 15. Olga in Council The remains of the Russian submarine squadron, numbering now only seventeen vessels, headed out northward into the open sea after leaving their disabled consorts to their fate. In the brief space occupied by her first rush, they had recognised the navel both by her size and speed, and one of the captains avowed that he had recognised Alan Arnold, Olga's late captive, standing under the glass dome of the coning tower, steering the great vessel upon her devastating course. Twenty miles out from the island they rose to the surface and made out the aerial fleet some five miles to the southward, hovering at an elevation of about a thousand feet and evidently on the lookout for them. Michael Lesensky, who had escaped the ram of the navel, ran up his flank staff, and flew a signal which soon brought the airships bearing down upon them. The revenge sank down to the surface of the water and took Lesensky off his ship in order that he might report himself. Olga and his father received the first news of the defeat of their naval forces with cold displeasure. But when Michael told them that more than half the fleet had been destroyed by the navel, and that it was believed that Alan was in command of her, Olga's anger blazed out into fury, and she cried passionately. You fools and cowards, to a flood like that from one ship and one man, could not seventeen of you have overcome that one vessel? Had you no rams, no torpedoes, that you fled before this single foe? He took the bitter rebuke in silence. He knew that he had failed both in duty and courage, and that a reply would only make matters worse. Olga looked at him for a moment with eyes burning with scorn and anger. Then she rose from her seat and, pointing to the door of the saloon, said, Go, you have disgraced yourself and us. Take your ships back to Mount Terror and await our further commands. With bowed head and face flushed with shame the disgraced man walked in silence out of the saloon, and left Olga alone with his father. As soon as he had gone, Olga began striding up and down the saloon. Her hands clenched and her eyes black with passion, glittering fiercely under her straight, drawn brows. Ola Flossensky knew her too well not to let her anger take its course uninterrupted. So he sat and watched her and waited for her to speak first. At last she stopped in front of him and said in a low fierce voice that was almost hoarse with the strength of her passions. So you were right, my friend, I was a fool, an idiot to let those two escape. I ought to have killed them as you advised. They were of no further use to us, and we could have done without them. Yes, truly I was a fool, such a fool as love makes of every woman. Not every woman, Majesty! replied Lossensky in a low soothing tone that was not without a trace of irony. If I may say it without disrespect, your ancestors, the great Catherine, knew how to combine love and wisdom. When she varied of a lover or had no further use for a man, she never left him the power of avenging his dismissal. Yes, yes, she replied, I know that, but I did not vary of this man, this king among men, for whose love I would have sowed my soul. I only varied of my own attempts to win it. You know what I mean, Lossensky, and you can understand me, for you have confessed that he was well worthy of the sacrifice. You know that when he seemed my lover he was only my slave, that I could not compel the man to love me, but only the passive machine that I had made of him. And you know, too, that the moment I had let him regain his freedom of will, he would have loathed and cursed me, as no doubt he is doing now. Why did I not kill him? How could I? Then I loved him better than my own life, and all my dreams of empire. Why, I could not even kill the other one, because he was Alan's friend, and because he would have hated me still more for doing so. But, after all, she continued, speaking somewhat more calmly. It is not setting them free, that has done the mischief. It is the treason or the miracle that enabled them to capture the other. I would give a good deal to know how that was done. They cannot have done it themselves, for I had given them enough of the drug to deprive them of all willpower for at least twenty-four hours, and I told that traitor, Turgeneith, who must betray the attack on Kurgelen, to give them more when he landed on the island. But, is your Majesty sure that they took the drug? said Losensky, interrupting her for the first time. Did you give it with your own hand, or season take it with your own eyes? No, said Olga, with a start. I did not. I sent it to them by my maid Anna. But she swore that she put it in their vine, and then they had finished their last meal, the decant of a zemti. That was a grave mistake, Majesty, said Losensky, in a tone of respectful reproof, and one which may yet cost you the empire of the world. It is such trifles as that which destroys the grandest schemes. I know, I know, said Olga, impatiently. You may think me a fool and a weakling, but I could not bring myself to see or speak to Ellen again after I had last resolved to give up the hopeless task of vining him and send him away. But for that mistake the Naule would still have been ours, and we should have taken Kurgelen unaware. He could have told his people nothing else that would have harmed us, for the more he tells them about Mount Terror, the more impossible they will see any attack upon it to be. No, no, it was all that one fatal mistake. But there, it torches me to talk about it. Tell me, my old friend and counsellor, what we are to do to repair the damage? Exhausted by her fierce and sudden outburst of passion and the bitterness of her regret, Olga threw herself into a chair, and sat, waiting, for Lysensky to speak. He remained silent for several minutes, buried in thoughts, and then he began speaking in the low deliberate tone of a man who has weighty councils to impart. We cannot deny, Majesty, that we have been aversed in our two first encounters with these Aryans. But we must learn wisdom and patience from defeat. It seems plain to me that the Aryans are too strong for us as we are. Then via taxum we forgot that, while we are children in warfare, they are perfect masters of it. They have preserved the traditions of their fathers, and for four generations they have been trained in the use of the weapons which we have only just learned to use. Therefore, my advice is that we do not attack them again for the present. But, interrupted Olga, in any case they will attack us, and we shall still have to fight. Not of necessity, Your Highness, replied Lysensky. You see, they have not pursued us, and the reason for this is that they know that both our airships and our submarine vessels are swifter and more powerful than theirs, with two or three exceptions. They will not attack us till they can do so on equal terms, and we must take care that they never do that. You have plenty of treasure and plenty of men at your command. Let us retire to our stronghold again, and devote ourselves to increasing our strength, both by sea and in the air, until we have made ourselves invulnerable. And remember, too, Majesty, he continued with an added meaning in his tone. Area is not the world. There are vast possibilities before you in other directions. I am convinced now that we have made a mistake in attacking the Aryans first. Russia is ripe for revolt, and great quantities of arms have for rarely been manufactured. The tribes of Eastern Asia need only a leader to take the field, and the Sultan Khalid could put an army million strong into the field within a few months. On the other hand, Anglo-Sartandom is a babble of conflicting opinions and some more rules throughout its length and breadth. There everyone is master, there can be no leaders, and those who are without leaders are the natural prey of the strong hand. They are wealthy and weak and divided amongst themselves. The Aryans have given them over to their own devices. Why should you not, when we have repaired the damage we have suffered, take your aerial scouterance to Moscow? Proclaim the new revolution and crown yourself, Zarina, in the Kremlin. In speaking thus, Ola Flosensky was really only putting into formal shape the project which it had all along been the aim of Olga and her adherents to carry out. There was nothing new in the suggestion save the proposition that the revolution should be proclaimed in Russia, and that Olga should crown herself Zarina before instead of after the attempted subjugation of the Arya. Up to the present it had been believed that nothing could possibly be done until the power of Aryans was either crushed or crippled. But the battle of Kugelen had clearly shown that this was a task far beyond their present resources. Even the mastery of the sea was now no longer theirs thanks to the two fatal mistakes which Olga had made. First, in setting Alan and Alexis free, and second, in sending them away from Monterra in the swiftest and most powerful vessel in their sea navy. Why she had been guilty of this last imprudence she could not even explain to herself. It was one of those mistakes made in pure thoughtlessness, which again and again have marred the great schemes of conquest. Another vessel would have done just as well, save that she would not have performed the errand quite so quickly. But the narwhal happened to be in readiness at the moment, and as Peter Turgeniv, her commander, was one of Olga's most trusted sea captains, she had given him the order to convey Alan and Alexis to the island, and so the fatal error had been committed. It must, however, be remembered that when she made it, it was impossible for her to foresee its disastrous outcome. She implicitly believed that the two Aryans were completely under the influence of the will poison, and so utterly