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Venus, v. 1, issue 1, June 1944
Page 23
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-23- cloud at sunrise, touched golden by the light. It grew and thickened, and the Things beat and lurched frantically against it. A whiteness, like the sea foam, blue eyes and hair like pale candles burning in the dawn. "Hedi," he whispered, "Hedi!" And clear through the unclean noises came a voice: "I give you my soul, for as long as you need it." The chilling sickness left him, and there was strength again in his body. He shouted aloud, and sprang forward, sword raised high to drive the swarming horrors back whence they came. He stopped, amazed. They were gone, and there was no mark upon his flesh to show where they had torn him. Hedi's vision faded, and there was Boudag's face, the green eyes narrowed and dark with the anger of defeat. "She stronger than I," the beast-woman whispered, "Stronger because of what you make of her, Man. I do not understand. My enchantment woke a flame in you, but it died. She kindles a light that lives and does not waver. "I see a strange world within your heart, It rises from the symbol on the ground. What is it? Love?" "Love...." The word shook through the Shadow-people like wind in tall grass. Very softly, the voice of Boudag whispered through it. "I see now, Love is of the Light itself, the strongest Force of all. Passion is but the moonbeam to the light of the sun, and we are the Shadow-folk, who will die when the full light strikes us." Her wild head sank forward, the black cloud of her hair hiding her face, her ivory body. Slowly, slowly she turned away, her fellows at her heels, their hoofs soundless on the velvet turf. One by one, sad and silent, they mingled with the shadows of the trees, and were lost. THERE was no life in the forest, no sound but a scrowing breeze that wept in the branches. Atla went heavily down the empty glades, trailing his naked sword unnoticed in his hand. Some latent instinct led him aright, for the trees thinned to stunted scrub, and there came a smell of salt in the air. Atla raised his head and stopped. The beach was before him, and there was a fragrance of cooking in the air. A new camp lay under the dawn sun; Hedi stood before one of the tents, tending a big iron pot. Atla smiled abruptly and shook the shadows from his heart. His blade clanged home in the scabbard as he ran across the sand. He squatted boylike beside the pot, holding out his hand for the bowl Hedi gave him. As he took it she bent low and kissed him tenderly on the mouth, and suddenly, remembering, Atla flushed and dropped his head so that he would not meet her eyes. "Come, love, eat," Hedi said and laughed. "All our kingdom lies waiting. Remember Atla ? And our sons shall king it here and its name shall be Atla'n'tis after their sire!" FINIS HEDI
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-23- cloud at sunrise, touched golden by the light. It grew and thickened, and the Things beat and lurched frantically against it. A whiteness, like the sea foam, blue eyes and hair like pale candles burning in the dawn. "Hedi," he whispered, "Hedi!" And clear through the unclean noises came a voice: "I give you my soul, for as long as you need it." The chilling sickness left him, and there was strength again in his body. He shouted aloud, and sprang forward, sword raised high to drive the swarming horrors back whence they came. He stopped, amazed. They were gone, and there was no mark upon his flesh to show where they had torn him. Hedi's vision faded, and there was Boudag's face, the green eyes narrowed and dark with the anger of defeat. "She stronger than I," the beast-woman whispered, "Stronger because of what you make of her, Man. I do not understand. My enchantment woke a flame in you, but it died. She kindles a light that lives and does not waver. "I see a strange world within your heart, It rises from the symbol on the ground. What is it? Love?" "Love...." The word shook through the Shadow-people like wind in tall grass. Very softly, the voice of Boudag whispered through it. "I see now, Love is of the Light itself, the strongest Force of all. Passion is but the moonbeam to the light of the sun, and we are the Shadow-folk, who will die when the full light strikes us." Her wild head sank forward, the black cloud of her hair hiding her face, her ivory body. Slowly, slowly she turned away, her fellows at her heels, their hoofs soundless on the velvet turf. One by one, sad and silent, they mingled with the shadows of the trees, and were lost. THERE was no life in the forest, no sound but a scrowing breeze that wept in the branches. Atla went heavily down the empty glades, trailing his naked sword unnoticed in his hand. Some latent instinct led him aright, for the trees thinned to stunted scrub, and there came a smell of salt in the air. Atla raised his head and stopped. The beach was before him, and there was a fragrance of cooking in the air. A new camp lay under the dawn sun; Hedi stood before one of the tents, tending a big iron pot. Atla smiled abruptly and shook the shadows from his heart. His blade clanged home in the scabbard as he ran across the sand. He squatted boylike beside the pot, holding out his hand for the bowl Hedi gave him. As he took it she bent low and kissed him tenderly on the mouth, and suddenly, remembering, Atla flushed and dropped his head so that he would not meet her eyes. "Come, love, eat," Hedi said and laughed. "All our kingdom lies waiting. Remember Atla ? And our sons shall king it here and its name shall be Atla'n'tis after their sire!" FINIS HEDI
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