The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 2: Grim Lands

II

WHEN I WAS THE LIBERATOR

A room strangely barren in contrast to the rich tapestries on the walls and the deep carpets on the floor. A small writing table, behind which sat a man. This man would have stood out in a crowd of a million. It was not so much because of his unusual size, his height and great shoulders, though these features lent to the general effect. But his face, dark and immobile, held the gaze and his narrow grey eyes beat down the wills of the onlookers by their icy magnetism. Each movement he made, no matter how slight, betokened steel spring muscles and brain knit to those muscles with perfect coordination. There was nothing deliberate or measured about his motions--either he was perfectly at rest--still as a bronze statue, or else he was in motion, with that cat-like quickness which blurred the sight that tried to follow his movements. Now this man rested his chin on his fists, his elbows on the writing table, and gloomily eyed the man who stood before him. This man was occupied in his own affairs at the moment, for he was tightening the laces of his breast-plate. Moreover he was abstractedly whistling--a strange and unconventional performance, considering that he was in the presence of a king.

"This rule," said the king,"this matter of statecraft wearies me as all the fighting I have done never did. "--part of the game, Kull," answered Brule. "you are king--you must play the part. I wish that I might ride with you to Grondar," said Kull enviously. It seems ages since I had a horse between my knees--but Tu says that affairs at home require my presence. Curse him!

"Months and months ago," he continued with increasing gloom, getting no answer and speaking with freedom, "overthrew the old dynasty and seized the throne of Valusia'sof which I had dreamed ever since I was a boy in the land of my tribesmen. That was easy. Looking back now, over the long hard path I followed, all those days of toil, slaughter and tribulation seem like so many dreams. From a wild tribesman in Atlantis, I rose, passing through the galleys of Lemuria--a slave for two years at the oars--then an outlaw in the hills of Valusia'sthen a captive in her dungeons--a gladiator in her arenas--a soldier in her armies--a commander--a king!

--he trouble with me, Brule, I did not dream far enough. I always visualized merely the seizing of the throne--I did not look beyond. When king Borna lay dead beneath my feet, and I tore the crown from his gory head, I had reached the ultimate border of my dreams. From there, it has been a maze of illusions and mistakes. I prepared myself to seize the throne--not to hold it.

--hen I overthrew Borna, then people hailed me wildly--then I was The Liberator--now they mutter and stare blackly behind my back--they spit at my shadow when they think I am not looking. They have put a statue of Borna, that dead swine, in the Temple of the Serpent and people go and wail before him, hailing him as a saintly monarch who was done to death by a red handed barbarian. When I led her armies to victory as a soldier, Valusia overlooked the fact that I was a foreigner--now she cannot forgive me.

--nd now, in the Temple of the Serpent, there come to burn incense to Borna-- memory, men whom his executioners blinded and maimed, fathers whose sons died in his dungeons, husbands whose wives were dragged into his seraglio--Bah! Men are all fools.----idondo is largely responsible,--answered the Pict, drawing his sword belt up another notch.--e sings songs that make men mad. Hang him in his jester-- garb to the highest tower in the city. Let him make rhymes for the vultures.-- Kull shook his lion head.--o, Brule, he is beyond my reach. A great poet is greater than any king. He hates me, yet I would have his friendship. His songs are mightier than my sceptre, for time and again he has near torn the heart from my breast when he chose to sing for me. I will die and be forgotten, his songs will live forever.-- The Pict shrugged his shoulders.--s you like; you are still king, and the people cannot dislodge you. The Red Slayers are yours to a man, and you have all Pictland behind you. We are barbarians, together, even if we have spent most of our lives in this land. I go, now. You have naught to fear save an attempt at assassination, which is no fear at all, considering the fact that you are guarded night and day by a squad of the Red Slayers.-- Kull lifted his hand in a gesture of farewell and the Pict clanked out the room.

Now another man wished his attention, reminding Kull that a king-- time was never his own.

This man was a young noble of the city, one Seno val Dor. This famous young swordsman and reprobate presented himself before the king with the plain evidence of much mental perturbation. His velvet cap was rumpled and as he dropped it to the floor when he kneeled, the plume drooped miserably. His gaudy clothing showed stains as if in his mental agony he had neglected his personal appearance for some time.

--ing, lord king," he said in tones of deep sincerity. If the glorious record of my family means anything to your majesty, if my own fealty means anything, for Valka's sake, grant my request.----ame it. Lord king, I love a maiden--without her I cannot live. Without me, she must die. I cannot eat, I cannot sleep for thinking of her. Her beauty haunts me day and night--the radiant vision of her divine loveliness.

Kull moved restlessly. He had never been a lover.

--hen in Valka's name, marry her!----h,--cried the youth,--here-- the rub. She is a slave, Ala by name, belonging to one Volmana, count of Karaban. It is on the black books of Valusian law that a noble cannot marry a slave. It has always been so. I have moved high heaven and get only the same reply.--oble and slave can never wed.--It is fearful. They tell me that never in the history of the empire before has a nobleman wanted to marry a slave! What is that to me? I appeal to you as a last resort!----ill not this Volmana sell her?----e would, but that would hardly alter the case. She would still be a slave and a man cannot marry his own slave. Only as a wife I want her. Any other way would be hollow mockery. I want to show her to all the world, rigged out in the ermine and jewels of val Dor-- wife! But it cannot be, unless you can help me. She was born a slave, of a hundred generations of slaves, and slave she will be as long as she lives and her children after her. And as such she cannot marry a freeman.----hen go into slavery with her,--suggested Kull, eyeing the youth narrowly.

