Chapter 10. TYDOMIN
Oceaxe sat down carelessly on the couch of mosses, and began eating theplums.
“You see, you had to kill him, Maskull,” she said, in a rather quizzicalvoice.
He came away from the corpse and regarded her—still red, and stillbreathing hard. “It’s no joking matter. You especially ought to keepquiet.”
“Why?”
“Because he was your husband.”
“You think I ought to show grief—when I feel none?”
“Don’t pretend, woman!”
Oceaxe smiled. “From your manner one would think you were accusing me ofsome crime.”
Maskull literally snorted at her words. “What, you live with filth—youlive in the arms of a morbid monstrosity and then—”
“Oh, now I grasp it,” she said, in a tone of perfect detachment.
“I’m glad.”
“Well, Maskull,” she proceeded, after a pause, “and who gave you theright to rule my conduct? Am I not mistress of my own person?”
He looked at her with disgust, but said nothing. There was another longinterval of silence.
“I never loved him,” said Oceaxe at last, looking at the ground.
“That makes it all the worse.”
“What does all this mean—what do you want?”
“Nothing from you—absolutely nothing—thank heaven!”
She gave a hard laugh. “You come here with your foreign preconceptionsand expect us all to bow down to them.”
“What preconceptions?”
“Just because Crimtyphon’s sports are strange to you, you murder him—andyou would like to murder me.”
“Sports! That diabolical cruelty.”
“Oh, you’re sentimental!” said Oceaxe contemptuously. “Why do you needto make such a fuss over that man? Life is life, all the world over, andone form is as good as another. He was only to be made a tree, like amillion other trees. If they can endure the life, why can’t he?”
“And this is Ifdawn morality!”
Oceaxe began to grow angry. “It’s you who have peculiar ideas. You raveabout the beauty of flowers and trees—you think them divine. But whenit’s a question of taking on this divine, fresh, pure, enchantingloveliness yourself, in your own person, it immediately becomes a crueland wicked degradation. Here we have a strange riddle, in my opinion.”
“Oceaxe, you’re a beautiful, heartless wild beast—nothing more. If youweren’t a woman—”
“Well”—curling her lip—“let us hear what would happen if I weren’t awoman?”
Maskull bit his nails.
“It doesn’t matter. I can’t touch you—though there’s certainly not thedifference of a hair between you and your boy-husband. For this you maythank my ‘foreign preconceptions.’... Farewell!”
He turned to go. Oceaxe’s eyes slanted at him through their long lashes.
“Where are you off to, Maskull?”
“That’s a matter of no importance, for wherever I go it must be a changefor the better. You walking whirlpools of crime!”
“Wait a minute. I only want to say this. Blodsombre is just starting,and you had better stay here till the afternoon. We can quickly put thatbody out of sight, and, as you seem to detest me so much, the place isbig enough—we needn’t talk, or even see each other.”
“I don’t wish to breathe the same air.”
“Singular man!” She was sitting erect and motionless, like a beautifulstatue. “And what of your wonderful interview with Surtur, and all theundone things which you set out to do?”
“You aren’t the one I shall speak to about that. But”—he eyed hermeditatively—“while I’m still here you can tell me this. What’s themeaning of the expression on that corpse’s face?”
“Is that another crime, Maskull? All dead people look like that. Oughtthey not to?”
“I once heard it called ‘Crystalman’s face.’”
“Why not? We are all daughters and sons of Crystalman. It is doubtlessthe family resemblance.”
“It has also been told me that Surtur and Crystalman are one and thesame.”
“You have wise and truthful acquaintances.”
“Then how could it have been Surtur whom I saw?” said Maskull, more tohimself than to her. “That apparition was something quite different.”
She dropped her mocking manner and, sliding imperceptibly toward him,gently pulled his arm.
“You see—we have to talk. Sit down beside me, and ask me your questions.I’m not excessively smart, but I’ll try to be of assistance.”
Maskull permitted himself to be dragged down with soft violence. Shebent toward him, as if confidentially, and contrived that her sweet,cool, feminine breath should fan his cheek.
“Aren’t you here to alter the evil to the good, Maskull? Then what doesit matter who sent you?”
“What can you possibly know of good and evil?”
“Are you only instructing the initiated?”
“Who am I, to instruct anybody? However, you’re quite right. I wish todo what I can—not because I am qualified, but because I am here.”
Oceaxe’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re a giant, both in body andsoul. What you want to do, you can do.”
