The cylinder was open. With reckless haste, Ramey pounded the aluminum objects into it, crammed closed the top. It did not matter, now, that the Bow was overcharged. Life hung by a tenuous hair on this next split-second of time. He roared, "Back from the doorway, Syd! Out of range! Back!"
And as Syd charged toward him, there loomed in the doorway Ravana. A raging-mad Ravana flanked by his bowmen. The Videlian's eyes were aflame with hatred, fury.
"This time, dogs," he screamed, "you die!"
To his bowmen he howled a command. The archers' arms drew back. And then—
Ramey pressed the release grip of Rudra's Bow!
What happened next transpired so swiftly that none afterward could find its vision in his memory. There was a whining scream that rose and tore at the eardrums of all who stood behind the Bow. Then a sheet of blue-white flame that sprayed from the Bow's wide arch with the speed of light. Then bursts of crimson, bright and horrible, where had stood men. A searing hiss ... a crumbling ... the crash of masonry ... a frightful gust of heat, the backwash of which blistered even those who stood behind the Bow. And then—silence!
Ramey's fingers fell from the trigger of the Bow as he stared before him dazed, shaken, uncomprehending. Where a moment before a horde of warriors had stood beside Ravana in the doorway, now there was neither Ravana, bowmen—nor doorway! Everything—everything had disappeared! Even the portion of the town wall beyond the doorway. A great, jagged hole, whose edges still dripped molten stone gaped where the Bow's tremendous flame had devoured all.
From the dimness below came howls of terror. There sounded also the blur of running footsteps as the vanguard of Ravana's army fled the base of the tower in stumbling panic.
Ramey cried in a voice that cracked with urgency, "Now, Lord Vibhishana! Now is the time to speak! Up swiftly to the sounding-chamber!"