CHAPTER XXIII
THE YIELDING OF AYESHA
When I had satisfied myself, Leo was still at his meal, for loss ofblood or the effects of the tremendous nerve tonic which Ayesha orderedto be administered to him, had made him ravenous.
I watched his face and became aware of a curious change in it, noimmediate change indeed, but one, I think, that had come upon himgradually, although I only fully appreciated it now, after our shortseparation. In addition to the thinness of which I have spoken, hishandsome countenance had grown more ethereal; his eyes were full of theshadows of things that were to come.
His aspect pained me, I knew not why. It was no longer that of theLeo with whom I was familiar, the deep-chested, mighty-limbed, jovial,upright traveller, hunter and fighting-man who had chanced to love andbe loved of a spiritual power incarnated in a mould of perfect womanhoodand armed with all the might of Nature's self. These things were stillpresent indeed, but the man was changed, and I felt sure that thischange came from Ayesha, since the look upon his face had becomeexceeding like to that which often hovered upon hers at rest.
She also was watching him, with speculative, dreamy eyes, tillpresently, as some thought swept through her, I saw those eyes blaze up,and the red blood pour to cheek and brow. Yes, the mighty Ayesha whosedead, slain for him, lay strewn by the thousand on yonder plain, blushedand trembled like a maiden at her first lover's kiss.
Leo rose from the table. "I would that I had been with thee in thefray," he said.
"At the drift there was fighting," she answered, "afterwards none. Myministers of Fire, Earth and Air smote, no more; I waked them from theirsleep and at my command they smote for thee and saved thee."
"Many lives to take for one man's safety," Leo said solemnly, as thoughthe thought pained him.
"Had they been millions and not thousands, I would have spent them everyone. On my head be their deaths, not on thine. Or rather on hers," andshe pointed to the dead Atene. "Yes, on hers who made this war. At leastshe should thank me who have sent so royal a host to guard her throughthe darkness."
"Yet it is terrible," said Leo, "to think of thee, beloved, red to thehair with slaughter."
"What reck I?" she answered with a splendid pride. "Let their bloodsuffice to wash the stain of thy blood from off these cruel hands thatonce did murder thee."
"Who am I that I should blame thee?" Leo went on as though arguingwith himself, "I who but yesterday killed two men--to save myself fromtreachery."
"Speak not of it," she exclaimed in cold rage. "I saw the place and,Holly, thou knowest how I swore that a hundred lives should pay forevery drop of that dear blood of thine, and I, who lie not, have keptthe oath. Look now on that man who stands yonder struck by my will tostone, dead yet living, and say again what was he about to do to theewhen I entered here?"
"To take vengeance on me for the doom of his queen and of her armies,"answered Leo, "and Ayesha, how knowest thou that a Power higher thanthine own will not demand it yet?"
As he spoke a pale shadow flickered on Leo's face, such a shadow asmight fall from Death's advancing wing, and in the fixed eyes of theShaman there shone a stony smile.
For a moment terror seemed to take Ayesha, then it was gone as quicklyas it came.
"Nay," she said. "I ordain that it shall not be, and save One wholisteth not, what power reigns in this wide earth that dare defy mywill?"
So she spoke, and as her words of awful pride--for they were veryawful--rang round that stone-built chamber, a vision came to me--Holly.
I saw illimitable space peopled with shining suns, and sunk in theinfinite void above them one vast Countenance clad in a calm so terrificthat at its aspect my spirit sank to nothingness. Yes, and I knew thatthis was Destiny enthroned above the spheres. Those lips moved andobedient worlds rushed upon their course. They moved again and theserolling chariots of the heavens were turned or stayed, appeared ordisappeared. I knew also that against this calm Majesty the being, womanor spirit, at my side had dared to hurl her passion and her strength. Mysoul reeled. I was afraid.
The dread phantasm passed, and when my mind cleared again Ayesha wasspeaking in new, triumphant tones.
"Nay, nay," she cried. "Past is the night of dread; dawns the day ofvictory! Look!" and she pointed through the window-places shattered bythe hurricane, to the flaming town beneath, whence rose one continualwail of misery, the wail of women mourning their countless slain whilethe fire roared through their homes like some unchained and rejoicingdemon. "Look Leo on the smoke of the first sacrifice that I offer to thyroyal state and listen to its music. Perchance thou deemst it naught.Why then I'll give thee others. Thou lovest war. Good! we will go downto war and the rebellious cities of the earth shall be the torches ofour march."
She paused a moment, her delicate nostrils quivering, and her facealight with the prescience of ungarnered splendours; then like aswooping swallow flitted to where, by dead Atene, the gold circletfallen from the Khania's hair lay upon the floor.
She stooped, lifted it, and coming to Leo held it high above his head.Slowly she let her hand fall until the glittering coronet rested for aninstant on his brow. Then she spoke, in her glorious voice that rolledout rich and low, a very paean of triumph and of power.