“Is that your honest opinion, or are you flattering me for your ownends?”
She sighed. “Don’t you see how difficult you are making theconversation? Let’s talk about your work, not about ourselves.”
Maskull suddenly noticed a strange blue light glowing in the northernsky. It was from Alppain, but Alppain itself was behind the hills. Whilehe was observing it, a peculiar wave of self-denial, of a disquietingnature, passed through him. He looked at Oceaxe, and it struck him forthe first time that he was being unnecessarily brutal to her. He hadforgotten that she was a woman, and defenceless.
“Won’t you stay?” she asked all of a sudden, quite openly and frankly.
“Yes, I think I’ll stay,” he replied slowly. “And another thing,Oceaxe—if I’ve misjudged your character, pray forgive me. I’m a hasty,passionate man.”
“There are enough easygoing men. Hard knocks are a good medicine forvicious hearts. And you didn’t misjudge my character, as far as youwent—only, every woman has more than one character. Don’t you knowthat?”
During the pause that followed, a snapping of twigs was heard, and bothlooked around, startled. They saw a woman stepping slowly across theneck that separated them from the mainland.
“Tydomin,” muttered Oceaxe, in a vexed, frightened voice. Sheimmediately moved away from Maskull and stood up.
The newcomer was of middle height, very slight and graceful. She was nolonger quite young. Her face wore the composure of a woman who knows herway about the world. It was intensely pale, and under its quiescencethere just was a glimpse of something strange and dangerous. It wascuriously alluring, though not exactly beautiful. Her hair wasclustering and boyish, reaching only to the neck. It was of a strangeindigo colour. She was quaintly attired in a tunic and breeches, piecedtogether from the square, blue-green plates of some reptile. Her small,ivory-white breasts were exposed. Her sorb was black and sad—rathercontemplative.
Without once glancing up at Oceaxe and Maskull, she quietly glidedstraight toward Crimtyphon’s corpse. When she arrived within a few feetof it, she stopped and looked down, with arms folded.
Oceaxe drew Maskull a little away, and whispered, “It’s Crimtyphon’sother wife, who lives under Disscourn. She’s a most dangerous woman. Becareful what you say. If she asks you to do anything, refuse itoutright.”
“The poor soul looks harmless enough.”
“Yes, she does—but the poor soul is quite capable of swallowing up Kraghimself.... Now, play the man.”
The murmur of their voices seemed to attract Tydomin’s notice, for shenow slowly turned her eyes toward them.
“Who killed him?” she demanded.
Her voice was so soft, low, and refined, that Maskull hardly was able tocatch th
e words. The sounds, however, lingered in his ears, andcuriously enough seemed to grow stronger, instead of fainter.
Oceaxe whispered, “Don’t say a word, leave it all to me.” Then she swungher body around to face Tydomin squarely, and said aloud, “I killedhim.”
Tydomin’s words by this time were ringing in Maskull’s head like anactual physical sound. There was no question of being able to ignorethem; he had to make an open confession of his act, whatever theconsequences might be. Quietly taking Oceaxe by the shoulder and puttingher behind him, he said in a low, but perfectly distinct voice, “It wasI that killed Crimtyphon.”
Oceaxe looked both haughty and frightened. “Maskull says that so as toshield me, as he thinks. I require no shield, Maskull. I killed him,Tydomin.”
“I believe you, Oceaxe. You did murder him. Not with your own strength,for you brought this man along for the purpose.”
Maskull took a couple of steps toward Tydomin. “It’s of littleconsequence who killed him, for he’s better dead than alive, in myopinion. Still, I did it. Oceaxe had no hand in the affair.”
Tydomin appeared not to hear him—she looked beyond him at Oceaxemusingly. “When you murdered him, didn’t it occur to you that I wouldcome here, to find out?”
“I never once thought of you,” replied Oceaxe, with an angry laugh. “Doyou really imagine that I carry your image with me wherever I go?”
“If someone were to murder your lover here, what would you do?”
“Lying hypocrite!” Oceaxe spat out. “You never were in love withCrimtyphon. You always hated me, and now you think it an excellentopportunity to make it good... now that Crimtyphon’s gone.... For weboth know he would have made a footstool of you, if I had asked him. Heworshiped me, but he laughed at you. He thought you ugly.”
Tydomin flashed a quick, gentle smile at Maskull. “Is it necessary foryou to listen to all this?”
Without question, and feeling it the right thing to do, he walked awayout of earshot.
