CHAPTER XXI
THE CITY OF THE DEAD
Nya led the way down the cave, followed by Rachel and Noie. Squatted inits entrance, so as to be out of reach of the rays of the sun, sat Eddo,looking like a malevolent toad, and with him were Hana and some otherpriests. As Rachel approached they all rose and saluted, but to Nya andNoie they gave no salute. Only to Nya Eddo said:
"Why art thou not within the Fence, old woman?" and he pointed with hischin towards the place of death above. "Thy tree is down, and all lastnight we were hacking off its branches that it may dry up the sooner. Itis time for thee to die."
"I die when my tree dies, not before, Priest," answered Nya. "I have stillsome work to do before I die, also I have planted my tree again in goodsoil, and it may grow."
"I saw," said Eddo; "it is without the wall there, but many a generationmust go by before a new Mother sits beneath its shade. Well, die when itpleases you, it does not matter when, since thou art no more our Mother.Moreover, learn that all have deserted thee, save a very few, most of whomhave just now passed within the Fence above that they may attend theeamongst the ghosts."
"I thank them," said Nya simply, "and in that world we will ruletogether."
"The rest," went on Eddo, "have turned against thee, having heard how thoudidst bring one of us to the Red Death yesterday by thy evil magic, himupon whom the bough fell."
"Who was it that strove to bring me to the Red Death before I reached thesanctuary? Who shot the poisoned arrow, Priest?"
"I do not know," answered Eddo, "but it seems that he shot badly for thouart still here. Now enough of thee, old woman. For many years we bore thyrule, which was always foolish, and sometimes bad, because we could nothelp it, for the tree of her who went before thee fell at thy feet, as thytree has fallen at the feet of the White Virgin there. For long thou and Ihave struggled for the mastery, and now thou art dead and I have won, sobe silent, old woman, and since that arrow missed thee, go hence in peace,for none need thee any more, who hast neither youth, nor comeliness, norpower."
"Aye," answered Nya, stung to fury by these insults, "I shall go hence inpeace, but thou shalt not abide in peace, thou traitor, nor those whofollow thee. When youth and comeliness fade then wisdom grows, and wisdomis power, Eddo, true power. I tell thee that last night I looked in mybowl and saw things concerning thee--aye, and all of our people, that arehid from thy eyes, terrible things, things that have not befallen sincethe Tree of the Tribe was a seed, and the Spirit of the Tribe came todwell within it."
"Speak them, then," said Eddo, striving to hide the fear which showedthrough his round eyes.
"Nay, Priest, I speak them not. Live on and thou shalt discover them, thouand thy traitors. Well have I served you all for many years, mercy have Igiven to all, white magic have I practised and not black, none have diedthat I could save, none have suffered whom I could protect, no, not eventhe slave-peoples beneath our rule. All this have I done, knowing that yeplotted against me, knowing that ye strove to kill my tree by spells,knowing what the end must be. It has come at last, as come it must, and Ido not grieve. Fool, I knew that it would come, and I knew the manner ofits coming. It was I who sent for this virgin queen whom ye would set upto rule over you, foreseeing that at her feet my tree would fall. Theghost of Seyapi, who is of my blood, Seyapi whom years ago ye drove awayfor no offence, to dwell in a strange land, told me of her and of thisNoie, his daughter, and of the end of it all. So she came; thou didst notbring her as thou thoughtest, _I_ brought her, and my tree fell at herfeet as it was doomed to fall, and she saved me from the Red Death as shewas doomed to do, giving me love, not hate, as I gave her love not hate.For the rest ye shall see--all of you. I am finished--I am dead--but Ilive on elsewhere, and ye shall see."