unable to think or act independently or to form and execute the daring design which they had so successfully accomplished. But now that the mistake had been made, Ola Flussensky saw that the course he suggested to his mistress offered the only hope of counteracting it. His advice pointed out the shortest road to the attainment of the designs of Olga and her followers. And he gave it in all sincerity, for he was absolutely devoted to Olga's person and fortune, and the realization of her ambition was the dearest dream of his own life. It meant, too, the restoration of his own order to all its ancient rights and privileges with the added wealth and dignity that would be won by conquest. It meant the establishment of a Russian empire far greater, and more powerful than that of the last of the Tsars, for its power would extend from the Pacific coast of Asia to the Atlantic coast of Europe. Olga heard him with flushed cheeks and shining eyes, and when he had done speaking she rose to her feet again and faced him, looking every inch, your queen, in the ripe beauty of her perfect womanhood, and said, in tones from which every trace of her former anger and sorrow had vanished. Well spoken, Ola Flussensky, that is worthy counsel for you to give and for me to hear. I will follow it, for it is wise as well as bold, and the day that I crown myself in the Kremlin, you shall be the first noble in Russia. But stop! What of the Sultan? Surely he and his armies will have to be reckoned with? True, said Flussensky, but if he will not listen to reason, cannot your airships destroy his armies like swarms of locus, lay his cities in ruins and sweep him and his dynasty from the face of the earth? Yes, that is true again, replied Olga, provided that the airings did not come to his aid. They would not do that, I think, he replied. But to make that impossible, why should you not make an alliance with him, and offer to help him with your airships and submarine navy to the conquest of the world, on the condition of the restoration of the Russian Empire and the division of the world between you? Remember that as long as you kept the command of your navies of the air and the sea, you could always keep him to the terms then once made. As the old man see-speaking, Olga laid her hands upon his shoulders and said in a lower, clear, steady voice that spoke of a great resolution finally taken. My friend, you are the wisest of counselors, and when I regain my throne you shall be the first minister of the Empire. I will pardon your son for his failure today, for the sake of his father's wisdom, and we shall say no more about disaster and defeat. We will look forward only to victory and the Empire that it will bring us. But when the defeated squadrons arrived at Mount Terror, Olga was rudely awakened from her dream of Empire by the tidings of the disaster that had occurred during her absence. The damage inflicted by the Nile was speedily proved to be irreparable. For a distance of nearly a mile the roof of the tunnel had sunk bodily down, blocking it forever. Millions of tons of rock and earth had fallen into the submarine channel, and all hope of clearing it again was out of the question. The explosion of the twelve torpedoes had not only brought down all the rocks in their vicinity, but it had so shaken the earth in both directions that a general substance had taken place, forming a barrier which was so vast and massive that its removal, even if possible, would have taken many months of labour, and so there was no avoiding the dismal conclusion that their submarine dockyard was useless, and for the present at least their sea-power crippled. The effects of the explosion in the interior of the mountain, though bad enough, were much less serious. Nearly seventy men, or more than half the total garrison that had been left behind, had been either killed or maimed for life. The six submarine warships that had been lying in the lake were, of course, useless now that their way to the sea was barred, and five of the twelve airships which had been lying in the vast cavern whose floor formed the shores of the subterranean lake were so seriously injured that considerable repairs would be necessary for them. The whole of the lower level of the vast system of chambers and galleries which pierced the interior of the mountain in all directions had been flooded by the volumes of water projected from the lake by the explosion. Workshops, laboratories, and building slips had been wrecked or thrown into complete confusion, and the appearance of the whole of the level was that of a place which had been swept by a tornado. As soon as the amount of the damage done had been estimated, Olga called a council of war, composed of twelve of her most skillful and trusted adherents, in a chamber which was led up to by a path sloping steeply up from the shores of the lake. This chamber was an almost perfect oval, about sixty feet long by twenty wide and about thirty high. Neither its temperature nor its internal appointments would have given any idea of the fact that it was situated at the uttermost end of the earth and buried under the eternal snows of Antarctica. The rough rock walls had been smooth and hung with silken hangings against which statues of the purest marble gleamed white and pictures, some of vast size and exquisite execution, brought the scenes of sunnier lands to the eyes of the occupants. Electric light-clothes hung in festoons all around, shedding a mild diffused luster of the luxurious furniture at the chamber. The floor of lava smoothed and polished was covered with priceless carpets into whose thick pile the foot sank noiseless as though into soft shallow snow. Treasures, both of art and luxury which had been plundered from ocean transports that had fallen victims to the rams of the submarine cruisers, were scattered about in lavish profusion that was almost barbaric in its excess. Behind the hangings of the wall ran an elaborate system of pipes which circulated fresh air drawn from the exterior of the mountain and heated by passing through electric furnaces at once warmed and ventilated this council chamber of the extraordinary woman who, in virtue of her strange conquest of the air, had come to be known among her followers as the siren of the skies. Human art and science had completely conquered both the ruggedness of nature and the inclemency of the elements and had transformed these gloomy caverns excavated by the volcanic fires of former ages out of the heart of Mount Terror into warm, well lighted and airy abodes capable of sheltering several hundred human beings from the rigors even of the Antarctic winter. The subterranean retreat and stronghold was roughly divided into two levels. On the lower of which were situated the chambers and galleries which served for the performance of all the work necessary for the building of the airships and submarine vessels, while the upper was devoted to storerooms and dwelling places for the followers and assistants of the queen of this strange realm. No other region could have presented such a marvellous contrast to the sunlit and flower-scented paradise which was the home of their mortal enemies, the race with which they had dared to dispute the empire of the world. The powers of darkness and of light could hardly have been better typified than were these two contending forces by the different characters of the respective strongholds. When the council of war summoned at Olga's bidding by Ola Flosensky had assembled in the central chamber a pair of heavy purple velvet curtains parted and the siren entered from the gallery which had been hewn through the solid rock and which communicated with her private suite of apartments. The members of the council rose as she entered and greeted her as subjects were want to greet their sovereigns in the days before the terror. She acknowledged their reverence with a royal condescension and took her seat on a raised divan at the inner end of the chamber beckoning Lossensky to her side. She exchanged a few words with him in an undertone and then called upon Andrei Levin, the secretary of the council, to enumerate the nature and extent of the lotses they had sustained in their brief but disastrous first attempt to cope with a mighty race which had dominated the world for nearly a century and a half. When Levin had finished it was found that in addition to the irreparable damage done to the submarine dockyard no less than 35 submarine cruisers had been destroyed or rendered useless while 23 airships had been annihilated by the projectiles of the Aryans. This left an available fighting force of 28 submarines and 24 aerial warships fit for service. It had been calculated that it would take at least a month of hard work to get the subterranean arsenal into such working order as would enable them to repair their losses. And after this at least 12 months would have to elapse before they had brought their fighting force up to the strength it had possessed but five short days before. In addition to their losses in ships and war materials more than a hundred of Olga's chosen and most devoted followers had lost their lives in the terrible warfare which knew no sparing of life and it would be necessary to draft more men from Russia to replace them before the work could be carried on upon an adequate scale. Olga listened to the catalog of disasters with frowning brows and eyes gleaming with hardly suppressed fury. When it was over she rose and spoke in a voice whose wonderful music and witchery seemed a charm or sense of misfortune for the time being out of the hearts of her listeners. A born queen of men she knew went to wither with her scorn or to charm with her sweetness and she was well aware that this hour of defeat and disaster was no time for reproaches or rebuke. So her voice was low and sweet and