Part 51 (2/2)
The other stooped his tall person to bend his bow against the hollow of his foot and ease its string.
”All these,” he answered, ”I can have by the tightening of this weapon in my hand. What need I more than the inheritance of my fathers--the desert sun, the trackless sand, and the goods of every man whose spear is a span shorter than mine own? Go to, thou lordly son of Ashur! my portion is better than thine. I have spoken. Take a gift from thy servant, and depart in peace.”
a.s.sarac would never have been in his present position had he admitted the impossibility of an enterprise because of its first failure.
”I will accept the gift of my brother,” said he, receiving with exceeding courtesy a loaf of barley-bread and a handful of dried dates, offered by one of the Anakim at a signal from his chief. ”May it be returned to him a hundredfold when he encamps without the gate of Babylon, and I, even I, a.s.sarac, governor of the city, bow my head at the door of his tent to do him honour! If we may not draw bow again side by side in battle, at least let there be peace between thy people and my people, so that a son of Ashur, meeting a child of Anak in the wilderness, shall cast his spear down before him and say, Is it well with thee, O my brother?”
Pausing to mark the effect of these friendly sentiments, and observing that they were well received by his listeners, the eunuch turned to Sarchedon, and continued in a lighter tone:
”There is indeed a new dominion in Babylon when those laws of the land of s.h.i.+nar have been set aside which sentence to death that a.s.syrian-born who shall be found arrayed in war-harness against the banner of Ashur.
And therefore, Sarchedon, if thou art a prisoner among these my brethren, I will ransom thee at a royal price. If a friend, I will bid thee leave them for a s.p.a.ce, to their profit and thine own. If a captain and leader, I will promote thee to yet higher honour in the great army that has never known defeat.”
Sarchedon, glancing doubtfully at Ishtar, noted the colour fade from her cheek ere she drew the veil over her face. Nevertheless, the tempter was skilled in his art; and the prospect of once more bearing arms with his countrymen was too welcome to be dismissed.
”I would fain return to the land of my fathers,” said he, ”and ride to battle with my brethren in burnished armour and costly raiment once more. But yet it is better to dwell in the desert with a whole skin than to writhe on a stake in the sun, even though it be over against the palace of a king. If I came in the light of the Great Queen's countenance, behold, she would consume me in her wrath. If Ninyas reigned in her stead, my death might peradventure be more merciful, but more speedy also, and no less sure.”
a.s.sarac had a purpose to serve, and the lie glided smooth and facile from his lips.
”Semiramis,” he answered--and even now, in this his hour of fierce revenge and mad disloyalty, he could not speak that name without a quiver of the lip, a tremble of the voice--”Semiramis sickens in her tent with a death-hurt. Ninyas her son, sunk in sloth and pleasure, lover of the garland, the wine-cup, and the couch, would soon weary of the sceptre as he wearied of the sword. The a.s.syrian ruler needs a wise brain and a long arm. The a.s.syrian people look for qualities in their kings that are the attributes of their G.o.ds. Ninus will never return to us from the stars; but Ninus was less powerful than Nimrod, even as Nimrod himself was weaker than Ashur, from whose loins he sprang. Why should we, his descendants, owe allegiance to any earthly power? Why should kings, queens, and princes come between Baal and the people of his choice?”
The audacious project of wresting from the line of Nimrod that dynasty it had held with so strong a hand, and subst.i.tuting a hierarchy of which he should himself be the head, had long appeared to a.s.sarac a feasible project enough--one worthy of his own tameless energy and insatiable ambition, although the temptation had been stifled hitherto by his loyalty, his devotion to the queen. Now, in the torture of a vexed heart and wounded spirit, he swore to cast aside every sentiment but revenge, at least till Semiramis was at the mercy of him whose fidelity she had used, and scorned, and outraged without remorse.
Therefore, it would be well, he thought, to strengthen his hands with all the weapons he could seize, to make such friends for himself on every side as should become willing tools, to ply at need, and cast away at will. When he met them by chance in the plain, it struck him that the Anakim would be no contemptible auxiliaries; when he found Ishtar and Sarchedon in their midst, he reflected that the former might still be made a bait, if necessary, for the allurement of Ninyas; the latter, according as events fell out, might form a snare, a bribe, or a punishment for the Great Queen. That she believed him to have been killed, and in her agony of sorrow thought to raise him from the dead, he knew by the evidence of his own senses, and although the Armenian habit, in which he now recognised Sarchedon, convinced him of her error, the bitterness of his anguish seemed rather enhanced than modified by this discovery that the object of her desire was not yet wholly out of reach.
It was scarcely jealousy he experienced, for jealousy implies possession, past, present, or prospective; it was rather that morbid recklessness of despair, which pulls down the whole edifice on its own head, if only the idol may be crushed and buried in the ruins of its shrine.
Could he have hated her as sincerely as he wished, he would, perhaps, have triumphed, and, favoured by circ.u.mstances, might have held the proud Semiramis in his power, if only for a day; but when did man ever succeed in any perilous enterprise who suffered his heart to paralyse his arm, the outcry of his affections to drown the promptings of his brain?
Nevertheless, it was his present object to gain over Sarchedon, and after a pause, as of deep consideration, he spoke out with a semblance of the utmost frankness:
”Hearken, my son. Let nothing be kept back between thee and me. Baal, though he lead a host in heaven, needs also an army here on earth. That army must have a captain. He who has set the battle in array for friend and foe, at home, in Egypt, here among the mountains of the north, is surely well fitted to command the warriors of the a.s.syrian G.o.d. When a.s.sarac declares his will from the altar before his temple at home, Sarchedon shall stand forth in s.h.i.+ning raiment, chief and Tartan of the great a.s.syrian host. Said I well, my son? and wilt thou not follow me in all haste to Babylon?”
He had bought him, he thought, for a price, and, through him, that foolish girl, together with this formidable tribe of stalwart simple-minded warriors.
Again Sarchedon glanced at Ishtar; but her veil was down, and she made no sign.
”To lead the host!” he muttered thoughtfully. ”To have the power of Ninus, and wield it wisely, as did Arbaces!”
”Ponder it well, my son,” said the eunuch solemnly, ”while I speed on to prepare the way. What art thou here?” he added, lowering his voice. ”A hostage in a foeman's camp, at a woman's will. Behold, I can make thee the n.o.blest leader on earth, and she, this veiled queen of a handful of hors.e.m.e.n, shall sit on the throne of a province larger than the great northern land we went out to conquer. What Baal offers, do not thou despise. Go to! Stretch forth thy hand, and take it whilst thou canst.
To-morrow it may be too late. I have spoken.”
Then, with a courteous farewell to the Anakim, he mounted into his chariot, and was gone, speeding, like some pestilent wind, towards the south on his mission of treachery, rebellion, and revenge.
CHAPTER LVI
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