Unprotesting, humiliated, despairing, they knelt in a little group beside the aircraft. The Prince had halted ten feet away from them. Through Simon’s quick mind, then through Richard’s slower one, there drifted the thought that they had weapons. As had been clearly demonstrated less than an hour ago by de Richleau, when he had caused the gunman’s pistol to blow up in his face, anyone possessing enough occult power could protect himself from physical harm if he knew he was going to be attacked. But taken by surprise, as von Thumm and Glasshill had been, they were just as vulnerable as other people. If then the Prince came close enough, there was a possibility that he could be knifed before he had a chance to defend himself.
Alas for their embryo hopes. The Prince caught the vibration made by their thoughts and said sharply, ‘Mr Aron, Mr Eaton. You are armed. Throw your weapons at my feet.’
Reluctantly they took out their knives and threw them on to the tarmac within a yard of him. He looked down at them and frowned. ‘A carving knife and a spearhead of glass partly wrapped in a bloodstained towel. What is the meaning of this blood?’
No one answered him, so he snapped, ‘Come! Tell me everything, and quickly. I was too occupied to overlook you earlier tonight. It was not until a quarter of an hour ago that my sixth sense suddenly told me that you were on your way here. What happened? The wedding! The girl, Miranda, is with you; so it could not have taken place. How did you escape? Whom have you killed? Van Ryn, I make you spokesman for your party. Speak now! A full account! Attempt to hide nothing, or I will send fire to consume your testicles.’
The horrible threat was redundant. Rex needed no telling that they were at the Prince’s mercy and that by no means could he be prevented from learning very shortly all that had taken place that night in the Satanic temple. As briefly as he could, he related the events which had led up to their escape.
The Prince heard him out in silence, but even in the artificial light they could see that his face was going livid. When silence fell again, he glared at them for a moment, then screamed, ‘Von Thumm, Glasshill, Kaputa and Pucara. All dead! Four of my best lieutenants. By Lucifer, you shall pay for this. By Ashtaroth, Memon, Theutus and Nebiros, oh! how you shall pay.’
His fury was such that he was shaking and had clearly lost control of himself. De Richleau watched him with lack-lustre eyes, sadly registering the fact that this was a moment when, had he been his normal self, he could have overcome their enemy. But the wound in his shoulder was throbbing madly, and that made it impossible for him to concentrate.
They heard the sound of swift footsteps, then caught sight of a figure pounding down the slope from the headquarters house. A minute later the curly-headed Benito came to a halt beside the Prince. He made a swift obeisance, then panted:
‘My Prince. I hears yo’ shout; so I come runnin’.’
The Prince ran his tongue over his now pale lips, then replied hoarsely, ‘These heretics have taken advantage of my absence from the fortress to strike us a savage blow. But the Lord of Eternity is not mocked. He has cast them back into my hands. For their crime they shall spend an hour in torment for every hair on their heads. I have subdued them. They are now powerless. Take them to the house and put them in the cellar with those others.’
With a sudden gesture he removed the spell that he had put on the group. The calves of their legs began to tingle, the muscles flexed and they came slowly to their feet. Benito beckoned to them and, with the Duke again supported by Rex and Richard, they followed him up the slope.
On entering the house they were met by two of the Zombies, to whom Benito handed them over. Realising that resistance would be hopeless, they allowed themselves to be led down to the cellar. It was in darkness but, as the door was opened, the light in the passage outside showed them that two men were already there. One was a full-blooded Negro, the other mixed, with pale skin, thick lips and crinkly hair.
The first concern of the newcomers was the Duke. Before the door was shut on them, while there was still light enough to see, Miranda sat down in a corner and de Richleau was then lowered to the floor so that his head rested in her lap. With a sigh, he murmured:
Thank you. Now that I am lying still, I will be able to help myself. My Yoga breathing will counteract the pain so that I can sleep. Please don’t wake me until you have to.’
By then the door had been slammed and locked, and it was pitch dark. One of the other prisoners who they thought was probably the Negro, asked, ‘Say, folks, what you bin thrown in de can for?’
‘Getting up against the big-shot,’ Rex replied succinctly.
‘Same wid us, man. Leastways, that Jamaican sod didn’t approve none of a talk we give the folks this evenin’, an’ he sent fer his boss.’
‘What was the talk about?’ asked Richard.
‘Well, man, my buddy here an’ me, we’s bin doin’ a lot of thin kin’ dese pas’ few weeks. Dis bid to bring de world under Black Power seemed jus’ fine to us when we was indoctrinated. But we’s bin gettin’ doubts. You whites got all der guns, tear gas an’ that. Reckon we don’ stan’ no chance. You’ll sure come out on top. Slaughter’ll be bad as a first-class war, an’ we poor bastards’ll end up wors’ off than we was before.’
The other man added in a thin, piping voice, ‘It’s not only that. It’s against the teachin’ of Our Lord. He preached Peace an’ Goodwill. Turn the other cheek, He said. Well, we folk have done that for generations. But things are better than they were. I figure Dr Luther King has the right of it. Patience an’ peaceful protest is the answer. Plenty decent white folk are on our side. It’ll take a bit o’ time; but given a few more years an’ the good Lord Jesus will lead all His children out of darkness.’
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Richard agreed. ‘But what exactly did you do?’
