him why he will not fulfill the summoning.”
While Dandtan hesitated, Garin leaned across the table, flinging his words, weapon-like, straight into that cold face.
“I’ll admit that I love Thrala — have loved her since that moment when I saw her on the steps of the morgel pit in the Caves. Since when has it become a crime to love that which may not be yours — if you do not try to take it?”
Trar released Dandtan, his golden eyes gleaming.
“If you love her, claim her. It is your right.”
“Do I not know” — Garin turned to him — “that she is Dandtan’s? Thran had no idea of Dandtan’s survival when he laid his will upon her. Shall I stoop to holding her to an unwelcome bargain? Let her go to the one she loves. . . .”
Dandtan’s face was livid, and his hands, resting on thetable, trembled. One by one the Lords of the Folk slipped away, leaving the two face to face.
“And I thought to order you to your death.” Dandtan’s whisper was husky as it emerged between dry lips. “Garin, we thought you knew — and, knowing, had refused her.”
“Knew what?”
“That I am Thran’s son — and Thrala’s brother.”
The floor swung beneath Garin’s unsteady feet. Dandtan’s hands were warm on his shoulders.
“I am a fool,” said the American slowly.
Dandtan smiled. “A very honorable fool! Now you get to Thrala, who deserves to hear the full of this tangle.”
So it was, with Dandtan by his side, that Garin walked for the second time down that hallway, to pass the golden curtains and stand in the presence of the Daughter. She came straight from her cushions into his arms when she read what was in his face. They needed no words.
And in that hour began Garin’s life in Tav.
----
PART TWO
----
Chapter One
Lord of Yu-Lac
Often have I (who was Garin Featherstone in the world beyond the Mist Barrier, and am now Gar an of the Flame, mate to that Royal Lady, Thrala, Daughter of the Ancient Ones) listened to the half-forgotten tales of that regal race who fled from a dying planet across the void of space to land upon the antarctic continent of our young world and blast out there the great crater of Tav for their future dwelling place.
From time to time, we are told, they renewed the vigor of their line by calling certain men from the world outside the barriers they had erected. I had been one of those so called. But I came in a later age and in a dark time. For evil had come into the crater and conflict riven apart the dwellers therein. And now at present, since that crushing defeat we wreaked with the help of outraged nature upon Kepta, Lord of the Black Flame, and those who followed him, but two of the Ancient Race remain, my lady wife and her brother Dandtan.
At the moment of his overthrow Kepta had made certain dark promises concerning our uncertain future and also some gibing reference to the far past which had caught my interest. For he said that the three of us, Thrala, Kepta, and I, were bound together. We had lived and fought before, even as we would live and fight again.
There is a Garan who lies in the Cavern of the Sleepers and whose story Thrala has told me. But before him — long before — there were others.
For when I questioned the Daughter about Kepta’s words, she took me into one of the curious bubble-like rooms where are mirrors of seeing embedded in tables. Andthere she seated herself on a cushioned bench, drawing me down beside her.
“Far and long have we come, beloved,” she said softly, “but not so far or not so long that I cannot recall the beginning. And you remember?”
“Nothing,” I answered, my eyes on the mirror.
She sighed. “Perhaps that is but just — mine was the fault — so mine the burden of memory. What we did, we two, in the great city of Yu-Lac on the vanished world of Krand, has lain between us for long — long. It being gone at last, I half fear to summon it again.”
I arose abruptly.
“Let it be then.”
“Nay!” she
While Dandtan hesitated, Garin leaned across the table, flinging his words, weapon-like, straight into that cold face.
“I’ll admit that I love Thrala — have loved her since that moment when I saw her on the steps of the morgel pit in the Caves. Since when has it become a crime to love that which may not be yours — if you do not try to take it?”
Trar released Dandtan, his golden eyes gleaming.
“If you love her, claim her. It is your right.”
“Do I not know” — Garin turned to him — “that she is Dandtan’s? Thran had no idea of Dandtan’s survival when he laid his will upon her. Shall I stoop to holding her to an unwelcome bargain? Let her go to the one she loves. . . .”
Dandtan’s face was livid, and his hands, resting on thetable, trembled. One by one the Lords of the Folk slipped away, leaving the two face to face.
“And I thought to order you to your death.” Dandtan’s whisper was husky as it emerged between dry lips. “Garin, we thought you knew — and, knowing, had refused her.”
“Knew what?”
“That I am Thran’s son — and Thrala’s brother.”
The floor swung beneath Garin’s unsteady feet. Dandtan’s hands were warm on his shoulders.
“I am a fool,” said the American slowly.
Dandtan smiled. “A very honorable fool! Now you get to Thrala, who deserves to hear the full of this tangle.”
So it was, with Dandtan by his side, that Garin walked for the second time down that hallway, to pass the golden curtains and stand in the presence of the Daughter. She came straight from her cushions into his arms when she read what was in his face. They needed no words.
And in that hour began Garin’s life in Tav.
----
PART TWO
----
Chapter One
Lord of Yu-Lac
Often have I (who was Garin Featherstone in the world beyond the Mist Barrier, and am now Gar an of the Flame, mate to that Royal Lady, Thrala, Daughter of the Ancient Ones) listened to the half-forgotten tales of that regal race who fled from a dying planet across the void of space to land upon the antarctic continent of our young world and blast out there the great crater of Tav for their future dwelling place.
From time to time, we are told, they renewed the vigor of their line by calling certain men from the world outside the barriers they had erected. I had been one of those so called. But I came in a later age and in a dark time. For evil had come into the crater and conflict riven apart the dwellers therein. And now at present, since that crushing defeat we wreaked with the help of outraged nature upon Kepta, Lord of the Black Flame, and those who followed him, but two of the Ancient Race remain, my lady wife and her brother Dandtan.
At the moment of his overthrow Kepta had made certain dark promises concerning our uncertain future and also some gibing reference to the far past which had caught my interest. For he said that the three of us, Thrala, Kepta, and I, were bound together. We had lived and fought before, even as we would live and fight again.
There is a Garan who lies in the Cavern of the Sleepers and whose story Thrala has told me. But before him — long before — there were others.
For when I questioned the Daughter about Kepta’s words, she took me into one of the curious bubble-like rooms where are mirrors of seeing embedded in tables. Andthere she seated herself on a cushioned bench, drawing me down beside her.
“Far and long have we come, beloved,” she said softly, “but not so far or not so long that I cannot recall the beginning. And you remember?”
“Nothing,” I answered, my eyes on the mirror.
She sighed. “Perhaps that is but just — mine was the fault — so mine the burden of memory. What we did, we two, in the great city of Yu-Lac on the vanished world of Krand, has lain between us for long — long. It being gone at last, I half fear to summon it again.”
I arose abruptly.
“Let it be then.”
“Nay!” she
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