And now it was that the trouble which at first had been but a cloud aslarge as a man's hand began to loom very black and big upon our horizon,namely, Sorais' preference for Sir Henry. I saw the storm drawing nearerand nearer; and so, poor fellow, did he. The affection of so lovely andhighly-placed a woman was not a thing that could in a general way beconsidered a calamity by any man, but, situated as Curtis was, it was agrievous burden to bear.
To begin with, Nyleptha, though altogether charming, was, it must beadmitted, of a rather jealous disposition, and was sometimes apt tovisit on her lover's head her indignation at the marks of what Alphonsewould have called the 'distinguished consideration' with which herroyal sister favoured him. Then the enforced secrecy of his relationto Nyleptha prevented Curtis from taking some opportunity of putting astop, or trying to put a stop, to this false condition of affairs, bytelling Sorais, in a casual but confidential way, that he was going tomarry her sister. A third sting in Sir Henry's honey was that he knewthat Good was honestly and sincerely attached to the ominous-lookingbut most attractive Lady of the Night. Indeed, poor Bougwan was wastinghimself to a shadow of his fat and jolly self about her, his facegetting so thin that his eyeglass would scarcely stick in it; while she,with a sort of careless coquetry, just gave him encouragement enoughto keep him going, thinking, no doubt, that he might be useful as astalking-horse. I tried to give him a hint, in as delicate a way asI could, but he flew into a huff and would not listen to me, so I wasdetermined to let ill along, for fear of making it worse. Poor Good, hereally was very ludicrous in his distress, and went in for all sortsof absurdities, under the belief that he was advancing his suit. Oneof them was the writing--with the assistance of one of the grave andrevered signiors who instructed us, and who, whatever may have been themeasure of his erudition, did not understand how to scan a line--of amost interminable Zu-Vendi love-song, of which the continually recurringrefrain was something about 'I will kiss thee; oh yes, I will kissthee!' Now among the Zu-Vendi it is a common and most harmless thingfor young men to serenade ladies at night, as I believe they do in thesouthern countries of Europe, and sing all sorts of nonsensical songs tothem. The young men may or may not be serious; but no offence is meantand none is taken, even by ladies of the highest rank, who accept thewhole thing as an English girl would a gracefully-turned compliment.
Availing himself of this custom, Good bethought him that would serenadeSorais, whose private apartments, together with those of her maidens,were exactly opposite our own, on the further side of a narrow courtyardwhich divided one section of the great palace from another. Accordingly,having armed himself with a native zither, on which, being an adeptwith the light guitar, he had easily learned to strum, he proceeded atmidnight--the fashionable hour for this sort of caterwauling--to makenight hideous with his amorous yells. I was fast asleep when they began,but they soon woke me up--for Good possesses a tremendous voice andhas no notion of time--and I ran to my window-place to see what was thematter. And there, standing in the full moonlight in the courtyard, Iperceived Good, adorned with an enormous ostrich feather head-dress anda flowing silken cloak, which it is the right thing to wear upon theseoccasions, and shouting out the abominable song which he and the oldgentleman had evolved, to a jerky, jingling accompaniment. From thedirection of the quarters of the maids of honour came a succession offaint sniggerings; but the apartments of Sorais herself--whom I devoutlypitied if she happened to be there--were silent as the grave. Therewas absolutely no end to that awful song, with its eternal 'I will kissthee!' and at last neither I nor Sir Henry, whom I had summoned toenjoy the sight, could stand it any longer; so, remembering the dear oldstory, I put my head to the window opening, and shouted, 'For Heaven'ssake, Good, don't go on talking about it, but _kiss_ her and let's allgo to sleep!' That choked him off, and we had no more serenading.
The whole thing formed a laughable incident in a tragic business. Howdeeply thankful we ought to be that even the most serious matters havegenerally a silver lining about them in the shape of a joke, if onlypeople could see it. The sense of humour is a very valuable possessionin life, and ought to be cultivated in the Board schools--especially inScotland.
