He drew the sword of highly tempered bronze which he carried, and smiled.
“I should advise you to moderate your language, Morghi,” he admonished. “Also, your idea of arresting me is slightly out of place now, since we are alone together in Cykranosh, and Mhu Thulan and the temple-cells of Yhoundeh are many million miles away.”
Morghi did not appear to relish this information. He scowled and muttered:
“I suppose this is some more of your damnable wizardry.”
Eibon chose to ignore the insinuation.
“I have been conversing with one of the gods of Cykranosh,” he said magniloquently. “The god, whose name is Hziulquoigmnzhah, has given me a mission to perform, a message to deliver, and has indicated the direction in which I should go. I suggest that you lay aside our little mundane disagreement, and accompany me. Of course we could slit each other’s throats or eviscerate each other, since we are both armed. But under the circumstances I think you will see the puerility, not to mention the sheer inutility, of such a proceeding. If we both live we may be of mutual use and assistance, in a strange world whose problems and difficulties, if I mistake not, are worthy of our united powers.”
Morghi frowned and pondered.
“Very well,” he said grudgingly, “I consent, But I warn you that matters will have to take their course when we return to Mhu Thulan.”
“That,” rejoined Eibon, “is a contingency which need not trouble either of us. Shall we start?”
The two Hyperboreans had been following a defile that wound away from the lake of fluid metal among hills whose vegetation thickened and grew more various as their height decreased. It was the valley that had been indicated to the sorcerer by the topsy-turvy biped. Morghi, a natural inquisitor in all senses, was plying Eibon with questions.
“Who, or what, was the singular entity that disappeared in a cavern just before I accosted you?”
“That was the god Hziulquoigmnzhah.”
“And who, pray, is this god? I confess that I have never heard of him.”
“He is the paternal uncle of Zhothaqquah.”
Morghi was silent, except for a queer sound that might have been either an interrupted sneeze or an exclamation of disgust. But after a while he asked:
“And what is this mission of yours?”
“That will be revealed in due time,” answered Eibon with sententious dignity. “I am not allowed to discuss it at present. I have a message from the god which I must deliver only to the proper persons.”
Morghi was unwillingly impressed.
“Well, I suppose you know what you are doing and where you are going. Can you give me any hint as to our destination?”
“That, too, will be revealed in due time.”
The hills were lapsing gently to a well-wooded plain whose flora would have been the despair of Earthly botanists. Beyond the last hill, Eibon and Morghi came to a narrow road that began abruptly and stretched away in the distance. Eibon took the road without hesitation. Indeed there was little else to do, for the thickets of mineral plants and trees were rapidly becoming impenetrable. They lined the way with serrate branches
