CHAPTER I
IRENE, EMPRESS OF THE EARTH
A gulf of blackness and the curtain lifts again upon a very differentOlaf from the young northern lord who parted from Iduna at the place ofsacrifice at Aar.
I see myself standing upon a terrace that overlooks a stretch of quietwater, which I now know was the Bosphorus. Behind me are a great palaceand the lights of a vast city; in front, upon the sea and upon thefarther shore, are other lights. The moon shines bright above me, and,having naught else to do, I study my reflection in my own burnishedshield. It shows a man of early middle life; he may be thirty orfive-and-thirty years of age; the same Olaf, yet much changed. For nowmy frame is tall and well-knit, though still somewhat slender; my faceis bronzed by southern suns; I wear a short beard; there is a scaracross my cheek, got in some battle; my eyes are quiet, and have lostthe first liveliness of youth. I know that I am the captain of theNorthern Guard of the Empress Irene, widow of the dead emperor, Leothe Fourth, and joint ruler of the Eastern Empire with her young son,Constantine, the sixth of that name.
How I came to fill this place, however, I do not know. The story of myjourney from Jutland to Byzantium is lost to me. Doubtless it must havetaken years, and after these more years of humble service, before I roseto be the captain of Irene's Northern Guard that she kept ever about herperson, because she would not trust her Grecian soldiers.
My armour was very rich, yet I noted about myself two things that werewith me in my youth. One was the necklace of golden shells, divided fromeach other by beetles of emeralds, that I had taken from the Wanderer'sgrave at Aar, and the other the cross-hilted bronze sword with whichthis same Wanderer had been girded in his grave. I know now that becauseof this weapon, which was of a metal and shape strange to that land, Ihad the byname of Olaf Red-Sword, and I know also that none wished tofeel the weight of this same ancient blade.
When I had finished looking at myself in the shield, I leaned upon theparapet staring at the sea and wondering how the plains of Aar lookedthat night beneath this selfsame moon, and whether Freydisa were deadby now, and whom Iduna had married, and if she ever thought of me, or ifSteinar came to haunt her sleep.
So I mused, till presently I felt a light touch upon my shoulder, andswung round to find myself face to face with the Empress Irene herself.
"Augusta!" I said, saluting, for, as Empress, that was her Roman title,even though she was a Greek.
"You guard me well, friend Olaf," she said, with a little laugh. "Why,any enemy, and Christ knows I have plenty, could have cut you downbefore ever you knew that he was there."
"Not so, Augusta," I answered, for I could speak their Greek tonguewell; "since at the end of the terrace the guards stand night and day,men of my own blood who can be trusted. Nothing which does not fly couldgain this place save through your own chambers, that are also guarded.It is not usual for any watch to be set here, still I came myself incase the Empress might need me."
"That is kind of you, my Captain Olaf, and I think I do need you. Atleast, I cannot sleep in this heat, and I am weary of the thoughts ofState, for many matters trouble me just now. Come, change my mind, ifyou can, for if so I'll thank you. Tell me of yourself when you wereyoung. Why did you leave your northern home, where I've heard you were abarbarian chief, and wander hither to Byzantium?"
"Because of a woman," I answered.
"Ah!" she said, clapping her hands; "I knew it. Tell me of this womanwhom you love."
"The story is short, Augusta. She bewitched my foster-brother, andcaused him to be sacrificed to the northern gods as a troth-breaker, andI do not love her."
"You'd not admit it if you did, Olaf. Was she beautiful, well, say as Iam?"
I turned and looked at the Empress, studying her from head to foot. Shewas shorter than Iduna by some inches, also older, and therefore of athicker build; but, being a fair Greek, her colour was much the same,save that the eyes were darker. The mouth, too, was more hard. For therest, she was a royal-looking and lovely woman in the flower of her age,and splendidly attired in robes broidered with gold, over which she worelong strings of rounded pearls. Her rippling golden hair was dressed inthe old Greek fashion, tied in a simple knot behind her head, and overit was thrown a light veil worked with golden stars.
"Well, Captain Olaf," she said, "have you finished weighing my poorlooks against those of this northern girl in the scales of yourjudgment? If so, which of us tips the beam?"
"Iduna was more beautiful than ever you can have been, Augusta," Ireplied quietly.
She stared at me till her eyes grew quite round, then puckered upher mouth as though to say something furious, and finally burst outlaughing.
"By every saint in Byzantium," she said, "or, rather, by their relics,for of live ones there are none, you are the strangest man whom I haveknown. Are you weary of life that you dare to say such a thing to me,the Empress Irene?"
"Am I weary of life? Well, Augusta, on the whole I think I am. It seemsto me that death and after it may interest us more. For the rest, youasked me a question, and, after the fashion of my people, I answered itas truthfully as I could."
