CHAPTER XXVII
AURA
The Very Young Man involuntarily took a step backward as he met Targo'seyes, glaring at him across the old man's body. The girl in the cornergave another cry--a cry of fright and horror, yet with a note of relief.The Very Young Man found himself wondering who she was; then he knew.
His first impulse was to leap across the room towards her. He thought ofthe chemicals and instinctively his hand went to his armpit. But he knewthere was no time for that. He hesitated one brief instant. As he stoodrigid Targo stooped swiftly and grasped the dagger in his victim'sbreast.
The girl screamed again, louder this time, and like a mask the VeryYoung Man's indecision fell from him. He stood alert, clear-headed. Herewas an enemy threatening him--an enemy he must fight and overcome.
In the second that Targo bent down the Very Young Man bounded forward,and with a leap that his football days had taught him so well how tomake, he landed squarely upon the bare, broad back of his antagonist.The impact of his weight forced Targo down upon the floor, and losinghis balance he fell, with the Very Young Man on top of him. They hit theleg of the table as they rolled over, and something dropped from it tothe floor, striking the stone surface with a thud.
The knife still stuck in the dead man's body. The Very Young Man thoughthe could reach it, but his opponent's great arms were around him now andheld him too tightly. He tried to pull himself loose, but could not.Then he rolled partly over again, and met Targo's eyes above, leeringtriumphantly down at him. He looked away and wrenched his right armfree. Across the room he could see the girl still crouching in thecorner. His right hand sweeping along the floor struck something heavylying there. His fingers closed over it; he raised it up, and hardlyknowing what he did, crashed it against his enemy's head.
He felt the tense muscles of the man relax, and then the weight of hisinert body as it pressed down upon him. He wriggled free, and sprang tohis feet. As he stood weak and trembling, looking down at theunconscious form of Targo lying upon the floor, the girl suddenly ranover and stood beside him. Her slim little body came only a little abovehis shoulder; instinctively he put his arm about her.
A voice, calling from outside the room, made the girl look up into hisface with new terror.
"Others are coming," she whispered tensely and huddled up against him.
The Very Young Man saw that the room had two doors--the one throughwhich he had entered, and another in one of its other walls. There wereno windows. He pulled the girl now towards the further door, but sheheld him back.
"They come that way," she whispered.
Another voice sounded behind him and the Very Young Man knew that a manwas coming up along the passageway from the front entrance. Targo's men!He remembered now the skulking figure he had seen outside the house.There were more than two, for now he heard other voices, and some onecalling Targo's name.
He held the girl closer and stood motionless. Like rats in a trap, hethought. He felt the fingers of his right hand holding something heavy.It was a piece of stone--the stone he had looked at through themicroscope--the stone with which he had struck Targo. He smiled tohimself, and slipped it into his pocket.
The girl had slowly pulled him over to the inner wall of the room. Thefootsteps came closer. They would be here in a moment. The Very YoungMan wondered how he should fight them all; then he thought of the knifethat was still in the murdered man's body. He thought he ought to get itnow while there was still time. He heard a click and the wall againstwhich he and the girl were leaning yielded with their weight. A doorswung open--a door the Very Young Man had not seen before. The girlpulled him through the doorway, and swung the door softly closed behindthem.
The Very Young Man found himself now in a long, narrow room with a veryhigh ceiling. It had, apparently, no other door, and no windows. It wasevidently a storeroom--piled high with what looked like boxes, and withbales of silks and other fabrics.
The Very Young Man looked around him hastily. Then he let go of thegirl, and, since locks were unknown in this world, began piling as manyheavy objects as possible against the door. The girl tried to help him,but he pushed her away. Once he put his ear to the door and listened. Heheard voices outside in the strange Oroid tongue.
The girl stood beside him. "They are lifting Targo up. He speaks; he isnot dead," she whispered.
For several minutes they stood there listening. The voices continued ina low murmur. "They'll know we are in here," said the Very Young Manfinally, in an undertone. "Is there any other way out of this room?"
The girl shook her head. The Very Young Man forgot the import of heranswer, and suddenly found himself thinking she was the prettiest girlhe had ever seen. She was hardly more than sixteen, with a slender, notyet matured, yet perfectly rounded little body. She wore, like Lylda, ashort blue silk tunic, with a golden cord crossing her breast andencircling her waist. Her raven black hair hung in two twisted locksnearly to her knees. Her skin was very white and, even more thanLylda's, gleamed with iridescent color.
