David Lindsay

“ It was strewn with detached boulders, and great, jagged rocks projected everywhere like iron teeth. Tydomin pointed to a small black hole near the base, which might be a cave. "That is where I live."
"You live here alone?"
"Yes."
"It's an odd choice for a woman—and you are not unbeautiful, either."
"A woman's life is over at twenty-five," she replied, sighing. "And I am far older than that. Ten years ago it would have been I who lived yonder, and not Oceaxe. ”

“ Tydomin gazed at him earnestly. "There are many such beings, even in your world. There you call them spirits, apparitions, phantoms. They are in reality living wills, deprived of material bodies, always longing to act and enjoy, but quite unable to do so. Are you noble-minded enough to accept such a state, do you think?"
"If it's possible, I accept it," replied Maskull quietly. ”

“ Maskull's underlip shot out. "Tell your sister nothing, Digrung. Don't mention my name at all. I don't want her to know about this meeting of ours."
"Why not?"
"I don't wish it—isn't that enough?"
Digrung looked impassive.
"Thoughts and words," he said, "which don't correspond with the real events of the world are considered most shameful in Matterplay."
"I'm not asking you to lie, only to keep silent."
"To hide the truth is a special branch of lying. I can't accede to your wish. I must tell Joiwind everything, as far as I know it." ”

“ Maskull got up, and Tydomin followed his example.
She touched Digrung on the arm and gave him a strange look. "The dead man is my husband, and Maskull murdered him. Now you'll understand why he wishes you to hold your tongue."
"I guessed there was some foul play," said Digrung. "It doesn't matter—I can't falsify facts. Joiwind must know."
"You refuse to consider her feelings?" said Maskull, turning pale.
"Feelings which flourish on illusions, and sicken and die on realities, aren't worth considering. But Joiwind's are not of that kind." ”

“ I wish to start a new existence in your body. I wish to be a male. I see it isn't worth while being a woman. I mean to dedicate my own body to Crimtyphon. I shall tie his body and mine together, and give them a common funeral in the burning lake. That's the sacrifice I offer you. ”

“ As he obeyed, he wondered why Digrung's dead face did not wear the frightful Crystalman mask.
"Why hasn't he altered?" he muttered to himself.
Tydomin heard him. She kicked Digrung lightly with her little foot. "He isn't dead—that's why. The expression you mean is waiting for your death."
"Then is that my real character?"
She laughed softly. "You came here to carve a strange world, and now it appears you are carved yourself. Oh, there's no doubt about it, Maskull. You needn't stand there gaping. You belong to Shaping, like the rest of us. You are not a king, or a god." ”

“ Tydomin caught hold of him delicately. "I don't know Joiwind, but, whoever she is and whatever she's like, I know this—she's more fortunate in her friend than in her brother. Now, if you really value her happiness, Maskull, you will have to take some firm step or other."
"I mean to. Digrung, I shall stop your journey."
"If you intend a second murder, no doubt you are big enough."
Maskull turned around to Tydomin and laughed. "I seem to be leaving a wake of corpses behind me on this journey."
"Why a corpse? There's no need to kill him." ”

“ He spoke some words, but they were incomprehensible. A terrible expression came over the newcomer's face, and he grasped his neck with a pair of hairy hands. Maskull felt his bones bending and breaking, excruciating pains passed through all the nerves of his body, and he experienced a sense of impending death. He cried out, and sank helplessly on the floor, in a heap. The chamber and the company vanished—the light went out.
Once more he found himself in the blackness of the cave. He was this time lying on the ground, but Tydomin was still with him, holding his hand. ”

“ Without once glancing up at Oceaxe and Maskull, she quietly glided straight toward Crimtyphon's corpse. When she arrived within a few feet of it, she stopped and looked down, with arms folded.
Oceaxe drew Maskull a little away, and whispered, "It's Crimtyphon's other wife, who lives under Disscourn. She's a most dangerous woman. Be careful what you say. If she asks you to do anything, refuse it outright."
"The poor soul looks harmless enough."
"Yes, she does—but the poor soul is quite capable of swallowing up Krag himself.... Now, play the man." ”

“ Another pause ensued.
"It's no use standing here," said Tydomin. "Nothing can be done. You must come with me."
"Come with you? Where to?"
"To Disscourn. There's a burning lake on the far side of it. He always wished to be cast there after death. We can do that after Blodsombre—in the meantime we must take him home."
"You're a callous, heartless woman. Why should he be buried when that poor girl must remain unburied?"
"You know that's out of the question," replied Tydomin quietly.
Maskull's eyes roamed about agitatedly, apparently seeing nothing.
"We must do something," she continued. ”

“ Oceaxe began to grow angry. "It's you who have peculiar ideas. You rave about the beauty of flowers and trees—you think them divine. But when it's a question of taking on this divine, fresh, pure, enchanting loveliness yourself, in your own person, it immediately becomes a cruel and wicked degradation. ”

“ What's the meaning of the expression on that corpse's face?"
"Is that another crime, Maskull? All dead people look like that. Ought they not to?"
"I once heard it called 'Crystalman's face.'"
"Why not? We are all daughters and sons of Crystalman. It is doubtless the family resemblance."
"It has also been told me that Surtur and Crystalman are one and the same." ”

“ I don't hold you to your word, for unless it's a free sacrifice I will have nothing to do with it."
"I am not a man who speaks lightly. If you can perform this miracle, you have my consent, once for all."
"Then we'll leave it like that for the present," said Tydomin sadly.
They proceeded on their way. Owing to the subsidence, Tydomin seemed rather doubtful at first as to the right road, but by making a long divergence they eventually got around to the other side of the newly formed chasm. A little later on, in a narrow copse crowning a miniature, insulated peak, they fell in with a man. ”

“ I'm a hasty, passionate man."
"There are enough easygoing men. Hard knocks are a good medicine for vicious hearts. And you didn't misjudge my character, as far as you went—only, every woman has more than one character. Don't you know that?"
During the pause that followed, a snapping of twigs was heard, and both looked around, startled. They saw a woman stepping slowly across the neck that separated them from the mainland.
"Tydomin," muttered Oceaxe, in a vexed, frightened voice. She immediately moved away from Maskull and stood up. ”

“ It accuses us, and demands what we have made of our life, which is no more. At the same time, it is grand and joyful. The joy consists in this—that it is in our power to give freely what will later on be taken from us by force. ”

“ That would be compliance on your part, but not sacrifice. You must wait until you feel there's nothing else for you to do."
"It's all very mysterious."
The conversation was abruptly cut short by a prolonged and frightful crashing, roaring sound, coming from a short distance ahead. It was accompanied by a violent oscillation of the ground on which they stood. They looked up, startled, just in time to witness the final disappearance of a huge mass of forest land, not two hundred yards in front of them. ”