It was morning at Thebes, and Abi sat in the great hall of Pharaohtransacting business of the State, while at his side stood Kaku theVizier. Changed were both of them, indeed, since they had plotted thedeath of their guest and king at Memphis, for now Abi was so worn withwork and fear and wretchedness, that his royal robes hung about him inloose folds, while Kaku had become an old, old man, who trembled as hewalked.
"Is the business finished, Officer?" asked Abi impatiently.
"Nay, Mighty Lord," answered Kaku, "there is still enough to keep yousitting here till noon, and after that you must receive the Council andthe Embassies."
"I will not receive them. Let them wait till another day. Knave, wouldyou work me to death, who have never known an hour's rest or peace sincethe happy time when I ruled as Prince of Memphis?"
"Lord," answered Kaku, bowing humbly, "weary or no you must receivethem, for so it has been decreed by her Majesty the Queen, whose commandmay not be broken."
"The Queen!" exclaimed Abi in a low voice, rolling his hollow eyesaround him as though in fear. "Oh, Kaku, would that I had never beheldthe Queen. I tell you that she is not a woman, as indeed you know well,but a fiend with a heart of ice, and the venomous cunning of a snake. Iam called Pharaoh, yet am but her puppet to carry out her decrees. I amcalled her husband, yet she is still no wife to me, or to any, althoughall men love her, and by that love are ofttimes brought to doom. Lastnight again she vanished from my side as I sat listening to her orders,and after a while, lo! there she was as before, only, as it seemed tome, somewhat weary. I asked her where she had been and she answered:'Further than I could travel in a year to visit one she loved as much asshe hated me. Now who can that be, Kaku?'"
"Rames, I think, Lord, he who has made himself King of Kesh," repliedKaku in an awed whisper. "Without a doubt she loved the man when she wasa woman, though whom she loves now the evil gods know alone. We are inher power, and must work her will, for, Lord, if we do not we shall die,and I think that neither of us desires to die, since beyond that gatedead Pharaoh waits for us."
At these words Abi groaned aloud, wiping the sweat from his blanchedface with the corner of his robe, and saying:
"There you speak truly. Go, call the scribes, and let us get on with theQueen's business."
Kaku turned to obey, when suddenly heralds entered the empty hall,crying:
"Her Majesty the Queen waits without with a great company, and humblycraves audience of her good lord, the divine Pharaoh of the Upper andthe Lower Land."
Abi and Kaku looked at each other, and despair was in their eyes.
"Let her Majesty enter," said the King in a low voice.
The heralds retired, and presently through the cedar doors appearedthe Queen in state. She was splendid to behold, splendid in her proudbeauty, splendid in her dress, and in her royal ornaments. On she sweptup the hall, attended by Merytra, who bore her fan and cushion, forit was her pleasure that this woman should wait upon her day and nightwithout pause or rest, although she who had once been so handsome nowwas worn almost to nothingness with toil and terror. Behind Merytra cameguards and high-priests, and after them the great lords of the Council,who were called the King's Companions and the generals of the army.
On she swept up the hall till reaching the foot of the throne whereonAbi sat, she motioned to Merytra to place the cushion upon its step, andknelt, saying:
"I am come as a loyal wife to make a humble prayer to Pharaoh my Lord inthe presence of his Court."
"Rise and speak on, Great Lady," answered Abi. "It is not fit that youshould kneel to me."
"Nay, it is most fit that Pharaoh's Queen should kneel to Pharaoh whenshe seeks his divine favour." Yet she rose, and, seating herself in achair that had been brought, spoke thus:
"O Pharaoh, last night I dreamed a dream. I dreamed of the Count Rames,son of Mermes, the last of that royal race which ruled before our Housein Egypt. I mean that man who slew the Prince of Kesh in this very hall,and whom, my Father being sick, I sent to Napata, to be judged bythe King of Kesh, but who, it seems, overthrew that king and took hiskingdom in the name of Egypt.
"I dreamed that this bold and able man, not satisfied with the richkingdom of Kesh, has made a scheme to attack Egypt; to slay you, mostglorious Lord, to proclaim himself Pharaoh by right of ancient blood,and more--to take me, your faithful wife, to be his wife, and therebysecure his throne."
