Around us a man’s cry arose--a cry of triumph. Others took it up. There was a surge of people toward me; behind me I saw them following like a wave. Calling at me in friendly triumph. My height, head and shoulders above them all; my white skin, clear to them in the darkness--they suddenly saw in me their needed leader. They surged triumphantly around me. But Fen, with vehement words, scattered them. We forced our way to the open space, beyond which was the Castle entrance. We were at one side, not far from the side edge of the steps. I felt hands clinging to me. That accursed, sniveling Bhool; I cast him off. I had been aware all this time, of a radiance on the castle roof-top. Women’s figures were up there in a dull purple glow. We stopped and gathered around Fen. I gazed upward. The gray figure of a man stood prominent on the parapet. He was standing like a grim silent statue. He suddenly whirled, leaped down, and in a moment reappeared. A woman was with him. A group of men came running on the roof with a small bank of steps. The man helped the woman mount them. She came up with a slow regal majesty, the men deferentially helping her. She stood on the broad parapet top, and the man crouched at her feet. “Rhana!” A wave of it went over the crowd, followed by a sudden hushed murmur of awe. Then the hush broke; there was a screaming of threats; a violent surging on the mob. But I noticed that no one advanced; and the cries presently died away again into a fear-struck silence. The woman on the parapet waited serene and motionless. She was no more than fifty feet from me; the purple sheen of light etched her vividly. A woman six feet tall; full-breasted, slim of hip. A flexible heart-shaped shield bound her torso; her gray limbs were free. The shield gleamed purple in the light like smooth polished metal, thin-beaten to mold itself like a sheath about her body. She stood with figure drawn to its full height. Her head, poised upon a slim neck, was crowned with black hair wound in coils, with a black metallic headdress. Against the night, her profile showed; slim neck and upheld chin--a nose high-bridged, hawklike. She raised her arms as the mob in the garden fell silent. Broad bracelets of metal were on her wrists, and from them heavy gleaming white chains dangled. Abruptly she struck with her arm; the white chain swished and lashed upon the naked gray back of the man crouching at her feet. He cringed, slid off the parapet and vanished to the roof-top. She stood smiling. This woman, Satanic-- It was a gesture wholly cruel, unnecessary. A blow deliberate, without anger, without reason save that it pandered to the feminine vanity of her, thus to demonstrate her power. I gazed at that hawklike profile. Almost beautiful; the slim gray throat rising from that full bosom; the firm, but delicate chin; the mouth, firm-lipped, cruelly smiling now.