Plunging head downward, it seemed as though the platform, with Og, Nona
and the white old men upon it, was sliding swiftly upward at me. To one
side, level with me, the Maagog girl was coming down also; we two formed
the sides of a V, converging at Nona.
It all happened very quickly; no more than a few seconds went by as I
made that downward plunge—yet during that time my head whirled with a
thousand frightened thoughts. And one of them stood out predominant. The
Maagog girl, in murderous frenzy, would reach Nona first; would stab her
to death before I could intervene.
I was conscious that the crowd had fallen silent. Behind me, high
overhead now, I heard Atar shouting. Soon the platform was close under
me. The Maagog girl, too, was close—unswerving, seeming not to have
seen me. A spear, thrown by someone in the crowd—a crude, heavy sort of
spear—came up at me, but I avoided its ponderous flight.
Og in alarm, had slid away; the white old men were cowering. Nona’s face
was upturned to mine. I twisted sidewise, flung myself at the Maagog
girl. Our bodies met; the impact threw us both down upon Nona. The
Maagog girl screamed again, but her screams were almost lost in the
shouts that now came from everywhere.
I was hardly aware of intercepting the blow of that dagger. It struck my
forearm—seared me like a fire-brand. But then I caught the girl’s
wrist, twisted the weapon from her. She screamed again, screamed with
baffled fury. The water around us was white with her struggles.
Atar was beside me! “Quick, Nemo! Nona is free! Nona, come!”
With his spear-edge, Atar had cut Nona’s bonds. The Maagog girl was
swimming away, still screaming. A figure came at me—a Maagog man, with
Og prudently behind him. I plunged the girl’s spear into the figure’s
bulging chest, and waved my spear at Og as the Maagog sank at our feet.
Overhead, Caan was poised in mid-water, shouting defiance at the
frightened crowd. I turned. Nona was free! She was mounting upward
toward Caan, with Atar covering her retreat.
“Nemo! Nemo!”
It was Nona’s voice. Og was backing away, looking for a weapon with
which to attack me, and shouting at the crowd to head me off. I mounted
after Atar and Nona. Higher up, Caan was now fighting a Maagog who had
risen to attack him. Then the Maagog’s body slowly sank, with Caan’s
spear buried in it.
In another moment we were again on the ledge from whence we had
come—and my Nona was safe with us! For a brief instant I held her in my
arms.
But Caan was dragging us all back into the passageway. Below us the cave
was in turmoil. Og had gathered around him a dozen or so who had
weapons. They were coming after us! Frightened groups surrounded the
bodies of the two we had killed. One of the white old men had recovered
himself and was bawling orders. And over it all the Maagog girl was
laughing and screaming with hysterical triumph because Nona had escaped
Og and was gone.
“Nemo! Come!”
Ahead of us lay the dark passageway with its barrier of coral. Beyond
that, another length of passageway upward to the open Water of Wild
Things.
We swam hurriedly forward, but my arm was still around my Nona. Soon we
were in the coral barrier. Behind us, down the passageway, we could hear
Og and the others shouting as they followed us.
We threaded our way through the coral, slowly, laboriously, as one would
force a way through the thick frozen underbrush of your winter forests
on Earth. But it was a shallow barrier—two hundred feet through, no
more.
Again we were in the open passageway; and Og and his party were
approaching the barrier from the other side. We hastened onward and
upward. It was a short distance only, and we were at the mouth of the
tunnel. The open Water of Wild Things loomed before us. Somewhere up
there through that inky void was the entrance which would lead us into
Marinoid waters.
* * * * *
Atar gripped me, as with Nona beside me I would have launched myself out
of the tunnel-mouth. And I heard Caan’s low exclamation of dismay. A
light had leaped out of the blackness—a single huge light of green; and
then, behind it, a myriad others. Like tiny green stars they dotted the
void.
We had no time for conjecture. The darkness out there took shape—a
sinuous, serpentine shape. The thing was coming toward us. Its huge head
seemed to radiate green fire; the body and tail behind the head were
black, but like barnacles, a thousand luminous parasites clung to it,
and glowed.
We drew back, but not before the serpent had become aware of us. It
turned over with a long, gliding undulation and came at the mouth of the
passageway. But it came hastelessly, lazily, as though in its own good
time to pick up this food that was offered. I caught a glimpse of opened
jaws—fangs half the length of my body. And its breath, a fetid stench,
seemed to precede it.
Trembling, we flung ourselves back down the dim tunnel. Ahead through
the coral, the vague reflected radiance from the cave was visible. In
the coral we could hear Og and his followers, calling to one another as
they threaded their way through.
There was no choice. The narrow walls of the passageway hemmed us in;
behind us, the serpent was gliding quietly forward. We swam back to the
coral. A Maagog forced his way out, and instantly I drove my spear into
him. He crumpled with a gasp, and sank in a heap with the spear impaling
him from back to chest.
“Nemo!”
I turned, and Nona pushed me to one side. A small black opening was
there—an opening at right angles to the main tunnel. It was barely
three feet wide and twice as high. Caan and Atar were already in it.
Nona glided in, pulling me after her. We swam back a dozen feet and
paused. The green head of the serpent was out there in the tunnel we had
left; it loomed there a vivid spot of light, at the entrance to this
narrow slit which sheltered us—a head too large to enter. It stayed
there a moment, and then, as though yielding to the inevitable, it
quietly withdrew.
But how far, we did not know. We were terrified and confused. Nona was
trembling violently.
“We must go on,” said Atar. “Not back there to that—thing.”
Ahead of us this narrow, slit-like tunnel seemed to broaden. It was
almost black, but not quite, for the mud itself was faintly radiant.
We pressed forward, around a turn to the left, then another to the
right. The water in this confined space was foul; it hurt our breathing.
We hastened, to get out to the open water as soon as possible. We hoped
we would strike it some distance from the mouth of the other
passageway—enough to be away from the monster.
How far we went I do not know. Occasionally the tunnel branched, but we
always took the larger. We turned several times—ascending, then
descending again.
At last a glow showed ahead. The open water, but with a monster on guard
there! Our hearts sank.
Abruptly, around a sharp curve, the glow brightened! We slid forward,
came to the end of the tunnel. From a tiny, shelf-like ledge, we stared
down into the self same cave we had left so precipitately half an hour
before! Still up near the ceiling, but now on its opposite side!