"Only this one door," said the girl. The words brought the Very YoungMan to himself with a start.
No other way out of the room! He knew that Targo and his men would forcetheir way in very soon. He could not prevent them. But it would taketime. The Very Young Man remembered that now he had time to take thechemicals. He put his hand to his armpit and felt the pouch that heldthe drug. He wondered which to take. The ceiling was very high; but tofight in the narrow confines of such a room----
He led the girl over to a pile of cushions and sat down beside her.
"Listen," he said briefly. "We are going to take a medicine; it willmake us very small. Then we will hide from Targo and his men till theyare gone. This is not magic; it is science. Do you understand?"
"I understand," the girl answered readily. "One of the strangers youare--my brother's friend."
"You will not be afraid to take the drug?"
"No." But though she spoke confidently, she drew closer to him andshivered a little.
The Very Young Man handed her one of the tiny pellets. "Just touch it tothe tip of your tongue as I do," he said warningly.
They took the drug. When it had ceased to act, they found themselvesstanding on the rough uneven stone surface that was the floor of theroom. Far overhead in the dim luminous blackness they could just makeout the great arching ceiling, stretching away out of sight down thelength of the room. Beside them stood a tremendous shaggy pile ofcoarsely woven objects that were the silk pillows on which they had beensitting a moment before--pillows that seemed forty or fifty feet squarenow and loomed high above their heads.
The Very Young Man took the frightened girl by the hand and led heralong the tremendous length of a pile of boxes, blocks long it seemed.These boxes, from their size, might have been rectangular, windowlesshouses, jammed closely together, and piled one upon the other up intothe air almost out of sight.
Finally they came to a broad passageway between the boxes--a mere crackit would have been before. They turned into it, and, a few feet beyond,came to a larger square space with a box making a roof over it sometwenty feet above their heads.
From this retreat they could see the lower part of the door leading intothe other room and could hear from beyond it a muffled roar--the voicesof Targo and his men. Hardly were they hidden when the door opened alittle. It struck against the bales the Very Young Man had piled againstit. For a moment it held, but with the united efforts of the men pushingfrom the other side, it slowly yielded and swung open.
Targo stepped into the room. To the Very Young Man he seemed nearly ahundred feet high. Only his feet and ankles were visible at first, fromwhere the Very Young Man was watching. Three other men came with him.They stamped back and forth for a time, moving some of the bales andboxes. Luckily they left undisturbed those nearest the fugitives; aftera moment they left, leaving the door open.
The Very Young Man breathed a long sigh of relief. "Gosh, I'm gladthat's over." He spoke in a low tone, altho
ugh the men in the other roomseemed so far away they would hardly have heard him if he had shouted atthe top of his voice.
Alone with the girl now in this great silent room, the Very Young Manfelt suddenly embarrassed. "I am one of your brother's friends," hesaid. "My name's Jack; is yours Aura?"
"Lylda's sister I am," she answered quietly. "My father told me aboutyou----" Then with a rush came the memory of her father's death, whichthe startling experiences of the past half-hour had made her forget. Herbig, soft eyes filled with tears and her lips quivered. Involuntarilythe Very Young Man put his arm about her again and held her close tohim. She was so little and frail--so pathetic and so wholly adorable.For a long time they sat in silence; then the girl gently drew away.
At the doorway they stood and listened; Targo and his followers werestill in the adjoining room, talking earnestly. "Loto they havecaptured," Aura whispered suddenly. "Others of Targo's men have takenhim--in a boat--to Orlog. To-morrow they send a messenger to my brotherto demand he give up these drugs--or Loto they will kill."
The Very Young Man waited, breathless. Suddenly he heard Targo laugh--acruel, cynical laugh. Aura shuddered.
"And when he has the drug, all of us will he kill. And all in the landtoo who will not do as he bids."
The men were rising, evidently in preparation to leave. Aura continued:"They go--now--to Orlog--all but Targo. A little way from here, up thelake shore, a boat is waiting. It will take them there fast."
With a last look around, Targo and his followers disappeared through theback door of the room. An outer door clanged noisily, and the Very YoungMan and Aura were left alone in the house.
Reoh murdered, Loto stolen! The Very Young Man thought of Lylda andwondered if anything could have happened to her. "Did they speak of yoursister?" he asked.
