Ardath: The Story of a Dead Self Part 23

her glittering, exquisite form grew paler and more indistinct in outline--and presently, catching at the gold curtain that divided the two pavilions, she paused...still regarding him steadfastly. An evil smile curved her lips, . . a smile of cold menace and derisive scorn, .

. the iris-colored jewel on her breast darted forth vivid flashes of azure, and green and gray, . . the snakes in her hair seemed to rise and hiss at him, . . and then,--with an awful unspoken threat written resolvedly on every line of her fair features, . . she let the gold draperies fall softly,--and so disappeared, . . leaving him alone with Sah-luma! He stood for a moment half amazed, half perplexed,--then, drawing a deep breath, he pushed the cl.u.s.tering hair off his forehead with an unconscious gesture of relief. She was gone! ... and he felt as though he had gained a victory over something, though he knew not what.

The cold air from the lake blew refres.h.i.+ngly on his heated brow, . .

and a thousand odors from orange-flowers and jessamine floated caressingly about him. The night was very still,--and approaching the opening of the tent, he looked out. There, in the soft sky gloom, moved the majestic procession of the Undiscovered Worlds seeming to be no more than bright dots on the measureless expanse of pure ether, . .

there, low on the horizon, the yellow moon swooned languidly downwards in a bed of fleecy cloud,--the drowsy chirrup of a dreaming bird came softly now and again from the deep-branched shadows of the heavy foliage,--and the lilies on the surface of the lake nodded mysteriously among the slow ripples, like wise, white elves whispering to one another some secret of fairyland. And Sah-luma still slept, . . and still that puzzled and weary frown darkened the fairness of his broad brow, . . and, coming back to his side, Theos stood watching him with a yearning and sorrowful wistfulness. Gathering up the jewels that had fallen out of his dress, he replaced them one by one,--and strove to re-arrange the tossed and tumbled garb as best he might. While he was thus occupied his hand happened to touch the tablet that hung by a silver chain from the Laureate's belt,--he glanced at it, . . it was covered with fine writing, and turning it more toward the light, he soon made out four stanzas, perfectly rhymed and smoothly flowing as a well-modulated harmony. He read them slowly with a faint smile,--he recognized them as HIS OWN!--they were part of a poem he had long ago begun, yet have never finished! And now Sah-luma had the same idea! ...

moreover he had chosen the same rhythm, the same words! ... well! ...

after all, what did it matter? Nothing, he felt, so far as he was concerned,--he had ceased to care for his own personality or interests,--Sah-luma had become dearer to him than himself!

His immediate anxiety was centered in the question of how to rouse his friend from the torpor in which he lay, and get him out of this voluptuous garden of delights, before any lurking danger could overtake him. Full of this intention, he presently ventured to draw aside the curtain that concealed Lysia's pavilion, . . and looking in, he saw to his great relief, that she was no longer there. Her couch of crushed roses scented the place with heavy fragrance, and the ruby lamp was still burning, . . but she herself had departed. Now was the time for escape!--thought Theos--now,--while she was absent,--now, if Sah-luma could be persuaded to come away, he might reach his own palace in safety, and once there, he could be warned of the death that threatened him through the treachery of the woman he loved. But would he believe in, or accept, the warning? At any rate some effort must be made to rescue him, and Theos, without more ado, bent above him and called aloud:

"Sah-luma! ... Wake! Sah-luma!"

CHAPTER XX.

THE Pa.s.sAGE OF THE TOMBS.

Sah-luma stirred uneasily and smiled in his sleep.

"More wine!" he muttered thickly--"More, . . more I say! What! wilt thou stint the generous juice that warms my soul to song? Pour, . .

pour out lavishly! I will mix the honey of thy luscious lips with the crimson bubbles on this goblet's brim, and the taste thereof shall be as nectar dropped from paradise! Nay, nay! I will drink to none but Myself,--to the immortal bard Sah-luma,--Poet of poets,--named first and greatest on the scroll of Fame! ... aye, 'tis a worthy toast and merits a deeper draught of mellow vintage! Fill...fill again!--the world is but the drunken dream of a G.o.d Poet and we but the mad revellers of a shadow day! 'Twill pa.s.s--'twill pa.s.s, . . let us enjoy ere all is done,--drown thought in wine, and love, and music, . . wine and music..."

