The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson Read Free Book Online Page B

honor andhis life.”
    Trembling with pride, Theseus swung the blade. It was heavy for his young arm, and the hilt too large for his hand. But he rejoiced in the cold weight of it, and the magical fire that ran along its edge.
    “I thank you, father,” he whispered. “I shall never give up the Falling Star. And I shall carry it against the wizardry of Knossos, and fight for the freedom of the Greeks, so longas I can lift it!”
    He wept as he embraced his father, and took the heavysword, and went out into the night. He slipped past the watch fire of the Cretan sentries, climbed by a way he knew down the steep slope of the Acropolis, and ran away through the darkness that lay upon the conquered plain of Attica.
    Now, in the mirror of the blade, Theseus could see the yellow robe of Amur and the admiral’spurple. They moved impatiently.
    “Give up the sword,” rapped the sharp tones of Phaistro, “or I shall signal my archers to draw—and bury you at sea as Minos commanded.”
    “Choose!” rasped the Hittite. “Life and victory and the throne of Minos—or death!” His eyes flickered uneasily into the north. “And quickly. For the warlocks are sending a storm to hasten us home.”
    Theseus saw an angry bladeof lightning stab from the dark wall of cloud to northward. His eyes came back to Tai Leng, found the yellow woman standing by the steering oar, stiff and pale as if with dread. His lean body drew straight with decision.
    “If you want the Falling Star”—he grinned at Amur and the admiral—“you’ll have to take it!”
    The hawk-nosed face of Amur drew into a yellow mask of evil wrath. Dark with anger,the admiral turned, as if to signal his waiting archers. But Theseus, with a gesture at the storm cloud, stopped him.
    “Wait a moment, admiral—if you hope to see dry land again!”
    The two watched mistrustfully as Theseus beckoned to Tai Leng. Moving with a lazy queenly grace, the yellow woman left the steering oar, and came to him. A gust of cold wind fluttered the torn crimson silk against hertall body.
    “Snish,” commanded Theseus, “resume your true form!”
    Her golden face went pale with fear.
    “But—my master—”
    “Obey,” ordered Theseus. “Or I shall touch you.”
    “Master,” sobbed Tai Leng, “my life and my art are yours!”
    Abruptly, then, squat little Snish was standing where she had stood, with the tattered silk whipping about his gnarled brown figure.

S IX

    T HE SEAMED frog-face of Snish was as pale, almost, as the yellow girl’s had been, and his huge yellow eyes were bulging with dread. Faintly, his thin voice whined:
    “Captain Firebrand, what do you require of your most insignificant slave?”
    Standing beside him, Theseus whispered: “I think that your difficulty with the weather is going to save both our lives!”
    He turned to Amur and the admiral.Both of them had already betrayed awe of the warlock’s art. Now Phaistro’s thin face was pale and rigid. Amur, waxen-cheeked, was desperately breathing some incantation.
    “I’m afraid that you have misled yourselves,” Theseus told them. “For the storm approaching us is not the work of Minos at all—nor of anyone, admiral, who will be very tender with your ships.”
    He gestured at the angry avalancheof black cloud rolling down from the north, and then at the shuddering Snish.
    “This is my own wizard,” he announced, and lifted his voice above a rumble of thunder. “He is a most remarkable Babylonian sorcerer, and he is responsible for this storm. Tell them, Snish!”
    The little wizard nodded his brown bald head, apprehensively. He made a fearful little obeisance toward Amur and the admiral.“Masters, that is true,” he croaked against the roar of a rising wind. “The storm follows me!”
    Casting an uneasy eye at the storm, the admiral stiffened angrily.
    “Nonsense!” he rapped sharply. “You can see the dwarf is scared to death. I’ll yield to no such trick. Your sword, Captain Firebrand, or