The Fair God; or, The Last of the 'Tzins: A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico

by Lew Wallace

  CHAPTER IV.

  THE KING DEMANDS A SIGN OF MUALOX.

  Next morning Mualox ascended the tower of his old Cu. The hour was soearly that the stars were still shining in the east. He fed the fire inthe great urn until it burst into cheery flame; then, spreading hismantle on the roof, he laid down to woo back the slumber from which hehad been taken. By and by, a man, armed with a javelin, and clad incotton mail, came up the steps, and spoke to the paba.

  "Does the servant of his god sleep this morning?"

  Mualox arose, and kissed the pavement.

  "Montezuma is welcome. The blessing of the gods upon him!"

  "Of all the gods, Mualox?"

  "Of all,--even Quetzal's, O king!"

  "Arise! Last night I bade you wait me here. I said I would come with themorning star; yonder it is, and I am faithful. The time is fittest formy business."

  Mualox arose, and stood before the monarch with bowed head and crossedhands.

  "Montezuma knows his servant."

  "Yet I seek to know him better. Mualox, Mualox, have you room for aperfect love aside from Quetzal'? What would you do for me?"

  "Ask me rather what I would not do."

  "Hear me, then. Lately you have been a counsellor in my palace; with mypolicy and purposes you are acquainted; you knew of the march toCholula, and the order to attack the strangers; you were present whenthey were resolved--"

  "And opposed them. Witness for me to Quetzal', O king!"

  "Yes, you prophesied evil and failure from them, and for that I seek younow. Tell me, O Mualox, spake you then as a prophet?"

  The paba ventured to look up and study the face of the questioner aswell as he could in the flickering light.

  "I know the vulgar have called me a magician," he said, slowly; "andsometimes they have spoken of my commerce with the stars. To say thateither report is true, were wrong to the gods. Regardful of them, Icannot answer you; but I can say--and its sufficiency depends on yourwisdom--your slave, O king, is warned of your intention. You come askinga sign; you would have me prove my power, that it may be seen."

  "By the Sun--"

  "Nay,--if my master will permit,--another word."

  "I came to hear you; say on."

  "You spoke of me as a councillor in the palace. How may we measure thevalue of honors? By the intent with which they are given? O king, hadyou not thought the poor paba would use his power for the betrayal ofhis god; had you not thought he could stand between you and the wrath--"

  "No more, Mualox, no more!" said Montezuma. "I confess I asked you tothe palace that you might befriend me. Was I wrong to count on yourloyalty? Are you not of Anahuac? And further; I confess I come nowseeking a sign. I command you to show me the future!"

  "If you do indeed believe me the beloved of Quetzal' and his prophet,then are you bold,--even for a king."

  "Until I wrong the gods, why should I fear? I, too, am a priest."

  "Be wise, O my master! Let the future alone; it is sown with sorrows toall you love."

  "Have done, paba!" the king exclaimed, angrily. "I am weary,--by theSun! I am weary of such words."

  The holy man bowed reverently, and touched the floor with his palm,saying,--

  "Mualox lays his heart at his master's feet. In the time when his beardwas black and his spirit young, he began the singing of two songs,--oneof worship to Quetzal', the other of love for Montezuma."

  These words he said tremulously; and there was that in the manner, inthe bent form, in the low obeisance, which soothed the impatience of theking, so that he turned away, and looked out over the city. And daybegan to gild the east; in a short time the sun would claim his own.Still the monarch thought, still Mualox stood humbly waiting hispleasure. At length the former approached the fire.

  "Mualox," he said, speaking slowly, "I crossed the lake the other day,and talked with Guatamozin about the strangers. He satisfied me they arenot _teules_, and, more, he urged me to attack them in Cholula."

  "The 'tzin!" exclaimed Mualox, in strong surprise.

  Montezuma knew the love of the paba for the young cacique rested uponhis supposed love of Quetzal'; so he continued,--

  "The attack was planned by him; only he would have sent a hundredthousand warriors to help the citizens. The order is out; the companiesare there; blood will run in the streets of the holy city to-day. Thebattle waits on the sun, and it is nearly up. Mualox,"--his mannerbecame solemn,--"Mualox, on this day's work bides my peace. The morningcomes: by all your prophet's power, tell me what the night will bring!"

  Sorely was the paba troubled. The king's faith in his qualities asprophet he saw was absolute, and that it was too late to deny thecharacter.

  "Does Montezuma believe the Sun would tell me what it withholds from itschild?"

  "Quetzal', not the Sun, will speak to you."

  "But Quetzal' is your enemy."

  Montezuma laid his hand on the paba's. "I have heard you speak of lovefor me; prove it now, and your reward shall be princely. I will give youa palace, and many slaves, and riches beyond count."

