by Dion Fortune
CHAPTER XVI
WHEN I drove out to the fort on Friday evening my car smelt like an Eastern temple, for all the sandal-wood was in the back. Mr Trcth I found very indignant, with his hair full of juniper and a black eye. Knowing gipsies, I had not paid them for the juniper, but given them a note to Treth telling him to pay them the agreed price and I would settle up with him; and they had had a shot at altering the figures and made a mess of it, resulting in a blot which no one could decipher. So he assessed the job at his own price, and told them to take it or take their load home. His price was considerably less than the one that had originally been on the chit, and they felt injured. So they knocked him down and ripped the juniper on top of him and it was only his spouse's zeal that had saved him from being smothered. She was applying a bit of steak to his eye when I arrived. I helped him shove the juniper in the chug-cart, and the procession started. A good deal of the cedar had already gone out, and I saw by the state of the road how the old boy had laboured. A cedar goes a long way when cut up, but I found it difficult to believe that all those logs came from one tree, and have a suspicion that the caretaker's enterprising offspring had been buying up all the cedars in the district. The inside of an agricultural labourer's head is often a lot smarter than the outside along his own line of country. Morgan put her nose inside the car and snuffed up the sandalwood and was ravished, and said it reminded her of Kashmir, 142 and that my pseudo-Chinese was probably a Tibetan. Anyway, we had high hopes of the Fire of Azrael, and she cooked me the steak that was left over from Trethowcn's eye. We walked out arm in arm to the point and considered the sea, which was calm; and then we came in and she made me coffee, and I played with her star sapphires by fire-light, watching the change and stir of the star of light within them. We spent Sunday morning strolling over the down to the sound of the bells of Starber, getting the lie of the land well into our heads in preparation for the great event. Bell Head sticks straight out into the sea, pointing towards America, and when the wind is westerly the great Atlantic rollers come driving in without let or hindrance, which is why we have such heavy seas on the point. It is formed of cocked-up strata, lying slab-like one upon another; this gives a steep drop along the exposed edges of the strata, forming a lodged precipice. The top is weathered fairly flat, and rises whale-like to the highest point above the precipice that faces the land. Then there is a narrow neck of detritus connecting what was probably once an island with the mainland, beside which lies the ancient channel of the river Dick, now a runnel in wet weather and dry at other times, being fed from no source. About five miles to the north is Dickmouth, and three to the south is Starber. All between the two is a marsh filled with tidal channels. In the middle of the marsh rises Bell Knowle. By the crying of gulls over the water and the cackle of jackdaws on the ledges we judged that the weather was due for a change. That evening Mrs Treth cleared the ashes of driftwood off the hearth and we laid the Fire of Azrael, invoking the dark Angel of the Doors that he would permit egress. Cedar is a lovely-burning wood, and sandal takes the flame well, too, but we soon saw why juniper was not recommended as fuel. It was fascinating, however, to watch the flame creep from twig to twig and see the flying shower of golden sparks as the sap-filled cells burst with the heat. But as the fire died down it cleared, and the juniper produced a curious pale charcoal of its own, the ashes of the twigs lying in fine golden lines among the redder embers of the other woods. It was a fire >| of great beauty; no one has yet done justice to the artistry of I fires. Then we settled down to look at it, Morgan Ie Fay with a note-book in her hand to record what we saw. I gazed into the heart of the caves of flame, now flickering into redness and edged with grey ash, for a fire of juniper burns out quickly, and in their glowing folds saw the palaces of all the kings of earth. But it was not the sea-palaces I saw, which disappointed me. Then, a whif? of the sandal reaching me, I saw the immemorial East and heard temple bells and soft gongs and singing. I thought of the Tibetan who had served me, and wondered what he was doing in far-away Bristol, and who was the West Country woman he had married who had given him a Eurasian son. And from him my mind went to the high plateau of his home, which had always interested me, and of which I had read; and I saw the cliffs and chasms surrounding that shattered land, tossed by the hands of the gods at the birth of the earth and unchanged ever since, where, some say, is the birthplace of the human race, and from whence the great rivers come down, along whose ways travelled civilisation. The men of the high bleak plateau are less changed since the dawn of time than any other peoples, and it may be that they know more of the mind of the gods than most. It pleased me that I had bought sandal-wood from a Tibetan in Bristol. Every people believes that its high hills are the thrones of the gods, but in snowy Himalaya are the thrones of the gods that