Tarrano the Conqueror

  CHAPTER XXVII

  _Tarrano the Man_

  "Wake up, Lady Elza."

  A silence. His hand touched her white shoulder. "Wake up, Lady Elza. Itis I--Tarrano."

  Elza opened her eyes, struggling to confused wakefulness. The whitewalls of her sleeping room in Tarrano's palace of the City of Ice werestained with the dim red radiance of her night light. She opened hereyes to meet Tarrano's inscrutable face as he bent over her couch;became conscious of his low, insistent, "Wake up, Lady Elza;" and hisfingers half caressing the filmy scarf that covered her shoulders.

  Terror flooded Elza; that time she had always feared, had come. Yet shehad the presence of mind to smile, drawing away from him and sitting up,with the fur bed-covering pulled to her chin.

  "Tarrano? Why--"

  He straightened, and into his expression came apology.

  "I frightened you, Lady Elza? I'm sorry. I would not do that for all theworlds."

  Her terror receded. The old Tarrano over whom she still held sway. Shesummoned a look of haughty questioning.

  "You are bold, Tarrano--"

  His gesture was deprecating; he seated himself on the edge of her couch.She saw now that he was fully dressed and armed with a belt of manyinstruments.

  At this time Elza had been in the City of Ice for a considerable period.Irksome, worried days of semi-imprisonment; and through them, Tarrano'sattitude toward her was unchanged. She saw little of him; he seemed verybusy, though to what end, and what his activities, she could not learn.

  Within the palace, half as guard, half as maid-servant, Tara wasgenerally Elza's only companion. And then, one evening when Tara'ssmouldering jealousy broke forth in Tarrano's presence and Elza utteredan involuntary cry of fear, Tara was summarily removed.

  Elza was left practically alone; until at length came this night wheninvading the privacy of her sleeping room, Tarrano awakened her. He satnow upon the edge of her couch.

  "I have a confession to make to you, Lady Elza." He smiled slightly. "Asyou know, there is no one else in our habitable universe to whom I wouldspeak thus frankly."

  "I am honored, Tarrano. But here, at this hour of sleep--"

  He waved away the words. "I have asked your pardon for that. Myconfession--as once before, Lady Elza, I come to you most humbly,confessing that my affairs are not going as I would like. You do notknow, of course, that Mars--"

  "I know nothing," she interrupted. "You have kept me from thenews-mirrors, if indeed there are any here--"

  "Mars revolted against me," he went on imperturbably. "The Little Peopleare again in control. Fools! They do not realize, those governors ofMars, that their public ultimately will demand this _Everlasting Life_of mine--the Brende secret--"

  She frowned. "No one knows better than you, Tarrano, that my father'ssecret does not bestow immortality. To cure disease, in a measure--"

  He checked her; his smile was ironical. "You and I know that, Lady Elza.We know that on this plane we would not want everlasting life if wecould have it. But the public does not know that--let us not discuss it.I was telling you--confessing to you--I have lost Mars. Temporarily, ofcourse. Meanwhile, I have been preparing to invade the Earth." Hisgesture was expansive. "I have been planning, from here in the ColdCountry, to send armies to your Earth."

  He paused an instant. "I think now I shall wait until the nextopposition--we are far from Earth now, but all in good time we shall becloser.... Strange is it not, that I should like to tell you my plans?"

  She did not answer; she watched his smile fading into a look ofgrimness. "In the Great City, here on Venus, they are getting ready toattack me. Did you know that?"

  "No," she said.

  "You supposed they were? Your brother, and that Jac Hallen?"

  "Yes."

  "And you hoped they were, of course?"

  "Yes," she repeated.

  He frowned. "You are disconcertingly frank, Lady Elza. Well, let me tellyou this--it would come to nothing. The _Rhaals_ are with them--all theresources of the Central State are to be thrown against me. Yet it willcome to nothing."

  Her heart leaped. Tarrano was making his last stand. Beyond the logicalsense of his words, she could see it in his eyes. He knew he was makinghis last stand. He knew too that she was now aware of it; and thatbehind the confidence of his words--that was the confession he wasmaking.

  Tarrano's last stand! There seemed to her then something illogicallypathetic in it all. This man of genius--so short a time ago all but theEmperor of three worlds. And now, with them slipping from his grasp,reduced to this last stronghold in the bleak fastnesses of the ColdCountry, awaiting the inevitable attack upon him. Something pathetic....

