Thalaba the Destroyer Part 3

"Son of Hodeirah!" the Death-Angel cried, "It is not yet the hour.

"Son of Hodeirah, thou art chosen forth "To do the will of Heaven; "To avenge thy Father's death, "The murder of thy race, "To work the mightiest enterprise "That mortal man hath wrought.

"Live! and remember Destiny "Hath marked thee from mankind!"

He ceased, and he was gone.

Young Thalaba looked round,...

The Palace and the groves were seen no more, He stood amid the Wilderness, alone.

The Second Book.

_THALABA THE DESTROYER._

_THE SECOND BOOK._

Not in the desert Son of Hodeirah Wert thou abandoned!

The coexistent fire, That in the Dens of Darkness burnt for thee, Burns yet, and yet shall burn.

In the Domdaniel caverns Under the Roots of the Ocean, Met the Masters of the Spell.

Before them in the vault, Blazing unfuelled from the floor of rock, Ten magic flames arose.

"Burn mystic fires!" Abdaldar cried, "Burn whilst Hodeirah's dreaded race exist.

"This is the appointed hour, "The hour that shall secure these dens of night."

"Dim they burn," exclaimed Lobaba, "Dim they burn, and now they waver!

"Okba lifts the arm of death, "They waver,... they go out!

"Curse on his hasty hand!"

Khawla exclaimed in wrath, The woman-fiend exclaimed, "Curse on his hasty hand, the fool hath failed!

"Eight only are gone out."

A Teraph[22] stood against the cavern side, A new-born infant's head, That Khawla at his hour of birth had seized And from the shoulders wrung.

It stood upon a plate of gold, An unclean Spirit's name inscribed beneath.

The cheeks were deathy dark, Dark the dead skin upon the hairless skull; The lips were bluey pale; Only the eyes had life, They gleamed with demon light.

"Tell me!" quoth Khawla, "is the Fire gone out "That threats the Masters of the Spell?"

The dead lips moved and spake, "The Fire still burns that threats "The Masters of the Spell."

"Curse on thee, Okba!" Khawla cried, As to the den the Sorcerer came, He bore the dagger in his hand Hot from the murder of Hodeirah's race.

"Behold those unextinguished flames!

"The fire still burns that threats "The Masters of the Spell!

"Okba, wert thou weak of heart?

"Okba, wert thou blind of eye?

"Thy fate and ours were on the lot, "And we believed the lying stars "That said thy hand might seize the auspicious hour!

"Thou hast let slip the reins of Destiny,...

"Curse thee, curse thee, Okba!"

The Murderer answering said, "O versed in all enchanted lore, "Thou better knowest Okba's soul.

"Eight blows I struck, eight home-driven blows, "Needed no second stroke "From this envenomed blade.

"Ye frown at me as if the will had failed, "As if ye did not know "My double danger from Hodeirah's race, "The deeper hate I feel, "The stronger motive that inspired my arm!

"Ye frown as if my hasty fault, "My ill-directed blow "Had spared the enemy, "And not the stars that would not give, "And not your feeble spells "That could not force, the sign "Which of the whole was he!

"Did ye not bid me strike them all?

"Said ye not root and branch should be destroyed?

"I heard Hodeirah's dying groan, "I heard his Children's shriek of death, "And sought to consummate the work, "But o'er the two remaining lives "A cloud unpierceable had risen, "A cloud that mocked my searching eyes.

"I would have probed it with the dagger-point, "The dagger was repelled, "A Voice came forth and cried "Son of Perdition, cease! thou canst not change "What in the Book of Destiny is written."

Khawla to the Teraph turned, "Tell me where the Prophet's hand "Hides our destined enemy?"

The dead lips spake again, "I view the seas, I view the land, "I search the ocean and the earth!

"Not on Ocean is the Boy, "Not on Earth his steps are seen."

"A mightier power than we," Lobaba cried, "Protects our destined foe!

"Look! look! one fire burns dim!

"It quivers! it goes out!"

It quivered, it was quenched.

One flame alone was left, A pale blue flame that trembled on the earth, A hovering light upon whose shrinking edge The darkness seemed to press.

Stronger it grew, and spread Its lucid swell around, Extending now where all the ten had stood, With l.u.s.tre more than all.

At that protentous sight, The children of Evil trembled And Terror smote their souls.

Over the den the fire Its fearful splendour cast, The broad base rolling up in wavy streams, Bright as the summer lightning when it spreads Its glory o'er the midnight heaven.

The Teraphs eyes were dimmed, That like two twinkling stars Shone in the darkness late.

The Sorcerers on each other gazed, And every face all pale with fear, And ghastly in that light was seen Like a dead man's by the sepulchral lamp.

Even Khawla fiercest of the enchanter brood Not without effort drew Her fear suspended breath.

Anon a deeper rage Inflamed her reddening eye.

"Mighty is thy power, Mohammed!"

Loud in blasphemy she cried, "But Eblis[23] would not stoop to man "When Man fair statured as the stately palm, "From his Creator's hand "Was undefiled and pure.

"Thou art mighty, O Son of Abdallah!

"But who is he of woman born "That shall vie with the might of Eblis?

"That shall rival the Prince of the Morning?"

She said, and raised her skinny hand As in defiance to high Heaven, And stretched her long lean finger forth And spake aloud the words of power.

The Spirits heard her call, And lo! before her stands Her Demon Minister.

"Spirit!" the Enchantress cried, "Where lives the Boy coeval with whose life "Yon magic fire must burn?"

DEMON.

Mistress of the mighty Spell, Not on Ocean, not on Earth.

Only eyes that view Allah's glory throne, See his hiding-place.

From some believing Spirit, ask and learn.

"Bring the dead Hodeirah here,"

Khawla cried, "and he shall tell."

The Demon heard her bidding, and was gone.

A moment pa.s.sed, and at her feet Hodeirah's corpse was laid.

His hand still held the sword he grasped in death, The blood not yet had clotted on his wound.