made the gods. It was meet that for the work of our magic we should have a link with the high plateau through the far-wandering Mongol who had sold me sandal on the Bristol water-front. There is something in these links, I am certain. But we did not want to go back to the birth of the world, and I recalled my mind from the ancient East, returning by high Pamir down the Oxus, as they say the first wisdom of men travelled West with the Magi; and I saw all earth laid out below me as a map, for I was well away on the wings of phantasy, having passed out through the naming caves of the Fire of Azrael into another dimension. And I saw the city of Babylon between the twin rivers, where the maidens of Israel hung their harps upon the willows and Belteshazzar learnt the wisdom of the stars. And I came still towards the West, following my star, which shifted and glowed in the great sapphire on the breast of Morgan Ie Fay. I came to the land of the people who worship the stars, to whom the Pole Star is holy as the centre of heaven. Their god is the Lord of This World, the Peacock Angel. Then I saw the black tents of the wanderers of Chaldea, whose fathers had known Abraham and whose Hocks still pasture in the valleys where the kings had fought, four against five--Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Chcdorlaomer, king of Elam and Tidal, king of nations. I remembered also who came to meet them, bearing bread and wine; and then I saw the immemorial cedars of high Lebanon, where it may be his foot had passed. I remembered that Morgan had told me that here was the fountain-head of the wisdom of the West, only less ancient than the gods of Himalaya. But senior to both was the seawisdom of Atlantis. And I voyaged in vision by the peaks of Atlas and the high hills of Thessaly, famous for witches, across the Baltic barrens whence our race came, to our own land at last, and then I saw the juniper twigs pale and bright amid the embers of cedar and sandal. Now the juniper is of more ancient lineage than the yew, and belongs to the chalk whence civilisation arose in these islands. It is the tree of the old gods, more ancient than oak or ash, the Nordic hawthorn or the Keltic mistletoe, for it was a sacred tree to the people of the river-drift, who were older than the people of the flint. To them came the far-voyaging Atlanteans, and they it was who worshipped the Mother Goddess. And I knew that the fires that burnt at uttermost neap were Fires of Azrael, lit for vision as well as sacrifice, and that they were of juniper. Then there awoke for me the ancient civilisation in all its glory, and I saw first the mountain like a truncated cone on which was built the City of the Golden Gates of the island of Ruta in the lost land of Atlantis, and it put me in mind of Bell Knowle. I saw the great cone burst once again into flames, for it was a volcano; and all Atlantis went down in one fiery death--all the temples where they worshipped themselves and gave their slaves to unnamable evil; all the golden-roofed city of wisdom and abomination, more wicked than Babylon, shining like a jewel in the dawn with its roofs of aurichalcum which is like pale gold. And I saw in that last dawn of the ancient world three great tidal waves sweep in and swallow all; and far out to sea, riding them, was a narrow sea-ship, high-pooped, highprowed, with a crimson dragon embroidered on its purple sail, its prow set towards the east by the golden pathway of the dawn upon the waters; chained rowers toiled at the oars in the morning calm, and over lost Atlantis with all its wickedness and wis
dom the waters closed for ever, for the gods hated it for its abominations. Nothing remained save a few floating things and those that clung to them, more luckless than the others for whom death had been speedy, for when the high gods call it is best to go swiftly. Then Morgan Ie Fay aroused me, saying it was enough. The Fire of Azrael had sunk to grey ash, but the night was mild, so we went out again on to the point to look at the sea by moonlight, for the sky was clear overhead though dark clouds were massing in the west and slowly moving up and masking the stars. Then we went in to bed and slept very sweetly, for there is a deep peace after these experiences, shot through with faint shadows of reflected dreams. On Monday morning I went back to Dickford and had the hell and Hades of a row with my sister over taking my meals at the "George"; and I went all round the town, and stopped all credit at all the shops, and gave her five pounds a week and told her to pay cash and manage on that, for it was all she'd get, and if she couldn't behave decently, she wouldn't get that. Tuesday morning she blew up again, so I took back ten bob and left her with four pound ten. After that she was quiet. All the same, I had asthma for the rest of the week and my mother said God was displeased with me. Perhaps He was, for old Sally was ailing too, though why God should concern Himself in these matters I have never been able to understand. Why couldn't He leave us to fight it out among ourselves? I refused to meddle when the office boy cut choir practice. It has always puzzled me, too, how God finds time for it all. And anyway, if He must interfere, why doesn't He interfere effectually, instead of pursuing a policy of pin-pricks?