--his I desired,--answered Seno, so frankly that Kull instantly believed him.--went to Volmana and said:--ou have a slave whom I love; I wish to wed her. Take me, then, as your slave so that I may be ever near her.--He refused with horror; he would sell me the girl, or give her to me but he would not consent to enslave me. And my father has sworn on the unbreakable oath to kill me if I should so degrade the name of val Dor as to go into slavery. No, lord king, only you can help us.-- Kull summoned Tu and laid the case before him. Tu, chief councillor, shook his head.--t is written in the great iron bound books, even as Seno has said. It has ever been the law, and it will always be the law. A noble may not mate with a slave.----hy may I not change that law?--queried Kull.

Tu laid before him a tablet of stone whereon the law was engraved.

--or thousands of years this law has been--see, Kull, on the stone it was carved by the primal law makers, so many centuries ago a man might count all night and still not number them all. Neither you, nor any other king, may alter it.-- Kull felt suddenly the sickening, weakening feeling of utter helplessness which had begun to assail him of late. Kingship was another form of slavery, it seemed to him--he had always won his way by carving a path through his enemies with his great sword--how could he prevail against solicitous and respectful friends who bowed and flattered and were adamant against anything new, or any change--who barricaded themselves and their customs with traditions and antiquity and quietly defied him to change--anything?

No,--he said with a weary wave of his hand. I am sorry. But I cannot help you.-- Seno val Dor wandered out of the room, a broken man, if hanging head and bent shoulders, dull eyes and dragging steps mean anything.

III

-- THOUGHT YOU A HUMAN TIGER!-- A cool wind whispered through the green woodlands. A silver thread of a brook wound among great tree boles, whence hung large vines and gayly festooned creepers. A bird sang and the soft late summer sunlight was sifted through the interlocking branches to fall in gold and blackvelvet patterns of shade and light on the grass covered earth. In the midst of this pastoral quietude, a little slave girl lay with her face between her soft white arms, and wept as if her little heart would break. The bird sang but she was deaf; the brook called her but she was dumb; the sun shone but she was blind--all the universe was a black void in which only pain and tears were real.

So she did not hear the light footfall nor see the tall broad shouldered man who came out of the bushes and stood above her. She was not aware of his presence until he knelt and lifted her, wiping her eyes with hands as gentle as a woman't.

The little slave girl looked into a dark immobile face, with cold narrow grey eyes which just now were strangely soft. She knew this man was not a Valusian from his appearance, and in these troublous times it was not a good thing for little slave girls to be caught in the lonely woods by strangers, especially foreigners, but she was too miserable to be afraid and besides the man looked kind.

--hat-- the matter, child?--he asked and because a woman in extreme grief is likely to pour her sorrows out to anyone who shows interest and sympathy she whimpered:--h, sir, I am a miserable girl! I love a young nobleman--

--eno val Dor?----es, sir.--She glanced at him in surprize.--ow did you know? He wishes to marry me and today having striven in vain elsewhere for permission, he went to the king himself. But the king refused to aid him.-- A shadow crossed the stranger-- dark face.--id Seno say the king refused?----o--the king summoned the chief councillor and argued with him awhile, but gave in. Oh,--she sobbed,--knew it would be useless! The laws of Valusia are unalterable! No matter how cruel or unjust! They are greater than the king.-- The girl felt the muscles of the arms supporting her swell and harden into great iron cables. Across the stranger-- face passed a bleak and hopeless expression.

--ye,--he muttered, half to himself,--he laws of Valusia are greater than the king.-- Telling her troubles had helped her a little and she dried her eyes. Little slave girls are used to troubles and to suffering, though this one had been unusually kindly used all her life.

--oes Seno hate the king?--asked the stranger.

She shook her head.--e realizes the king is helpless.----nd you?----nd I what?----o you hate the king?-- Her eyes flared--shocked.--! Oh sir, who am I, to hate the king? Why, why, I never thought of such a thing.----am glad,--said the man heavily.--fter all, little one, the king is only a slave like yourself, locked with heavier chains.----oor man,--she said, pityingly though not exactly understanding, then she flamed into wrath.--ut I do hate the cruel laws which the people follow! Why should laws not change? Time never stands still! Why should people today be shackled by laws which were made for our barbarian ancestors thousands of years ago--she stopped suddenly and looked fearfully about.

--on't tell,--she whispered, laying her head in an appealing manner on her companion't iron shoulder.--t is not fit that a woman, and a slave girl at that, should so unashamedly express herself on such public matters. I will be spanked if my mistress or my master hears of it!-- The big man smiled.--e at ease, child. The king himself would not be offended at your sentiments; indeed I believe that he agrees with you.----ave you seen the king?--she asked, her childish curiosity overcoming her misery for the moment.

