Part 30 (1/2)
”I speak, O Mighty One,” he answered. ”Would that my tongue had been torn from its roots, and my lips sealed by the seal of the Death-G.o.d, ere it should have been my duty to make this my announcement. The Devourer from the outer world hath been discovered wandering upon the mountains. How he gained this land, which is without entrance and without exit, no man knoweth. The wise men believe that he came hither like a fowl of the air.”
Istar, trembling, clutched the glittering arm of her crystal throne for support, while a dark, sinister expression settled upon her flawless countenance. The crowd about me, awestricken and hushed in expectation, awaited her words breathlessly.
”Lo!” cried the high priest of the Temple of the Seven Lights, suddenly stepping back and dragging me roughly forward, ”Lo! O Beauteous Queen of all the G.o.ds, he is here, in thine holy presence!”
I lifted my face. Our eager eyes met.
Her tiny hands were so tightly clenched that the nails were driven into her palms, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s heaved and fell quickly, her brows knit in a fierce anger, but in her eyes was a look of unutterable dread.
For a moment she covered her face with her hands, as if to shut me out of her gaze, but next instant she raised her narrow eyebrows, her blanched lips parted, and she turned upon the high-priest in a sudden outburst of fury. Extending her bare arm towards him she cursed him.
”Knowest thou not the writing upon my foundation-stones, offspring of Anu, defiler of the holy Ziggurratu?” she screamed in rage.
The aged high-priest uttered a cry, as if he had been struck a blow.
But he answered not.
”Knowest thou the words graven upon the great image? Speak, accursed one. Speak!”
”I do, O Queen,” he faltered.
”Then, malediction upon thee. Vengeance and hate, sorrow and torture of the flesh. May the Air-G.o.d rend thee; may Shamas, the lord of Light, hide his face from thee for ever; and may Niffer, lord of the Ghost Land, take thee for his slave! May Ninkigat, the lady of the great Land of Terrors, strangle thee, and may the other--whom I dare not name--fill thy vitals with molten metal and consume thee!”
”Mercy!” cried the wretched man, falling upon his knees, and grovelling upon the polished pavement. ”Mercy, O Istar, Queen of Ea, and ruler of all creatures! Have mercy upon thy servant!”
”Nay, unto me thou hast shown no mercy, accursed sp.a.w.n of a scorpion; thou shalt receive none,” she answered. Then, lifting her hand towards the file of soldiers that lined the walls, she commanded,--
”Abla, Nabu-nur-ili, Akabi-ilu, forward quickly, ye guards of our majesty. Take this son of Nergal forth to the top of the steps and cast him down with force like a dog, so that his bones be broken and his body mutilated. Then, with his blood, let the words graven upon the image be re-written on the lintel of the Temple of the Seven Lights, so that all may remember. Away with him. Let his body be cast into the lion-pit,”
she added, with a majestic sweep of her white arm. ”I have spoken.”
”Have compa.s.sion, O Istar! At least, let me live!” cried the aged priest; but ere he could utter the last sentence the soldiers had dragged him forth, with the dreaded Queen's imprecation resounding in his ears in multiplied echoes.
In the full fury of her ungovernable rage this beautiful G.o.ddess of the Mysterious Land, at first so graceful and languorous, looked magnificent. With her unbound hair falling about her shoulders and reaching below her girdle, she raised her arms in mad rage, pouring forth a string of curses so terrible that those surrounding her visibly shuddered.
”And thou!” she cried, suddenly turning and gazing intently upon me with eyes sharp as arrows. ”So thou art the stranger!”
The people around me were full of pa.s.sionate anger and abject terror.
Behind, before me, everywhere, I saw only glaring eyes, strained wide open as if to devour me, defiant faces, eager hands fingering sword-hilts, and heard the gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth between threatening lips.
”So thou hast dared to accompany that viper Rabbani, and enter my presence!” she cried, in a second outburst of indignation. Her strange terror had been succeeded by rage and defiance terrible to behold. The veins in her brow stood out like blue cords as she spoke, and her soft, perfumed cheeks were suffused by anger.
”I was brought before thee by thy people, O Queen,” I answered, endeavouring to appease her. ”I knew not thine high-priest, ere I entered thine House of l.u.s.tre.”
”I have spoken; and he shall die,” she snapped, apparently thinking I was making an appeal on the aged man's behalf. ”Ascend to me, so that I may see thee more closely.”
Thus commanded, I crossed the inlaid pavement and ascended the broad, silver steps leading to the great throne of crystal, before which she now stood upon her prostrate women, erect and queenly. Gaining the pavement of gold whereon the throne was set, I was drawing nearer, when two great eunuchs sprang forward, motioning me not to approach her further.
”Arrest thy steps,” they cried, frantically. ”The person of Istar, our ruler, is sacred. None but dwellers within this, her temple, may look upon her.”
”Retire,” she cried to the eunuchs. ”I commanded him to approach me.”