free. I had to hide, and I could think of only one place that might be safe, where he wouldn't think to look for me. I ran down to the room where those—those others lay; I undressed, and buried myself among them. It was horrible—the way they sucked each other's wounds. . . ."
Cliff pressed a hand across her lips. "Forget that!" he said almost fiercely. "Forget all of it—d'you hear?"
She looked up at him and said simply: "I'll try."
They glanced back toward the black blotch on the horizon. The seismic disturbances continued unabated. At that moment they saw the barrier of rock like a skull split and sink into the sea. Beyond, cleansing tongues of flame licked the sky. They saw a single jagged wall of the castle still standing, one window glowing in its black expanse like a square, bloody moon against a bloody sky. It crumbled.
They turned away, and Cliff's arm circled the girl he loved. Their lips met and clung. . . . And the Ariel plowed on through the frothing brine, bearing them toward safety and forgetfulness. . . . Together.
| The | Lost |
| Temples of Xantoos | |
By HOWELL CALHOUN
Celestial fantasies of deathless night.
Enraptured colonnades adorned with pearls,
Resplendent guardians of crimson light.
Expanse of darkness silently unfurls
Among colossal ruins on this shore,
That once was purled by Xantoos' rolling seas;
Nothing remains upon this barren core
Of Mars, but your palatial memories.
Your altars and magnificent black gods
Still flash beneath the sapphire torches' flames,
The fragrant ring of sacred flowers nods
Beneath the monstrous idols' gilded frames.
Your jeweled gates swing open on their bands
Of gold; within, a lurid shadow stands.
