"You saved my father's life?" She hugged my arm. "Oh,  Michael  Kane—the House  of Varnal owes its very existence to you!"

I smiled. "Thank you—if it did not exist I would be a very sad man."

Carnak patted my shoulder. "What a champion—I've known none like him in all my days—and I've known some good warriors, too."

"You are a fine warrior yourself, sir," I said.

"I'm not so bad, young man—but I was never so good as you." Then he looked regretfully at his daughter and me. "I can see that you feel—umsome emotion for one another. But you realize, Shizala, that there is nothing you can do about it?"

"What?" I was almost beside myself with horror at this. What new factor had arisen to become a barrier between my love and me?

Carnak shook his head. "There is the matter of the Bradhinak Telem Fas Ogdai. He—"

"He is dead," I said. I felt relief. Of course, Carnak knew nothing of what had happened recently. Quickly I told him.

He frowned as he listened. "I knew the lad was headstrong—and I knew Horguhl could use those eyes and that voice of hers to put anyone in her power—but I never thought that the son of my oldest friend could . . ." He cleared his throat . . . "It was, in a sense, my fault—for he came to see if I still lived, a prisoner, with the intention of saving me." Carnak—or the Bradhi of Varnal, as he was— shook his head. "We shall tell his father that he died on our behalf," he decided. "As, in an indirect sense, he did."

He looked at us and smiled. "Then you can announce your betrothal as soon as we return to Varnal, if that is what you wish."

"It is what we wish," we replied in unison, smiling at one another.

It took only a short time to round up the rest of the demoralized Argzoon and it was decided that we three—Carnak, Shizala and myself—should leave the Black City in the charge of Movat Jard, thus making the Argzoon's defeat less bitter. We announced that Movat Jard was temporary ruler of the Argzoon until some vote could be taken after a treaty had been drawn up.

Realizing that the Argzoon had been led to this situation by Horguhl's schemings, we were not as hard on them as we might have been.

Soon we were entering the aircraft, bidding farewell for the moment to Movat Jard.

Carnak took the controls of the ship and guided it through the difficult twists and turns of the tunnel leading to the open air.

Soon we were passing over the Wastes of Doom, over the stunted forests, the wide river, the wilderness and the Crimson Plain.

The journey took many days, but we spent it making plans for the future, discussing all that had passed while we had been parted.