almost pleading as she reviewed the situation which for the moment seemed so dark and appealed to her followers through those who commanded them not to yield before a sudden and temporary misfortune but to learn from defeat the lessons of victory. She reminded them all that their ancestors and hers had lost at the hands of the terrorists, the forefathers of the hated and arrogant Aryans and she painted in glowing colors the glory and the boundless wealth that would be the reward of victory. Heavy as their losses had been there was no reason why they should not repair them. She reminded them how five years before they had possessed but a single airship and were only a weak and scattered body of revolutionaries. Now they possessed even after all they had lost an aerial fleet superior to all the vessels of the Aryan navy save too and submarine cruisers swifter and more powerful than any that floated save only the stolen Nauru. More than this they were now supported by a vast organization numbering thousands of devoted men and women any one of whom would give his or her life for the cause for which they were fighting. She only spoke for quarter of an hour or so but every word went home and when she concluded with an appeal to their loyalty and devotion the twelve members of the council rose with one accord to their feet and there and then spontaneously renewed the oath the fealty to her person and dynasty which they had taken when they enlisted in her service. Every man of them was a siren of some once noble Russian house and her cause was theirs in virtue of personal interest as well as that sentiment of blind and reasoning loyalty which even four generations of freedom had failed to eradicate from the Russian blood. Olga thanked them with a tremor in her voice which whether it was real or not spoke to them with far greater eloquence than words and then she paid Lossensky lay before the council the plans which he had already discussed with him for the future conduct of the vast enterprise which had opened so inauspiciously. Lossensky rose at once and for over two hours unfolded a vast and subtly conceived scheme which had been very briefly outlined in a previous chapter and the results of the working out of which will become apparent in due course. At the end of the discussion which followed it was decided that a transport should be purchased as soon as possible in a Russian port and sent out to Antarctica with fresh supplies of men and materials. A flotilla of twelve marine cruisers was told to convoy her on her voyage and protect her from possible attack in case the Aryan should suspect or discover the purpose to which she was devoted. As no more submarine vessels could be built in Antarctica for the fearful cold of the outside waters made such work totally impossible all efforts were to be concentrated upon the increase of the aerial navy. Under hundred airships in addition to those already in existence was fixed upon as the minimum strength that it would be safe to depend upon when the hour for the final struggle came. No force was to be wasted if possible upon minor attacks or isolated engagements for the Russians like the Aryans had learnt that under the conditions of the new warfare skirmishes only meant destruction in detail and loss of strength entirely disproportionate to the advantage gained. Thus virtually the same decision was arrived at in area and Antarctica. Both sides resolved to husband their resources and increase their strength and then to risk everything upon the issue of one mighty conflict. A veritable struggle of the gods in which both equally recognized that the defeated would be annihilated and the victors would remain undisputed masters of the world. Finally it was decided that Orlov Lysensky should depart at once with a formal offer of alliance to the Sultan of the Muslim Empire and that a day later Olga should follow with a squadron of twenty airships and give him the alternative of alliance or immediate war. If, as was confidently expected, he chose alliance five submarine cruisers were to be given to him so that he might use them as models for the construction of a fleet which should be powerful enough to sweep the air and warships from the sea and which would be supplied with the secret motive power at a station to be established at Larnaca under Russian control. Then when all was in readiness for the World War Olga was to be proclaimed Zarina in Moscow and the standard of absolute monarchy once more reared over the re-erected throne of the house of Romanov. Anglo-Saxandum was to be invaded and conquered and area itself attacked and either subdued or depopulated and laid waste. End of Chapter 15 Chapter 16 of Olga Romanov by George Griffith This Slippery Vox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 16. Kalid the Magnificent A few minutes before midnight on the 15th of May in the year 2036, Kalid the Magnificent, Lord and Master of the greatest and most splendid realm that had ever been ruled over by a single man since the world began, stood alone on the spacious terrace of his palace in Alexandria, gazing up at the myriads of stars that shone in the cloudless firmament above him and dreaming one of those dreams of worldwide empire which had haunted the soul of such men as he from the days of Ramesses the Great until his own. He was a man of thirty-four, tall, swarthy and athletic, with the proud aquiline features of the Arab, the dark alternately flashing and melting eyes of the Caucasian and the strong reposeful dignity of the Turk, a man whom women looked upon with love and men with respect that was often akin to dread. The Lord of seven hundred million subjects who, even in those days so strong was still the faith and loyalty of the Muslims looked upon him only as something less than Allah and the Prophet whose sacred blood flowed in his veins. His soaring ambition was not content even with the splendid inheritance that he had received from his ancestors. In his being were closely blended those elements of religious enthusiasm and worldly ambition which had made the men of the golden age of Islam such irresistible conquerors and such mighty rulers of men. He had pondered over the past history of his faith and his people from the times of the Prophet down to his own until he had come to believe himself, the man chosen by destiny to subjugate the world and to compel all men from pole to pole and east to west to accept the rule and faith of Islam and to confess the unity of God and the apostleship of Muhammad. He saw in the vast area of the Anglo-Saxon Federation which now, in name at least dominated Europe, America and Australasia only a collection of democratic and ill-governed states in which the mob ruled by blind counting of heads and in which religion had been refined into a mere philosophy of life and morals, the last word of which seemed to him to be make the best of today less tomorrow should never come. In his own breast the flame of the fierce uncompromising faith of Islam burned undimmed by the mists of the centuries that had passed since the first Muslim armies had emerged from the deserts of Arabia to conquer the greater part of the Roman world. Why should he not send forth his armies as the caliphs of old had done to plant the banner of the crescent over the subjugated realms of Christendom and rule the greatest of the commanders of the faithful sovereign lord of a Muslim world. It was a splendid destiny but there was a power in the world located in one tiny spot of earth and yet so far as he knew universal and irresistible before which the armies which he had called into existence would be as helpless as a swarm of locusts before a forest fire. This power possessed the empire of the air and therefore of the earth. In the days of the terror it had led the Anglo-Saxon race to the conquest of the world would it sit idly now behind the bulwarks of area and watch his armies conquering the domains of Anglo-Saxondom. Was it not far more likely that those terrible airships would be sent forth to hurl their destroying lightnings from the skies and overwhelm his armies and his cities in irretrievable ruin. These Aryans had ruled the world for 125 years and yet had committed no act of aggression upon the rightful liberties of any nation. How, therefore, could he believe that they would hold their mighty hand while he carried fire and sword through the habitations of their blood and kindred? If he gave the word for war within 48 hours after he had spoken more than ten millions of men armed with weapons of fearful precision and destructive power would stand ready to do his bidding and to carry the banner of the crescent to the uttermost ends of the earth. But of what use would be their numbers? Their valour or their devotion with a squadron of aerial cruisers wheeling above them and hurling death and destruction upon them from the inaccessible heights of the sky? He remembered how his ancestor Muhammad Rashad had been stopped in his career of conquest and how his victorious armies had been decimated and thrown into confusion by a flotilla of airships and war balloons which a dozen cruisers of the present-area navy would have swept from the skies in a few minutes. Intolerable as the thought was to his haughty soul, the truth remained that in the midst of all his power and splendour he was as helpless as a child before the real masters of the world. He had armies and fleets, but he could not make war without their permission or the assurance of their neutrality save with the certainty of disaster and defeat. What would he not give for a squadron of these aerial battleships? Half his empire willingly and yet he knew that even an attempt to build a single airship would be the signal for his own death and the end of the dominion of his dynasty. He had no knowledge of the momentous events