CHAPTER IX - CONSPIRACY

The one supreme and entrancing beauty of the Palace of Velia was to be found in the indescribable magnificence of its matchless gardens. In the first original sketch nature had disposed this particular spot as an epitomised repository of the majestic and picturesque. A towering snow­capped mountain spread itself into a charmingly undulating plateau some two hundred feet above the level of the plain. The extremes rose in gracefully sweeping scollops defined by the miniature hills standing as guardians of its eastern and western limits, and presented from without the obstruction of a clear-cut precipice against intrusion. Those irresistible and poetic engineers, Sun and Snow, exhibited their ability in the construction of a foaming waterfall, springing from the invisible heights of cloudland, which thundered and roared in the air and afterwards broke into a thousand fantastic streams and cascades in which its terrors were transformed to beauties, and its voice fell like the distant echo of an angel chorus musically floating over the earth, while the sparkling waters added a semi-magical effect in festoons of silvered lace and embroidering foam to decorate the perspective of the mountain. The landscape, thus nourished, had contributed liberally from its museum of diversified effects; subterranean phenomena were ably represented by two huge and several smaller geysers; miniature dells and luxuriant retreats were delicately and artistically suggested; and a rich wealth of floral beauty pleaded for cultivation and attention. With such a sketch already suggested and prepared it was only natural that so favoured a spot should from the first be set apart as a desirable and central abode of the honoured mother and ruler of the people.

The one art in which perhaps the ancients achieved more real perfections than all others was gradually introduced to supplement and complete the outline of design which nature had thus so beautifully prepared. With the rising fortune of the community gardeners had been introduced from afar; ornaments, accessories, and characteristic features of other lands were continually and liberally imported. Slaves were constantly being multiplied to carry out new works, expenditure was a matter of secondary importance if only beauty and magnificence were secured. The ample grounds in time became a perfect labyrinth of oriental grandeur, in which the bright plumage of birds and water fowl vied with exquisite flowers; where gorgons and satyrs from the fountains and basins of a hundred ornamental pools peeped curiously through the heavy foliage of aromatic shrubs; fantastic and unexpected arbours chided exertion; exquisite vignettes - each more daintily beautiful than its predecessor - pleaded for recognition; invisible songsters trilled their hymns of praise, more sweet in that words had never broke the rich melody of the music; and the whole scene - ever varying, bewitching and alluring - pressed with invitation to abandonment and forgetfulness to everything but happiness and careless enjoyment.

If in all this picture of indescribable loveliness there was one point more ravishingly enchanting than another it was the fernery. In the early days of this people, when the rich storehouse of their wealth was but newly discovered, several quarryings had been made in the hills on the royal demesne; these, however, were presently and wisely restricted on the surface, and mining operations were henceforth conducted by galleries leading to internal workings. One of these quarries was found to seriously interfere with the general effect of the design until a Babylonian expert determined to transform the scar into a beauty spot by the construction of a fernery. It was an artistic thought, carried out with consummate skill. The outlines of the workings were deftly obliterated by slender horizontal supports, over which a screen of creepers was carefully trained, dropping flowering or perfumed tendrils like a graceful curtain to subdue and mellow the light and heat. Beneath this a whole exhaustive forest of ferns was built up and arranged, overshadowing and hiding alcoves and retiring nooks which formed the favourite retreat of Glarces and his sister during the oppressive hours of the summer days.

It was towards this coveted and secluded spot that Zillah mechanically turned when her mistress so considerately bade her seek restoration from her indisposition in the garden. She had, however, no mind for the contemplation of beauty, no ear for music, or sense of appreciation for the ravishing diversions which would have tempted less persistent souls to forgetfulness. Zillah never forgot! Never for one instant since the moment she was surprised and stolen from her distant home had her proud, defiant, rebellious heart experienced an interval of peace. Kindness and consideration only served to infuriate her. She who had stood within measurable distance of a throne equal to that of Iran or Assyria, could not brook the patronage or favour of the gourd-like royalty of Sahama! Still, the haughty and rebellious beauty was a slave, compelled to serve and obey because the people who held her lived in nothing better than a cage - a prison - the single door of which was too well guarded for escape, and made it also impossible to send a messenger to carry her appeal for assistance to the father who would soon secure her release. The only bitter solace available for her was solitude, where she could indulge her tormented spirit in imprecating wild anathemas upon the heads of all around her, and minister to her impotent rage by vain contemplations of the vengeance she would take could fortune be induced to smile upon her cause.

