CHAPTER XLVIII - THE CAR ASCENDS

The end had come. Lais had miserably failed. There was now no uncertainty about it. The voice of the oracle had proclaimed the event, and the examination of the haunted chasm had confirmed it. Glarces was dead; her hopes destroyed; her anticipated career ruined! She no longer wept tears of hypocrisy to deceive the people, but the genuine grief of a defeated and disappointed woman consumed her. She had reached and held the throne just long enough to prepare for the consummation of her aspiration, then, touched by the magic wand of fate, it had vanished - an empty bauble - into thin air, and was no more. What other could it possibly be, in the absence of Glarces - and he was dead!

She had built her kingdom on the sand, and the floods had carried it away. The interminable watches of the night had been passed in the absorbing occupation of yesterday - reviewing the way by which she had travelled with its varying promises of success, hoping, even now, it was not too late to discover where she had taken the false step leading to defeat - and the morning found her haggard, wan, and crushed. Energy and even interest had deserted her. Life itself was a burden, respecting which she sat curiously and mechanically speculating when aroused by the announcement of Meshrac and Chryses.

“May the Queen live for ever,” was the usual salutation of the twain.

“The Queen has no desire to live another day,” she replied, “unless the gods can reverse the wheels of fate.”

“That is impossible,” answered the priest.

“And has the oracle nothing better to declare than its decree of yesterday?”

“The oracle is silent, as also are the stars,” replied the magician. “Then what remains for us to do?” We await the Queen's commands in that respect.”

“But what avail are our commands if the Fates oppose us? Has the turbulence in the city been suppressed?”

“Not Yet. The captain of the guard advises that we proclaim the Prince's death as revealed by the oracle. This, he thinks, will restore quiet to the city.”

“It were better not to do that,” she answered reflectively, “until the gods have either confirmed, or, let us hope, recalled it.”

Hope died hard in Lais, but the priests were highly indignant at such an aspersion on the arts they practised.

“Are the gods but men, O Queen, that they should be mistaken; or are they blind that they should thus declare a lie?” asked Meshrac.

“Have they not deceived us with false hopes, until we have lost all confidence both in gods and men?” she replied.

As the Queen spoke, Zosine entered and announced:

“The keeper of the lions comes with an urgent message for the Queen.” “Bid him send it to us by your hand.”

“He carries it upon his tongue, O Queen.”

“Then let him approach us.”

Maphir entered with a vivid recollection of his last interview with the Queen. Drawn to his full height, with graceful, measured step, arms folded in easy dignity across his chest, and a smile playing mischievously over his face as he beheld the priests, he approached with majesty but without arrogance.

He bent his knee and waited for the Queen to speak.

“Whence comes the keeper of our lions on his urgent mission?” “With a message from the most mighty Prince Glarces, O Queen.”

Lais was startled into a joyful exclamation, the priests frowned and retreated a step.

“Then your message is delayed, for the Prince is two days dead - perhaps more.”

“Casca is dead; but I am only now come from the presence of the Prince.” “Casca dead? How know you this?”

“I was with him at the time.”

“And the Prince still lives?”

“He bade me bring the Queen to him if she will come.” “What means this, Meshrac?” she inquired.

“We would advise the Queen to act with caution,” answered the astrologer. “The gods have long forewarned us of this son of Cush.”

Maphir turned upon the speaker with a look of amused contempt.

“Your gods are like their oracle of the Prince's death - a lie of your own wish and imagination.”

“This slander of the gods is worthy of instant death, O Queen,” appealed Meshrac.

“And I am ready to pay the forfeit if I speak not truth.” “We know you speak a lie and ask for sentence now.”

“Is it not better first to see the Prince, then judge me afterwards? for if I die no other man can tell you where to find him.”

“What bond have you to give that this is true?” inquired the Queen, who had been carefully watching both hunter and priests.

“If the Queen will hear me, I will give such proof as will determine.” “You may speak.”

“Two days ago the Queen's astrologer and his companions searched the golden caves in an attempt to find the Prince or Casca.”

“How know you this?” “I watched them.” “Go on.”

“Presently Meshrac reached the chasm, and by the light of his torch saw a strap from the Prince's sandal, as well as the head-dress lying upon the rocks where Casca had placed them. Here was a revelation, and I heard my lord say - being sure his friends were out of hearing - 'The oracle must tell of this, then it will bring us fame and favour.' He then called his men, and gave up the search. This opened the mouth of his gods, and they spoke - when Meshrac had told them what to say.”

