A Voyage to Arcturus Part 27

You needn't stand there gaping. You belong to Shaping, like the rest of us. You are not a king, or a G.o.d."

"Since when have I belonged to him?"

"What does that matter? Perhaps since you first breathed the air of Tormance, or perhaps since five minutes ago."

Without waiting for his response, she set off through the copse, and strode on to the next island. Maskull followed, physically distressed and looking very grave.

The journey continued for half an hour longer, without incident. The character of the scenery slowly changed. The mountaintops became loftier and more widely separated from one another. The gaps were filled with rolling, white clouds, which bathed the sh.o.r.es of the peaks like a mysterious sea. To pa.s.s from island to island was hard work, the intervening s.p.a.ces were so wide--Tydomin, however, knew the way. The intense light, the violet-blue sky, the patches of vivid landscape, emerging from the white vapour-ocean, made a profound impression on Maskull's mind. The glow of Alppain was hidden by the huge ma.s.s of Disscourn, which loomed up straight in front of them.

The green snow on the top of the gigantic pyramid had by now completely melted away. The black, gold, and crimson of its mighty cliffs stood out with terrific brilliance. They were directly beneath the bulk of the mountain, which was not a mile away. It did not appear dangerous to climb, but he was unaware on which side of it their destination lay.

It was split from top to bottom by numerous straight fissures. A few pale-green waterfalls descended here and there, like narrow, motionless threads. The face of the mountain was rugged and bare. It was strewn with detached boulders, and great, jagged rocks projected everywhere like iron teeth. Tydomin pointed to a small black hole near the base, which might be a cave. "That is where I live."

"You live here alone?"

"Yes."

"It's an odd choice for a woman--and you are not unbeautiful, either."

"A woman's life is over at twenty-five," she replied, sighing. "And I am far older than that. Ten years ago it would have been I who lived yonder, and not Oceaxe. Then all this wouldn't have happened."

A quarter of an hour later they stood within the mouth of the cave. It was ten feet high, and its interior was impenetrably black.

"Put down the body in the entrance, out of the sun," directed Tydomin.

He did so.

She cast a keenly scrutinising glance at him. "Does your resolution still hold, Maskull?"

"Why shouldn't it hold? My brains are not feathers."

"Follow me, then."

They both stepped into the cave. At that very moment a sickening crash, like heavy thunder just over their heads, set Maskull's weakened heart thumping violently. An avalanche of boulders, stones, and dust, swept past the cave entrance from above. If their going in had been delayed by a single minute, they would have been killed.

Tydomin did not even look up. She took his hand in hers, and started walking with him into the darkness. The temperature became as cold as ice. At the first bend the light from the outer world disappeared, leaving them in absolute blackness. Maskull kept stumbling over the uneven ground, but she kept tight hold of him, and hurried him along.

The tunnel seemed of interminable length. Presently, however, the atmosphere changed--or such was his impression. He was somehow led to imagine that they had come to a larger chamber. Here Tydomin stopped, and then forced him down with quiet pressure. His groping hand encountered stone and, by feeling it all over, he discovered that it was a sort of stone slab, or couch, raised a foot or eighteen inches from the ground. She told him to lie down.

"Has the time come?" asked Maskull.

"Yes."

He lay there waiting in the darkness, ignorant of what was going to happen. He felt her hand clasping his. Without perceiving any gradation, he lost all consciousness of his body; he was no longer able to feel his limbs or internal organs. His mind remained active and alert. Nothing particular appeared to be taking place.

Then the chamber began to grow light, like very early morning. He could see nothing, but the retina of his eyes was affected. He fancied that he heard music, but while he was listening for it, it stopped. The light grew stronger, the air grew warmer; he heard the confused sound of distant voices.

Suddenly Tydomin gave his hand a powerful squeeze. He heard someone scream faintly, and then the light leaped up, and he saw everything clearly.

He was lying on a wooden couch, in a strangely decorated room, lighted by electricity. His hand was being squeezed, not by Tydomin, but by a man dressed in the garments of civilisation, with whose face he was certainly familiar, but under what circ.u.mstances he could not recall.

Other people stood in the background--they too were vaguely known to him. He sat up and began to smile, without any especial reason; and then stood upright.

Everybody seemed to be watching him with anxiety and emotion--he wondered why. Yet he felt that they were all acquaintances. Two in particular he knew--the man at the farther end of the room, who paced restlessly backward and forward, his face transfigured by stern, holy grandeur; and that other big, bearded man--who was himself. Yes--he was looking at his own double. But it was just as if a crime-riddled man of middle age were suddenly confronted with his own photograph as an earnest, idealistic youth.

His other self spoke to him. He heard the sounds, but did not comprehend the sense. Then the door was abruptly flung open, and a short, brutish-looking individual leaped in. He began to behave in an extraordinary manner to everyone around him; and after that came straight up to him--Maskull. He spoke some words, but they were incomprehensible. A terrible expression came over the newcomer's face, and he grasped his neck with a pair of hairy hands. Maskull felt his bones bending and breaking, excruciating pains pa.s.sed through all the nerves of his body, and he experienced a sense of impending death. He cried out, and sank helplessly on the floor, in a heap. The chamber and the company vanished--the light went out.

Once more he found himself in the blackness of the cave. He was this time lying on the ground, but Tydomin was still with him, holding his hand. He was in horrible bodily agony, but this was only a setting for the despairing anguish that filled his mind.

Tydomin addressed him in tones of gentle reproach. "Why are you back so soon? I've not had time yet. You must return."

He caught hold of her, and pulled himself up to his feet. She gave a low scream, as though in pain. "What does this mean--what are you doing, Maskull?"

"Krag--" began Maskull, but the effort to produce his words choked him, so that he was obliged to stop.

"Krag--what of Krag? Tell me quickly what has happened. Free my arm."

He gripped her arm tighter.

"Yes, I've seen Krag. I'm awake."

"Oh! You are awake, awake."

"And you must die," said Maskull, in an awful voice.

"But why? What has happened?..."

"You must die, and I must kill you. Because I am awake, and for no other reason. You blood-stained dancing mistress!"

Tydomin breathed hard for a little time. Then she seemed suddenly to regain her self-possession.

"You won't offer me violence, surely, in this black cave?"

"No, the sun shall look on, for it is not a murder. But rest a.s.sured that you must die--you must expiate your fearful crimes."

"You have already said so, and I see you have the power. You have escaped me. It is very curious. Well, then, Maskull, let us come outside. I am not afraid. But kill me courteously, for I have also been courteous to you. I make no other supplication."

Chapter 11. ON DISSCOURN

BY THE TIME that they regained the mouth of the cavern, Blodsombre was at its height. In front of them the scenery sloped downward--a long succession of mountain islands in a sea of clouds. Behind them the bright, stupendous crags of Disscourn loomed up for a thousand feet or more. Maskull's eyes were red, and his face looked stupid; he was still holding the woman by the arm. She made no attempt to speak, or to get away. She seemed perfectly gentle and composed.

After gazing at the country for along time in silence, he turned toward her. "Whereabouts is the fiery lake you spoke of?"

"It lies on the other side of the mountain. But why do you ask?"

"It is just as well if we have some way to walk. I shall grow calmer, and that's what I want. I wish you to understand that what is going to happen is not a murder, but an execution."

"It will taste the same," said Tydomin.