The Moon Pool A. Merritt (pdf ebook reader .txt) đ
- Author: A. Merritt
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Now we were racing down toward that last span whose ancientness had set it apart from all the other soaring arches. The shellâs speed slackened; we approached warily.
âWe pass there?â asked OâKeefe.
The green dwarf nodded, pointing to the right where the bridge ended in a broad platform held high upon two gigantic piers, between which ran a spur from the glistening road. Platform and bridge were swarming with men-at-arms; they crowded the parapets, looking down upon us curiously but with no evidence of hostility. Rador drew a deep breath of relief.
âWe donât have to break our way through, then?â There was disappointment in the Irishmanâs voice.
âNo use, Larree!â Smiling, Rador stopped the corial just beneath the arch and beside one of the piers. âNow, listen well. They have had no warning, hence does Yolara still think us on the way to the temple. This is the gateway of the Portalâ âand the gateway is closed by the Shadow. Once I commanded here and I know its laws. This must I doâ âby craft persuade Serku, the keeper of the gateway, to lift the Shadow; or raise it myself. And that will be hard and it may well be that in the struggle life will be stripped of us all. Yet is it better to die fighting than to dance with the Shining One!â
He swept the shell around the pier. Opened a wide plaza paved with the volcanic glass, but black as that down which we had sped from the chamber of the Moon Pool. It shone like a mirrored lakelet of jet; on each side of it arose what at first glance seemed towering bulwarks of the same ebon obsidian; at second, revealed themselves as structures hewn and set in place by men; polished faces pierced by dozens of high, narrow windows.
Down each façade a stairway fell, broken by small landings on which a door opened; they dropped to a broad ledge of greyish stone edging the lip of this midnight pool and upon it also fell two wide flights from either side of the bridge platform. Along all four stairways the guards were ranged; and here and there against the ledge stood the shellsâ âin a curiously comforting resemblance to parked motors in our own world.
The sombre walls bulked high; curved and ended in two obelisked pillars from which, like a tremendous curtain, stretched a barrier of that tenebrous gloom which, though weightless as shadow itself, I now knew to be as impenetrable as the veil between life and death. In this murk, unlike all others I had seen, I sensed movement, a quivering, a tremor constant and rhythmic; not to be seen, yet caught by some subtle sense; as though through it beat a swift pulse ofâ âblack light.
The green dwarf turned the corial slowly to the edge at the right; crept cautiously on toward where, not more than a hundred feet from the barrier, a low, wide entrance opened in the fort. Guarding its threshold stood two guards, armed with broadswords, double-handed, terminating in a wide lunette mouthed with murderous fangs. These they raised in salute and through the portal strode a dwarf huge as Rador, dressed as he and carrying only the poniard that was the badge of office of Muriaâs captainry.
The green dwarf swept the shell expertly against the ledge; leaped out.
âGreeting, Serku!â he answered. âI was but looking for the coria of Lakla.â
âLakla!â exclaimed Serku. âWhy, the handmaiden passed with her Akka nigh a va ago!â
âPassed!â The astonishment of the green dwarf was so real that half was I myself deceived. âYou let her pass?â
âCertainly I let her passâ ââ But under the green dwarfâs stern gaze the truculence of the guardian faded. âWhy should I not?â he asked, apprehensively.
âBecause Yolara commanded otherwise,â answered Rador, coldly.
âThere came no command to me.â Little beads of sweat stood out on Serkuâs forehead.
âSerku,â interrupted the green dwarf swiftly, âtruly is my heart wrung for you. This is a matter of Yolara and of Lugur and the Council; yes, even of the Shining One! And the message was sentâ âand the fate, mayhap, of all Muria rested upon your obedience and the return of Lakla with these strangers to the Council. Now truly is my heart wrung, for there are few I would less like to see dance with the Shining One than you, Serku,â he ended, softly.
Livid now was the gatewayâs guardian, his great frame shaking.
âCome with me and speak to Yolara,â he pleaded. âThere came no messageâ âtell herâ ââ
âWait, Serku!â There was a thrill as of inspiration in Radorâs voice. âThis corial is of the swiftestâ âLaklaâs are of the slowest. With Lakla scarce a va ahead we can reach her before she enters the Portal. Lift you the Shadowâ âwe will bring her back, and this will I do for you, Serku.â
Doubt tempered Serkuâs panic.
âWhy not go alone, Rador, leaving the strangers here with me?â he askedâ âand I thought not unreasonably.
âNay, then.â The green dwarf was brusque. âLakla will not return unless I carry to her these men as evidence of our good faith. Comeâ âwe will speak to Yolara and she shall judge youâ ââ He started awayâ âbut Serku caught his arm.
âNo, Rador, no!â he whispered, again panic-stricken. âGo youâ âas you will. But bring her back! Speed, Rador!â He sprang toward the entrance. âI lift the Shadowâ ââ
Into the green dwarfâs poise crept a curious, almost a listening, alertness. He leaped to Serkuâs side.
âI go with you,â I heard. âSome little I can tell youâ ââ They were gone.
âFine work!â muttered Larry. âNominated for a citizen of Ireland when we get out of this, one Rador ofâ ââ
The Shadow trembledâ âshuddered into nothingness; the obelisked outposts that had held it framed a ribbon of roadway, high banked with verdure, vanishing in green distances.
And then from the portal sped a shriek, a death cry! It cut through the silence of the ebon pit like a whimpering arrow. Before it had died, down the stairways
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