CHAPTER LIX
THE LAST SACRIFICE TO BARRAN-SATHANAS
And as Laurence MacKim, crouched in the dim obscurity of the curtaineddoorway, looked forth, this is what he saw.
Maud Lindesay and Margaret Douglas advanced into the centre of thetemple where was a slab of white marble let into the floor. As if byinstinct the two maids stopped upon it, standing hand in hand beforethe iron altar and the vast shadowy image which gloomed above andappeared to reach forward in act to clutch them. After the first checkin his hideous incantations, Gilles de Retz had returned to his ownchamber, in which, after his entrance, the light gleamed brighter andmore fiercely red than ever. As the maidens stood on the marble squareLa Meffraye went to the door and called certain words within,conveying some message which Laurence could not hear.
Then with an assured carriage and haughty stride came forth themarshal, his grey hair and blue-black beard in strong contrast withhis haggard corpse-pale face, from which the momentary glow of youthhalf-restored had already faded, as fades a footprint upon wet sand.
Gilles de Sille and Poitou bowed silently before him as men who havedone their commission, and who retire to await further orders. But LaMeffraye, once more apparent, stood her ground.
"Here are the dainty maids from the far land; no beggars' brats arethey. No strays and pickings from the streets. No, nor yet sillyvillage innocents who follow La Meffraye from the play-fields throughthe woodlands to the Paradise of our Lord Gilles! Hasten not the joy!Let these pearls of youth and beauteousness die indeed, but let themdie slowly and deliciously. And in the last blood of an ancient racelet our master bathe and find the new life he seeks. Hear us, OBarran-Sathanas, and grant our prayer!"
Then La Meffraye approached the maids and would have touched the dressof the little Margaret, as if to order it more daintily for thepleasing of her master's eye. But Maud Lindesay thrust her aside likean unclean thing.
Whereat La Meffraye laughed till her rusty black cloak quivered andrustled from hood to hem.
"Ah, my proud lady," she croaked, "in a little, in a very little, youtoo will be calling upon La Meffraye to save you, to pity you. But I,La Meffraye, will gloat over each drop of blood that distils from yourfair neck. Aha, you shall change your tone when at the whitethroat-apple which your sweetheart would have loved to kiss, you feelthe bite of the sharp slow knife. Then you will not thrust aside LaMeffraye. Then you shall cry and none shall pity. Then she will spurnyou from her knees."
"Out!" said Gilles de Retz, briefly, and like some inferior impingdevilkin before the great Master of Evil, La Meffraye retreatedhobbling to the doorway of the marshal's chamber, where she crouchednodding and chuckling, mumbling inaudible words, and mingling themever with her dry cackling laughter.
Gilles de Retz stopped at the corner of the platform and looked longat Maud and Margaret where they stood on the great central square ofmarble. It was the Maid who spoke first.
"Dear Messire," she said sweetly and almost confidently, "you have alittle girl of your own. I know, for I have played with her. I loveher. Therefore you will not hurt us. I am sure you will not hurt us.You are going to send us back in a ship to our own country, because itis lonely here where Maud and I know no one!"
The marshal smiled upon her his inhuman inscrutable smile. He leanedagainst a pillar of strangely twisted design, and contemplated the twovictims at his ease.
"Life is sweet to you, is it not?" he said at last; "you are trulyhappy, being young, and so have no need to be made young again."
"Oh, but I am very old," cried the Maid, gaining some confidence fromthe quiet of his voice, "I am nearly eight years old. And our Maudiehere, she is--oh, a dreadful age! She is very, very old!"
"You would not like to die?" suggested Gilles de Retz, with a certainsoft insinuation.
"Oh, no," said Margaret Douglas, "I am going to live long andlong--till every one in the world loves me. I am going to help everyone to get what he most desires. And you know I can, for I shall bevery rich. And if what they say is true, and I am Princess ofGalloway, I shall marry and be a very great lady. But I shall nevermarry any one who is not a Douglas."
