Stuart scowled and stepped across the threshold into the pit.
Uneasiness crawled along his spine as he did so. The Aesir might be
watching from above, or--or--
There was nothing. Only dead silence, and the uneven breathing of the
girl as she stood in the doorway watching. Stuart stopped before the
leather-clad Earthman and tested a burly arm. The man stood frozen, his
flesh cold and hard as stone, his eyes staring glassily. He was not
even breathing.
So with the others. Stuart grimaced and shrugged. He turned back toward
the girl, and felt a pulse of relief as he stepped into the shining
chamber. He might be no safer here, but at least he wasn't so conscious
of inhuman eyes that might be watching from above. Not that solid stone
might be any barrier to the Aesir's probing gaze....
The girl touched the mechanism; the door slid silently shut. "It's
no use," she said. "The paralysis holds all the others. Only I could
battle it--a little. And that was because--"
"Save it," Stuart said. He turned toward the door by which he had
entered, but an urgent hand gripped his wrist.
"Let me talk," the quiet voice said. "We're as safe here as anywhere.
And there may be a way--now that I can think clearly again."
"A way out? A _safe_ way?"
There was a haunted look in her dark eyes. "I don't know. I've lived
here for a long time. The others--" she pointed toward the door of
the pit. "The sacrifices were brought to Asgard only yesterday. But
I've been here many moons. The Aesir kept me alive for a bit, to amuse
them. Then they tired, and I was thrown in with the others. But I
learned a little. I--I--no one can dwell here in the Aesir stronghold
without--changing a little. That's why the paralysis didn't hold me as
long as it holds the others."
"Can we save them?"
"I don't know," she said, with a small, helpless shrug. "I don't even
know if we can save ourselves. It's been so long since I was brought
to Asgard that I--I scarcely remember my life before that. But I have
learned a little of the Aesir--and that may help us now."
Stuart watched her. She tried to smile, but not successfully.