Tarrano the Conqueror, page 50 by Raymond King Cummings
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t did not seem to me that any maiden could resist so dominant a man as this. But I had made no comment, nor had Georg. Elza had seemed unwilling to discuss it, had flushed when her brother's eyes had keenly searched her face.
And she flushed now, but Tarrano dismissed the subject with a gesture. "That--is between her and me.... You have been following the general news, I assume? I provided you with it." He rolled a little cylinder of the arrant-leaf, and lighted it.
"Yes," said Georg.
Georg was waiting for our captor to lay his cards before us. Tarrano knew it; his smile broadened. "I shall not mince words, Georg Brende. Between men, that is not necessary. And we are isolated here--no one beyond Venia can listen. As you know, I am already Master of Venus. In Mars--that will shortly come. They will hand themselves over to me--or I shall conquer them." He shrugged. "It is quite immaterial." He added contemptuously: "People are fools--almost everyone--it is no great feat to dominate them."
"You'll find our Earth leaders are not fools," Georg said quietly.
Tarrano's heavy brows went up. "So?" He chuckled. "That remains to be seen. Well, you heard the ultimatum they sent me? What do you think of it?"
"I think you'd best obey it," I burst out impulsively.
"I was not speaking to you." He did not change the level intonation of his voice, nor even look my way. "You are to die tomorrow, Jac Hallen----"
Elza gave a low cry; instantly his gaze swung to her. "So? That strikes at you, Lady Elza?"
She flushed even deeper than before, and the flush, with her instinctive look to me that accompanied it, made my heart leap. Tarrano's face had darkened. "You would not have me put him to death, Lady Elza?"
She was struggling to guard from him her emotions; struggling to match her woman's wit against him.
"I--why no," she stammered.
"No? Because he is--your friend?"
"Yes. I--I would not let you do that."
"Not let me?" Incredulous