The marshal nodded.
"I do not think that you shall marry any one who is not a Douglas!" hesaid, with a certain grave and not discourteous irony in his tones.
"Yes," the little Maid went on. She had lost all fear in the very actof speech. "Yes, and Maud, she is going to marry Sholto--and they willbe very happy, for they love each other so. I know it, for she told meto-night just before you sent for us to come to your feast. That waskind of you to remember us, though it was past bed-time. But now, goodmarshal, you will send us back, will you not? Now, look kind to-night.You will be glad afterwards that you were good to two maids who neverharmed you, but are ready to love you if you prove kind to them."
"Hush, Margaret," said Maud Lindesay. "It is useless to speak suchwords to such a man."
The Marshal de Retz turned sharply to her.
"Ah," he said, with a curious bite in his speech, "then, my younglady, you would not love me, even if I were to let you go!"
"I should hate and abominate you for ever and ever, even if you helpedme into Paradise!" quoth Maud Lindesay, giving him defiance in a fulleye-volley.
"So," he said calmly, "I am indeed likely to help you into Paradisethis very night. That is, unless Saint Peter of the Keys makes up hismind that so outspoken and tricksome a maid had best take a fewthousand years of purgatory--as it were on her way upwards, _enpassant_."
A sudden lowering passion at this point altered his countenance.
"No," he thundered, standing up erect from the pillar against whichhe had been leaning, and his whole voice and bearing changing pastdescription, "it is enough--listen! I will be brief with you. I havebrought both of you here that you may die. I cannot expect of you thatyou will understand or appreciate my motives, which are indeed abovethe knowledge of children. This is a temple to a Great God, and hedemands the sacrifice of the noblest and most innocent blood. I do youthe honour to believe that it is here to my hand. Also, your deathswill cause a number of people both in Scotland and elsewhere to siteasier in their seats. Lastly, I had sworn that you should die if yourfriends from Scotland came to trouble me. They have come, and Gillesde Retz keeps his word--as doth the Master whom he serveth!"
He bowed in the direction of the vast shadowy figure, which toLaurence's eye appeared to turn towards his niche with a leer, as ifto say, "Listen to him. What a fool he is!"
The maids stood silent, not comprehending aught save that they were todie. Then suddenly Gilles de Retz cried out in his loudest militarytones--"Henriet, Poitou, De Sille, bind these maidens upon the ironaltar, that Barran-Sathanas may feed his eyes on their beauty andrejoice!"
And as they stood motionless upon the square of white marble, theservitors came forward and led them to the great altar of iron. Theylifted the maidens up and laid their bodies crosswise upon the vastgrid, the bars of which were as thick as a man's arm, arranging themso that their heads hung without support over the bar next the shadowyimage.
As they bound them rudely hand and foot, the long and beautiful hairof Maud Lindesay escaped from its fastenings and fell down till itreached the bath of red porphyry which extended underneath the wholelength of the altar of iron.
Then through all the Temple of Evil there ensued sudden silence. Not asob or a moan escaped from the doomed maidens, and the feet of theassistants fell silent and soft as the paws of wild beasts upon theebon floor.
Gilles de Retz waited till his acolytes had retired to their appointedplaces, where they stood like carven statues watching what shouldhappen. Then slowly and deliberately he ascended to the broad platformfrom which the iron altar rose, and stood with his arms folded overhis flame-coloured robe, looking gloatingly down, upon his innocentvictims. Maud Lindesay was the nearer to him, and her unbound hairfell back and touched the peak of his pointed shoe of crimson Cordovanleather.
With a quick movement he
caught up a handful of its rich luxurianceand allowed it to run through his fingers like sand again and yetagain, with apparent delight in the sensation.
Even as he did so the dim figure of the horned demon above appeared tolean forward as if to touch him, and with a rushing noise the greathour-glass set upon a pedestal at the foot of the image turned itselfcompletely over. Gilles with a startled air turned also, and seeingwhat it was he laughed a strange hollow laugh.