which had just been taking place on the other side of the world. He still believed implicitly in the unquestioned supremacy of the Aryans throughout the domain of the skies. Although he was well aware that some mysterious power had successfully disputed with them, the command of the seas, and he remembered the stern threat of immediate war an annihilation that the president of Arya had promulgated against any who should even help in the concealment of the airship that had been lost six years before, and so far as the world at large was concerned had never been heard of since. Anglo-Saxondom and therefore Christendom lay at his mercy but for this guardian power of the air. Its millions were unarmed and its wealth unprotected. Its indolent and luxurious democracies occupied solely with social experiments and the increase of their material magnificence would be crushed almost without resistance by his splendidly armed and disciplined legions. The crescent would replace the cross above the temples and the world would be a muslim planet but for this empire of the air universal and unconquerable which barred his way to the dominion of the world and the final triumph of his faith. For the hundredth time he had revolved the hopeless dilemma in his mind, alternately looking upon the conquest he longed for and on the splendid but useless forces at his command, when a huge strange shape dropped swiftly and silently out of the sky overhead and, as though an answer to the unspoken call of his intense longing, one of those very airships of which he had been thinking with such angry despair swept with a majestic downward sloping curve out of the dusk of the night and run up close alongside the low parapets of the terrace on which he was standing. It was the first time he had ever seen one of these marvellous vessels which were the talk and the wonder of the world at such close quarters. Paralyzed for the moment by mingled curiosity and amazement he recoiled with a startled invocation to the prophet on his lips and then stood staring at it in silence wondering whether the strange apparition meant the visit of a friend or an enemy. While he was standing thus the airship drifted as silently as a shadow over the parapet and sank gently down until it rested on the marble floor of the vast terrace. Then a sliding door opened in the after part of the glass dome which covered the deck from stem to stern. A light metal stairway fell from it and three men, richly and yet simply dressed, descended to the terrace and advanced to where he stood. Two of them halted at a respectful distance and the third, a man whose dignity of bearing was enhanced by the snowy whiteness of his hair and beard, advanced alone and with a grave and courteous gesture of salute said in English the language of universal intercourse, Am I right in believing this to be the palace of his Majesty Sir Sultan? It was some moments before Khalid recovered his composure sufficiently to answer the question simple as it was. His wonder was increased tenfold when he saw that his visitor from the skies did not wear the golden wings which were the insignia of the Aryans. Was it possible that some other inhabitants of the earth had in spite of the rigid prohibition of the Supreme Council managed to build an aerial navy? His heart leapt with exultation at the thought. Obeying the impulse of the moment he took a stride forward and held out his hand saying, I know not who you are or whence you come but if you come in friendship there is my hand in welcome. This is the palace and I am Khalid the commander of the faithful. What is your errand? His visitor took the outstretched hand and bending low over it replied in a tone of the deepest respect. I am honoured and affortunate beyond the measure I trust your Majesty will pardons the strangeness of my coming for the importance of the mission that brings me. Say on, sir, and tell me freely who you are and what your mission is, for I am all impatient to know, said the sultan speaking even more cordially than before. I am Olaf Lozensky, replied the ambassador from the skies, and I am the bearer of a message from my mistress Olga Romanov by right of dissent Zarina of the Russians and deprived of her lawful rights of rule by the terrorists who reign in area. Then you are enemies of the Aryans, broke in the sultan, and you possess airships like that marvelous craft yonder. How have you? But pardon me, I have interrupted you. You can satisfy my curiosity later on. Her Majesty my mistress possesses a large fleet of airships of which this is one, replied Lozensky, and she has sent me as her envoy to give you Majesty this letter which will explain my mission in full at this hour tomorrow night that Zarina will come in person to receive your answer to it. As he spoke he presented a letter to the sultan and then drew back a pace. Kalid took the missive without a word and walked towards one of the electric lamps with which the terrace was lighted, breaking the seal as he went. This is what he read. Talk, Kalid, the magnificent sultan of some Muslims. You have dreams of worldwide conquest but the fear of the power of the Aryans restrains you from putting them into action. You command armies and fleets but they are useless and helpless because you cannot fight in the air as well as on the land and sea. I can give you the power of doing this and I will help you to the conquest of the world if you will help me to regain the dominions that were stolen from my ancestors in the days of the terror. 24 hours after you receive this I will come for your answer to it. If you agree to the general terms I have no fear but that the detail will be easily arranged between us. This is brought to you by Olaf Lozensky, my chief councillor and responsible minister who at your majesty's desire will lay the particulars of my proposals before you in full, Olga Romanov, Zarina of the Russians. Hardly had the sultan finished the perusal of this strangely curt and yet all pregnant letter when a cry from Lozensky's two attendants caused him to look up. If what he had seen but a few minutes before had amazed him what he saw now fairly stupefied him. A second airship similar in size and shape to the first but with a hull of a strangely lustrous blue metal had dropped without sign or sound out of space and was hovering exactly above Lozensky's vessel with her ten long slender guns pointing in all directions. A moment later she seemed to drop bodily onto the Russian airship splintering her thin steel mast with the weight of her hull and yet stopping in her descent before she crushed in the glass dome of the deck. The next instant a score of men slipped swiftly over the side and gained the open door of the Russian's deck chamber. Then there came a sound of fierce cries and oaths and the quick cracking reports of repeating pistols. The envoys two companions turned as though to fly but two shots fired in quick succession brought them down before they had made a couple of strides. Then a dozen men leapt down upon the terrace and covered Lozensky and the sultan with their pistols before they had time to recover from the stupefification into which the suddenness of the attack had thrown them. The next moment a man who splendid stature raised him a good head above the Russian and the Muslim came down the steps from the deck of the now captured airship. As he advanced towards them Calid, brave and haughty as he was, looked up at him almost as he might have looked upon the visible shape of one of the angels of his faith. He was dressed in the area costume save for the fact that instead of azirine and gold his winged coronet was black and lustrous as polished jet. In his left hand he carried a magazine pistol and in his right a long slender rapier with the blade of azirine that gleamed with an intense blue radiance in the light of the electric lamps. All of Lozensky you are our prisoner. Go back to your ship or you will be shot where you stand. Sultan Calid have you received that letter in your hand from this man? Alan's words came quick and stern but before they were spoken the Sultan had put a golden whistle to his lips and blown a shrill call. In instant obedience to which a stream of armed guards issued from a door of the palace opening onto the terrace spread out into a semi-circle and in turn Alan and his companions were covered by a hundred rifles. Now sir whoever you are exclaimed the Sultan recovering at once his courage and his composure. You are my prisoner. Throw down your arms or stop! cried Alan in a voice that rang clearly over the whole terrace. Don't you see that your palace is under our guns? Fire a shot and in an hour it shall be a heap of ruins. Calid had forgotten the airships for the moment. He glanced up at the two rows of guns and saw in the lighted interiors of the deck chambers men standing ready to reign death and ruin in every direction. Lozensky too grasped the sudden change situation in an instant. He knew far better than the Sultan did what would be the effect of a discharge of that awful artillery upon the palace and the city. And more than this he saw the hopeless ruin of his mistress's plans that would follow the death of the Sultan. He turned to him with an appealing gesture and said, Your Majesty, for the sake of all you hold dear send back your guards. I surrender to save you. And then with a glare of impotent hate at Alan he turned and walked quickly towards the airships. Nothing could have brought the terrible power of the Aryans home to the mind of Calid the Magnificent more convincingly than the position in which he now stood. Absolute master of the greatest empire on earth he stood on the terrace of his own palace in the midst of his own capital and with thousands of soldiers within call as helpless as a child. But before he could force the words of surrender