"By this poor, earthly symbol I create thee King of Earth; yea in itsround for thee is gathered all her rule. Be thou its king, and mine!"
Again the coronet was held aloft, again it sank, and again she said orrather chanted--"With this unbroken ring, token of eternity, I swear tothee the boon of endless days. Endure thou while the world endures, andbe its lord, and mine."
A third time the coronet touched his brow.
"By this golden round I do endow thee with Wisdom's perfect golduncountable, that is the talisman whereat all nature's secret pathsshall open to thy feet. Victorious, victorious, tread thou her wondrousways with me, till from her topmost peak at last she wafts us to ourimmortal throne whereof the columns twain are Life and Death."
Then Ayesha cast away the crown and lo! it fell upon the breast of thelost Atene and rested there.
"Art content with these gifts of mine, my lord?" she cried.
Leo looked at her sadly and shook his head.
"What more wilt thou then? Ask and I swear it shall be thine."
"Thou swearest; but wilt thou keep the oath?"
"Aye, by myself I swear; by myself and by the Strength that bred me.If it be ought that I can grant--then if I refuse it to thee, may suchdestruction fall upon me as will satisfy even Atene's watching soul."
I heard and I think that another heard also, at least once more thestony smile shone in the eyes of the Shaman.
"I ask of thee nothing that thou canst not give. Ayesha, I ask ofthee thyself--not at some distant time when I have been bathed in amysterious fire, but now, now this night."
She shrank back from him a little, as though dismayed.
"Surely," she said slowly, "I am like that foolish philosopher who,walking abroad to read the destinies of nations in the stars, fell downa pitfall dug by idle children and broke his bones and perished there.Never did I guess that with all these glories stretched before theelike mountain top on glittering mountain top, making a stairway for thymortal feet to the very dome of heaven, thou wouldst still clutch at thynative earth and seek of it--but the common boon of woman's love.
"Oh! Leo, I thought that thy soul was set upon nobler aims, that thouwouldst pray me for wider powers, for a more vast dominion; that asthough they were but yonder fallen door of wood and iron, I should breakfor thee the bars of Hades, and like the Eurydice of old fable draw theeliving down the steeps of Death, or throne thee midst the fires of thefurthest sun to watch its subject worlds at play.
"Or I thought that thou wouldst bid me reveal what no woman ever told,the bitter, naked truth--all my sins and sorrows, all the wanderingfancies of my fickle thought; even what thou knowest not and perchancene'er shalt know, _who I am and whence I came_, and how to thy charmedeyes I seemed to chang
e from foul to fair, and what is the purpose ofmy love for thee, and what the meaning of that tale of an angrygoddess--who never was except in dreams.
"I thought--nay, no matter what I thought, save that thou wert far otherthan thou art, my Leo, and in so high a moment that thou wouldst seek topass the mystic gates my glory can throw wide and with me tread an airsupernal to the hidden heart of things. Yet thy prayer is but the samethat the whole world whispers beneath the silent moon, in the palace andthe cottage, among the snows and on the burning desert's waste. 'Oh! mylove, thy lips, thy lips. Oh! my love, be mine, now, now, beneath themoon, beneath the moon!'
"Leo, I thought better, higher, of thee."
"Mayhap, Ayesha, thou wouldest have thought worse of me had I beencontent with thy suns and constellations and spiritual gifts anddominations that I neither desire nor understand.
"If I had said to thee: Be thou my angel, not my wife; divide the oceanthat I may walk its bed; pierce the firmament and show me how grow thestars; tell me the origins of being and of death and instruct me intheir issues; give up the races of mankind to my sword, and the wealthof all the earth to fill my treasuries. Teach me also how to drivethe hurricane as thou canst do, and to bend the laws of nature to mypurpose: on earth make me half a god--as thou art.
"But Ayesha, I am no god; I am a man, and as a man I seek the woman whomI love. Oh! divest thyself of all these wrappings of thy power--thatpower which strews thy path with dead and keeps me apart from thee. Ifonly for one short night forget the ambition that gnaws unceasingly atthy soul; I say forget thy greatness and be a woman and--my wife."
She made no answer, only looked at him and shook her head, causing herglorious hair to ripple like water beneath a gentle breeze.
"Thou deniest me," he went on with gathering strength, "and that thoucanst not do, that thou mayest not do, for Ayesha, thou hast sworn, andI demand the fulfilment of thine oath.
"Hark thou. I refuse thy gifts; I will have none of thy rule who ask noPharaoh's throne and wish to do good to men and not to kill them--thatthe world may profit. I will not go with thee to Kor, nor be bathed inthe breath of Life. I will leave thee and cross the mountains, or perishon them, nor with all thy strength canst thou hold me to thy side, whoindeed needest me not. No longer will I endure this daily torment,the torment of thy presence and thy sweet words; thy loving looks, thypromises for next year, next year--next year. So keep thine oath or letme begone."