"It is indeed the hour, the hour of doom, fair maids," he said,looking down upon them as deferentially as if he had been paying hiscourt in the great hall of Thrieve, "but it shall not pass withouttaking with it your souls to another, and I trust a higher, sphere!"
He paused, but no complaint or appeal reached his cruel and inexorableear. The certain graciousness of Providence to those in extreme perilseemed to have blunted the edge of fear in the innocent victims. Theylay still and apparently without consciousness upon the iron altar.The red glow played upon their faces, shining through from the innerchamber, and the figure of the marshal stood out black against it.
On the floor lay the goblet from which he had drunk the Red Milk.
"Give me the knife!" he cried, sudden as a trumpet that is blown.
And reaching a withered hand within the marshal's chamber as if todetach something from the wall, La Meffraye hobbled quickly across thealtar platform, bearing in her hand a shining weapon of steel, broadof blade and curved at the point. She placed the ebony handle in themarshal's hand, who weighed it lovingly in his grasp.
Then for the first time since the men had bound her, the sweetchildish eyes of little Margaret were unclosed and looked up at Gillesde Retz with the touching wonder of helplessness and innocence.
At that moment the image appeared to Laurence to beckon to him out ofthe gloom. A quick and nervous resolve ran through his veins. Hismuscles became like steel within his flesh. He rose to his feet, and,without pause for thought, rushed across the chapel from the nichewhere he had been hidden.
"Murderer! Fiend! I will kill you!" he cried, and with his dagger barein his hand he would have thrown himself upon the marshal. But swifterthan the rush of the young man in his strength there came another fromthe door of the inner chamber.
With a deep-throated roar of wholly bestial fury, Astarte the she-wolfsprang upon Laurence, and, though he sank his dagger twice to the hiltin her hairy chest, she over-bore him and they fell to the ground withher teeth gripping his shoulder. Laurence felt the hot life-blood ofthe beast spurt forth and mingle with his own. Then a flood ofswirling waters seemed to bear him suddenly away into the unknown.
* * * * *
When Laurence MacKim came to himself he emerged into a chill world inwhich he felt somehow infinitely lonely and forsaken. Next he grewslowly conscious that his feet and arms were bound tightly with cordsthat cut painfully into the flesh. Then he realised that he, too, hadtaken his place beside the maids upon the altar of iron. Strangelyenough he did not feel afraid nor even wish himself elsewhere. He onlywondered what would happen next.
He opened his eyes and lo! they looked directly into the leeringcountenance of the monstrous image. Yet there seemed somethingcuriously encouraging and even beneficent about the aspect of thedemon. But so often as Gilles de Retz passed the triple array of hisvictims with his back to the image, the regard of the sculptured devilfollowed him, grim and mocking.
Words of angry altercation came to the ears of Laurence MacKim.
"I tell you," cried the voice of Gilles de Retz, "I will not sparethem. Well nigh had I succeeded. Almost I was young again. I wastasting the first sweetness of knowledge wide as that of the gods. Ifelt the new life stirring within me. But I had not enough of theblood of innocence, which is the only worthy libation toBarran-Sathanas, who alone can bestow youth and life."
Then the Lady Sybilla answered him. "I pray you, Gilles de Retz, asyou hope for mercy, slay not these maidens and this youth. Take me,and bind me, instead, for the sacrifice of death. I have wroughtenough of evil! Take of my blood and work out your purpose. Let megive you the libation you desire. Gilles de Retz, if ever I have aidedyou, grant me this boon now. I beseech you, let these innocents go,and bind me upon the altar in their places."
Long and loud laughed Gilles de Retz, a hard, evil, and relentlesslaugh.
