Part 8 (2/2)
”Aye,” she answered, ”I think that you are, and that you have a mistress ells in fire”
”Then, Khania,” I said, ”such servants and such mistresses are ill to meddle with Say, what answer has the Hesea sent to your report of our co to this land?”
”Listen,” broke in Leo before she could reply ”I go to ask a certain question of the Oracle on yonder mountain peak With your will or without it I tell you that I go, and afterwards you can settle which is the stronger-the Khania of Kaloon or the Hesea of the House of Fire”
Atene listened and for a while stood silent, perhaps because she had no answer Then she said with a little laugh-”Is that your will? Well, I think that yonder are none whom you would wish to wed There is fire and to spare, but no lovely, shas;” and as though at soht her breath Then she went on in the same cold voice-”Wanderers, this land has its secrets, into which no foreigner ain that while I live you set no foot upon that Mountain Know also, Leo Vincey, I have baredquest of yours is not for me, as I was sure inthe shape of woman, whom you will never find Now I , but you have learned too ht and before next sundown answer Having offered, I do not go back, and tomorrow you shall tell me whether you will take me when the tireat and happy in ether, you will-die Choose then between the vengeance of Atene and her love, since I aht a stranger and was-refused”
Slowly, slowly, in an intense whisper she spoke the words, that fell one by one from her lips like drops of blood from a death wound, and there followed silence Never shall I forget the scene There the old wizard watched us through his horny eyes, that blinked like those of soht bird There stood the ie written on her face and vengeance in her glance There, facing her, was the great for back his doubts and fears with the iron hand of will And there to the right was I, noting all things and wondering how long I, ”the familiar,” who had earned Atene's hate, would be left alive upon the earth
Thus we stood, watching each other, till suddenly I noted that the flaht strike upon my face Then I looked round, and became aware of another presence For yonder in the shadoed the tall form of a man See! it shambled forward silently, and I saw that its feet were naked Now it reached the ring of the lah
It was the Khan
Atene, his wife, looked up and saw him, and never did I admire that passionate woman's boldness more, who admired little else about her save her beauty, for her face showed neither anger nor fear, but contempt only And yet she had some cause to be afraid, as she well knew
”What do you here, Rassen?” she asked, ”creeping on me with your naked feet? Get you back to your drink and the ladies of your court”
But he still laughed on, an hyena laugh
”What have you heard?” she said, ”that led out between his screalee ”Oho! I have heard the Khania, the last of the true blood, the first in the land, the proud princess ill not let her robes be soiled by those of the 'ladies of the court' and my wife, ers-because I was her cousin and a rival ruler, and the richest lord in all the land, and thereby she thought she would increase her power-I have heard her offer herself to a nareat yellow beard, and I have heard him, who hates and would escape frohter-”refuse her in such a fashi+on as I would not refuse the looman in the palace
”I have heard also-but that I always knew-that I aers, I was made mad by a hate-philtre which that old Rat,” and he pointed to Sie feast It worked well, for truly there is no one whom I hate more than the Khania Atene Why, I cannot bear her touch, it makes me sick I loathe to be in the same room with her; she taints the air; there is a smell of sorceries about her
”It seems that it takes you thus also, Yellow-beard? Well, if so, ask the old Rat for a love drink; he can mix it, and then you will think her sweet and sound and fair, and spend soh Man, don't be a fool, the cup that is thrust into your hands looks goodly Drink, drink deep You'll never guess the liquor's bad-till to-h it be ain Rassen screamed in his unholy mirth
To all these bitter insults, veno of truth, Atene listened without a word Then, she turned to us and bowed
”My guests,” she said, ”I pray you pardon me for all I cannot help You have strayed to a corrupt and evil land, and there stands its crown and flower Khan Rassen, your doom is written, and I do not hasten it, because once for a little while ere near to each other, though you have been naught to me for this many a year save a snake that haunts my house Were it otherwise, the next cup you drank should still your ives its venoroith shame and woe”
