Polaris and the Goddess Glorian

by Charles B. Stilson

When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and winning smile.

"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had lost you."

For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was poignant with its question.

"Rose—the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out painfully.

With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed across the room.

"Your lady? She is there," he said.

On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch, similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks. Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.

Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were welcome indeed.

"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."

He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to rise and cross to the other couch.