Sarchedon Part 37

Ishtar shuddered. To her, for all his comeliness, he was loathsome as a leper, terrible as a beast of prey.

"It is but justice I require," said she, wringing her hands. "Bare justice for an a.s.syrian-born carried into captivity."

"He shall be brought back by the sons of Ashur with the strong hand,"

replied Kalmim stoutly. "Who can stand against a.s.syria in her might? But I know not yet whither they have taken him, nor how you have discovered the prison-house where he is lodged."

"I came into the market at sunrise," answered Ishtar, "to sell the clasp of my father's girdle, that I might eat a morsel of bread. Ashtaroth must have had pity on me; for she directed my steps to those very traders who bought Sarchedon from the sons of Anak. One, who seemed chief among them, spoke me fair, and treated me well. Perhaps he has a daughter of his own. From him I learned, that when they divided the spoil, his brother had taken the a.s.syrian warrior for his share, and was journeying with him to Armenia, where he would sell him for a goodly slave to stand before the king. I pray you, Kalmim, is it very far to Armenia?"

"It is many days' journey," replied Kalmim hopefully. "But those who have horses and camels need not the wings of a bird. I have heard it said of the Great King, that his sceptre stretched over the whole land of s.h.i.+nar, his spear to the uttermost ends of the earth, and his arrows reached the heavens. I know not; but I think the sons of Ashur can obtain what they want, even from beyond the mountains of Armenia, if they go to ask for it with bow and spear. These traders, though, are soft and smooth-spoken, false as prosperous lovers, every man of them!

How know you their tale is true?"

"By this token," answered Ishtar, showing Sarchedon's amulet in her hand.

Kalmim recognised it at once. Many a time since she missed it from the Great Queen's neck had she speculated on its absence, and wondered what fresh combinations of intrigue and duplicity were denoted by this imprudent generosity of her mistress. Though Semiramis, she knew, entertained a peculiar reverence for the trinket, as possessing some supernatural charm, yet when she bade her tirewoman go back to search for it in the temple of Baal, there was a restless anxiety in her demeanour not to be explained by mere concern for a lost jewel. And now her eyes were opened. She marvelled how she could have been so dull and blind. She resolved to hold the clue tight, and never let it go till she had turned its possession to her own advantage. Though she tried to look innocent and unconscious, it was impossible to keep down the sparkle in her eye, the crimson on her cheek, while she asked as carelessly as she could,

"Is it a sign between you, and did he send it to vouch for the truth of the messenger?"

"Not so," answered Ishtar. "They took it from his neck by stealth, and the good trader gave it into my hand, because I desired it from him as a gift. When I look on it, I seem to see the n.o.ble face of my beloved. O Kalmim, we must deliver him, and bring him back."

"We must deliver him, and bring him back," repeated Kalmim, pondering deeply. In a few seconds she ran through the main points and bearings of the case.

So long as Sarchedon remained a captive in Armenia, it was obvious that he could be of little service to her designs, but if she could by any means recall him to Babylon, a path seemed open that should lead to her own aggrandis.e.m.e.nt and paramount influence in the palace. She was sufficiently persuaded that the seclusion of Semiramis would last but for a short time; that her masculine intellect would soon weary of inactivity; and that her energies would again rule the nation through the son, as heretofore through the sire. She was shrewd enough to have observed that Ninyas did nothing without the counsel of a.s.sarac; and she had not forgotten a.s.sarac's implicit and slavish devotion to the queen.

She was also satisfied that her royal lady had contracted one of those infatuated pa.s.sions for Sarchedon to which she was occasionally subject, and which her tire-woman's experience reminded her would be gratified at any cost of danger or shame. If, then, she could go to the queen when the days of mourning had expired, and say to her, "I have got your treasure safe in Babylon, under lock and key; I brought him back from Armenia by my own exertions, and you need but lift up your finger to behold him here at your feet," would she not become one of the greatest personages in a.s.syria, herself the fount of honour, wealth, influence, and promotion? Sethos, she decided, should obtain the leaders.h.i.+p of the royal guard, and her other lovers be rewarded, more or less, in proportion to their attractions. Meantime Sarchedon must be brought back.

"You love him dearly then," said she, "and would shrink from no sacrifice to insure his safety?"

There was more than devotion in Ishtar's simple answer,

"I would give my life for the life of him."

