The Eye Of Renithi Read online

of an old road. What was more, I discovered a red marker ribbon, obviously of Terran manufacture. Finally my luck was changing. I was certain that Charles had left the marker for me.

  I marched late into the night, making my way along the ancient, worn-down road carefully, with an electric torch in hand. I could hear the wind again, screaming in the distance, but oddly enough, it did not touch the high valley that the road wound its way through. It was at least an hour after midnight when I came to the edge of precipice so deep my torch could not penetrate the darkness below. A little common sense returned and I made my camp here.

  Morning brought a sight I could not have imagined in my grandest dreams. At least a half a mile below me, at the bottom of a narrow, sheer-walled canyon lay a great city. Forgetting everything I moved as quickly as I could down the narrow path that was all that remained of the old road. Three times I nearly slipped to my death on loose stones and gravel, but nothing could discourage me. It was noon by the time I reached the canyon floor, and the sun shone down, though it was cold here, almost bone chilling.

  The city didn't seem quite so magnificent now. Many of the buildings had crumbled, and many of those that stood had long ago lost their roofs, leaving rooms exposed. Great towers that must have stood hundreds of feet high had crashed to the ground. Many buildings showed signs of being burned or torn down. If anything, the ruins looked like the sight of a terrible battle. I suspected this city's end had been a violent affair.

  As I walked around and over rubble piles, I got the distinct impression that I was being watched. When I looked around, I saw no signs of any living thing, plant, animal or man. I laughed and scolded myself. It was easy, after so many years among Martians, to pick up on their superstitions. I was an Earthman, not some dull-witted local fed on foolish ghost stories.

  Despite the chaos of this ruined city, I soon spotted what I felt in my bones to be my destination. At the very edge of the city towered a vast triangular opening to a tunnel, carved into the naked rock of the canyon. Great statues of serpents, standing a hundred feet tall, flanked the entrance. Even as I approached I could make nothing out of the interior, it was like a piece of midnight that had crawled out of the exposed bowels of these mountains.

  The sun had already slipped behind the mountains when I reached the mouth of the tunnel. A hot stifling breeze blew from the interior, and for a moment I wavered. The shadows of this tunnel seemed to spread past me and into the city itself, and nearly I bolted in fright.

  Keeping my courage and remembering my greed, I turned on my electric torch and plunged into the tunnel. Within I saw an enormous space, with a ceiling at least a hundred fifty feet off the polished floor. This vast ceiling was supported by pillars a dozen feet in diameter. Carvings of fantastic and terrifying beasts and demons decorated these mighty pillars. The glint of gold and diamonds was everywhere and as I swung my flashlight from side to side, I saw treasure enough to fill the treasuries of the mightiest nations on Earth.

  I walked towards one of the treasure piles. Such wealth I doubt any man has ever seen. Gold and silver fashioned into the shapes of men, gods, demons and other things I could not name or imagine. Diamonds, rubies, jade, opals and even pearls harvested from some ancient, dried-up sea, dispelling my fear and awakening a kind of lust that even a self-serving, covetous man like myself had never known before. I stuffed my pockets, and when they would not hold any more, I emptied the contents of my back pack, leaving only enough food for two days rations. Within a few minutes, I was so burdened that it took some effort to move.

  And yet something pulled me inward, even though I was carrying enough precious metal and stones to buy myself a small country back on Earth. For a moment I resisted, my heart pumping so loudly that I thought it would deafen me. Ahead I could just make out the end of the tunnel, an altar and the dim shape of some great statue behind it. As my torchlight traced a line towards the head, I saw the glint of a great red ruby that must have been larger than a man's head.

  As I moved closer more details came into focus. The statue was obviously a female, with finely molded silver covering great, pendulous breasts. When I got a clearer view of the head I was taken aback. There was the leering face of Renithi, in the same crude style as the golden disc, with the ruby affixed to represent a single eye, reflecting the light with the color of smouldering coals.