Well, the more Sir Henry held off the more Sorais came on, as is notuncommon in such cases, till at last things got very queer indeed.Evidently she was, by some strange perversity of mind, quite blinded tothe true state of the case; and I, for one, greatly dreaded the momentof her awakening. Sorais was a dangerous woman to be mixed up with,either with or without one's consent. At last the evil moment came, as Isaw it must come. One fine day, Good having gone out hawking, Sir Henryand I were sitting quietly talking over the situation, especially withreference to Sorais, when a Court messenger arrived with a written note,which we with some difficulty deciphered, and which was to the effectthat 'the Queen Sorais commanded the attendance of the Lord Incubu inher private apartments, whither he would be conducted by the bearer'.
'Oh my word!' groaned Sir Henry. 'Can't you go instead, old fellow?'
'Not if I know it,' I said with vigour. 'I had rather face a woundedelephant with a shot-gun. Take care of your own business, my boy. If youwill be so fascinating you must take the consequences. I would not be inyour place for an empire.'
'You remind me of when I was going to be flogged at school and the otherboys came to console me,' he said gloomily. 'What right has this Queento command my attendance, I should like to know? I won't go.'
'But you must; you are one of her officers and bound to obey her, andshe knows it. And after all it will soon be over.'
'That's just what they used to say,' he said again. 'I only hope shewon't put a knife into me. I believe that she is quite capable of it.'And off he started very faintheartedly, and no wonder.
I sat and waited, and at the end of about forty-five minutes hereturned, looking a good deal worse than when he went.
'Give me something to drink,' he said hoarsely.
I got him a cup of wine, and asked what was the matter.
'What is the matter? Why if ever there was trouble there's troublenow. You know when I left you? Well, I was shown straight into Sorais'private chamber, and a wonderful place it is; and there she sat, quitealone, upon a silken couch at the end of the room, playing gently uponthat zither of hers. I stood before her, and for a while she took nonotice of me, but kept on playing and singing a little, and very sweetmusic it was. At last she looked up and smiled.
'"So thou art come," she said. "I thought perchance thou hadst goneabout the Queen Nyleptha's business. Thou art ever on her business, andI doubt not a good servant and a true."
'To this I merely bowed, and said I was there to receive the Queen'sword.
'"Ah yes, I would talk with thee, but be thou seated. It wearies me tolook so high," and she made room for me beside her on the couch, placingherself with her back against the end, so as to have a view of my face.
'"It is not meet," I said, "that I should make myself equal with theQueen."
'"I said be seated," was her answer, so I sat down, and she began tolook at me with those dark eyes of hers. There she sat like an incarnatespirit of beauty, hardly talking at all, and when she did, very low, butall the while looking at me. There was a white flower in her black hair,and I tried to keep my eyes on it and count the petals, but it was ofno use. At last, whether it was her gaze, or the perfume in her hair, orwhat I do not know, but I almost felt as though I was being mesmerized.At last she roused herself.
'"Incubu," she said, "lovest thou power?"
'I replied that I supposed all men loved power of one sort or another.
'"Thou shalt have it," she said. "Lovest thou wealth?"
'I said I liked wealth for what it brought.
'"Thou shalt have it," she said. "And lovest thou beauty?"
'To this I replied that I was very fond of statuary and architecture,or something silly of that sort, at which she frowned, and there was apause. By this time my nerves were on such a stretch that I was shakinglike a leaf. I knew th
at something awful was going to happen, but sheheld me under a kind of spell, and I could not help myself.
'"Incubu," she said at length, "wouldst thou be a king? Listen, wouldstthou be a king? Behold, stranger, I am minded to make thee king of allZu-Vendis, ay and husband of Sorais of the Night. Nay, peace and hearme. To no man among my people had I thus opened out my secret heart, butthou art an outlander and therefore I speak without shame, knowing all Ihave to offer and how hard it had been thee to ask. See, a crown lies atthy feet, my lord Incubu, and with that fortune a woman whom some havewished to woo. Now mayst thou answer, oh my chosen, and soft shall thywords fall upon mine ears."
'"Oh Sorais," I said, "I pray thee speak not thus"--you see I hadnot time to pick and choose my words--"for this thing cannot be. I ambetrothed to thy sister Nyleptha, oh Sorais, and I love her and heralone."