“I went not near - “

“Silence!” commanded the Queen. “This is news indeed.” Then addressing the hunter, she asked, “How know you that Casca placed these where Meshrac saw them?”

“I saw it. It was the night he disappeared. He first wrote a message, as from the Prince, upon these tablets for the Queen (here he laid the royal leaves upon the table), then, having placed these articles where the god Meshrac found them, he passed the gulf and was arrested.”

“Arrested! By whom?”

“I was waiting for him for the purpose.”

“Have you detained him? Then you shall die!”

“Yes, you shall die! “ cried the priests, glad to find such a way of escape. Maphir's composure was undisturbed.

“I have more to tell of Casca if the Queen will hear it.” “No, we have heard enough.”

“Nor does the Queen desire to see the Prince again?” he asked quietly.

“Yes! If the Prince does live, you shall lead us to him at once; but we will call the guard that neither you nor the priests shall escape until we know the truth.”

Meshrac smiled. He knew the Queen, and also the strength of her superstition. He and his friend were safe.

Maphir submitted to the arrest very much as if he was the culprit in a game of childish make-believe. He had dealt a serious blow to the established religion, and must needs be content to accept some retaliation at the hands of the priests. The persecution of a heretic is always a sweet morsel to an ecclesiastic. This spirit is the differentiation between religion and theology - between the saint and professor. The hunter had no knowledge of such subtle distinctions; he worked according to his own crude ideas of right, justice, and duty, in the pursuit of which he was not hypercritical about trifles. If the arrest was a source of consolation to the astrologer and the priest, he was satisfied, since the action was a matter of perfect indifference to himself. The climax would be the same anyway.

The Queen retired, but her slave returned to learn what preparation was necessary for the visit, the destination of which had not yet been made known.

Where is this hiding-place of the Prince, slave?” asked the officer.

“Do you so soon forget that Glarces would never hide himself from any man?” he answered proudly.

“Are you not in jeopardy enough without adding insolence to that you have already shown?” asked Meshrac. “I am in no jeopardy, Sir Priest; if this amusement of your spite - “

“Will you answer the Queen's inquiry?” the captain demanded. “When I have spoken to the priest.” “But you shall tell me at once, or by the gods - “

“Meshrac is the chief god of Sahama, and I must answer him before the Queen.”

“You shall answer me.”

“When I am ready to do so,” he replied. “Till then, being neither slave nor traitor - but a messenger from the Prince to render a service to the Queen - I demand to be treated in accordance with my office. If you fail in this, I shall say and do - nothing; then the Prince will say to the city what he desires only to tell the Queen. May I speak now?”

“I only know you as my prisoner,” Petronius replied; “ but you may speak.”

“Then I would tell this priest - and yourself also - that I am in no jeopardy. If your amusement - this arrest - was any inconvenience, I should put an end to it at once.”

“Is that any inconvenience?” asked the irate astrologer as he struck the hunter a violent blow across the mouth.

“The blow is nothing,” he replied, carelessly wiping the blood away; “but the affront you will have to answer for.”

“You are on dangerous ground when you refuse to answer the Queen and use threats to her counsellor,” the captain cautioned him.

“I used no threat.” Then to Zosine, “Tell the Queen we can reach the Prince through the golden caves if she desires it. He is there.”

“It is false! The Prince is not there,” Meshrac affirmed. Maphir made no response.

“Did you hear what the chief magician declares?” asked Petronius. “I have sent my answer to the Queen.” “But I say he is not there.”

Maphir still paid no attention; but just then the Queen returned, and the incident ended without her knowledge of it.

With every wish to keep this visit as secret as possible, she preferred to proceed by way of the subterranean passage from the palace, taking with her only such attendants as required - Damophila and the salve Zosine, the two priests, and Petronius in charge of Maphir.

On reaching the gangway Lais exclaimed and refused to cross under the influence of the popular superstition regarding the place.

“We must cross to see the Prince,” said Maphir.

This assurance was all-potent, and the party passed over, the priests offering their protection to the Queen.

On reaching the Prince's domicile, the captain made as if to retain the hunter, but the lions were in evidence, and Maphir went through the ante-cave, opened the curtains, and announced:

“The Queen!”

Even then Lais had a lingering doubt if she would find the Prince, but the doubt had to be determined, and to do it she swept forward in her most imperiously regal mood.