‘First we talked o’ makin’ a break an’ tryin’ to get away from heah. But reckoa that’s near impossible. Fer hundreds o’ miles round there’s nought but marsh, scrub and them awful mountains. Guess we couldn’t make it. Seemed to us then we’d best let on to some of the others ‘bout our feelin’s. Quite a few agreed that up heah we wasn’t doin’ the Lord’s work arter all. No, sir; far from it. We planned ter stir up real trouble fer the badmen who run this outfit. What we were arter was to grab the aircraft, so as we could get away in them. Only chance o’ that was a mass defiance of the bosses. Tonight we laid on a meetin’. Where we slipped up was to hold it arter usual time fer lights out. The bosses got on to us. They didn’t interfere. Just waited till the folk had dispersed, then picked up the speakers. That was me and Malli heah. The Jamaican, the Moor and a couple o’ those dumb bastards who do the chores fer the bosses come fetch us wiv’ guns. That’s how it happen we’re thrown in the can.’
To his listeners this explained why the Prince had left the fortress at such short notice. Evidently when the threat of a revolt had been reported to him by Benito, he had thought it so grave a menace to his plans that he had decided to fly down and deal with the matter himself. To the man who had been speaking Rex said:
‘That certainly was hard luck. But you’re one hundred per cent right. This Black Power movement is inspired by the Devil. It could lead to bloodshed in hundreds of cities, and there’s not a hope of people bettering their lot through it.’
‘What you think they’ll do wiv’ us?’ the man asked anxiously.
Neither Rex nor Richard could bring himself to make a truthful reply. It was a certainty that the Prince would never let the two men return to the outer world, where they would tell others of the settlement in the Sala and about what was going on there. Neither would he allow them to go back among their fellow workers and risk their causing others to question the wisdom of the movement. And he was not the man to keep and feed two useless prisoners indefinitely; so the odds were that, within a few hours, he would have them quietly done away With.
Simon was of that opinion, too. But he could not bring himself to refrain from trying to comfort the two poor wretches. So he said, ‘Can’t do more than guess. Still, they wouldn’t want to keep workers who’re unwilling. Expect they’ll have you flown back to the States, or wherever you come from.’
‘Oh, man! I does hope you’se right,’ the Negro said miserably. ‘I’s mighty scared. May the good Lord ha’ mercy on His lil’ chillen.’
Silence fell. De Richleau slept. The others lay or sat in great discomfort and dozed uneasily through the remaining hours of the night.
It was about six o’clock in the morning when the Zombies opened the door. Covering the Negro and the dark-skinned man with their pistols, they stared at them with glazed eyes then, with jerky gestures, signed to them to get up and leave the cell-like room. Cowed, the two men offered no resistance and disappeared up the stairs. The door was shut on the others and tbey were again in darkness.
The Duke was in such a deep sleep that he had not woken. Time drifted on. The rest of them were not actually suffering from hunger and thirst, but they would have welcomed a good breakfast, or even a cup of water and some biscuits. But nothing was brought to them. They could only sit there in misery, wondering what form the Prince’s vengeance would take for their having killed four of his henchmen.
At a little after eleven o’clock, Benito came to them. He had them wake de Richleau; then, with two patient Zombies as escort, they were taken upstairs and led into the washroom. The Duke’s sleep had greatly improved his condition. He told them that, although he was still weak from loss of blood, he now felt only a dull ache in his shoulder.
When they had freshened themselves up, they were taken out to the airstrip. The Prince was at the controls of his ‘plane, and the engine was already revving over. In a back seat sat the Moor, El Aziz. Across his knees lay a long, slender sword, the blade of which was only, slightly curved.
As soon as they had settled themselves, the Prince said to Benito, ‘If there is any moire trouble, deal with it promptly, then report to me.’ The door was shut and they took off. Three-quarters of an hour later they landed on the island in the Lago de Poopo. During the journey the Prince had not addressed a word to them. When they had all disembarked, he threw a haughty, contemptuous look at them and said to El Aziz:
‘As we have no cells here, take them down to the swimming pool. In any case, to lock them up would be unnecessary, as I shall put a spell on them which will prevent them from leaving the fortress.’
Evidently having some further urgent business, he turned away and ran up the hundred and more steps to the fortress with a swiftness which put into the minds of the onlookers that he must be supported by invisible wings.
As de Richleau looked about him, he saw several of the airstrip men glaring balefully at his party, Their attitude showed that they must be aware that he or one of his friends had killed their companion during the previous night. It meant that if, in spite of the Prince, they could get down to the airfield again, the Andeans would probably open fire on them at sight. With Rex’s assistance he slowly climbed the long flight of steps and they entered the stronghold.
El Aziz took them down to the big, circular Hall of Divination that served as an ante-room to the temple. As before, it was lit by a rosy glow and was empty. Crossing to the segment of the circular wall that had the panel bearing the reversed crescent upon it, El Aziz pressed a spring and a section slid smoothly back, revealing a long, low chamber.
It was dimly lit and they could see that the walls and ceiling were formed of the big, stone blocks used by the Incas; but an oblong pool filled the centre, and round it was a broad walkway of modern tiles. At the far end the tiled space was wider and there they could make out some low tables and several lounge chairs.
Halting by the entrance, El Aziz signed for them to go ahead. Rex ignored the gesture and asked that a bed should be provided for the wounded Duke. From the expression on the Moor’s face it was clear that it delighted him to refuse this request, but he did not even bother to reply. Turning his back, he left them, crossed the Hall of Divination and closed behind him the section of wall leading to the passage.