In such an unenviable frame of mind she presently reached her destination, flung herself down upon a rich mossy couch, rested her chin upon her upturned hands whereby her fingers could twitchingly grip her suffused cheeks, and abandoned herself to reverie. At first nothing but the restless movements of her body indicated the impetuosity of her thoughts, but soon her feelings became too strong for silence, and, all unconscious to herself, she began to tell her secret by recalling her former life, position, habits, and presently drifted into a review of her abduction and slavery. In the contemplation of these injuries her vehemence increased with the sense of her wrongs, until in her unguarded rage she cursed herself for the blind haughtiness which had at first deceived her, the men who had stolen her, the Prince who purchased and held her, the gods who had allowed the outrage, and then gave way to tears.

“But what am I doing?” she roused herself to exclaim. “Can I prepare myself for that which lies before me by repenting the past or mourning for the present? Would my father be proud of such conduct? No! Alcazar's daughter is a soldier's child, and such have no tears to shed! I will be worthy of the name he bears, and in the emulation of the soldier spirit regain by strategy that which I have lost through overpowering force. While my royal mistress humours her innocent imagination that I pair well with the soulless Æna, I will dissemble until I meet someone with whose interests I can link so much of my confidence as suits my purpose. Thus I shall make a way to send a message to Iberia that shall bring its hosts into this valley and take a terrible requital for the wrongs I have endured.”

“Ye gods,” she cried, as her fertile mind unfolded another idea, “what a service may I thus render to my country. Can it be possible that in the councils of the immortals this mission has been foreseen and I have been ordained and chosen to carry it out? From the days of my childhood I have resented the fate that denied me royal blood, and all the honours which have been crowded upon me have been overshadowed by my envy of an inaccessible throne. I have cursed the misfortune which brought me here, and wasted valuable time in the useless blindness of my rage with my oppressors, only to discover that everything is part of a foreordained plan of the immortal gods to bring me with greater glory to the goal for which I have prayed and sighed. How mysterious, silent, and yet, withal, beneficent, are the gods. The half of Iberia had never heard my name, but by means of this wrong the whole nation will rise to receive me, and in return for the wealth which I shall be able to pour into its treasury they will award me a seat upon its throne.

“Oh! ye unconquerable and inscrutable gods! Now that my eyes have been opened to understand your wisdom and purpose, as well as the duty of the mission with which I have been entrusted, hear me! I acknowledge my ingratitude in murmuring at my lot. I have been weak and unworthy of my commission in the thoughts of penitence in which I have indulged, ungrateful in that I wished myself at home before I had come to understand your purpose; but now behold me humbled in shame at my infidelity, but swearing a future and unswerving allegiance to the commands of the immortals. I am now, and ever will be, the servant and handmaid of the gods alone. At the mandate of heaven I will rise superior to the powers and armies of all rulers; my life shall be sacred to the divine mission, my soul the bride of heaven, and my body bear a charmed existence until my work is accomplished.

“Iberia! of all thy sons and daughters none have been so honoured as Alcazar's daughter, whose name shall go down to future ages and never be forgotten. From this abyss of slavery I will arise to crown thee with wealth, glory, and honour above all the nations of the earth. When my bonds shall fall from my hands all the uncounted treasures of Sahama shall be laid at thy feet, and I will make the land I love the envy of all peoples and nations. I swear by all that is sacred that I will neither rest nor grow weary until the work is done. I will case my heart in armour, that pity shall not gain dominion over it, and every energy with which the gods have endowed me shall be consecrated to the service. Here, and until victory shall crown my efforts, do I unfurl the standard of my loyal cause! Beware, my Prince and Princess Gourd, for the foe is at thy gates.”

“And the foe a very dangerous one, girl?” asked a musical voice, rippling with incredulous laughter.

The slave turned, covered with confusion at the discovery that her enthusiasm had led to the betrayal of a secret she otherwise intended to guard so religiously. How much had she made known? How long had the intruder been hiding in the depths of the fernery? Her will and passion suggested safety by silencing the tongue of the unwelcome interloper, and her hand instinctively wandered to the secreted poniard in her first thought of self-defence; but the instant recognition of the speaker made her halt, caused her heart to stand, and dispelled the cherished hope of liberation in the moment of its inception.

The courtly training of her mind, however, at once asserted itself and relieved her. In the lady Lais Zillah had long discovered a very divergent temperament to Vedrona, since the inbred instinct of her Assyrian father had defied the uprooting influences of Sahama's rustic simplicity. The proud Iberian had long watched and secretly commended the quiet contempt, with which Lais regarded her so-called sister, and her diplomatic mind somewhat recovered itself in the thought that by tact and adroitness the anticipated disaster might be averted. At least it was worth the trial.

“May the great gods forgive me, O Princess,” she answered, in well­feigned confused humility, as she knelt to kiss the royal robe, “but the great Vedrona, whom may the gods protect, released me from my duties for a time, and I was amusing myself by rehearsing a story I have often heard my noble father tell.”