'Next moment it struck me that I had said an awful thing, and I lookedup to see the results. When I spoke, Sorais' face was hidden in herhands, and as my words reached her she slowly raised it, and I shrankback dismayed. It was ashy white, and her eyes were flaming. She rose toher feet and seemed to be choking, but the awful thing was that she wasso quiet about it all. Once she looked at a side table, on which lay adagger, and from it to me, as though she thought of killing me; but shedid not take it up. At last she spoke one word, and one only--
'"_Go!_"
'And I went, and glad enough I was to get out of it, and here I am. Giveme another cup of wine, there's a good fellow, and tell me, what is tobe done?'
I shook my head, for the affair was indeed serious. As one of the poetssays,
'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned',
more especially if the woman is a queen and a Sorais, and indeed Ifeared the very worst, including imminent danger to ourselves.
'Nyleptha had better be told of this at once,' I said, 'and perhaps Ihad better tell her; she might receive your account with suspicion.'
'Who is captain of her guard tonight?' I went on.
'Good.'
'Very well then, there will be no chance of her being got at. Don't looksurprised. I don't think that her sister would stick at that. I supposeone must tell Good of what has happened.'
'Oh, I don't know,' said Sir Henry. 'It would hurt his feelings, poorfellow! You see, he takes a lively personal interest in Sorais.'
'That's true; and after all, perhaps there is no need to tell him. Hewill find out the truth soon enough. Now, you mark my words, Sorais willthrow in her lot with Nasta, who is sulking up in the North there,and there will be such a war as has not been known in Zu-Vendis forcenturies. Look there!' and I pointed to two Court messengers, who werespeeding away from the door of Sorais' private apartments. 'Now followme,' and I ran up a stairway into an outlook tower that rose from theroof of our quarters, taking the spyglass with me, and looked outover the palace wall. The first thing we saw was one of the messengersspeeding towards the Temple, bearing, without any doubt, the Queen'sword to the High Priest Agon, but for the other I searched in vain.Presently, however, I spied a horseman riding furiously through thenorthern gate of the city, and in him I recognized the other messenger.
'Ah!' I said, 'Sorais is a woman of spirit. She is acting at once, andwill strike quick and hard. You have insulted her, my boy, and the bloodwill flow in rivers before the stain is washed away, and yours with it,if she can get hold of you. Well, I'm off to Nyleptha. Just you stopwhere you are, old fellow, and try to get your nerves straight again.You'll need them all, I can tell you, unless I have observed humannature in the rough for fifty years for nothing.' And off I wentaccordingly.
I gained audience of the Queen without trouble. She was expectingCurtis, and was not best pleased to see my mahogany-coloured faceinstead.
'Is there aught wrong with my Lord, Macumazahn, that he waits not uponme? Say, is he sick?'
I said that he was well enough, and then, without further ado, I plungedinto my story and told it from beginning to end. Oh, what a rage sheflew into! It was a sight to see her, she looked so lovely.
'How darest thou come to me with such a tale?' she cried. 'It is a lieto say that my Lord was making love to Sorais, my sister.'
'Pardon me, oh Queen,' I answered, 'I said that Sorais was making loveto thy lord.'
'Spin me no spiders' webs of words. Is not the thing the same thing? Theone giveth, the other taketh; but the gift passes, and what matters itwhich is the most guilty? Sorais! oh, I hate her--Sorais is a queenand my sister. She had not stooped so low had he not shown the way.Oh, truly hath the poet said that man is like a snake, whom to touch ispoison, and whom none can hold.'
'The remark, oh Queen, is excellent, but methinks thou hast misread thepoet. Nyleptha,' I went on, 'thou knowest well that thy words are emptyfoolishness, and that this is no time for folly.'
'How darest thou?' she broke in, stamping her foot. 'Hast my false lordsent thee to me to insult me also? Who art thou, stranger, that thoushouldst speak to me, the Queen, after this sort? How darest thou?'
