Andreson, taken aback at the girl's sudden outburst, hardly knew what to say. He was spared the task of replying, however—
The sun went out!
The girl gave a smothered little cry, and the human clumsily tried to make his way through the blackness toward where he had last seen her. A powerful four-fingered hand grasped his elbow roughly.
"Stand still," Atel growled. "Jina! It may be another attack. Wait for the tower lights."
Andreson was uncertain as to whether "Jina!" was an expletive or the girl's name, which he had never heard before, but he stood still, resisting an impulse to shake Atel off. After a moment an eerie sound drifted to his ears: a distant, musical keening.
"Ah. It is a raid—there's the alarm."
As he spoke, a dim radiance filtered down over them, bringing the ranked seats of the council chamber into ghostly relief. It was coming down from the dome, but the great jewel no longer scattered rainbows. The light did not seem to have any single source.
"Aloft with him," Atel ordered.
Reluctantly the girl gripped the Earthman's other arm, and two pairs of wings thrummed together in the echoing chamber. He felt himself arrowing dizzily skyward, and tried to hold his body stiff.