“The wolf-people!” he cried passionately. “Nordhu, the priest, hath lost no time.”
Unslinging the great shield from his back, he took his stand upon the topmost step, his battle-axe flashing like silver beneath the light which shone from the jewel upon his brow. The next moment, into the square below poured a vast throng of savages, and at sight of the motionless figures upon the terrace they once more raised their hideous cry.
[CHAPTER XXVI.]
THE FASCINATION OF THE PRIEST.
FORWARD they came to the base of the steps, then paused a while, as though awaiting some signal ere commencing the attack. It came at length. From somewhere at the rear arose the voice of the high priest of the wolf-men.
“Go forward, my children, and ye shall prevail. Ramouni has spoken it.”
At the words a score or so of savages leapt up the steps towards the Ayuti.
“Guard my back,” the latter cried to his three friends, and bent forward to meet his oncoming foes. A grim smile played over his features for an instant as the wolf-men hesitated a few feet from the top of the steps.
“Are ye fearful,” he cried mockingly, “oh, children of the wolf? Hath not Nordhu, your father, promised that ye shall prevail? Come, then! Chenobi awaits you.”
His words lashed the savages to fury, and, with a roar of rage, they hurled themselves upon him. Quick as thought his weapon flashed upward, then came down in a terrific swoop, and the foremost wolf-man, his head almost cloven from his shoulders, pitched backward down the steps. To right and left the great axe whirled and smote, dancing and gleaming above the heaving mass of brown bodies which surged furiously upward. And from every fresh stroke it rose dyed crimson with the life-blood of a new victim.