“Teresh! Zachra! You here! - and Tasha too! This looks something like a conspiracy. But we will pardon it since we find our brother also.”

Glarces, with the assistance of Tasha, had risen to his elbow to receive her. Through the night he had rested but fitfully, watched by his friends, and sustaining himself for this interview by the almost super-human effort of his will, in order to clear up the mystery the nation had a right to understand. Still, in case of accident, he had told everything he knew, and this, pieced with Maphir's story and Casca's confession was quite enough for Teresh and Zachra to act upon when the time came. Further, Glarces was true to his old self even in this extremity, and had exercised his right, as sole representative of the royal house, to nominate Tasha as the future Queen, and committed her to the care of Teresh. To Maphir, he had bequeathed half his own possessions, with the request that he should hasten back to his home as soon as all was over. These matters arranged, he had nothing to do but await the interview, and Lais at last had come.

“Keep back,” he said, and Maphir interposed to enforce the command if necessary. “Time is short with me; we will not waste it in regrets, but in the presence of these witnesses - Ah, Chryses, Meshrac, I am glad for you to be here also - I am anxious for you to see and know that all your scheming, your perfidy, and your murders have failed to realise your one desire.”

“What madness is this that still deludes your mind? You are ill! Bid Petronius send, with all haste, for Machaon - “

“Such assistance is now too late,” answered Teresh.

“If so, we shall hold you responsible for it being so. Send for Machaon, I say, and we will have our brother taken to the palace, where he may have attention.”

“That decision is tardy in its arrival,” said Glarces. “It might have served its purpose sooner.”

“We did not know where to find you.” “Casca could have told you.” “But he did not.”

“For the reason that he was commanded not to do so,” replied Teresh in his desire to save the Prince as much as possible. “Casca has made a full confession of more than we asked him - more than we have made the Prince aware of.”

“But who can trust Casca?” she asked. “Lais has done so,” replied Glarces. “If he were here he should - “ “Shall I bring him?” inquired Maphir.

“Bring him!” gasped Lais, who had relied upon the report of the eunuch's death. “You told us he was dead.”

“That was more than I could knowingly declare. I was with Casca - kept him since the night of his disappearance; but I have not seen him die, nor have I seen him dead.”

“What is this folly, Maphir?” asked Teresh aside.

“It is no folly, my lord. The gods have told the magicians that Casca has escaped, and for doubting the truth of the oracle I have suffered this,” pointing to the wound on his lip.

“Then if he is not dead, go! Bring him here,” commanded the Queen.

“I will show the magician where I left him, then perhaps the gods will show where Casca hides.”

“We command you to produce him here.” Maphir drew himself to his full height.

“I am the servant of the Prince,” he replied.

“If you know where he is, bring him to me,” said Glarces.

“I can do no more, O Prince, than I have said. If the gods know better than myself, let the priest come and bring him. I will show my lord where I left Casca.”

“We will send Petronius.”

“Nothing short of the authority of the gods themselves could bring him here, and I will take no one to where I left him but those who can speak in the name of the gods.”

“And has my brother placed himself in the power of this base slave - has the once mighty Glarces fallen so low?”

By this time the Prince and his two friends had divined that the hunter had some reason for this strange conduct, the which, while they feared for the result, they would not attempt, in their ignorance of what had transpired in the palace, to frustrate. Zachra made a shrewd guess at the matter, and whispered the same to Teresh, with a suggestion to assist the hunter.

“If all my friends had been like him, I had not been as I am. He rescued, and made it possible for me to live so long.”

“Rescued you! What do you mean?”

“Let the Queen send to see the place and condition in which the Prince was kept by Casca,” advised Teresh, “the place from which the hunter brought him, then she will understand the gratitude we feel.”

“But has not this been our brother's abode?”

“Maphir, take the Queen and show her where you found me if she chooses to see it.”

“Not that,” interposed Teresh. “Let the Queen send Meshrac or Chryses to report.”

“Yes, Meshrac shall go; and when you return bring Casca with you, if he is not dead. No man shall disobey our will and escape.”

“Shall I take the officer of the guard, O Queen?” asked the reluctant priest.

“No. I have slaves at hand,” replied Maphir. Then the two departed.

There was a brief but painful silence as the curtains fell behind the astrologer. Glarces was very weak, his breath laboured; and Lais could find nothing to say. Tasha had no thought but for her charge, whose life was slipping away as sand through her fingers. Chryses had drawn Zachra aside to learn what was possible of the painful mystery. The course was therefore plain for Teresh to lead the way towards the inevitable climax, and save the Prince from all unnecessary fatigue.

