Part 11 (2/2)
What ony of bewilderment This could certainly be no dream: it was real, for I ide awake Indeed, what did it all uided us unharer that all e with a motion of its hand? Why did it creep into the place thus at dead of night, like a spirit revisiting one beloved? Why did its presence cause me to awake and Leo to dream? Why did it draw out the tress; indeed, ho it that this tress was hidden there? And why-oh! why, at those tender and passionate words did it flit away at last like souide Minister, and Sword, that is, one who carries out decrees But what if they were its own decrees? What if this thing should be she e sought, Ayesha herself? Why should I tre that if so, our quest was ended, we had achieved? Oh! itterrible, so If Ayesha lived within those mummy-cloths, then it was a different Ayesha e had known and worshi+pped Well could I remember the white-draped for before she revealed her glorious face to us, we guessed the beauty and the majesty hidden beneath that veil by which her radiant life and loveliness incarnate could not be disguised
But what of this creature? I would not pursue the thought I was mistaken Doubtless she hat the priest Oros had said-soiven, and, doubtless, she had cohtue overca, when they were naturally less vivid, I made up my mind that, for various reasons, it would be wisest to say nothing of what I had seen to Leo Nor, indeed, did I do so until soht was pouring into the cha at my bedside I sat up and asked him what time it was, to which he answered with a smile, but in a low voice, that it lacked but two hours ofthat he had come to set my arm Now I sahy he spoke low, for Leo was still fast asleep
”Let his on nificantly, ”may still have more to suffer”
”What do you ht you told us that ere safe upon this Mountain”
”I told you, friend--” and he looked at me
”Holly is my name--”
”-friend Holly, that your bodies are safe I said nothing of all the rest of you Man is more than flesh and blood He is mind and spirit as well, and these can be injured also”
”Who is there that would injure theravely, ”you and your companion have come to a haunted land, not as mere wanderers, for then you would be dead ere now, but of set purpose, seeking to lift the veil froes Well, your aim is known and it may chance that it will be achieved But if this veil is lifted, it may chance also that you will find what shall send your souls shi+vering to despair and madness Say, are you not afraid?”
”Soe things and lived We have seen the very Light of Life roll by in uests of an Immortal, and watched Death seem to conquer her and leave us untouched Think you then that ill turn cowards now? Nay, we march on to fulfil our destinies”
At these words Oros showed neither curiosity nor surprise; it was as though I told hi, and with a courteous bow of his shaven head, ”within an hour you shall ive me, for I was bidden so to do, perhaps to try yourto the lord--” and again he looked at me
”Leo Vincey,” I said
”Leo Vincey, yes, Leo Vincey,” he repeated, as though the name were familiar to him but had slipped his mind ”But you have not answered ?”
”Not in the least; but you can do so if you hen he awakes”
”Nay, I think with you, that it would be but waste of words, for-forgive the coer does not flee from,” and he nodded towards Leo ”There, see how er swollen Noill bandage it, and within soain as it was before youin the Plains By the way, you will see hiain? Do the dead, then, come to life upon this Mountain?”
”Nay, but certain of thee of the rulers of Kaloon; also, I think, that the Khania has questions to ask of its Oracle”
”Who is its Oracle?” I asked with eagerness
”The Oracle,” he replied darkly, ”is a Voice It was ever so, was it not?”
”Yes; I have heard that from Atene, but a voice implies a speaker Is this speaker she whom you name Mother?”
”Perhaps, friend Holly”
”And is this Mother a spirit?”
