Part 6 (1/2)
Then into the door, looked through one of the cracks in its wood Opposite tola on a table at which Simbri was seated, stood the Khania Truly she was a beauteous sight, for she wore robes of royal purple, and on her brow a little coronet of gold, beneath which her curling hair streauessed at once that she had arrayed herself thus for sorace that is known to wo at her earnestly, with fear and doubt written on even his cold, impassive features
”What passed between you, then?” he asked, peering at her
”I questioned hi to this land, and wrung from him the answer that it was to seek some beauteous woman-he would say no more I asked him if she wereelse, I think-that it would be hard to say, but that she had been different Then I said that though it behooved me not to speak of such a matter, there was no lady in Kaloon whom men held to be so fair as I; moreover, that I was its ruler, and that I and no other had saved him from the water Aye, and I added that ht”
”Have done, niece,” said Simbri ih, doubtless What then?”
”Then he said that it ain, and studied h fire' To this I replied that the only fires I had passed were those of the spirit, and that I dwelt in them now He said, 'Show me your hair,' and I placed a lock of it in his hand Presently he let it fall, and from that satchel which he wears about his neck drew out another tress of hair-oh! Simbri, my uncle, the loveliest hair that ever eyes beheld, for it was soft as silk, and reached fro in the sunshi+ne ever shone as did that fragrant tress
”'Yours is beautiful,' he said, 'but see, they are not the same'
”'Mayhap,' I answered, 'since no woht,' he replied, 'for she whom I seek was h I tried hiainst this Unknown rising inlest I should utter words that were best unsaid, I left him Now I bid you, search the books which are open to your wisdom and tell me of this woman whom he seeks, who she is, and where she dwells Oh! search them swiftly, that I may find her and-kill her if I can”
”Aye, if you can,” answered the Shain our quest? Now, this letter from the Mountain that the head-priest Oros sent to your court a while ago?”-and he selected a parchment from a pile which lay upon the table and looked at her
”Read,” she said, ”I would hear it again”
So he read: ”From the Hesea of the House of Fire, to Atene, Khania of Kaloon
”My sister-Warning has reached ers of a western race journey to your land, seeking my Oracle, of which they would ask a question On the first day of the next reat-uncle, the wise Sha the river in the gulf at the foot of the ancient road, for by that steep path the strangers travel Aid the that in this matter I shall hold him and you to account Myself I will not meet them, since to do so would be to break the pact between our powers, which says that the Hesea of the Sanctuary visits not the territory of Kaloon, save in war Also their co is otherwise appointed”
”It would see down the parchment, ”that these are no chance wanderers, since Hes awaits them”
”Aye, they are no chance wanderers, since my heart awaited one of them also Yet the Hesea cannot be that woman, for reasons which are known to you”
”There are ested the Shaman in a dry voice, ”if indeed any woman has to do with this matter”
”I at least have to do with it, and he shall not go to the Mountain”
”Hes is powerful, my niece, and beneath these smooth words of hers lies a dreadful threat I say that she is hty from of old and has servants in the earth and air arned her of the co of these men, and arn her of what befalls them I know it, who hate her, and to your royal house of Rassen it has been known for eneration Therefore thwart her not lest ill befall us all, for she is a spirit and terrible She says that it is appointed that they shall go--”
”And I say it is appointed that he shall not go Let the other go if he desires”
”Atene, be plain, ill you with the man called Leo-that he should becoht in the eyes, and answered boldly-”Nay, I will that he should become my husband”
”First he must will it too, who seems to have no mind that way Also, how can a woman have two husbands?”
She laid her hand upon his shoulder and said-”I have no husband You knoell, Sie you by the close bond of blood between us, brew ht--”
”That we may be bound yet closer in a bond of murder! Nay, Atene, I will not; already your sin lies heavy on my head You are very fair; take the man in your own net, if you may, or let him be, which is better far”
”I cannot let him be Would that I were able I must love him as I must hate the other whoreat Shaman, you that peep and mutter, you who can read the future and the past, tell me what you have learned froht through many a secret, toilsoht, the fate of yonder man is intertwined with yours, but between you and hihty wall that ht that in death you and he-aye, and I also, shall be very near together”
”Then come death,” she exclaimed with sullen pride, ”for thence at least I'll pluck out my desire”
”Be not so sure,” he answered, ”for I think that the Power follows us even down this dark gulf of death I think also that I feel the sleepless eyes of Hes watching our secret souls”
”Then blind them with the dust of illusions-as you can To-er to the Mountain and tell the Hesea that two old strangers have arrived-mark you, old-but that they are very sick, that their limbs were broken in the river, and that when they have healed again, I will send them to ask the question of her Oracle-that is, some three moons hence Perchance she may believe you, and be content to wait; or if she does not, at least no more words I must sleep or s dreamless rest, for never did I need it lanced towards the door
Then I left, and not too soon, for as I crept down the darksoe, I heard it open behind me
CHAPTER VIII
THE DEATH-HOUNDS
It , or a little past it, when the Shaman Simbri came into ,” I answered, ”like a log A drugged man could not have rested more soundly”
”Indeed, friend Holly, and yet you look fatigued”
”My dreams troubled s But surely by your face, friend Simbri, you cannot have slept at all, for never yet have I seen you with so weary an air”
”I aht I spent up on ates?” I asked ”Those by which we entered this kingdom, for, if so, I would rather watch than travel them”
”The Gates of the Past and of the Future Yes, those thich you entered, if you will; for did you not travel out of a wondrous Past towards a Future that you cannot guess?”
”But both of which interest you,” I suggested
”Perhaps,” he answered, then added, ”I come to tell you that within an hour you are to start for the city, whither the Khania has but now gone on to make ready for you”
”Yes; only you told ain and prepared to march, but say, how is my foster-son?”
”He mends, he mends But you shall see him for yourself It is the Khania's will Here co your robes, and with them I leave you”
So with their assistance I dressed ood, clean under-linen, then in oollen trousers and vest, and lastly in a fur-lined camel-hair robe dyed black that was very co overcoat A flat cap of the same material and a pair of boots made of untanned hide completed my attire
Scarcely was I ready when the yellow-faced servants, with es and stairs of the Gate-house to its door Here, topale and troubled, but otherwise as well as I could expect after his sickness He was attired like arments were of a finer quality, and the overcoat hite, with a hood to it, added, I suppose, to protect the wound in his head froht becarotesque or even re how I fared and where I had been hidden away, a greeting of which, as I could see, the warmth was not lost upon Sih now that ere together again, and for the rest I would tell hiht us palanquins, carried, each of them, by two ponies, one of which was harnessed ahead and the other behind between long shaft-like poles In these we seated ourselves, and at a sign fro ponies by the bridle and we started, leaving behind us that griers to pass for eneration
For a e, till suddenly it took a turn, and the country of Kaloon lay stretched before us At our feet was a river, probably the saulf, where, fed by the mountain snows, it had its source Here it flowed rapidly, but on the vast, alluvial lands beneath becah the limitless plains till it was lost in the blue of the distance