"Lo, for _laya_ upon _laya_, the Shining One has been freed from the Three; and for _laya_ upon _laya_ they have sat helpless, rotting.

Now I ask you again--whence comes their power to lay their will upon me, and whence comes their strength to wrestle with the Shining One and the beloved of the Shining One ?" And again she laughed--and again Lugur and all the fairhaired joined in her laughter.
Into the eyes of Lakla I saw creep a doubt, a wavering; as though deep within her the foundations of her own belief were none too firm.
She hesitated, turning upon O'Keefe gaze in which rested more than suggestion of appeal! And Yolara saw, too, for she flushed with triumph, stretched a finger toward the handmaiden.
"Look!" she cried.

"Look! Why, even _she_ does not believe!" Her voice grew silk of silver--merciless, cruel.

"Now am I minded to send another answer to the Silent Ones.

Yea! But not by _you_, Lakla; by these"-- she pointed to the frog-men, and, swift as light, her hand darted into her bosom, bringing forth the little shining cone of death.
But before she could level it the Golden Girl had released that hidden left arm and thrown over her face a fold of the metallic swathings.
Swifter than Yolara, she raised the arm that held the vine--and now I knew this was no inert blossoming thing.
It was alive! It writhed down her arm, and its five rubescent flower heads thrust out toward the priestess--vibrating, quivering, held in leash only by the light touch of the handmaiden at its very end.
From the swelling throat pouch of the monster behind her came a succession of the reverberant boomings.