Tydomin approached Oceaxe. “Perhaps because my beauty fades and I’m nolonger young, I needed him all the more.”
Oceaxe gave a kind of snarl. “Well, he’s dead, and that’s the end of it.What are you going to do now, Tydomin?”
The other woman smiled faintly and rather pathetically. “There’s nothingleft to do, except mourn the dead. You won’t grudge me that lastoffice?”
“Do you want to stay here?” demanded Oceaxe suspiciously.
“Yes, Oceaxe dear, I wish to be alone.”
“Then what is to become of us?”
“I thought that you and your lover—what is his name?”
“Maskull.”
“I thought that perhaps you two would go to Disscourn, and spendBlodsombre at my home.”
Oceaxe called out aloud to Maskull, “Will you come with me now toDisscourn?”
“If you wish,” returned Maskull.
“Go first, Oceaxe. I must question your friend about Crimtyphon’s death.I won’t keep him.”
“Why don’t you question me, rather?” demanded Oceaxe, looking upsharply.
Tydomin gave the shadow of a smile. “We know each other too well.”
“Play no tricks!” said Oceaxe, and she turned to go.
“Surely you must be dreaming,” said Tydomin. “That’s the way—unless youwant to walk over the cliffside.”
The path Oceaxe had chosen led across the isthmus. The direction whichTydomin proposed for her was over the edge of the precipice, into emptyspace.
“Shaping! I must be mad,” cried Oceaxe, with a laugh. And she obedientlyfollowed the other’s finger.
She walked straight on toward the edge of the abyss, twenty paces away.Maskull pulled his beard around, and wondered what she was doing.Tydomin remained standing with outstretched finger, watching her.Without hesitation, without slackening her step once, Oceaxe strolledon—and when she had reached the extreme end of the land she still tookone more step.
Maskull saw her limbs wrench as she stumbled over the edge. Her bodydisappeared, and as it did so an awful shriek sounded.
Disillusionment had come to her an instant too late. He tore himself outof his stupor, rushed to the edge of the cliff, threw himself on theground recklessly, and looked over.... Oceaxe had vanished.
He continued staring wildly down for several minutes, and then began tosob. Tydomin came up to him, and he got to his feet.
The blood kept rushing to his face and leaving it again. It was sometime before he could speak at all. Then he brought out the words withdifficulty. “You shall pay for this, Tydomin. But first I want to hearwhy you did it.”
“Hadn’t I cause?” she asked, standing with downcast eyes.
“Was it pure fiendishness?”
“It was for Crimtyphon’s sake.”
“She had nothing to do with that death. I told you so.”
“You are loyal to her, and I’m loyal to him.”
“Loyal? You’ve made a terrible blunder. She wasn’t my mistress. I killedCrimtyphon for quite another reason. She had absolutely no part in it.”
“Wasn’t she your lover?” asked Tydomin slowly.
“You’ve made a terrible mistake,” repeated Maskull. “I killed himbecause he was a wild beast. She was as innocent of his death as youare.”
Tydomin’s face took on a hard look. “So you are guilty of two deaths.”
There was a dreadful silence.
“Why couldn’t you believe me?” asked Maskull, who was pale and sweatingpainfully.
“Who gave you the right to kill him?” demanded Tydomin sternly.
He said nothing, and perhaps did not hear her question.
She sighed two or three times and began to stir restlessly. “Since youmurdered him, you must help me bury him.”
“What’s to be done? This is a most fearful crime.”
“You are a most fearful man. Why did you come here, to do all this? Whatare we to you?”
“Unfortunately you are right.”
Another pause ensued.
“It’s no use standing here,” said Tydomin. “Nothing can be done. Youmust come with me.”
“Come with you? Where to?”
“To Disscourn. There’s a burning lake on the far side of it. He alwayswished to be cast there after death. We can do that after Blodsombre—inthe meantime we must take him home.”
“You’re a callous, heartless woman. Why should he be buried when thatpoor girl must remain unburied?”
“You know that’s out of the question,” replied Tydomin quietly.
Maskull’s eyes roamed about agitatedly, apparently seeing nothing.
“We must do something,” she continued. “I shall go. You can’t wish tostay here alone?”
“No, I couldn’t stay here—and why should I want to? You want me to carrythe corpse?”
“He can’t carry himself, and you murdered him. Perhaps it will ease yourmind to carry it.”
“Ease my mind?” said Maskull, rather stupidly.