”It is a point that has been much debated They told you so in the Plains, did they not? Also the Tribes think it on the Mountain Indeed, the thing see that all of us who live are flesh and spirit But you will forment and then we can discuss the matter There, your arm is finished Be careful now not to strike it or to fall, and look, your co over an hour later we started upon our upward journey I was again roomed and fed was somewhat rested, while to Leo a litter had been offered This he declined, however, saying that he had now recovered and would not be carried like a wo his spear as a staff We passed the fire-pit-now full of dead, white ashes, a which were mixed those of the witch-finder and his horrible cat-preceded by our dus, the people of the tribe who had returned to their village prostrated theone by
One of theh our escort of priests, ran to Leo, knelt before hi woirl, with masses of red hair, and by her was her husband, the uide seeh how she did so I do not know At any rate she turned andthe woman to him he asked her sternly how she dared to touch the person of this stranger with her vile lips She answered that it was because her heart was grateful Oros said that for this reason she was forgiven; moreover, that in reward for what they had suffered he was commanded to lift up her husband to be the ruler of that tribe during the pleasure of the Mother He gave notice, moreover, that all should obey the new chief in his place, according to their custoht suffer punish to their thanks or the acclamations of the crowd, he passed on
As ent down the ravine by which we had approached the village on the previous night, a sound of chanting struck our ears Presently the path turned, anda solee At the head of it rode none other than the beautiful Khania, followed by her great-uncle, the old Shaman, and after these ca between them a bier, upon which, its face uncovered, lay the body of the Khan, draped in a black garment Yet he looked better thus than he had ever done, for now death had touched this insane and dissolute nity which he lacked in life
Thus then we uide's white form, the horse which the Khania rode reared up so violently that I thought it would have thrown her But she mastered the animal with her whip and voice, and called out-”Who is this draped hag of the Mountain that stops the path of the Khania Atene and her dead lord? My guests, I find you in ill company, for it seems that you are conducted by an evil spirit to uide of yourshateful and hideous, for were she a wholesome woman she would not fear to show her face”
Now the Shaman plucked histo her, prayed her to be silent and cease to speak such ill-oht carry them she knew not whither But some instinctive hate seemed to bubble up in Atene, and she would not be silent, for she addressed our guide using the direct ”thou,” a manner of speech that we found was very usual on the Mountain though rare upon the Plains
”Let the air carry thes, fit only for a corpse too vile to view Shohat thou art, thou flitting night-oho thinkest to frighten me with that livery of death, which only serves to hide the death within”
”Cease, I pray lady, cease,” said Oros, stirred for once out of his imperturbable caloes the Power”
”Then it goes not against Atene, Khania of Kaloon,” she answered, ”or so I think Power, forsooth! Let her show her power If she has any it is not her own, but that of the Witch of the Mountain, who feigns to be a spirit, and by her sorceries has draaymy husband to his death”
”Niece, be silent!” said the old Shaman, whose wrinkled face hite with terror, whilst Oros held up his hands as though in supplication to so-”O thou that hearest and seest, be ive this wouest should stain the hands of thy servants, and the ancient honour of our worshi+p be brought low in the eyes of h his hands were uplifted, it seeuide, as ours were While he spoke, I saw her hand raised, as she had raised it when she slew or rather sentenced the witchdoctor Then she seemed to reflect, and stayed it in mid air, so that it pointed at the Khania She did not ry words died upon Atene's lips, the fury left her eyes, and the colour her face Yes, she grehite and silent as the corpse upon the bier behind her Then, cowed by that invisible power, she struck her horse so fiercely that it bounded by us onward towards the village, at which the funeral company were to rest awhile
As the Shaht his horse's bridle and said to hiician, we have ht to his funeral Warn her, then, you that know soently of the ruler of this land Say to her, from me, that had she not been the ambassadress of death, and, therefore, inviolate, surely ere now she would have shared her husband's bier Farewell, to the Shaman's bridle, Oros passed on
Soon we had left the e, turned up the Mountain slope towards the edge of the bright snows that lay not far above It was as we ca pine trees aluide
”Has she gone back to-to reason with the Khania?” I asked of Oros
”Nay!” he answered, with a slight s that the Hesea's guests draw near”
”Indeed,” I answered, staring hard at the bare slope of mountain, up which not aseen ”I understand-she has gone forward,” and the matter dropped But what I did not understand was-how she had gone As the Mountain was honeycoalleries, I suppose, however, that she entered one of theradually drawing nearer to the snow-line, as ent gathering what information we could fro of the world, as he expressed it, that is, froo, this Mountain had been the home of a peculiar fire-worshi+p, of which the head heirophant was a woeneral named Rassen, had made himself Khan of Kaloon Rassen established a new priestess on the Mountain, a worshi+pper of the Egyptian Goddess, Hes, or Isis This priestess had introduced certainthe cult of fire, pure and si to some of the old ceremonies, revered as its head the Spirit of Life or Nature, of whom they looked upon their priestess as the earthly representative
Of this priestess Oros would only tell us that she was ”ever present,” although we gathered that when one priestess died or was ”taken to the fire,” as he put it, her child, whether in fact or by adoption, succeeded her and was known by the same names, those of ”Hes” or the ”Hesea” and ”Mother” We asked if we should see this Mother, to which he answered that she manifested herself very rarely As to her appearance and attributes he would say nothing, except that the fored from time to time and that when she chose to use it she had ”all power”