"Larry--Farewell!"
"MY HEART, Larry--" It was the handmaiden's murmur.
"My heart feels like a bird that is flying from a nest of sorrow."We were pacing down the length of the bridge, guards of the _Akka_ beside us, others following with those companies of _ladala_ that had rushed to aid us; in front of us the bandaged Rador swung gently within a litter; beside him, in another, lay Nak, the frog-king--much less of him than there had been before the battle began, but living.
Hours had passed since the terror I have just related.Myfirst task had been to search for Throckmartin and his wife among the fallen multitudes strewn thick as autumn leaves along the flying arch of stone, over the cavern ledge, and back, back as far as the eye could reach.
At last, Lakla and Larry helping, we found them.They lay close to the bridge-end, not parted--locked tight in each other's arms, pallid face to face, her hair streaming over his breast! As though when that unearthly life the Dweller had set within them passed away, their own had come back for one fleeting instant--and they had known each other, and clasped before kindly death had taken them.
"Love is stronger than all things." The handmaiden was weeping softly."Love never left them.Love was stronger than the Shining One.And when its evil fled, love went with them--wherever souls go."Of Stanton and Thora there was no trace; nor, after our discovery of those other two, did I care to look more.They were dead--and they were free.
We buried Throckmartin and Edith beside Olaf in Lakla's bower.But before the body of my old friend was placed within the grave I gave it a careful and sorrowful examina-tion.The skin was firm and smooth, but cold; not the cold of death, but with a chill that set my touching fingers tingling unpleasantly.The body was bloodless; the course of veins and arteries marked by faintly indented white furrows, as though their walls had long collapsed.Lips, mouth, even the tongue, was paper white.There was no sign of dissolution as we know it; no shadow or stain upon the marble surface.
Whatever the force that, streaming from the Dweller or im-pregnating its lair, had energized the dead-alive, it was bar-rier against putrescence of any kind; that at least was certain.
But it was not barrier against the poison of the Medusae, for, our sad task done, and looking down upon the waters, Isaw the pale forms of the Dweller's hordes dissolving, van-ishing into the shifting glories of the gigantic moons sailing down upon them from every quarter of the Sea of Crimson.
While the frog-men, those late levies from the farthest for-ests, were clearing bridge and ledge of cavern of the litter of the dead, we listened to a leader of the _ladala_.They had risen, even as the messenger had promised Rador.Fierce had been the struggle in the gardened city by the silver waters with those Lugur and Yolara bad left behind to garrison it.Deadly had been the slaughter of the fair-haired, reaping the har-vest of hatred they had been sowing so long.Not without a pang of regret did I think of the beautiful, gaily malicious elfin women destroyed--evil though they may have been.
The ancient city of Lara was a charnel.Of all the rulers not twoscore had escaped, and these into regions of peril which to describe as sanctuary would be mockery.Nor had the _ladala_ fared so well.Of all the men and women, for women as well as men had taken their part in the swift war, not more than a tenth remained alive.
And the dancing motes of light in the silver air were thick, thick--they whispered.
They told us of the Shining One rushing through the Veil, cometlike, its hosts streaming behind it, raging with it, in ranks that seemed interminable!
Of the massacre of the priests and priestesses in the Cyclo-pean temple; of the flashing forth of the summoning lights by unseen hands--followed by the tearing of the rainbow cur-tain, by colossal shatterings of the radiant cliffs; the vanish-ing behind their debris of all trace of entrance to the haunted place wherein the hordes of the Shining One had slaved--the sealing of the lair!
Then, when the tempest of hate had ended in seething Lara, how, thrilled with victory, armed with the weapons of those they had slain, they had lifted the Shadow, passed through the Portal, met and slaughtered the fleeing remnants of Yolara's men--only to find the tempest stilled here, too.
But of Marakinoff they had seen nothing! Had the Russian escaped, I wondered, or was he lying out there among the dead?
But now the _ladala_ were calling upon Lakla to come with them, to govern them.
"I don't want to, Larry darlin'," she told him."I want to go out with you to Ireland.But for a time--I think the Three would have us remain and set that place in order."The O'Keefe was bothered about something else than the government of Muria.
"If they've killed off all the priests, who's to marry us, heart of mine?" he worried."None of those Siya and Siyana rites, no matter what," he added hastily.
"Marry!" cried the handmaiden incredulously."Marry us?
Why, Larry dear, we ARE married!"
The O'Keefe's astonishment was complete; his jaw dropped; collapse seemed imminent.
"We are?" he gasped."When?" he stammered fatuously.
"Why, when the Mother drew us together before her;when she put her hands on our heads after we had made the promise! Didn't you understand that?" asked the hand-maiden wonderingly.
He looked at her, into the purity of the clear golden eyes, into the purity of the soul that gazed out of them; all his own great love transfiguring his keen face.
"An' is that enough for you, _mavourneen_?" he whispered humbly.
"Enough?" The handmaiden's puzzlement was complete, profound."Enough? Larry darlin', what MORE could we ask?"He drew a deep breath, clasped her close.
"Kiss the bride, Doc!" cried the O'Keefe.And for the third and, soul's sorrow! the last time, Lakla dimpling and blushing, I thrilled to the touch of her soft, sweet lips.