“There’s only one relief for remorse, and that’s voluntary pain.”
“And have you no remorse?” he asked, fixing her with a heavy eye.
“These crimes are yours, Maskull,” she said in a low but incisive voice.
They walked over to Crimtyphon’s body, and Maskull hoisted it on to hisshoulders. It weighed heavier than he had thought. Tydomin did not offerto assist him to adjust the ghastly burden.
She crossed the isthmus, followed by Maskull. Their path lay throughsunshine and shadow. Branchspell was blazing in a cloudless sky, theheat was insufferable—streams of sweat coursed down his face, and thecorpse seemed to grow heavier and heavier. Tydomin always walked infront of him. His eyes were fastened in an unseeing stare on her white,womanish calves; he looked neither to right nor left. His features grewsullen. At the end of ten minutes he suddenly allowed his burden to slipoff his shoulders on to the ground, where it lay sprawled every whichway. He called out to Tydomin.
She quickly l
ooked around.
“Come here. It has just occurred to me”—he laughed—“why should I becarrying this corpse—and why should I be following you at all? Whatsurprises me is, why this has never struck me before.”
She at once came back to him. “I suppose you’re tired, Maskull. Let ussit down. Perhaps you have come a long way this morning?”
“Oh, it’s not tiredness, but a sudden gleam of sense. Do you know of anyreason why I should be acting as your porter?” He laughed again, butnevertheless sat down on the ground beside her.
Tydomin neither looked at him nor answered. Her head was half bent, soas to face the northern sky, where the Alppain light was still glowing.Maskull followed her gaze, and also watched the glow for a moment or twoin silence.
“Why don’t you speak?” he asked at last.
“What does that light suggest to you, Maskull?”
“I’m not speaking of that light.”
“Doesn’t it suggest anything at all?”
“Perhaps it doesn’t. What does it matter?”
“Not sacrifice?”
Maskull grew sullen again. “Sacrifice of what? What do you mean?”
“Hasn’t it entered your head yet,” said Tydomin, looking straight infront of her, and speaking in her delicate, hard manner, “that thisadventure of yours will scarcely come to an end until you have made somesort of sacrifice?”
He returned no answer, and she said nothing more. In a few minutes’ timeMaskull got up of his own accord, and irreverently, and almost angrily,threw Crimtyphon’s corpse over his shoulder again.
“How far do we have to go?” he asked in a surly tone.
“An hour’s walk.”
“Lead on.”
“Still, this isn’t the sacrifice I mean,” said Tydomin quietly, as shewent on in front.
Almost immediately they reached more difficult ground. They had to passfrom peak to peak, as from island to island. In some cases they wereable to stride or jump across, but in others they had to make use ofrude bridges of fallen timber. It appeared to be a frequented path.Underneath were the black, impenetrable abysses—on the surface were theglaring sunshine, the gay, painted rocks, the chaotic tangle of strangeplants. There were countless reptiles and insects. The latter werethicker built than those of Earth—consequently still more disgusting,and some of them were of enormous size. One monstrous insect, as largeas a horse, stood right in the centre of their path without budging. Itwas armour-plated, had jaws like scimitars, and underneath its body wasa forest of legs. Tydomin gave one malignant look at it, and sent itcrashing into the gulf.
“What have I to offer, except my life?” Maskull suddenly broke out. “Andwhat good is that? It won’t bring that poor girl back into the world.”
“Sacrifice is not for utility. It’s a penalty which we pay.”
“I know that.”
“The point is whether you can go on enjoying life, after what hashappened.”
She waited for Maskull to come even with her.
“Perhaps you imagine I’m not man enough—you imagine that because Iallowed poor Oceaxe to die for me—”
“She did die for you,” said Tydomin, in a quiet, emphatic voice.
“That would be a second blunder of yours,” returned Maskull, just asfirmly. “I was not in love with Oceaxe, and I’m not in love with life.”
“Your life is not required.”
“Then I don’t understand what you want, or what you are speaking about.”
“It’s not for me to ask a sacrifice from you, Maskull. That would becompliance on your part, but not sacrifice. You must wait until you feelthere’s nothing else for you to do.”
“It’s all very mysterious.”
The conversation was abruptly cut short by a prolonged and frightfulcrashing, roaring sound, coming from a short distance ahead. It wasaccompanied by a violent oscillation of the ground on which they stood.They looked up, startled, just in time to witness the finaldisappearance of a huge mass of forest land, not two hundred yards infront of them. Several acres of trees, plants, rocks, and soil, with allits teeming animal life, vanished before their eyes, like a magic story.The new chasm was cut, as if by a knife. Beyond its farther edge theAlppain glow burned blue just over the horizon.