--ften.----nd is he eight feet tall,--she asked eagerly,--nd has he horns under his crown, as the common people say?----carcely,--he laughed.--e lacks nearly two feet of answering your description as regards height; as for size he might be my twin brother. There is not an inch difference in us.----s he as kind as you?----t times; when he is not goaded to frenzy by a statecraft which he cannot understand and by the vagaries of a people which can never understand him.----s he in truth a barbarian?----n very truth; he was born and spent his early boyhood among the heathen barbarians who inhabit the land of Atlantis. He dreamed a dream and fulfilled it. Because he was a great fighter and a savage swordsman, because he was crafty in actual battle, because the barbarian mercenaries in Valusian armies loved him, he became king. Because he is a warrior and not a politician, because his swordsmanship helps him now not at all, his throne is rocking beneath him.----nd he is very unhappy.----ot all the time,--smiled the big man.--ometimes when he slips away alone and takes a few hours holiday by himself among the woods, he is almost happy. Especially when he meets a pretty girl like--

The girl cried out in sudden terror, slipping to her knees before him:--h, sire, sire, have mercy! I did not know--you are the king!----on't be afraid.--Kull knelt beside her again and put an arm about her, feeling her trembling from head to foot.--ou said I was kind--

--nd so you are, sire,--she whispered weakly.----I thought you were a human tiger, from what men said, but you are kind and tender--b-but--you are k-king and I--

Suddenly in a very agony of confusion and embarrassment, she sprang up and fled, vanishing instantly. The overcoming realization that the king, whom she had only dreamed of seeing at a distance some day, was actually the man to whom she had told her pitiful woes, overcame her and filled her with an abasement and embarrassment which was an almost physical terror.

Kull sighed and rose. The affairs of the palace were calling him back and he must return and wrestle with problems concerning the nature of which he had only the vaguest idea and concerning the solving of which he had no idea at all.

IV

--HO DIES FIRST?-- Through the utter silence which shrouded the corridors and halls of the palace, fourteen figures stole. Their stealthy feet, cased in soft leather shoes, made no sound either on thick carpet or bare marble tile. The torches which stood in niches along the halls gleamed redly on bared dagger, broad sword blade and keen edged axe.

--asy, easy all!--hissed Ascalante, halting for a moment to glance back at his followers.--top that cursed loud breathing, whoever it is! The officer of the night guard has removed all the guards from these halls, either by direct order or by making them drunk, but we must be careful. Lucky it is for us that those cursed Picts--the lean wolves--are either revelling at the consulate or riding to Grondar. Hist! back--here come the guard!-- They crowded back behind a huge pillar which might have hidden a whole regiment of men, and waited. Almost immediately ten men swung by; tall brawny men, in red armor, who looked like iron statues. They were heavily armed and the faces of some showed a slight uncertainty. The officer who led them was rather pale. His face was set in hard lines and he lifted a hand to wipe sweat from his brow as the guard passed the pillar where the assassins hid. He was young and this betraying of a king came not easy to him.

They clanked by and passed on up the corridor.

--ood!--chuckled Ascalante.--e did as I bid; Kull sleeps unguarded! Haste, we have work to do! If they catch us killing him, we are undone, but a dead king is easy to make a mere memory. Haste!----ye haste!--cried Ridondo.

They hurried down the corridor with reckless speed and stopped before a door.

--ere!--snapped Ascalante.--romel--break me open this door!-- The giant launched his mighty weight against the panel. Again--this time there was a rending of bolts, a crash of wood and the door staggered and burst inward.

--n!--shouted Ascalante, on fire with the spirit of murder.

--n!--roared Ridondo.--eath to the tyrant--

They halted short--Kull faced them--not a naked Kull, roused out of deep sleep, mazed and unarmed to be butchered like a sheep, but a Kull wakeful and ferocious, partly clad in the armor of a Red Slayer, with a long sword in his hand.

Kull had risen quietly a few minutes before, unable to sleep. He had intended to ask the officer of the guard into his room to converse with him awhile, but on looking through the spy-hole of the door, had seen him leading his men off. To the suspicious brain of the barbarian king had leaped the assumption that he was being betrayed. He never thought of calling the men back, because they were supposedly in the plot too. There was no good reason for this desertion. So Kull had quietly and quickly donned the armor he kept at hand, nor had he completed this act when Gromel first hurtled against the door.

For a moment the tableau held--the four rebel noblemen at the door and the ten wild desperate outlaws crowding close behind them--held at bay by the terrible-eyed silent giant who stood in the middle of the royal bedroom, sword at the ready.

Then Ascalante shouted: --n! And slay him! He is one to fourteen and he has no helmet!-- True; there had been lack of time to put on the helmet, nor was there now time to snatch the great shield from where it hung on the wall. Be that as it may, Kull was better protected than any of the assassins except Gromel and Volmana who were in full armor, with their vizors closed.

With a yell that rang to the roof, the killers flooded into the room. First of all was Gromel. He came in like a charging bull, head down, sword low for the disembowelling thrust. And Kull sprang to meet him like a tiger charging a bull, and all the king-- weight and mighty strength went into the arm that swung the sword. In a whistling arc the great blade flashed through the air to crash down on the commander-- helmet. Blade and helmet clashed and flew to pieces together and Gromel rolled lifeless on the floor, while Kull bounded back, gripping the bladeless hilt.

--romel! he snarled as the shattered helmet disclosed the shattered head, then the rest of the pack were upon him. He felt a dagger point rake along his ribs and flung the wielder aside with a swing of his great left arm. He smashed his broken hilt square between another's eyes and dropped him senseless and bleeding to the floor.