Rex then led the way along one side of the pool and said, ‘In the old days this was the Incas’ Treasure chamber. Occasionally the Prince enjoys a swim, so he had it converted to hold water and fitted with all the gadgets that go with a luxury pool. I’ve swum down here with Silvia and some of the others several times. Lord alone knows what His Satanic Highness means to do with us, but at least we’ll be better off here than in that cellar down at the Sala.’
At the far end of the pool there was a bar, holding a good selection of bottles, and several tins of cocktail biscuits and nuts. As Rex went behind the bar, for the first time in days he laughed. Picking up the shaker, he said, ‘Sorry there’s no ice, but never mind,’ and started to pour gin into it. Then he uttered his old crack, ‘Come on, folks. Make ‘em small but drink ‘era quick. It takes a fourth to make an appetite.’
Regretfully de Richleau doused their temporary elation by saying, ‘Nothing for me, Rex. I have denied myself alcohol for over a week now. That is important for an Adept who wishes to exert his powers to the full. For you others it does not matter so much, because you are not initiates. All the same, I think you should limit yourselves to two drinks each, because it could be dangerous to slow up your reactions in an emergency.’
Accordingly the Duke drank lime juice and water, and the others had only one snifter to brace them up, followed by a long drink to quench their thirst. As they had had no food that day they made swift inroads into the biscuits, except for the Duke who was determined to continue the semi-fast he had maintained ever since their arrival and, when they had made him as comfortable as possible on one of the lounge chairs, he refused all but a few small handfuls of nuts.
After the grim hours they had been through, this interlude greatly lightened their spirits; but they had had little sleep during the past night, so they soon fell silent and dozed for the greater part of the afternoon.
When they roused, their minds were again filled with thoughts of the dire peril they were in, and they began to speculate gloomily on what horrors the Prince might send against them during the coming night. Richard remarked despondently on there being nothing available with which they might form a pentacle to give them some protection, upon which the Duke said:
‘The Prince must have had his mind on other things when he ordered us to be brought down here. The pool will serve us as well, if not better, than a makeshift pentacle. If an attack does come, we can take to the water.’
Looking down at the calm, unruffled sheet, Miranda asked, ‘How will that help us?’
‘Water, far more than bread, is the staff of life,’ the Duke replied. One can exist without food for forty days and more; but not without liquid. For that reason most evil manifestations are highly allergic to water. For example, it is one of the few things that hamper the activities of vampires. No vampire can cross running water, not even a little stream.’
Simon asked, ‘What do we do then? Stand in the shallow end fully clad, or strip and swim round in circles?’
‘It would be best for us to stand in a ring, holding hands. Our vibrations are so well attuned that, when united, there is still a chance that we may be able to fight off anything that is sent against us.’
‘Any idea what form the attack will take?’ Richard enquired.
‘None. He won’t try to send us out of our minds by producing thought-forms of people we love in heart-rending situations. Having tried that, he knows it won’t work. But he may send more of those revolting elementáis. They are terrifying to look at, but a very low form of occult entity; so, if you all keep your nerve, we should be able to resist them. My real fear is that he may summon up one of the mighty forces from the Outer Circle. If he does that, we can only pray that the Lords of Light will take pity on us. Should that happen, though, we’ll be saved only at the price of our lives. The whole fortress will be destroyed by an eruption and our present bodies with it.’
After a moment, Rex said, ‘Say we do pull through. What then? It’s impossible for us to escape because the Prince has put a spell on us.’
‘Not through our own efforts,’ the Duke agreed. ‘The spell will nullify any attempt we might make to break out. But if, by a miracle, someone here took pity on us, he could get us away as though we were so many Zombies.’
‘What a hope!’ Richard exclaimed bitterly.
‘I don’t know,’ Miranda said hesitantly. ‘Remember Silvia put me under hypnosis last night before that awful ceremony. If she hadn’t, I think I’d have died of horror and disgust. But she did, and that was quite contrary to the delight in sadism that everyone else here displays. They would have enjoyed seeing me suffer the most frightful agonies of apprehension. She saved me from that, so she can’t be altogether bad.’
De Richleau smiled. ‘You’re right, my dear. As the Maiden of the Grand Coven of South America, she must be a powerful witch and fully approve the object that her companions are working for. Yet, unless I am much mistaken, a spark of light remains within her.’
Turning to Rex, he went on, ‘Would you mind telling us exactly what your relations with Silvia are–or rather were? That might prove helpful.’
Rex spread out his hands. ‘From you folks I’ve nothing to hide about my affair with her. If we hadn’t been either too much up against it, or so tired out these past few days, I’d have given you the full story before now.
‘It was this way. I met her in B.A. about eighteen months ago. I fell for her, and she didn’t hide the fact that she took a good view of me. That is one of her attractions. She never seeks to disguise her feelings and calls a spade a spade. You can either like her or do the other thing, and she doesn’t play hard to get. Anyhow, we made a date and, after we’d dined, she gave me that dazzling smile of hers and said, “You know, one of us may fall under a bus tomorrow, so why should we wait? Let’s go back to my apartment.”
There was nothing of the whirlwind courtship about it. We were just two sophisticated people who, during our lives, had had quite a lot of fun with the opposite sex, and we liked each other. It was as simple as that. In the circumstances, it would have been a pretty unlikely thing if we hadn’t enjoyed our roll in the hay. And you bet we did. That’s how Silvia became my mistress.
