XVII. AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE 174 XVIII. A MOMENTOUS COMMISSION 188 XIX. FACE TO FACE AGAIN 202 XX. THE CALL TO ARMS 215 XXI. THE HOME-COMING 226 XXII. THE EVE OF BATTLE 243 XXIII. THE FIRST BLOW 253 XXIV. WAR AT ITS WORST 271 XXV. A MESSAGE FROM MARS 289 XXVI. SENTENCE OF DEATH 303 XXVII. ALMA SPEAKS 314 XXVIII. THE SIGN IN THE SKY 319 XXIX. THE TRUCE OF GOD 325 XXX. THE SHADOW OF DEATH 338 XXXI. THE LAST BATTLE 350 XXXII. THE SHE-WOLF TO HER LAIR 359 EPILOGUE 369 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE EVIL IN SUCH A SHAPE MIGHT BE SOMETHING MORE THAN GOOD _Frontispiece_ NOT A VESTIGE OF OUR AIR-SHIP OR HER CREATORS REMAINED 22 AS SHE GAZED UPON IT, THE FIRES DIED AWAY 57 FLINGING LONG STREAMS OF RADIANCE FOR MILES INTO THE SKY 83 THE CLOUDS WERE RENT AND ROLLED UP INTO VAST SHADOWY BILLOWS 122 THE COMBINED SQUADRONS SWEPT ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN BARRIER 237 BATTERIES WHICH WOULD BE ABLE TO SURROUND AERIA WITH A ZONE OF STORM AND FLAME 248 THE FOUR HUNDRED BATTLESHIPS OF THE TWO SQUADRONS ROSE INTO THE AIR 252 THREE OF THE AIR-SHIPS SEEMED TO BREAK-UP AND ROLL OVER 259 A GREAT BATTLESHIP LEAPT UP OUT OF THE NETHER WATERS 266 THE “ISMA” SWOOPED DOWN 281 A FEARFUL SCENE UNFOLDED ITSELF AS THEY SWEPT UP OVER PARIS 286 “ONLY YOU CAN BID ME LIVE, ALMA” 317 STILL THE FIGHT WENT ON AT LONG RANGES 354 THE BLAZING SKY WAS LITERALLY RAINING FIRE OVER SEA AND LAND 367 OLGA ROMANOFF HAD SURVIVED THE DOOM OF THE WORLD 374 * * * * * OLGA ROMANOFF. PROLOGUE. THE PROPHECY OF NATAS. _These are the last words of Israel di Murska, known in the days of strife as Natas, the Master of the Terror, given to the Children of Deliverance dwelling in the land of Aeria, in the twenty-fifth year of the Peace, which, in the reckoning of the West, is the year nineteen hundred and thirty._