'Yea, I dare. Listen. The moments which thou dost waste in idle angermay well cost thee thy crown and all of us our lives. Already Sorais'horsemen go forth and call to arms. In three days' time Nasta will rousehimself in his fastnesses like a lion in the evening, and his growlingwill be heard throughout the North. The "Lady of the Night" (Sorais)hath a sweet voice, and she will not sing in vain. Her banner will beborne from range to range and valley to valley, and warriors will springup in its track like dust beneath a whirlwind; half the army will echoher war-cry; and in every town and hamlet of this wide land the priestswill call out against the foreigner and will preach her cause as holy. Ihave spoken, oh Queen!'
Nyleptha was quite calm now; her jealous anger had passed; and puttingoff the character of a lovely headstrong lady, with a rapidity andcompleteness that distinguished her, she put on that of a queen and awoman of business. The transformation was sudden but entire.
'Thy words are very wise, Macumazahn. Forgive me my folly. Ah, what aQueen I should be if only I had no heart! To be heartless--that is toconquer all. Passion is like the lightning, it is beautiful, and itlinks the earth to heaven, but alas it blinds!
'And thou thinkest that my sister Sorais would levy war upon me. So beit. She shall not prevail against me. I, too, have my friends and myretainers. There are many, I say, who will shout "Nyleptha!" when mypennon runs up on peak and pinnacle, and the light of my beacon firesleaps tonight from crag to crag, bearing the message of my war. I willbreak her strength and scatter her armies. Eternal night shall be theportion of Sorais of the Night. Give me that parchment and the ink. So.Now summon the officer in the ante-room. He is a trusty man.'
I did as I was bid! and the man, a veteran and quiet-looking gentlemanof the guard, named Kara, entered, bowing low.
'Take this parchment,' said Nyleptha; 'it is thy warrant; and guardevery place of in and outgoing in the apartments of my sister Sorais,the "Lady of the Night", and a Queen of the Zu-Vendi. Let none come inand none go out, or thy life shall pay the cost.'
The man looked startled, but he merely said, 'The Queen's word be done,'and departed. Then Nyleptha sent a messenger to Sir Henry, and presentlyhe arrived looking uncommonly uncomfortable. I thought that anotheroutburst was about to follow, but wonderful are the ways of woman; shesaid not a word about Sorais and his supposed inconstancy, greeting himwith a friendly nod, and stating simply that she required his adviceupon high matters. All the same there was a look in her eye, and a sortof suppressed energy in her manner towards him, that makes me thinkthat she had not forgotten the affair, but was keeping it for a privateoccasion.
Just after Curtis arrived the officer returned, and reported that Soraiswas _gone_. The bird had flown to the Temple, stating that she wasgoing, as was sometimes the custom among Zu-Vendi ladies of rank, tospend the night in meditation before the altar. We looked at each othersignificantly. The blow had fallen very soon.
Then we set to work.
Generals who could be trusted
were summoned from their quarters, andas much of the State affairs as was thought desirable was told to each,strict injunctions being given to them to get all their available forcetogether. The same was done with such of the more powerful lords asNyleptha knew she could rely on, several of whom left that very day fordistant parts of the country to gather up their tribesmen and retainers.Sealed orders were dispatched to the rulers of far-off cities, and sometwenty messengers were sent off before nightfall with instructions toride early and late till they reached the distant chiefs to whom theirletters were addressed: also many spies were set to work. All theafternoon and evening we laboured, assisted by some confidentialscribes, Nyleptha showing an energy and resource of mind that astonishedme, and it was eight o'clock before we got back to our quarters. Here weheard from Alphonse, who was deeply aggrieved because our non-return hadspoilt his dinner (for he had turned cook again now), that Good had comeback from his hawking and gone on duty. As instructions had already beengiven to the officer of the outer guard to double the sentries at thegate, and as we had no reason to fear any immediate danger, we did notthink it worth while to hunt him up and tell him anything of what hadpassed, which at best was, under the peculiar circumstances of the case,one of those tasks that one prefers to postpone, so after swallowingour food we turned in to get some much-needed rest. Before we didso, however, it occurred to Curtis to tell old Umslopogaas to keepa look-out in the neighbourhood of Nyleptha's private apartments.Umslopogaas was now well known about the place, and by the Queen's orderallowed to pass whither he would by the guards, a permission of which heoften availed himself by roaming about the palace during the stillhours in a nocturnal fashion that he favoured, and which is by no meansuncommon amongst black men generally. His presence in the corridorswould not, therefore, be likely to excite remark. Without any commentthe Zulu took up his axe and departed, and we also departed to bed.
