Even here, on the black terrace before the forgotten mountain retreat of Asti, it was possible to smell the dank stench of burning Memphir, to imagine that the dawn wind bore upward from the pillaged city the faint tortured cries of those whom the barbarians of Klem hunted to their prolonged death. Indeed it was time to leave— Varta, last of the virgin Maidens of Asti, shivered. The scaled and wattled creature who crouched beside her thigh turned his reptilian head so that golden eyes met the aq

TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS CORRECTED The following typographical errors in the text were corrected as detailed here. In the text: "Then she arose and, with the confidence of a child in its father, she laid her hand palm upward upon the outstretched hand of Asti.... " the word "outstreched" was corrected to "outstretched." In the text: "Varta touched her tongue without fear to a powdered restorative," the word "restoritive" was corrected to "restorative." In the text: "Varta threw back her hood and bre