‘You know her record. She’s slept around more than most women, and she doesn’t give a cuss what people think of her. But she’s got at least one good principle. I know she did her best to lead you up the garden path down at Punta Arenas; but, in the ordinary way, she never tells a lie. In view of her past, during our first few months I more or less took it for granted that when I had to go off on business to other capitals in South America, she would amuse herself with other guys. That didn’t worry me over-much, because I’ve never really been in love with her. We had some wonderful times and were always happy when we were together, but I wasn’t in love to the extent that I would have chucked everything and followed her to the other end of the world.
‘I’ve a hunch that she felt the same way about me, but liked me enough not to tangle with anyone else when, now and then, I had to leave her for a week or so. That was the conclusion I came to after a while, because she was always so frank about everything—except in one particular. I used to spend two or three nights a week with her. Other nights we’d entertain or go out independently, and after such occasions she would always tell me how she had spent her evening. But once a month she would keep some date and clam up tight on what she’d been up to.
‘Being fairly regular but so far apart, it didn’t seem plausible that these dates were with some other guy. But naturally I was curious, so one night about six months ago I went to her apartment and waited for her to return. When she did get back, in the early hours of the morning, she was pretty potted. It was then that she spilled the beans to me that on these dates she attended seances.
‘I’ve told you how things developed from there on, how she induced me to take an interest in the game, and how, when I learned about this Black Power movement, I felt that it was up to me to play along with them so that I could find out enough about this god-awful conspiracy to take steps which would bust it wide open.
‘As you know, after I quit B.A., Silvia put in her annual few weeks at Punta Arenas, then came up to Santiago and on here.
When she arrived we enjoyed the happy sort of reunion that we used to have after one of my trips to Rio or Lima. Since then, up till the day before yesterday, we’ve carried on just as we used to. Now you know how things stand between us.’
‘Ner.’ Simon shook his bird-like head. ‘Since then situation’s changed. She knows now that you ratted on them. Never even made a protest when the Prince deprived you of the use of your legs.’
‘For her to have done so would have been useless. And she knew it.’
‘Do you think,’ asked the Duke, ‘that, in spite of your having betrayed them, she still has tender feelings for you?’
‘I wouldn’t know. After all we’ve been to each other, she’d not be natural if she wasn’t sorry to see me in the jam I’m in now. But it could be that she’s too far committed to Satan to do more than stand on the side-lines and let matters take their course. Your guess is as good as mine.’
‘I appreciate that. But you’re probably right that her attitude depends on how deep she has got herself in. She is a witch, of course, but there are witches and witches. The majority of the poor old women who were burnt at the stake were innocent, and seized upon only because they lived alone, were ugly and kept a white mouse in a cage. Most of the others were capable of no more than blighting the crops of neighbours who had behaved badly towards them, or putting a murrain on their cattle, or causing their wives to miscarry. But there were a number who acted as midwives. They stole foetuses, resulting from premature births and unbaptised infants, then ate parts of them and used others as ingredients in revolting brews that could have a most potent effect on those who partook of them. They aided gangs of wreckers by raising hurricanes that drove ships on to the rocks, could influence people at a distance and brought death to their victims by melting wax images before a slow fire. How far do you suppose that Silvia has gone, in her desire for excitement, along this path of evil?’
Rex sighed. ‘It’s hard to say. Maybe she didn’t take me into her full confidence because she has cast spells she knew I wouldn’t approve of. But I’ve known her perform magics that you could class as bringing punishment on those who deserved it.
‘One time a young maid of hers was driven out into the country and raped. Silvia managed to get hold of a pair of the man’s socks and did her stuff on them. A few days later he contracted galloping syphilis and, within six weeks, his genitals rotted away.
‘Certainly not the type of enchantments one would expect from a woman associated with the Prince and the Baron,’ de Richleau commented. ‘Either would have regarded the raping of the maid as deeds inspired by an elemental, and approved of them. I think we can take it as proof that Silvia has not yet crossed the Abyss and become fully committed to the Left-Hand Path.’
‘She has always said that she went into the game because it offered a new form of interest and excitement. She has much too happy a nature to be evil, and I doubt if she has ever seriously considered what the Black Power movement may ultimately lead to. But she enjoys the power that being a witch gives her.’
‘ “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”,’ de Richleau quoted. ‘It seems to me that she is now standing on the brink. Since she enjoys power, they will give it to her—at a price. It is always so with those who dabble in the Black Art. It can be only a matter of time before she becomes corrupted, and as evil as the rest of them. In my opinion it is only because they have found her very useful in other ways that they have not so far lured her into taking the fatal step.’
‘I guess you’re right. Same as with myself. They thought me to be too valuable to them as a foreign exchange expert to press me to do things they knew I wouldn’t do willingly.’
‘How far have your own studies of the occult brought you?’
‘Oh, I’m still only a neophyte, just coming up for the second grade. I’m capable of only small-time stuff. In secret, I concentrated on a friend of mine and succeeded in curing him of arthritis. For fun, one day I caused that old stick-in-the-mud, Harold Haag, the manager of our bank in Buenos Aires, to make a hopeless mess of his accounts. I can make cold water become tepid, but not to boil as yet. I’m getting on well as a clairvoyant, and I’ve made a beginning at thought transference with Silvia.’
‘Ah!’ exclaimed the Duke. ‘There we have something. Could you manage to get into touch with her, and find out how she is disposed towards us?’
‘No, I don’t think I could do that. I can send thoughts out, but not receive them. At least, only now and then in a garbled version, and sometimes I have put quite a wrong interpretation on them.’