Latch the door, four of you!--screamed Ascalante, dancing about the edge of that whirlpool of singing steel, for he feared Kull, with his great weight and speed, might smash through their midst and escape. Four rogues drew back and ranged themselves before the single door. And in that instant Kull leaped to the wall and tore therefrom an ancient battle axe which had hung there for possibly a hundred years.

Back to the wall he faced them for a moment, then leaped among them. No defensive fighter was Kull! He always carried the fight to the enemy. A sweep of the axe dropped an outlaw to the floor with a severed shoulder--the terrible back-hand stroke crushed the skull of another. A sword shattered against his breast-plate--else he had died. His concern was to protect his uncovered head and the spaces between breast plate and back plate--for Valusian armor was intricate and he had had no time to fully arm himself. Already he was bleeding from wounds on the cheek and the arms and legs, but so swift and deadly he was, and so much the fighter that even with the odds so greatly on their side, the assassins hesitated to leave an opening. Moreover their own numbers hampered them.

For one moment they crowded him savagely, raining blows, then they gave back and ringed him, thrusting and parrying--a couple of corpses on the floor gave mute evidence of the unwisdom of their first plan.

--naves!--screamed Ridondo in a rage, flinging off his slouch cap, his wild eyes glaring.--o ye shrink from the combat? Shall the despot live? Out on it!-- He rushed in, thrusting viciously; but Kull, recognizing him, shattered his sword with a tremendous short chop and, with a push, sent him reeling back to sprawl on the floor. The king took in his left arm the sword of Ascalante and the outlaw only saved his life by ducking Kull-- axe and bounding backward. One of the hairy bandits dived at Kull-- legs hoping to bring him down in that manner, but after wrestling for a brief instant at what seemed a solid iron tower, he glanced up just in time to see the axe falling, but not in time to avoid it. In the interim one of his comrades had lifted a sword with both hands and hewed downward with such downright sincerity that he cut through Kull-- shoulder plate on the left side, and wounded the shoulder beneath. In an instant the king-- breast plate was full of blood.

Volmana, flinging the attackers to right and left in his savage impatience, came ploughing through and hacked savagely at Kull-- unprotected head. Kull ducked and the sword whistled above, shaving off a lock of hair--ducking the blows of a dwarf like Volmana is difficult for a man of Kull-- height.

Kull pivoted on his heel and struck from the side, as a wolf might leap, in a wide level arc--Volmana dropped with his whole left side caved in and the lungs gushing forth.

Volmana!--Kull spoke the word rather breathlessly.---- know that dwarf in Hell--

He straightened to defend himself from the maddened rush of Ridondo who charged in wild and wide open, armed only with a dagger. Kull leaped back, axe high.

--idondo!--his voice rang sharply.--ack! I would not harm you--

--ie, tyrant!--screamed the mad minstrel, hurling himself headlong on the king. Kull delayed the blow he was loath to deliver until it was too late. Only when he felt the bite of steel in his unprotected side did he strike, in a frenzy of blind desperation.

Ridondo dropped with a shattered skull and Kull reeled back against the wall, blood spurting through the fingers which gripped his wounded side.

--n, now, and get him!--yelled Ascalante, preparing to lead the attack.

Kull placed his back to the wall and lifted his axe. He made a terrible and primordial picture. Legs braced far apart, head thrust forward, one red hand clutching at the wall for support, the other gripping the axe on high, while the ferocious features were frozen in a death snarl of hate, and the icy eyes blazed through the mist of blood which veiled them. The men hesitated; the tiger might be dying but he was still capable of dealing death.

--ho dies first?--snarled Kull through smashed and bloody lips.

Ascalante leaped as a wolf leaps--halted almost in mid-air with the unbelievable speed which characterized him, and fell prostrate to avoid the death that was hissing toward him in the form of a red axe. He frantically whirled his feet out of the way and rolled clear just as Kull recovered from his missed blow and struck again--this time the axe sank four inches into the polished wood floor close to Ascalante's revolving legs.

Another desperado rushed at this instant, followed half heartedly by his fellows. The first villain had figured on reaching Kull and killing him before he could get his axe out of the floor, but he miscalculated the king-- speed, or else he started his rush a second too late. At any rate the axe lurched up and crashed down and the rush halted abruptly as a reddened caricature of a man was catapulted back against their legs.

At that moment a hurried clanking of feet sounded down the hall and the rogues in the door raised a shout:--oldiers coming!-- Ascalante cursed and his men deserted him like rats leaving a sinking ship. They rushed out into the hall--or limped, splattering blood--and down the corridor a hue and cry was raised, and pursuit started.

Save for the dead and dying men on the floor, Kull and Ascalante stood alone in the royal bed room. Kull-- knees were buckling and he leaned heavily against the wall, watching the outlaw with the eyes of a dying wolf.

--ll seems to be lost, particularly honor,--he murmured. "However the king is dying on his feet--and--whatever other cogitation might have passed through his mind is not known for at that moment he ran lightly at Kull just as the king was employing his axe arm to wipe the blood from his half blind eyes. A man with a sword at the ready can thrust quicker than a wounded man out of position can strike with an axe that weighs his weary arm like lead.

But even as Ascalante began his thrust, Seno val Dor appeared at the door and flung something through the air which glittered, sang and ended its flight in Ascalante's throat. The outlaw staggered, dropped his sword and sank to the floor at Kull-- feet, flooding them with the flow of a severed jugular--mute witness that Seno-- war-skill included knife throwing as well. Kull looked down bewilderedly at the dead outlaw and Ascalante's dead eyes stared back in seeming mockery, as if the owner still maintained the futility of kings and outlaws, of plots and counter-plots.