from his reluctant lips an event occurred which, brave as he was, struck terror to his heart. Alan had raised his rapier to command the attention of his men at the guns and the captain of the Sultan's guards thinking he was going to strike his master rushed forward and struck at the uplifted blade with his cimeter. As the steel rang upon the Azarine the Damascus blades splintered to the hilt. With a cry half of rage and half of fear the Muslim whipped a pistol out of his sash but before he could level it the bright blue blade descended swiftly and when its point was within a foot of his assailant's eyes Alan dropped his own pistol and pressed a jewel in the center of his belt clasp. As he did so a pale blue flame leapt from the point of his sword and the Muslim without as much as a sigh dropped dead on the floor of the terrace. Masala! cried the Sultan recoiling in ungovernable terror. What are you man or fin that you carry the lightnings in your hand? A man like yourself Sultan and one who wishes your Majesty no evil replied Alan. I am Alan Arnold the son of the President of Area and therefore your friend unless you choose to make me your enemy. I am at present in command of the cruiser Ethereal and we have followed that Russian vessel for over five thousand miles to find out what his errand was. When he landed on your palace we guessed it pretty nearly I think. Lysensky came to propose an alliance between your Majesty and his mistress Olga Romanov did he not. Before he replied the Sultan seeing some of his guards advancing again and being now convinced that resistance was both unnecessary and impossible ordered them to take away the body of their comrade and those of the two Russians who had been shot. Then he turned to Alan and said with politeness that was perhaps more oriental than sincere pardon my ignorance Prince of the air I did not know that I was speaking to the son of one who is above all kings of the earth that slave deserved his death for raising his arm against your highness yes you are right the Russians came to me with such a proposal from her you name here is her letter she styles herself Zarina of the Russian but I have never heard her name before who is she I will tell you Majesty said Alan take in the letter which the Sultan now held out to him without hesitation for no one can tell you better than I can she is the last living child of the House of Romanov she is beautiful beyond description and evil beyond comprehension she aspires to rule in fact as what she styles herself in name and to bring back the gloom of despotism and oppression of the earth she and her accomplices are responsible for that terrorism of the seas which has paralyzed international commerce for more than five years and they are also in possession of a fleet of about 30 airships how they were enabled to construct them there is now no time to explain suffice it to say that they have them that they have dared to challenge the forces of area to a contest for the empire of the world and that during the fortnight they have been fighting they have had very much the worst of it we have practically crippled their seapower blown up their submarine dockyard and destroyed about half of their aerial fleet I tell you this in order that you may receive her proposals with your eyes open the course of events has made your Majesty to a great extent the arbiter of the destinies of humanity Olga Romanov knows that you have a splendid army at command that you have illimitable wealth to spend on more material and that an alliance between you would be irresistible as an independent sovereign it is of course within your right as it is within your power to conclude this alliance if you think fit do so if you choose but remember that if you do you must assume the tremendous responsibility of plunging the whole world into war and bringing inconceivable desolation upon your fellow creatures you will be allying yourself with the worst enemies of humanity nay with the only enemies that humanity has on earth this Olga Romanov is called by her followers the siren of the skies and the name is an apt one for she is a very siren armed with arts that can charm a man's heart out of his breast make him forget his duty to himself and his loyalty to his race and like Cersei of Old reduce him to an animal that exists only for the execution of her will and the gratification of her desires I speak with knowledge for I have felt and through me the world will feel the terrible force of her spells and I tell you frankly as man speaks honestly with man that if you make this alliance they will be war between your people and mine to the death as far as a single man can do so you hold the fate of mankind in your hand and within the next 48 hours you will decide it now I have done my duty and given you such warning as I can you will answer for your decision at the bar of God and it is not for me to say more whether we meet again as enemies or not let us part as friends and let me implore you for the love of God and your kind to rest content with what the fates have already given you you have raised the muslim power to a pitch of splendor and dominion far beyond all its former glories you have all that man could ask for years as a man interrupted the sultan who up to this point had listened with silent attention to Alan's quick earnest words but not all that the commander of the faithful may be content with I know not what the religion of your people is but you know that the laws of mine command me as they command every true muslim to plant the banner of the prophet over the habitations of the infidel and to give the enemies of the faith the choice between the sword and the Quran it is not for mere conquest that I have created my armies and my fleet it is in obedience to the commands of heaven which has given me the means of conquering the earth for Islam Kaelan spoke rapidly and fiercely with heaving breast and eyes blazing with the lurid lights of fanaticism Alan heard him out in silence then his hand fell heavily on the muslim shoulder and holding him at arm's length he looked him straight in the eyes and said slowly and deliberately Sultan a man's faith by whatever name it may be called is no concern of ours he is responsible for it to his god and there is an end of it but when you tell me that your faith commands you to force it with fire and sword upon the consciences of those who hold another creed then I tell you to your face that you are a fanatic and a persecutor bloody enough and to spare has been shed in the wars of creeds and if I believed that you meant to revive the warfare between cross and crescent I would strike you dead where you stand as I struck your slave down just now but I cannot believe it either of you or any other enlightened man I am not in any mood to utter empty threats but I am speaking no idle words when I tell you that the hour in which you make war on Christendom either for political or religious conquest shall be the hour in which you will hear the voice of destiny speaking your own doom more than that I ask you now to pledge me your word as an honest man and a ruling king that for 12 months from now at the very least you will neither draw a sword nor fire a shot against Anglo-Saxondom or any other power he stopped and took his hand from the Sultan's shoulder Caled recoiled and drew himself up to the full height of his royal stature as he replied Prince of the air demigod almost as you are you must learn that the commander of the faithful is not to be dictated to on the roof of his own palace even by you am I your slave that you should lay these commands upon me before he made any reply in words Alan communicated a few rapid orders to those in command of the two airships in the Arian sign language the aetherial rose from above the Vindaya as the Russian airship was named and both vessels ranged themselves alongside the front of the terrace the Sultan watched this maneuver in helpless silence well knowing that whatever it imported he was powerless to resist then Alan went on not my slave sultan but my fellow man and as such I will if I can and by any means within my power prevent you from committing such a colossal crime as that which I am afraid I must now believe you are contemplating now listen well for my words mean much these two airships could lay your capital vast and splendid as it is in ruins before tomorrow's sun rises and as surely as those stars are shining above us they shall do so unless you give me the pledge I ask for I ask it in the name of all humanity and I will not spare a few thousands of lives to enforce it if you could ejaculated the Sultan half involuntarily I have heard much of your wonderful airships but do you know that I have a hundred thousand soldiers in the city and that I have hundreds of guns which will hurl their projectiles for miles into the air if only one of the hundreds struck either of those vessels of yours she would fall like a stone and be dashed to pieces on the earth the fighting would not be all on one side his tone grew more and more defiant as he went on and allen saw that some stern lesson would be necessary to induce him to give the pledge upon which the safety of millions depended in quiet even tones that contrasted strongly with those of the muslim he said we of area are not accustomed to boast our prowess likely and I am threatening nothing that I cannot do still I do not wish you to give the pledge I ask save in the fullest knowledge if you will trust yourself with me on board the ethereal for an hour under my pledge of your safe return I will prove to you to demonstration that your city would be as defenseless beneath our guns as a collection of tents would be the moon is high enough now to give us plenty of light for the experiment if you think fit to make it the sultan hesitated for a few