The girl was still slightly under the spell of the creature’s influence—­she had not regained full and independent domination of her powers.  She moved as one in the throes of some hideous nightmare—­slowly, painfully, as though each limb was hampered by a great weight, or as she were dragging her body through a viscous fluid.  The aperture was close, ah, so close, yet, struggle as she would, she seemed to be making no appreciable progress toward it.

Behind her, urged on by the malevolent power of the great brain, the headless body crawled upon all-fours toward her.  At last she had reached the aperture.  Something seemed to tell her that once beyond it the domination of the kaldane would be broken.  She was almost through into the adjoining chamber when she felt a heavy hand close upon her ankle.  The rykor had reached forth and seized her, and though she struggled the thing dragged her back into the room with Luud.  It held her tight and drew her close, and then, to her horror, it commenced to caress her.

“You see now,” she heard Luud’s dull voice, “the futility of revolt—­and its punishment.”

Tara of Helium fought to defend herself, but pitifully weak were her muscles against this brainless incarnation of brute power.  Yet she fought, fought on in the face of hopeless odds for the honor of the proud name she bore—­fought alone, she whom the fighting men of a mighty empire, the flower of Martian chivalry, would gladly have lain down their lives to save.

CHAPTER VII

A REPELLENT SIGHT

The cruiser Vanator careened through the tempest.  That she had not been dashed to the ground, or twisted by the force of the elements into tangled wreckage, was due entirely to the caprice of Nature.  For all the duration of the storm she rode, a helpless derelict, upon those storm-tossed waves of wind.  But for all the dangers and vicissitudes they underwent, she and her crew might have borne charmed lives up to within an hour of the abating of the hurricane.  It was then that the catastrophe occurred—­a catastrophe indeed to the crew of the Vanator and the kingdom of Gathol.

The men had been without food or drink since leaving Helium, and they had been hurled about and buffeted in their lashings until all were worn to exhaustion.  There was a brief lull in the storm during which one of the crew attempted to reach his quarters, after releasing the lashings which had held him to the precarious safety of the deck.  The act in itself was a direct violation of orders and, in the eyes of the other members of the crew, the effect, which came with startling suddenness, took the form of a swift and terrible retribution.  Scarce had the man released the safety snaps ere a swift arm of the storm-monster encircled the ship, rolling it over and over, with the result that the foolhardy warrior went overboard at the first turn.