Ardath: The Story of a Dead Self Part 15

Completely fascinated by the wizard-like beauty of the scene, Theos felt as though he could never look upon it long enough to master all its charms, but his eyes ached with the radiance in which everything seemed drenched as with flame, and turning his gaze once more toward the sun, he saw that it had nearly disappeared. Only a blood-red rim peered spectrally above the gold and green horizon-and immediately overhead, a silver rift in the sky had widened slowly in the centre and narrowed at its end, thus taking the shape of a great outstretched sword that pointed directly downward at the busy, murmuring, glittering city beneath. It was a strange effect, and made on the mind of Theos a strange impression,--he was about to call Sah-luma's attention to it, when an uncomfortable consciousness that they were no longer alone came over him,--instinctively he turned round, uttered a hasty exclamation, and springing erect, found himself face to face with a huge black,--a man of some six feet in height and muscular in proportion, who, clad, in a vest and tunic of the most vivid scarlet hue, leered confidentially upon him as their eyes met. Sah-luma rising also, but with less precipitation, surveyed the intruder languidly and with a certain haughtiness.

"What now, Gazra? Always art thou like a worm in the gra.s.s, crawling on thine errand with less noise than the wind makes in summer, . . I would thy mistress kept a fairer messenger!"

The black smiled,--if so hideous a contortion of his repulsive countenance might be called a smile, and slowly raising his jetty arms hung all over with strings of coral and amber, made a curious gesture, half of salutation, half of command. As he did this, the clear, olive cheek of Sah-luma flushed darkly red,--his chest heaved, and linking his arm through that of Theos, he bent his head slightly and stood like one in an enforced att.i.tude of attention. Then Gazra spoke, his harsh, strong voice seeming to come from some devil in the ground rather than from a human throat.

"The Virgin Priestess of the Sun and the Divine Nagaya hath need of thee to-night, Sah-luma!" he said, with a sort of suppressed derision underlying his words,--and taking from his breast a ring that glittered like a star, he held it out in the palm of one hand--"And also"--he added--"of thy friend the stranger, to whom she desires to accord a welcome. Behold her signet!"

Theos, impelled by curiosity, would have taken the ring up to examine it, had not Sah-luma restrained him by a warning pressure of his arm,--he was only just able to see that it was in the shape of a coiled-up serpent with ruby eyes, and a darting tongue tipped with small diamonds. What chiefly concerned him however was the peculiar change in Sah-luma's demeanor,--something in the aspect or speech of Gazra had surely exercised a remarkable influence upon him. His frame trembled through and through with scarcely controlled excitement, . .

his eyes shot forth an almost evil fire, . . and a cold, calm, somewhat cruel smile played on the perfect outline of his delicate month. Taking the signet from Gazra's palm, he kissed it with a kind of angry tenderness, . . then replied..

"Tell thy mistress we shall obey her behest! Doubtless she knows, as she knows all things, that to-night. I am summoned by express command, to the Palace of our sovereign lord the King.. I am bound thither first as is my duty, but afterwards ..." He broke off as if he found it impossible to say more, and waved his hand in a light sign of dismissal. But Gazra did not at once depart. He again smiled that lowering smile of his which resembled nothing so much as a hung criminal's death-grin, and returned the jewelled signet to his breast.

"Afterwards! ... yes.. afterwards!" he said in emphatic yet mock solemn tones.. "Even so!" Advancing a little he laid his heavy, muscular hand on Theos's chest, and appeared mentally to measure his height and breadth--"Strong nerves! ... iron sinews! ... goodly flesh and blood!

..'twill serve!"--and his great, protruding eyes gleamed maliciously as he spoke,--then bowing profoundly he added, addressing both Sah-luma and Theos.. "n.o.ble sirs, to-night out of all men in Al-Kyris shall you be the most envied! Farewell!"--and once more making that curious salutation which had in it so much imperiousness and so little obeisance, he walked backward a few paces in the full l.u.s.tre of the set sun's after-glow, which intensified the vivid red of his costume and lit up all the ornaments of clear-cut amber that glittered against his swarthy skin,--then turning, he descended the hillock so swiftly that he seemed to have melted out of sight as utterly as a dark mist dissolving in air.

"By my word, a most sooty and repellent bearer of a lady's greeting!"

laughed Theos lightly, as he sauntered arm in arm with his host on the downward path leading to the garden and palace--"And I have yet to learn the true meaning of his message!"