‘To send her a message is the more important. Let her know that we have great cause to fear what may become of us. Ask her to aid us if she possibly can. Tell her that if she knows of any way in which we might escape we should be forever grateful if she would give us guidance to it.’
O.K. I’ll do that.’ Rex got down on the floor and arranged himself in the traditional cross-legged position, then bowed his head. The Duke looked round at the others and said:
There is no need to leave your seats, but all of you must remain silent and pray for Rex’s success.’
For the best part of an hour they sat there. Rex appeared to have gone to sleep, but at last he raised his head and shook it. ‘Maybe she got the message, maybe not, There was no response at all, so it’s impossible to say.’
Soon afterwards two of the green-clad servitors appeared and brought them a meal, but it consisted only of a peasant fare, coarse bread and a basin each of maize mush, which made it clear that the Prince did not intend them to derive any enjoyment from their nourishment.
By the time they had finished the evening was well advanced, so they began to make preparations for the night. After they had visited the washrooms, the Duke had them arrange all the cushions from the easy chairs in one group on the pavement near the edge of the pool. The five of them then sat down on the cushions back to back, and he said:
‘None of us must leave the others in any circumstance. Not only is union strength, but anyone who failed to remain in physical contact with the rest would be overcome much more easily. If an attack develops, whatever form it takes we must get up, form a line with clasped hands as quickly as we can; then, when I give the word, scramble into the shallow end of the pool here.’
Suddenly, to their consternation, the radiance that lit the swimming pool was switched off. The only light now came through the open panel of the Hall of Divination. They watched it anxiously, fearing that it, too, would go out. It remained on, but as it was over eighty feet away, it was no more than a bright patch faintly illuminating the gloom between it and them.
Looking uneasily about them, they began to imagine that the shadows thrown by pillars and buttresses were solidifying into strange forms and gruesome shapes that menaced them. The eerie half-light played havoc with their nerves and strung them up nearly to breaking point.
For a long while they hoped that Silvia would come to them, but at length they reconciled themselves to the belief that either she had not received Rex’s message, or was in the enemy camp and had no intention of aiding them even if it was possible for her to do so.
At about eleven o’clock, they all jerked erect. They had caught the sound of footsteps on stone. Anxiously they peered in the direction of the ante-room, hoping that, after all, Silvia was coming to them. Holding their breath, they craned forward, only to release it in bitter disappointment a moment later. It was Singra, the Pakistani. He did not even glance through the opening into the almost dark swimming pool, but turned in the opposite direction and went into the temple. Having presumably performed some duty there after some ten minutes he came out again, recrossed the circular antechamber and disappeared.
Utter silence fell again. Another hour dragged by. Nothing happened. Suddenly Richard burst out, ‘I can’t stand this much longer. Let’s have a sing-song.’
‘Excellent idea,’ agreed the Duke. ‘I ought to have thought of that myself.’ Spontaneously Rex started ‘Rock of Ages’, and they all joined in. ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ followed; but none of them was sure of the words of even these best-known hymns, so they fell back on old popular numbers: ‘Roll out the Barrel’, ‘If you were the only girl in the world’, ‘Keep the home fires burning’, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, and so on.
As they sang, they never ceased to keep an uneasy watch for some evil thing to materialise out of the shadows. But still the attack they expected failed to develop. After singing for two hours, they were so hoarse that the sound of their voices made a travesty of the tunes. At about two o’clock in the morning they fell silenr. All of them felt utterly played out. By then they had ceased, except occasionally, even to throw apprehensive glances into the shadows. Still leaning back to back, their heads dropped on their chests. All of them except de Richleau fell asleep.
Without warning the dim lights of the swimming pool went on. As they roused, the Duke glanced at his watch and saw that it was morning. He told the others that while they had slept there had been no disturbances, and they felt that, for the time being, the danger was past.
They breakfasted off the remaining biscuits and nuts, then settled themselves again in the lounge chairs. De Richleau dropped off into a doze, while the others again speculated fruitlessly on what the Prince intended to do with them. As they had killed four of his principal lieutenants, they had no illusions that he would show them mercy, and could only suppose chat his having left them in peace during the night meant that he intended to play a cat and mouse game with them.
Soon after they had eaten, the white pilot Dubecq and the half-Spanish Cervantes, both of whom they had glimpsed in the bar on their first arrival at the fortress, came down for a swim. Neither of them took any notice of the prisoners, so it could be assumed that the Prince had given orders that they were not to be interfered with.
After that nothing happened until about half past ten. Their attention was then caught by a new sound: that of high heels tapping on the stone floor of the ante-room. A moment later Silvia appeared. She was wearing a white Grecian robe, with gold embroidery at the neck and wrists. They all sat forward eagerly but, without giving them a glance, she let the robe fall to her feet, kicked off her mules and, naked, dived into the pool.
‘By Jove! She’s a dish, isn’t she?’ Richard murmured. ‘I’ve never seen a girl with such splendid shoulders and so slim a waist.’
‘Woman,’ the Duke corrected him. ‘We know her to be close on fifty. Obviously she’s taken great care of herself; but latterly, I don’t doubt, she has used her occult powers to renew her youth. The old beldames of whom we were talking last night were not in a class that knew the spells needed to make themselves physically attractive. But really potent witches always appear young and beautiful.’
