Abruptly, I heard Georg's voice shout above the din: "Elza! Elza is gone!"
The images of Tarrano faded. He, too, was gone.
And then I saw Maida on the balcony, standing with upraised arms. Her voice rang out.
"Down with Tarrano! Death to Tarrano!" And then her pleading command:
"Slaans, no more bloodshed! Be loyal, slaans, to your Princess Maida!"
And Georg calling: "Loyalty, everyone, to your Princess Maida. Loyalty! Loyalty!"
CHAPTER XXIII
First Retreat
I must recount now what Elza later told me, going back to those moments when Elza sat upon the balcony watching Tarrano and the Red Woman. The significance of what had been transpiring at the Water Festival was not clear to Elza; she did not know what was impending, but as she sat there with Tarrano beside her, a sense of danger oppressed her. Danger which lay like a weight upon her heart. Yet several times she found herself laughing—hilarious; and from Maida's warning glance, and the steadying odor which Maida wafted to her, she knew that Tarrano was using the alcholite fumes to intoxicate her.