The wind was buffeting me, seeking to tear me away.
I have been wicked,but it was my vanity and not my heart that sinned. How strange
and unexpected thedestinations to which they lead. Phor Tak made a sudden motion
with his hands anddisappeared.
Come with me, I said to Nur An;Perhaps I can find
Phor Tak for you. He fled interror when the battle was still young.
She was evidently trying to attract my attention,
but she was soterrified that she could not speak.
Even though you were a thousand times less than a
slave, I told her.
Your love has come too late, Sanoma Tora, I
said.
Thus must have been the process in this instance. I
am afraid that my lips curled to the sneer that was in my heart.
You shall come with me,Phao, I said, and my first
duty shall be to return to Jhama. With it had gonehis model of The Flying Death and
with him the secret had been lost.
As I drew the block outmy first plan faded in the
light of what I saw in front of me.
Then I raised a hatch andleaped into the
room.
You said that you loved a little slavegirl and I
know that you love Tavia. He fled interror when the battle was still
young.
I think I shall be glad to rest, she
replied.
Could Tavia be safe even for a brieftime in the
power of Tul Axtar?
But in that brief instant I knew precisely what I
had seen. We were holding something of aninformal reception upon the forward deck of
the great battleship. It makes no difference to me whether shewishes to come or not.
I will come, hesaid; but first let me get one thing to take with me.
Howlong before my bones, too, would be numbered
among the rest? His course would bring him acrossour bow and as he passed I raked
him with the forward rifle. The Jhamahad merely drifted with the wind and chanced to
lodge upon the highestpeak of the range.