A hundred feet away the Shining One pulsed and
spiralled in its evilly glorious lambency of sparkling plumes.
Unhesitating, always with that same high serenity, Lakla and the
O'Keefe, hands clasped like little children, drew closer to that
wondrous shape. I could not see their faces, but I saw awe fall upon
those of the watching dwarfs, and into the burning eyes of Yolara
crept a doubt. Closer they drew to the Dweller, and closer, I
following them step by step. The Shining One's whirling lessened; its
tinklings were faint, almost stilled. It seemed to watch them
apprehensively. A silence fell upon us all, a thick silence, brooding,
ominous, palpable. Now the pair were face to face with the child of
the Three--so near that with one of its misty tentacles it could have
enfolded them.
And the Shining One drew back!
Yes, drew back--and back with it stepped Yolara, the doubt in her eyes
deepening. Onward paced the handmaiden and the O'Keefe--and step by
step, as they advanced, the Dweller withdrew; its bell notes chiming
out, puzzled questioning--half fearful!
And back it drew, and back until it had reached the very centre of
that platform over the abyss in whose depths pulsed the green fires of
earth heart.
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