Lais received the explanation with a soft, musical laugh, and then replied:

“A very ingenious, if not exactly serviceable story, girl, and I commend you for its wit. Had I heard nothing but the apostrophe to your soliloquy I might have been deceived into believing you, but fortunately for myself - however it may prove for you - you did not notice my presence on your arrival, and I have heard the whole of your recital - far more, I imagine, than you intended to amuse me with.”

Lais was herself now playing the role of the romancer, but she had the advantage, and it was her policy to keep it. “Still, you need not trouble yourself about the discovery. You are in search of a friend such as I might be inclined to become, if it suited me, and I see no reason why we may not join issue in a common cause.”

“Will the lady Lais speak more plainly to her humble servant?”

“Yes! I will tell you, I have heard your story, and know your feelings and intentions towards my sister and her throne. Of course, such knowledge I can use according as it may suit my purpose.”

“Is this a menace or a threat?” asked Zillah, dropping the role of a slave and assuming an air of defiant equality, in which the chances of ultimate success were somewhat in her own favour. And as she spoke again her hand wandered towards the hidden poniard.

The Princess neither appeared to notice the tone or movement, but complacently assumed the lounge Zillah had previously vacated.

“What need have I for menace or the use of threats? I simply wish us to understand each other. You appear to have a just complaint in regard to your position and presence here; I have a desire I am anxious to realise. Now you are in a position to render me some assistance, which, if you are willing to do faithfully, I can presently reward by granting you freedom and restoration to your friends.”

“I am willing to accept your offer. In what can I assist you?”

“By carrying out my wishes as I may from time to time desire. For the rest my plans and objects do not concern you. I only ask your obedience and assistance whenever I may wish to command them.”

“I accept your offer entirely upon your own terms,” replied Zillah, without further question.

Lais glanced enquiringly at the girl as if somewhat confused by the ready acquiescence. Her wide experience of human nature - in the secret study of which she had made herself wonderfully proficient during her stay in Babylon and Egypt, as the companion and fellow-student of Vedrona - convinced her that in the Iberian she had found a woman artful and diplomatic as herself, and one who would need to be carefully dealt with to guard against surprise. Such an engagement, however, possessed a certain attractive piquancy for Lais, who had an unwavering faith in her own ability, and the face of Zillah, being most innocently free from any vicious suspicion, the former began to make enquiries, through which she hoped to find her way to some slight position of advantage.

“In order that I may be able to justly discharge my obligations towards you, it will be necessary that I thoroughly understand your case. Now, who are you and how came you here?”

“I thought you had heard the whole of my story,” she answered, with a disquieting look; then apologetically “but perhaps my feelings had not found expression at that time. Learn, then, that I am the only daughter of Alcazar, chief counsellor of the King of Iberia. I was in the mountains by the sea when my attendants and slaves were overpowered by a band of traders, who carried us to Susa, where Glarces purchased me.”

“Did no one make any attempt to rescue you?”

“We were overpowered, and before our absence could excite suspicion we were far out at sea.”

“Yours has been a great misfortune, but if you will faithfully serve me you shall be restored. Let that promise secure your perfect fidelity, but remember, I am able to take a full and complete revenge for any attempt to deceive me, and I can exact it without compunction.”

“What is my first duty?” she enquired, with calm indifference, the lambent smile so delicately playing across her features having a mysteriously doubtful significance, whether of defiance or assurance of fidelity.

“I shall need time to consider that,” Lais replied.”The offer of your assistance is so unexpected that I am scarcely prepared for it, but you shall hear from me through my lord Casca. You may leave me.”

The dismissal was with an air of imperious majesty, but Zillah did not bend or bow before it. With an equal dignity she acknowledged the termination of the interview and took her departure with far more satisfaction than Lais experienced.

“Casca!”

The eunuch at once approached from the hiding-place where she had previously left him.

“Have you heard?” she enquired. “Everything,” he replied.

“Do you still refuse to believe that the magician was right when he said to­day would be propitious to our enterprise?” “It may be for yourself, most noble lady, but I have heard nothing to assure me of the possession of Vedrona.” “Fool!” she cried; “do you expect to receive your reward before a move is made to secure it? If I succeed, how can you fail? Did you expect me to explain everything to this headstrong girl, before I am assured of her honesty?” “Such a beautiful creature cannot help but be honest.” “Pshaw, man!” she answered, petulantly; “what chance would there be for the success of any enterprise if it were left in your hands? A pretty face would steal your secret every hour and make you false even to your own mother.

However, I shall direct this scheme, and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that should Vedrona escape you, I can arrange that you shall have Zillah, who is a far more beautiful woman.”

“But she will have no throne,” he dolefully whined as the reason for his preference for Vedrona.