moments as though in doubt whether he would be permitted to return if he once allowed the ethereal to carry him away from the earth then he remembered that no man had ever known the arian who had broken his word he looked into allen's strong frank face and read there an absolute assurance that his safety would be respected then with a slight inclination of his head he said your words are wise I will come and if you convince me that you can do as you say I will swear by the holy name of the prophet that I will make no war upon any man for a year from now allen signalled to the ethereal which ran in close to the terrace the door of the deck chamber opened a gangway was run out and for the first time in his life sultan caled trod the deck of a cruiser of the air the ethereal and the vindaya at once mounted up into the now brightly moonlit atmosphere the sultan saw the myriad lights of his splendid capital sink swiftly down into a vast abyss that seemed to open beneath him the dim horizon widened out until it enclosed an immense expanse of pale gray desert to the south while to the north the dark stretch of sea spread out farther than the eye could reach up and up the air ship's sword and to the lights of alexandria glimmered like a faint white mist at the bottom of a seemingly unfathomable gulf at length allen who was standing beside him pointed down and said this is your city if i give the word a hundred shells a minute would be reigned onto it from here do you think your guns could reach us no said the sultan striving in vain to repress a shudder at the fearful prospect disclosed by allen's words but how could your shells strike that little patch of light which is miles away and thousands of feet below us that too i will prove to you but not at the expense of your city he sent an order to the engine room and the ethereal swerved round the northward and followed by the vindaya swept out over the mediterranean in the direction of crete half an hour's flight at full speed brought them in sight of a small rocky islet which showed like a black spots on the surface of the moonlit sea the two air ships were stopped six thousand feet above the water and about four miles from the heap of rocks allen then gave orders for each of the ships to train four guns upon it now he said to the sultan fix your glass on that mess of rocks down yonder and watch what happens as he spoke he raised his hand and the eight guns were discharged simultaneously the sultan heard no report and saw no flash but a few seconds later he saw through the nightglasses that allen had given him a vast mass of flame of dazzling brilliancy burst out over the islet covering it completely for the moment with a mist of fire now you shall see the effects of our shells said allen the two vessels sank rapidly down in a slanting direction towards the spot where the projectiles had struck a hundred feet from the surface of the water they stopped and allen said now look for the island calid swept the sea with his glass the islet had vanished the waves were breaking over what seemed to be a sunken reef and that was all with hands that trembled in spite of all that he could do to keep them steady he took the glass from his eyes saying in a voice that was shaken by irresistible emotions god is great and i am but a man while you are as demigods it is enough i will give the pledge you ask for end of chapter 16 chapter 17 of auger romanoff this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by craig franklin auger romanoff by george griffith chapter 17 an unholy alliance within a couple of hours after the destruction of the islet sultan calid was back in his palace and the ethereal and the vindaya had departed with their prisoners of war for kergelan allen quite content with the advantage he had gained by obtaining the sultan's pledge of peace for a year in comparison with which even the capture of one of the russian airships was of trifling importance had determined not to run the needless risk of an encounter with auger's fleet for he had learnt the strength of it from losensky and saw that it would be madness to attack it added to this was far more important work in hand for him to do for it was absolutely imperative that a full report of what he had discovered with regard to the proposed alliance between auger and the sultan should be laid before the council with as little delay as possible for if it ever became an accomplished fact it could not fail to enormously complicate the coming struggle for the mastery of the world therefore as soon as he had placed a prize crew on board vindaya under the command of alexis he gave orders for the two airships to proceed southward at full speed having bidden the sultan farewell on the terrace of his palace and left him to draw what morale he could from the brief but startling experience that the midnight hours had brought him a few minutes before twelve on the following night the inhabitants of alexandria were thrown into a state of the most intense excitement by a marvellous appearance in the southern heavens long streams of light which in power and brilliancy excelled even the great electric suns with which the city was lighted shot down out of the skies flashing hither and thither and sweeping the earth below it in vast curves of radiance now they streamed out in a huge fan of endless horizontal rays which seem to reach to the horizon and now they crossed each other in a network of beams changing their positions with the rapidity which dazzled and bewildered the beholders then they were projected vertically to the zenith as though challenging the stars and then they blazed straight down upon the earth bringing into strong relief of light and shadow everything they fell upon instantly the spacious streets were crowded with excited throngs of people and millions of eyes were cast heavenwards watching the approach of the siren and her aerial squadron the 20 airships swept up out of the south at a speed of about 100 miles an hour in the form of a wide crescent with the revenge in the center they slowed down as they neared the city and the concentrated blaze of their light soon fell upon the sultan's palace the magnificent proportions of which distinguished it conspicuously even from the thousands of splendid edifices which adorned the muslim metropolis then still keeping their relative positions with perfect accuracy the winged vessels sank downwards and wheeled around until they faced the eastern terrace on which stood the sultan with his grand vizier and the chief officers of his household awaiting the coming of his aerial visitors the flotilla stopped a hundred feet from the terrace its searchlights were extinguished but the strange and beautiful shapes of the cruises of the air stood out sharply defined against the bright background formed by the myriad lights of the city the revenge flying the long vanished imperial standard of russia with its crowned black eagle on a broad ground of gold at the mizun the white flag of peace at the main and the star and crescent of the muslim empire at the fore floated slowly forward till her shining ram projected over the parapet and her three keels rested likely upon it then one of the forward doors of the deck chamber was drawn back by some invisible agency and the sultan saw standing in the opening such a vision of loveliness as he had never imagined even in his dreams of the horrors of paradise clothed according to her invariable custom in a plain clinging robe of royal purple with no other ornament than a coronet consisting of a plain broad band of gold from which rose above her temple two wings of silver filigree thickly encrusted with diamonds Olga Romanov stood upon the deck of her flagship the perfect incarnation of royal dignity and womanly beauty. Kalid who had advanced to the parapets as the squadron approached saw instantly that this could be none other than the woman whom alan arnold had described as beautiful beyond description and evil beyond comprehension few men had seen so many beautiful women as he had and there were scores of them waiting in his harem for the favoring glance that none could win from him but no sooner did his upward glance rest upon the vision that was looking down upon him from the doorway of the deck chamber of the revenge than his eyes fell and his head bowed in the involuntary homage that the supreme beauty of such a woman has always claimed from such a man evil she might be but evil in such a shape might be something more than good in the eyes of some men and of these Kalid the magnificent was one his hot arrow blood was a flame the instant that he looked upon her intoxicating loveliness and half her errand was accomplished before a word had passed between them she returned his greeting with a gracious inclination of her wing crowned head and as she did so he said that sardina is welcome my house and all that is in it is hers if she will honor me by entering it for she will make it more beautiful by her presence your majesty's welcome is sweet in my ears she answered almost insensibly adopting his oriental style of speech for I come as a friend and I hope to go as an ally the gangway stairs dropped as she spoke and as they did so the sultan made a sign and a pair of attendants brought forward some steps covered with crimson velvet which they placed so that she could descend from the parapet to which the sultan himself ascended to meet her as she came down taking her hand on the parapet he led her down to the terrace with the grace of a king and the deference of a courtier then he bent low over her hand and kissed it and as he did so the attendant officers of his empire bowed in silent and respectful salutation Olga was at once conducted to one of the state departments of the palace in which the sultan was wanted to receive his most distinguished guests she