us and fled away.
"They come!" cried Lakla, the light of battle in her eyes. Larry drewher to him, raised her in his arms, kissed her.
"A woman!" acclaimed the O'Keefe. "A real woman--and mine!"
With the cry of the Portal there was movement among the _Akka_, theglint of moving spears, flash of metal-tipped clubs, rattle of hornyspurs, rumblings of battle-cries.
And we waited--waited it seemed interminably, gaze fastened upon thelow wall across the cavern mouth. Suddenly I remembered the crystalthrough which I had peered when the hidden assassins had crept uponus. Mentioning it to Lakla, she gave a little cry of vexation, acommand to her attendant; and not long that faithful if unusual ladyhad returned with a tray of the glasses. Raising mine, I saw the linesfurthest away leap into sudden activity. Spurred warrior after warriorleaped upon the barricade and over it. Flashes of intense, greenlight, mingled with gleams like lightning strokes of concentrated moonrays, sprang from behind the wall--sprang and struck and burned uponthe scales of the batrachians.
"They come!" whispered Lakla.
At the far ends of the crescent a terrific milling had begun. Here itwas plain the _Akka_ were holding. Faintly, for the distance wasgreat, I could see fresh force upon force rush up and take the placesof those who had fallen.
Over each of these ends, and along the whole line of the barricade amist of dancing, diamonded atoms began to rise; sparking, coruscatingpoints of diamond dust that darted and danced.
What had once been Lakla's guardians--dancing now in the nothingness!
"God, but it's hard to stay here like this!" groaned the O'Keefe;Olaf's teeth were bared, the lips drawn back in such a fighting grinas his ancestors berserk on their raven ships must have borne; Radorwas livid with rage; the handmaiden's nostrils flaring wide, all herwrathful soul in her eyes.
Suddenly, while we looked, the rocky wall which the _Akka_ had builtat the cavern mouth--was not! It vanished, as though an unseen,unbelievably gigantic hand had with the lightning's speed swept itaway. And with it vanished, too, long lines of the great amphibiansclose behind it.
Then down upon the ledge, dropping into the Crimson Sea, sending upgeysers of ruby spray, dashing on the bridge, crushing the frog-men,fell a shower of stone, mingled with distorted shapes and fragmentswhose scales still flashed meteoric as they hurled from above.
"That which makes things fall upward," hissed Olaf. "That which I sawin the garden of Lugur!"
The fiendish agency of destruction which Marakinoff had revealed toLarry; the force that cut off gravitation and sent all things withinits range racing outward into space!
And now over the debris upon the ledge, striking with long sword anddaggers, here and there a captain flashing the green ray, moving on inordered squares, came the soldiers of the Shining One. Nearer andnearer the verge of the ledge they pushed Nak's warriors. Leaping uponthe dwarfs, smiting them with spear and club, with teeth and spur, the_Akka_ fought like devils. Quivering under the ray, they leaped anddragged down and slew.
Now there was but one long line of the frog-men at the very edge ofthe cliff.
And ever the clouds of dancing, diamonded atoms grew thicker over themall!
That last thin line of the _Akka_ was going; yet they fought to thelast, and none toppled over the lip without at least one of thearmoured Murians in his arms.
My gaze dropped to the foot of the cliffs. Stretched along theirlength was a wide ribbon of beauty--a shimmering multitude ofgleaming, pulsing, prismatic moons; glowing, glowing ever brighter,ever more wondrous--the gigantic Medusae globes feasting on dwarf andfrog-man alike!
Across the waters, faintly, came a triumphant shouting from Lugur'sand Yolara's men!
Was the ruddy light of the place lessening, growing paler, changing toa faint rose? There was an exclamation from Larry; something like hoperelaxed the drawn muscles of his face. He pointed to the aureate domewherein sat the Three--and then I saw!
Out of it, through the long transverse slit through which the SilentOnes kept their
watch on cavern, bridge, and abyss, a torrent of theopalescent light was pouring. It cascaded like a waterfall, and as itflowed it spread whirling out, in columns and eddies, clouds and wispsof misty, curdled coruscations. It hung like a veil over all theislands, filtering everywhere, driving back the crimson light asthough possessed of impenetrable substance--and still it cast not thefaintest shadowing upon our vision.
"Good God!" breathed Larry. "Look!"
The radiance was marching--_marching_--down the colossal bridge. Itmoved swiftly, in some unthinkable way _intelligently_. It swathed the_Akka_, and closer, ever closer it swept toward the approach uponwhich Yolara's men had now gained foothold.
From their ranks came flash after flash of the green ray--aimed atthe abode! But as the light sped and struck the opalescence it wasblotted out! The shimmering mists seemed to enfold, to dissipate it.