"Sybilla de Thouars an innocent maiden's sacrifice! Barran-Sathanashimself laughs at the jest. He would have no pleasure in your death.Soul and body you are his already. He desires only the blood andsuffering of the innocent--of those on whom he has never set his mark.Nay, these three shall surely die, and in that bath of porphyryhollowed out under his altar I will lave me from head to foot in theRed Milk of innocence. I have no more need of you, Sybilla mine. Youhave done your work, and for your reward you can now depart to yourown place. Out of my way, I say. Henriet, Poitou, quick! Remove thiswoman from before the altar!"
Then, struggling strongly in their hands, the servitors carried theLady Sybilla to the farther end of the chapel, where they abode oneither side, holding her fast. And as the last grains of sand began toswirl towards their fall and a little whirlpool to form funnel-wise inthe midst of the hour-glass, the butcher was left alone with hisvictims upon the platform of the iron altar.
Gilles de Retz turned towards the image, and, lifting up his handsolemnly, he cried in a great voice, "O Barran-Sathanas, be pleased tobehold this innocent blood spilled slowly in thine honour. As the redfount flows and the red fire burns, restore my youth and make mestrong. Faithfully will I serve thee and thee alone, renouncing allother. O Barran-Sathanas, great and only Lord, receive my sacrifice.It is the hour!"
And so saying he laid hold of Maud Lindesay by the hair, and raisedthe curved knife on high.
Then from the end of the chapel to which the Lady Sybilla had beentaken there came a sound. With a great despairing effort she burstfrom her captors' hands and ran forward. She knelt down on the marbleslab whereon the maids had stood at their first entering, and as sheknelt she held aloft a golden crucifix.
"If there be a God in heaven, let him manifest himself now!" shecried, "by the virtue of this cross of His son Jesus Christ, I callupon Him!"
Then suddenly all the place was filled with a mighty rushing noise.The last grains ran low in the hour-glass. It shifted in its stand andturned over. A tremor like that of an earthquake shook all the castleto its foundations. The solid keep itself rocked like a vessel in astormy sea. The great image overturned, and by its fall Gilles deRetz was stricken senseless to the earth. The next moment, likeflood-gates burst by a mighty tide, the doors of the temple wereopened with a clang, and through them a crowd of armed men camerushing in with triumphant shouts and angry cries of vengeance.
Sholto was far ahead of the others, and, as if led by the unerringinstinct of love, he ran to the altar whereon his love lay white asdeath, but without a mark upon her fair body.
It was the work of a moment to cut their cords and chafe the numbedwrists and ankles. James Douglas took the little Margaret. Sholto hadhis sweetheart in his arms, while Laurence recovered quickly enough toaid his father in securing Gilles de Retz and his servants. LaMeffraye they took not, for she lay dead within the inner chamber,where yet burned the great fire which was used to consume the bodiesof the demon's victims. Two gaping wounds were found in her breast, inthe same place in which the dagger of Laurence MacKim had smitten theshe-wolf as she sprang upon him. But Astarte, woman witch orwere-wolf, was never seen again, neither by starlight, moonlight, noryet in the eye of day. Truly of Gilles de Retz was it said, "His demonhath deserted him."
Beneath in the courts and quadrangles, swarming through the towers andclambering perilously on the roofs, surged the press of the furiouspopulace. It was all that Duke John and his officers could do to keepthe prisoners in ward, and to prevent them from being torn limb fromlimb (as had perhaps been fittest), and tossed alive into the flamingfuneral pyre of Castle Machecoul, which, lighted by a hundred hands,presently began to
flame like a volcano to the skies.
For the hour that comes to every evil-doer had come to Gilles de Retz.And in that hour, as it shall ever be, the devil in whom he trustedhad forsaken him.
But the Lady Sybilla stood on the garden tower that in happier dayshad been her pleasaunce, and beheld. And as she watched she kissed thegolden crucifix of the child Margaret. And her heart rejoiced becausethe lives of the innocent as well as the death of the guilty had beengiven her for her portion.
"And now, O Lord, I am ready to pay the price!" she said.