Read Online The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson - Free Book Online

the waves that struck his mighty legs hissed away in steam, so that Theseus knew he must have been uncommonly hot from his race to meet them.
    “Man,” a vast brazen voice reverberated across the surf, “who are you?”
    The eyes of Taloswere like holes into a furnace; their yellow glare was blinding. His immense bright face reflected a simple and terrible strength—a strength, Theseus thought, that lay chiefly in his metal thews. With the water bursting into white steam about his naked middle, he waited ahead of the spar.
    Theseus looked again for Snish, and began to suspect that the little wizard had transformed himself intoa fish. He cupped hands to his lips, and shouted back across the surf: “I am just a simple mariner, trying to reach land from the wreck yonder.”
    The burning eyes looked past him, toward the rocks, and the mighty voice of Talos boomed: “What ship is that?”
    “That was a pirate,” Theseus told him. “The magical wind of Minos drove it on the breakers last night. I was a prisoner, chained to the oars.I cried out to Minos and the Dark One, and they spared my life.”
    The fiery eyes of Talos came back to him. “Who was captain of the pirates?”
    “He is a lean tall Achean, with red hair.”
    “Was his name Firebrand?”
    “The pirates,” said Theseus, “called him Captain Firebrand.”
    “Captain Firebrand!” The voice of Talos was like thunder. “Where is he now?”
    “He lies on the wreck,” shouted Theseus. “Hewas wounded in a battle with the fleet, and most of the pirates slain. He was running before the storm, to escape, when the ship went on the rocks. The mast fell across his legs, and pinned him to the deck. He cursed me, when I left him, and mocked the names of Minos and the Dark One.”
    Talos waded forward, with the water hissing higher about his bright hot body.
    “That is his last folly,” rolledthe brazen voice. “For Minos knew that the pirate would approach this coast last night, and he sent me to destroy him.”
    The brass man abruptly halted, and his flaming eyes flashed cunningly.
    “Talos is no fool,” he boomed. “Are you not one of the pirates yourself, seeking to escape before the admiral takes you for the games or the Dark One?”
    “Ask Captain Firebrand,” advised Theseus, “when youfind him.”
    “I shall ask him,” roared the brass man, “before I pick the limbs from his body. And if you have lied to me you won’t escape. For, mark you, Talos is no fool!”
    He waded past the spar. The waves came hissing up over his shoulders. They made white steam about his head, and covered him. Briefly his bright head came up again, as he crossed a bar, and once more vanished.
    The spar touchedgravel. Theseus splashed ashore. He looked back, wondering what had become of Snish. The little wizard popped out of the water and came stumbling up the beach. His seamed face was blue, and he sobbed painfully for breath.
    “Splendid, Gothung!” he gasped. “You lie like a Cretan, already. But I thought I would drown before the brass man passed. Let’s get out of sight before he returns.”
    They crosseda wide dusty trail, where enormous prints of metal feet were spaced three yards apart, and started climbing up the steep forested hill beyond. Theseus broke the way, and the short-legged wizard fell panting behind.
    Presently a distant brazen reverberation reached Theseus, and there was a far-off crashing among the trees.
    With a miraculous second wind, Snish overtook him. “Our brazen friend,”he wheezed, grinning, “who is no fool!”
    But Talos did not overtake them, and presently Theseus and his companion crossed the wooded summit and came into view of the valley beyond. Flocks grazed on grassy slopes. Low hills were green with vines and olives, and a stream, below, wandered through fields of wheat and barley. The bright-walled houses of a distant village peered through the groves.
    “A beautiful land!” sighed Snish. “It is as fair as the plain