“Now we shall have to make a detour,” said Tydomin, halting.
Maskull caught hold of her with his third hand. “Listen to me, while Itry to describe what I’m feeling. When I saw that landslip, everything Ihave heard about the last destruction of the world came into my mind. Itseemed to me as if I were actually witnessing it, and that the worldwere really falling to pieces. Then, where the land was, we now havethis empty, awful gulf—that’s to say, nothing—and it seems to me as ifour life will come to the same condition, where there was somethingthere will be nothing. But that terrible blue glare on the opposite sideis exactly like the eye of fate. It accuses us, and demands what we havemade of our life, which is no more. At the same time, it is grand andjoyful. The joy consists in this—that it is in our power to give freelywhat will later on be taken from us by force.”
Tydomin watched him attentively. “Then your feeling is that your life isworthless, and you make a present of it to the first one who asks?”
“No, it goes beyond that. I feel that the only thing worth living for isto be so magnanimous that fate itself will be astonished at us.Understand me. It isn’t cynicism, or bitterness, or despair, butheroism.... It’s hard to explain.”
“Now you shall hear what sacrifice I offer you, Maskull. It’s a heavyone, but that’s what you seem to wish.”
“That is so. In my present mood it can’t be too heavy.”
“Then, if you are in earnest, resign your body to me. Now thatCrimtyphon’s dead, I’m tired of being a woman.”
“I fail to comprehend.”
“Listen, then. I wish to start a new existence in your body. I wish tobe a male. I see it isn’t worth while being a woman. I mean to dedicatemy own body to Crimtyphon. I shall tie his body and mine together, andgive them a common funeral in the burning lake. That’s the sacrifice Ioffer you. As I said, it’s a hard one.”
“So you do ask me to die. Though how you can make use of my body isdifficult to understand.”
“No, I don’t ask you to die. You will go on living.”
“How is it possible without a body?”
Tydomin gazed at him earnestly. “There are many such beings, even inyour world. There you call them spirits, apparitions, phantoms. They arein reality living wills, deprived of material bodies, always longing toact and enjoy, but quite unable to do so. Are you noble-minded enough toaccept such a state, do you think?”
“If it’s possible, I accept it,” replied Maskull quietly. “Not in spiteof its heaviness, but because of it. But how is it possible?”
“Undoubtedly there are very many things possible in our world of whichyou have no conception. Now let us wait till we get home. I don’t holdyou to your word, for unless it’s a free sacrifice I will have nothingto do with it.”
“I am not a man who speaks lightly. If you can perform this miracle, youhave my consent, once for all.”
“Then we’ll leave it like that for the present,” said Tydomin sadly.
They proceeded on their way. Owing to the subsidence, Tydomin seemedrather doubtful at first as to the right road, but by making a longdivergence they eventually got around to the other side of the newlyformed chasm. A little later on, in a narrow copse crowning a miniature,insulated peak, they fell in with a man. He was resting himself againsta tree, and looked tired, overheated, and despondent. He was young. Hisbeardless expression bore an expression of unusual sincerity, and inother respects he seemed a hardy, hardworking youth, of an intellectualtype. His hair was thick, short, and flaxen. He possessed neither a sorbnor a third arm—so presumably he was not a native of Ifdawn. Hisforehead, however, was disfigured by what looked like a haphazardassortment of eyes, eight in number, of different sizes and shapes. Theywent in pairs, and w
henever two were in use, it was indicated by apeculiar shining—the rest remained dull, until their turn came. Inaddition to the upper eyes he had the two lower ones, but they werevacant and lifeless. This extraordinary battery of eyes, alternativelyalive and dead, gave the young man an appearance of almost alarmingmental activity. He was wearing nothing but a sort of skin kilt. Maskullseemed somehow to recognise the face, though he had certainly never seteyes on it before.
Tydomin suggested to him to set down the corpse, and both sat down torest in the shade.
“Question him, Maskull,” she said, rather carelessly, jerking her headtoward the stranger.
Maskull sighed and asked aloud, from his seat on the ground, “What’syour name, and where do you come from?”
