CHAPTER XVII
THE BETROTHAL
Together we descended the multitudinous steps and passed the endless,rock-hewn passages till we came to the door of the dwelling of thehigh-priestess and were led through it into a hall beyond. Here Ayeshaparted from us saying that she was outworn, as indeed she seemed to bewith an utter weariness, not of the body, but of the spirit. For herdelicate form drooped like a rain-laden lily, her eyes grew dim as thoseof a person in a trance, and her voice came in a soft, sweet whisper,the voice of one speaking in her sleep.
"Good-bye," she said to us. "Oros will guard you both, and lead you tome at the appointed time. Rest you well."
So she went and the priest led us into a beautiful apartment that openedon to a sheltered garden. So overcome were we also by all that we hadendured and seen, that we could scarcely speak, much less discuss thesemarvellous events.
"My brain swims," said Leo to Oros, "I desire to sleep."
He bowed and conducted us to a chamber where were beds, and on these weflung ourselves down and slept, dreamlessly, like little children.
When we awoke it was afternoon. We rose and bathed, then saying thatwe wished to be alone, went together into the garden where even atthis altitude, now, at the end of August, the air was still mild andpleasant. Behind a rock by a bed of campanulas and other mountainflowers and ferns, was a bench near to the banks of a little stream, onwhich we seated ourselves.
"What have you to say, Horace?" asked Leo laying his hand upon my arm.
"Say?" I answered. "That things have come about most marvellously; thatwe have dreamed aright and laboured not in vain; that you are the mostfortunate of men and should be the most happy."
He looked at me somewhat strangely, and answered--"Yes, of course;she is lovely, is she not--but," and his voice dropped to its lowestwhisper, "I wish, Horace, that Ayesha were a little more human, even ashuman as she was in the Caves of Kor. I don't think she is quite fleshand blood, I felt it when she kissed me--if you can call it a kiss--forshe barely touched my hair. Indeed how can she be who changed thus in anhour? Flesh and blood are not born of flame, Horace."
"Are you sure that she was so born?" I asked. "Like the visions on thefire, may not that hideous shape have been but an illusion of our minds?May she not be still the same Ayesha whom we knew in Kor, not re-born,but wafted hither by some mysterious agency?"
"Perhaps. Horace, we do not know--I think that we shall never know.But I admit that to me the thing is terrifying. I am drawn to her byan infinite attraction, her eyes set my blood on fire, the touch of herhand is as that of a wand of madness laid upon my brain. And yet betweenus there is some wall, invisible, still present. Or perhaps it is onlyfancy. But, Horace, I think that she is afraid of Atene. Why, in theold days the Khania would have been dead and forgotten in an hour--youremember Ustane?"
"Perhaps she may have grown more gentle, Leo, who, like ourselves, haslearned hard lessons."
"Yes," he answered, "I hope that is so. At any rate she has grown moredivine--only, Horace, what kind of a husband shall I be for that brightbeing, if ever I get so far?"
"Why should you not get so far?" I asked angrily, for his words jarredupon my tense nerves.
"I don't know," he answered, "but on general principles do you thinkthat such fortune will be allowed to a man? Also, what did Atene meanwhen she said that man and spirit cannot mate--and--other things?"
"She meant that she _hoped_ they could not, I imagine, and, Leo, it isuseless to trouble yourself with forebodings that are more fitted to myyears than yours, and probably are based on nothing. Be a philosopher,Leo. You have striven by wonderful ways such as are unknown in thehistory of the world; you have attained. Take the goods the gods provideyou--the glory, the love and the power--and let the future look toitself."
Before he could answer Oros appeared from round the rock, and, bowingwith more than his usual humility to Leo, said that the Hesea desiredour presence at a service in the Sanctuary. Rejoiced at the prospectof seeing her again before he had hoped to do so, Leo sprang up and weaccompanied him back to our apartment.
Here priests were waiting, who, somewhat against his will, trimmed hishair and beard, and would have done the same for me had I not refusedtheir offices. Then they placed gold-embroidered sandals on our feet andwrapped Leo in a magnificent, white robe, also richly worked with goldand purple; a somewhat similar robe but of less ornate design beinggiven to me. Lastly, a silver sceptre was thrust into his hand and intomine a plain wand. This sceptre was shaped like a crook, and the sightof it gave me some clue to the nature of the forthcoming ceremony.
"The crook of Osiris!" I whispered to Leo.
"Look here," he answered, "I don't want to impersonate any Egyptian god,or to be mixed up in their heathen idolatries; in fact, I won't."
