CHAPTER XIX

_Waters of Eternal Peace_

Little Wolfgar was gone. It seemed at first very strange, unreal. It lay

a shadow of grief upon our spirits, for many hours a deeper shadow than

all those grave events impending upon which hung the fate of three

worlds.

Tarrano ordered for Wolfgar a public burial of ceremony and honor in the

waters of eternal peace--ordered it for that same evening. Once again

Tarrano demonstrated the strangeness of his nature. His arrival to take

possession of Venus had been made the occasion of a great festival. "The

Water Festival," they called it, which was held only at times of

universal public rejoicing. It was planned now to do honor to

Tarrano--planned for this same evening. But he postponed it a night;

tonight was for Wolfgar.

We were still captives in Tarrano's hands, as we had been on Earth in

Venia. Yet here in the Great City of Venus a curious situation arose.

Tarrano himself explained it to us that afternoon. An embarrassing

situation for him, he termed it.

"Very embarrassing," he said, with eyes that smiled at us quizzically.

"Just for your ears alone, you understand, I am willing to admit that I

must handle these Great City people very carefully. You, Princess

Maida--you are greatly beloved of your people."

"Yes," she said.

He nodded. "For that reason they would not like to know you are

virtually a captive. And you, Georg Brende--really, they are beginning

to look on you as a savior--to save them from disease and death. It is

rather unflattering to me----"

He broke off, then with sudden decision added:

"Soon you two will realize that to join me will be your best course. And

best for all the worlds, for it will bring to them all peace and health

and happiness.... No, I ask no decision from you now. Nor from you, Lady

Elza." His gaze softened as he regarded her--softened almost to a

quantity of wistfulness. "_You_ know, Lady Elza, for what I am striving.

I may--indeed I shall--conquer the worlds. But you hold in the palm of

your little white hand, my real reward.... Enough!"

And then he offered us a sort of pseudo-liberty. We might all come and

go about the Great City at will. Apparently--to the public eye--allied

to Tarrano. The Princess Maida--as before--hereditary honored ruler;

with Tarrano guiding the business affairs of State, as on Earth our

Presidents and their Councils rule the legendary Kings and Queens. The

one ruling in fact; the other, an affair of pretty sentiment.

It was this condition which Tarrano now desired to bring about. With

Georg already beloved for his medical knowledge; and flying rumors

(started no doubt by Tarrano) that the handsome Earth man would some day

marry their Princess.

Myself--the irony of it!--I was appointed a sort of bodyguard to the

Lady Elza--the little Earth girl whose presence in the Great City would

help conciliate the Earth and bring about universal peace--with Venus in

control.

So ran the popular fancy, guided by Tarrano. We were given our

pseudo-liberty, watched always by the unseen eyes of Tarrano's guards.

And there was nothing we could do but accept our status. Tarrano was

guiding his destiny cleverly. Yet underneath it all, unseen forces were

at work. We sensed them. The _slaans_--submissive at their menial tasks,

but everywhere with sullen, resentful glances. Perhaps Tarrano realized

his danger; but I do not think that he, any more than the rest of us,

realized what the Water Festival was to bring forth.

That night--our first night on Venus--midway between the darkness of

sunset and the dawn--we buried Wolfgar. The air was soft and warm, with

a gentle breeze that riffled the placid waters of the lake. Overhead,

the sky gleamed with a myriad stars--reddish stars, all of them like Red

Mars himself as seen through the heavy Venus atmosphere. Largest of

them, the Earth. My birthplace! Save Elza here with me on Venus, that

tiny red spot in the heavens, red like the tip of a lighted

arrant-cylinder, held all that was dear to me!

The funeral cortege--a solemn line of panoplied boats, started from the

palace. Boats hung with purple fabric. In single file they wended their

way through the city streets. From every landing, balcony, window and

roof-top, the people stared down at us. The street corners were hung

with shaded tubes of light, shining down with spots of color to the

water.

As we passed, the people bowed their heads, hands to their foreheads,

palms outward. The gesture of grief. From one building came a low

musical chant.

"Honor to Wolfgar! The man who gave his life for our Princess. Honor to

Wolfgar!"

We came to the edge of the city. The lake here narrowed to a river--a

length of winding river opening to the pond which was the burial place

of Eternal Peace. On Tarrano's barge, with Elza and Georg, we led the

way. Maida was not with us. I asked Tarrano where she was, but solemnly

he denied me.

At the burial waters--on the sloping banks of which a silent throng had

gathered--we landed. And following us, the other vessels of the cortege

came along and stopped beside us. The pond was dotted with white markers

for the graves. The whole scene unlighted, save for the stars, and the

red and purple aural lights of the Venus heavens, which mounted the sky

at this midnight hour. A great, glowing arc--the reflected glow from a

myriad cluster of tiny moons and moon-dust, encircling Venus. The soft

light from it flooded the water and the tombs with a flush of red and

purple.

As we lay there against the bank, with that silent throng breathlessly

watching, from down the river came the last vessel of our cortege. It

made a scene I shall never forget. The bier. Draped in purple. A single,

half-naked _slaan_ propelling it with a sweep from its stern. The body

of Wolfgar lying on its raised prow--his dead, white face, with peace

upon it. Beside the body, the lone figure of Maida, kneeling at

Wolfgar's head, with her white, braided hair falling down over her

shoulders. Kneeling and staring, almost expressionless; but I knew that

with her whole heart she was speeding the soul of Wolfgar to its eternal

peace.