The man studied him for a few moments, first with one pair of eyes, thenwith another, then with a third. He next turned his attention toTydomin, who occupied him a still longer time. He replied at last, in adry, manly, nervous voice. “I am Digrung. I have arrived here fromMatterplay.” His colour kept changing, and Maskull suddenly realised ofwhom he reminded him. It was of Joiwind.
“Perhaps you’re going to Poolingdred, Digrung?” he inquired, interested.
“As a matter of fact I am—if I can find my way out of this accursedcountry.”
“Possibly you are acquainted with Joiwind there?”
“She’s my sister. I’m on my way to see her now. Why, do you know her?”
“I met her yesterday.”
“What is your name, then?”
“Maskull.”
“I shall tell her I met you. This will be our first meeting for fouryears. Is she well, and happy?”
“Both, as far as I could judge. You know Panawe?”
“Her husband—yes. But where do you come from? I’ve seen nothing like youbefore.”
“From another world. Where is Matterplay?”
“It’s the first country one comes to beyond the Sinking Sea.”
“What is it like there—how do you amuse yourselves? The same old murdersand sudden deaths?”
“Are you ill?” asked Digrung. “Who is this woman, why are you followingat her heels like a slave? She looks insane to me. What’s thatcorpse—why are you dragging it around the country with you?”
Tydomin smiled. “I’ve already heard it said about Matterplay, that ifone sows an answer there, a rich crop of questions immediately springsup. But why do you make this unprovoked attack on me, Digrung?”
“I don’t attack you, woman, but I know you. I see into you, and I seeinsanity. That wouldn’t matter, but I don’t like to see a man ofintelligence like Maskull caught in your filthy meshes.”
“I suppose even you clever Matterplay people sometimes misjudgecharacter. However, I don’t mind. Your opinion’s nothing to me, Digrung.You’d better answer his questions, Maskull. Not for his own sake—butyour feminine friend is sure to be curious about your having been seencarrying a dead man.”
Maskull’s underlip shot out. “Tell your sister nothing, Digrung. Don’tmention my name at all. I don’t want her to know about this meeting ofours.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t wish it—isn’t that enough?”
Digrung looked impassive.
“Thoughts and words,” he said, “which don’t correspond with the realevents of the world are considered most shameful in Matterplay.”
“I’m not asking you to lie, only to keep silent.”
“To hide the truth is a special branch of lying. I can’t accede to yourwish. I must tell Joiwind everything, as far as I know it.”
Maskull got up, and Tydomin followed his example.
She touched Digrung on the arm and gave him a strange look. “The deadman is my husband, and Maskull murdered him. Now you’ll understand whyhe wishes you to hold your tongue.”
“I guessed there was some foul play,” said Digrung. “It doesn’t matter—Ican’t falsify facts. Joiwind must know.”
“You refuse to consider her feelings?” said Maskull, turning pale.
“Feelings which flourish on illusions, and sicken and die on realities,aren’t worth considering. But Joiwind’s are not of that kind.”
“If you decline to do what I ask, at least return home without seeingher; your sister will get very little pleasure out of the meeting whenshe hears your news.”
“What are these strange relations between you?” demanded Digrung, eyinghim with suddenly aroused suspicion.
Maskull stared back in a sort of bewilderment. “Good God! You don’tdoubt your own sister. That pure angel!”
Tydomin caught hold of him delicately. “I don’t know Joiwind, but,whoever she is and whatever she’s like, I know this—she’s more fortunatein her friend than in her brother. Now, if you really value herhappiness, Maskull, you will have to take some firm step or other.”
“I mean to. Digrung, I shall stop your journey.”
“If you intend a second murder, no doubt you are big enough.”
Maskull turned around to Tydomin and laughed. “I seem to be leaving awake of corpses behind me on this journey.”
“Why a corpse? There’s no need to kill him.”
“Thanks for that!” said Digrung dryly. “All the same, some crime isabout to burst. I feel it.”
“What must I do, then?” asked Maskull.
“It is not my business, and to tell the truth I am not veryinterested.... If I were in your place, Maskull, I would not hesitatelong. Don’t you understand how to absorb these creatures, who set theirfeeble, obstinate wills against yours?”
“That is a worse crime,” said Maskull.
“Who knows? He will live, but he will tell no tales.”
Digrung laughed, but changed colour. “I was right then. The monster hassprung into the light of day.”
Maskull laid a hand on his shoulder. “You have the choice, and we arenot joking. Do as I ask.”
“You have fallen low, Maskull. But you are walking in a dream, and Ican’t talk to you. As for you, woman—sin must be like a pleasant bath toyou....”