His voice broke in a short, smothered sigh,--Theos surveyed him with mingled impatience, pity, and something of repulsion, and there was a warm touch of indignant remonstrance in his tone when he called again:

"Sah-luma! Rouse thee, man, for very shame's sake! Art thou dead to the honor of thy calling, that thou dost wilfully consent to be the victim of wine-bibbing and debauchery? O thou frail soul! how hast thou quenched the heavenly essence within thee! ... why wilt thou be thus self-disgraced and all inglorious? Sah-luma! Sah-luma!"--and he shook him violently by the arm--"Up,--up, thou truant to the faith of Art! I will not let thee drowse the hours away in such unseemliness, . . wake!

for the night is almost past,--the morning is at hand, and danger threatens thee,--wouldst thou be found here drunk at sunrise?"

This time Sah-luma was thoroughly disturbed, and with a half uttered oath he sat up, pushed his tumbled hair from his brows, and stared at his companion in blinking, sleepy wonderment.

"Now, by my soul! ... thou art a most unmannerly ruffian!" he said pettishly, yet with a vacant smile,--"what question didst thou bawl unmusically in mine ear? Will I be drunk at sunrise? Aye! ... and at sunset too, Sir Malapert, if that will satisfy thee! Hast thou been grudged sufficient wine that thou dost envy me my slumber? What dost thou here? ... where hast thou been?".. and, becoming more conscious of his surroundings he suddenly stood up, and catching hold of Theos to support himself, gazed upon him suspiciously with very dim and bloodshot eyes ... "Art thou fresh from the arms of the ravis.h.i.+ng Nelida? ... is she not fair? a choice morsel for a lover's banquet? ...

Doth she not dance a madness into the veins? ... aye, aye!--she was reserved for thee, my jolly roysterer! but thou art not the first nor wilt thou be the last that hath revelled in her store of charms! No matter!"--and he laughed foolishly ... "Better a wild dancer than a tame prude!" Here he looked about him in confused bewilderment.. "Where is Lysia? Was she not here a moment since? ..." and he staggered toward the neighboring pavilion, and dashed the dividing curtain aside ...

"Lysia! ... Lysia! ..." he shouted noisily,--then, receiving no answer, he flung himself down on the vacant couch of roses, and gathering up a handful of the crumpled flowers, kissed them pa.s.sionately,--"The witch has flown!" he said, laughing again that mirthless, stupid laugh as he spoke--"She doth love to tantalize me thus! ... Tell me! what dost thou think of her? Is she not a peerless moon of womanhood? ... doth she not eclipse all known or imaginable beauty? ... Aye! ... and I will tell thee a secret,--she is mine!--mine from the dark tresses down to the dainty feet! ... mine, all mine, so long as I shall please to call her so! ...--notwithstanding that the foolish people of Al-Kyris think she is impervious to love, self-centered, holy and 'immaculate'! Bah! ...

as if a woman ever was 'immaculate'! But mark you! ... though she loves me,--me, crowned Laureate of the realm, she loves no other man! And why? Because no other man is found half so worthy of love! All men must love her, . . Nirjalis loved her, and he is dead because of overmuch presumption, . . and many there be who shall still die likewise, for love of her, but _I_ am her chosen and elected one,--her faith is mine!--her heart is mine,--her very soul is mine!--mine I would swear though all the G.o.ds of the past, present, and future denied her constancy!"

Here his uncertain, wandering gaze met the grave, pained, and almost stern regard of Theos. "Why dost thou stare thus owl-like upon me?"--he demanded irritably.. "Art thou not my friend and wors.h.i.+pper? Wilt preach? Wilt moralize on the folly of the time,--the vices of the age?

Thou lookest it,--but prithee hold thy peace an thou lovest me!--we can but live and die and there's an end, . . all's over with the best and wisest of us soon,--let us be merry while we may!"