CHAPTER XVII
MY asthma bothered me a lot all the week without actually laying me up, and when I drove out to the fort I was feeling rotten. I had hardly set foot in the place before I started up a row with Morgan Ie Fay, saying that if she didn't like me well enough to marry me, we had better part and be done with it, for we couldn't go on as we were, at least, I couldn't. She sat down on the low stool by the sofa on which she had put me, and took my hand, and began to talk to me quietly; when she had finished I understood a lot of things I had not understood before; some of them were sweet, and some of them were wonderful, and some of them were very bitter tome. She told me how, through her acquaintance with the Priest of the Moon who had come to her in the crystal, she had learnt a strange lore, lost since the world grew wise, or thought it did. This was the inner, intuitive wisdom of the ancients and of primitive people to this day. She said how the soul was of ancient lineage, coming to earth again and again, learning the lessons of earth and finally winning to freedom; and there were some souls, that, having no more need of the lessons of earth, came not to learn but to teach, and she believed that she was one of these. They were not, she said, of ordinary birth, but magically incarnated, biding their time till conditions were right and then slipping in. It was the mingling of Brcton and Welsh that had made the conditions wherein the strange soul that was hers could come, for she believed that she had actually been Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur's witch sister, and that Merlin had been her foster-father. The mother of Arthur, Uther's queen, was a sea-princess of Atlantis, so she told me, married to a brutish husband for the sake of trade, so that the ports of the Tin Islands might be open to her father's people. Merlin, who was of the priesthood of Atlantis, came to Britain with the tin-ships to conduct the worship, and Bell Knowie, being like the sacred mountain of the mother state, had been adapted to their purpose. After the death of Uther the sea-princess had gone back to her own people, and had married a man of the sacred clan and borne a daughter. Now this daughter, as the custom was among them, had been taken to be trained in the House of the Virgins; for all children of the sacred clan were brought to the great temple at the time of the winter solstice in the year in which they attained the age of seven, and those that were deemed worthy were taken into the temple precincts to be trained; those that were not so chosen were handed back to their families till they attained the age of fourteen, and then the males were made scribes or warriors as they should choose, and the maidens were given in marriage to the men of the sacred clan; and it was death for one of the sacred blood to mate outside the clan, and death by torture for him who took her. Very strictly did they guard the sacred blood, for it held the power of vision. But the priestesses were not married to any man, but mated with the priests as was required for magical purposes. And Morgan Ie Fay told me how she grew to womanhood in the House of the Virgins, tended and guarded as a queen bee is guarded, knowing herself to be set apart, and that the joys and ties of human life were not for her; and when she was reborn as the child of Breton and Kelt the memory remained with her, and no human ties held her. There were times, she said, when as a young girl she looked for love, but her destiny forbade it; and presently she realised her destiny and accepted it, and then life was easier. But it could never have been very easy, I think, for she was in this life, but not of it. Then, with the coming of the power of vision came awakening memory and the return of forgotten knowledge. She knew herself for a priestess, with the powers of the priesthood latent in her soul. But there was none to teach and train her, none to awaken her powers, save the Priest of the Moon who came in the crystal, and he was not of this world. Little by little she learnt and built, always handicapped by the fact that the moon-magic requires a partner, and partners were hard to find. So, thought I, I was right when I felt I was cast for the part of sacrificed slave; and I wondered whether Morgan was like the surgeon who spoilt his hatful of eyes in learning to operate for cataract. I asked her point-blank what was the exact job of the scapricstess's partner, and what became of him in the end, and was he sacrificed? She said, in a way yes, and in a way no, and that was all she would tell me. The sea-priestess it seemed, was a kind of pythoness, and the gods spoke through her. Being a pythoness, she was negative, passive; she did not make magic herself, but was an instrument in the hands of the priests, and however perfect an instrument she might be, there was no use in her if there were no one to use her. "Then what you need," said I, "is a properly trained priest as impressario." "Precisely," said she. "Where are you going to find him?" said I. "That is my problem," said she. Then I knew why she wouldn't marry me. "But I am not worrying," said she. "In these matters the road opens before you as you advance. Take the next step, and the next one becomes plain." "And what is the next step?" said I. "The next step," said she, staring into the fire and not looking at me, "is to complete my own training." "That being----?" said I. "To make the magical image of myself as a sca-priestess." I asked her if I were to do the carving, and if so, how? for I could no more do figures than I could fly. She shook her head. "A magical image does not exist upon this plane at all," she said. "It is in another dimension, and we make it with the imagination. And for that," said she, "I need help, for I cannot do it alone. If I could, I would have done it long ago." "Are you counting on me for that?" said I. "Yes," said she. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her if I should see about getting the sea-cave of Bell Knowie opened up, the cave where the tide rose and fell to receive its sacrifice; but I kept silent, knowing that was the way to learn most, rather than by showing that I had guessed anything. "For me to make a magical image by myself is auto-suggestion," said she, "and begins and ends subjectively. But when two or three of us get to work together, and you picture me as I picture myself, then things begin to happen. Your suggestion aids my auto-suggestion, and then--then it passes outside ourselves, and things begin to build up in the astral ethers, and they are the channels of forces." "Gosh I" said I, to whom all this was Greek, "do you need anything more from me than I am already giving you?" "Not a great deal," said she. "The magical image has built up rapidly since I have known you because you believe in me, and because you are willing to make sacrifices." I asked her what she meant, and she told me that these magical images are built up by the imagination; when I thought of her as a priestess, she became a priestess. "And what has sacrifice to do with the business?" said I, wondering in what manner the blow would fall when the time came. "It gives off magical p
ower," said she. "You can do nothing in magic without it." "What exactly do you mean, Morgan?" said I, hoping it was sheep she used and that I was not being asked to participate in a crime; for although I thought very highly of Morgan, I knew there was not much she would stick at. "It is difficult to explain," she replied, "for different kinds of sacrifices have to be made to different kinds of gods. You have to give something of yourself along whatever line it is." "Oh?" said I, more relieved than I cared to admit, "Then we don't sacrifice someone on the altar and use his gore?" "No," said she, shaking her head. "No one can sacrifice for another. We each sacrifice ourselves, and thereby gain the power to give magical help to each other. I can't put it any clearer than that, because you wouldn't understand; but you will see how it works out step by step in practice, even in spheres where we have no control. "We have travelled some distance already," she added, "you have already made a priestess of me, for you have given me a great deal, Wilfred, perhaps more than you know, and I shall always be grateful to you, however things may turn out." I hastily changed the subject, for nothing embarrasses me so much as being thanked. "Wasn't it this making of magical images they got drowned for in lost Atlantis?" I asked. "It was the abuse of this power," said she. And she told me how the making of the magical images was originally the prerogative of the priesthood and they being all dedicated to the gods and free from all ties and desires, never were under any temptation to use their knowledge for selfish ends. But boys would be boys in old Atlantis, the same as here, and some of the young priests in each generation went over the garden wall by night, and the same thing occurred as happened when a misguided maiden lady introduced her dachshund among the terriers of Kerry. In the end the gods drowned Atlantis, which I believe was what the men of Kerry had to do with their terriers. Now, thought I to myself, since she wanted me to build the magical image, and the magical image is now built, what is the next item on the programme? For, all assurances to the contrary, I felt perfectly certain the golden knife was coming my way in the end. So I put the question point-blank, and asked her if she had any further use for me when once her sea-palace was finished and her magical image in working order. "There will always be a welcome for you here," she said. "I do not drop old friends." "That is very kind of you," said I. "I am beginning to sympathise with your sister," said she. "Try my life for a bit, Morgan Ie Fay," I said, "and see if it sweetens the temper." "Well, what do you want?" said she. "What every normal human being wants," said I. "Fulfilment. To feel one is getting somewhere--doing something with one's life. Ought I to be content with supporting my mother and sister?" She looked into the fire for a long time without speaking. "Is life dear to you, Wilfred?" she said at length. "About as dear as the wife of one's bosom," I said. "We lead a cat and dog existence, life and I, but it would be a wrench to part." "I could use you," she said, "very ruthlessly, very riskily, and after I had finished with your life, there mightn't be very much change left to hand back to you. But if you care to take the risk, I could, I think, give you fullness of life for a short time: after that--I do not know." ' "And I don't care," said I. "Anything is better than the i' way we are going on at present, which is the half of nothing." "Then you would like to try it?" "I'll try anything once," said I. She smiled. "You certainly won't try this twice if it isn't a success," said she. She took the poker in her hand and pushed the naming driftwood to either side, and in the hollow centre thus left she piled the woods of the Fire of Azrael. Then we sat and watched them take the flame. "This time," said she, "try to find and follow the ship you saw leaving Atlantis." I watched the flame and waited, and presently the coals grew