  Mualox bent his head, and was silent. Enjoyment of a palace meantabandonment of the old Cu and sacred service. Just then the wail of awatcher from a distant temple swept faintly by; he heard the cry, andfrom his surplice drew a trumpet, and through it sung with a swellingvoice,--

  "Morning is come! Morning is come! To the temples, O worshippers!Morning is come!"

  And the warning hymn, the same that had been heard from the old towerfor so many ages, heard heralding suns while the city was founding,given now, amid the singer's sore perplexity, was an assurance to hislistening deity that he was faithful against kingly blandishments aswell as kingly neglect. While the words were being repeated from themany temples, he stood attentive to them, then he turned, and said,--

  "Montezuma is generous to his slave; but ambition is a goodly tree goneto dust in my heart; and if it were not, O king, what are all yourtreasures to that in the golden chamber? Nay, keep your offerings, andlet me keep the temple. I hunger after no riches except such as lie inthe love of Quetzal'."

  "Then tell me," said the monarch, impatiently,--"without price, tell mehis will."

  "I cannot, I am but a man; but this much I can--" He faltered; the handscrossed upon his breast closed tightly, and the breast laboredpainfully.

  "I am waiting. Speak! What can you?"

  "Will the king trust his servant, and go with him down into the Cuagain?"

  "To talk with the Morning, this is the place," said the monarch, toowell remembering the former introduction to the mysteries of the ancienthouse.

  "My master mistakes me for a juggling soothsayer; he thinks I will lookinto the halls of the Sun through burning drugs, and the magic ofunmeaning words. I have nothing to do with the Morning; I have noincantations. I am but the dutiful slave of Quetzal', the god, andMontezuma, the king."

  The royal listener looked away again, debating with his fears, which, itis but just to say, were not of harm from the paba. Men unfamiliar withthe custom do not think lightly of encountering things unnatural; inthis instance, moreover, favor was not to be hoped from the god throughwhom the forbidden knowledge was to come. But curiosity and anuncontrollable interest in the result of the affair in Cholula overcamehis apprehensions.

  "I will go with you. I am ready," he said.

  The old man stooped, and touched the roof, and, rising, said, "I have alittle world of my own, O king; and though without sun and stars, andthe grand harmony which only the gods can give, it has its wonders andbeauty, and is to me a place of perpetual delight. Bide my return alittle while. I will go and prepare the way for you."

  Resuming his mantle, he departed, leaving the king to study the new-bornday. When he came back, the valley and the sky were full of the glory ofthe sun full risen. And they descended to the _azoteas_, thence to thecourt-yard. Taking a lamp hanging in a passage-door, the holy man, withthe utmost reverence, conducted his guest into t
he labyrinth. At first,the latter tried to recollect the course taken, the halls and stairspassed, and the stories descended; but the thread was too often broken,the light too dim, the way too intricate. Soon he yielded himselfentirely to his guide, and followed, wondering much at the massivenessof the building, and the courage necessary to live there alone. Ignorantof the zeal which had become the motive of the paba's life, inspiringhim with incredible cunning and industry, and equally without aconception of the power there is in one idea long awake in the soul andnursed into mania, it was not singular that, as they went, the monarchshould turn the very walls into witnesses corroborant of the traditionsof the temple and the weird claims of its keeper.

  Passing the kitchen, and descending the last flight of steps, they cameto the trap-door in the passage, beside which lay the ladder of ropes.

  "Be of courage a little longer, O king," said Mualox, flinging theladder through the doorway. "We are almost there."

  And the paba, leaving the lamp above, committed himself confidently tothe ropes and darkness below. A suspicion of his madness occurred to theking, whose situation called for consideration; in fact, he hesitated tofollow farther; twice he was called to; and when, finally, he did godown, the secret of his courage was an idea that they were about toemerge from the dusty caverns into the freer air of day; for, while yetin the passage, he heard the whistle of a bird, and fancied he detecteda fragrance as of flowers.

  "Your hand now, O king, and Mualox will lead you into his world."

  The motives that constrained the holy man to this step are not easilydivined. Of all the mysteries of the house, that hall was by him themost cherished; and of all men the king was the last whom he would havevoluntarily chosen as a participant in its secrets, since he alone hadpower to break them up. The necessity must have been very great;possibly he felt his influence and peculiar character dependent uponyielding to the pressure; the moment the step was resolved upon,however, nothing remained but to use the mysteries for the protection ofthe abode; and with that purpose he went to prepare the way.

  Much study would most of us have required to know what was essential tothe purpose; not so the paba. He merely trimmed the lamps alreadylighted, and lighted and disposed others. His plan was to overwhelm thevisitor by the first glance; without warning, without time to studydetails, to flash upon him a crowd of impossibilities. In the mass, thegenerality, the whole together, a god's hand was to be made apparent toa superstitious fancy.