"Warrior," she said, addressing Ja-don, "if you would live enter
not that portion of the room."
Lu-don cast an angry glance upon her. "Silence, slave!" he cried.
"And where lies the danger?" Ja-don asked of Jane, ignoring Lu-don.
The woman pointed to the thongs. "Look," she said, and before the
high priest could prevent she had seized that which controlled the
partition which shot downward separating Lu-don from the warrior
and herself.
Ja-don looked inquiringly at her. "He would have tricked me neatly
but for you," he said; "kept me imprisoned there while he secreted
you elsewhere in the mazes of his temple."
"He would have done more than that," replied Jane, as she pulled
upon the other thong. "This releases the fastenings of a trapdoor
in the floor beyond the partition. When you stepped on that you
would have been precipitated into a pit beneath the temple. Lu-don
has threatened me with this fate often. I do not know that he speaks
the truth, but he says that a demon of the temple is imprisoned
there--a huge gryf."
"There is a gryf within the temple," said Ja-don. "What with it
and the sacrifices, the priests keep us busy supplying them with
prisoners, though the victims are sometimes those for whom Lu-don
has conceived hatred among our own people. He has had his eyes upon
me for a long time.
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