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.
"Bid the priests come," she commanded, then turned to the silent room.
"By the rites of Siya and Siyana, Yolara takes their son for her mate!" And again her hand stole down possessingly, serpent soft, to the drunken head of the O'Keefe.
The curtains parted widely.

Through them filed, two by two, twelve hooded figures clad in flowing robes of the green one sees in forest vistas of opening buds of dawning spring.