screech, piercing against the mutter of shifting stone.

He was turning to the heavy ring set in the stone when he caught a
glimmer of reflected light in an idol's eye. Swiftly he crouched
behind the great stone, waiting.

The priests came, two of them, bearing torches. Knives flashed as
Ra-sed sprang, but he wrenched the blade from the hand of the first,
buried it in the throat of the second. The man fell with a cry, but a
stunning blow from behind sent Ra-sed sprawling across the fallen
body. The other priest was on him, choking out his life.

The last torch fell; and Ra-sed twisted savagely, lashed out blindly
with the long knife. There was a sound of rending cloth, a muttered
curse in the darkness, and the fingers ground harder into Ra-sed's
throat. Black tides washed over his mind, and he never remembered the
second and last convulsive thrust of the knife that let out the life
of the priest.

He did remember straining against the ring of the great stone. The
echo boomed out for the second time that night, as the stone moved
away at last, to lay bare the realm of the Dark One.

Bitterness touched Ransome's eyes as he spoke now, the bitterness of a
man who has lost his God.

"There were no onyx steps, no monsters waiting beneath the stone. The
legends were false."

Ransome turned his glass slowly, staring into its amber depths. Then
he became aware of Irene, waiting for him to go on.

"I got her out," Ransome said shortly. "I went down into that stinking
pit and I got Dura-ki out. The air was nearly unbreathable where I
found her. She was unconscious on a ledge at the end of a long slope.
Hell itself might have been in the pit that opened beneath it. A
geologist would have called it a major fault, but it was hell enough.
When I picked her up, I found the bones of all those others...."

Irene's green eyes had lost their coldness. She let her hand rest on
his for a moment. But her voice was puzzled.

"This Dura-ki--she is the woman on the _Hawk of Darion_?"

Ransome nodded. He stood up. His lips were a hard, thin line.

"My little story has an epilogue. Something not quite so romantic. I
lived with Dura-ki in hiding near Darion for a year, until a ship came
in from space. A pirate ship, with a tall, good-looking Earthman for a
master. I took passage for Dura-ki, and signed on myself as a crewman.
A fresh start in a bright, new world." Ransome laughed shortly. "I'll
spare you the details of that happy voya