CHAPTER XI
YULUN THE BELOVED
Cleves opened his eyes. He was lying on his left side. In the pink glowof the night-lamp he saw his wife in her night-dress, seated sideways onthe farther edge of the bed, talking to a young girl.
The strange girl wore what appeared to be a chamber-robe of frail goldtissue that clung to her body and glittered as she moved. He had neverbefore seen such a dress; but he had seen the girl; he recognised herinstantly as the girl he had seen turn to look back at Tressa as shecrossed the phantom bridge over that misty Florida river. And Clevescomprehended that he was looking at Yulun.
But this charming young thing was no ghost, no astral projection. Thisgirl was warm, living, breathing flesh. The delicate scent of herstrange garments and of her hair, her very breath, was in the air of theroom. Her half-hushed but laughing voice was deliciously human; herdelicate little hands, caressing Tressa's, were too eagerly real todoubt.
Both talked at the same time, their animated voices mingling in thebreathless delight of the reunion. Their exclamations, enchantinglaughter, bubbling chatter, filled his ears. But not one word of whatthey were saying to each other could he understand.
Suddenly Tressa looked over her shoulder and met his astonished eyes.
"Tokhta!" she exclaimed. "Yulun! My lord is awake!"
Yulun swung around swiftly on the edge of the bed and looked laughinglyat Cleves. But when her red lips unclosed she spoke to Tressa: and,"Darling," she said in English, "I think your dear lord remembers thathe saw me on the Bridge of Dreams. And heard the bells of Yian acrossthe mist."
Tressa said, laughing at her husband: "This is Yulun, flame-slender,very white, loveliest in Yian. On the rose-marble steps of the YezideeTemple she flung a stemless rose upon Djamouk's shroud, where he hadspread it like a patch of snow in the sun.
"And at the Lake of the Ghosts, where there is freedom to love, forthose who desire love, came Yaddin, Tougtchi to Djamouk the Fox, insearch of love--and Yulun, flame-slim, and flower-white.... Tell my dearlord, Yulun!"
Yulun laughed at Cleves out of her dark eyes that slanted charmingly atthe corners.
"Kai!" she cried softly, clapping her palms. "I took his roses and torethem with my hands till their petals rained on him and their goldenhearts were a powdery cloud floating across the water.
"I said: 'Even the damned do not mate with demons, my Tougtchi! So go tothe devil, my Banneret, and may Erlik seize you!'"
Cleves, his ears ringing with the sweet confusion of their girlishlaughter, rose from his pillow, supporting himself on one arm.
"You are Yulun. You are alive and real----" He looked at Tressa: "She isreal, isn't she?" And, to Yulun: "Where do you come from?"
The girl replied seriously: "I come from Yian." She turned to Tressawith a dazzling smile: "Thou knowest, my heart's gold, how it was Icame. Tell thy dear lord in thine own way, so that it shall be simplefor his understanding.... And now--because my visit is ending--I thinkthy dear lord should sleep. Bid him sleep, my heart's gold!"
At that calm suggestion Cleves sat upright on the bed,--or attempted to.But sank back gently on his pillow and met there a dark, delicious rushof drowsiness.
He made an effort--or tried to: the smooth, sweet tide of sleep sweptover him to the eyelids, leaving him still and breathing evenly on hispillow.
The two girls leaned over and looked down at him.
"Thy dear lord," murmured Yulun. "Does he love thee, rose-bud of Yian?"
"No," said Tressa, under her breath.
"Does he know thou art damned, heart of gold?"
"He says no soul is ever really harmed," whispered Tressa.
"Kai! Has he never heard of the Slayer of Souls?" exclaimed Yulunincredulously.
"My lord maintains that neither the Assassin of Khorassan nor theSheiks-el-Djebel of the Eight Towers, nor their dark prince Erlik, canhave power over God to slay the human soul."
"Tokhta, Rose of Yian! Our souls were slain there in the Yezideetemple."
Tressa looked down at Cleves:
"My dear lord says no," she said under her breath.