"Better go through with it," I suggested, "probably it is only somethingsymbolical."
But Leo, who, notwithstanding the strange circumstances connected withhis life, retained the religious principles in which I had educated him,very strongly indeed, refused to move an inch until the nature of thisservice was made clear to him. Indeed he expressed himself upon thesubject with vigour to Oros. At first the priest seemed puzzled what todo, then explained that the forthcoming ceremony was one of betrothal.
On learning this Leo raised no further objections, asking only with somenervousness whether the Khania would be present. Oros answered "No," asshe had already departed to Kaloon, vowing war and vengeance.
Then we were led through long passages, till finally we emerged into thegallery immediately in front of the great wooden doors of the apse. Atour approach these swung open and we entered it, Oros going first, thenLeo, then myself, and following us, the procession of attendant priests.
As soon as our eyes became accustomed to the dazzling glare of theflaming pillars, we saw that some great rite was in progress in thetemple, for in front of the divine statue of Motherhood, white-robedand arranged in serried ranks, stood the company of the priests tothe number of over two hundred, and behind these the company of thepriestesses. Facing this congregation and a little in advance of the twopillars of fire that flared on either side of the shrine, Ayesha herselfwas seated in a raised chair so that she could be seen of all, while toher right stood a similar chair of which I could guess the purpose.
She was unveiled and gorgeously apparelled, though save for the whitebeneath, her robes were those of a queen rather than of a priestess.About her radiant brow ran a narrow band of gold, whence rose the headof a hooded asp cut out of a single, crimson jewel, beneath which inendless profusion the glorious waving hair flowed down and around,hiding even the folds of her purple cloak.
This cloak, opening in front, revealed an undertunic of white silk cutlow upon her bosom and kept in place by a golden girdle, a double-headedsnake, so like to that which She had worn in Kor that it might have beenthe same. Her naked arms were bare of ornament, and in her right handshe held the jewelled sistrum set with its gems and bells.
No empress could have looked more royal and no woman was ever half solovely, for to Ayesha's human beauty was added a spiritual glory,her heritage alone. Seeing her we could see naught else. The rhythmicmovement of the bodies of the worshippers, the rolling grandeur of theirchant of welcome echoed from the mighty roof, the fearful torches ofliving flame; all these things were lost on us. For there re-born,enthroned, her arms stretched out in gracious welcome, sat that perfectand immortal woman, the appointed bride of one of us, the friend andlady of the other, her divine presence breathing power, mystery andlove.
On we marched between the ranks of hierophants, till Oros and thepriests left us and we stood alone face to face with Ayesha. Now shelifted her sceptre and the chant ceased. In the midst of the followingsilence, she rose from her seat and gliding down its steps, came towhere Leo stood and touched him on the forehead with her sistrum, cryingin a loud, sweet voice--"Behold the Chosen of the Hesea!" whereon allthat audience echoed in a shout of thunder--"Welcome t
o the Chosen ofthe Hesea!"
Then while the echoes of that glad cry yet rang round the rocky walls,Ayesha motioned to me to stand at her side, and taking Leo by the handdrew him towards her, so that now he faced the white-robed company.Holding him thus she began to speak in clear and silvery tones.
"Priests and priestesses of Hes, servants with her of the Mother of theworld, hear me. Now for the first time I appear among you as _I_ am, youwho heretofore have looked but on a hooded shape, not knowing its formor fashion. Learn now the reason that I draw my veil. Ye see this man,whom ye believed a stranger that with his companion had wandered toour shrine. I tell you that he is no stranger; that of old, in livesforgotten, he was my lord who now comes to seek his love again. Say, isit not so, Kallikrates?"
"It is so," answered Leo.
"Priests and priestesses of Hes, as ye know, from the beginning it hasbeen the right and custom of her who holds my place to choose one to beher lord. Is it not so?"
"It is so, O Hes," they answered.
She paused a while, then with a gesture of infinite sweetness turned toLeo, bent towards him thrice and slowly sank upon her knee.
"Say thou," Ayesha said, looking up at him with her wondrous eyes, "saybefore these here gathered, and all those witnesses whom thou canst notsee, dost thou again accept me as thy affianced bride?"
"Aye, Lady," he answered, in a deep but shaken voice, "now and forever."
Then while all watched, in the midst of a great silence, Ayesha rose,cast down her sistrum sceptre that rang upon the rocky floor, andstretched out her arms towards him.
