Kor Hal's voice boomed down some huge fateful distance. "The wise men of Caer Dhu were not so wise. They found the secret of Shanga, and they escaped their wars and their troubles by fleeing backward along the path of evolution. Do you know what happened to them? They perished, Earthman! In one generation, Caer Dhu vanished from the face of Mars."
It was getting hard to answer, hard to think. Winters said hoarsely, "Did it matter? They were happy, while they lived."
"Are you happy, Earthman?"
"Yes!" he panted. "Yes!"
The words were only half articulate. Twisting, rolling on the hide rugs, in the grip of such magnificent, unholy sensation as he had never dreamed of before, Burk Winters was happy. The fire of Shanga blazed down upon him like a wicked sun, and all his troubles were melting away, and there was nothing left but joy.
Again, Kor Hal laughed.
After that, Winters was not sure of anything. His mind rocked, and there were periods of darkness. When he was conscious, he knew only a feeling of strangeness. But he carried one memory with him, at least part way down that eerie road.
During a lucid period, a space of only a minute or two, he thought that one of the stones had rolled back to reveal a quartzite screen, and that through the screen a face looked at him, watching as he bathed naked in the beautiful flame.
A woman's face. Martian, high-bred, with strong delicate bones and arrogant brows, and a red mouth that would be like a bitter-sweet fruit to kiss. Her eyes were golden as the fire, and as hot, and proud, and scornful.