Now Eddo would have answered, but the priest Hana, who appeared to be muchfrightened by Nya's words, plucked at his sleeve, whispering in his ear,and he was silent. Presently he spoke again, but to Rachel, bidding Noietranslate:
"Thou White Maid," he said, "who wast called Princess of the Zulus, pay noheed to this old dotard, but listen to me. When thy Spirit wanderedyonder, even then I saw the seeds of greatness in thee, and begged theefrom the savage Dingaan. Also I and Pani, who is dead, and Hana, wholives, read by our magic that at thy feet the tree of Nya would fall, andthat after her thou wast appointed to rule over us. All the Ghost-peopleread it also, and now they have named thee their Mother, and chosen thee atree, a great tree, but young and strong, that shall stand for ages. Comeforth, then, and take thy seat beneath that tree, and be our queen."
"Why should I come?" asked Rachel. "It seems that you dwarfs bring yourqueens to ill ends. Choose you another Mother."
"Inkosazana, we cannot if we would," answered Eddo, "for these matters arenot in our hands, but in those of our Spirit. Hearken, we will deal wellwith thee; we will make thee great, and grow in thy greatness, for thoushall give us of thy wisdom, that although thou knowest it not, thou hastabove all other women. We weary of little things, we would rule the world.All the nations from sea to sea shall bow down before thee, and seek thineoracle. Thou shall take their wealth, thou shalt drive them hither andthither as the wind drives clouds. Thou shalt make war, thou shalt ordainpeace. At thy pleasure they shall rise up in life and lie down in death.Their kings shall cower before thee, their princes shall bring theetribute, thou shalt reign a god."
"Until it shall please Eddo to bring thee to thine end, Lady, as itpleases him to bring me to mine," muttered Nya behind her. "Be notbeguiled, Maiden; remain a woman and uncrowned, for so thou shalt findmost joy."
"Thou meanest, Eddo," said Rachel, "that thou wilt rule and I do thybidding. Noie, tell him that I will have none of it. When I came here agreat sorrow had made me mad, and I knew nothing. Now I have found mySpirit again, and presently I go hence."
At this answer Eddo grew very angry.
"One thing I promise thee, Zoola," he said; "in the name of all theGhost-people I promise it, that thou shalt not go hence alive. In thissanctuary thou art safe indeed, seated in the shadow of the Death-treethat is the Tree of Life, but soon or late a way will be found to drawthee hence, and then thou shalt learn who is the stronger--thou orEddo--as the old woman behind thee has learned. Fare thee well for awhile. I will tell the people that thou art weary and restest, andmeanwhile I rule in thy name. Fare thee well, Inkosazana, till we meetwithout the wall," and he rose and went, accompanied by Hana and the otherpriests.
When he had gone a little way he turned, and pointing up the hill,screamed back to Nya:
"Go and look within the Fence, old hag. There thou wilt see the best ofthose that clung to thee, seeking for peace. Art thou a coward that thoulingerest behind them?"
"Nay, Eddo," she answered, "thou art the coward that hast driven them todeath, because they are good and thou art evil. When my hour is ripe Ijoin them, not before. Nor shalt thou abide here long behind me. One shortday of triumph for thee, Eddo, and then night, black night for ever."
Eddo heard, and his yellow face grew white with rage, or fear. He stampedupon the ground, he shook his small fat fists, and spat out curses as atoad spits venom. Nya did not stay to listen to them, but walked up thecave and sat herself down upon her mat.
"Why does he hate thee so, Mother?" asked Rachel.
"Because those that are bad hate those that are good, Maiden. For many ayear Eddo has sought to rule through me, and to work evil in the world,but I have not suffered it. He would abandon our secret, ancient faith,and reign a king, as Dingaan the Zulu reigns. He would send theslave-tribes out to war and conquer the nations, and build him a greathouse, and have many wives. But I held him fast, so that he could do fewof these things. Therefore he plotted against me, but my magic was greaterthan his, and while my tree stood he could not prevail. At length it fellat thy feet, as he knew that it was doomed to fall, for all these thingsare fore-ordained, and at once he would have slain me by the Red Death,but thou didst protect me, and for that blessed be thou for ever."
"And why does he wish to make me Mother in thy place, Nya?"