"'Tis plain enough!" replied Sah-luma somewhat sulkily, with the deep flush still coming and going on his face--"It means that we are summoned, . . thou as well as I, . . to one of Lysia's midnight banquets,--an honor that falls to few,--a mandate none dare disobey!

She must have spied thee out this morning--the only unkneeling soul in all the abject mult.i.tude-hence, perhaps, her present desire for thy company."

There was a touch of vexation in his voice, but Theos heeded it not.

His heart gave a great bound against his ribs as though p.r.i.c.ked by a fire-tipped arrow,--something swift and ardent stirred in his blood like the flowing of quicksilver, . . the picture of the dusky-eyed, witchingly beautiful woman he had seen that morning in her gold-adorned s.h.i.+p, seemed to float between him and the light,--her face shone out like a growing glory-flower in the tangled wilderness of his thoughts, and his lips trembled a little as he replied:

"She must be gracious and forgiving then, even as she is fair! For in my neglect of reverence due, I merited her scorn, . . not her courtesy.

But tell me, Sah-luma, how could she know I was a guest of thine?"

Sah-luma glanced at him half-pityingly, half disdainfully.

"How could she know? Easily!--inasmuch as she knows all things. 'Twould have been strange indeed had she NOT known!" and he caught at a down-drooping rose and crushed its fragrant head in his hand with a sort of wanton petulance--"The King himself is less acquainted with his people's doings than the wearer of the All-Reflecting Eye! Thou hast not yet seen that weird mirror and potent dazzler of human sight, . .

no,--but thou WILT see it ere long,--the glittering Fiend-guarding of the whitest breast that ever shut in pa.s.sion!" His voice shook, and he paused,--then with some effort continued--"Yes,--Lysia has her secret commissioners everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the city, who report to her each circ.u.mstance that happens, no matter how trifling,--and doubtless we were followed home,--tracked step by step as we walked together, by one of her stealthy-footed servitors,--in this there would be naught unusual."

"Then there is no freedom in Al-Kyris,--" said Theos wonderingly--"if the whole city thus lies under the circ.u.mspection of a woman?"

Sah-luma laughed rather harshly.

"Freedom! By the G.o.ds, 'tis a delusive word embodying a vain idea!

Where is there any freedom in life? All of us are bound in chains and restricted in one way or the other,--the man who deems himself politically free is a slave to the mult.i.tude and his own ambition --while he who shakes himself loose from the trammels of custom and creed, becomes the tortured bondsman of desire, tied fast with bruising cords to the rack of his own unbridled sense and appet.i.te. There is no such thing as freedom, my friend, unless haply it may be found in death! Come,--let us in to supper,--the hour grows late, and my heart aches with an unsought heaviness,--I must cheer me with a cup of wine, or my songs to-night will sadden rather than rouse the King. Come,--and thou shalt speak to me again of the life that is to be lived hereafter,"--and he smiled with certain pathos in his smile,--"for there are times, believe me, when in spite of all my fame and the sweetness of existence, I weary of earth's days and nights, and find them far too brief and mean to satisfy my longings. Not the world,--but worlds--should be the Poet's heritage."

Theos looked at him, with a feeling of unutterable yearning affection, and regret, but said nothing, . . and together they ascended the steps of the stately marble terrace and paced slowly across it, keeping as near to each other as shadow to substance, and thus reentered the palace, where the sound of a distant harp alone penetrated the perfumed stillness. It must be Niphrata who was playing, thought Theos, ... and what strange and plaintive chords she swept from the vibrating strings!

... They seemed laden with the tears of broken-hearted women dead and buried ages upon ages ago!

CHAPTER XV

SAH-LUMA SINGS.