Still Ayesha stood silent, only now her head drooped and her breastbegan to heave. Then Leo stepped forward; he seized her in his arms andkissed her. She broke from his embrace, I know not how, for though shereturned it was close enough, and again stood before him but at a littledistance.
"Did I not warn Holly," she whispered with a sigh, "to bid thee bewarelest I should catch thy human fire? Man, I say to thee, it begins tosmoulder in my heart, and should it grow to flame----"
"Why then," he answered laughing, "we will be happy for a little while."
"Aye, Leo, but how long? Why wert thou sole lord of this loveliness ofmine and not set above their harming, night and day a hundred jealousdaggers would seek thy heart and--find it."
"How long, Ayesha? A lifetime, a year, a month, a minute--I neither knownor care, and while thou art true to me I fear no stabs of envy."
"Is it so? Wilt take the risk? I can promise thee nothing. Thoumightest--yes, in this way or in that, thou mightest--die."
"And if I die, what then? Shall we be separated?"
"Nay, nay, Leo, that is not possible. We never can be severed, of thisI am sure; it is sworn to me. But then through other lives and otherspheres, higher lives and higher spheres mayhap, our fates must force apainful path to their last goal of union."
"Why then I take the hazard, Ayesha. Shall the life that I can risk toslay a leopard or a lion in the sport of an idle hour, be too great aprice to offer for the splendours of thy breast? Thine oath! Ayesha, Iclaim thine oath."
Then it was that in Ayesha there began the most mysterious and thrillingof her many changes. Yet how to describe it I know not unless it be bysimile.
Once in Thibet we were imprisoned for months by snows that stretcheddown from the mountain slopes into the valleys and oh! how weary did wegrow of those arid, aching fields of purest white. At length rain setin, and blinding mists in which it was not safe to wander, that made thedark nights darker yet.
So it was, until there came a morning when seeing the sun shine, we wentto our door and looked out. Behold a miracle! Gone were the snows thatchoked the valley and in the place of them appeared vivid springinggrass, starred everywhere with flowers, and murmuring brooks and birdsthat sang and nested in the willows. Gone was the frowning sky and allthe blue firmament seemed one tender smile. Gone were the austerities ofwinter with his harsh winds, and in their place spring, companioned byher zephyrs, glided down the vale singing her song of love and life.
There in this high chamber, in the presence of the living and the dead,while the last act of the great tragedy unrolled itself before me,looking on Ayesha that forgotten scene sprang into my mind. For on herface just such a change had come. Hitherto, with all her loveliness,the heart of Ayesha had seemed like that winter mountain wrapped inits unapproachable snow and before her pure brow and icy self-command,aspirations sank abashed and desires died.
She swore she loved and her love fulfilled itself in death and many amysterious way. Yet it was hard to believe that this passion of hers wasmore than a spoken part, for how can the star seek the moth although themoth may seek the star? Though the man may worship the goddess, for allher smiles divine, how can the goddess love the man?
But now everything was altered! Look! Ayesha grew human; I could seeher heart beat beneath her robes and hear her breath come in soft, sweetsobs, while o'er her upturned face and in her alluring eyes there spreaditself that look which is born of love alone. Radiant and more radiantdid she seem to grow, sweeter and more sweet, no longer the veiledHermit of the Caves, no longer the Oracle of the Sanctuary, no longerthe Valkyrie of the battle-plain, but only the loveliest and most happybride that ever gladdened a husband's eyes.
She spoke, and it was of little things, for thus Ayesha proclaimed theconquest of herself.
"Fie!" she said, showing her white robes torn with spears and stained bythe dust and dew of war; "Fie, my lord, what marriage garments are thesein which at last I come to thee, who would have been adorned in regalgems and raiment befitting to my state and thine?"
"I seek the woman not her garment," said Leo, his burning eyes fixedupon her face.
"Thou seekest the woman. Ah! there it lies. Tell me, Leo, am I womanor spirit? Say that I am woman, for now the prophecy of this dead Atenelies heavy on my soul, Atene who said that mortal and immortal may notmate."
"Thou must be woman, or thou wouldst not have tormented me as thou hastdone these many weeks."
"I thank thee for the comfort of thy words. Yet, was it _woman_ whosebreath wrought destruction upon yonder plain? Was it to a _woman_ thatBlast and Lightning bowed and said, 'We are here: Command us, we obey'?Did that dead thing (and she pointed to the shattered door) break inwardat a _woman's_ will? Or could a _woman_ charm this man to stone?
"Oh! Leo, would that I were woman! I tell thee that I'd lay all mygrandeur down, a wedding offering at thy feet, could I be sure that forone short year I should be naught but _woman_ and--thy happy wife.