"And--Sanang?"
Tressa paled: "His mind and mine did battle. I tore my heart from hisgrasp. I have laid it, bleeding, at my dear lord's feet. Let God judgebetween us, Yulun."
"There was a day," whispered Yulun, "when Prince Sanang went to the Lakeof the Ghosts."
Tressa, very pallid, looked down at her sleeping husband. She said:
"Prince Sanang came to the Lake of the Ghosts. The snow of thecherry-trees covered the young world.
"The water was clear as sunlight; and the lake was afire with scarletcarp.... Yulun--beloved--the nightingale sang all night long--all nightlong.... Then I saw Sanang shining, all gold, in the moonlight.... MayGod remember him in hell!"
"May God remember him."
"Sanang Noiane. May he be accursed in the Namaz Ga!"
"May he be tormented in Jehaunum!--Sanang, Slayer of Souls."
Tressa leaned forward on the bed, stretched herself out, and laid herface gently across her husband's feet, touching them with her lips.
Then she straightened herself and sat up, supported by one hand, andlooking silently down at the sleeping man.
"No soul shall die," she said. "Niaz!"
"Is it written?" asked Yulun, surprised.
"My lord has said it."
"Allahou Ekber," murmured Yulun; "thy lord is only a man."
Tressa said: "Neither the Tekbir nor the fatha, nor the warning ofKhidr, nor the Yacaz of the Khagan, nor even the prayers of the TenImaums are of any value to me unless my dear lord confirms the truth ofthem with his own lips."
"And Erlik? Is he nothing, then?"
"Erlik!" repeated Tressa insolently. "Who is Erlik but the servant ofSatan who was stoned?"
Her beautiful, angry lips were suddenly distorted; her blue eyes blazed.Then she spat, her mouth still tremulous with hatred. She said in avoice shaking with rage:
"Yulun, beloved! Listen attentively. I have slain two of the Slayers ofthe Eight Towers. With God's help I shall slay them all--all!--Djamouk,Yaddin, Arrak Sou-Sou--all!--every one!--Tiyang Khan, Togrul,--all shallI slay, even to the last one among them!"
"_Sanang, also?_"
"I leave him to God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of theliving God!"
Yulun calmly paraphrased the cant phrase of the Assassins: "For it iswritten that we belong to God and we return to Him. Heart of gold, Ishall execute my duty!"
Then Yulun slipped from the edge of the bed to the floor, and stoodthere looking oddly at Tressa, her eyes rain-bright as though chokingback tears--or laughter.
"Heart of a rose," she said in a suppressed voice, "my time is nearlyended.... So.... I go to the chamber of this strange young man who holdsmy soul like a pearl afire between his hands.... I think it it writtenthat I shall love him."
Tressa rose also and placed her lips close to Yulun's ear: "His name,beloved, is Benton. His room is on this floor. Shall we _make theeffort_ together?"
"Yes," said Yulun. "Lay your body down upon the bed beside your lord whosleeps so deeply.... And now stretch out.... And fold both hands.... Andnow put off thy body like a silken garment.... So! And leave it therebeside thy lord, asleep."
They stood together for a moment, shining like dewy shapes of tallflowers, whispering and laughing together in the soft glow of the nightlamp.
Cleves slept on, unstirring. There was the white and sleeping figure ofhis wife lying on the bed beside him.
But Tressa and Yulun were already melting away between the wall and theconfused rosy radiance of the lamp.
Benton, in night attire and chamber-robe belted in, fresh from his bathand still drying his curly hair on a rough towel, wandered back into hisbedroom.
When his short, bright hair was dry, he lighted a cigarette, took theautomatic from his dresser, examined the clip, and shoved it under hispillow.
Then he picked up the little leather-bound Testa
ment, seated himself,and opened it. And read tranquilly while his cigarette burned.
When he was ready he turned out the ceiling light, leaving only thenight lamp lighted. Then he knelt beside his bed,--a custom survivingthe nursery period,--and rested his forehead against his folded hands.
