Adric, slowly, drew himself upright. His slackly-parted lips set
firmly and he looked at Narayan with a dispassionate, stubborn shrug.
"Kill me, if you like."
"No, Gamine." Narayan stepped toward the man in crimson, "Adric," he
said in a strange, half-choked excitement, "I want to see what you saw
before--to see what sent you away--to see the thing that drove you mad.
Gamine's veils--Gamine, let him see! Show him, Gamine! Show him what he
saw then!"
Gamine came forward slowly to where Karamy knelt. "Stand up!"
Slowly Karamy rose to her feet. There was no hope in her eyes; no mercy
in Gamine's. The two pairs of eyes, cat-yellow and blue, fought for a
moment; it was Karamy's that fell. The Dreamer woman smiled faintly.
"My brothers and my sisters," she said at last, "Karamy is beautiful,
is she not?"
I suppose no woman on earth has ever been or ever will be as beautiful
as Karamy the Golden. She stood proudly, turning to Adric, and I saw
longing and love break forth in the man's eyes. He gazed and gazed, and
Karamy laughed and held out her arms, and Adric, bemused, went toward
her--
"Hold him," commanded Narayan tersely.
One of the Dreamers made a curious sign with his left hand and Adric
was arrested; stood gripped in a vise of invisible force.
"See?" Gamine said in a ringing voice, "But now see Karamy--shorn of
the Illusion her Dreamer threw! See the form of Karamy that she made
_me_ wear! _This!_" She reached out and touched Karamy with
the little Talisman she held.
There was a gasp of horror from many throats. Karamy--Karamy the
Golden--there are no words for the change that took place before our
eyes. I was sick and retching with horror before the metamorphosis was
half complete, and turned away my eyes; Cynara was sobbing softly into
her skirt; but Adric, frozen, could not look away.
Gamine's laugh--low and sweet and doubly deadly for its
sweetness--reached my ears. "Shall I lend you my veils--sister?" She
murmured, mocking, and again the horrible laugh. "NO? Go _forth_!"
Her voice was a lashing whip, and with a broken wail, the thing that
had been Karamy threw up an arm across the staring sockets and fled
away into the night. And we never saw it again.
So that was the end of Karamy the Golden--the end--
A little later I found that Adric and I were staring stupidly at one
another, puzzled, but without animosity. Cynara came and slipped an arm
round Adric, and I turned away, embarrassed, for the man was sobbing
like a child. I was amazed and sick with the enormity of all that I
had seen and done. I stood and shivered and shook with deadly chill. I
suppose it was reaction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account