  "I'm sorry, Tarrano."

  As though mirrored from her own expression, a wistful look had come tohim. Her words drove it away.

  "Sorry? There is nothing to be sorry about. Their attack will come tonothing ... yet--" He stopped short, and then as though deciding to saywhat he had begun, he added:

  "Yet, Lady Elza, I am no fool to discard possibilities. I may bedefeated." He laughed harshly. "To what depths has Tarrano fallen thathe can voice such a possibility!"

  He leaned toward her and into his tone came a greater earnestness thanshe ever heard in it before.

  "Lady Elza, if they should be successful, they would not capture me--forI would die fighting. You understand that, don't you?"

  She met his eyes; the gleam in them held her. Forgetful of herself, shehad allowed the fur to drop from her: she sat bolt upright, the dim redlight tinting the scarf that lay like gossamer around her whiteshoulders. His hand came out and touched her arm, slipped up to hershoulder and rested there, but she did not feel it.

  "I will die fighting," he repeated. "You understand that?"

  "Yes," she breathed.

  "And you would be sorry?"

  "Oh--"

  "Would you?"

  "Yes, I--"

  He did not relax. His eyes burned her: but deep in them she saw thatquality of wistfulness, of pleading.

  "You, my Elza, they would rescue--unless I killed you."

  She did not move, but within her was a shudder.

  "You know I would kill you, my Elza, rather than give you up?"

  "Yes," she murmured.

  "I--wonder. Sometimes I think I would." Suddenly he cast aside allrestraint. "Oh, my Elza--that we should have to plan such things asthese! You, sitting there--you are so beautiful! Your eyes--limpid poolswith terror lurking in them when I would have them misty with love! MyElza--"

  The woman in her responded. A wave of color flooded her throat and face.But she drew away from him.

  "My Elza! Can you not tell me that even in defeat I may be victorious?It is you more than all else that I desire."

  Without warning his arms were around her, holding her fiercely to him,his face close to hers.

  "Elza! With you, defeat would be victory. And with you--now--if youwould but say the word--together we will surmount every obstacle.--"

  He was kissing her, bending back her head, and his grip upon hershoulder was bruising the flesh. No longer Tarrano, Conqueror of theuniverse, just Tarrano the man. Terror surged within Elza's heart.

  "Tarrano!"

  "Elza dear--my Elza--"

  "Tarrano!" She fought with him. "Tarrano, do you dare--I tell you--"

  The frightened pleading of a woman at bay. And then abruptly he cast heroff. His laugh was grim.

  "What a fool I am! Tarrano the weakling!" He leaped from the couch andbegan pacing the room. "Tarrano the weakling! To what depths has Tarranofallen!"

  He stopped before her. "I ask your pardon, Lady Elza. This has beenmadness. Forget my words--all madness."

  His tone was crisp. "Human weakness to which I did not realize I was soprone made me talk like a fool. Desire you above the conquest of theuniverse? Absurd! Lies that men whisper into women's ears! All lies!"

  Was he telling the real truth now? Or was this a mood of recrimination?Bitterness that his lo
ve was scorned. Again his gaze held her, but in itnow she could see nothing but a cruel inflexible purpose.

  "Tarrano in defeat! That is impossible, Lady Elza. You will very shortlyrealize that, for I am going to show you how, single-handed, I can makeit impossible. Show you with your own eyes. It was my purpose in comingto waken you--my purpose, when your beauty led me into weaknessincredible.... Get up, Lady Elza."

  She stared. With folded arms he stood emotionless regarding her.

  "Get up, I tell you. Put on those garments you wore when we arrived. Weare going travelling again."

  He stood waiting; and beneath his gaze she shrank back, drawing the furrug over her.

  A smile of contempt parted his lips. "You hesitate? You think I am stilla weakling? You over-rate your beauty, Lady Elza.... Make haste, Icommand you. We must start very soon."

  She summoned her voice. "Start? Where? What are you--"

  "No questions, Lady Elza. Not now. Make haste--"

  He jerked from her the fur covering, flung it across the room, and withthe same gesture turned away impersonally. Trembling, she rose from thecouch and donned the garments he had indicated, while he stood broodingby the window, gazing through its transparent pane at the glisteningfrozen city which was all that remained of his empire.