was treated with even more respect than would have been accorded to one of the crowned monarchs of the earth for not only her wonderful beauty and royal carriage but the marvelous manner of her coming and the tremendous power represented by the flotilla of airships inspired both the sultan and his subjects with a deference that amounted almost to homage then too the mystery and romance which invested her name and family and fortune distinguished her as a woman apart from all other women in the world it might be as allen had told the sultan that she was really the enemy of the human race that her true object was to destroy the peace of the world and rekindle the fires of war on earth but still the present romance was stronger than the future and possibly problematical reality and so it would hardly be too much to say that Olga had succeeded in removing the impression left by allen on Kalid's mind before she had been an hour under his roof she naturally expected that one of the first to receive her would be the ambassador who had preceded her but after looking anxiously for him and not finding him either on the terrace or in the reception room she turned to Kalid and said i do not see my ambassador here and yet he must have arrived since your majesty tells me that you have been expecting me the sultan's face darkened and his brows slightly contracted as he replied sirin i have i've been waiting for an opportunity to tell you what cannot but be unwelcome news your ambassador olaflossensky is not here but crydoga half rising from her seat not here surely he is not presumed to leave before my arrival i can hardly believe that of him he has gone never the less said the sultan though not by his will or mine i can assure you scarcely had his vessel alighted on the terrace yonder and he had disembarked when an arian cruiser dropped down silently as a shadow from the skies once it came i know not but it would seem that these arians see everything and that their hands reach everywhere in a moment she had dropped upon your ambassador's vessel splintering her masts and yet so softly did she alight that the glass dome was not broken then her crew streamed out of the doors of the deck chamber and the next i knew was that your ambassador and i were covered by half a score of pistols and rifles and commanded to stand still on pain of death then allen arnold alighted force your envoy to surrender struck one of my gods dead by some mysterious lightning that flashed from his sword and after carrying me away into the air over the sea and blasting a rock out of the waters to prove to me the power of his guns brought me back honorably and in safety to await your coming truly these ariand are more as gods than men furious as the unexpected tidings made her ogre yet managed to restrain her anger sufficiently to reply with wonderful coolness your majesty gives me sad and bitter news but it is the fortune of war and i must not complain the airship that is taken by surprise is lost and olaf losensky fell a victim to his own killessness then her mood changed swiftly and a soft musical laugh came from her smiling lips as she went on but it is a poor revenge after all that same allen arnold the son of the great president of area was my would-be lover and slave for over five years for my sake he turned traitor to his name and race gave up the revenge to me and told me all the jealously guarded secrets of aerial navigation he killed my brother in a quarrel but he was useful so i let him live a prisoner of war till i had done with him then i set him free when perhaps i ought to have kept him safe to go and tell his people what a fool i had made of him i suppose he did not tell your majesty that no laughed cailate in reply wondering what magic she had used to accomplish so marvelous a charm he did not but such a miracle proves that you have been truly named the siren of the skies as he said you are for no other woman could have worked such a wonder undisputed the empire of the air with the masters of the world this is true replied auger lowering her voice to a tone of intense earnestness and the fact that i did it single-handed proves i hope that with good friends and true allies i can do more than dispute that empire with the aerians these despots of peace who have made the world a paradise of the common place and feted all strongest and most aspiring spirits so that they might be equal with the coward and the fool but those matters which i would discuss with your majesty in private and it is too late in the night to go into them now you tell me that alan arnold has shown you what his airships can do if your majesty will honor the revenge by being my guest for tomorrow i will show you that mine are in no wise inferior to them indeed as i have told you the revenge is an airy and ship built in the enchanted land of the area and if you will tomorrow she shall carry you over the whole of your dominions and after that over those other dominions that shall be yours if you approve the plans that i will lay before you she paused and looked at caled with cheeks glowing and eyes shining with enthusiasm and passion he returned her glance with one no less fiery and passionate as he replied i will be your guest as you say but the honor and the favor will be to me your majesty for majesty you are crowned by the hand of favoring nature with that which makes all men your subjects your airship shall rest in the garden of my palace tonight and an hour after sunrise you shall find me ready for another journey to the skies for my first experience has given me a taste for more till then farewell the memory of your eyes will make me dream of paradise tonight there was that in his tone which told auger that his words meant more than a neatly turned oriental compliment and as he stooped and kissed her hand in leave taking she said half in jest and half in earnest and i should dream of the nearer glories of the world empire which your majesty and i may in the not very distant future divide between us oh share together said caled in his soul as he raised his head again and their eyes met at the appointed time the next morning the squadron rose into the air from the palace gardens in order to produce as widespread an effect as possible auger had extended her invitation to the grand vizier and about a score of the sultan's highest officials including the commanders of his armies and fleets who happened to be in alexandria at the time these were distributed among the 20 airships but auger took care to arrange matters so that only the grand vizier should accompany the sultan on board the revenge in order that the vizier who was a cool-headed wary far-seeing man of nearly 70 and therefore beyond the power of her own personal spells might not interfere with her design upon his master she lost no time in placing him under the power of the drug which he had already used with such disastrous results to the world although he had said nothing about it she felt certain that caled must have been worn by alan of the danger of taking anything to eat or drink from her hands and therefore she had decided to make no attempts upon his liberty of will unless it became absolutely necessary to do so but the vizier was easily taken unawares and she had little difficulty in causing him to drink a cup of coffee while her chief engineer was explaining the working of the machinery to the sultan in the engine room the coffee of course contained a sufficient quantity of the drug to deprive the vizier of all powers of opposing her will or resisting her suggestions for many hours to come so far as all independent advice was concerned he was safely disposed of the airships rose to an elevation of some 2000 feet and at a speed of 200 miles an hour ran first along the valley of the nile to the southward at katum they swerved to the eastward crossing the mountains of the red sea literal at a height of 9 000 feet then sank again and skirted the arabian coast until mecca the sacred city of islam came into sight the ancient temple of the kaba containing the tomb of the prophet still stood almost unchanged by the hand of time amid the splendid buildings verdant gardens and long groves of palms with which the new mecca of the 21st century was adorned pointing down towards it all the said to the sultan who was standing by her side on the deck dazzled by the splendours of the swiftly changing prospects of the scene below there is the holy city which your majesty may someday make the religious capital of the world that would be an achievement worthy of the commander of the faithful and the descendant of the prophet verdict not kaolid looked down at the city over which they were now speeding in the direction of medina and was silent for a few moments then he raised his eyes to hers and said even so but have you counted the cost of achieving it to me and my people before the banger of the crescent could float over a worldwide empire of islam we should have to triumph in a war which would involve the whole human race and this means that we should first have to destroy those who have been lords of the earth and of the air for more than a century the aliens are but men said auger a trifle coldly why should your majesty fear them if you are armed with the same weapons that they veiled i suppose alton anald has threatened you and your people with nothing less than annihilation should you conclude this alliance with me but why should you fear i have met the aliens in battle and you see i am not annihilated i do not fear them as personal enemies replied kaolid proudly but only as the possible destroyers of my people who would be defenseless against them think of the destruction you could reign upon the sacred city down yonder while it could strike no blow in return that would be the fate of alexandria and all the capitals of my empire