As they left the garden the night fell, or appeared to fall, with almost startling suddenness, and at the same time, in swift defiance of the darkness, Sah-luma's palace was illuminated from end to end by thousands of colored lamps, all apparently lit at once by a single flash of electricity. A magnificent repast was spread for the Laureate and his guest, in a lofty, richly frescoed banqueting-hall,--a repast voluptuous enough to satisfy the most ardent votary that ever followed the doctrines of Epicurus. Wonderful dainties and still more wonderful wines were served in princely profusion--and while the strangely met and sympathetically united friends ate and drank, delicious music was played on stringed instruments by unseen performers. When, at intervals, these pleasing sounds ceased, Sah-luma's conversation, brilliant, witty, refined, and sparkling with light anecdote and lighter jest, replaced with admirable sufficiency, the left-off harmonies,--and Theos, keenly alive to the sensuous enemy of his own emotions, felt that he had never before enjoyed such an astonis.h.i.+ng, delightful, and altogether fairy-like feast. Its only fault was that it came to an end too soon, he thought, when, the last course of fruit and sweet comfits being removed, he rose reluctantly from the glittering board, and prepared to accompany his host, as agreed, to the presence of the King.

In a very short time, so bewilderingly short as to seem a mere breathing-s.p.a.ce,--he found himself pa.s.sing through the broad avenues and crowded thoroughfares of Al-Kyris on his way to the Royal abode. He occupied a place in Sah-luma's chariot,--a gilded car, shaped somewhat like the curved half of a sh.e.l.l, deeply hollowed, and set on two high wheels that as they rolled made scarcely any sound; there was no seat, and both he and Sah-luma stood erect, the latter using all the force of his slender brown hands to control the spirited prancing of the pair of jet-black steeds which, harnessed tandem-wise to the light-vehicle, seemed more than once disposed to break loose into furious gallop regardless of their master's curbing rein.

The full moon was rising gradually in a sky as densely violet as purple pansy-leaves--but her mellow l.u.s.tre was almost put to shame by the brilliancy of the streets, which were lit up on both sides by vari-colored lamps that diffused a peculiar, intense yet soft radiance, produced, as Sah-luma explained, from stored-up electricity. On the twelve tall Towers of the Sacred Temple shone twelve large, revolving stars, that as they turned emitted vivid flashes of blue, green, and amber flame like light-house signals seen from s.h.i.+ps veering sh.o.r.ewards,--and the reflections thus cast on the mosaic pavement, mingling with the paler beams of the moon, gave a weird and most fantastic effect to the scene. Straight ahead, a blazing arch raised like a bent bow against heaven, and having in its centre the word

ZEPHORANIM,

written in scintillating letters of fire, indicated to all beholders the name and abode of the powerful Monarch under whose dominion, according to Sah-luma, Al-Kyris had reached its present height of wealth and prosperity.

Theos looked everywhere about him, seeing yet scarcely realizing the wonders on which he gazed,--leaning one arm on the burnished edge of the car, he glanced now and then up at the dusky skies growing thick with swarming worlds, and meditated dreamily whether it might not be within the range of possibility to be lifted with Sah-luma, chariot, steeds and all into that beautiful, fathomless empyrean, and drive among planets as though they were flowers, reining in at last before some great golden gate, which unbarred should open into a l.u.s.trous Glory-Land fairer than all fair regions ever pictured!

How like a G.o.d Sah-luma looked, he mused! ... his eyes resting tenderly on the light, glittering form he was never weary of contemplating.

Could there be a more perfect head than that dark one crowned with myrtle? ... could there be a more dazzling existence than that enjoyed by this child of happy fortune, this royal Laureate of a mighty King?

How many poets starving in garrets and waiting for a hearing, would not curse their unlucky destinies when comparing themselves with such a Prince of Poesy, each word of whose utterance was treasured and enshrined in the hearts of a grateful and admiring people!

This was Fame indeed, . . Fame at its utmost best,--and Theos sighed once or twice restlessly as he inwardly reflected how poor and unsatisfying were his own poetical powers, and how totally unfitted he was to cope with a rival so vastly his superior. Not that he by any means desired to cross swords with Sah-luma in a duel of song,-that was an idea that never entered his mind; he was simply conscious of a certain humiliated feeling,--an impression that it' he would be a poet at all, he must go back to the very first beginning of the art and re-learn all he had ever known, or thought he knew.

Many strange and complex emotions were at work within him, . . emotions which he could neither control nor a.n.a.lyze,--and though he felt himself fully alive,--alive to his very finger-tips, he was ever and anon aware of a curious sensation like that experienced by a suddenly startled somnambulist, who, just on the point of awaking, hesitates reluctantly on the threshold of dreamland, unwilling to leave one realm of shadows for another more seeming true, yet equally transient. Entangled in perplexed reveries he scarcely noticed the brilliant crowds of people that were flocking hither and thither through the streets, many of whom recognizing Sah-luma waved their hands or shouted some gay word of greeting,--he saw, as it were without seeing. The whirling pageant around him was both real and unreal,--there was always a deep sense of mystery that hung like a cloud over his mind,--a cloud that no resolution of his could lift,--and often he caught himself dimly speculating as to what lay BEHIND that cloud. Something, he felt sure,--something that like the clew to an intricate problem, would explain much that was now altogether incomprehensible,--moreover he remorsefully realized that he had formerly known that clew and had foolishly lost it, but how he could not tell.