"Thou sayest that I did torment thee, but it is I who have knowntorment, I who desired to yield and dared not. Aye, I tell thee, Leo,were I not sure that thy little stream of life is draining dry into thegreat ocean of my life, drawn thither as the sea draws its rivers, oras the sun draws mists, e'en now I would not yield. But I know, for mywisdom tells it me, ere ever we could reach the shores of Libya, the illwork would be done, and thou dead of thine own longing, thou dead and Iwidowed who never was a wife.
"Therefore see! like lost Atene I take the dice and cast them, notknowing how they shall fall. Not knowing how they shall f
all, for goodor ill I cast," and she made a wild motion as of some desperate gamesterthrowing his last throw.
"So," Ayesha went on, "the thing is done and the number summed for aye,though it be hidden from my sight. I have made an end of doubts andfears, and come death, come life, I'll meet it bravely.
"Say, how shall we be wed? I have it. Holly here must join our hands;who else? He that ever was our guide shall give me unto thee, and theeto me. This burning city is our altar, the dead and living are ourwitnesses on earth and heaven. In place of rites and ceremonials forthis first time I lay my lips on thine, and when 'tis done, for musicI'll sing thee a nuptial chant of love such as mortal poet has notwritten nor have mortal lovers heard.
"Come, Holly, do now thy part and give this maiden to this man."
Like one in a dream I obeyed her and took Ayesha's outstretched handand Leo's. As I held them thus, I tell the truth:--it was as though somefire rushed through my veins from her to him, shaking and shattering mewith swift waves of burning and unearthly Bliss. With the fire too cameglorious visions and sounds of mighty music, and a sense as though mybrain, filled with over-flowing life, must burst asunder beneath itsweight.
I joined their hands; I know not how; I blessed them, I know not in whatwords. Then I reeled back against the wall and watched.
This is what I saw.
With an abandonment and a passion so splendid and intense that it seemedmore than human, with a murmured cry of "Husband!" Ayesha cast her armsabout her lover's neck and drawing down his head to hers so that thegold hair was mingled with her raven locks, she kissed him on the lips.
Thus they clung a little while, and as they clung the gentle diademof light from her brow spread to his brow also, and through the whitewrappings of her robe became visible her perfect shape shining withfaint fire. With a little happy laugh she left him, saying,
"Thus, Leo Vincey, oh! thus for the second time do I give myself tothee, and with this flesh and spirit all I swore to thee, there in thedim Caves of Kor and here in the palace of Kaloon. Know thou this, comewhat may, never, never more shall we be separate who are ordained one.Whilst thou livest I live at thy side, and when thou diest, if die thymust, I'll follow thee through worlds and firmaments, nor shall all thedoors of heaven or hell avail against my love. Where thou goest, thitherI will go. When thou sleepest, with thee will I sleep and it is my voicethat thou shalt hear murmuring through the dreams of life and death; myvoice that shall summon thee to awaken in the last hour of everlastingdawn, when all this night of misery hath furled her wings for aye.
"Listen now while I sing to thee and hear that song aright, for in itsmelody at length thou shalt learn the truth, which unwed I might nottell to thee. Thou shalt learn who and what _I_ am, and who and what_thou_ art, and of the high purposes of our love, and this dead woman'shate, and of all that I have hid from thee in veiled, bewildering wordsand visions.
"Listen then, my love and lord, to the burden of the Song of Fate."
She ceased speaking and gazed heavenwards with a rapt look as though shewaited for some inspiration to fall upon her, and never, never--not evenin the fires of Kor had Ayesha seemed so divine as she did now in thismoment of the ripe harvest of her love.
My eyes wandered from her to Leo, who stood before her pale and still,still as the death-like figure of the Shaman, still as the Khania'sicy shape which stared upwards from the ground. What was passing in hismind, I wondered, that he could remain thus insensible while in all hermight and awful beauty this proud being worshipped him.
Hark! she began to sing in a voice so rich and perfect that its honiednotes seemed to cloy my blood and stop my breath.
"The world was not, was not, and in the womb of Silence Slept the souls of men. Yet I was and thou----"
Suddenly Ayesha stopped, and I felt rather than saw the horror on herface.
Look! Leo swayed to and fro as though the stones beneath him were buta rocking boat. To and fro he swayed, stretched out his blind arms toclasp her--then suddenly fell backwards, and lay still.
Oh! what a shriek was that she gave! Surely it must have wakened thevery corpses upon the plain. Surely it must have echoed in the stars.One shriek only--then throbbing silence.
I sprang to him, and there, withered in Ayesha's kiss, slain by the fireof her love, Leo lay dead--lay dead upon the breast of dead Atene!
CHAPTER XXIV
THE PASSING OF AYESHA
I heard Ayesha say presently, and the words struck me as dreadfulin their hopeless acceptance of a doom against which even she had nostrength to struggle.
"It seems that my lord has left me for awhile; I must hasten to my lordafar."