Then Seno was supporting the king, the room was flooded with men-at-arms in the uniform of the great val Dor family and Kull realized that a little slave girl was holding his other arm.

"Kull, Kull, are you dead?" val Dor's face was very white.

"Not yet," the king spoke huskily. "Staunch this wound in my left side--if I die--it will be from it; it is deep but the rest are not mortal--Ridondo wrote me a deathly song there! Cram stuff into it for the present--I have work to do.-- They obeyed wonderingly and as the flow of blood ceased, Kull though literally bled white already, felt some slight access of strength. The palace was fully aroused now. Court ladies, lords, men-at-arms, councillors, all swarmed about the place babbling. The Red Slayers were gathering, wild with rage, ready for anything, jealous of the fact that others had aided their king. Of the young officer who had commanded the door guard, he had slipped away in the darkness and neither then nor later was he in evidence, though earnestly sought after.

Kull, still keeping stubbornly to his feet, grasping his bloody axe with one hand and Seno-- shoulder with another singled out Tu, who stood wringing his hands and ordered: "Bring me the tablet whereon is engraved the law concerning slaves.----ut lord king--

"Do as I say!" howled Kull, lifting the axe and Tu scurried to obey.

As he waited and the court women flocked about him, dressing his wounds and trying gently but vainly to pry his iron fingers from about the bloody axe handle, Kull heard Seno-- breathless tale.

-- Ala heard Kaanuub and Volmana plotting--she had stolen into a little nook to cry over her--our troubles, and Kaanuub came, on his way to his country estate. He was shaking with terror for fear plans might go awry and he made Volmana go over the plot with him again before he left, so he might know there was no flaw in it.

--e did not leave until it was late, and then Ala stole away and came to me. But it is a long way from Volmana-- city house to the house of val Dor, a long way for a little girl to walk, and though I gathered my men and came instantly, we almost arrived too late.-- Kull gripped his shoulder.

-- will not forget.-- Tu entered with the law tablet, laying it reverently on the table.

Kull shouldered aside all who stood near him and stood up alone.

--ear, people of Valusia,--he exclaimed, upheld by the wild beast vitality which was his, fired from within by a strength which was more than physical.--stand here--the king. I am wounded almost unto death, but I have survived mass wounds.

--ear you! I am weary of this business! I am no king but a slave! I am hemmed in by laws, laws, laws! I cannot punish malefactors nor reward my friends because of law--custom--tradition! By Valka, I will be king in fact as well as in name!

--ere stand the two who have saved my life! Henceforward they are free to marry, to do as they like!-- Seno and Ala rushed into each other-- arms with a glad cry.

"But the law!" screamed Tu.

"I am the law!" roared Kull, swinging up his axe; it flashed downward and the stone tablet flew into a hundred pieces. The people clenched their hands in horror, waiting dumbly for the sky to fall.

Kull reeled back, eyes blazing. The room whirled to his dizzy gaze.

"I am king, state and law!--he roared, and seizing the wand-like sceptre which lay near, he broke it in two and flung it from him.--his shall be my sceptre!--The red axe was brandished aloft, splashing the pallid nobles with drops of blood. Kull gripped the slender crown with his left hand and placed his back against the wall. Only that support kept him from falling but in his arms was still the strength of lions.

"I am either king or corpse!" he roared, his corded muscles bulging, his terrible eyes blazing. "If you like not my kingship--come and take this crown!-- The corded left arm held out the crown, the right gripping the menacing axe above it.

--y this axe I rule! This is my sceptre! I have struggled and sweated to be the puppet king you wished me to be--to king it your way. Now I use mine own way! If you will not fight, you shall obey! Laws that are just shall stand; laws that have outlived their times I shall shatter as I shattered that one! I am king!-- Slowly the pale faced noblemen and frightened women knelt, bowing in fear and reverence to the blood stained giant who towered above them with his eyes ablaze.

I am king!--

The King and the Oak

Before the shadows slew the sun the kites were soaring free,

And Kull rode down the forest road, his red sword at his knee;

And winds were whispering round the world:--ing Kull rides to the sea.--

The sun died crimson in the sea, the long grey shadows fell;

The moon rose like a silver skull that wrought a demon't spell,

For in its light great trees stood up like specters out of Hell.

In spectral light the trees stood up, inhuman monsters dim;

Kull thought each trunk a living shape, each branch a knotted limb,

And strange unmortal evil eyes flamed horribly at him.

The branches writhed like knotted snakes, they beat against the night,

And one great oak with swayings stiff, horrific in his sight,

Tore up its roots and blocked his way, grim in the ghostly light.

They grappled in the forest way, the king and grisly oak;

Its great limbs bent him in their grip, but never a word was spoke;

And futile in his iron hand, the stabbing dagger broke.

And through the tossing, monstrous trees there sang a dim refrain

Fraught deep with twice a million years of evil, hate and pain:

He were the lords ere man had come, and shall be lords again.--

Kull sensed an empire strange and old that bowed to man't advance

As kingdoms of the grassblades bow before the marching ants,

And horror gripped him; in the dawn like someone in a trance

He strove with bloody hands against a still and silent tree;

As from a nightmare dream he woke; a wind blew down the lea

And Kull of high Atlantis rode silent to the sea.

