The Reign of Wizardry Read Online Free PDF Page B

inquire whether the spell might not be made proof against destructionby contact.
    The yellow princess shook her head. “The guise is merely a measure of safety,” commented her soft singsong. “Even awoman is exposed to certain dangers. But a sufficient beauty can usually evade them.”
    Approaching her, Theseus fancied that he saw in her yellow features some faint mocking hint of the frog-face of Snish. And the limpid singsong, when she spoke again, had a slight nasalundertone.
    “Shall I not disguise you, also, Captain Firebrand?” she asked. “My insignificant arts are at your command.”
    Theseus shook his head. “I seek to destroy the arts of wizardry, not to employ them.” He shrugged wearily. “Anyhow, the overthrow of the throne of Minos is no task for women.”
    “The guise need not be a woman’s,” the yellow girl assured him. “That is merely the one which bestinsures my own safety. I can give you the likeness of any man you choose.”
    Theseus stared at the black sails marching from the south, before that mysterious wind. “There is the black priest I killed.” He rubbed reflectively at his lean chin. “No,” he said abruptly. “In time, such a guise might be useful. But now I am going to meet the Cretans as the pirate, Captain Firebrand, with the FallingStar to speak for me.”
    The long, almond eyes of Tai Leng smoldered, inscrutable. “But Captain Firebrand is already wanted,” her silken voice protested. “Minos has offered ten talents of silver for your head—”
    The singsong ceased abruptly; something glittered in her smoky eyes.
    “Seek to collect it,” warned Theseus, grimly, “and no wizard’s guise will save your guts from being spilled by theFalling Star!”
    To emphasize the warning, he seized the soft yellow curve of a shoulder exposed by the torn crimson silk and shook vigorously. The result was a strange transformation.
    The yielding golden flesh changed under his fingers; became brown, bony. The exotic woman’s face melted halfway into the ugly frog-features of Snish, and the protesting voice had a nasal whine: “Captain Firebrand,can’t you trust me? For I owe you my eyes, and even my life. I am your smallest, most miserable, most devoted slave.”
    “I trust no wizard—not even if he is small enough to be a louse on my belly,” muttered Theseus. “However, your arts may be useful to me—puny as they are against the wizardry of Knossos. I shall not destroy you—yet.”
    The golden princess dropped on her knees and kissed his hand.He felt her lips change, as they pressed against his fingers. And for a moment the black lustrous pile of her perfumed hair was gone, and he saw the brown bald head of Snish.
    “Go back to your steering oar,” Theseus told her. “The word of a wizard is nothing; but, so long as we are both enemies of Knossos, perhaps we can serve one another.”
    He threw hay to the three great black bulls, bellowingin their narrow pen. Eying the graceful danger of their tapered tossing horns, he thought of the games to be played for the throne of Minos, and could not help a little shudder. For many perils lay before the throne, and those horns were but the symbol of the Dark One’s monstrous power.
    Driven before the storm, the trader plowed on southward. The fleet came before that strange south wind to meether, and narrow black hulls lifted beneath the black square sails.
    Black bull’s-head standards came into view, and at last Theseus could see the purple streamer that marked the flagship. He commanded the yellow woman to steer toward it. Tai Leng silently obeyed. Her yellow face was pale, and fear distended her long, oblique eyes.
    The cold storm wind faltered and died as the fleet drew near.The galley wallowed, yellow sail slack, in a sudden calm. The south wind that brought the Cretans had ceased also, and glinting oars brought the flagship across the last arrow’s flight.
    “Ahoy!” shouted a brass-lunged officer. “What ship spreads the