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.They had not mummified, nor turned to stone.They were pliable, and their colors were very bright.Simply, they had ceased to live, and the gases of the sea had preserved them by some chemical magic, so perfectly that barely a leaf had fallen.Stark did not venture into the shadowy denseness below the topmost branches.A strange fear came over him, at the sight of that vast forest dreaming in the depths of the gulf, drowned and forgotten, as though wondering why the birds had gone, taking with them the warm rains and the light of day.He thrust his way upward, himself like a huge dark bird above the branches.An overwhelming impulse to get away from that unearthly place drove him on, his half-wild sense shuddering with an impression of evil so great that it took all his acquired common-sense to assure him that he was not pursued by demons.He broke the surface at last, to find that he had lost his direction in the red deep and made a long circle around, so that he was far below Shuruun.He made his way back, not hurrying now, and presently clambered out over the black rocks.He stood at the end of a muddy lane that wandered in toward the town.He followed it, moving neither fast nor slow, but with a wary alertness.Huts of wattle-and-daub took shape out of the fog, increased in numbers, became a street of dwellings.Here and there rush-lights glimmered through the slitted windows.A man and a woman clung together in a low doorway.They saw him and sprang apart, and the woman gave a little cry.Stark went on.He did not look back, but he knew that they were following him quietly, at a little distance.The lane twisted snakelike upon itself, crawling now through a crowded jumble of houses.There were more lights, and more people, tall white-skinned folk of the swamp-edges, with pale eyes and long hair the color of new flax, and the faces of wolves.Stark passed among them, alien and strange with his black hair and sun-darkened skin.They did not speak, nor try to stop him.Only they looked at him out of the red fog, with a curious blend of amusement and fear, and some of them followed him, keeping well behind.A gang of small naked children came from somewhere among the houses and ran shouting beside him, out of reach, until one boy threw a stone and screamed something unintelligible except for one word—Lhari.Then they all stopped, horrified, and fled.Stark went on, through the quarter of the lacemakers, heading by instinct toward the wharves.The glow of the Red Sea pervaded all the air, so that it seemed as though the mist was full of tiny drops of blood.There was a smell about the place he did not like, a damp miasma of mud and crowding bodies and wine, and the breath of the vela poppy.Shuruun was an unclean town, and it stank of evil.There was something else about it, a subtle thing that touched Stark's nerves with a chill finger.Fear.He could see the shadow of it in the eyes of the people, hear its undertone in their voices.The wolves of Shuruun did not feel safe in their own kennel.Unconsciously, as this feeling grew upon him, Stark's step grew more and more wary, his eyes more cold and hard.He came out into a broad square by the harbor front.He could see the ghostly ships moored along the quays, the piled casks of wine, the tangle of masts and cordage dim against the background of the burning gulf.There were many torches here.Large low buildings stood around the square.There was laughter and the sound of voices from the dark verandas, and somewhere a woman sang to the melancholy lilting of a reed pipe.A suffused glow of light in the distance ahead caught Stark's eye.That way the streets sloped to a higher ground, and straining his vision against the fog, he made out very dimly the tall bulk of a castle crouched on the low cliffs, looking with bright eyes upon the night, and the streets of Shuruun.Stark hesitated briefly.Then he started across the square toward the largest of the taverns.There were a number of people in the open space, mostly sailors and their women.They were loose and foolish with wine, but even so they stopped where they were and stared at the dark stranger, and then drew back from him, still staring.Those who had followed Stark came into the square after him and then paused, spreading out in an aimless sort of way to join with other groups, whispering among themselves.The woman stopped singing in the middle of a phrase.A curious silence fell on the square.A nervous sibilance ran round and round under the silence, and men came slowly out from the verandas and the doors of the wine shops.Suddenly a woman with disheveled hair pointed her arm at Stark and laughed, the shrieking laugh of a harpy.Stark found his way barred by three tall young men with hard mouths and crafty eyes, who smiled at him as hounds smile before the kill."Stranger," they said."Earthman.""Outlaw," answered Stark, and it was only half a lie.One of the young men took a step forward."Did you fly like a dragon over the Mountains of White Cloud? Did you drop from the sky?""I came on Malthor's ship."A kind of sigh went round the square, and with it the name of Malthor.The eager faces of the young men grew heavy with disappointment.But the leader said sharply, "I was on the quay when Malthor docked.You were not on board." It was Stark's turn to smile.In the light of the torches, his eyes blazed cold and bright as ice against the sun."Ask Malthor the reason for that," he said."Ask the man with the torn cheek.Or perhaps," he added softly, "you would like to learn for yourselves." The young men looked at him, scowling, in an odd mood of indecision.Stark settled himself, every muscle loose and ready.And the woman who had laughed crept closer and peered at Stark through her tangled hair, breathing heavily of the poppy wine.All at once she said loudly, "He came out of the sea.That's where he came from.He's…"One of the young men struck her across the mouth and she fell down in the mud.A burly seaman ran out and caught her by the hair, dragging her to her feet again.His face was frightened and very angry.He hauled the woman away, cursing her for a fool and beating her as he went.She spat out blood, and said no more."Well," said Stark to the young men."Have you made up your minds?""Minds!" said a voice behind them—a harsh-timbered, rasping voice that handled the liquid vocables of the Venusian speech very clumsily indeed."They have no minds, these whelps! If they had, they'd be off about their business, instead of standing here badgering a stranger."The young men turned, and now between them Stark could see the man who had spoken.He stood on the steps of the tavern.He was an Earthman, and at first Stark thought he was old, because his hair was white and his face deeply lined.His body was wasted with fever, the muscles all gone to knotty strings twisted over bone.He leaned heavily on a stick, and one leg was crooked and terribly scarred.He grinned at Stark and said, in colloquial English, "Watch me get rid of'em!"He began to tongue-lash the young men, telling them that they were idiots, the misbegotten offspring of swamp-toads, utterly without manners, and that if they did not believe the stranger's story they should go and ask Malthor, as he suggested [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]