Then, as he prayed, something snapped the thread of prayer as thoughsomebody had spoken aloud in the still room; and, like one who has beensuddenly interrupted, he opened his eyes and looked around and upward.
The silent shock of her presence passed presently. He got up from hisknees, looking at her all the while.
"You are Yulun," he said very calmly.
The girl flushed brightly and rested one hand on the foot of the bed.
"Do you remember in the moonlight where you walked along the hedge ofwhite hibiscus and oleander--that night you said good-bye to Tressa inthe South?"
"Yes."
"Twice," she said, laughing, "you stopped to peer at the blossoms in themoonlight."
"I thought I saw a face among them."
"You were not sure whether it was flowers or a girl's face looking atyou from the blossoming hedge of white hibiscus," said Yulun.
"I know now," he said in an odd, still voice, unlike his own.
"Yes, it was I," she murmured. And of a sudden the girl dropped to herknees without a sound and laid her head on the velvet carpet at hisfeet.
So swiftly, noiselessly was it done that he had not comprehended--hadnot moved--when she sat upright, resting on her knees, and grasped thecollar of her tunic with both gemmed hands.
"Have pity on me, lord of my lost soul!" she cried softly.
Benton stooped in a dazed way to lift the girl; but found himself kneedeep in a snowy drift of white hibiscus blossoms--touched nothing butsilken petals--waded in them as he stepped forward. And saw her standingbefore him still grasping the collar of her golden tunic.
A great white drift of bloom lay almost waist deep between them; thefragrance of oleander, too, was heavy in the room.
"There are years of life before the flaming gates of Jehaunum open. AndI am very young," said Yulun wistfully.
Somebody else laughed in the room. Turning his head, he saw Tressastanding by the empty fireplace.
"What you see and hear need not disturb you," she said, looking atBenton out of brilliant eyes. "There is no god but God; and His prophethas been called by many names." And to Yulun: "Have I not told you thatnothing can harm our souls?"
Yulun's expression altered and she turned to Benton: "Say it to me!" shepleaded.
As in a dream he heard his own words: "Nothing can ever really harm thesoul."
Yulun's hands fell from her tunic collar. Very slowly she lifted herhead, looking at him out of lovely, proud young eyes.
She said, evenly, her still gaze on him: "I am Yulun of the Temple. Myheart is like a blazing pearl which you hold between your hands. May thefour Blessed Companions witness the truth of what I say."
Then a delicate veil of colour wrapped her white skin from throat totemple; she looked at Benton with sudden and exquisite distress,frightened and ashamed at his silence.
In the intense stillness Benton moved toward her. Into his outstretchedhands her two hands fell; but, bending above them, his lips touched onlytwo white hibiscus flowers that lay fresh and dewy in his palms.
Bewildered, he straightened up; and saw the girl standing by the mantelbeside Tressa, who had caught her by the left hand.
"Tokhta! Look out!" she said distinctly.
Suddenly he saw two men in the room, close to him--their broad faces,slanting eyes, and sparse beards thrust almost against his shoulder.
"Djamouk! Yaddin-ed-Din!" cried Tressa in a terrible voice. But quick asa flash Yulun tore a white sheet from the bed, flung it on the floor,and, whipping a tiny, jewelled knife from her sleeve, threw itglittering upon the sheet at the feet of the two men.
"One shroud for two souls!" she said breathlessly, "--and a knife likethat to sever them from their bodies!"
The two men sprang backward as the sheet touched their feet, and nowthey stood there as though confounded.
"Djamouk, Kahn of the Fifth Tower!" cried Tressa in a clear voice, "youhave put off your body like a threadbare cloak, and your form thatstands there is only your mind! And it is only the evil will of Yaddinin the shape of his body that confronts us in this room of a man youhave doomed!"
Yulun, intent as a young leopardess on her prey, moved soundlesslytoward Yaddin.
"Tougtchi!" she said coldly, "you did murder this day, my Banneret, andthe Toug of Djamouk has been greased. Now look out for yourself!"
