A Struggle for Rome, v. 3

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  All necessary measures had been taken for the escape of the King.

  Rauthgundis and Wachis had made themselves thoroughly acquainted withthe pine-grove where the faithful freedman was to wait with the chargerof Dietrich of Bern.

  And it was with the confidence which completed preparations always lendto a stout heart, that Rauthgundis returned to the dwelling of thegaoler.

  But she turned pale when the latter rushed to meet her with an air ofdesperation, and dragged her across the threshold.

  Once in the room, he threw himself on his knees before her, beating hisbreast with his fists and tearing his grey hair.

  For some time he could find no words.

  "Speak," cried Rauthgundis, pressing her hand to her wildly-beatingheart. "Is he dead?"

  "No; but flight is impossible! all is lost! all is lost! An hour agothe Prefect came, and went down to the King. As usual, I opened bothdoors for him, the passage and the prison door, and then----"

  "Well?"

  "Then he took both keys from me, saying he would keep them in futurehimself."

  "And thou gavest them up!" said Rauthgundis, grinding her teeth.

  "How could I refuse? I did all I could. I kept them back and asked:'Master, do you no longer trust me?' He looked at me with a look thatseemed to pierce soul and body. 'From this moment,' he said, 'nolonger,' and snatched the keys from my hand."

  "And thou didst not prevent him?"

  "Oh, mistress, you are unjust! What could you have done in my place?Nothing!"

  "I should have strangled him. And now? What shall we do now?"

  "Do? Nothing! Nothing can be done!"

  "He _must_ be liberated. Dost thou hear? he _must_!"

  "But, mistress, I know not how."

  Rauthgundis caught up an axe which lay near the hearth.

  "We will open the doors by force."

  Dromon tried to take the axe from her hand.

  "It is impossible! They are thickly plated with iron."

  "Then send for the monster! Tell him that Witichis desires to speakwith him, and I will strike him down at the passage door."

  "And then? You rave! Let me go out. I will call Wachis away from hisuseless watch."

  "No! I cannot think that we shall not succeed. Perhaps that devil willreturn of his own accord. Perhaps--" she continued reflectively--"Ha!"she cried suddenly, "it must be so. He wants to murder him! He intendsto steal alone to the defenceless prisoner. But woe to him if he come!I will guard the threshold of that door as if it were a sanctuary, andwoe to him if he cross it!"

  She leaned heavily against the half-door of the room, and swung theponderous axe.

  But Rauthgundis was wrong.

  Not to kill his prisoner had the Prefect taken the keys into his ownkeeping.

  He had gone with them in his hand to the south side of the palace,where he gained admittance to Mataswintha's room.

  The stillness of death and the excitement of fever alternated sorapidly in Mataswintha, that Aspa could never look at her mistresswithout the tears rushing to her eyes.

  "Most beautiful daughter of the Germans," began the Prefect, "dissipatethe cloud which rests upon your white brow, and listen to me calmly."

  "How is the King? You leave me without news. You promised to let him gofree when all was decided. You promised that he should be taken overthe Alps. You have not kept your word."

  "I promised it on two conditions. You know them well, and you have notyet done your part. Tomorrow the nephew of the Emperor will return fromAriminum, ready to take you to Byzantium, and I desire you to give himhopes that you will become his bride. Your marriage with Witichis wasforced and null."

  "No, never! I have told you so before."

  "I am sorry for it, for the sake of my prisoner, for he will not seethe light of day again until you are on the way to Byzantium withGermanus."

  "Never!"

  "Do not irritate me, Mataswintha. The folly of the girl who bought theAres' head at such a high price, is, I think, outgrown. For that onceenamoured being has since sacrificed the Ares of the Goths to hisenemies. But if you still honour that dream of girlhood, then save theman you once loved."

  Mataswintha shook her head.

  "Until now I have treated you as a free agent, as a Queen. Donot remind me that you, as well as he, are in my power. You willbecome the wife--soon the widow--of this noble Prince--andJustinian--Byzantium--the whole world, will lie at your feet. Daughterof the Amelungs, is it possible that you do not love power?"

  "I only love---- Never!"

  "Then I must force you."

  She laughed.

  "_You?_ Force _me_?"

  "Yes, I force you! (She still loves the man she has ruined!) The secondcondition is this: that the prisoner fill up this empty space with aname--the name of the castle in which the treasure of the Goths isconcealed--and sign the declaration. He refuses to do this with astubbornness which begins to anger me. Seven times I, the conqueror,have been to him. He would never yet speak to me. And the first time Iwent I received a look for which alone he deserves to lose his haughtyhead."

  "He will never consent!"

  "That remains to be seen. The continual dropping of water wears away astone at last. But I can wait no longer. Early to-day I received wordthat that mad Hildebad, in a furious sally, has beaten Bessas sothoroughly, that the latter can scarcely continue the siege. Everywherethe Goths rebel. I must go and make an end of it, and extinguish theselast sparks with the water of deception, which is better than blood. Tothis end I must have the King's declaration, and the secret of thecastle. Therefore I tell you that if, before to-morrow, you do notconsent to accompany the Prince to Byzantium, and have not procured forme the signature of the prisoner, witnessed as such by yourself, Iwill--I swear by the Styx--kill----"

  Horrified at the awful expression of Cethegus's face, Mataswinthastarted from her seat and grasped his arm.

  "You will not kill _him_!"

  "Yes; or rather, I will first torture him, then blind him, andafterwards kill him!"

  "No! no!" screamed Mataswintha.

  "I am resolved. The executioners are ready. And you, you shall tell himthis. He will believe that I am in earnest when he sees your despair.You will perhaps be able to soften him; the sight of me only hardenshim. Perhaps he thinks that he is still in the hands of Belisarius,that tender-hearted hero. You will tell him in whose power he reallyis. Here are the documents--here the keys which open his prison. Youshall choose the hour yourself."

  A ray of joyful hope shone from Mataswintha'a eyes. Cethegus failed notto remark it, but, smiling calmly, he left the room.