Beyond the lighted chamber of the lake was darkness—what lay behind the darkness I could not even guess.

“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not even beauty. You know, you saw her.”

There were no words, for they would have been a waste of breath. The very presence of the two proclaimed their treachery.

“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and make what study you can of all its reactions.” With that he left the room.

The men stopped their game and looked up at me, but there was no sign of suspicion. Similarly they looked at Woola, growling at my heel.

Far ahead, a tiny speck in the distance, I made out another flier late in the afternoon.

He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome lips. “Very well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do you start?”

“You are a mighty warrior, Dotar Sojat,” he replied, “and when this day is done I shall speak with you again in the great audience chamber.”

“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and I will walk and work with you. You should not go about thus at night alone.”

Up the broad center aisle we marched beneath deadly silence, and at the foot of the thrones we halted.