“I had determined to say nothing here,” he began; “but the serious condition of the Prince demands that what has to be done must be without delay, and my position leaves me no choice but to undertake the painful duty.”

“And what may that be?” she inquired haughtily.

“Simply and briefly to inform you that we are now in possession of sufficient details of this intrigue, from the time you met Zillah in the fernery and accepted her assistance - which interview was overheard by Maphir - down to the present moment, as to prove your connection with the murder of the Princess Vedrona and the misfortunes which have followed. In ignorance of these matters the Council made you Queen; but, now they are so fully made known to me, as the responsible officer of our lamented Queenmother, I have to order your arrest to answer for them.”

“That is a painful duty, Teresh. I could not do it; but I thank you. Still, ask the Council, for me, to be as merciful as may be.”

Lais turned faint as she heard the charge of the Councillor, and trembled backward until she fell helpless and speechless upon a divan, where Damophila and Zosine administered restoratives. The final bolt of the Fates had fallen. Escape was beyond all hope. The end had come.

Maphir's return came like a last straw, at which she grasped. “Where is he? Have you found him? “ she cried.

“Who? Casca? No, the gods are wrong again! I knew he was dead! But Meshrac has gone after him to make sure.”

The Queen dropped into the cushions, no doubt wishing she could so easily escape.

By one of those abnormal efforts some men are able to put forth in times of momentous crisis, Glarces roused himself to speak to her once again. How it pained him to do so was only too evident, but the ruling instinct of his life - at any cost to be true to his ideal of truth and duty - possessed him to the last.

“And is it so, my one-time little sister, that all our dreams of life must end? Is this how we must part? Is this the promised land of passion's rich fulfilment? How happy might we yet have been - Vedrona, you and I, had you but learned the truth of love - had you not chosen to kill it for yourself! Now, Lais - oh, my lonely sister - what will you do? Who will help you or guide you? Where will you be able to find rest or comfort? Every friend in whom you placed your confidence is gone! The love we gave you, you have murdered! Jealousy and passion now only mock you! The gods have deceived you and left you to your fate! I would help you – but - I cannot. What an awful price you have to pay! And you have nothing to pay with. You have lost all, and have not touched the thing you would destroy. No, Lais, now you can understand that love has powers beyond the reach of everything - it is omnipotent; and hindrance, opposition, trials, and temptations are only agents to make it purer, nobler, stronger. All that you have done has not parted Vedrona and myself, but drawn us nearer to each other. In that awful hell where Casca kept me I was nearer to her heaven than when we were together in the palace. My body was poisoned and maimed, as you see; but I was not distressed, because the links of earth were breaking to let me escape to where she waits for me - where we shall be for ever one. Yes - yes! She waits for - me!”

He fell back, the effort had exhausted him. Tasha, alarmed at his weakness and pallor, called for perfumes, with which to bathe his face in order to revive him. Again he spoke, but this time he was standing beside his sister's pyre, the torch in hand, and Chryses was urging him to fire it.

“Farewell! thou fairest soul that ever entered the Elysian bowers - my sister! Yet I will love thee - farewell! My life goes with you - but I have sacrificed it! Farewell, farewell, and yet again farewell! Oh, cruel, cruel to part us so! But I will come! Yes, I will come! We must not part! Yet see! the car - the car! Farewell, farewell!”

It was all over!

As he uttered his last words the walls of his cave faded away, and behind him rose the Car of Phœbus, with Vedrona holding out her hands as if calling him to come.

“See! see!” cried Chryses, “the car - the car!”

“And the brave Prince has gone to meet it,” exclaimed Teresh.

“Ye gods! Not that - not that,” screamed Lais. “He must not, shall not go!”

The brightness of the vision blinded her as she rushed towards his divan. Maphir interposed; but in the flood of light she was compelled to hide her face in her upraised arm.

Vedrona smiled and still outstretched her hands, as from the couch a haze ascended which gradually took shape until the soul of the Prince, clad in the raiment of immortality, hailed and answered her invitation.

Then Lais, in a passion of wild despair, dashed towards the car, crying: “She shall not have him - I will follow him, for he is mine!”

The vision faded as Lais forced herself forward and fell over the divan on which the body of Glarces lay, her dagger buried in her own heart.