George Griffith
The Syren of the Skies
(Sci-Fi Classic)
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2018 OK Publishing
ISBN 978-80-272-4805-6
Table of Contents
Prologue. The Prophecy of Natas.
Chapter I. The Surrender of the World-Throne.
Chapter IV. A Son of the Gods.
Chapter V. A Vision from the Clouds.
Chapter VII. The Spell of Circe
Chapter IX. The Flight of the “Revenge.”
Chapter X. Strange Tidings to Aeria.
Chapter XI. The Snake in Eden.
Chapter XII. The Battle of Kerguelen.
Chapter XIII. The Syren’s Stronghold.
Chapter XIV. From the Sea to the Air.
Chapter XVI. Khalid the Magnificent.
Chapter XVII. An Unholy Alliance.
Chapter XVIII. A Momentous Commission.
Chapter XIX. Face to Face Again.
Chapter XXII. The Eve of Battle.
Chapter XXIII. The First Blow.
Chapter XXIV. War at Its Worst.
Chapter XXV. A Message from Mars.
Chapter XXVI. Sentence of Death.
Chapter XXVIII. The Sign in the Sky.
Chapter XXIX. The Truce of God.
Chapter XXX. The Shadow of Death.
Chapter XXXI. The Last Battle.
Chapter XXXII. The She-Wolf to Her Lair.
Epilogue. “Vengeance is Mine.”
Prologue.
The Prophecy of Natas.
These are the last words of Israel di Murska, known in the days of strife as Natas, the Master of the Terror, given to the Children of Deliverance dwelling in the land of Aeria, in the twenty-fifth year of the Peace, which, in the reckoning of the West, is the year nineteen hundred and thirty.
My life is lived, and the wings of the Angel of Death overshadow me as I write; but before the last summons comes, I must obey the spirit within me that bids me tell of the things that I have seen, in order that the story of them shall not die, nor be disguised by false reports, as the years multiply and the mists gather over the graves of those who, with me, have seen and wrought them.
For this reason the words that I write shall be read publicly in the ears of you and your children and your children’s children, until they shall see a sign in heaven to tell them that the end is at hand. No man among you shall take away from that which I have written, nor yet add anything to it; and every fifth year, at the Festival of Deliverance, which is held on the Anniversary of Victory,1 this writing of mine shall be read, that those who shall hear it with understanding may lay its warnings to heart, and that the lessons of the Great Deliverance may never be forgotten among you.
It was in the days before the beginning of peace that I, Natas the Jew, cast down and broken by the hand of the Tyrant, conceived and created that which was known as the Terror. The kings of the earth and their servants trembled before my invisible presence, for my arm was long and my hand was heavy; yet no man knew where or when I should strike—only that the blow would be death to him on whom it should fall, and that nowhere on earth should he find a safe refuge from it.
In those days the earth was ruled by force and cunning, and the nations were armed camps set one against the other. Millions of men, who had no quarrel with their neighbours, stood waiting for the word of their rulers to blast the fair fields of earth with the fires of war, and to make desolate the homes of those who had done them no