I seemed to have been asleep but a few minutes when I was awakened by apeculiar sensation of uneasiness. I felt that somebody was in the roomand looking at me, and instantly sat up, to see to my surprise that itwas already dawn, and that there, standing at the foot of my couch andlooking peculiarly grim and gaunt in the grey light, was Umslopogaashimself.
'How long hast thou been there?' I asked testily, for it is not pleasantto be aroused in such a fashion.
'Mayhap the half of an hour, Macumazahn. I have a word for thee.'
'Speak on,' I said, now wide enough awake.
'As I was bid I went last night to the place of the White Queen andhid myself behind a pillar in the second anteroom, beyond which is thesleeping-place of the Queen. Bougwan (Good) was in the first anteroomalone, and outside the curtain of that room was a sentry, but I had amind to see if I could pass in unseen, and I did, gliding behind themboth. There I waited for many hours, when suddenly I perceived a darkfigure coming secretly towards me. It was the figure of a woman, and inher hand she held a dagger. Behind that figure crept another unseen bythe woman. It was Bougwan following in her tracks. His shoes were off,and for so fat a man he followed very well. The woman passed me, and thestarlight shone upon her face.'
'Who was it?' I asked impatiently.
'The face was the face of the "Lady of the Night", and of a truth she iswell named.
'I waited, and Bougwan passed me also. Then I followed. So we wentslowly and without a sound up the long chamber. First the woman, thenBougwan, and then I; and the woman saw not Bougwan, and Bougwan saw notme. At last the "Lady of the Night" came to the curtains that shut offthe sleeping place of the White Queen, and put out her left hand to partthem. She passed through, and so did Bougwan, and so did I. At the farend of the room is the bed of the Queen, and on it she lay very fastasleep. I could hear her breathe, and see one white arm lying on thecoverlid like a streak of snow on the dry grass. The "Lady of the Night"doubled herself thus, and with the long knife lifted crept towards thebed. So straight did she gaze thereat that she never thought to lookbehind her. When she was quite close Bougwan touched her on the arm, andshe caught her breath and turned, and I saw the knife flash, and heardit strike. Well was it for Bougwan that he had the skin of iron on him,or he had been pierced. Then for the first time he saw who the womanwas, and without a word he fell back astonished, and unable to speak.She, too, was astonished, and spoke not, but suddenly she laid herfinger on her lip, thus, and walked towards and through the curtain,and with her went Bougwan. So close did she pass to me that her dresstouched me, and I was nigh to slaying her as she went. In the firstouter room she spoke to Bougwan in a whisper and, clasping her handsthus, she pleaded with him, but what she said I know not. And so theypassed on to the second outer room, she pleading and he shaking hishead, and saying, "Nay, nay, nay". And it seemed to me that he was aboutto call the guard, when she stopped talking and looked at him with greateyes, and I saw that he was bewitched by her beauty. Then she stretchedout her hand and he kissed it, whereon I gathered myself together toadvance and take her, seeing that now had Bougwan become a woman, and nolonger knew the good from the evil, when behold! she was gone.'
'Gone!' I ejaculated.
'Ay, gone, and there stood Bougwan staring at the wall like one asleep,and presently he went too, and I waited a while and came away also.'
'Art thou sure, Umslopogaas,' said I, 'that thou hast not been a dreamerthis night?'
In reply he opened his left hand, and produced about three inches of ablade of a dagger of the finest steel. 'If I be, Macumazahn, behold whatthe dream left with me. The knife broke upon Bougwan's bosom and as Ipassed I picked this up in the sleeping-place of the White Queen.'
CHAPTER XVIII WAR! RED WAR!
Allan Quatermain Page 18