“There are strange ties between Maskull and myself; but you are apasser-by, a foreigner. I care nothing for you.”
“Nevertheless, I shall not be frightened out of my plans, which arelegitimate and right.”
“Do as you please,” said Tydomin. “If you come to grief, your thoughtswill hardly have corresponded with the real events of the world, whichis what you boast about. It is no affair of mine.”
“I shall go on, and not back!” exclaimed Digrung, with angry emphasis.
Tydomin threw a swift, evil smile at Maskull. “Bear witness that I havetried to persuade this young man. Now you must come to a quick decisionin your own mind as to which is of the greatest importance, Digrung’shappiness or Joiwind’s. Digrung won’t allow you to preserve them both.”
“It won’t take me long to decide, Digrung, I gave you a last chance tochange your mind.”
“As long as it’s in my power I shall go on, and warn my sister againsther criminal friends.”
Maskull again clutched at him, but this time with violence. Instructedin his actions by some new and horrible instinct, he pressed the youngman tightly to his body with all three arms. A feeling of wild, sweetdelight immediately passed through him. Then for the first time hecomprehended the triumphant joys of “absorbing.” It satisfied the hungerof the will, exactly as food satisfies the hunger of the body. Digrungproved feeble—he made little opposition. His personality passed slowlyand evenly into Maskull’s. The latter became strong and gorged. Thevictim gradually became paler and limper, until Maskull held a corpse inhis arms. He dropped the body, and stood trembling. He had committed hissecond crime. He felt no immediate difference in his soul, but...
Tydomin shed a sad smile on him, like winter sunshine. He half expectedher to speak, but she said nothing. Instead, she made a sign to him topick up Crimtyphon’s corpse. As he obeyed, he wondered why Digrung’sdead face did not wear the frightful Crystalman mask.
“Why hasn’t he altered?” he muttered to himself.
Tydomin heard him. She kicked Digrung lightly with her little foot. “Heisn’t dead—that’s why. The expression you mean is waiting for yourdeath.”
“Then is that my real character?”
She laughed softly. “You came here to carve a strange world, and now itappears you are carved yourself. Oh, there’s no doubt about it, Maskull.You needn’t stand there gaping. You belong to Shaping, like the rest ofus. You are not a king, or a god.”
“Since when have I belonged to him?”
“What does that matter? Perhaps since you first breathed the air ofTormance, or perhaps since five minutes ago.”
Without waiting for his response, she set off through the copse, andstrode on to the next island. Maskull followed, physically distressedand looking very grave.
The journey continued for half an hour longer, without incident. Thecharacter of the scenery slowly changed. The mountaintops became loftierand more widely separated from one another. The gaps were filled withrolling, white clouds, which bathed the shores of the peaks like amysterious sea. To pass from island to island was hard work, theintervening spaces were so wide—Tydomin, however, knew the way. Theintense light, the violet-blue sky, the patches of vivid landscape,emerging from the white vapour-ocean, made a profound impression onMaskull’s mind. The glow of Alppain was hidden by the huge mass ofDisscourn, which loomed up straight in front of them.
The green snow on the top of the gigantic pyramid had by now completelymelted away. The black, gold, and crimson of its mighty cliffs stood outwith terrific brilliance. They were directly beneath the bulk of themountain, which was not a mile away. It did not appear dangerous toclimb, but he was unaware on which side of it their destination lay.
It was split from top to bottom by numerous straight fissures. A fewpale-green waterfalls descended here and there, like narrow, motionlessthreads. The face of the mountain was rugged and bare. It was strewnwith detached boulders, and great, jagged rocks projected everywherelike iron teeth. Tydomin pointed to a small black hole near the base,which might be a cave. “That is where I live.”
“You live here alone?”
“Yes.”
“It’s an odd choice for a woman—and you are not unbeautiful, either.”
“A woman’s life is over at twenty-five,” she replied, sighing. “And I amfar older than that. Ten years ago it would have been I who livedyonder, and not Oceaxe. Then all this wouldn’t have happened.”
*****
A quarter of an hour later they stood within the mouth of the cave. Itwas ten feet high, and its interior was impenetrably black.
“Put down the body in the entrance, out of the sun,” directed Tydomin.He did so.
She cast a keenly scrutinising glance at him. “Does your resolutionstill hold, Maskull?”
“Why shouldn’t it hold? My brains are not feathers.”
“Follow me, then.”