After that I do not quite know what happened. I had lost the man who wasall in all to me, friend and child in one, and I was crushed as I hadnever been before. It seemed so sad that I, old and outworn, shouldstill live on whilst he in the flower of his age, snatched from joy andgreatness such as no man hath known, lay thus asleep.
I think that by an afterthought, Ayesha and Oros tried to restore him,tried without result, for here her powers were of no avail. Indeed myconviction is that although some lingering life still kept him on hisfeet, Leo had really died at the moment of her embrace, since when Ilooked at him before he fell, his face was that of a dead man.
Yes, I believe that last speech of hers, although she knew it not, wasaddressed to his spirit, for in her burning kiss his flesh had perished.
When at length I recovered myself a little, it was to hear Ayesha ina cold, calm voice--her face I could not see for she had veiledherself--commanding certain priests who had been summoned to "bear awaythe body of that accursed woman and bury her as befits her rank." Eventhen I bethought me, I remember, of the tale of Jehu and Jezebel.
Leo, looking strangely calm and happy, lay now upon a couch, the armsfolded on his breast. When the priests had tramped away carrying theirroyal burden, Ayesha, who sat by his body brooding, seemed to awake, forshe rose and said--"I need a messenger, and for no common journey,since he must search out the habitations of the Shades," and she turnedherself towards Oros and appeared to look at him.
Now for the first time I saw that priest change countenance a little,for the eternal smile, of which even this scene had not quite rid it,left his face and he grew pale and trembled.
"Thou art afraid," she said contemptuously. "Be at rest, Oros, I willnot send one who is afraid. Holly, wilt thou go for me--and him?"
"Aye," I answered. "I am weary of life and desire no other end. Only letit be swift and painless."
She mused a while, then said--"Nay, thy time is not yet, thou still hastwork to do. Endure, my Holly, 'tis only for a breath."
Then she looked at the Shaman, the man turned to stone who all thiswhile had stood there as a statue stands, and cried--"Awake!"
Instantly he seemed to thaw into life, his limbs relaxed, his breastheaved, he was as he had always been: ancient, gnarled, malevolent.
"I hear thee, mistress," he said, bowing as a man bows to the power thathe hates.
"Thou seest, Simbri," and she waved her hand.
"I see. Things have befallen as Atene and I foretold, have they not?'Ere long the corpse of a new-crowned Khan of Kaloon,'" and he pointedto the gold circlet that Ayesha had set on Leo's brow, "'will lie uponthe brink of the Pit of Flame'--as I foretold." An evil smile crept intohis eyes and he went on--"Hadst thou not smote me dumb, I who watchedcould have warned thee that they would so befall; but, great mistress,it pleased thee to smite me dumb. And so it seems, O Hes, that thou hastovershot thyself and liest broken at the foot of that pinnacle whichstep by step thou hast climbed for more than two thousand weary years.See what thou hast bought at the price of countless lives that nowbefore the throne of Judgment bring accusations against thy powersmisused, and cry out for justice on thy head," and he looked at the deadform of Leo.
"I sorrow for them, yet, Simbri, they were well spent," Ayesha answeredreflectively, "who by their forewritten doom, as it was decre
ed,held thy knife from falling and thus won me my husband. Aye and I amhappy--happier than such blind bats as thou can see or guess. For knowthat now with him I have re-wed my wandering soul divorced by sin fromme, and that of our marriage kiss which burned his life away there shallstill be born to us children of Forgiveness and eternal Grace and allthings that are pure and fair.
"Look thou, Simbri, I will honour thee. Thou shalt be my messenger, andbeware! beware I say how thou dost fulfil thine office, since of everysyllable thou must render an account.
"Go thou down the dark paths of Death, and, since even my thought maynot reach to where he sleeps tonight, search out my lord and say to himthat the feet of his spouse Ayesha are following fast. Bid him have nofear for me who by this last sorrow have atoned my crimes and am in hisembrace regenerate. Tell him that thus it was appointed, and thus isbest, since now he is dipped indeed in the eternal Flame of Life; nowfor him the mortal night is done and the everlasting day arises. Commandhim that he await me in the Gate of Death where it is granted that Igreet him presently. Thou hearest?"
"I hear, O Queen, Mighty-from-of-Old."
"One message more. Say to Atene that I forgive her. Her heart was highand greatly did she play her part. There in the Gates we will balanceour account. Thou hearest?"
"I hear, O Eternal Star that hath conquered Night."
"Then, man, _begone!_"
As the word left Ayesha's lips Simbri leapt from the floor, grasping atthe air as though he would clutch his own departing soul, staggered backagainst the board where Leo and I had eaten, overthrowing it, and amid aruin of gold and silver vessels, fell down and died.
