Part 14 (1/2)
Again she sleeps, again the awful form bends over her and whispers It points, the distance opens Lo! on a stormy sea a boat, and in the boat trapped in each other's arms, the priest and the royal woed-pinioned, hovers a following vulture, such a vulture as the Goddess wore for headdress
That picture fades fro the vast sheet of fire ereat, smooth-walled cave carpeted with sand, a cave that we reer shaven, but golden-haired, the corpse of the priest staring upwards with his glazed eyes, his white skin streaked with blood, and standing over him tomen One holds a javelin in her hand and is naked except for her flowing hair, and beautiful, beautiful beyond i The other, wrapped in a dark cloak, beats the air with her hands, casting up her eyes as though to call the curse of Heaven upon her rival's head And those wo ear the shadow had whispered, and the royal Egyptian who had kissed her lover beneath the pylon gate
Slowly all the figures faded; it was as though the fire ate them up, for first they became thin and white as ashes; then vanished The Hesea, who had been leaning forward, sank backwards in her chair, as if weary with the toil of her own ic
For a while confused pictures flitted rapidly to and fro across the vast ht be reflected froence croith the memories of over two thousand years which it was too exhausted to separate and define
Wild scenes, st others our own, starting up distorted and enorinations of Fors , illimitable battle-fields, and corpses rolled in blood, and hovering over them the spirits of the slain
These pictures died as the others had died, and the fire was blank again
Then the Hesea spoke in a voice very faint at first, that by slow degrees grew stronger
”Is thy question answered, O Atene?”
”I have seen strange sights, Mother, ic, but ho I that they are more than vapours of thine own brain cast upon yonder fire to deceive and ht of subsequent revelations, vouchsafed to us by Ayesha herself, I am inclined to believe that Atene's shrewd surh founded on events that had happened in the past, were in the main ”vapours” cast upon the crater fire; visions raised in our minds to ”deceive and mock us”-L H H
”Listen then,” said the Hesea, in her weary voice, ”to the interpretation of the writing, and cease to trouble an to live this last, long life of ypt, had her Holy House at Behbit, near the Nile It is a ruin now, and Isis has departed froh still under the Power that fashi+oned it and her: she rules the world, for she is Nature's self Of that shrine a certain man, a Greek, Kallikrates by name, was chief priest, chosen for her service by the favour of the Goddess, vowed to her eternally and to her alone, by the dreadful oath that ht not be broken without punishment as eternal
”In the flame thou sawest that priest, and here at thy side he stands, re-born, to fulfil his destiny and ours
”There lived also a daughter of Pharaoh's house, one Amenartas, who cast eyes of love upon this Kallikrates, and, wrapping him in her spells-for then as now she practised witcheries-caused him to break his oaths and fly with her, as thou saritten in the flame Thou, Atene, wast that Amenartas
”Lastly there lived a certain Arabian, named Ayesha, a wise and lovely woman, who, in the ee, had sought refuge in the service of the universal Mother, thinking there to win the true wisdom which ever fled from her That Ayesha, as thou sawest also, the Goddess visited in a drea her to follow those faithless ones, and work Heaven's vengeance on the her in reward victory over death upon the earth and beauty such as had not been known in woman
”She followed far; she awaited thee na had been appointed to her service and that of another-thou, O Holly, wast that man-she found the essence in which to bathe is to outlive Generations, Faiths, and Euilty ones I will slay them presently, as I am commanded'
”Yet Ayesha slew not, for now their sin was her sin, since she who had never loved came to desire thisthere to clothe him and herself with immortality, and let the woman die But it was not so fated, for then the Goddess smote The life was Ayesha's as had been sworn, but in its first hour, blinded with jealous rage because he shrank frolory to the ht hi
”Thus did the angry Goddess oe upon her faithlessto the priest swift doo remorse and misery, and to the royal Amenartas jealousyeffort to win back that love which, defying Heaven, she had dared to steal, but to be bereft thereof again
”Lo! now the ages pass, and, at the ti his re-birth, from century to century mourned his loss, and did bitter penance for her sins, came back the man, her heart's desire Then, whilst all ell for her and hiain the Goddess s eyes, sunk in utter sha seemed to die
”Yet, O Kallikrates, I tell thee that she died not Did not Ayesha swear to thee yonder in the Caves of Kor that she would coain? for even in that awful hour this comfort kissed her soul Thereafter, Leo Vincey, who art Killikrates, did not her spirit lead thee in thy sleep and stand with thee upon this very pinnacle which should be thy beacon light to guide thee back to her? And didst thou not search thesethat she couard thee in every danger, till at length in the permitted hour thou earnest back to her?”