The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune

A wild, weird clime that lieth sublime Out of Space, out of Time.

--Poe

THERE comes, even to kings, the time of great weariness. Then the gold of the throne is brass, the silk of the palace becomes drab. The gems in the diadem and upon the fingers of the women sparkle drearily like the ice of the white seas; the speech of men is as the empty rattle of a jester-- bell and the feel comes of things unreal; even the sun is copper in the sky and the breath of the green ocean is no longer fresh.

Kull sat upon the throne of Valusia and the hour of weariness was upon him. They moved before him in an endless, meaningless panorama, men, women, priests, events and shadows of events; things seen and things to be attained. But like shadows they came and went, leaving no trace upon his consciousness, save that of a great mental fatigue. Yet Kull was not tired. There was a longing in him for things beyond himself and beyond the Valusian court. An unrest stirred in him and strange, luminous dreams roamed his soul. At his bidding there came to him Brule the Spear-slayer, warrior of Pictland, from the islands beyond the West.

--ord king, you are tired of the life of the court. Come with me upon my galley and let us roam the tides for a space.----ay.--Kull rested his chin moodily upon his mighty hand.--am weary beyond all these things. The cities hold no lure for me--and the borders are quiet. I hear no more the sea-songs I heard when I lay as a boy on the booming crags of Atlantis, and the night was alive with blazing stars. No more do the green woodlands beckon me as of old. There is a strangeness upon me and a longing beyond life-- longings. Go!-- Brule went forth in a doubtful mood, leaving the king brooding upon his throne. Then to Kull stole a girl of the court and whispered:

--reat king, seek Tuzun Thune, the wizard. The secrets of life and death are his, and the stars in the sky and the lands beneath the seas.-- Kull looked at the girl. Fine gold was her hair and her violet eyes were slanted strangely; she was beautiful, but her beauty meant little to Kull.

--uzun Thune,--he repeated.--ho is he?----wizard of the Elder Race. He lives here, in Valusia, by the Lake of Visions in the House of a Thousand Mirrors. All things are known to him, lord king; he speaks with the dead and holds converse with the demons of the Lost Lands.-- Kull arose.

-- will seek out this mummer; but no word of my going, do you hear?----am your slave, my lord.--And she sank to her knees meekly, but the smile of her scarlet mouth was cunning behind Kull-- back and the gleam of her narrow eyes was crafty.

KULL came to the house of Tuzun Thune, beside the Lake of Visions. Wide and blue stretched the waters of the lake and many a fine palace rose upon its banks; many swan-winged pleasure boats drifted lazily upon its hazy surface and evermore there came the sound of soft music.

Tall and spacious, but unpretentious, rose the House of a Thousand Mirrors. The great doors stood open and Kull ascended the broad stair and entered, unannounced. There in a great chamber, whose walls were of mirrors, he came upon Tuzun Thune, the wizard. The man was ancient as the hills of Zalgara; like wrinkled leather was his skin, but his cold gray eyes were like sparks of sword steel.

--ull of Valusia, my house is yours,--said he, bowing with old-time courtliness and motioning Kull to a throne-like chair.

--ou are a wizard, I have heard,--said Kull bluntly, resting his chin upon his hand and fixing his somber eyes upon the man't face.--an you do wonders?-- The wizard stretched forth his hand; his fingers opened and closed like a bird-- claws.

--s that not a wonder--that this blind flesh obeys the thoughts of my mind? I walk, I breathe, I speak--are they all not wonders?-- Kull meditated awhile, then spoke.--an you summon up demons?----ye. I can summon up a demon more savage than any in ghostland--by smiting you in the face.-- Kull started, then nodded.--ut the dead, can you talk to the dead?----talk with the dead always--as I am talking now. Death begins with birth and each man begins to die when he is born; even now you are dead, King Kull, because you were born.----ut you, you are older than men become; do wizards never die?----en die when their time comes. No later, no sooner. Mine has not come.-- Kull turned these answers over in his mind.

--hen it would seem that the greatest wizard of Valusia is no more than an ordinary man, and I have been duped in coming here.-- Tuzun Thune shook his head.--en are but men, and the greatest men are they who soonest learn the simpler things. Nay, look into my mirrors, Kull.-- The ceiling was a great many mirrors, and the walls were mirrors, perfectly jointed, yet many mirrors of many sizes and shapes.

--irrors are the world, Kull,--droned the wizard.--aze into my mirrors and be wise.-- Kull chose one at random and looked into it intently. The mirrors upon the opposite wall were reflected there, reflecting others, so that he seemed to be gazing down a long, luminous corridor, formed by mirror behind mirror; and far down this corridor moved a tiny figure. Kull looked long ere he saw that the figure was the reflection of himself. He gazed and a queer feeling of pettiness came over him; it seemed that that tiny figure was the true Kull, representing the real proportions of himself. So he moved away and stood before another.

--ook closely, Kull. That is the mirror of the past,--he heard the wizard say.

