* *

Damis met the outstretched hand with a grip that made the elderly man
wince.

"It is an honor and a pleasure to grasp in friendship the hand of
Turgan, the Kildare of this province," he said, "the hand of one who was
born to be ruler in fact, instead of an underling under a Jovian
master."

"It is true that my father was king of this country before the Jovians
came, forty years ago," said Turgan gravely, "yet now there is no honor
or merit in it. Even the rank of Kildare, which is but that of a slave
ruling other more unfortunate slaves, could not have prevented my only
daughter from being dragged away to the seraglio of that monster. To
such a pass has one been brought whose birth made him the peer of any.
But now we must plan and plan swiftly, else are we undone. Glavour will
return with his minions. Safety will be found only in flight, for mere
numbers cannot oppose the weapons they will turn against us. Damis, so
far you have been one with our Jovian masters, as have all of the
Nepthalim. Now it is war to the death between them and us. On which side
do you stand?"

Damis hesitated as the Kildare's keen gray eyes bored into his own.

"My father was Viceroy of the Earth in the days gone by," he said
slowly, "and he planned that I should take his place. His dream was a
peaceful union of the strength and science of Jupiter with the beauty
and humanity of the Earth. True to his dream, I have cleaved to his
people and striven to bring it about, but I can see now the folly of his
ambition. In stature and mental power he was a Jovian, in all else he
was a Terrestrial. Since his death I have seen you stripped bit by bit
of what he left you until now you are lower than the slaves on Jupiter,
who can appeal to Tubain against a cruel master. Even I, a Nepthalim,
the son of a Viceroy, am forced to revolt to save the maiden I love.
Henceforth, I give up my father's dream of peace and do what my heart
tells me is right. It is war to the death between the Sons of God and
the Sons of Man, and I, who am descended from a Son of God and a
Daughter of Man, cleave to my mother's people."

* * * * *

A shout of joy came from all who heard his ringing voice announce his
new allegiance. Damis had ever a reputation as a humane man and he was
guilty of none of the brutalities which made the Jovians so detested and
which were bettered by those of the Nepthalim who had the power.