hook
her head. Hendricks leaned more heavily against the throne,
shuddering.

Slowly, the flame was dying, until we could see that it was not a
solid pillar of fire, but a hollow circle of flame, fed by innumerable
jets set at the base of a circle of a trifle more than the length of a
man across.

Into those deadly circles the condemned man was led. His legs were
bound swiftly, so that he could not move, and the old man stepped back
quickly.

As though his movement had been a signal, the flames shot up with a
roar, until they lost themselves far over our heads. As one man, the
three of us started forward, but the guards hemmed us in instantly.

"Fools!" cried Liane. "Be still! The power of Liane is absolute here."

We stared, fascinated, at the terrible sight. The flame spouted,
streaks of blue and yellow streaking up from its base. Mercifully, we
could not see within that encircling wall of fire.

* * * * *

Slowly, the flame died down again. A trap-door opened in the circle,
and some formless thing dropped out of sight. Liane questioned the
old man again, her eyes resting upon the other prisoner. The old man
answered briefly.

"This one spoke against the power of Liane," she explained smilingly.
"He said Liane was cruel; that she was selfish. He also must feel the
embrace of the sacred Flame."

I heard, rather than saw, the ghastly drama repeated, for I had bent
my head, and would not look up. Liane was no woman; she was a fiend.
And yet for her a trusted officer, a friend, had forsworn his service
and his comrades. I wondered, as I stood there with bowed head, what
were the thoughts which must have been passing through Hendricks'
mind.

"You fear to look upon the punishment of Liane?" the voice of the
unholy priestess broke in upon my shuddering reverie. "Then you
understand why her power is absolute; why she is Mother of Life, and
Giver of Death, throughout all Lakos. And now for the word I promised
you, a gracious word from one who could be terrible and not gracious,
were that her whim.

"It has been in the mind of Liane to extend her power, to make for
herself a place in this Supreme Council of which you speak with so
much awe and reverence, Commander Hanson. But, by happenchance,
another whim has seized her."

* * * * *

Liane looked up at Hendricks, smilingly, and took one of his hands in
hers. It was wonderful how her face softened