And he tossed a cl.u.s.ter of roses playfully in the air, catching them as they fell again in a soft shower of severed fluttering pink and white petals. Theos listened to his rambling, unguarded words with a sense of acute personal sorrow. Here was a man, young, handsome, and endowed with the rarest gift of nature, a great poetic genius,--a man who had attained in early manhood the highest worldly fame together with the friends.h.i.+p of a king, and the love of a people, . . yet what was he in himself? A mere petty Egoist, . . a poor deluded fool, the unresisting prey of his own pa.s.sions, . . the besotted slave of a treacherous woman and the voluntary degrader of his own life! What was the use of Genius, then, if it could not aid one to overcome Self, . . what the worth of Fame, if it were not made to serve as a bright incentive and n.o.ble example to others of less renown? As this thought pa.s.sed across his mind, Theos sighed, . . he felt curiously conscience-stricken, ashamed, and humiliated, THROUGH Sah-luma, and solely for Sah-luma's sake! At present, however, his chief anxiety was to get his friend safely out of Lysia'a pavilion before she should return to it, and his spirit chafed within him at each moment of enforced delay.

"Come, come, Sah-luma!" he said at last, gently, yet with persuasive earnestness.. "Come away from this place, . . the feast is over,--the fair ones are gone, . . why should we linger? Thou art half-asleep,--believe me 'tis time thou wert home and at rest. Lean upon me, ... so! that is well!"--this, as the other rose unsteadily to his feet and lurched heavily against him, . . "Now let me guide thee,--though of a truth I know not the way through this wondrous woodland maze, . . canst tell me whither we should turn? ... or hast thou no remembrance of the nearest road to thine own dwelling?"--

Thus speaking, he managed to lead his stupefied companion out of the tent into the cool, dewy garden, where, feeling somewhat refreshed by the breath of the night wind blowing on his face, Sah-luma straightened himself, and made an absurd attempt to look exceedingly dignified.

"Nay, an thou wilt depart with such scant ceremony"--he grumbled peevishly--"get thee thence and find out the road as best thou mayest!

... why should I aid thee? For myself I am well contented here to remain and sleep,--no better couch can the Poet have than this violet-scented moss"--and he waved his arm with a grandiloquent gesture,--"no grander canopy than this star-besprinkled heaven! Leave me,--for my eyes are wondrous heavy, and I would fain slumber undisturbed till the break of day! By my soul, thou art a rough companion! ..." and he struggled violently to release himself from Theos's resolute and compelling grasp.. "Where wouldst thou drag me?"

"Out of danger and the shadow of death!" replied Theos firmly.. "Thy life is threatened, Sah-luma, and I will not see thee slain! If thou canst not guard thyself, then I must guard thee! ... Come, delay no longer, I beseech thee!--do I not love thee, friend?--and would I urge thee thus without good reason? O thou misguided soul! thou dost most ignorantly court destruction, but if my strength can s.h.i.+eld thee, thou shalt not die before thy time!"

And he hurried his pace, half leading, half carrying the reluctant poet, who, however, was too drowsy and lethargic to do more than feebly resent his action,--and thus they went together along a broad path that seemed to extend itself in a direct line straight across the grounds, but which in reality turned and twisted about through all manner of perplexing nooks and corners,--now under trees so closely interwoven that not a glimpse of the sky could be seen through the dense darkness of the crossed boughs,--now by gorgeous banks of roses, pale yellow and white, that looked like frozen foam in the dying glitter of the moon,--now beneath fairy-light trellis work, overgrown with jasamine, and peopled by thousands of dancing fire-flies,--while at every undulating bend or sharp angle in the road, Theos's heart beat quickly in fear lest they should meet some armed retainer or spy of Lysia's, who might interrupt their progress, or perhaps peremptorily forbid their departure. Nothing of the kind happened, or seemed likely to happen,--the splendid gardens were all apparently deserted,--and not a living soul was anywhere to be seen. Presently through an archway of twisted magnolia stems, Theos caught a glimpse of the illuminated pool with the marble nymph in its centre which had so greatly fascinated him on his first arrival,--and he pressed forward eagerly, knowing that now they could not be very far from the gates of exit. All at once the tall figure of a man clad in complete armor came into sudden view between some heavily drooping boughs,--it stood out for a second, and then hurriedly disappeared, m.u.f.fling its face in a black mantle as it fled.

