Gladly we did so, and after taking off our knapsacks, we seated ourselves on some soft skins and listened to his story.
"First, I would ask ye how ye came hither. Edos is many days' journey hence for they who needs must travel by stealth or on foot; Remagaloth is yet further. I heard that ye escaped into the sky in a carriage of cunning workmanship. Came ye hence in that?"
"You speak quite truly, Kios," said Graham; "we escaped in the carriage that bore us from Earth to Gathma; but it conveyed us to a desert region which for days we had to cross on foot, nearly perishing of heat and thirst on the way."
"The barren ground of which ye speak is the desert Chados, and I marvel much to learn that ye have crossed it and yet do live! Ye are now in the woods called Theloth, the sole right and privilege of hunting therein being conferred on me by the King. I supply the palace at Edos with wild meat and herbs, and I came from the city but yesterday."
"Then the distance cannot, surely, be so far," exclaimed Temple.
"We travel quickly in Gathma," Kios answered, "and I know full well ye could not have come by the same means as I——"
"So you left Edos so recently? Then do you know aught of——?" said Graham in eagerness.
But Kios, with upraised finger, said, "Interrupt me not. I will tell ye all I know, but I must speak in mine own way.
"The news of your miraculous escape from death," continued Kios, "is on every tongue, both in Edos and throughout civilised Gathma; and, moreover, it is said that Echri with his wondrous arts did save ye, for one of ye did wear a sacred ring of his upon your finger. Ah! that is the same—all men of Edos know it well," said Kios, as Graham held out his hand on which the curious talisman glittered. "The King and his ministers are wrath enough; but there are those who say his royal anger is not so bitter as it seemeth, and that Volinè, his daughter, hath softened his heart toward ye. Yet, in this, I only repeat the gossip of the streets of Edos, and know not its truth. A prince, by name Perodii, fans the King's smouldering wrath by taunts, and what, methinks, are probably falsehoods concerning ye. No man in all Edos, save the King, is so powerful as he, nor is there a bigger blackguard within its walls. Be warned against him, for his soul is full of evil, and he seeks your ruin. At his instigation, troops are searching the country through to find ye; and if ye be taken captive once more, no mercy will be shown ye if Perodii can prevent it. I hate this Perodii with a deadly bitter hatred, for he ruined my only child! Curse him!"
"Know you aught of Volinè, the King's daughter; or of Kaosp, a worthy commander of the troops in Edos?" asked Graham anxiously.