"Because my tree fell at thy feet, and all the people demand it. Becausehe thinks that once the bond of the priesthood is tied between you, andhis blood runs in thee, thy pure spirit will protect his spirit from itssins, and that thy wisdom, which he sees in thee, will make him greaterthan any of the Ghost-people that ever lived. Yet consent not, forafterwards if thou dost thwart him, he will find a way to bring down thytree, and with it thy life, and set another to rule in thy place. Consentnot, for know that here thou art safe from him."
"It may be so, Mother, but how can I dwell on in this dismal place?Already my heart is broken with its sorrows, and soon, like those poorfolk, I should seek peace within the Fence."
"Tell me of those sorrows," said Nya gently. "Perhaps I do not know themall, and perhaps I could help thee."
So Rachel sat herself down also, and Noie, interpreting for her, told allher tale up to that point when she saw the body of Richard borne away, forafter this she remembered nothing until she found herself standing uponthe fallen tree in the land of the Ghost Kings. It was a long tale, andbefore ever she finished it night fell, but throughout its telling the olddwarf-woman said never a word, only watched Rachel's face with her kind,soft eyes. At last it was done, and she said:
"A sad story. Truly there is much evil in the world beyond the country ofthe Trees, for here at least we shed little blood. Now, Maiden, what isthy desire?"
"This is my desire," said Rachel, "to be joined again to him I love, whomIshmael slew; yes, and to my father and mother also, whom the Zulus slewat the command of Ishmael."
"If they are all dead, how can that be, Maiden, unless thou seekest themin death? Pass within the Fence yonder, and let the poison of the Tree ofthe Tribe fall upon thee, and soon thou wilt find them."
"Nay, Mother, I may not, for it would be self-murder, and my faith knowsfew greater crimes."
"Then thou must wait till death finds thee, and that road may be verylong."
"Already it is long, Mother, so long that I know not how to travel it, whoam alone in the world without a friend save Noie here," and she began toweep.
"Not so. Thou hast another friend," and she laid her hand upon Rachel'sheart, "though it is true that I may bide with thee but a little while."
After this they were all silent for a space, until Nya looked up at Racheland asked suddenly:
"Art thou brave?"
"The Zulus and others thought so, Mother; but what can courage avail menow?"
"Courage of the body, nothing, Maiden; courage of the spirit much,perhaps. If thou sawest this lover of thine, and knew for certain that helives on beneath the world awaiting thee, would it bring thee comfort?"
Rachel's breast heaved and her eyes sparkled with joy, as she answered:
"Comfort! What is there that could bring so much? But how can it be,Mother, seeing that the last gulf divides us, a gulf which mortals may notpass and live?"
"Thou sayest it; still I have great power, and thy spirit is white andclean. Perhaps I could despatch it across that gulf and call it back toearth again. Yet there are dangers, dangers to me of which I reck little,and dangers to thee. Whither I sent thee, there thou mightest bide."
"I care not if I bide there, Mother, if only it be with him! Oh! send meon this journey to his side, and living or dead I will bless thee."
Now Nya thought a while and answered:
"For thy sake I will try what I would try for none other who has breathed,or breathes, for thou didst save me from the Red Death at the hands ofEddo. Yes, I will try, but not yet--first thou must eat and rest. Obey, orI do nothing."
So Rachel ate, and afterwards, feeling drowsy, even slept a while, perhapsbecause she was still weary with her journeying and her new-found mindneeded repose, or perhaps because some drug had been mingled with herdrink. When she awoke Nya led her to the mouth of the cave. There theystood awhile studying the stars. No breath of air stirred, and the silencewas intense, only from time to time the sound of trees falling in theforest reached their ears. Sometimes it was quite soft, as though a fleeceof wool had been dropped to the earth, that was when the tree that diedhad grown miles and miles away from them; and sometimes the crash was asthat of sudden thunder, that was when the tree which died had grown nearto them.