Gray fogs obscured the vision, great billows of mist, ever heaving and changing like the ghost of a great river; through these fogs Kull caught swift fleeting visions of horror and strangeness; beasts and men moved there and shapes neither men nor beasts; great exotic blossoms glowed through the grayness; tall tropic trees towered high over reeking swamps, where reptilian monsters wallowed and bellowed; the sky was ghastly with flying dragons and the restless seas rocked and roared and beat endlessly along the muddy beaches. Man was not, yet man was the dream of the gods and strange were the nightmare forms that glided through the noisome jungles. Battle and onslaught were there, and frightful love. Death was there, for Life and Death go hand in hand. Across the slimy beaches of the world sounded the bellowing of the monsters, and incredible shapes loomed through the steaming curtain of the incessant rain.

--his is of the future.-- Kull looked in silence.

--ee you--what?----strange world,--said Kull heavily.--he Seven Empires are crumbled to dust and are forgotten. The restless green waves roar for many a fathom above the eternal hills of Atlantis; the mountains of Lemuria of the West are the islands of an unknown sea. Strange savages roam the elder lands and new lands flung strangely from the deeps, defiling the elder shrines. Valusia is vanished and all the nations of today; they of tomorrow are strangers. They know us not.----ime strides onward,--said Tuzun Thune calmly.--e live today; what care we for tomorrow--or yesterday? The Wheel turns and nations rise and fall; the world changes, and times return to savagery to rise again through the long ages. Ere Atlantis was, Valusia was, and ere Valusia was, the Elder Nations were. Aye, we, too, trampled the shoulders of lost tribes in our advance. You, who have come from the green sea hills of Atlantis to seize the ancient crown of Valusia, you think my tribe is old, we who held these lands ere the Valusians came out of the East, in the days before there were men in the sea lands. But men were here when the Elder Tribes rode out of the waste lands, and men before men, tribe before tribe. The nations pass and are forgotten, for that is the destiny of man.----es,--said Kull.--et is it not a pity that the beauty and glory of men should fade like smoke on a summer sea?----or what reason, since that is their destiny? I brood not over the lost glories of my race, nor do I labor for races to come. Live now, Kull, live now. The dead are dead; the unborn are not. What matters men't forgetfulness of you when you have forgotten yourself in the silent worlds of death? Gaze in my mirrors and be wise.-- Kull chose another mirror and gazed into it.

--hat is the mirror of the deepest magic; what see ye, Kull?----aught but myself.----ook closely, Kull; is it in truth you?-- Kull stared into the great mirror, and the image that was his reflection returned his gaze.

-- come before this mirror,--mused Kull, chin on fist,--nd I bring this man to life. This is beyond my understanding, since first I saw him in the still waters of the lakes of Atlantis, till I saw him again in the gold-rimmed mirrors of Valusia. He is I, a shadow of myself, part of myself--I can bring him into being or slay him at my will; yet----he halted, strange thoughts whispering through the vast dim recesses of his mind like shadowy bats flying through a great cavern----et where is he when I stand not in front of a mirror? May it be in man't power thus lightly to form and destroy a shadow of life and existence? How do I know that when I step back from the mirror he vanishes into the void of Naught?

--ay, by Valka, am I the man or is he? Which of us is the ghost of the other? Mayhap these mirrors are but windows through which we look into another world. Does he think the same of me? Am I no more than a shadow, a reflection of himself--to him, as he to me? And if I am the ghost, what sort of a world lives upon the other side of this mirror? What armies ride there and what kings rule? This world is all I know. Knowing naught of any other, how can I judge? Surely there are green hills there and booming seas and wide plains where men ride to battle. Tell me, wizard who are wiser than most men, tell me, are there worlds beyond our worlds?----man has eyes, let him see,--answered the wizard.--ho would see must first believe.--

THE hours drifted by and Kull still sat before the mirrors of Tuzun Thune, gazing into that which depicted himself. Sometimes it seemed that he gazed upon hard shallowness; at other times gigantic depths seemed to loom before him. Like the surface of the sea was the mirror of Tuzun Thune; hard as the sea in the sun't slanting beams, in the darkness of the stars, when no eye can pierce her deeps; vast and mystic as the sea when the sun smites her in such way that the watcher-- breath is caught at the glimpse of tremendous abysses. So was the mirror in which Kull gazed.

At last the king rose with a sigh and took his departure still wondering. And Kull came again to the House of a Thousand Mirrors; day after day he came and sat for hours before the mirror. The eyes looked out at him, identical with his, yet Kull seemed to sense a difference--a reality that was not of him. Hour upon hour he would stare with strange intensity into the mirror; hour after hour the image gave back his gaze.

The business of the palace and of the council went neglected. The people murmured; Kull-- stallion stamped restlessly in his stable and Kull-- warriors diced and argued aimlessly with one another. Kull heeded not. At times he seemed on the point of discovering some vast, unthinkable secret. He no longer thought of the image in the mirror as a shadow of himself; the thing, to him, was an entity, similar in outer appearance, yet basically as far from Kull himself as the poles are far apart. The image, it seemed to Kull, had an individuality apart from Kull--; he was no more dependent on Kull than Kull was dependent on him. And day by day Kull doubted in which world he really lived; was he the shadow, summoned at will by the other? Did he instead of the other live in a world of delusion, the shadow of the real world?

Kull began to wish that he might enter the personality beyond the mirror for a space, to see what might be seen; yet should he manage to go beyond that door could he ever return? Would he find a world identical with the one in which he moved? A world, of which his was but a ghostly reflection? Which was reality and which illusion?

