The Slayer Of souls Part 35

Tressa paled: "His mind and mine did battle. I tore my heart from his grasp. I have laid it, bleeding, at my dear lord's feet. Let G.o.d judge between us, Yulun."

"There was a day," whispered Yulun, "when Prince Sanang went to the Lake of the Ghosts."

Tressa, very pallid, looked down at her sleeping husband. She said:

"Prince Sanang came to the Lake of the Ghosts. The snow of the cherry-trees covered the young world.

"The water was clear as sunlight; and the lake was afire with scarlet carp.... Yulun--beloved--the nightingale sang all night long--all night long.... Then I saw Sanang s.h.i.+ning, all gold, in the moonlight.... May G.o.d remember him in h.e.l.l!"

"May G.o.d remember him."

"Sanang Noane. May he be accursed in the Namaz Ga!"

"May he be tormented in Jehaunum!--Sanang, Slayer of Souls."

Tressa leaned forward on the bed, stretched herself out, and laid her face gently across her husband's feet, touching them with her lips.

Then she straightened herself and sat up, supported by one hand, and looking silently down at the sleeping man.

"No soul shall die," she said. "Niaz!"

"Is it written?" asked Yulun, surprised.

"My lord has said it."

"Allahou Ekber," murmured Yulun; "thy lord is only a man."

Tressa said: "Neither the Tekbir nor the fatha, nor the warning of Khidr, nor the Yacaz of the Khagan, nor even the prayers of the Ten Imaums are of any value to me unless my dear lord confirms the truth of them with his own lips."

"And Erlik? Is he nothing, then?"

"Erlik!" repeated Tressa insolently. "Who is Erlik but the servant of Satan who was stoned?"

Her beautiful, angry lips were suddenly distorted; her blue eyes blazed.

Then she spat, her mouth still tremulous with hatred. She said in a voice shaking with rage:

"Yulun, beloved! Listen attentively. I have slain two of the Slayers of the Eight Towers. With G.o.d's help I shall slay them all--all!--Djamouk, Yaddin, Arrak Sou-Sou--all!--every one!--Tiyang Khan, Togrul,--all shall I slay, even to the last one among them!"

"_Sanang, also?_"

"I leave him to G.o.d. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living G.o.d!"

Yulun calmly paraphrased the cant phrase of the a.s.sa.s.sins: "For it is written that we belong to G.o.d and we return to Him. Heart of gold, I shall execute my duty!"

Then Yulun slipped from the edge of the bed to the floor, and stood there looking oddly at Tressa, her eyes rain-bright as though choking back tears--or laughter.

"Heart of a rose," she said in a suppressed voice, "my time is nearly ended.... So.... I go to the chamber of this strange young man who holds my soul like a pearl afire between his hands.... I think it it written that I shall love him."

Tressa rose also and placed her lips close to Yulun's ear: "His name, beloved, is Benton. His room is on this floor. Shall we _make the effort_ together?"

"Yes," said Yulun. "Lay your body down upon the bed beside your lord who sleeps so deeply.... And now stretch out.... And fold both hands.... And now put off thy body like a silken garment.... So! And leave it there beside thy lord, asleep."

They stood together for a moment, s.h.i.+ning like dewy shapes of tall flowers, whispering and laughing together in the soft glow of the night lamp.

Cleves slept on, unstirring. There was the white and sleeping figure of his wife lying on the bed beside him.

But Tressa and Yulun were already melting away between the wall and the confused rosy radiance of the lamp.

Benton, in night attire and chamber-robe belted in, fresh from his bath and still drying his curly hair on a rough towel, wandered back into his bedroom.

When his short, bright hair was dry, he lighted a cigarette, took the automatic from his dresser, examined the clip, and shoved it under his pillow.

Then he picked up the little leather-bound Testament, seated himself, and opened it. And read tranquilly while his cigarette burned.

When he was ready he turned out the ceiling light, leaving only the night lamp lighted. Then he knelt beside his bed,--a custom surviving the nursery period,--and rested his forehead against his folded hands.

Then, as he prayed, something snapped the thread of prayer as though somebody had spoken aloud in the still room; and, like one who has been suddenly interrupted, he opened his eyes and looked around and upward.

The silent shock of her presence pa.s.sed presently. He got up from his knees, looking at her all the while.

"You are Yulun," he said very calmly.

The girl flushed brightly and rested one hand on the foot of the bed.

"Do you remember in the moonlight where you walked along the hedge of white hibiscus and oleander--that night you said good-bye to Tressa in the South?"

"Yes."

"Twice," she said, laughing, "you stopped to peer at the blossoms in the moonlight."

"I thought I saw a face among them."

"You were not sure whether it was flowers or a girl's face looking at you from the blossoming hedge of white hibiscus," said Yulun.

"I know now," he said in an odd, still voice, unlike his own.

"Yes, it was I," she murmured. And of a sudden the girl dropped to her knees without a sound and laid her head on the velvet carpet at his feet.

So swiftly, noiselessly was it done that he had not comprehended--had not moved--when she sat upright, resting on her knees, and grasped the collar of her tunic with both gemmed hands.

"Have pity on me, lord of my lost soul!" she cried softly.

Benton stooped in a dazed way to lift the girl; but found himself knee deep in a snowy drift of white hibiscus blossoms--touched nothing but silken petals--waded in them as he stepped forward. And saw her standing before him still grasping the collar of her golden tunic.

A great white drift of bloom lay almost waist deep between them; the fragrance of oleander, too, was heavy in the room.

"There are years of life before the flaming gates of Jehaunum open. And I am very young," said Yulun wistfully.

Somebody else laughed in the room. Turning his head, he saw Tressa standing by the empty fireplace.