Meanwhile Rex had stood up and was stripping off his clothes. It had been his custom to swim nude with Silvia, and he did not want her to think that he had suddenly become prudish; so, ignoring Miranda’s presence, he dived in without a stitch on.
The onlookers watched them eagerly, but Rex and Silvia did not greet each other. At times they crossed each other’s path, but anyone observing them would have taken them for complete strangers. After about ten minutes Silvia climbed out of the pool, dried herself on a towel she had brought with her and, without any indication that she was aware of the presence of the prisoners, walked away through the ante-room.
Standing in the shallow end of the pool, Rex said to his friends in a low voice, ‘The Prince may be overlooking us, so we didn’t dare exchange more than a few sentences, and those only because we were in the water. I did get through to her last night. She had no excuse to come down here then; but nearly every morning when she’s here she has a swim, and the Prince hasn’t said that while we are being kept prisoner she is not to.
‘He is so furious about our having killed von Thumm and the others that he can’t make up his mind what would be the most painful death to inflict on us. As we hoped might be the case, she would help us to get away if she could. You see, she’s got it on her conscience that it is her fault that we have all been drawn into this. But there’s nix that she can do. If the Prince even suspected that she had qualms about us, he’d blast her where she stood. So she can only play along with him.’
Their hope that Silvia would be able to aid them had been a very slender one, so they were not unduly cast down to learn that she was powerless to do so. But they were pleased, particularly Rex, to know that her mind was not entirely dominated by the Prince.
Later in the morning the skull-headed Mazambi came down to bathe. Then, at midday, the prisoners were brought the same unappetising meal that they had been given the previous evening.
During the afternoon they dozed for a while; then, to keep their minds free from thinking of the most unpleasant forms of death and wondering which the Prince would decide on for them, they told stories, held a spelling bee and reminisced about their past adventures. Somehow they got through the dragging hours until, late in the evening, another ration of bread and mush was brought to them. Afterwards they held another sing-song; then, no longer fearful now that the Prince would send occult forces to attack them, settled down for the night.
Early next morning they all refreshed themselves by going in for a swim. In due course, Dubecq, Cervantes, and the Egyptian, Ben Yussuf, came down and swam. Then Silvia again arrived, so Rex went in to exchange a few words with her each time they passed one another in the water.
When she had gone he had the most exciting news for his friends. With a wide grin he said, ‘There’s more trouble down at the settlement. Seems those two poor guys who were in the cellar with us started something. The speeches they made at the meeting they called met with pretty wide agreement. Everyone down there is now debating whether this Black Power movement would pay off in the long run, and there is to be another meeting tonight. It’s quite on the cards that a lot of them will decide to down tools unless they are sent back to their home towns.’
‘By Jove! That really is something,’ Richard exclaimed. ‘It might wreck the whole movement.’
Rex nodded. ‘There’s still better to come. It seems there’s a limit to even the Prince’s powers. Silvia says that the binding spell he has put on us to keep us here is not operative at a distance. If he goes down to the settlement to quell this meeting tonight, as she thinks he means to, she should be able to get us out.’
‘Oh, how wonderful!’ Miranda cried. ‘I knew she was good at heart. But when he comes back and finds out what she’s done, won’t he punish her most terribly?’
‘I thought of that, and you’re right. She told me she wouldn’t dare remain here. If she did, it would cost her her life; so she will come with us.’
‘Surely the Prince would not go off leaving her in charge here?’ remarked the Duke. ‘What about Mazambie, Dubecq, Singra and the rest? How would she deal with them?’
‘She said that if von Thumm or Glasshill were still alive, that would have stymied her, because they were capable of reading her thoughts. But the rest of the bunch are not; so she’ll offer to make them a bouillabaisse for dinner from the fish and what-have-you from the lake. It’s quite a thing of hers, and very strongly flavoured, so they won’t notice the drug she means to put in it, and that will knock them all for six. About the retainers she says we don’t need to worry. Mentally they’re pretty low material, and it just wouldn’t occur to them to question anything she does.’
‘May the Lords of Light be praised for having brought her back on to the Right-Hand Path,’ murmured the Duke. But a moment later, he said anxiously, ‘We shall still have one big hurdle to get over, though. As far as we know there are still two ‘planes on the airstrip. The Prince will take one to fly himself down to the Sala; but how are we to get hold of the other? The Andean mechanics down there will jump at the chance of avenging their comrade, and I can subdue only one of them at a time. Unless Silvia has some way of dealing with them, the odds are that several of us may be shot down before we can reach the aircraft.’
Rex made a grimace. ‘I hadn’t thought of that, and it’s a nasty one. Maybe Silvia could get us weapons. If so, and we could take them by surprise, we’d be able to put them out of the game before they had a chance to shoot us up.’
The best part of two nights and a day had passed since they had been caught. During those long hours they had slept little and had been in constant fear of the unguessable, but certainly agonising, death the Prince would inflict upon them. In consequence, this sudden prospect that Silvia might save them dispelled their utter despair and cheered them all enormously. Compared with the unknown horror that had filled them with such awful foreboding, they were inclined to take lightly the physical hazard of dealing with the Andean mechanics.
Now, buoyed up with optimism, they passed the rest of the morning in an almost happy frame of mind. With midday there arrived another unappetising meal, then in the afternoon they dozed. When, in the evening, food was brought to them again, as soon as the servitors had gone Richard said:
‘Unless everything goes wrong, as soon as we get in that ‘plane, we’ll break open its stores and enjoy some decent food, so I’m not eating any more of this muck.’