Leo also bent towards her, and would have kissed her upon the lips. ButI who watched, saw his face grow white as it drew near to hers. Whilethe radiance crept from her brow to his, turning his bright hair togold, I saw also that this strong man trembled like a reed and seemed asthough he were about to fall.
I think that Ayesha noted it too, for ere ever their lips met, shethrust him from her and again that grey mist of fear gathered on herface.
In an instant it passed. She had slipped from him and with her hand heldhis hand as though to support him. Thus they stood till his feet grewfirm and his strength returned.
Oros restored the sceptre to her, and lifting it she said--"O love andlord, take thou the place prepared for thee, where thou shalt sit forever at my side, for with myself I give thee more than thou canst knowor than I will tell thee now. Mount thy throne, O Affianced of Hes, andreceive the worship of thy priests."
"Nay," he answered with a start as that word fell upon his ears. "Hereand now I say it once and for all. I am but a man who know nothing ofstrange gods, their attributes and ceremonials. None shall bow the kneeto me and on earth, Ayesha, I bow mine to thee alone."
Now at this bold speech some of those who heard it looked astonished andwhispered to each other, while a voice called--"Beware, thou Chosen, ofthe anger of the Mother!"
Again for a moment Ayesha looked afraid, then with a little laugh, sweptthe thing aside, saying--"Surely with that I should be content. For me,O Love, thy adoration for thee the betrothal song, no more."
So having no choice Leo mounted the throne, where notwithstanding hissplendid presence, enhanced as it was by those glittering robes, helooked ill enough at ease, as indeed must any man of his faith andrace. Happily however, if some act of semi-idolatrous homage had beenproposed, Ayesha found a means to prevent its celebration, and soon allsuch matters were forgotten both by the singers who sang, and us wholistened to the majestic chant that followed.
Of its words unfortunately we were able to understand but little, bothbecause of the volume of sound and of the secret, priestly language inwhich it was given, though its general purport could not be mistaken.
The female voices began it, singing very low, and conveying a strangeimpression of time and distance. Now followed bursts of gladnessalternating with melancholy chords suggesting sighs and tears andsorrows long endured, and at the end a joyous, triumphant paean thrownto and fro between the men and women singers, terminating in oneunited chorus repeated again and again, louder and yet louder, till itculminated in a veritable crash of melody, then of a sudden ceased.
Ayesha rose and waved her sceptre, whereon all the company bowed thrice,then turned and breaking into some sweet, low chant that sounded like alullaby, marched, rank after rank, across the width of the Sanctuary andthrough the carven doors which closed behind the last of them.
When all had gone, leaving us alone, save for the priest Oros and thepriestess Papave, who remained in attendance on their mistress, Ayesha,who sat gazing before her with dreaming, empty eyes, seemed to awake,for she rose and said--"A noble chant, is it not, and an ancient? It wasthe wedding song of the feast of Isis and Osiris at Behbit in Egypt, andthere I heard it before ever I saw the darksome Caves of Kor. Often haveI observed, my Holly, that music lingers longer than aught else in thischangeful world, though it is rare that the very words should remainunvaried. Come, beloved--tell me, by what name shall I call thee? Thouart Kallikrates and yet----"
"Call me Leo, Ayesha," he answered, "as I was christened in the onlylife of which I have any knowledge. This Kallikrates seems to have beenan unlucky man, and the deeds he did, if in truth he was aught otherthan a tool in the hand of destiny, have bred no good to the inheritorsof his body--or his spirit, whichever it may be--or to those women withwhom his life was intertwined. Call me Leo, then, for of Kallikrates Ihave had enough since that night when I looked upon the last of him inKor."
"Ah! I remember," she answered, "when thou sawest thyself lying in thatnarrow bed, and I sang thee a song, did I not, of the past and of thefuture? I can recall two lines of it; the rest I have forgotten--
"'Onward, never weary, clad with splendour for a robe! Till accomplished be our fate, and the night is rushing down.'
"Yes, my Leo, now indeed we are 'clad with splendour for a robe,' andnow our fate draws near to its accomplishment. Then perchance will comethe down-rushing of the night;" and she sighed, looked up tenderly andsaid, "See, I am talking to thee in Arabic. Hast thou forgotten it?"
"No."
"Then let it be our tongue, for I love it best of all, who lisped it atmy mother's knee. Now leave me here alone awhile; I would think. Also,"she added thoughtfully, and speaking with a strange and impressiveinflexion of the voice, "there are some to whom I must give audience."
So we went, all of us, supposing that Ayesha was about to receive adeputation of the Chiefs of the Mountain Tribes who came to felicitateher upon her betrothal.