Lakla drew a deep breath.
"The Silent Ones forgive me for doubting them," she whispered; andagain hope blossomed on her face even as it did on Larry's.
The frog-men were gaining. Clothed in the armour of that mist, theypressed back from the bridge-head the invaders. There was anotherprodigious movement at the ends of the crescent, and racing up,pressing against the dwarfs, came other legions of Nak's warriors. Andre-enforcing those out on the prodigious arch, the frog-men stationedin the gardens below us poured back to the castle and out through theopen Portal.
"They're licked!" shouted Larry. "They're--"
So quickly I could not follow the movement his automatic leaped to hishand--spoke, once and again and again. Rador leaped to the head of thelittle path, sword in hand; Olaf, shouting and whirling his mace,followed. I strove to get my own gun quickly.
For up that path were running twoscore of Lugur's men, while frombelow Lugur's own voice roared.
"Quick! Slay not the handmaiden or her lover! Carry them down.Quick! But slay the others!"
The handmaiden raced toward Larry, stopped, whistled shrilly--againand again. Larry's pistol was empty, but as the dwarfs rushed upon himI dropped two of them with mine. It jammed--I could not use it; Isprang to his side. Rador was down, struggling in a heap of Lugur'smen. Olaf, a Viking of old, was whirling his great hammer, andstriking, striking through armour, flesh, and bone.
Larry was down, Lakla flew to him. But the Norseman, now streamingblood from a dozen wounds, caught a glimpse of her coming, turned,thrust out a mighty hand, sent her reeling back, and then with hishammer cracked the skulls of those trying to drag the O'Keefe down thepath.
A cry from Lakla--the dwarfs had seized her, had lifted her despiteher struggles, were carrying her away. One I dropped with the butt ofmy useless pistol, and then went down myself under the rush ofanother.
Through the clamour I heard a booming of the _Akka_, closer, closer;then through it the bellow of Lugur. I made a mighty effort, swung ahand up, and sunk my fingers in the throat of the soldier striving tokill me. Writhing over him, my fingers touched a poniard; I thrust itdeep, staggered to my feet.
The O'Keefe, shielding Lakla, was battling with a long sword against ahalf dozen of the soldiers. I started toward him, was struck, andunder the impact hurled to the ground. Dizzily I raised myself--andleaning upon my elbow, stared and moved no more. For the dwarfs laydead, and Larry, holding Lakla tightly, was staring even as I, andranged at the head of the path were the _Akka_, whose booming advancein obedience to the handmaiden's call I had heard.
And at what we all stared was Olaf, crimson with his wounds, andLugur, in blood-red armour, locked in each other's grip, struggling,smiting, tearing, kicking, and swaying about the little space beforethe embrasure. I crawled over toward the O'Keefe. He raised hispistol, dropped it.
"Can't hit him without hitting Olaf," he whispered. Lakla signalledthe frog-men; they advanced toward the two--but Olaf saw them, brokethe red dwarf's hold, sent Lugur reeling a dozen feet away.
"No!" shouted the Norseman, the ice of his pale-blue eyes glintinglike frozen flames, blood streaming down his face and dripping fromhis hands. "No! Lugur is mine! None but me slays him! Ho, you Lugur--"and cursed him and Yolara and the Dweller hideously--I cannot setthose curses down here.
They spurred Lugur. Mad now as the Norseman, the red dwarf sprang.Olaf struck a blow that would have killed an ordinary man, but Luguronly grunted, swept in, and seized him about the waist; one mighty armbegan to creep up toward Huldricksson's throat.
"'Ware, Olaf!" cried O'Keefe; but Olaf did not answer. He waited untilthe red dwarf's hand was close to his shoulder; and then, with anincredibly rapid movement--once before had I seen something like itin a wrestling match between Papuans--he had twisted Lugur around;twisted him so that Olaf's right arm lay across the tremendous breast,the left behind the neck, and Olaf's left leg held the Voice'sarmoured thighs viselike against his right knee while over that kneelay the small of the red dwarf's back.
For a second or two the Norseman looked down upon his enemy,motionless in that paralyzing grip. And then--slowly--he began tobreak him!
Lakla gave a little cry; made a motion toward the two. But Larry drewher head down against his breast, hiding her eyes; then fastened hisown upon the pair, white-faced, stern.
Slowly, ever so slowly, proceeded Olaf. Twice Lugur moaned. At theend he screamed--horribly. There was a cracking sound, as of a stoutstick snapped.
Huldricksson stooped, silently. He picked up the limp body of theVoice, not yet dead, for the eyes rolled, the lips strove to speak;lifted it, walked to the parapet, swung it twice over his head, andcast it down to the red waters!
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