She looked at him, then said to me--"See, though he ever hated me, thismagician who has known Ayesha from the first, did homage to my ancientmajesty at last, when lies and defiance would serve his end no more.No longer now do I hear the name that his dead mistress gave to me.The 'Star-that-hath-fallen' in his lips and in very truth is become the'Star-which-hath-burst-the-bonds-of-Night,' and, re-arisen, shines forever--shines with its twin immortal to set no more--my Holly. Well,he is gone, and ere now, those that serve me in the Under-world--dostremember?--thou sawest their captains in the Sanctuary--bend the head atgreat Ayesha's word and make her place ready near her spouse.
"But oh, what folly has been mine. When even here my wrath can show suchpower, how could I hope that my lord would outlive the fires of my love?Still it was better so, for he sought not the pomp I would have givenhim, nor desired the death of men. Yet such pomp must have been hisportion in this poor shadow of a world, and the steps that encircle anusurper's throne are ever slippery with blood.
"Thou art weary, my Holly, go rest thee. To-morrow night we journey tothe Mountain, there to celebrate these obsequies."
I crept into the room adjoining--it had been Simbri's--and laid me downupon his bed, but to sleep I was not able. Its door was open, and in thelight of the burning city that shone through the casements I couldsee Ayesha watching by her dead. Hour after hour she watched, her headresting on her hand, silent, stirless. She wept not, no sigh escapedher; only watched as a tender woman watches a slumbering babe that sheknows will awake at dawn.
Her face was unveiled and I perceived that it had greatly changed. Allpride and anger were departed from it; it was grown soft, wistful, yetfull of confidence and quietness. For a while I could not think of whatit reminded me, till suddenly I remembered. Now it was like, indeed thecounterpart almost, of the holy and majestic semblance of the statueof the Mother in the Sanctuary. Yes, with just such a look of love andpower as that mother cast upon her frightened child new-risen from itsdream of death, did Ayesha gaze upon her dead, while her parted lipsalso seemed to whisper "some tale of hope, sure and immortal."
At length she rose and came into my chamber.
"Thou thinkest me fallen and dost grieve for me, my Holly," she said ina gentle voice, "knowing my fears lest some such fate should overtake mylord."
"Ay, Ayesha, I grieve for thee as for myself."
"Spare then thy pity, Holly, since although the human part of me wouldhave kept him on the earth, now my spirit doth rejoice that for a whilehe has burst his mortal bonds. For many an age, although I knew it not,in my proud defiance of the Universal Law, I have fought against histrue weal and mine. Thrice have I and the angel wrestled, matchingstrength with strength, and thrice has he conquered me. Yet as he boreaway his prize this night he whispered wisdom in my ear. This was hismessage: That in death is love's home, in death its strength; that fromthe charnel-house of life this love springs again glorified and pure, toreign a conqueror forever. Therefore I wipe away my tears and, crownedonce more a queen of peace, I go to join him whom we have lost, therewhere he awaits us, as it is granted to me that I shall do.
"But I am selfish, and forgot. Thou needest rest. Sleep, friend, I bidthee sleep."
And I slept wondering as my eyes closed whence Ayesha drew this strangeconfidence and comfort. I know not but it was there, real and notassumed. I can only suppose therefore that some illumination had fallenon her soul, and that, as she stated, the love and end of Leo in a wayunknown, did suffice to satisfy her court of sins.
At the least those sins and all the load of death that lay at her doornever seemed to trouble her at all. She appeared to look upon themmerely as events which were destined to occur, as inevitable fruits ofa seed sowed long ago by the hand of Fate for whose workings she was notresponsible. The fears and considerations which weigh with mortals didnot affect or oppress her. In this as in other matters, Ayesha was a lawunto herself.
When I awoke it was day, and through the window-place I saw the rainthat the people of Kaloon had so long desired falling in one straightsheet. I saw also that Ayesha, seated by the shrouded form of Leo, wasgiving orders to her priests and captains and to some nobles, who hadsurvived the slaughter of Kaloon, as to the new government of the land.Then I slept again.
It was evening, and Ayesha stood at my bedside.
"All is prepared," she said. "Awake and ride with me."
So we went, escorted by a thousand cavalry, for the rest stayed tooccupy, or perchance to plunder, the land of Kaloon. In front the bodyof Leo was borne by relays of priests, and behind it rode the veiledAyesha, I at her side.
Strange was the contrast between this departure, and our arrival.
Then the rushing squadrons, the elements that raved, the perpetual sheenof lightnings seen through the swinging curtains of the hail; the voicesof despair from an army rolled in blood beneath the chariot wheels ofthunder.
Now the white-draped corpse, the slow-pacing horses, the riders withtheir spears reversed, and on either side, seen in that melancholymoonlight, the women of Kaloon burying their innumerable dead.
And Ayesha herself, yesterday a Valkyrie crested with the star of flame,to-day but a bereaved woman humbly following her husband to the tomb.
Yet how they feared her! Some widow standing on the grave mould shehad dug, pointed as we passed to the body of Leo, uttering bitter wordswhich I could not catch. Thereon her companions flung themselves uponher and felling her with fist and spade, prostrated themselves upon theground, throwing dust on their hair in token of their submission to thepriestess of Death.