A sense of the mystery and wonder of the place and hour sank into Rachel'sheart. The stars above, the mighty entombing forest, in which the treesfell unceasingly after their long centuries of life, the encircling wall,built perhaps by hands that had ceased from their labours hundreds ofthousands of years before those trees began to grow; the huge moss-cladcedar upon the mound beneath the shadow of whose branches day by day itsworshippers gave up their breath, that immemorial cedar whereof, as theybelieved, the life was the life of the nation; the wizened littlewitch-woman at her side with the seal of doom already set upon her browand the stare of farewell in her eyes; the sad, spiritual face of Noie,who held her hand, the loving, faithful Noie, who in that light seemedhalf a thing of air; the grey little dwarf-mutes who squatted on theirmats staring at the ground, or now and again passed down the hill from theFence of Death above, bearing between them a body to its burial; all weremysterious, all were wonderful.
As she looked and listened, a new strength stirred in Rachel's heart. Atfirst she had felt afraid, but now courage flowed into her, and it seemedto come from the old, old woman at her side, the mistress of mysteries,the mother of magic, in whom was gathered the wisdom of a hundredgenerations of this half human race.
"Look at the stars, and the night," she was saying in her soft voice, "forsoon thou shalt be beyond them all, and perchance thou shall never seethem more. Art thou fearful? If so, speak, and we will not try thisjourney in search of one whom we may not find."
"No," answered Rachel; "but, Mother, whither go we?"
"We go to the Land, of Death. Come, then, the moment is at hand. It ishard on midnight. See, yonder star stands above the holy Tree," and shepointed to a bright orb that hung almost over the topmost bough of thecedar, "it marks thy road, and if thou wouldst pass it, now is the hour."
"Mother," asked Noie, "may I come with her? I also have my dead, and wheremy Sister goes I follow."
"Aye, if thou wilt, daughter of Seyapi, the path is wide enough for three,and if I stay on high, perchance thou that art of my blood mayest findstrength to guide her earthwards through the wandering worlds."
Then Nya walked up the cave and sat herself down within the circle of thelamps with her back to the stalactite that was shaped like a tree, biddingRachel and Noie be seated in front of her. Two of the dwarf-mutesappeared, women both of them, and squatted to right and left, each gazinginto a bowl of limpid dew. Nya made a sign, and still gazing into theirbowls, these dwarfs began to beat upon little drums that gave out acurious, rolling noise, while Nya sang to the sound of the drums a wild,low song. With her thin little hands she grasped the right hand of Racheland of Noie and gazed into their eyes.
Things changed to Rachel. The dwarfs to right and left vanished away, butthe low murmuring of their drums grew to a mighty music, and the starsdanced to it. The song of Nya swelled and swelled till it filled all thespace between earth and heaven; it was the rush of the gale among theforests, it was the beating of the sea upon an illimitable coast, it wasthe shout of all the armies of the world, it was the weeping of all thewomen of the world. It lessened again, she seemed to be passing away fromit, she heard it far beneath her, it grew tiny in its volume--tiny as ifit were an infinite speck or point of sound which she could still discernfor millions and millions of miles, till at length distance and vastnessovercame it, and it ceased. It ceased, this song of the earth, but a newsong began, the song of the rushing worlds. Far away she could hear it,that ineffable music, far in the utter depths of space. Nearer it wouldcome and nearer, a ringing, glorious sound, a sound and yet a voice, onemighty voice that sang and was answered by other voices as sun crossed thepath of sun, and caught up and re-echoed by
the innumerable choir of theconstellations.
They were falling past her, those vast, glowing suns, those roundedplanets that were now vivid with light, and now steeped in gloom, thoseinfinite showers of distant stars. They were gone, they and their musictogether; she was far beyond them in a region where all life wasforgotten, beyond the rush of the uttermost comet, beyond the last glimmerof the spies and outposts of the universe. One shape of light she spedinto the black bosom of fathomless space, and its solitude shrivelled upher soul. She could not endure, she longed for some shore on which to sether mortal feet.
Behold! far away a shore appeared, a towering, cliff-bound shore, uponwhose iron coasts all the black waves of space beat vainly and wereeternally rolled back. Here there was light, but no such light as she hadever known; it did not fall from sun or star, but, changeful and radiant,welled upward from that land in a thousand hues, as light might well froma world of opal. In its dazzling, beautiful rays she saw fantastic palacesand pyramids, she saw seas and pure white mountains, she saw plains andnew-hued flowers, she saw gulfs and precipices, and pale lakes pregnantwith wavering flame. All that she had ever conceived of as lovely or asfearful, she beheld, far lovelier or a thousandfold more fearful.