They both stepped into the cave. At that very moment a sickening crash,like heavy thunder just over their heads, set Maskull’s weakened heartthumping violently. An avalanche of boulders, stones, and dust, sweptpast the cave entrance from above. If their going in had been delayed bya single minute, they would have been killed.
Tydomin did not even look up. She took his hand in hers, and startedwalking with him into the darkness. The temperature became as cold asice. At the first bend the light from the outer world disappeared,leaving them in absolute blackness. Maskull kept stumbling over theuneven ground, but she kept tight hold of him, and hurried him along.
The tunnel seemed of interminable length. Presently, however, theatmosphere changed—or such was his impression. He was somehow led toimagine that they had come to a larger chamber. Here Tydomin stopped,and then forced him down with quiet pressure. His groping handencountered stone and, by feeling it all over, he discovered that it wasa sort of stone slab, or couch, raised a foot or eighteen inches fromthe ground. She told him to lie down.
“Has the time come?” asked Maskull.
“Yes.”
He lay there waiting in the darkness, ignorant of what was going tohappen. He felt her hand clasping his. Without perceiving any gradation,he lost all consciousness of his body; he was no longer able to feel hislimbs or internal organs. His mind remained active and alert. Nothingparticular appeared to be taking place.
Then the chamber began to grow light, like very early morning. He couldsee nothing, but the retina of his eyes was affected. He fancied that heheard music, but while he was listening for it, it stopped. The lightgrew stronger, the air grew warmer; he heard the confused sound ofdistant voices.
Suddenly Tydomin gave his hand a powerful squeeze. He heard someonescream faintly, and then the light leaped up, and he saw everythingclearly.
He was lying on a wooden couch, in a strangely decorated room, lightedby electricity. His hand was being squeezed, not by Tydomin, but by aman dressed in the garments of civilisation, with whose face he wascertainly familiar, but under what circumstances he could not recall.Other people stood in the background—they too were vaguely known to him.He sat up and began to smile, without any especial reason; and thenstood upright.
Everybody seemed to be watching him with anxiety and emotion—he wonderedwhy. Yet he felt that they were all acquaintances. Two in particular heknew—the man at the farther end of the room, who paced restlesslybackward and forward, his face transfigured by stern, holy grandeur; andthat other big, bearded man—who was himself. Yes—he was looking at hisown double. But it was just as if a crime-riddled man of middle age weresuddenly confronted with his own photograph as an earnest, idealisticyouth.
His other self spoke to him. He heard the sounds, but did not comprehendthe sense. Then the door was abruptly flung open, and a short, brutish-looking individual leaped in. He began to behave in an extraordinarymanner to everyone around him; and after that came straight up tohim—Maskull. He spoke some words, but they were incomprehensible. Aterrible expression came over the newcomer’s face, and he grasped hisneck with a pair of hairy hands. Maskull felt his bones bending andbreaking, excruciating pains passed through all the nerves of his body,and he experienced a sense of impending death. He cried out, and sankhelplessly on the floor, in a heap. The chamber and the companyvanished—the light went out.
Once more he found himself in the blackness of the cave. He was thistime lying on the ground, but Tydomin was still with him, holding hishand. He was in horrible bodily agony, but this was only a setting forthe despairing anguish that filled his mind.
Tydomin addressed him in tones of gentle reproach. “Why are you back sosoon? I’ve not had time yet. You must return.”
He caught hold of her, and pulled himself up to his feet. She gave a lowscream, as though in pain. “What does this mean—what are you doing,Maskull?”
“Krag—” began Maskull, but the effort to produce his words choked him,so that he was obliged to stop.
“Krag—what of Krag? Tell me quickly what has happened. Free my arm.”
He gripped her arm tighter.
“Yes, I’ve seen Krag. I’m awake.”
“Oh! You are awake, awake.”
“And you must die,” said Maskull, in an awful voice.
“But why? What has happened?...”
“You must die, and I must kill you. Because I am awake, and for no otherreason. You blood-stained dancing mistress!”
Tydomin breathed hard for a little time. Then she seemed suddenly toregain her self-possession.
“You won’t offer me violence, surely, in this black cave?”
“No, the sun shall look on, for it is not a murder. But rest assuredthat you must die—you must expiate your fearful crimes.”
“You have already said so, and I see you have the power. You haveescaped me. It is very curious. Well, then, Maskull, let us comeoutside. I am not afraid. But kill me courteously, for I have also beencourteous to you. I make no other supplication.”