"Don't stir!" came Tressa's warning voice, as Benton snatched his pistolfrom the pillow. "Don't fire! Those men have no real substance! ForGod's sake don't fire! I tell you they have no bodies!"
Suddenly something--some force--flung Benton on the bed. The two men didnot seem to touch him at all, but he lay there struggling, crushed, heldby something that was strangling him.
Through his swimming eyes he saw Yaddin trying to drive a long nail intohis skull with a hammer,--felt the piercing agony of the first crashingblow,--struggled upright, drenched in blood, his ears ringing with thescreaming of Yaddin.
Then, there in the little rococo bedroom of the Ritz-Carlton, began astrange and horrible struggle--the more dreadful because the strugglewas not physical and the combatants never touched each other--scarcelymoved at all.
Yaddin, still screaming, confronted Yulun. The girl's eyes were ablaze,her lips parted with the violence of her breathing. And Yaddin writhedand screamed under the terrible concentration of her gaze, his inferiorbut ferocious mind locked with her mind in deadly battle.
The girl said slowly, showing a glimmer of white teeth: "Your will to doevil to my young lord is breaking, Yaddin-ed-Din.... I am breaking it.The nail and hammer were but symbols. It was your brain that broodedmurder--that willed he should die as though shattered by lightning whenthat blood-vessel burst in his brain!"
"Sorceress!" shrieked Yaddin, "what are you doing to my heart, where mybody lies asleep in a berth on the Montreal Express!"
"Your heart is weak, Yaddin. Soon the valves shall fail. A negro portershall discover you dead in your berth, my Banneret!"
The man's swarthy face became livid with the terrific mental battle.
"Let me go back to my body!" he panted. "What are you doing to me that Ican not go back? I will go back! I wish it!--I----"
"Let us go back and rejoin our bodies!" cried Djamouk in an agonisedvoice. "There are teeth in my throat, deep in my throat, biting andtearing out the cords."
"Cancer," said Tressa calmly. "Your body shall die of it while your soulstumbles on through darkness."
"My Tougtchi!" shouted Djamouk, "I hear my soul bidding my bodyfarewell! I must go before my mind expires in the terrible gaze of thisyoung sorceress!"
He turned, drifted like something misty to the solid wall.
"My soul be ransom for yours!" cried Yulun to Tressa. "Bar that man'spath to life!"
Tressa flung out her right hand and, with her forefinger, drew a barrierthrough space, bar above bar.
And Benton, half swooning on his bed, saw a cage of terrible and livinglight penning in Djamouk, who beat upon the incandescent bars andgrasped them and clawed his way about, squealing like a tortured rat ina red-hot cage.
Through the deafening tumult Yulun's voice cut like a sword:
"Their bodies are dying, Heart of a Rose!... Listen! I hear their soulsbidding their minds farewell!"
And, after a dreadful silence: "The train speeding north carries twodead men! God is God. Niaz!"
The bars of living fire faded. Two cinder-like and shapeless shadowsfloated and eddied like whitened ashes stirred by a wind on the hearth;then drifted through the lamp-light, fading, dissolving, lost graduallyin thin air.
Tressa, leaning back against the mantel, covered her face with bothhands.
Yulun crept to the bed where Benton lay, breathing evenly in dee
pestsleep.
With the sheer sleeve of her tunic she wiped the blood from his face.And, at her touch, the wound in the temple closed and the short, brighthair dried and curled over a forehead as clean and fresh as a boy's.
Then Yulun laid her lips against his, rested so a moment.
"Seek me, dear lord," she whispered. "Or send me a sign and I shallcome."
And, after a pause, she said, her lips scarcely stirring: "Love me. Myheart is a flaming pearl burning between your hands."
Then she lifted her head.
But Tressa had rejoined her body, where it lay asleep beside her deeplysleeping husband.
So Yulun stood a moment, her eyes remote. Then, after a while, thelittle rococo bedroom in the Ritz-Carlton was empty save for a young manasleep on the bed, holding in his clenched hand a white hibiscusblossom.