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"You will know when it happens." Kane was smiling fiercely. "And when it does happen,
strike!"
There was a Tonite gun in Tymball's hand suddenly, as he backed away. His plump face
was not at all gentle, "I'll take a chance, Kane. Good-bye 1"
The captain strode up the deserted marble steps of the Memorial arrogantly. He was
flanked on each side by an armed adjutant.
He paused an instant before the huge double-door that loomed up before him and stared at
the slender pillars that soared gracefully upwards at its sides.
There was faint sarcasm in his smile, "Impressive, all this, isn't it?"
"Yes, Captain!" was the double reply.
"And mysteriously dark, too, except for the dim yellow of their Flame. You see its light?" He
pointed toward the stained glass of the bottom windows, which glinted flickeringly.
"Yes, Captain!"
"It's dark, and mysterious, and impressive and it is about to fall in ruins." He laughed, and
suddenly brought the butt end of his saber down upon the metal carvings on the door in a
clanging salvo.
It echoed through the emptiness within and sounded hol- lowly in the night, but there was no
answer.
The adjutant at his left raised his televisor to his ear and caught the faint words issuing
therefrom. He saluted, "Cap- tain, the Humans are crowding into the sector."
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The captain sneered, "Let them! Order the guns placed in
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BLACK FRIAR OF THE FLAME readiness and aimed along the avenues. Any Human
attempt- ing to pass the cordon is to be rayed mercilessly."
His barked command was murmured into the televisor, and a hundred yards beyond,
Lhasinuic Guardsmen put guns in order and aimed them carefully. A low, inchoate murmur
went up a murmur of fear. Men pressed back.
"If the door does not open," said the captain, grimly, "it is to be broken down." He raised his
saber again, and again
there was the thunder of metal on metal.
Slowly, noiselessly, the door yawned wide, and the captain recognized the stem,
purple-clad figure that stood before him.
"Who disturbs the Memorial on the night of the Guarding of the Flame?" demanded Loara
Paul Kane solemnly.
"Very dramatic, Kane. Stand aside!"
"Back!" The words rang out loudly and clearly. "The Me- morial may not be approached by
the Lhasinu."
"Yield us our prisoner, and we leave. Refuse, and we will
take him by force."
"The Memorial yields no prisoner. It is inviolate. You may
not enter."
"Make way!"
"Stand back!"
The Lhasinu growled throatily and became aware of a dim roaring. The streets about him
were empty, but a block away in every direction was the thin line of Lhasinuic troops, sta-
tioned at their guns, and beyond were the Humans. They were massed in noisy thickness
and the whites of their faces shone palely in the Chrome-lights.
"What," gritted the captain to himself, "do the scum yet snarl?" His tough skin ridged at the
jaws and the scales upon his head uptilted sharply. He turned to the adjutant with the
televisor. "Order a round over their heads."
The night was split in two by the purple blasts of energy and the Lhasinu laughed aloud at
the silence that followed.
He turned to Kane, who remained standing upon the thresh- old. "So you see that if you
expect help from your people, you will be disappointed. The next round will be aimed at
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head level. If you think that bluff, try me!"
Teeth clicked together sharply, "Make way!" A Tonite was leveled in his hand, and thumb
was firm upon the trigger.
Loara Paul Kane retreated slowly, eyes upon the gun. The captain followed. And as he did
so, the inner door of the anteroom swung open and the Hall of the Flame stood re- vealed. In
the sudden draft, the Flame staggered, and at the
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BLACK FRIAR OF THE FLAME sight of it, there came a huge shout from the distant
spectators.
Kane turned toward it, face raised upwards. The motion of one of his hands was all but
imperceptible.
And the Flame suddenly changed. It steadied and roared up to the vaulted ceiling, a blazing
shaft fifty feet high. Loara Paul Kane's hand moved again, and as it did so, the Flame turned
carmine. The color deepened and the crimson light of that flaming pillar streamed out into
the city and turned the Memorial's windows into staring, bloody eyes.
Long seconds passed, while the captain froze in bewilder- ment; while the distant mass of
Humanity fell into awed silence.
And then there was a confused murmur, which strengthened and grew and split itself into
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