She paused, and looked towards Leo, as though awaiting his reply
”Of the first part of the tale, except fro, Lady,” he said; ”of the rest I, or rather we, know that it is true Yet I would ask a question, and I pray thee of thy charity let thy answer be swift and short Thou sayest that in the permitted hour I came back to Ayesha Where then is Ayesha? Art thou Ayesha? And if so why is thy voice changed? Why art thou less in stature? Oh! in the name of whatever God thou dost worshi+p, tell me art thou Ayesha?”
”I am Ayesha” she answered solee thyself eternally”
”She lies, she lies,” broke in Atene ”I tell thee, husband-for such with her own lips she declares thou art toand beautiful, less than twenty years ago, is none other than the aged priestess who for a century at least has borne rule in these halls of Hes Let her deny it if she can”
”Oros,” said the Mother, ”tell thou the tale of the death of that priestess of whom the Khania speaks”
The priest bowed, and in his usual cal some event of every day, said mechanically, and in a fashi+on that carried no conviction to ht of the firstof the worshi+p of Hes on this Mountain, the priestess of whoe in hth year of her rule Three hours later ent to lift her from the throne on which she died, to prepare her corpse for burial in this fire, according to the ancient custoain, the saic, the Priests and Priestesses of the College rejected her, and would have driven her from the throne Thereon the Mountain blazed and thundered, the light froreat terror fell upon the souls of men Then from the deep darkness above the altar where stands the statue of the Mother of Men, the voice of the living Goddess spoke, saying-”'Accept ye her whoments and my purposes may be fulfilled'
”The Voice ceased, the fiery torches burnt again, and ed the knee to the new Hesea, and named her Mother in the ears of all That is the tale to which hundreds can bear witness”
”Thou hearest, Atene,” said the Hesea ”Dost thou still doubt?”
”Aye,” answered the Khania, ”for I hold that Oros also lies, or if he lies not, then he dreams, or perchance that voice he heard was thine own Now if thou art this undying woman, this Ayesha, let proof be made of it to these two s that guard thy loveliness thus jealously Let thy shape divine, thy beauty incoht Surely thy lover will not forget such char, 'This is my Immortal, and no other woman'
”Then, and not till then, will I believe that thou art even what thou declarest thyself to be, an evil spirit, who bought undying life with murder and used thy demon loveliness to bewitch the souls of men”
Now the Hesea on the throne seemed to beher white-draped hands
”Kallikrates,” she said in a voice that sounded like a moan, ”is this thy will? For if it be, know that I must obey Yet I pray thee command it not, for the time is not yet come; the proed, Kallikrates, since I kissed thee on the brow and named thee mine, yonder in the Caves of Kor”
Leo looked about hi face of Atene, who cried-”Bid her unveil, my lord I swear to thee I'll not be jealous”
At that taunt he took fire
”Aye,” he said, ”I bid her unveil, that I may learn the best or worst, who otherwise ed, if she be Ayesha I shall know her, and if she be Ayesha, I shall love her”
”Bold words, Kallikrates,” answered the Hesea; ”yet from my very heart I thank thee for them: those sords of trust and faithfulness to thou knowest not what Learn now the truth, for I ht back from thee When I unveil it is decreed that thou must make thy choice for the last tiinning, and that Ayesha to whom thou art sworn Thou canst reject me if thou wilt, and no ill shall co, as men reckon them-power and wealth and love Only then thou must tear my memory from thy heart, for then I leave thee to follow thy fate alone, till at the last the purpose of these deeds and sufferings is ht ordeal lies before thee Be warned I can proave to man, love that perchance-I know not-must yet remain unsatisfied upon the earth”
Then she turned to uardian from of old, thou, next to him most beloved by iven that is denied to us, the little children whom thine arms protect Counsel thou hiiven thee, and I will obey thy words and his, and, whatever befalls, will bless thee from my soul Aye, and should he cast me off, then in the Land beyond the lands, in the Star appointed, where all earthly passions fade, together ell eternally in a friendshi+p glorious, thou and I alone
”For thou wilt not reject; thy steel, forged in the furnace of pure truth and power, shall not lose its temper in these small fires of temptation and become a rusted chain to bind thee to another woman's breast-until it canker to her heart and thine”
”Ayesha, I thank thee for thy words,” I answered simply, ”and by them and that proht to be-as This I will add, that for my part I know that thou art She e have lost, since, whatever the lips that speak thehts and words are Ayesha's and hers alone”
Thus I spoke, not knohat else to say, for I was filled with a great joy, a calm and ineffable satisfaction, which broke thus feebly from my heart For now I knew that I was dear to Ayesha as I had always been dear to Leo; the closest of friends, from whom she never would be parted What ether, whilst they watched us silently What we said I do not quite remember, but the end of it was that, as the Hesea had done, Leo bade e and choose Then into my mind there came a clear command, from my own conscience or otherwhere, who can say? This was the command, that I should bid her to unveil, and let fate declare its purposes