Not, however, before Theos had recognized those dark, haughty features, those relentless brows, and that, stern almost lurid smile! ... and with a quick convulsive movement he grasped his companion's arm.

"Hist, Sah-luma!" he whispered ... "Saw you not the King?"

Sah-luma started as though he had received a dagger thrust, . . his very lips turned pale in the moonlight.

"The KING?" he echoed, with an accent of incredulous amazement ... "The King? ... thou art mad! ... it could not be! Where didst thou see him?"

In silence Theos pointed to the dark shrubbery. Sahluma shook himself free of his friend's hold, and, standing erect, gazed in the direction indicated, with an expression of mingled fear, distrust, bewilderment, and wrath on his features, . . he was suddenly but effectually sobered, and all the delicate beauty of his face came back like the rich tone of a fine picture restored. His hand fell instinctively toward the jewelled hilt of the poniard at his belt.

"The King?" he muttered under his breath, ... "The King? ... Then.. is Khosrul right after all, and must one learn wisdom from a madman? ...

By my soul! ... If I thought..." Here he checked himself abruptly and turned upon Theos ... "Nay, thou art deceived!" he said with a forced smile.. "'Twas not the King! ... 'twas some rash, unknown intruder whose worthless life must pay the penalty of trespa.s.s!"--and he drew his flas.h.i.+ng weapon from his sheath.. "THIS shall unmask him! ... And thou, my friend, get thee away and home, . . fear nothing for my safety! ... go hence and quickly; I'll follow thee anon!"

And before Theos could utter a word of warning, he plunged impetuously into the innermost recess of the dense foliage behind which the mysterious armed figure had just vanished, and was instantly lost to sight.

"Sah-luma! ... Sah-luma!"--called Theos pa.s.sionately ... "Come back!

Whether wilt thou go? ... Sah-luma!"

Only silence answered him,--silence rendered even more profound by the subdued, faint rustling of the wind among the leaves,--and agitated by all manner of vague alarms and dreary forebodings, he stood still for a moment hesitating as to whether he should follow his friend or no. Some instinct stronger than himself, however, persuaded him that it would be best to continue his road,--he therefore went on slowly, hoping against hope that Sah-luma might still rejoin him,--but herein he was disappointed. He waited a little while near the illuminated water, dreamily eying the beautiful marble nymph crowned with her wreath of amethystine flame, . . she resembled Lysia somewhat, he thought,--only this was a frozen fairness, while the peerless charms of the cruel High Priestess were those of living flesh and blood. Yet the remembrance of all the tenderly witching loveliness that might have been his, had he slain Sah-luma at her bidding, now moved him neither to regret nor lover's pa.s.sion, but only touched his spirit with a sense of bitter repulsion, . . while a strange pity for the Poet Laureate's infatuation awoke in him,--pity that any man could be so reckless, blind, and desperate as to love a woman for her mere perishable beauty of body, and never care to know whether the graces of her mind were equal to the graces of her form.

"We men have yet to learn the true meaning of love,"--he mused rather sadly--"We consider it from the selfish standpoint of our own unbridled pa.s.sions,--we willingly accept a fair face as the visible reflex of a fair soul, and nine times out of ten, we are utterly mistaken! We begin wrongly, and we therefore end miserably,--we should love a woman for what she IS, and not for what she appears to be. Yet, how are we to fathom her nature? how shall we guess, . . how can we decide? Are we fooled by an evil fate?--or do we in our loves and marriages deliberately fool ourselves?"

He pondered the question hazily without arriving at any satisfactory answer, . . and as Sah-luma still did not return, he resumed his slow, unguided, and solitary way. He presently found himself in a close boscage of tall trees straight as pines, and covered with very large, thick leaves that exhaled a peculiarly faint odor,--and here, pausing abruptly, he looked anxiously about him. This was certainly not the avenue through which he had previously come with Sah-luma, . . and he soon felt uncomfortably convinced that he had somehow taken the wrong path. Perceiving a low iron gate standing open in front of him, he went thither and discovered a steep stone staircase leading down, down into what seemed to be a vast well, black and empty as a starless midnight.