His gaze wandered from the figure of Sah-luma to that of the attendant harp-bearer who, perched on a narrow foothold on the back of the chariot, held his master's golden instrument aloft as though it were a flag of song,--the signal of a poet's triumph, destined to float above the world forever!

Just then the equipage--arrived at the Kings palace. Turning the horses' heads with a sharp jerk so that the mettlesome creatures almost sprang erect on their haunches, Sah-luma drove them swiftly into a s.p.a.cious courtyard, lined with soldiers in full armor, and brilliantly illuminated, where two gigantic stone Sphinxes, with lit stars ablaze between their enormous brows, guarded a flight of steps that led up to what seemed to be an endless avenue of white marble columns. Here slaves in gorgeous attire rushed forward, and seizing the prancing coursers by the bridle rein, held them fast while the Laureate and his companion alighted. As they did so, a mighty and resounding clash of weapons struck the tesselated pavement,--every soldier flung his drawn sword on the ground and doffed his helmet, and the cry of

"HAIL, SAH-LUMA!"

rose in one brief, mellow, manly shout that echoed vibratingly through the heated air. Sah-luma meanwhile ascended half-way up the steps, and there turning round, smiled and bowed with an exquisite grace and infinite condescension,--and again Theos gazed at him yearningly, lovingly, and somewhat enviously too. What a picture he made standing between the great frowning sculptured Sphinxes! ... contrasted with those cold and solemn visages of stone he looked like a dazzling b.u.t.terfly or stray bird of paradise. His white garb glistened at every point with gems, and from his shoulders, where it was fastened with large sapphire elasps, depended a long mantle of cloth of gold, bordered thickly with swansdown,--this he held up negligently in one hand as ho remained for a moment in full view of the a.s.sembled soldiery, graciously acknowledging their enthusiastic greetings, . .

then with easy and unhasting tread he mounted the rest of the stairway, followed by Theos and his harp-bearer, and pa.s.sed into the immense outer entrance hall of the Royal Palace, known, as he explained to his guest, as the Hall of the Two Thousand Columns.

Here among the ma.s.sively carved pillars which looked like straight, tall, frosted trunks of trees, were a.s.sembled hundreds of men young and old,--evident aristocrats and n.o.bles of high degree, to judge from the magnificence of their costumes, while in and out their brilliant ranks glided little pages in crimson and blue,--black slaves, semi-nude or clothed in vivid colors,--court officials with jewelled badges and insignias of authority,--military guards clad in steel armor and carrying short, drawn scimetars,--all talking, laughing, gesticulating and elbowing one another as they moved to and fro,--and so thickly were they pressed together that at first sight it seemed impossible to penetrate through so dense a crowd: but no sooner did Sah-luma appear, than they all fell back in orderly rows, thus making an open avenue-like s.p.a.ce for his admittance.

He walked slowly, with proudly-a.s.sured mien and a confident smile,--bowing right and left in response to the respectful salutations he received from all a.s.sembled,--many persons glanced inquisitively at Theos, but as he was the Laureate's companion he was saluted with nearly equal courtesy. The old critic Zabastes, squeezing his lean, bent body from out the throng, hobbled after Sah-luma at some little distance behind the harp-bearer, muttering to himself as he went, and bestowing many a side-leer and malicious grin on those among his acquaintance whom he here and there recognized. Theos noted his behavior with a vague sense of amus.e.m.e.nt,--the man took such evident delight in his own ill-humor, and seemed to be so thoroughly convinced that his opinion on all affairs was the only one worth having.

