more heavily. And Time summoned up more years, and one by one he hurled
them at Karnith Zo and at all his men. And the knees of the army
stiffened, and their beards grew and turned grey, and the hours and
days and the months went singing over their heads, and their hair
turned whiter and whiter, and the conquering hours bore down, and the
years rushed on and swept the youth of that army clear away till they
came face to face under the walls of the castle of Time with a mass of
howling years, and found the top of the slope too steep for aged men.
Slowly and painfully, harassed with agues and chills, the King rallied
his aged army that tottered down the slope.

Slowly the King led back his warriors over whose heads had shrieked the
triumphant years. Year in, year out, they straggled southwards, always
towards Zoon; they came, with rust upon their spears and long beards
flowing, again into Astarma, and none knew them there. They passed
again by towns and villages where once they had inquired curiously
concerning Time, and none knew them there either. They came again to
the palaces and gardens where they had waited for Time in the night,
and found that Time had been there. And all the while they set a hope
before them that they should come on Zoon again and see its golden
eaves. And no one knew that unperceived behind them there lurked and
followed the gaunt figure of Time cutting off stragglers one by one and
overwhelming them with his hours, only men were missed from the army
every day, and fewer and fewer grew the veterans of Karnith Zo.

But at last after many a month, one night as they marched in the dusk
before the morning, dawn suddenly ascending shone on the eaves of Zoon,
and a great cry ran through the army:

"Alatta, Alatta!"