Peering doubtfully into this gloomy pit, he fancied he saw a small, blue flame wavering to and fro at the bottom, and, p.r.i.c.ked by a sudden impulse of curiosity, he made up his mind to descend.

He went down slowly and cautiously, counting each step as he placed his foot upon it, . . there were a hundred steps in all, and at the end the light he had seen completely vanished, leaving him in the most profound darkness. Confused and startled, he stretched out his hands instinctively as a blind man might do, and thus came in contact with something sharp, pointed, and icy cold like the frozen talon of a dead bird. Shuddering at the touch, he recoiled,--and was about to try and grope his way up the stairs again, when the light once more appeared, this time casting a thin, slanting, azure blaze through the dense shadows,--and he was able gradually to realize the horrors of the place into which he had unwittingly adventured. One faint cry escaped his lips,--and then he was mute and motionless,--chilled to the very heart.

A great awe and speechless dread overwhelmed him, . . for he--a living man and fully conscious of life--stood alone, surrounded by a ghastly mult.i.tude of skeletons, skeletons bleached white as ivory and glistening with a smooth, moist polish as of pearl. Shoulder to shoulder, arm against arm, they stood, placed upright, and as close together as possible,--every bony hand held a rusty spear,--and on every skull gleamed a small metal casque inscribed with hieroglyphic characters. Thousands of eyeless sockets seemed to turn toward him in blank yet questioning wonder, suggesting awfully to his mind that the eyes might still be there, fallen far back into the head from whence they yet SAW, themselves unseen,--thousands of grinning jaws seemed to mock at him, as he leaned half-fainting against the damp, weed-grown portal,--he fancied he could hear the derisive laugh of death echoing horribly through those dimly distant arches! This, . . this, he thought wildly, was the sequel to his brief and wretched history! ... for this one end he had wandered out of the ways of his former life, and forgotten almost all he had ever known,--here was the only poor finale an all-wise and all-potent G.o.d could contrive for the close of His marvelous symphony of creative Love and Light! ... Ah, cruel, cruel!

Then there was no justice, no pity, no compensation in all the width and breadth of the Universe, if Death indeed was the end of everything!--and G.o.d or the great Force called by that name was nothing but a Tyrant and Torturer of His helpless creature, Man! So thinking, dully and feebly, he pressed his hand on his aching eyes, to shut out the sight of that grim crowd of fleshless, rigid Shapes that everywhere confronted him, . . the darkness of the place seemed to descend upon him crus.h.i.+ngly, and, reeling forward, he would have fallen in a swoon, had not a strong hand suddenly grasped his arm and supported him firmly upright.

"How now, my son!"--said a grave, musical voice that had in it a certain touch of compa.s.sion, . . "What ails thee? ... and why art thou here? Art thou condemned to die! ... or dost thou seek an escape from death?"

Making an effort to overcome the sick giddiness that confused his brain, he looked up,--a bright lamp flared in his eyes, contrasting so dazzlingly with the surrounding gloom that for a moment he was half-blinded by its brilliancy, but presently steadying his gaze he was able to discern the dark outline of a tall, black-garmented figure standing beside him,--the figure of an old man, whose severe and dignified aspect at first reminded him somewhat of the prophet Khosrul.

Only that Khosrul's rugged features had borne the impress of patient, long-endured, bitter suffering, and the personage who now confronted him had a face so calm and seriously impa.s.sive that it might have been taken for that of one newly dead, from whose lineaments all traces of earthly pa.s.sion had forever been smoothed away.

"Art thou condemned to die, or dost thou seek an escape from death?"

The question had, or seemed to have, a curious significance,--it reiterated itself almost noisily in his ears,--his mind was troubled by vague surmises and dreary forebodings,--speech was difficult to him, and his lips quivered pathetically, when he at last found force to frame his struggling thoughts into language.

"Escape from death!" he murmured, gazing wildly around as he spoke, on the vast skeleton crowd that encircled him.. "Old man, dost thou also talk of dream-like impossibilities? Wilt thou also maintain a creed of hope when naught awaits us but despair? Art thou fooled likewise with the glimmering Soul-mirage of a never-to-be-realized future? ... Escape from death? ... How?--and where! Art not these dry and vacant forms sufficiently eloquent of the all-omnipotence of Decay?" ... and he caught his unknown companion almost fiercely by the long robe, while a sound that was half a sob and half a sigh came from his aching throat..

