Part 27 (1/2)
”'They are great but they are not many; let us make an end of them by numbers and take their place and power and drink of their Life-water, that they will not give to us If myriads of us perish by their arts, what does it matter, since we are countless?' So the World ain a picture formed The sky was full of aircraft which rained down fire like flashes of lightning upon cities beneath From these cities leapt up other fires that destroyed the swift-travelling things above, so that they fell in nunats burned by a lamp Still more and more of them came till the cities crumbled away and the flashes that darted from them ceased to rush upwards The Sons of Wisdoain the scene changed Now it showed this subterranean hall in which we stood There was pomp here, yet it was but a shadow of that which had been in the earlier days upon the face of the earth Courtiers moved about the palace and there were people in the radiant streets and the houses, for most of them were occupied, but rarely did the vision show children coates
Of a sudden this scene shi+fted No that same hall in which we had visited Oro not an hour before There he sat, yes, Oro hi marble shell Round him were some ancient councillors In the body of the hall on either side of the dais were h their only weapon was a black rod not unlike a ruler, if indeed it were a weapon and not a badge of office
Yva, whose face had suddenly grown strange and fixed, began to detail to us as passing in this scene, in a curiousso learned by heart This was the substance of what she said:
”The case of the Sons of Wisdom is desperate But few of them are left
Like other men they need food which is hard to come by, since the foe holds the upper earth and that which their doctors can h they drink the Life-water
They die and die There co of the confederated Nations to talk of terms of peace See, it enters”
As she spoke, up the hall advanced the e , whose aspect seemed in some way to be familiar to me He was richly clothed in a purple cloak and wore upon his head a golden circlet that suggested royal rank
Those who followed him were mostly old men who had the astute faces of diploenerals Yva continued in herof the confederated Nations, the Prince ill be king He bows before the Lord Oro He says 'Great and Ancient Monarch of the divine blood, Heaven-born One, your strait, and that of those who remain to you, is sore Yet on behalf of the Nations I am sent to offer terms of peace, but this I may only do in the presence of your child who is your heiress and the Queen-to-be of the Sons of Wisdom'”
Here, in the picture, Oro waved his hand and froloriously apparelled, wearing royal orna ladies She bowed to the Prince and his colance of recognition pass between her and the Prince
Now the real Yva by our side pointed to the shadow Yva of the vision or the picture, whichever itto see her do, and went on:
”The daughter of the Lord Oro coreat war has endured for hundreds of years between the Children of Wisdo for absolute rule and the co for liberty In that war ht to their death by fearful arts, by wizardries and by plagues sown a, for the glorious cities of the Sons of Wisdom were destroyed and those who remained of them were driven to dwell in the caves of the earth where with all their strength and ic they could not increase, but faded like flowers in the dark
”The Lord Oro asks what are the terms of peace proposed by the Nations
The Prince answers that they are these: That the Sons of Wisdo the Nations That they shall give theth of days also may be increased That they shall cease to destroy them by sickness and their mastery of the forces which are hid in the wos, then the Nations on their part will cease from ill rebuild the cities they have destroyed byshi+ps that rain down death, and will agree that the Lord Oro and his seed shall rule thes
”The Lord Oro asks if that be all The Prince answers that it is not all He says that when he dwelt a hostage at the court of the Sons of Wisdohter of the Lord Oro, and his only living child, learned to love each other He deiven to him to wife, that in a day to come he may rule with her and their children after the, dreahter if this be true She says,” here the real Yva at ht in the eyes, ”that it is true; that she loves the Prince of the Nations and that if she lives a million years she ed no other man, since she who is her father's slave in all else is still the ht of her royal , the Ancient, groroth He says that it is enough and h that the Barbarians should ask to eat of the bread of hidden learning and to drink of the Life-water of the Sons of Wisdoiven to the But that one of thehly placed, should dare to ask to mix his blood with that of the divine Lady, the Heiress, the Queen of the Earth to be, and claim to share her ie to age, was an insult that could only be purged by death Sooner would he give his daughter in e to an ape than to a child of the Barbarians who had worked on theolden fetters of their rule
”Look again!” continued Yva ”The Lord Oro, the divine, grows angrier still” (which in truth he did, for never did I see such dreadful rage as that which the picture revealed in him) ”He warns, he threatens
He says that hitherto out of gentle love and pity he has held his hand; that he has strength at his command which will slay them, not by millions in sloar, but by tens of millions at one blow; that will blot them and their peoples from the face of earth and that will cause the deep seas to roll where now their pleasant lands are fruitful in the sun They shrink before his fury; behold, their knees tremble because they know that he has this power He mocks them, does the Lord Oro
He asks for their submission here and now, and that in the nareat oath whichto cease fros to the ends of the earth Some of the as that are trapped But madness takes the Prince He cries that the oath of an ape is of no account, but that he will tear up the Children of Wisdom as an ape tears leaves, and afterwards take the divine Lady to be his wife
”Look on the Lord Oro!” continued the living Yva, ”his wrath leaves hihter throws herself upon her knees and pleads with hi to the side of the Prince; he commands his councillors to hold her She cries to the Prince that she loves him and him only, and that in a day to co that as it is with her, so it is with hi She swoons The Lord Oro uard They lift their death-rods Fire leaps from them The Prince and his companions, all save those ere afraid and would have sworn the oath, twist and writhe They turn black; they die The Lord Oro co shi+ps and bear to the Nations of the Earth tidings of what befalls those who dare to defy and insult him; to warn them also to eat and drink and be merry while they may, since for their wickedness they are about to perish”
The scene faded and there followed another which really I cannot describe It represented soelike an alp, rocking and spinning down a declivity, which farther on separated into two branches because of a huge razor-edge precipice that rose between There in thetowards hih to keep off heat, and with hi in the rock behind her Then there was a blinding flash and everything vanished All of this picture passed so swiftly that we could not grasp its details; only a general ith that is in the world whereof he alone has the secret, changes the world's balance causing that which was land to become sea and that which was sea to beco, unnatural voice
Another scene of stupendous and changing awfulness Countries were sinking, cities crashi+ng down, volcanoes were spouting fire; the end of the earth see to and fro in thousands like ants Then in huge waves hundreds and hundreds of feet high, the ocean flowed in and all was troubled, yeasty sea
”Oro carries out his threat to destroy the Nations who had rebelled against him,” said Yva ”Much of the world sinks beneath the waves, but in place of it other lands arise above the waves, to be inhabited by the seed of those who ree spared”