"There is but one power under that of Ashtaroth to help you at your need," pursued Kalmim. "If the king will send an emba.s.sy to Armenia, as to Egypt, for the recovery of Sarchedon, the youth may yet return, fast as camels can travel. But you must make your pet.i.tion at once, and in person. You are young and comely, though a little too pale. Such faces as yours seldom plead with Ninyas in vain."

Ishtar clasped her hands and trembled.

"Is there no other way?" said she. "There is none in all the land of s.h.i.+nar before whom I would not rather bow down my face than the prince."

"The prince, girl! what mean you?" exclaimed the other. "Are you mad?

There is none can help you in such a matter but the king."

"Only--only," stammered Ishtar, "I fled on purpose to avoid him."

"Fled!" repeated Kalmim scornfully; "whence and why? There is no time to lose. Tell me in a word: has Ninyas, too, taken a fancy to that white face of yours?"

That white face turned crimson, while about brow and lip gathered such haughty defiance, that for a moment the girl looked like her father when he set the battle in array.

"He would have forced me to love him," said she; "but I had rather be lying dead without the city wall!"

"Is it so indeed?" exclaimed Kalmim, a little vexed, it may be, to hear of another woman's conquest, yet highly pleased with the promise of success it seemed to offer. "Then Ashtaroth doth indeed favour us, and the prey is taken ere we spread the net. If he wooed you unsuccessfully, believe me, he is not out of your power yet. You need but ask your price, and he will pay it. That price must be the recovery of Sarchedon."

Love and hatred were tearing at the poor girl's heart--love gained the mastery.

"What would you have me do?" she asked; but her voice was so changed, the other looked anxiously in her face.

"Now you are reasonable," said Kalmim, after a pause, "and will take a friend's advice. So shall all turn to our advantage at last. This must you do: rend that garment of yours thus, not down to the hem, but so that it falls gracefully away in two pieces, uncovering neck and shoulder. Scatter a little dust on your head--a very little--not enough to dim the l.u.s.tre on your hair. Then sit you down in the gate yonder; I will show you the place. Wait till Ninyas rides by, coming from the judgment seat. He must be leaving it ere now. When you hear the tramp of the white horse, turn not your face to right or left; but as he draws near, start up in front of him, throw back your veil, wreathe your arms about his knee, pour forth your prayer, and implore your lord to do with you what he will."

"Be it so," answered Ishtar, calm and pale, like one in the grasp of death. "Thus shall I save you, Sarchedon my beloved! But never, never will I look in your dear face again."

CHAPTER x.x.xIX

IN THE GATE

Bowed to the dust, with rent garments, drooping head, and aching heart, from which the very life seemed pressed out, Ishtar sat herself down in the gate to watch for the pa.s.sing by of the king, as he rode from the place where he had been administering justice to his people since sunrise. She had not long to wait; the trampling of hoofs soon warned her that the royal troop was approaching, and flinging back her veil, she had scarcely time to rise erect before the well-known white horse was upon her, guided by the hand that most she feared and hated in the world.

Its rider, buried in thought, proceeded at a walk, accompanied only by a.s.sarac, the few mounted spearmen in attendance remaining several paces behind. Ninyas appeared unusually grave and preoccupied. His face was somewhat hidden by the fall of a linen tiara and the profusion of his dark silken hair, but in his rounded symmetry of limb, his graceful gestures, and royal dignity of bearing were conspicuous those personal advantages which formed perhaps the only merit of their new ruler in the eyes of the common crowd.

Faint and forced were the cheers that greeted his approach, dark and discontented the glances that followed him as he pa.s.sed on. He from whom so much was expected had turned out a failure and a disappointment. To cruelty and injustice the people of Babylon would have submitted without a murmur, but for incapacity they had little forbearance; for one who wasted neither blood nor treasure, they entertained a fierce and dangerous contempt.

Already loud regrets had been heard among the populace for the iron rule of Ninus and the warlike glories of the Great King. Already whispers, fierce and earnest in their suppression, asked when her days of mourning would be ended; and suggested that the queen should again take part in affairs of empire--should govern Babylon, her own especial city, in person. Even before the seat of judgment, murmurs to this effect were distinctly audible, and a cry of "Semiramis! Semiramis!" had been caught up and reechoed in the outskirts of the crowd. On such occasions, the calm face of a.s.sarac was observed to denote secret triumph and gratification, yet clouded with something of anxiety and deep earnest thought. Riding on the king's right hand, he seemed even now so engrossed in meditation, that he was the more disturbed of the two when a figure, rising, as it were, out of the earth, wound its arms round the royal knee, at the imminent risk of being trampled to death, and laid its forehead to the white horse's shoulder in an att.i.tude of heart-broken entreaty and abas.e.m.e.nt. Merodach must have recognised her.

