safely behind them. Vilmahad dressed; and now they sat together in the pilot house. Cliff hadone arm about her, and one hand on the wheel.
"And so," the girl was saying, "while Corio carried you to thatterrible old boat, I got loose. He hadn't tied me very tightly, and Islipped my hands free. I had to hide, and I could think of only oneplace that might be safe, where he wouldn't think to look for me. Iran down to the room where those--those others lay; I undressed, andburied myself among them. It was horrible--the way they sucked eachother's wounds...."
Cliff pressed a hand across her lips. "Forget that!" he said almostfiercely. "Forget all of it--d'you hear?"
She looked up at him and said simply: "I'll try."
They glanced back toward the black blotch on the horizon. The seismicdisturbances continued unabated. At that moment they saw the barrierof rock like a skull split and sink into the sea. Beyond, cleansingtongues of flame licked the sky. They saw a single jagged wall of thecastle still standing, one window glowing in its black expanse like asquare, bloody moon against a bloody sky. It crumbled.
They turned away, and Cliff's arm circled the girl he loved. Theirlips met and clung.... And the _Ariel_ plowed on through the frothingbrine, bearing them toward safety and forgetfulness.... Together.
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Isle of the Undead Page 7
