told by kings, till all the hosts of Meenath crept against it and the
lights went out and there arose the din of arms or ever Morning came.
And Night told how Sindana the beggar had dreamed that he was a King,
and Morning told how she had seen Sindana find suddenly an army in the
plain, and how he had gone to it thinking he was King and the army had
believed him, and Sindana now ruled over Marthis and Targadrides,
Dynath, Zahn, and Tumeida. And most Night loved to tell of Assarnees,
whose ruins are scant memories on the desert's edge, but Morning told
of the twin cities of Nardis and Timaut that lorded over the plain. And
Night told terribly of what Mynandes found when he walked through his
own city in the dark. And ever at the elbow of regal Night whispers
arose saying: "Tell Morning _this_."

And ever Night told and ever Morning wondered. And Night spake on, and
told what the dead had done when they came in the darkness on the King
that had led them into battle once. And Night knew who slew Darnex and
how it was done. Moreover, he told why the seven Kings tortured
Sydatheris and what Sydatheris said just at the last, and how the Kings
went forth and took their lives.

And Night told whose blood had stained the marble steps that lead to
the temple in Ozahn, and why the skull within it wears a golden crown,
and whose soul is in the wolf that howls in the dark against the city.
And Night knew whither the tigers go out of the Irasian desert and the
place where they meet together, and who speaks to them and what she
says and why. And he told why human teeth had bitten the iron hinge in
the great gate that swings in the walls of Mondas, and who came up out
of the marsh alone in the darktime and demanded audience of the King
and told the King a lie, and how the King, believing it, went down into
the vaults of his palace and found only toads and snakes, who slew the