The old Shaman hobbled forward, but when he came face to face with the Khan he stopped and looked him up and doith his dim eyes Then he said-”Rassen, I saw you born, the son of an evil woman, and your father none knew but I The flaht upon the Fire-mountain, and the stars hid their faces, for none of them would own you, no, not even those of the most evil influence I saw you wed and rise drunken froe feast, your ar the land for your cruel pleasure, turning the fertile fields into great parks for your ga those who tilled them to starve upon the road or drown themselves in ditches for very misery And soon, soon I shall see you die in pain and blood, and then the chain will fall from the neck of this noble lady whom you revile, and another more worthy shall take your place and rear up children to fill your throne, and the land shall have rest again”
Now I listened to these words-and none who did not hear theuess the fearful bitterness hich they were spoken-expecting every moment that the Khan would draw the short sword at his side and cut the oldbefore soht of whose whip he knows Yes, answering nothing, he shrank into the corner and cowered there, while Si Atene by the hand, went from the roo to the crouching figure with his staff, said-”Khan Rassen, I raised you up, and now I cast you down Re-in blood and pain”
Their footsteps died away, and the Khan crept fro about hione?” he asked of us, wiping his damp broith his sleeve; and I saw that fear had sobered him and that for awhile the one
”You think me a coward,” he went on passionately, ”and it is true, I am afraid of him and her-as you, Yellow-beard, will be afraid when your turn coth and crazedI aainst their wizardries? Look you now Once I was a prince, the lord of half this land, noble of forht of heart, and I loved her accursed beauty as all must love it on whoht e
”So I stayed the great war and married the Khania and became the Khan; but better had it been for me if I had crept into her kitchen as a scullion, than into her chamber as a husband For from the first she hated me, and thefeast she doctored me with that poison which made me loathe her, and thus divorced us; whichinto my brain like fire”
”If she hated you so sorely, Khan,” I asked, ”why did she not ht and have done with you?”
”Why? Because of policy, for I ruled half the land Because it suited her also that I should live on, a thing to mock at, since while I was alive no other husband could be forced upon her by the people For she is not a woht until to-night”-and he glowered at Leo
”She knew also that although I must shrink from her, I still love her in my heart, and can still be jealous, and therefore that I should protect her fros tore awhile ago, because he was powerful and sought her favour and would not be denied But now,” and again he glowered at Leo, ”now I knohy she has always seemed so cold It is because there lived a man to melt whose ice she husbanded her fire”
Then Leo, who all this while had stood silent, stepped forward
”Listen, Khan,” he said ”Did the ice seeo?”
”No-unless you lied But that was only because the fire is not yet hot enough Wait awhile until it burns up, and ainst Atene?”
”And what if the ice desires to flee the fire? Khan, they said that I should kill you, but I do not seek your blood You think that I would rob you of your wife, yet I have no such thought towards her We desire to escape this town of yours, but cannot, because its gates are locked, and we are prisoners, guarded night and day Hear me, then You have the power to set us free and to be rid of us”
The Khan looked at hio? You could tuhts”
”To the Fire-mountain, where we have business”
Rassen stared at him
”Is it I who am mad, or are you, ish to visit the Fire- to ht return again and bring others with you Perchance, having its lady, you wish this land also by right of conquest It has foes up yonder”
”It is not so,” answered Leo earnestly ”As one man to another, I tell you it is not so I ask no smile of your wife and no acre of your soil Be wise and help us to be gone, and live on undisturbed in such fashi+on ashis long ar seemed to come into his mind that moved hihs
”I a,” he said, ”what Atene would say if she woke up to find her sweet bird flown She would search for you and be angry with rier than she is,” I answered ”Give us a night's start and let her search never so closely, she shall not find us”
”You forget, Wanderer, that she and her old Rat have arts Those who knehere to ht knohere to seek you And yet, and yet, it would be rare to see her rage 'Oh, Yellow-beard, where are you, Yellow-beard?' he went on,his wife's voice 'Coain he laughed; then said suddenly-”When can you be ready?”
”In half an hour,” I answered
”Good Go to your chambers and prepare I will join you there presently”
So ent