The Black Flame by Stanley Weinbaum

Author:Stanley Weinbaum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pronoun

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15. TWO WOMEN

TOM CONNOR GLANCED A silent question at the doctor. At his nod, Connor seized the empty tumbler and looked frantically for water. He found it beyond a door, where a silent stream gushed from the mouth of a grotesque face into a broad basin.

Evanie drank eagerly, thirstily, when he brought it to her. She stared bewilderedly about the luxurious room, and turned questioning eyes on Connor.

“Where—” she began.

“In Urbs. In the Palace.”

Comprehension dawned.

“The Messengers! Oh, my God!” She shivered in fright. “How long—have I—”

“Just two days, Evanie. I carried you here.”

“What is to—to be done with us?”

“I don’t know, dear. But you’re safe.”

She frowned a moment in the effort to compose her still dazed and bewildered mind.

“Well,” she murmured finally, “nothing can be done about it. I’m ashamed to have been so weak. Was he—very angry?”

“He didn’t seem so.” The memory of the Master’s impassive face rose in his mind, and with it the vision of the exquisite features of the Princess.

“I suppose the girl who sits on his right is the Princess, isn’t she?” he asked. “Who is she?”

Evanie nodded. “Every one knows that. On his left sits Martin Sair, the Giver of Life, and on his right— Why do you ask that?” She glanced up troubled, suspicious.

“Because she saved my life. She intervened for me.”

“Tom!” Evanie’s voice was horror-filled. “Tom, that was Margaret of Urbs, the Black Flame!” Her eyes were terrified. “Tom, she’s dangerous—poisonous—deadly! You mustn’t even look at her. She’s driven men—I don’t know how many—to suicide. She’s killed men—she’s tortured them. Don’t ever go near, her, Tom! If she saved you, it wasn’t out of mercy, because she’s merciless—ruthless—utterly pitiless!”

Scarcely conscious as yet, the girl was on the verge of hysteria. Her voice grew shrill, and Connor glanced apprehensively at the young doctor’s face.

Evanie turned ashen pale.

“I—feel—dizzy,” she choked. “I’m going—to

The doctor sprang forward. “You mustn’t!” he snapped. “We can’t let her sleep again. We must walk her! Quickly!”

Between them they dragged the collapsing girl from the bed, walking her up and down the chamber. A measure of strength returned, and she walked weakly between them, back. and forth. Then, abruptly, they paused at the sound of a sharp rap on the chamber door.

The doctor called out a summons. Two Urban guards in glittering metal strode through the entrance, and stood like images on either side of it. One of them intoned slowly, deep as an anthem:

“Margarita, Urbis Regina, Sororque Domini!”

The Princess! Connor and the doctor stood frozen, and even Evanie raised weary eyes as the Princess entered, striding imperiously into the room with the scaly gold of her kirtle glittering crimson in the last rays of the sun. She swept her cold eyes over the startled group, and suddenly her exquisite features flashed into a flame of anger. The glorious lips parted.

“You fool!” she spat. “You utter fool!”

Connor flushed in sudden anger, then realized that the Princess addressed, not him, but the doctor at Evanie’s left, who was fear-stricken and pallid.

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