Part 13 (1/2)
”Blaspheme not,” cried Issachar sternly. ”Shall a wors.h.i.+pper of the G.o.d of Israel do sacrifice to a demon to win a woman's smile?”
”That time will prove,” answered Metem, shrugging his shoulders; ”at least it is certain that he will win it in no other way. Prince,” he added, changing his tone, ”if you have any such thoughts, abandon them, I pray of you, for on this matter the law may not be broken. The man spoke truth, moreover, when he told you that should you be found with the Baaltis, not being her husband, you would cause her death.”
Aziel took no notice of his words, but turning to the Levite, he asked in a quiet voice:--
”Did you plot this to separate us, Issachar? If so, you shall live to mourn the deed.”
”Listen, Prince,” broke in Metem, ”it was not Issachar who plotted that the lady Elissa should be chosen Baaltis, but I, or at least I helped the plot. Shall I tell you why I did this? It was to save you and her, and if possible to prevent a great war also. You could not wed this woman who is not of your race, or rank, or religion; and if you could, it would bring about a struggle that must cost thousands their lives, and this city its wealth. Nor could you make of her less than a wife, seeing that she is well-born and that you are her father's guest.
Therefore for your own sake it is best that she should be placed beyond your reach. For her sake also it is best, since she is ambitious and born to rule, who henceforth will be clothed with power for all her days. Moreover, had it been otherwise, in the end she must have pa.s.sed to that savage Ithobal, whom she hates. Now this is scarcely possible, for the lady Baaltis can wed no man who is not of pure white blood, and whom she does not choose of her own free will. That is a decree which may not be broken even by Ithobal. So revile me not, but thank me, though for a little while your heart be sore.”
”My heart is sore indeed,” answered Aziel, ”and if you think your words be wise, their medicine does not soothe, Phoenician. You may have laboured for my welfare and for that of the lady Elissa, or, like the huckster that you are, for your own advantage, or for both--I know not, and do not care to know. But this I know, that you, and Issachar also, are striving to snare Fate in a web of sand, and that Fate will be too strong for it and you. I love this woman and she loves me, because such is our destiny, and no barriers which man may build can serve to separate us. Also of this I am a.s.sured, that by your plots you draw the evils you would ward away upon the heads of us all, for from them shall spring war, and deaths, and misery.
”For the rest, do not think, Metem and Issachar, that I, whom you betrayed, and the woman you have ruined with a crown of greatness she did not seek, are clay to be moulded at your will. It is another hand than yours which fas.h.i.+oned the vessel of our destiny; nor can you stay our lips from drinking of the pure wine that fills it. Farewell,” and with a grave inclination of the head he left the room.
Metem watched him go, then he turned to Issachar and said:--
”I have earned my hire well, and you must pay the price, but now it troubles me to think that I touched this business. Why it is I cannot say, but it comes upon me that the prince speaks truth, and that no plot of ours can avail to separate these two who were born to each other, although it well may happen that we shall unite them in death alone.
Issachar,” he added with fierce conviction, ”I will not take your gold, for it is the price of blood! I tell you it is the price of blood!”
”Take it or no, as you will, Phoenician,” answered the Levite; ”at least I am well pleased that the promise of it bought your service. Even should the prince Aziel discharge this day's work with his young life, it is better that he should perish in the body than that he should lose his soul for the bribe of a woman's pa.s.sing beauty. Whatever else be lost, that is saved to him, since those sorceress lips of hers are set beyond his reach. An Israelite cannot mate with the oracle of Baaltis, Metem.”
”You say so, Issachar, but I have seen men climb high to pluck such fruit. Yes, I have seen them climb even when they knew that they must fall before the fruit was reached.”
Then he went also, leaving Issachar alone and oppressed with a dread of the future which was none the less real because it could not be defined.
CHAPTER X
THE EMBa.s.sY
Weak as she was still with recent illness, half-fainting also from the shock of the terrible and unexpected fate which had overtaken her, Elissa was borne in triumph to the palace that now was hers. Around her gilded litter priestesses danced and sang their wild chants, half-baccha.n.a.lian and half-religious; before it marched the priests of El, clas.h.i.+ng cymbals and crying, ”Make way, make way for the new-born G.o.ddess! Make way for her whose throne is upon the horned moon!” while all about the mult.i.tude of spectators prostrated themselves in wors.h.i.+p.
Elissa was borne in triumph. Vaguely she heard the shouts and music, dimly she saw the dancing-girls and the bowing crowds. But all the while her heart was alive with pain and her brain, crushed beneath the menace of this misery, could grasp nothing clearly save the completeness of her loss. Loss! Yes, she was lost indeed. One short hour ago and she was rejoicing in the presence of the man she loved, and who, as she believed, loved her, while in her mind rose visions of some happy life with him far away from this city and the dark rites of the wors.h.i.+ppers of Baal. And now she found herself the chief priestess of that wors.h.i.+p which already she had learned to fear if not to hate. More, as its priestess, till death should come to comfort her, she was cut off for ever from him whom she adored, cut off also from the hope of that new spiritual light which had begun to dawn upon her soul.
Elissa looked upon the beautiful women who leapt and sang about her litter, listening to the clash of their ornaments of gold, and as she listened and looked her eyes seemed to gain power to behold the spirits within them. Surely she could see these, dark and hideous things, with s.h.i.+fting countenances, terrible to look on, and themselves wearing in their eyes of flame a stamp of eternal terror, while in her ears the music of their golden necklaces was changed to a clank as of fetters and of instruments of torment. Yes; and there before the dancers in the red cloud of dust which rose from their beating feet, floated the dim shape of that demon of whom she had been chosen the high-priestess.
Look at her mocking, inhuman countenance, and her bent brow of power!
Look at her spread and flaming hair and her hundred hands outstretched to grasp the souls of men! Hark! the clamour of the cymbals and the cry of the dancers blended together and became her voice, a dreadful voice that gave greeting to her princess, promising her pride of place and life-long power in payment for her service.
”I desire none of these,” her heart seemed to answer; ”I desire him only whom I have lost.”
”Is it so?” replied the Voice. ”Then bid him burn incense upon my altar and take him to yourself. Have I not given you enough of beauty to snare a single soul from among the servants of my enemy the G.o.d of the Jews?”
”Nay, nay!” her heart cried; ”I will not tempt him to do this evil thing.”
”Yea, yea!” mocked the phantom Voice; ”for your sake he shall burn incense upon my altar.”