It was red day when they approached the City of Ice. Eeff had led them,
as Degg suggested. They saw the city from far off, with a red glow
staining its white glitter. Then Eeff plunged them into a black tunnel.
It seemed miles. Then it ascended, and they emerged into a wave of
heat, with a yellow-red glare beside them.
They were at the bottom of a tall stone tower; a doorway was near at
hand. Martt gazed up the tower's side. A man was up there, behind a
parapet, gazing out at the city: a man's head and shoulders, queerly
foreshortened. But Martt recognized him.
Rokk!
Martt pushed Zee and Frannie hastily into the tower. He commanded, "You
two stay here, with Eeff. I'm going up. You stay here."
Again Martt thought of the drug cylinders he was carrying. He drew them
from his pockets, handed them swiftly to Zee. "Keep these. Whatever
happens--if I don't come back--use them. Eeff will lead you home. To
Reaf. Ask it if it can lead you."
Zee said, in her own language, "Eeff, come here. Can you lead me
back--down there where we met Degg in that place called Reaf? You
remember? Where the water was?"
The headless thing turned its eye upon her. It chattered, "Yes, I
remember. I can go there--but I want Degg. I want to go back to Degg."
Martt, alone, mounted the circular incline softly, and as swiftly
as he dared. Had Rokk seen him? He did not think so. Was Leela up
there? . . . If he could get behind Rokk unobserved. . . .
Half-way up there was an oval window in the tower through which Martt
caught his first view of the interior of the city.
The sun was sinking at the horizon. The end of the blood-red day! A
silence had fallen with the falling sun. A crimson city, strewn with
what had once been living, human flesh and blood--dismembered now . . .
strewn . . . unnamable. . . .
And climbing the walls, red monsters slithering away--seeking other
horrors.
The silent nightfall of the blood-red day.
Martt's gorge rose. He turned from the window, and mounted the incline.
The room at the top was circular, with many windows. An empty room of
stone, almost dark, with the starlight streaming in dimly to illumine
it.
Martt crept softly. Through a doorway he could see Rokk's figure on the
balcony outside. And another figure. Leela, white of face, with her
black hair streaming, and her tattered, dirt-stained veiling falling
about her. Leela! She was standing, half turned, shuddering with
horror. She saw Martt! Surprize, wonderment, joy mirrored her face.
His fingers went to his lips warningly. But not quite in time. She
uttered a low cry, instantly checked.
Rokk swing about. He, too, saw Martt; he stiffened, with his shoulders
flung back against the parapet and his jaw dropping. Martt had
instantly leaped, but Rokk met him squarely, surged forward, and they
fell.
Rokk was the stronger; Martt knew it at once. He rolled, desperately
struggling to come on top, with his legs braced against the floor. But
Rokk flung him off and regained his feet.
Instantly Martt was up, quicker, lighter than his antagonist. He struck
for Rokk's face, missed and then caught Rokk full on the chest with
his fist. The man staggered, but he was not hurt. Rokk's swing went
wide, as Martt nimbly ducked. Again they came together. Surged across
the balcony, kicking, tearing, seeking each other's throats. Locked,
with legs entwined they struck the parapet, rebounded, fell and rolled
together to the opposite wall. A primitive struggle of men using only
the weapons with which nature had endowed them. Fighting grimly, almost
silently, each with no thought but to kill.
[Illustration: "He had no other thought but to kill."]
Leela, near by, stood helpless, confused, a hand pressed against her
mouth in terror. There was a sound, a startled outcry. Frannie and Zee
were in the tower room, with Eeff cowering behind them.
Martt momentarily was on top of his adversary, with Rokk's hairy hand
beneath his chin, pressing his head back. Martt ripped the hand away.
He called, "Run! Run--all of you!"
Rokk heaved him backward, half rose, and surged over on top. Martt
saw vaguely another figure appear on the balcony. A heavy, gray-faced
woman. He heard Rokk pant, "Mobah!"
The woman leaped upon the scene. She avoided Zee and Frannie. She
strove to get at Martt. She kicked; she tried to strike at him. He
heard Zee's voice, "Frannie! Leela! Help me!" As he fought, he was
aware that the three girls were pulling at the woman--pulling her away,
holding her.
Martt momentarily had slackened his efforts. Rokk's fist caught him in
the face, dazed him. Martt felt Rokk lifting him up, heaving him. His
body struck the three-foot-wide, level top of the parapet. He clung
desperately, as Rokk leaped up to throw him off.
They were locked together, rolling on the parapet top! Martt at its
edge, his head momentarily over, felt a wave of heat--saw, far down,
the red-yellow glare. Rokk suddenly tried to cast him loose. Then was
pushing. They were both lying at the edge.
Scrambling. Panting. And suddenly Zee was up on the parapet,
crouching--her frail white hands gouging at Rokk's face. It confused
him. He relaxed. Martt gave one last desperate surge. He saw, and felt
Rokk's body slipping, sliding over the edge, feet first. Rokk's hold on
Martt was torn away, by his own weight and by Zee's frenzied, plucking
fingers. His face, close to Martt's for an instant, showed wide,
terrified eyes; a mouth that gaped.
His hold broke. His body slid. He was gone! Martt lay panting at the
edge, with Zee's steadying grip upon him. A cry sounded. A wail. The
woman Mobah had torn loose from Frannie and Leela. She leaped to the
parapet. Poised for an instant--a grim, gray statue of despair. Bereft
of reason, she called, "Rokk! Rokk!" And with a long, shuddering cry,
she plunged.
There was silence for a moment on the parapet. No one looked down. And
from over the distant, desolate horizon, presently the red sun came up
with the dawn of a new day.
_CHAPTER 8_