  Then I noticed a figure beneath the statue kneeling in supplication. I crept forward, afraid to cause any disturbance. Finally I stood behind the figure beneath the terrible form of Renithi. I heard nothing, no breath, no prayers or mutterings.

  A long robe and hood covered all features and only the man's hands, withered and terribly scarred, could be seen. I spoke to the figure but it did not move. I even shouted and threatened, and still nothing. Finally in frustration I tore of the hood, and nearly fell down at what I saw.

  To my horror, I saw my old friend Charles Wong. His features were burned and mummified, but still recognizable. Empty eyes stared up at the statue of Renithi, his blackened, tortured mouth curled into a pathetic mockery of a smile.

  I staggered back, revulsion and grief overwhelming me. For what seemed an eternity I could not turn away, and only slowly did I come to my senses. I felt a presence, violent and evil, and finally knew that this was no place for a man of Earth. It was a place of death. Taking only the briefest moment to cover Charles' mutilated visage, I made ready to run.

  It was too late. I heard was the shuffle of feet, and then, in the blink of an eye, I was surrounded by a dozen robed figures. Instinctively I drew my pistol and began firing. Several went down before they finally disarmed me and forced me to the ground beside Charles' kneeling corpse. I struggled mightily, but to no avail. There was no escape from the iron grip of these veiled figures.

  The tallest of them silently walked in front of me, and I caught the glimpse of dark, peering eyes that seemed oddly familiar to me. Before he even lifted his hood, I knew it was Kul. Now, however, there was a fierce, red light in his eyes, and a demon's grin on his face. He spoke in a low, guttural language that sounded like it came from the depths of Hell. The others forced me into prostrate position, nearly breaking my arms.

  Then I heard a cry, but it did not come from the throat of any Terran or Martian. It was shrill and distant, but it shook the very ground. The bulb in my electric torch, lying just a few feet away on the floor, exploded with a blinding flash. But darkness did not follow, for there was a strange red light that grew hotter and brighter. I looked up to see the single great ruby of Renithi's eye glowing like fanned embers. Hotter and hotter it became, until my eyes were watering.

  Minute after minute I felt my skin beginning to burn. I tried to force my eyes closed, but my eyelids had curled up. I felt unbearable pain until the nerves in my face thankfully started to die. Then I heard laughter, and with difficulty I turned from the terrible glow.

  There was the hideously tortured and blind face of Charles, giggling insanely. I knew he was not dead, but something far worse. "Bask in the love of Renithi, old friend." he said in a rasping but familiar voice. "Feel the rapture of her fiery gaze."

  Then, before my eyes, his features began to crumble, revealing fetid muscle, flesh and bone. His laughter became louder and harsher, and steam escaped from his mouth and eye sockets. With a final gust of devilish guffawing, he shouted "I am coming, my goddess!" and his body burst into flames.

  I would have cried, if any tears had remained. Instead, I turned back to that terrible light of Renithi's ruby eye, and I felt my own features melting, the fat and fluids boiling. My last, clouded vision was of the terrible leering face of Renithi, her horrible eye burning into my very soul. I could hear myself screaming "No, please, no!" Or was it "I come to you?" I cannot remember, for the darkness took me, and I knew nothing more.

  Now I sit in a private cabin on an Earth-bound transport breaking out of orbit. The doctors and nurses that tended my injuries told me that I came stumbling into Nazrah's camp, blind, burned, raving and co
vered in dried blood. I remember none of this. With great effort Nazrah kept me alive and brought me to more civilized lands. How I wish he had not, and rather had left my tortured body and mind to die in that waste.

  Even as I escape Mars' gravity, I know that I can never escape Renithi. Soon my soul will join her tortured multitude in the fires of damnation to feed her insatiable appetite. Not even a hundred million miles of vacuum will deny her what she has claimed. I know that beneath those dead black mountains, her fire waits patiently to consume me.

  And, in that strange and torturous humor that only a goddess of a dying world could evoke, I want it. Oh yes, I beg and plead for it. I desire nothing more than the fire of the eye of Renithi.