“The Shining One revealed it to me!” said Yolara sweetly. “And if ye believe not, Lugur⁠—go ask of the Shining One if it be not truth!”

There was bitter, nameless menace in those last words⁠—and whatever their hidden message to Lugur, it was potent. He stood, choking, face hell-shadowed⁠—Marakinoff leaned out again, whispered. The red dwarf bowed, now wholly ironically; resumed his place and his silence. And again I wondered, icy-hearted, what was the power the Russian had so to sway Lugur.

“What says the Council?” Yolara demanded, turning to them.

Only for a moment they consulted among themselves. Then the woman, whose face was a ravaged shrine of beauty, spoke.

“The will of the priestess is the will of the Council!” she answered.

Defiance died from Yolara’s face; she looked down at Larry tenderly. He sat swaying, crooning.