The Jewels of Aptor Part 26

recited the woman in a calm, low voice.

She paused. "I am Argo Incarnate, of Leptar."

"But I thought ..." Iimmi started.

"What did you think?" inquired the elderly woman, gently.

"Nothing," said Iimmi.

"He thought you were a lot younger," Urson said. "We're supposed to take you home." Suddenly he pointed in to the volcano. "Say, this isn't any of that funny light like back in the city that burned our hands, only this time it made you old?"

She glanced at the pool of light. "This is natural fire," she a.s.sured them, "a severed artery of the earth's burning blood. But wounds are natural enough."

Geo shifted his feet and rubbed his stump.

"We were supposed to take the younger sister of the present Argo Incarnate and return with her to Leptar," Iimmi explained.

"There are many Argos," smiled the woman. "The G.o.ddess has many faces.

You have seen quite a few since you arrived in this land."

"I guess we have," Urson said.

"Are you a prisoner of Hama?" asked Iimmi.

"I am with Hama," said the woman.

"We are supposed to secure the third jewel and bring it back to the ship. We don't have much time...."

"Yes," said Argo.

"Hey, what about that nest of vampires down there," Urson said, thumbing viciously toward the black behind them. "They said they worshiped Argo.

What have you got to do with them? I don't trust anything on this place very much."

"The nature of the G.o.ddess is change," said the woman, looking sadly toward the slope, "from birth, through life, to death," she looked back up at them, "to birth again. As I said, Argo has many faces. You must be very tired."

"Yes," said Geo.

"Then come with me. Please." She turned, and began to walk back along the rim. Snake and Iimmi started after her, and then came Geo and Urson.

"I don't like any of this," the big man whispered to Geo as they came along. "Argo doesn't mean the same thing in this land like she means on Leptar. There's nothing but more evil to come out of this. She's leading us into a trap, I tell you. I say the best thing to do is take the jewels we have, turn around, and get the h.e.l.l out of here. I tell you, Geo...."

"Urson," Geo said.

"Huh?" the big man asked.

"Urson, I'm very tired."

They walked silently for a few steps more. Then Urson heaved up a half disgusted breath, and put his arm around Geo's shoulder. "Come on," he grunted, supporting Geo against his own great form as they progressed along the rocky ledge, following the new Argo.

At last she turned down a trail that dropped into the crater. "Walk carefully here," she said as they turned into the huge pit.

"Something is not right," Urson said softly. "It's a trap I tell you.

How does that thing go? I could use it now. _Calmly brother bear ..._"

"_Calm the winter sleep, Fire shall not harm,_"

continued Geo.

"Says who," mumbled Urson glancing into the bowl of flame. Geo went on:

"_water not alarm.

While the current grows, amber honey flows, golden salmon leap._"

"Like I once said before," mused Urson, "In a ..."

"In here," came the voice of Argo. They turned into the dark mouth of one of the caves which pocked the crater's inside wall. "No," she said to Snake, who was about to use the jewels for illumination. "They have been used too much already."

With a small stick taken from a pocket in her robe, she struck a flame against the rock, then raised it to an ornate, branching candelabra that hung from the stone ceiling by bra.s.s chains. Flame leapt from cast oil cup to oil cup, from the hand of a demon to a monkey's mouth, from a nymph's belly to the horns of a satyr's head. Chemicals in the cups caused each flame to burn a different color; green, red, blue, and orange white light filled the small chapel and played across the tops of the benches. On the altar sitting on one side of the room were two statues of equal height: a man sitting, and a woman kneeling. Iimmi looked at the altar. Geo and Urson stared at the candelabra.

"What is it?" Iimmi asked when he saw where their eyes were fixed.

"There's one of those things in Argo's cabin on board the ship," Geo said. "And look over there. Where did we see one of those before?" It was a machine with an opaque gla.s.s screen, identical to the one in the monastery of Argo.

"Sit down," Argo said. "Sit down."

They sank to the benches; the climb, once halted, knotting their calves and the low muscles on their backs.

"Hama has allowed you the privilege of a chapel even in captivity,"

commented Iimmi, "but I see you have to share your altar with him."

"But I am Hama's mother," smiled Argo.

Geo and Urson frowned.

"The rituals say that Argo is the mother of all things, the begetter and bearer of all life. I am the mother of all G.o.ds as well."

"Those blind women down in the ground," asked Urson, "they aren't really your priestesses, are they? They wanted to kill us. I bet they were really dupes of Hama."

"It isn't so simple," replied Argo. "They are really worshipers of Argo, but as I said, I have many faces. Death as well as life is my province.

The dwellers in that convent from which you escaped are a--how shall I say, a degenerate branch of the religion. They were truly blinded by the fall of the City of New Hope. To them, Argo is only death, the dominator of men. For not only is Argo the mother of Hama, she is his wife and daughter."

"Then it's like we figured," said Iimmi. "Jordde isn't a spy for Hama.

He's working for the renegade priestesses of Argo."

"Yes," returned Argo, "except that renegade is perhaps the wrong word.

They believe that their way is correct, and a respect for belief is essential to the understanding of Man. And it is through understanding that the mysteries that still remain in your mind will be solved."

"Then they must be responsible for all that was going on in Leptar, only somehow blaming it on Hama," said Iimmi. "They were probably just after the jewels, too. You don't look like a prisoner. That must be the whole thing. You're here in league with Hama to prevent the priestesses of Argo from taking over Leptar."