"Without doubt, Queen, this turbulent Rames might think of suchthings," said Abi, "and so far your dream may be true; yet it shouldbe remembered that at present he is at Napata, which is a very long wayoff, and has probably only a small army at his command, so why shouldyou trouble about what he thinks?"
"O Pharaoh, that was not all my dream, for in it I saw two pictures. Thefirst was of this bold Rames attacking Thebes, and conquering it, yes,and dragging me away to be his wife over your very corpse, O Pharaoh.The second was of you and your army meeting him at the Gate of the SouthLand, and slaying him, and taking possession of the kingdom of Kesh, andits golden city, and ruling them for Egypt, until you die."
"Here be two dreams, O Queen," said Abi. "Tell us now, which would youfollow, for both of them cannot be right?"
"How can I know, Pharaoh, and how can you know? Yet by your side standsone who will know, for he is the first of magicians, and a choseninterpreter of the heart of the gods. Grant that he may make this matterclear," and she pointed to Kaku, who stood by the throne.
"Divine Lady," stammered Kaku, "the thing is too high for me. I have nomessage, I cannot tell you----"
"You were ever over-modest, Kaku," said the Queen. "Command him, OPharaoh, to shed the light of his wisdom on us, for without doubt heknows the truth."
"Yes, yes," said Abi, "he knows it, he knows everything. Kaku, delaynot, interpret the dream of her Majesty."
"I cannot, I will not," spluttered the old astrologer. "Ask my wife, theLady Merytra there, she is wiser than I am."
"My good friend Merytra has already told me her mind," said the Queen,"now we wait for yours. A prophet must speak when the gods call on him,or," she added slowly, "he must cease to be a prophet who betrays thegods by hiding their high counsel."
Now Kaku could find no way of escape, so, since he feared the very nameof Rames, within himself he determined that he would interpret thedream in the sense that Pharaoh should await the attack of this Rames atThebes, and while every ear listened to him, thus began his tale. Yet ashe spoke he felt the glittering eyes of that spirit who was called theQueen, fix themselves upon him and compel his tongue, so that he saidjust what he did not mean to say.
"A light shines in me," he cried, "and I see that the second vision ofher Majesty is the true vision. You must go up with your army to theGate of the South, O Pharaoh, and there meet this usurper, Rames, thatthese matters may be brought to their appointed end."
"Their appointed end? What appointed end?" shouted Abi.
"Doubtless that which her Majesty dreamed," answered Kaku. "At least,it is laid upon me to tell you that you must go up to the Gate of theSouth."
"Then I wish that the Gate of the South were laid upon you also, O EvilProphet," exclaimed Abi. "For two years only have I ruled in Egypt, andlo! three wars have been my portion, a war against the people of Syria,a war against the desert men, and a war against the Nine Bow barbariansthat invaded the Low Lands. Must I now, in my age, undertake another waragainst the terrible sons of Kesh also? Let this dog, Rames, come, ifcome he will, and I will hang him here at the gates of Thebes."
"Nay, nay, O Pharaoh," replied Kaku, "it is laid upon me to tell youthat you must hang him in the desert hundreds of miles away from Thebes.That is the interpretation of the vision; that is the command of thegods."
"The gods have spoken by the mouth of their prophet," cried the Queen ina thrilling, triumphant voice. "Now Pharaoh, Priests, Councillors, andCaptains of Egypt, let us make ready to travel to the Gate of the South,and there hang the dog Rames in the desert land, that thus Egypt andEgypt's King and Egypt's
Queen may be freed from danger, and rest inpeace, and the wealth of the City of Gold be divided amongst you all."
"Aye, aye," answered the Priests, Councillors, and Captains, the shrillvoice of Kaku leading the chorus, still against his will, "let us go upat once, and let her Majesty accompany us."
"Yes," said the Queen, "I will accompany you, for though I be but awoman, shall I shrink from what Pharaoh, my dear Lord, dares? We willsail at the new moon."