"Lo you, how emptily they stare upon us! ... how frozen-piteous is their smile! ... Poor, poor frail shapes! ... nay!--who would think these hollow sh.e.l.ls of bone had once been men! Men with strong hearts, warm-flowing blood, and throbbing pulses, . . men of thought and action, who maybe did most n.o.bly bear themselves in life upon the earth, and yet are now forgotten, . . men--ah, great Heaven! can it be that these most rueful, loathly things have loved, and hoped, and labored through all their days for such an end as this! Escape from death! ... alas, there is no escape, . . 'tis evident we all must die, . . die, and with dust-quenched eyes unlearn our knowledge of the sun, the stars, the marvels of the universe,--for us no more shall the flowers bloom or the sweet birds sing; the poem of the world will write itself anew in every roseate flus.h.i.+ng of the dawn,--but we,--we who have joyed therein,--we who have sung the praises of the light, the harmonies of wind and sea, the tunefulness of woods and fields,--we whose ambitious thoughts have soared archangel-like through unseen empyreans of s.p.a.ce, there to drink in a honeyed hope of Heaven,--we shall be but DEAD! ... mute, cold, and stirless as deep, undug stones, . . dead! ... Ah G.o.d, thou Utmost Cruelty!"--and in a sudden access of grief and pa.s.sion he raised one hand and shook it aloft with a menacing gesture--"Would I might look upon Thee face to face, and rebuke Thee for Thy merciless injustice!"

He spoke wildly as though possessed by a sort of frenzy,--his unknown companion heard him with an air of mild and pitying patience.

"Peace--peace! Blaspheme not the Most High, my son!" he said gently, yet reproachfully. "Distraught as thou dost seem with some strange misery, and sick with fears, forbear thine ignorant fury against Him who hath for love's dear sake alone created thee. Control thy soul in patience!--surely thou art afflicted by thine own vain and false imaginings, which for a time contort and darken the clear light of truth. Why dost thou thus disquiet thyself concerning the end of life, seeing that verily it hath NO end? ... and that what we men call death is not a conclusion but merely a new beginning? Waste not thy pity on these skeleton forms,--the empty dwellings of martial spirits long since fled, . . as well weep over fallen husks of corn from which the blossoms have sprung right joyously upward! This world is but our roadside hostelry, wherein we heaven-bound sojourners tarry for one brief, restless night,--why regret the loss of the poor refreshment offered thee here, when there are a thousand better feasts awaiting thee elsewhere on thy way? Come,--let me lead thee hence, . . this place is known as the Pa.s.sage of the Tombs,--and communicates with the Inner Court of the Sacred Temple,--and if, as I fear, thou art a stray fugitive from the accursed Lysia's band of lovers, thou mayest be tracked hither and quickly slain. Come,--I will show thee a secret labyrinth by which thou canst gain the embankment of the river, and from thence betake thyself speedily home, . . if thou hast a home..."

here he paused, and a keen, questioning glance flashed in his dark eyes. "But,--notwithstanding thy fluency of speech and fas.h.i.+on of attire, methinks thou hast the lost and solitary air of one who is a stranger in the city of Al-Kyris?"

Theos sighed.

"A stranger I am indeed!" he said drearily--"A stranger to my very self and all my former belongings! Ask me no questions, good father, for, as I live, I cannot answer them! I am oppressed by a nameless and mysterious suffering, . . my brain is darkened,--my thoughts but half-formed and never wholly uttered, and I,--I who once deemed human intelligence and reason all-supreme, all-clear, all-absolute, am now compelled to use that reason reasonlessly, and to work with that intelligence in helpless ignorance as to what end my mental toil shall serve! Woeful and strange it is!--yet true; . . I am as a broken straw in a whirlwind,--or the pale ghost of my own ident.i.ty groping for things forgotten in a land of shadows; . . I know not whence I came, nor whither I go! Nay, do not fear me,--I am not mad: I am conscious of my life, my strength, and physical well-being,--and though I may speak wildly, I harbor no ill-intent toward any man--my quarrel is with G.o.d alone!"