"Targo said--he--he would put her to death," Aura answered with ashudder. "He said--she killed his brother to-day." She turned to theVery Young Man impulsively, putting her little hands up on hisshoulders. "Oh, my friend," she exclaimed. "You can do something to savemy family? Targo is so strong, so cruel. My father----" She stopped, andchoked back a sob.
"Did they say where Lylda was now?"
"They did not know. She grew very big and went away."
"Where is your brother and my two friends?"
"Targo said they were here when he--he took Loto. Now they have gonehome. He was afraid of them--now--because they have the drugs."
"To-morrow they are going to send a messenger from Orlog to demand thedrugs?"
"He said to-morrow. Oh, you will do something for us? You can saveLoto?"
The Very Young Man was beginning to formulate a plan. "And to-night," heasked, "from what they said--are you sure they will not hurt Loto?"
"They said no. But he is so little--so----" The girl burst into tears,and at every sob the Very Young Man's heart leaped in his breast. Hewanted to comfort her, but he could think of no word to say; he wantedto help her--to do the best thing in what he saw was a grave crisis.What he should have done was to have taken her back to the Chemist andhis friends, and then with them planned the rescue of Loto. But with thegirl's hands upon his shoulders, and her sorrowful little tear-stainedface looking up to his, he did not think of that. He thought only of herand her pathetic appeal. "You will do something, my friend? You can saveLoto?" He could save Loto! With the power of the drugs he could doanything!
The Very Young Man made a sudden decision. "I don't know the way toOrlog; you do?" he asked abruptly.
"Oh yes, I know it well."
"We will go to Orlog, you and I--now, and rescue Loto. You will not beafraid?"
The girl's eyes looked into his with a clear, steady gaze. The VeryYoung Man stared down into their depths with his heart pounding. "Ishall not be afraid--with you," said the girl softly.
The Very Young Man drew a long breath. He knew he must think it all outcarefully. The drug would make them very large, and in a short time theycould walk to Orlog. No harm could come to them. Once in Orlog theywould find Loto--probably in Targo's palace--and bring him back withthem. The Very Young Man pictured the surprise and gratification of theChemist and his friends. Lylda would be back by then; no sooner wouldshe have heard of Loto's loss than he would bring him back to her. Orperhaps they would meet Lylda and she would join them.
The Very Young Man produced the drug and was about to give Aura one ofthe pellets when another thought occurred to him. Targo would not harmLoto now because he was valuable as a hostage. But suppose he saw thesetwo giants coming to the rescue? The Very Young Man knew that probablythe boy would be killed before he could save him. That way would not do.He would have to get to Orlog unseen--rescue Loto by a sudden rush,before they could harm him.
But first it would be necessary for him and Aura to get out of Aritequietly without causing any excitement. Once in the open country theycould grow larger and travel rapidly to Orlog. The Very Young Manthought it would be best to be normal size while leaving Arite. Heexplained his plan to Aura briefly.
It took several successive tastes of the different drugs before thisresult was accomplished, but in perhaps half an hour they were ready toleave the house. To the Very Young Man this change of size was no longereven startling. Aura, this time, with him beside her, seemed quiteunafraid.
"Now we're ready," said the Very Young Man, in a matter-of-fact tonethat was far from indicating his true feeling. "Take the way where weare least likely to be noticed--towards Orlog. When we get in the opencountry we can get bigger."
He led the girl across Reoh's study. She kept her face averted as theypassed the body lying on the floor, and in a moment they were outsidethe house. They walked rapidly, keeping close to the walls of thehouses. The streets were nearly deserted and no one seemed to noticethem.
The Very Young Man was calculating the time. "Probably they are justgetting to Orlog with Loto," he said. "Once we get out of Arite we'lltravel fast; we'll have him back in two or three hours."
Aura said nothing, but walked beside him. Once or twice she looked backover her shoulder.
They were in the outskirts of the city, when suddenly the girl grippedher companion by the arm.
"Some one--behind us," she whispered. The Very Young Man resisted animpulse to look around. They had come to a cross street; the Very YoungMan abruptly turned the corner, and clutching Aura by the hand ranswiftly forward a short distance. When they had slowed down to a walkagain the Very Young Man looked cautiously back over his shoulder. As hedid so he caught a glimpse of three men who had just reached the corner,and who darted hastily back out of sight as he turned his head.