Ayesha saw them, and said to me with something of her ancient fire andpride--"I tread the plain of Kaloon no more, yet as a parting gift haveI read this high-stomached people a lesson that they needed long. Notfor many a generation, O Holly, will they dare to lift spear against theCollege of Hes and its subject Tribes."
Again it was night, and where once lay that of the Khan, the man whom hehad killed, flanked by the burning pillars, the bier of Leo stood inthe inmost Sanctuary before the statue of the Mother whose gentle,unchanging eyes seemed to search his quiet face.
On her throne sat the veiled Hesea, giving commands to her priests andpriestesses.
"I am weary," she said, "and it may be that I leave you for a while torest--beyond the mountains. A year, or a thousand years--I cannot say.If so, let
Papave, with Oros as her counsellor and husband and theirseed, hold my place till I return again.
"Priests and priestesses of the College of Hes, over new territorieshave I held my hand; take them as an heritage from me, and rule themwell and gently. Henceforth let the Hesea of the Mountain be also theKhania of Kaloon.
"Priests and priestesses of our ancient faith, learn to look through itsrites and tokens, outward and visible, to the in-forming Spirit. If Hesthe goddess never ruled on earth, still pitying Nature rules. If thename of Isis never rang through the courts of heaven, still in heaven,with all love fulfilled, nursing her human children on her breast,dwells the mighty Motherhood where of this statue is the symbol, thatMotherhood which bore us, and, unforgetting, faithful, will receive usat the end.
"For of the bread of bitterness we shall not always eat, of the waterof tears we shall not always drink. Beyond the night the royal suns rideon; ever the rainbow shines around the rain. Though they slip from ourclutching hands like melted snow, the lives we lose shall yet be foundimmortal, and from the burnt-out fires of our human hopes will spring aheavenly star."
She paused and waved her hand as though to dismiss them, then added byan after-thought, pointing to myself--"This man is my beloved friend andguest. Let him be yours also. It is my will that you tend and guard himhere, and when the snows have melted and summer is at hand, thatyou fashion a way for him through the gulf and bring him across themountains by which he came, till you leave him in safety. Hear andforget not, for be sure that to me you shall give account of him."
The night drew towards the dawn, and we stood upon the peak above thegulf of fire, four of us only--Ayesha and I, and Oros and Papave. Forthe bearers had laid down the body of Leo upon its edge and gone theirway. The curtain of flame flared in front of us, its crest bent overlike a billow in the gale, and to leeward, one by one, floated thetorn-off clouds and pinnacles of fire. By the dead Leo knelt Ayesha,gazing at that icy, smiling face, but speaking no single word. At lengthshe rose, and said,--"Darkness draws near, my Holly, that deep darknesswhich foreruns the glory of the dawn. Now fare thee well for one littlehour. When thou art about to die, but not before, call me, and I willcome to thee. Stir not and speak not till all be done, lest when I am nolonger here to be thy guard some Presence should pass on and slay thee.
"Think not that I am conquered, for now my name is Victory! Think notthat Ayesha's strength is spent or her tale is done, for of it thoureadest but a single page. Think not even that I am today that thing ofsin and pride, the Ayesha thou didst adore and fear, I who in my lord'slove and sacrifice have again conceived my soul. For know that now oncemore as at the beginning, his soul and mine are _one_."
She thought awhile and added,
"Friend take this sceptre in memory of me, but beware how thou usest itsave at the last to summon me, for it has virtues," and she gave me thejewelled Sistrum that she bore--then said,
"So kiss his brow, stand back, and be still."
Now as once before the darkness gathered on the pit, and presently,although I heard no prayer, though now no mighty music broke upon thesilence, through that darkness, beating up the gale, came the two-wingedflame and hovered where Ayesha stood.
It appeared, it vanished, and one by one the long minutes crept awayuntil the first spear of dawn lit upon the point of rock.
Lo! it was empty, utterly empty and lonesome. Gone was the corpse ofLeo, and gone too was Ayesha the imperial, the divine.
Whither had she gone? I know not. But this I know, that as the lightreturned and the broad sheet of flame flared out to meet it, I seemed tosee two glorious shapes sweeping upward on its bosom, and the faces thatthey wore were those of Leo and of Ayesha.
Often and often during the weary months that followed, whilst I wanderedthrough the temple or amid the winter snows upon the Mountain side, didI seek to solve this question--Whither had She gone? I asked it of myheart; I asked it of the skies; I asked it of the spirit of Leo whichoften was so near to me.
But no sure answer ever came, nor will I hazard one. As mystery wrappedAyesha's origin and lives--for the truth of these things I neverlearned--so did mystery wrap her deaths, or rather her departings, forI cannot think her dead. Surely she still is, if not on earth, then insome other sphere?
