So with eloquent maledictions in the native tongue, and in round English, I swore the jailer, my trembling guide, to silence, and once again we three together began the business of escape.
Well for us that the friendly darkness covered us, and that before the dreadful onslaught of the storm the sentinels had fled. Our hard-earned knowledge of the network of dungeon, chamber, and corridor stood us in good stead; fear lent us strength and pricked us onward, and it was not long as we count by minutes before we paused for breath—we three together without the Palace, and so far safe, within the shadow of its wall.
Then it was that my heart sank like lead within my bosom. In the excitement of the flight, I had not thought of the Queen, and that escape meant farewell and forever.
One lives long in an hour like that, and in a flash I saw that I was bound to Lah by a stronger chain than any that could be forged by the word of a heathen priest before Edba’s altar.
But awful peril faced us, and if ever a maid needed the service of two stalwart men, such a one was Astolba, in the midst of this terrible danger alike from the heavens and from the beasts about us.
So, privately in the darkness, I kissed the ruby that lay upon my breast. This also I set down,—I care not who reads it,—and with the kiss I sealed a compact that led me from my desire to my duty.
Then I resolutely turned my back upon the Palace.
The dull roar was not so distant or so muffled now. It came from a maddened crowd that surged about the royal entrance gates.
Ghostly figures joined the mob, by twos and threes, showing not white, but black, against the red glare of burning buildings; and over all hung the sulphurous vapor; from above, peal upon peal of deafening thunder—the serpent flash of light.
The people of the Walled City were mad with fear, and in their terror lay our best pledge of safety. Lestrade supported the maid and tenderly urged her onward, and I in silence led the way, with naked sword to answer him who should unwisely question us.