De Richleau’s spells of Yoga-induced sleep had done wonders for him. His wound was healing well and his voice was perceptibly more vigorous, as he said, ‘Let’s not count our chickens yet. You may need all your strength before morning. Think of yourself as back in the nursery and eat up your porridge like a good little boy.’
In due course the lights went out and the big chamber was plunged in darkness except at the far end, where the faint glow from the ante-room of the temple still showed.
Despite their new-found optimism, at the back of all their minds there nagged the disturbing thought that the Prince might decide to begin the torment with which he had threatened them before he flew down to the Sala; so, in order to offer the maximum resistance, they again arranged themselves sitting back to back on the cushions.
Knowing that Silvia would not be free to act until her associates had fallen into a heavy, drug-induced sleep, they thought it very unlikely that she would come to them before midnight, so they whiled away the late evening hours with such patience as they could muster.
At last midnight came and they all roused to a new alertness, listening eagerly for the least sound that might break the stillness. As time drifted by, their tension grew, but nothing occurred to relieve it. At ever more frequent intervals Rex gave a quick, nervous glance at the luminous dial of his wrist watch. One o’clock came, then two o’clock. Their suspense became almost unbearable. At last, a little before three o’clock de Richleau broke a long silence to voice the thought that, for an hour or more, had been tormenting them all and renewing their fears about their future.
‘My friends,’ he said softly. ‘I fear we must face it. Something has gone wrong, or Silvia would have come to us by now.’
With heavy sighs they agreed, but sat on, still hoping desperately, through what seemed the never-ending hours until, at last, morning came and the light went on.
Weary and miserable, they got up and helped themselves to drinks at the bar. Now sleepy from their long vigil, they settled down in the lounge chairs where, still half awake, they mused with fresh apprehension on what fate might hold in store for them, and what might have happened to Silvia.
At about half past eight Dubecq and Cervantes came down to swim. As they splashed about and shouted to each other in the water, they showed no sign at all of having just come out of a heavy sleep, which seemed to indicate that they had not partaken of Silvia’s drugged bouillabaisse.
Then, no more than five minutes after they had left, to the immense relief of Rex and his friends Silvia emerged from the ante-room, threw off her robe and, without a glance in their direction, dived into the water.
Within a couple of minutes Rex had pulled off his clothes and was swimming towards her. For nearly a quarter of an hour they passed and repassed each other without, apparently, exchanging a word; then Silvia climbed out at the far end. While she was drying herself, Rex stood only waist deep in the water and, in a low voice, said to his friends:
‘She was stymied last night by the Prince’s not going down to the Sala after all. Seems the trouble there has reached such proportions that he, with a few of his lieutenants and half a dozen Zombies, would be incapable of controlling such numbers by ordinary means; so he’s taken a new decision. He means to turn the people there from volunteers into slaves.’
‘How does he propose to do that?’ Richard asked.
‘By occult means. I gather that there’s an exceptional source of power that they term “The Pit”. He plans to open it, call up a host of elementáis and send them down to the settlement.’
‘The Pit!’ exclaimed de Richleau in horror. ‘Heavens alive! Can he really mean to open the gates of Hell?’
Rex nodded. That’s what Silvia said. The elementáis he conjures up from it will scare those poor do-gooders out of their wits for a few nights. Then they will be placed at the disposal of Benito and his pals, and anybody who refuses to do his job will wake up to find a demon sitting on his chest. It is going to be a horrible business, but it will give us a break. The Pit is somewhere in the rain forests of Brazil, and the Prince means to fly down to it tomorrow evening. With luck, while he’s absent Silvia will be able to get us away.’
‘Provided we’re still alive to be got away,’ Simon remarked gloomily.
‘You’ve got a point there. It’s still on the cards that he’ll give us ours before he goes down to this hell-spot. But, at the moment, he’s too concerned about the rebellion down at the settlement to think of much else. I gather that a good half of the stooges would have quit the place by now if they’d had transport; but it’s so utterly cut off that they’re scared of dying in the salt marshes or the arid mountains. Anyhow, Silvia says the Prince has hardly mentioned us since he sent us down here. This “opening of the Pit” business is going to be an all-time high Satanic jamboree. He is summoning the whole of the thirteen senior covens that operate in South America to attend it, and it’s making the arrangements that is keeping him so fully occupied now.’
‘What are elementals?’ Miranda asked the Duke.
‘They are quasi-intelligent thought creations,’ he replied. ‘Every thought we have produces an invisible form, and beautiful thoughts beget auras of good about the thinker. But evil thoughts are the product of evil habits and, if persisted in, they build up an elemental. Unless called up by a Black magician for some malevolent purpose, they are rarely seen. But alcoholics see them as green rats and other horrors. There are, of course, far worse ones created by murder, brutality, rape and all the vices. Drug addicts are sometimes driven to suicide by being haunted by them. The forms they take are hideous. Perhaps you have seen paintings by Breugel the Elder? In some of the most famous ones elementals are admirably portrayed.’
Miranda shuddered. ‘Yes, when I was “finishing” in Paris, before I lost my sight, I was taken to the Louvre and saw some Breugels there. How awful for those poor people whom they are being sent to terrify. Are they only evil spirits or have they some sort of life?’
