Part 8 (1/2)
For two great burdens lay upon our souls The burden of desire to continue our search and to meet with its rehich ere sure that we should pluck amid the snows of yonder peak, if we could but co catastrophe at the hands of the Khania Atene She had ht in the Gateway, and, indeed, even if she had wished to, this would have been difficult, since I took care that he was never left for one hour alone No duenna could have clung to a Spanish princess more closely than I did to Leo Yet I could see well that her passion was no whit abated; that it grew day by day, indeed, as the fire swells in the heart of a volcano, and that soon it must break loose and spread its ruin round The oestures, and her tragic eyes
CHAPTER X
IN THE SHAMAN'S CHAMBER
One night Simbri asked us to dine with hihest tower of the palace-had we but known it, for us a fateful place indeed, for here the last act of the lad enough of any change When we had eaten Leo grew very thoughtful, then said suddenly-”Friend Si the Khania to let us go our ways”
Instantly the Sha old face became like a mask of ivory
”Surely you had better ask your favours of the lady herself, lord; I do not think that any in reason will be refused to you,” he replied
”Let us stop fencing,” said Leo, ”and consider the facts It has seemed to me that the Khania Atene is not happy with her husband”
”Your eyes are very keen, lord, and who shall say that they have deceived you?”
”It has seeood as to look on uessed that in the Gate-house yonder, if you have not forgotten what s, Simbri, that have to do with her and you”
The Shaman only stroked his beard and said: ”Proceed!”
”There is little to add, Si scandal on the name of the first lady in your land”
”nobly said, lord, nobly said, though here they do not trouble ed without scandal? If, for instance, the Khania chose to take another husband the whole land would rejoice, for she is the last of her royal race”
”How can she take another husband when she has one living?”
”True; indeed that is a question which I have considered, but the answer to it is thatvery heavily of late”
”You rily ”Well, I will have nothing to do with such a crime Do you understand me?”
As the words passed his lips I heard a rustle and turned my head Behind us were curtains beyond which the Shaman slept, kept his instruments of divination and worked out his horoscopes Now they had been drawn, and between them, in her royal array, stood the Khania still as a statue
”Who was it that spoke of crime?” she asked in a cold voice ”Was it you,frolad that you have heard my words, even if they should vex you”
”Why should it vex me to learn that there is one honest ht to do with murder? Nay, I honour you for those words Know also that no such foul thoughts have come near to me Yet, Leo Vincey, that which is written-is written”
”Doubtless, Khania; but what is written?”
”Tell him, Shaman”
Now Simbri passed behind the curtain and returned thence with a roll frons infallible that before the next new moon, the Khan Rassen will lie dead at the hands of the stranger lord who came to this country from across the mountains”
”Then the heavens have declared a lie,” said Leo contemptuously
”That is as you will,” answered Atene; ”but so it must befall, not by my hand or those of my servants, but by yours And then?”
”Why by mine? Why not by Holly's? Yet, if so, then doubtless I shall suffer the punish ,” he replied exasperated
”You are pleased towhat a husband this man is to me”
Now I felt that the crisis had come, and so did Leo, for he looked her in the face and said-”Speak on, lady, say all you wish; perhaps it will be better for us both”
”I obey you, lord Of the beginning of this fate I know nothing, but I read froe that is open to me It has to do with this present life of mine Learn, Leo Vincey, that from my childhood onwards you have haunted me Oh! when first I saw you yonder by the river, your face was not strange to me, for I knew it-I kneell in dreams When I was a little maid and slept one day amidst the flowers by the river's brim, it cah it is true that your face was younger then Afterwards again and again I saw it in ic ofyears while I felt that you were drawing near toonward and outward through the peoples of the world; across the hills, across the plains, across the sands, across the snows, on to ht not three ether here studying the lore that he has taughtits secrets from the past, a vision came to me
”Look you, I was lost in a charives it strength to stray afar and to see those things that have been and that are yet to be Then I saw you and your co to a point of broken ice, over the river of the gulf I do not lie; it is written here upon the scroll Yes, it was you, the man of my dreams, and no other, and we knew the place and hurried thither and waited by the water, thinking that perhaps beneath it you lay dead
”Then, while aited, lo! two tiny figures appeared far above upon the icy tongue that no man may climb, and oh! you know the rest Spellbound we stood and saw you slip and hang, saw you sever the thin cord and rush doards, yes, and saw that braveafter you
”But mine was the hand that drew you from the torrent, where otherwise youpast and of to-day, aye, and of all time Yes, you and no other, Leo Vincey It was this spirit that foresaw your danger and this hand which delivered you from death, and-and would you refuse them nohen I, the Khania of Kaloon, proffer them to you?”
So she spoke, and leaned upon the table, looking up into his face with lips that tre eyes
”Lady,” said Leo, ”you saved h perhaps it would have been better if you had let ive me the question, if all this tale be true, why did you h a knife had pricked her
”Oh! blame me not,” she moaned, ”it was but policy which bound ed me to it; yes, even you, Siedthat it was necessary to end the war between Rassen's faction and my own That I was the last of the true race,also that s were but sick phantasies So, alas! alas! I yielded, thinking to reatest of them, if all I hear is true,” co ”Well, I do not blah now you tellthe life of this husband of your own choice, for so forsooth it is decreed by fate, that fate which you have shaped Yes, I must do what you will not do, and kill him Also your tale of the decree of the heavens and of that vision which led you to the precipice to save us is false Lady, you hty' Hesea, the Spirit of the Mountain, so co up and facing him, while the jaw of old Silazed eyes
”In the same way that I know much else Lady, it would have been better if you had spoken all the truth”
Now Atene's face went ashen and her cheeks sank in
”Who told you?” she whispered ”Was it you, Magician?” and she turned upon her uncle like a snake about to strike ”Oh! if so, be sure that I shall learn it, and though we are of one blood and have loved each other, I will pay you back in agony”
”Atene, Atene,” Si up his claw-like hands, ”you knoell it was not I”
”Then it was you, you ape-faced wanderer, you er of the evil Gods? Oh! why did I not kill you at the first? Well, that fault can be reician?”