Like a great rose of glory that world bloomed and changed beneath her.Petal by petal its splendours fell away and were swallowed in the sea ofspace, whilst from the deep heart of the immortal rose new splendours tooktheir birth, and fresh-fashioned, mysterious, wonderful, reappeared themeasureless city with its columns, its towers, and its glittering gates.It endured a moment, or a million years, she knew not which, and lo! whereit had been, stood another city, different, utterly different, only ahundred times more glorious. Out of the prodigal heart of the world-rosewere they created, into the black bosom of nothingness were they gathered;whilst others, ever more perfect, pressed into their place. So, too,changed the mountains, and so the trees, while the gulfs became a gardenand the fiery lakes a pleasant stream, and from the seed of the strangeflowers grew immemorial forests wreathed about with rosy mists andbedecked in glimmering dew. With music they were born, on the wings ofmusic they fled away, and after them that sweet music wailed likememories.
A hand took hers and drew her downwards, and up to meet her leapt myriadsof points of light, in every point a tiny face. They gazed at her withtheir golden eyes; they whispered together concerning her, and the soundof their whispering was the sound of a sea at peace. They accompanied herto the very heart of the opal rose of life whence all these wonderswelled, they set her in a great grey hall roofed in with leaning cliffs,and there they left her desolate.
Fear came upon her, the loneliness choked her, it held her by the throatlike a thing alive. She seemed about to die of it, when she became awarethat once more she was companioned. Shapes stood about her. She could notsee the shapes, save dimly now and again as they moved, but their eyes shecould see, their great calm, pitiful eyes, which looked down on her, asthe eye of a giant might look down upon a babe. They were terrible, butshe did not fear them so much as the loneliness, for at least they lived.
One of the shapes bent over her, for its holy eyes drew near to her, andshe heard a voice in her heart asking her for what great cause she haddared to journey hither before the time. She answered, in her heart, notwith her lips, that she was bereaved of all she loved and came to seekthem. Then; still in her heart, she heard that voice command:
"Let all this Rachel's dead be brought before her."
Instantly doors swung open at the end of that grey hall, and through themwith noiseless steps, with shadowy wings, floated a being that bore in itsarms a child. Before her it stayed, and the light of its starry headillumined the face of the child. She knew it at once--it was that babybrother whose bones lay by the shore of the African sea. It awoke from itssleep, it opened its eyes, it stretched out its arms and smiled at her.Then it was gone.
Other Shapes appeared, each of them bearing its burden--a companion whohad died at school, friends of her youth and childhood whom she hadthought yet living, a young man who once had wished to marry her and whowas drowned, the soldier whom she had killed to save the life of Noie. Atthe sight of him she shrank, for his blood was on her hands, but he onlysmiled like the rest, and was borne away, to be followed by thatwitch-doctoress whom the Zulus had slain because of her, who neithersmiled nor frowned but passed like one who wonders.
Then another shadow swept down the hall, and in its arms her mother--hermother with joyful eyes, who held thin hands above her as though inblessing, and to whom she strove to speak but strove in vain. She wasborne on still blessing her, and where she had been was her father, whoblessed her also, and whose presence seemed to shed peace upon her soul.He pointed upwards and was gone, gazing at her earnestly, and lo! a formof darkness cast something at her feet. It was Ishmael who knelt beforeher, Ishmael whose tormented face gazed up at her as though imploringpardon.
A struggle rent her heart. Could she forgive? Oh! could she forgive himwho had slain them all? Now she was aware that the place was filled withthe points of light that were Spirits, and that every one of them lookedat her awaiting the free verdict of her heart. Rank upon rank, also, themighty Shapes gathered about her, and in their arms her dead, and all ofthem looked and looked, awaiting the free verdict of her heart. Then itarose within her, drawn how she knew not from every fibre of her infinitebeing, it arose within her, that spirit of pity and of pardon. As the deadhad stretched out their arms above her, so she stretched out her arms overthe head of that tortured soul, and for the first time her lips were givenpower to speak.
