CHAPTER XXXI
THE PALACE OF ORLOG
Engrossed with each other the Very Young Man and Aura sailed close up tothe water-front of Orlog before they remembered their situation. It wasthe Very Young Man who first became aware of the danger. Withoutexplanation he suddenly pulled Aura into the bottom of the boat, leavingit to flutter up into the wind unguided.
"They might see us from here," he said hurriedly. "We must decide whatis best for us to do now."
They were then less than a quarter of a mile from the stone quay thatmarked the city's principal landing-place. Nearer to them was a broad,sandy beach behind which, in a long string along the lake shore, lay thecity. Its houses were not unlike those of Arite, although most of themwere rather smaller and less pretentious. On a rise of ground justbeyond the beach, and nearly in front of them, stood an elaboratebuilding that was Targo's palace.
"We daren't go much closer," the Very Young Man said. "They'd recognizeus."
"You they would know for one of the strangers," said Aura. "But if Ishould steer and you were hidden no one would notice."
The Very Young Man realized a difficulty. "We've got to be very smallwhen we go into the city."
"How small would you think?" asked Aura.
The Very Young Man held his hands about a foot apart. "You see, thetrouble is, we must be small enough to get around without too muchdanger of being seen; but if we get too small it would be a terriblewalk up there to Targo's palace."
"We cannot sail this boat if we are such a size," Aura declared. "Toolarge it would be for us to steer."
"That's just it, but we can't go any closer this way."
Aura thought a moment. "If you lie there," she indicated the bottom ofthe boat under a forward seat, "no one can see. And I will steer--thereto the beach ahead; me they will not notice. Then at the beach we willtake the drug."
"We've got to take a chance," said the Very Young Man. "Some one maycome along and see us getting small."
They talked it over very carefully for some time. Finally they decidedto follow Aura's plan and run the boat to the beach under her guidance;then to take the drug. There were few people around the lake front atthis hour; the beach itself, as far as they could see, was entirelydeserted, and the danger of discovery seemed slight. Aura pointed out,however, that once on shore, if their stature were so great as a footthey would be even more conspicuous than when of normal size evenallowing for the strangeness of the Very Young Man's appearance. TheVery Young Man made a calculation and reached the conclusion that with aheight of six or seven inches they would have to walk about a mile fromthe landing-place to reach Targo's palace. They decided to become asnear that size as they conveniently could.
When both fully understood what they intended to do, the Very Young Mangave Aura one of the pellets of the drug and lay down in the bow of theboat. Without a word the girl took her seat in the stern and steered forthe beach. When they were close inshore Aura signalled her companion andat the same moment both took the drug. Then she left her seat and laydown beside the Very Young Man. The boat, from the momentum it hadgained, floated inshore and grounded gently on the beach.
As they lay there, the Very Young Man could see the sides of the boatgrowing up steadily above their heads. The gunwale was nearly six feetabove them before he realized a new danger. Scrambling to his feet hepulled the girl up with him; even when standing upright their heads camebelow the sides of the vessel.
"We've got to get out right now," the Very Young Man said in an excitedwhisper. "We'd be too small." He led the girl hastily into the bow andwith a running leap clambered up and sat astride the gunwale. Then,reaching down he pulled Aura up beside him.
In a moment they had dropped overboard up to their shoulders in thewater. High overhead loomed the hull of the boat--a large sailing vesselit seemed to them now. They started wading towards shore immediately,but, because they were so rapidly diminishing in size, it was nearlyfive minutes before they could get there.
Once on shore they lay prone upon the sand, waiting for the drug tocease its action. When, by proper administering of both chemicals, theyhad reached approximately their predetermined stature, which, in itself,required considerable calculation on the Very Young Man's part, theystood up near the water's edge and looked about them.
The beach to them now, with its coarse-grained sand, seemed nearly aquarter of a mile wide; in length it extended as far as they could seein both directions. Beyond the beach, directly in front of them on ahill perhaps a thousand feet above the lake level, and about a mile ormore away, stood Targo's palace. To the Very Young Man it looked farlarger than any building he had ever seen.
The boat in which they had landed lay on the water with its bow on thebeach beside them. It was now a vessel some two hundred and fifty feetin length, with sides twenty feet high and a mast towering over ahundred feet in the air.
There was no one in sight from where they stood. "Come on, Aura," saidthe Very Young Man, and started off across the beach towards the hill.
It was a long walk through the heavy sand to the foot of the hill. Whenthey arrived they found themselves at the beginning of a broad stoneroadway--only a path to those of normal Oroid size--that wound back andforth up the hill to the palace. They walked up this road, and as theyprogressed, saw that it was laid through a grassy lawn that covered theentire hillside--a lawn with gray-blue blades of grass half as high astheir bodies.
After walking about ten minutes they came to a short flight of steps.Each step was twice as high as their heads--impossible of ascent--sothey made a detour through the grass.
Suddenly Aura clutched the Very Young Man by the arm with a whisperedexclamation, and they both dropped to the ground. A man was coming downthe roadway; he was just above the steps when they first saw him--a manso tall that, standing beside him, they would have reached hardly abovehis ankles. The long grass in which they were lying hid them effectuallyfrom his sight and he passed them by unnoticed. When he was gone theVery Young Man drew a long breath. "We must watch that," he saidapprehensively. "If any one sees us now it's all off. We must beextremely careful."