and while my armies were marching to the conquest of christendom our homes would be laid in ruins and our wives and children slayed without mercy show me he continued speaking more earnestly and rapidly how they are to be protected against this and our alliance may become possible it is purely a matter of relative strength replied auger do you know why this squadron of mine is allowed to pursue its very unmolested although the aliens know of its existence it is because although as allen anald totally told you by superior skills and experience in handling their ships they have been able to destroy about half my fleet i am still stronger in the air than they are and they know that we have now gained the experience which we lacked they have only three vessels countens of unusual captured a swift and as powerful as this while i have twenty six none of their smaller vessels dare venture in reach of my guns for to do so would be to meet certain destruction they are doubtless building others a strong and a swift disease in preparation for the struggle which they know must come but if we join hands against them we shall be stronger than they will be when the year of your truth is ended my engineers shall teach you how to build airships in all respects equal disease and submarine cruises a dozen of which could destroy your present navies in a day with all the resources of your empire at command you could possess in a year from now an aerial navy of a thousand ships and a fleet of equal strength then you would be strong enough to sweep the seas from pole to pole and to storm the mountain battlements of area itself you must not forget that that the areas could do to your cities you could do to area and to all the capitals of christendom city for city you could take your revenge until until the whole earth was laid waste and the habitations of men would desolate broken colored overwhelmed by the horror of the prospect it is too great a prize to pay even for the empire of the world and the supremacy of islam even if we survive the ruin that we should have brought upon the world too great if there were any need to pay it said auger quickly seeing that her lust of conquest and revenge had carried her too far but matters will never come to such a pass as that our battlefields will be the countries that we shall invade and conquer not our own and enough airships can be devoted to the defense of your cities to repel any attack the areas may make upon them your majesty must not forget too that they will not dare to send any very large force away from area for they will know that the final battle for the possession of the earth would have to be fought out around the summits of its mountains you are right and i was wrong serena said the sultan in an altered tone and the prophet has said of the infidel such as are stubborn and refuse the true faith ye shall slay without mercy kill them wherever ye find them but alas he stopped suddenly and looked at her and she could see a smile moving his lips under his black beard and moustache she divined instantly what was passing in his mind and saw the opportunity for a stroke of diplomacy which base as it was she made without a moment's hesitation before he could continue she turned and faced him looked into his eyes with a glance that dazzled him and said in a low quick earnest tone i know what you would say sultan calid you would say that i and my people are infidels in your eyes and therefore worthy of destruction i have sought of that but the deck is too public a place for the discussion of such a matter call your vizier and we will retire to my own saloon and talk of it there calid bade wondering what was coming next from the lips of the siren whose fatal beauty of person and subtlety of mind were luring him on to plunge into an ocean of blood of which no human eyes could see the further shore if it had one at all and as soon as the three were seated in the room which had once been allen's auger addressed the vizier first rapidly but very clearly sketched out the project that had been suggested to her by lusensky and then turning to the sultan she said this seems now to be one real bar to such an alliance and that is the difference in our faith or i should rather say in our creeds i have not ignored this name i have pondered it deeply and earnestly creeds change this times and russia like the rest of europe has no real living faith like yours but you shall give it to them if you wish and the day that i am proclaimed empress of the russians the crescent shall shine on the towers of the kremlin what do i hear cried calid springing to his feet in amazement at her astounding words you and your people will accept the koran and acknowledge the prophet i will and they shall said auger calmly and firmly committing herself to the huge apostasy without a tremor in her voice remember to set millions who should by right be my subjects in asia are already good muslims if the russians refuse to obey me insist they will be rebels and you shall do this them as you will do with the other people of christendom if they remain stubborn let your majesty's chief minister and favorite council speak and say whether or not i have spoken fairly speak mussel gazi said the sultan in a voice that betrayed intense emotion and wear your words well for many and great issues may depend upon them commander of the faithful said the old man speaking slowly and with some hesitation as though he were repeating a lesson hardly yet learned i can speak but the words that my soul echoes from within a strange power has seemed to take possession of me and i speak as one to whom another has taught what he should say yet the words seem wise to me and i will speak them let's not doing so i should have to answer for my negligence it is written that you shall be the one chosen o heaven to plant the crescent where now falls the shadow of the cross and reign supreme so lord of a muslim world then have the means been sent to you by the hands of her who gives you the means of measuring strength with the masters of the nations by whose pleasure we possess that which we have and without whose countenance your majesty would not much longer remain commander of the faithful i would not willingly speak words of offense but it is necessary to recognize that the muslim practices his faith only by permission of those who if they hold any hold another by the beard of the prophet now hast said it musa i am a king by permission a high priest of islam by sufferance of the infidel exclaim calid as the hot blood rushed to his swarthy cheeks and the fire of fanaticism leapt into his eyes but i will be so mean a thing no longer than the time of the truth to which i have pledged my word in the blood of the infidel i will wipe out this shame on islam yay though the whole earth shall be drenched with the blood and tears that shall be licked up by the fires of war it is my destiny and i will do it or my name shall perish from the earth forever sarin or olga i have seen and heard enough let us return to my palace and arrange the terms of our alliance and when you have sworn upon the koran that you will take Allah for your god and Muhammad for your prophet i will sign them and together we will conquer the world for islam it is kizmet and that which is written shall be done olga looked upon the splendid figure of the sultan as he stood before her his athletic form dilated and his face glorified by the passion of religious fervour that was burning within him and as she did so a new light dawned upon her her she saw that this strong fiery soul might someday conquer even hers and fuse it into itself it would be an unholy union a love brought with apostasy from her faith and sealed with treachery to her people and the trust that she had inherited from her forefathers but what were apostasy and treachery to her now that the love she had stained her soul with blood and untold crime to win was lost to her forever earthly pomp and power the pomp of imperial rule and the power of life and death of happiness and misery over millions of her fellow creatures were well worth living for and with them might come love again or if not love then passion fierce and all-consuming for this one king of earth who dared to be a king in fact as well as in name and then before she could make any reply to the sultan's words the slow measured tones of the fissure sounded again saying if i may speak again majesties say on good moosa said the sultan for so far thou have spoken the words of wisdom i would say continued the old man that even as the wings did al-barak bore the prophet from earth to the seventh heaven so may it be written that the wind ship of sarinor olga shall bear thee my master into that paradise of love which so far has thou sought and not found what say you a world named siren of the skies to that said calid taking a step towards the couch on which olga was sitting and making a half appealing gesture with both his hands she rose to her feet and faced him one look into his passion-lighted eyes told her that the victory was already won and that strength could now give place to softness she dropped her eyes before his burning gaze and crossing her hands upon her bosom with a pretty semblance of submission said in a low sweet tone that he had heard now for the first time all things are possible and if this be possible then more than clear patrol lost for anthony i will win for you and you shall reign sole Caesar of his subject world as for me then that comes to pass let it be to me as it shall seem good in the eyes of my lord the king and so saying she bowed slightly before him and turned and passed out of the saloon seeing the vision of him whom she had loved in vain through the mist of tears which rose in that instant to her eyes end of chapter 17 this recording is in the public domain