‘They certainly have life of a kind, because to keep in being they have to feed. They batten on every sort of unpleasant substance: offal, faeces, urine, sexual secretions, menstrual blood, the pus from sores, drunkard’s vomit and corpses. Some of them are termed Incubi and Succubi. The former visit women and the latter men in their beds at night. Except when deliberately summoned up by witches and wizards, they remain invisible, but copulate with their victims, drawing the vitality out of them. Their need for sustenance keeps them constantly on the prowl, seeking out vicious men and women who will provide them with regular nourishment.’
‘Why, then, should they be down in the Pit?’ asked Richard.
‘Those would be elementals whose original creators are dead, so at the moment they are only the lowest sort of spirit. They are eagerly waiting to be despatched to someone whose vices would re-create them, or upon some mission that would gratify their Infernal Creator.’
During this second day that the friends had spent beside the swimming pool, their routine had not varied. The meals brought them continued to be prison fare. They twice went in for a swim and passed the time playing games which needed neither cards nor dice. As evening came, apprehension grew in them that the Prince would come to, or send for them that night, and despatch them, most painfully, to eternity. But somehow they managed to get through the long hours until morning came again and Silvia came down for her daily bathe.
After talking with her Rex reported that the Prince was still fully engaged on the preparations for the great occult ceremony that was to take place that night. He had been on communication with Adepts of the Left-Hand Path far and near; and appointed new Chiefs to the covens previously led by von Thumm, Glasshill, Kaputa and Pucará. He also intended to take with him the majority of his remaining lieutenants, of whom he had six there in the fortress and two down at the settlement.
In spite of the turmoil and partial stoppage of work there, he was confident that, for some time to come, his dupes would make no attempt to march out in a body. Any bid to cross the hundreds of miles of wilderness that separated the Sala from civilisation needed organisation and, as was to be expected, so far No one among those woolly-minded people had emerged as a leader.
Moreover, the intelligence of elementáis was very low; so, when they were launched against the do-gooders they could not be expected to discriminate. The Prince’s lieutenants, although capable of driving them off, would be seriously plagued by them, and the Zombies would be scared out of what wits they had left.
In consequence, the Prince had decided to withdraw his own people from the settlement for three days, thus enabling them to attend the ceremony. Meanwhile, the dupes down there would be subjected to a reign of terror. After the three days their Satanic overlords would return. Using the threat of causing further terrifying manifestations, they would restore order and get the people back to work.
Silvia had not dared ask the Prince’s intentions towards the prisoners, as it might have proved fatal to draw his attention to them. But the previous evening he had volunteered the information that he meant to continue to keep them on ice; so that when he returned from having opened the Pit, he could relish inflicting a long and painful death on them. It was his intention to leave El Aziz in charge of the fortress, and with him he would have the Zombies who were to be brought up from the settlement.
That had not given Silvia grounds for worry, since she felt confident that, with the aid of de Richleau, who was rapidly recovering from his wound, she could overcome El Aziz. What had worried her was the Prince’s having made it clear that he took it for granted that she would accompany him to the ceremony. For her to do so would lay all their plans in ruins. But she had thought of a valid excuse to remain behind. When she went up from her swim, she intended to tell him that she had been called to the Astral and go into a trance. It was certain that he would be furious, but such a summons from a powerful Master temporarily out of incarnation could not be ignored.
On the previous day Rex had put to her the hazard they would have to face from the enmity of the Andean mechanics, before they could get hold of an aircraft. But about that she had now reassured him. The odds were that all the aircraft would be used, so she was not counting on one being left behind. But below the almost sheer cliff on the far side of the stronghold there was a small harbour, which could be reached by steps cut in the rock, and in it there was a powerful motor boat. It would easily carry them the thirty miles to the northeast corner of the lake. There lay the little town of Poopo, which gave the lake its name and, only a mile or so beyond it, ran one of the greatest arterial roads in the world: the Pan-American Highway.
Learning of her plan cheered them immensely. Instead of the risks entailed by a flight through the mountains, or having to march, ill-equipped and with scant provisions, for several days through uninhabited areas, it meant that within a couple of hours of leaving the fortress they would be in direct touch with civilisation.
As the day wore on, the elation they had felt on learning of Silvia’s plan to get them speedily to the Pan-American Highway gradually evaporated. Should their attempt to escape fail, they realised only too well what the consequences would be for them. With flayed nerves they would have to stick out their torment until unconsciousness brought them merciful oblivion.
At about three o’clock they were roused by the sound of footsteps in the ante-chamber. Looking swiftly across the pool, they saw that it was El Aziz, accompanied by two Zombies. Purposefully the powerful Moor strode along the side of the pool towards them. Coming to a halt, he said tersely:
‘His Highness the Prince desires speech with you. Follow me.’
Getting up from their chairs, they obeyed. Without a glance behind him, he led them through the Hall of Divination, along the stone-walled passages and up to the library. The Prince was alone in the room, except for his beautiful Blue Persian cat, and standing in front of a blazing log fire. Having surveyed them for a moment, he smiled and said:
The stubble on your chins does not improve your appearance, and the lady’s hair looks like a bird’s nest. But no matter. These physical imperfections will shortly be burned away. For a purpose which is no concern of yours, tonight I intend to open the Pit. Apart from a comparatively small circle of Adepts, only the entities on the higher planes know of its existence; but, deep in the rain forests of Brazil, there are the ruins of an ancient temple–probably the oldest in the world. It is one of the few gateways by which man can physically contact that part of the Great God’s domain which is termed the Underworld. I have decided that there could be no more fitting end for you than to enter it while still alive. So I am taking you to Brazil with me.’