"Thou must check thy tongue today, Zabastes!" said a handsome youth in dazzling blue and silver, who, just then detaching himself from the crowd, laid a hand on the Critic's arm and laughed as he spoke--"I doubt me much whether the King is in humor for thy grim fooling! His Majesty hath been seriously discomposed since his return from the royal tiger-hunt this morning, notwithstanding that his unerring spear slew two goodly and most furious animals. He is wondrous sullen,-and only the divine Sah-luma is skilled in the art of soothing his troubled spirit. Therefore,--if thou hast aught of crabbed or cantankerous to urge against thy master's genius, thou hadst best reserve it for another time, lest thy withered head roll on the market-place with as little reverence as a dried gourd flung from a fruiterer's stall!"

"I thank thee for thy warning, young jackanapes!" retorted Zabastes, pausing in his walk and leaning on his staff while he peered with his small, black, bad-tempered eyes at the speaker-"Thou art methinks somewhat over well-informed for a little lacquey! What knowest thou of His Majesty's humors? Hast been his fly-i'-the-ear or cast-off sandal-string? I pray thee extend not thy range of learning beyond the proper temperature of the bath, and the choice of rare unguents for thy skin-greater knowledge than this would injure the tender texture of thy fragile brain! Pah!"--and Zabastes sniffed the air in disgust--"Thou hast a most vile odor of jessamine about thee! ... I would thou wert clean of perfumes and less tawdry in attire!"

Chuckling hoa.r.s.ely he ambled onward, and chancing to, catch the wondering backward glance of Pheos, he made expressive signs with his fingers in derision of Sah-luma's sweeping mantle, which now, allowed to fall to its full length, trailed along the marble floor with a rich, rustling sound, the varied light sparkling on it at every point and making it look like a veritable shower of gold.

On through the seemingly endless colonnades they pa.s.sed, till they came to a huge double door formed of two glittering, colossed winged figures holding enormous uplifted s.h.i.+elds. Here stood a personage clad in a silver coat-of-mail, so motionless that at first he appeared to be part of the door, .. but at the approach of Sah-luma he stirred into life and action, and touching a spring beside him, the arms of the twin colossi moved, the great double s.h.i.+elds were slowly lowered, and the portals slid asunder noiselessly, thus displaying the sumptuous splendor of the Royal Presence-Chamber.

It was a s.p.a.cious and lofty saloon, completely lined with gilded columns, between which hung numerous golden lamps having long, pointed, amber pendants, that flashed down a million sparkles as of sunlight on the magnificent mosaic floor beneath. On the walls were rich tapestries storied with voluptuous scenes of love as well as ghastly glimpses of warfare, ... and languis.h.i.+ng beauties reposing in the arms of their lovers, or listening to the songs of pa.s.sion, were depicted side by side with warriors dead on the field of battle, or struggling hand to hand in grim and bleeding conflict. The corners of this wonderful apartment were decked with all sorts of flags and weapons, and in the middle of the painted ceiling was suspended a huge bird with the spread wings of an eagle and the head of an owl, that held in its curved talons a superb girandole formed of a hundred extended swords, each bare blade having at its point a bright lamp in the shape of a star, while the cl.u.s.tered hilts composed the centre.

Officers in full uniform were ranged on both sides of the room, and a number of other men richly attired stood about, conversing with each other in low tones, ... but though Theos took in all these details rapidly at a glance, his gaze soon became fixed on the glittering Pavilion that occupied the furthest end of the saloon, where on a ma.s.sive throne of ivory and silver sat the chief object of attraction, ... Zephoranim the King. The steps of the royal dais were strewn ankle-deep with flowers, ... . on either hand a bronze lion lay couchant, ... . and four gigantic black statues of men supported the monarch's gold-fringed canopy, their uplifted arms being decked with innumerable rows of large and small pearls. The King's features were not just then visible--he was leaning back in an indolent att.i.tude, resting on his elbow, and half covering his face with one hand. The individual in the silver coat-of-mail whispered something in Sah-luma's ear either by way of warning or advice, and then advanced, prostrating himself before the dais and touching the ground humbly with his forehead and hands. The King stirred slightly, but did not alter his position, ... he was evidently wrapped in a deep and seemingly unpleasant reverie.

"Dread my lord.... !" began the Herald-in-Waiting. A movement of decided impatience on the part of the monarch caused him to stop short.

"By my soul!" said a rich, strong voice that made itself distinctly audible throughout the s.p.a.cious hall--"Thou art ever s.h.i.+vering on the edge of thy duty when thou shouldst plunge boldly into the midst thereof! How long wilt mouth thy words? ... Canst never speak plain?"