It took the two adventurers over an hour to get safely up the hill andinto the palace. Its main entrance, approached by a long flight ofsteps, was an impossible means of ingress, but Aura fortunately knew ofa smaller door at the side which led into the basement of the building.This door they found slightly ajar. It was open so little, however, thatthey could not get past, and as they were not strong enough even withtheir combined efforts, to swing the door open, they were again broughtto a halt.
"We'd better get still smaller," the Very Young Man whispered somewhatnervously. "There's less danger that way."
They reduced their size, perhaps one half, and when that wasaccomplished the crack in the door had widened sufficiently to let themin. Within the building they found themselves in a hallway severalhundred feet wide and half a mile or more in length--its ceiling high asthe roof of some great auditorium. The Very Young Man looked about indismay. "Great Scott," he ejaculated, "this won't do at all."
"Many times I have been here," said Aura. "It looks so very differentnow, but I think I know the way."
"That may be," agreed the Very Young Man dubiously, "but we'd have towalk miles if we stay as small as this."
A heavy tread sounded far away in the distance. The Very Young Man andAura shrank back against the wall, close by the door. In a moment aman's feet and the lower part of his legs came into view. He stopped bythe door, pulling it inward. The Very Young Man looked up into the air;a hundred and fifty feet, perhaps, above their heads he saw the man'sface looking out through the doorway.
In a moment another man joined him, coming from outside, and they spoketogether for a time. Their roaring voices, coming down from this greatheight, were nevertheless distinctly audible.
"In the audience room," Aura whispered, after listening an instant,"Targo's younger brother talks with his counsellors. Big things they areplanning." The Very Y
oung Man did not answer; the two men continuedtheir brief conversation and parted.
When the Very Young Man and Aura were left alone, he turned to the girleagerly. "Did they mention Loto? Is he here?"
"Of him they did not speak," Aura answered. "It is best that we go tothe audience room, where they are talking. Then, perhaps, we will know."The Very Young Man agreed, and they started off.
For nearly half an hour they trudged onward along this seemingly endlesshallway. Then again they were confronted with a flight of steps--thistime steps that were each more than three times their own height.
"We've got to chance it," said the Very Young Man, and after listeningcarefully and hearing no one about, they again took the drug, makingthemselves sufficiently large to ascend these steps to the upper storyof the building.
It was nearly an hour before the two intruders, after several narrowescapes from discovery, and by alternating doses of both drugs,succeeded in getting into the room where Targo's brother and hisadvisers were in conference.
They entered through the open door--a doorway so wide that a hundredlike them could have marched through it abreast. A thousand feet awayacross the vastness of the room they could see Targo's brother and tenof his men--sitting on mats upon the floor, talking earnestly. Beforethem stood a stone bench on which were a number of golden goblets andplates of food.
The adventurers ran swiftly down the length of the room, following itswall. It echoed with their footfalls, but they knew that this sound, soloud to their ears, would be inaudible to the huge figures they wereapproaching.
"They won't see us," whispered the Very Young Man, "let's get up close."And in a few moments more they were standing beside one of the figures,sheltered from sight by a corner of the mat upon which the man wassitting. His foot, bent sidewise under him upon the floor, was almostwithin reach of the Very Young Man's hand. The fibre thong that fastenedits sandal looked like a huge rope thick as the Very Young Man's ankle,and each of its toes were half as long as his entire body.
Targo's brother, a younger man than those with him, appeared to be doingmost of the talking. He it was beside whom Aura and the Very Young Manwere standing.
"You tell me if they mention Loto," whispered the Very Young Man. Auranodded and they stood silent, listening. The men all appeared deeplyengrossed with what their leader was saying. The Very Young Man,watching his companion's face, saw an expression of concern and fearupon it. She leaned towards him.
"In Arite, to-night," she whispered, "Targo is organizing men to attackthe palace of the king. Him will they kill--then Targo will beproclaimed leader of all the Oroid nation."
"We must get back," the Very Young Man answered in an anxious whisper."I wish we knew where Loto was; haven't they mentioned him--or any ofus?"
Aura did not reply, and the Very Young Man waited silent. Once one ofthe men laughed--a laugh that drifted out into the immense distances ofthe room in great waves of sound. Aura gripped her companion by the arm.
"Then when Targo rules the land, they will send a messenger to mybrother. Him they will tell that the drugs must be given to Targo, orLoto will be killed--wait--when they have the drugs," Aura translated ina swift, tense whisper, "then all of us they will kill." She shuddered."And with the drugs they will rule as they desire--for evil."
"They'll never get them," the Very Young Man muttered.
Targo's brother leaned forward and raised a goblet from the table. Themovement of his foot upon the floor made the two eavesdroppers jumpaside to avoid being struck.
Again Aura grasped her companion by the arm. "He is saying Loto isupstairs," she whispered after a moment. "I know where."
"I knew it," said the Very Young Man exultingly. "You take us there.Come on--let's get out of here--we mustn't waste a minute."
They started back towards the wall nearest them--some fifty feetaway--and following along its edge, ran down towards the doorway throughwhich they had entered the room. They were still perhaps a hundred yardsaway from it, running swiftly, when there appeared in the doorway thefeet and legs of two men who were coming in. The Very Young Man and Aurastopped abruptly, shrinking up against the side of the wall. Then therecame a heavy metallic clanging sound; the two men entered the room,closing the door.