At times Kull halted to wonder how such thoughts and dreams had come to enter his mind and at times he wondered if they came of his own volition or--here his thoughts would become mazed. His meditations were his own; no man ruled his thoughts and he would summon them at his pleasure; yet could he? Were they not as bats, coming and going, not at his pleasure but at the bidding or ruling of--of whom? The gods? The Women who wove the webs of Fate? Kull could come to no conclusion, for at each mental step he became more and more bewildered in a hazy gray fog of illusory assertions and refutations. This much he knew: that strange visions entered his mind, like bats flying unbidden from the whispering void of nonexistence; never had he thought these thoughts, but now they ruled his mind, sleeping and waking, so that he seemed to walk in a daze at times; and his sleep was fraught with strange, monstrous dreams.

--ell me, wizard,--he said, sitting before the mirror, eyes fixed intently upon his image,--ow can I pass yon door? For of a truth, I am not sure that that is the real world and this the shadow; at least, that which I see must exist in some form.----ee and believe,--droned the wizard.--an must believe to accomplish. Form is shadow, substance is illusion, materiality is dream; man is because he believes he is; what is man but a dream of the gods? Yet man can be that which he wishes to be; form and substance, they are but shadows. The mind, the ego, the essence of the god-dream--that is real, that is immortal. See and believe, if you would accomplish, Kull.-- The king did not fully understand; he never fully understood the enigmatical utterances of the wizard, yet they struck somewhere in his being a dim responsive chord. So day after day he sat before the mirrors of Tuzun Thune. Ever the wizard lurked behind him like a shadow.

THEN came a day when Kull seemed to catch glimpses of strange lands; there flitted across his consciousness dim thoughts and recognitions. Day by day he had seemed to lose touch with the world; all things had seemed each succeeding day more ghostly and unreal; only the man in the mirror seemed like reality. Now Kull seemed to be close to the doors of some mightier worlds; giant vistas gleamed fleetingly; the fogs of unreality thinned,--orm is shadow, substance is illusion; they are but shadows--sounded as if from some far country of his consciousness. He remembered the wizard-- words and it seemed to him that now he almost understood--form and substance, could not he change himself at will, if he knew the master key that opened this door? What worlds within what worlds awaited the bold explorer?

The man in the mirror seemed smiling at him--closer, closer--a fog enwrapped all and the reflection dimmed suddenly--Kull knew a sensation of fading, of change, of merging----ull!--the yell split the silence into a million vibratory fragments!

Mountains crashed and worlds tottered as Kull, hurled back by that frantic shout, made a superhuman effort, how or why he did not know.

A crash, and Kull stood in the room of Tuzun Thune before a shattered mirror, mazed and half blind with bewilderment. There before him lay the body of Tuzun Thune, whose time had come at last, and above him stood Brule the Spear-slayer, sword dripping red and eyes wide with a kind of horror.

--alka!--swore the warrior.--ull, it was time I came!----ye, yet what happened?--The king groped for words.

--sk this traitress,--answered the Spear-slayer, indicating a girl who crouched in terror before the king; Kull saw that it was she who first sent him to Tuzun Thune.--s I came in I saw you fading into yon mirror as smoke fades into the sky, by Valka! Had I not seen I would not have believed--you had almost vanished when my shout brought you back.----ye,--muttered Kull,--had almost gone beyond the door that time.----his fiend wrought most craftily,--said Brule.--ull, do you not now see how he spun and flung over you a web of magic? Kaanuub of Blaal plotted with this wizard to do away with you, and this wench, a girl of Elder Race, put the thought in your mind so that you would come here. Kananu of the council learned of the plot today; I know not what you saw in that mirror, but with it Tuzun Thune enthralled your soul and almost by his witchery he changed your body to mist--

--ye.--Kull was still mazed.--ut being a wizard, having knowledge of all the ages and despising gold, glory and position, what could Kaanuub offer Tuzun Thune that would make of him a foul traitor?----old, power and position,--grunted Brule.--he sooner you learn that men are men whether wizard, king or thrall, the better you will rule, Kull. Now what of her?----aught, Brule,--as the girl whimpered and groveled at Kull-- feet.--he was but a tool. Rise, child, and go your ways; none shall harm you.-- Alone with Brule, Kull looked for the last time on the mirrors of Tuzun Thune.

--ayhap he plotted and conjured, Brule; nay, I doubt you not, yet--was it his witchery that was changing me to thin mist, or had I stumbled on a secret? Had you not brought me back, had I faded in dissolution or had I found worlds beyond this?-- Brule stole a glance at the mirrors, and twitched his shoulders as if he shuddered.--ye. Tuzun Thune stored the wisdom of all the hells here. Let us begone, Kull, ere they bewitch me, too.----et us go, then,--answered Kull, and side by side they went forth from the House of a Thousand Mirrors--where, mayhap, are prisoned the souls of men.

NONE look now in the mirrors of Tuzun Thune. The pleasure boats shun the shore where stands the wizard-- house and no one goes in the house or to the room where Tuzun Thune-- dried and withered carcass lies before the mirrors of illusion. The place is shunned as a place accursed, and though it stands for a thousand years to come, no footsteps shall echo there. Yet Kull upon his throne meditates often upon the strange wisdom and untold secrets hidden there and wonders--

For there are worlds beyond worlds, as Kull knows, and whether the wizard bewitched him by words or by mesmerism, vistas did open to the king-- gaze beyond that strange door, and Kull is less sure of reality since he gazed into the mirrors of Tuzun Thune.