Ishtar knew that the animal avoided touching her with its hoofs, while, in spite of skilled hand and severe bridle, it pressed its muzzle against her fair shoulder with a mute loving caress.

"How now!" exclaimed the rider haughtily.--"What foolish damsel is this who enc.u.mbers the royal path, seeing that the sun is already high? Know you not how the people cry without ceasing for justice during the s.p.a.ce of two hours after dawn? Stand aside, girl, lest that tender body of yours be trampled like a lily in the dust!"

Ishtar raised her tear-stained face, pale as the flower to which she had been compared, and sobbed out wildly,

"As thy soul liveth, hear me! Only hear me, ere thou ride on in thy might, and crush me to death beneath thy feet! What am I that I should stand in the path of my lord the king?"

Surely he remembered her voice. He seemed strangely disturbed, and the hand that reined Merodach shook till the bridle rang again. Turning to a.s.sarac, he murmured in a stifled voice,

"Bid them keep the people back, I pray you; with point of spear if need be. I will hear what the damsel has to say."

Then Ishtar poured forth her whole heart with an eloquence that could only have been wrung from her by his danger whom she loved better than her very life. She reminded Ninyas of his professed attachment to herself, of their flight through the desert to the south, of her unwilling thraldom, and constant resistance at Ascalon, notwithstanding his rank, his beauty, his exceeding attractions, avoiding, with womanly tact, every allusion that could hurt his self-love, and lavis.h.i.+ng, with womanly recklessness, every expression of flattery that could impress on him the immeasurable distance between his handmaid and her lord. Then she bade him judge of her feelings by his own. What had she to live for but the man she loved? The youth was to _her_ as water in the desert, as a breath of air to one bricked up in a dungeon. She was sick for his comely face. She made her prayer to the king, because she had been taught from childhood he was the representative of Baal in the land of s.h.i.+nar, the embodiment of truth, justice, and mercy amongst his people.

She knelt to him as to Nisroch with the eagle-head. She presumed not to stand before his face without a gift. Let her find favour in his sight.

It was the only jewel she had left. Let him take it. Let him but grant her pet.i.tion, rescue this goodly youth from captivity, and take herself--her life--all she had to give!

In accordance with ancient custom forbidding the suppliant to enter the presence of a superior without an offering, she thrust into the king's hand that amulet of emerald which had already changed owners so many times. Even at her extremity of need she could not help remarking how white and delicate were those royal fingers that trembled round the jewel, how fair and shapely was the arm that shook with some inward conflict of pa.s.sions, terrible in their struggle against the strength that kept them down. It was marvellous to her that jealousy should have such power over the male nature, and if Ninyas cared so very dearly for her, surely she ought to pity him, she thought, even though she could not love! All this under-current of feeling and reflection pa.s.sed through her mind while she watched every turn and gesture of her lord with the eager eyes of one who balances between life and death.

The royal face was hidden by its tiara; the royal voice came low and husky with its haughty question,

"Is it a lover, girl, for whom you make this bold pet.i.tion? Did he buy you with a trinket and cast you aside in the desert, and will nothing force him back to your arms save a decree of the king? Go to! You seem over-shameless for a maiden,--over-tender for a wife. I have spoken."

She was on her knees again, pressing the rider's garment to her forehead.

"By the glory of Shamas.h.!.+" she exclaimed--"by the might of Ashur!--by the blood of Nisroch! I am a true woman. May my lips wither, may my tongue drop out, may my heart be consumed to ashes, if I conceive a falsehood in the face of my lord the king! His servant loves the youth--loves him so dearly, that for his sake she would accept death with joy, life-long bondage with grat.i.tude--that to insure his safety she would give her hopes, her heart, her all, and consent never, never to see him again!"

The king was certainly changed. Looking wildly up in that comely face, it was colder, paler than before, and the lips turned very white while they asked in a low stern voice,