So I believe; and when my own hour comes, and it draws near swiftly, Ishall know whether I believe in vain, or whether she will appear to bemy guide as, with her last words, she swore that she would do. Then,too, I shall learn what she was about to reveal to Leo when he died, thepurposes of their being and of their love.
So I can wait in patience who must not wait for long, though my heart isbroken and I am desolate.
Oros and all the priests were very good to me. Indeed, even had it beentheir wish, they would have feared to be otherwise, who remembered andwere sure that in some time to come they must render an account of thismatter to their dread queen. By way of return, I helped them as Iwas best able to draw up a scheme for the government of the conqueredcountry of Kaloon, and with my advice upon many other questions.
And so at length the long months wore away, till at the approach ofsummer the snows melted. Then I said that I must be gone. They gave meof their treasures in precious stones, lest I should need money for myfaring, since the gold of which I had such plenty was too heavy to becarried by one man alone. They led me across the plains of Kaloon, wherenow the husbandmen, those that were left of them, ploughed the land andscattered seed, and so on to its city. But amidst those blackened ruinsover which Atene's palace still frowned unharmed, I would not enter,for to me it was, and always must remain, a home of death. So I campedoutside the walls by the river just where Leo and I had landed afterthat poor mad Khan set us free, or rather loosed us to be hunted by hisdeath-hounds.
Next day we took boat and rowed up the river, past the place where wehad seen Atene's cousin murdered, till we came to the Gate-house. Hereonce again I slept, or rather did not sleep.
On the following morning I went down into the ravine and found to mysurprise that the rapid torrent--shallow enough now--had been roughlybridged, and that in preparation for my coming rude but sufficientladders were built on the face of the opposing precipice. At the foot ofthese I bade farewell to Oros, who at our parting smiled benignantly ason the day we met.
"We have seen strange things together," I said to him, not knowing whatelse to say.
"Very strange," he answered.
"At least, friend Oros," I went on awkwardly enough, "events have shapedthemselves to your advantage, for you inherit a royal mantle."
"I wrap myself in a mantle of borrowed royalty," he answered withprecision, "of which doubtless one day I shall be stripped."
"You mean that the great Ayesha is not dead?"
"I mean that She never dies. She changes, that is all. As the wind blowsnow hence, now hither, so she comes and goes, and who can tell at whatspot upon the earth, or beyond it, for a while that wind lies sleeping?But at sunset or at dawn, at noon or at midnight, it will begin to blowagain, and then woe to those who stand across its path.
"Remember the dead heaped upon the plains of Kaloon. Remember thedeparting of the Shaman Simbri with his message and the words that shespoke then. Remember the passing of the Hesea from the Mountain point.Stranger from the West, surely as to-morrow's sun must rise, as shewent, so she will return again, and in my borrowed garment I await heradvent."
"I also await her advent," I answered, and thus we parted.
Accompanied by twenty picked men bearing provisions and arms, I climbedthe ladders easily enough, and now that I had food and shelter, crossedthe mountains without mishap. They even escorted me through the desertbeyond, till one night we camped within sight of the gigantic Buddhathat sits before the monastery, gazing eternally across the sands andsnows.
When I awoke next morning the priests were gone. So I took up my packand pursued my journey alone, and walking slowly came at sunset to thedistant lamasery. At its door an ancient figure, wrapped in a tatte
redcloak, was sitting, engaged apparently in contemplation of the skies. Itwas our old friend Kou-en. Adjusting his horn spectacles on his nose helooked at me.
"I was awaiting you, brother of the Monastery called 'the World,'" hesaid in a voice, measured, very ineffectually, to conceal his evidentdelight. "Have you grown hungry there that you return to this poorplace?"
"Aye, most excellent Kou-en," I answered, "hungry for rest."
"It shall be yours for all the days of this incarnation. But say, whereis the other brother?"
"Dead," I answered.
"And therefore re-born elsewhere or perhaps, dreaming in Devachan fora while. Well, doubtless we shall meet him later on. Come, eat, andafterwards tell me your story."
So I ate, and that night I told him all. Kou-en listened with respectfulattention, but the tale, strange as it might seem to most people,excited no particular wonder in his mind. Indeed, he explained it to meat such length by aid of some marvellous theory of re-incarnations, thatat last I began to doze.
"At least," I said sleepily, "it would seem that we are all winningmerit on the Everlasting Plane," for I thought that favourite catchwordwould please him.
"Yes, brother of the Monastery called the World," Kou-en answered ina severe voice, "doubtless you are all winning merit, but, if I mayventure to say so, you are winning it very slowly, especially thewoman--or the sorceress--or the mighty evil spirit--whose names Iunderstand you to tell me are She, Hes, and Ayesha upon earth and in_Avitchi_, Star-that-hath-Fallen----"
_(Here Mr. Holly's manuscript ends, its outer sheets having been burntwhen he threw it on to the fire at his house in Cumberland.)_
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