"By my head, you have said it again," she exclaimed. "Have you notheard, most innocent Northman, that there are truths which should not bementioned and much less repeated?"
"I have heard many things in Byzantium, Augusta, but I pay no attentionto any of them--or, indeed, to little except my duty."
"Now that this, this--what's the girl's name?"
"Iduna the Fair," I said.
"----this Iduna has thrown you over, at which I am sure I do not wonder,what mistresses have you in Byzantium, Olaf the Dane?"
"None at all," I answered. "Women are pleasant, but one may buy sweetstoo dear, and all that ever I saw put together were not worth my brotherSteinar, who lost his life through one of them."
"Tell me, Captain Olaf, are you a secret member of this new society ofhermits of which they talk so much, who, if they see a woman, must holdtheir faces in the sand for five minutes afterwards?"
"I never heard of them, Augusta."
"Are you a Christian?"
"No; I am considering that religion--or rather its followers."
"Are you a pagan, then?"
"No. I fought a duel with the god Odin, and cut his head off with thissword, and that is why I left the North, where they worship Odin."
"Then what are you?" she said, stamping her foot in exasperation.
"I am the captain of your Imperial Majesty's private guard, a little ofa philosopher, and a fair poet in my own language, not in Greek. Also, Ican play the harp."
"You say 'not in Greek,' for fear lest I should ask you to write versesto me, which, indeed, I shall never do, Olaf. A soldier, a poet, aphilosopher, a harpist, one who has renounced women! Now, why have yourenounced women, which is unnatural in a man who is not a monk? It mustbe because you still love this Iduna, and hope to get her some day."
I shook my head and answered,
"I might have done that long ago, Augusta."
"Then it must be because there is some other woman whom you wish togain. Why do you always wear that strange necklace?" she added sharply."Did it belong to this savage girl Iduna, as, from the look of it, itmight well have done?"
"Not so, Augusta. She took it for a while, and it brought sorrow on her,as it will do on all women save one who may or may not live to-day."
"Give it me. I have taken a fancy to it; it is unusual. Oh! fear not,you shall receive its value."
"If you wish the necklace, Augusta, you must take the head as well; andmy counsel to you is that you do neither, since they will bring you nogood luck."
"In truth, Captain Olaf, you anger me with your riddles. What do youmean about this necklace?"
"I mean, Augusta, that I took it from a very ancient grave----"
"That I can believe, for the jeweller who made it worked in old Egypt,"she interrupted.
"----and thereafter I dreamed a dream," I went on, "of the woman whowears the
other half of it. I have not seen her yet, but when I do Ishall know her at once."
"So!" she exclaimed, "did I not tell you that, east or west or north orsouth, there _is_ some other woman?"
"There was once, Augusta, quite a thousand years ago or more, and theremay be again now, or a thousand years hence. That is what I am tryingto find out. You say the work is Egyptian. Augusta, at your convenience,will you be pleased to make another captain in my place? I would visitEgypt."
"If you leave Byzantium without express permission under my ownhand--not the Emperor's or anybody else's hand; mine, I say--and arecaught, your eyes shall be put out as a deserter!" she said savagely.
"As the Augusta pleases," I answered, saluting.
"Olaf," she went on in a more gentle voice, "you are clearly mad; but,to tell truth, you are also a madman who pleases me, since I weary ofthe rogues and lick-spittles who call themselves sane in Byzantium. Why,there's not a man in all the city who would dare to speak to me asyou have spoken to-night, and like that breeze from the sea, it isrefreshing. Lend me that necklace, Olaf, till to-morrow morning. I wantto examine it in the lamplight, and I swear to you that I will not takeit from you or play you any tricks about it."
"Will you promise not to wear it, Augusta?"
"Of course. Is it likely that I should wish to wear it on my bare breastafter it has been rubbing against your soiled armour?"
Without another word I unhooked the necklace and handed it to her. Sheran to a little distance, and, with one of those swift movements thatwere common to her, fastened it about her own neck. Then she returned,and threw the great strings of pearls, which she had removed to makeplace for it, over my head.
"Now have you found the woman of that dream, Olaf?" she asked, turningherself about in the moonlight.
I shook my head and answered:
"Nay, Augusta; but I fear that _you_ have found misfortune. Whenit comes, I pray you to remember that you promised not to wear thenecklace. Also that your soldier, Olaf, Thorvald's son, would have givenhis life rather than that you should have done so, not for the sakeof any dream, but for your sake, Augusta, whom it is his business toprotect."
"Would, then, it were your business either to protect me a little more,or a little less!" she exclaimed bitterly.
Having uttered this dark saying, she vanished from the terrace stillwearing the string of golden shells.