"As I hope for pardon, so I pardon," she said. "Go in peace!"
Voices and trumpets caught up the words, and through the grey hall theyrang and echoed, proclaimed for ever and as they died away he too wasgone, and with him went the myriad points of flame, in each of whichgleamed a tiny face. She looked about her seeking another Spirit, thatSpirit she had, travelled so far and dared so much to find. But there cameonly a little dwarf that shambled alone down the great hall. She knew himat once for Pani, the priest, he who had been crushed in the tempest,Pani, the brother of Eddo. No Shape bore him, for he who on earth had beenhalf a ghost, could walk this ghost-world on his mortal feet, or so hermind conceived. Past her he shuffled shamefaced, and was gone.
Now the great doors at the end of the hall closed; from far away she couldsee them roll together like lightning-severed clouds, and once more thatawful loneliness overcame her. Her knees gave way beneath her, she sankdown upon the floor, one little spot of white in its expanse, wishing thatthe roof of rock would fall and hide her. She covered her face with hergolden hair, and wept behind its veil. She looked up and saw two greateyes gazing at her--no face, only two great, steady eyes. Then a voicespeaking in her heart asked her why she wept, whose desire had beenfulfilled, and she answered that it was because she could not find himwhom she sought, Richard Darrien. Instantly the tongues and trumpets tookup the name.
"Richard Darrien!" they cried, "Richard Darrien!"
But no Shape swept in bearing the spirit of Richard in its arms.
"He is not here," said the voice in her heart. "Go, seek him in some otherworld."
She grew angry.
"Thou mockest me," she answered, "He is dead, and this is the home of thedead; therefore he must be here. Shadow, thou mockest me."
"I mock not," came the swift answer. "Mortal, look now and learn."
Again the doors burst open, and through them poured the infinite rout ofthe dead. That hall would not hold them all, therefore it grew and grewtill her sight could scarcely reach from wall to wall. Shapes headed andmarshalled them by races and by generations, perhaps because thus onlycould her human heart imagine them, but now none were borne in their arms.They came in myriads and in millions, in billions and tens of billions,men and women and children, kings and priests and beggars, all wearing thegarments of their age and country. They came like an ocean-tide, and theirfloating hair was the foam on the tide, and their eyes
gleamed like thefirst shimmer of dawn above the snows. They came for hours and days andyears and centuries, they came eternally, and as they came every finger ofthat host, compared to which all the sands of all the seas were but as ahandful, was pointed at her, and every mouth shaped the words:
"Is it I whom thou seekest?"
Million by million she scanned them all, but the face of Richard Darrienwas not there.
Now the dead Zulus were marching by. Down the stream of Time they marchedin their marshalled regiments. Chaka stood over her--she knew him by hislikeness to Dingaan--and threatened her with a little, red-handled spear,asking her how she dared to sit upon the throne of the Spirit of hisnation. She began to tell him her story, but as she spoke the widereceding walls of that grey hall fell apart and crumbled, and amidst amighty laughter the great-eyed Shapes rebuilt them to the fashion of thecave in the mound beneath the tree of the dwarf-folk. The sound of thetrumpets died away, the shrill, sweet music of the spheres grew far andfaint.
Rachel opened her eyes. There in front of her sat Nya, crooning her lowsong, and there, on either side crouched the mutes tapping upon theirlittle drums and gazing into their bowls of water, while against herleaned Noie, who stirred like one awaking from sleep. Ages and ages agowhen she started on that dread journey, the dwarf to her left wasstretching out her hand to steady the bowl at her feet, and now it had butjust reached the bowl. A great moth had singed its wings in the lamp, andwas fluttering to the ground--it was still in mid-air. Noie was placingher arm about her neck, and it had but begun to fall upon her shoulder!