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Look to the Stars
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #65075.
The opening · free to read
By Willard Hawkins
The sky is filled with lonely stones--planets waiting for the first breath of life to warm them. N'urth was such a world--and the Gods smiled on it.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy October 1950 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Tell me, my queen mother, the story of the gods."
"Do you never tire, son, of those ancient legends? But no--let this not seem a reproof. It is well that a prince of the royal line should ponder much on those mighty ones, who came from the sun, where dwells El-Leighi, the source of all, to create a fair world--the world in which some day you will reign. Shall I speak, then, of Solin-Ga-Ling, patron of husbandry and Lord of the North, or would you hear of the gentle Maha-Bar-Astro, sweet goddess who fashions the dreams of childhood? Or would you know of the mysterious Noor-Ah-Mah, who died twice, lived thrice, and was both male and female by turns?"
"Tell me of them all; but first, mother, who was the mightiest of the gods?"
"Hush, child! Among beings so exalted it would be presumptuous for mortals to regard one above the other. But know this--for it concerns you and your pride of race: Splendid legends relate to the strength and virtues of Maha-Ra-Lin, Lord of the South, sometimes called the Life-giver. For it was he who created Noor-Ah-Mah from a rock by the sea, and breathed his own life into her nostrils."
"But, mother, was he not defeated in battle?"
"It was a battle beyond our understanding--of forces that we cannot comprehend, and for a purpose beyond our knowledge--though it is said that in some manner the strife arose over the sex to be awarded the newly created Noor-Ah-Mah. Maha-Ra-Lin would have endowed the partly formed being with the attributes of a god, but Bar-Doo-Chan, Lord of the West, contended for a goddess. In their mighty clash of wills, the heavens were rent with lightning, the seas were churned, mountains were heaved by the all-powerful ones across the land. Legend has it that a single moon shone from the heavens before that event, but a lightning bolt hurled by Maha-Ra-Lin at his antagonist failed of its mark. It smote the moon by chance, splitting the heavenly body in twain, so that two moons now circle the continents of N'urth."
"Then Bar-Doo-Chan, who defeated Maha-Ra-Lin, was the mightiest."
"Nay, that you must not say. True, at the end of three days Maha-Ra-Lin acknowledged himself defeated. Yet it is written that he nobly abandoned the fray out of pity for the helpless creatures of N'urth, and for the newly created Noor-Ah-Mah, knowing that if the battle continued they would all be destroyed. And so Noor-Ah-Mah became a goddess, and in that aspect she is depicted by our sculptors as a mighty huntress, running with upraised spear cheek-by-cheek with Bar-Doo-Chan. But Maha-Ra-Lin, the Life-giver, could not wholly undo his original design, so that at times she reverted to the form of a male. That is why, in ancient carvings, we sometimes find Noor-Ah-Mah pictured as a god, carrying lightnings of destruction in his clenched hand."
"Then, after all, Maha-Ra-Lin was the greatest?"
"He was a mighty being, son. Yet how can any be considered greater than Pi-Ruh-Al, to whom even the other gods and goddesses turned for counsel? Pi-Ruh-Al, the great mother, goddess of beauty, of wisdom, creator of mortal life...."
The rain settled into a steady downpour. Drenched to the marrow, Dave Marlin struggled on through the darkness and mire. At times he stumbled away from the wagon trail and floundered through sodden verdure that tangled his feet, clutched with slimy tendrils at his clothing, or lashed his face. Occasionally he stopped to curse the road, the darkness, the storm; again to heap maledictions on the truck driver who had dumped him off on this byway to nowhere.
He should have kept to the paved highway. A light blinking through the rain, seemingly not far up the mountainside, had lured his feet. It had long since been lost to view, yet he struggled on. The trail surely must lead somewhere, even if only to a deserted sawmill or mine shaft.
His feet slipped and he went down cursing. As he struggled out of the puddle, gouging grit and slime from eyes and nostrils, he became aware of a deeper black looming ahead.
It was the rear of an old-style open roadster. Through the swish of waters his ears caught the sound of hammering on metal.
Feeling his way along the side, he came to a man who was muttering to himself with bitter emphasis while doing things to the engine under the upraised hood.
"Trouble, buddie?" demanded Marlin.
The other jerked up his head so suddenly that it struck the hood. He snarled an epithet; then: "Who the devil?"
"Just a wayfarer," Marlin answered. "Just a wayfarer, buddie, out for a stroll on this beautiful moonlit evening."
"Lay off the comedy!" snarled the other, again diving under the hood. "And get goin' if you can't help."
"Why don't you turn on the lights?"
"Because she ain't got no lights--that's why."
"Battery dead?" asked Marlin. Receiving no answer, he edged back to the instrument panel. As he started searching beneath it for possible ends of disconnected wires, he became aware of a squirming movement under the hand which rested on the seat.
"Take your paws off me, you slimy fish!" came a tense feminine voice. When he made no move to comply, the figure which had been slumped down in the seat became a sudden bundle of fury.
"Easy, sister!" he protested, deftly capturing the small hands in his muscular grasp. "No use getting excite--" He paused. "What's this? Iron bracelets?"
The other man sloshed toward him threateningly. "Get out of what ain't none of your business!" he snapped. "You was headin' up the road. Just keep goin'--and you'll stay outa trouble."
Marlin felt the slender wrists grow tense within his grasp. The short length of chain connecting the handcuffs tinkled.
"Sorry, bo," he said softly. "The lady's jewelry intrigues me."
A hard object pressed sharply into his side. "Scram!"
With panther-like quickness, Marlin twisted. The gun barked as his arm knocked it away. Then the two were down in the sodden grass, flailing and squirming for advantage.
Either because he was the stronger or because luck favored him in the slippery rough-and-tumble, Marlin arose with the automatic in his possession.
"This," he commented, "is better. I've never been good at taking orders." He considered a moment. "If the car won't start, it won't. That leaves two courses open to us. We can sit and wait till some one comes along--which isn't likely--or we can hoof it until we come to something better. I saw a light up beyond."
"I'm tired of sitting in the car," the girl put in. "Anything's better than freezing here."
"Maybe you don't know, smart guy," her companion growled, "that you're tangling with the law." He tapped his chest.
"Detective--eh?"
"Yeah," the girl cut in, "and don't forget to tell him about your phony stunt--kidnaping me across the state line without extradition papers."
Marlin studied them for a moment. He had no desire to run up against the law. But if this officer was out of his jurisdiction--
"I get it," he said. "You're pulling something shady--that's why you tried to make it on this back trail. All right, brother--take off the jewelry."
Grudgingly, the detective removed the handcuffs.
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