Winters obeyed.
He walked naked into the narrow cell. There was no comfortable table
here, only a few skins thrown on the bare floor. A barred opening
showed darkly in the opposite wall.
The bronze door rang shut behind him and he heard the great bar drop
into place. It was completely dark. He was really afraid, now. Terribly
afraid. But it was too late for that. It had been too late, for a long
time.
Ever since Jill Leland was lost.
* * * * *
He lay down on the hides. High above, in the vault of the roof, he
could make out a faint, vague shimmering. It grew brighter. Presently
he saw that it was a prism set into the stone, rather large and cut
from a crystalline substance that was the colour of fire.