"Is he dead? Oh, Martt, do you think he is dead?"
They bent over Degg and he opened his eyes. Martt knelt and lifted
his head. It was evident that he was dying; and evident, too, that he
knew it. He spoke, laboriously whispered words in Zee's language. He
tried to gesture toward Zee; on his face was an earnestness, almost a
desperation lest he might fail to give his dying message.
Martt said, "Zee, he's trying to talk to you. Bend closer--he's
talking."
Zee knelt at his head. He was panting, struggling breathlessly with
each word. "Rokk--was going to take your sister Leela to the--City of
Ice. Now that the red things are loose--I think you will find--him and
her--there."
His breath ended with a long sigh. But he began again. "Eeff will lead
you. Tell Eeff--to take you through the--tunnel into the--stone tower.
And--hurry!"
His eyes closed. Then they opened very wide. They tried to focus on
Zee's face. She bent lower to hear his faint whisper. "Hurry! You
understand--about Leela, there with Rokk. He means, for her, a thing
very terrible. You must--hurry." He added, with a breath so faint she
barely heard his words, "You are--so very beautiful, little Zee. I
never saw--any woman so beautiful. But I am not Rokk--I could not have
harmed you."
He stiffened just a trifle; then went limp, his head with staring eyes
dangling backward over Martt's arm.
Martt laid him gently on the ground. Eeff went and sat by him, crying
softly.