clear and in the hollows appeared the whitish glow of lambent heat that comes from the fierce-burning juniper as it dies down. I watched it, and gradually it turned to the golden light of dawn upon the waves, and there was the long sea-ship with the dragon sail. I watched her as she travelled towards the east, and saw the sun rise over her and sink behind her and saw the stars wheel through the heavens. Then I saw the steep high peak of Teneriffe, as I had seen it in pictures, and the sea-ship lay at anchor below it. Then the scene changed, and I saw our marsh around Bell Knowlc, much as it is to-day; but behind it, where now arc farms, was open moor. Then I saw the difference. The shallow channel of the Dick was full to brimming, and beside a stone quay a long sea-ship was moored. I knew then that I was back in the old days, and that this vision was different from the other visions, for I was not an onlooker but part of it. I knew that I had been down to the shore to light the beacon for the guidance of the incoming ship, and that the fascination of the strange priestress, glimpsed for that passing moment in the mist, had caused me to follow her boat inland till it came to the quay below the cave of Bell Knowle. I followed it against my better judgment; but this was a woman like no woman that I had ever seen, or ever hoped to see. I had heard the tale of the sacrifices the sea required-- sacrifices of men; and the eyes of the priestess were cold yet desirous, and I thought that in passing they had noted me. I knew that I should be wise to keep away; that it was not good that those cold bright eyes should see me again; nevertheless I went, following the sea-boat up the winding river to the quay below the cave, where I saw the priestess land, stepping ashore with the same lithe, balancing grace with which Morgan Ie Fay walked over the rocks, and I knew that they were one and the same woman. Then the scene changed to night, and I was among those who gathered around the mouth of the fire-lit cave to watch what was going on within. The sea-priestess was seated at a high table, and around her were shaven-headed men--her priests, and some other men, bearded and armed, that looked like fighting men or chieftains; and they, I thought looked unhappy and more than half afraid, for there was something sinister about all these shaven, pallid, parchment-faces, with cold eyes and cruel resolute lips, like men accustomed to terrible things. The sea-priestess looked at them with indifference, as if inured to the terrors of their cult, and the bearded chiefs watched her covertly and with fear. I knew that these chiefs, at the bidding of the priesthood of '' Bell Head, had sent for the sea-priestess in order that she might ; offer the terrible sacrifices which alone could appease the sea; and now they dreaded what they had done, for they had let blood loose in the land and none knew where it would end; for there is a blood-madness that comes upon men, and once they start to kill they cannot stop; and these bearded men, inured to wounds and war, nevertheless dreaded the calm passionless killing of the priests. I knew, too, that such as I, young men in their strength who had not known women, would be the acceptable sacrifice that the cold sea-priestess would choose, and that the bearded chiefs were wondering each one whether he would be called upon to offer up a son or sons, for the best in the land must be given to the gods. And as I stood there in the crowd about the cave-mouth, I met the eyes of the sea-priestess once again, and it seemed to me that by such a woman it would be good even to be sacrificed. They were dining at the high table, and when the meal was finished and the debris flung to the dogs, as the custom was, a great bowl was carried in and placed in the centre of the table; it was not of the bright gold such as we know to-day, but the pale aurichalcum that was used in Atlantis, and it was richly wrought with waves of the sea, and strange fabulous beasts and dragons; and around the rim was a band of precious stones, cabochon-cut, that caught the light. I knew that this was a sacred Cup, the prototype of the Graal. Into it from a high ewer of similar workmanship was poured a dark and aromatic wine; then a brand was flung in that set it alight, and the surface burned with thin blue flickering flames. They ladled the blazing liquid into golden cups, and as the flames died down, the company drank. This wine, I knew, was made from the small, black-graped vines that grew on the vinctcrraccs under the breast of Bell Head, and in it were infused aromatic herbs that were grown upon the topmost terrace where the breast of the rock reflected the heat upon them and drew out their volatile oils. Then the scene changed again, and I was along the quays of Ishtar's Bcere in the sunlight, marvelling at the dark, fartravelled mariners with curled beards and golde
n rings. Down the crowded quays there came a small band that moved in military formation. Half a dozen spearmen, and a captain with a short, broad, leaf-like sword, and an elderly shaven priest with a parchment skin and dark, bright, lashless eyes under his hairless brows, for it was part of their religion to remove all hair from the body. People fell back respectfully to give them passage; but while no one actually fled before them, the crowd melted away down alleys and byways till none were left but the staring sailors and a few beggars and hucksters. The crowded quays became empty as the small band went by. But swiftly as folk slipped away, they did go so swiftly but that the priest had time to look them over; and here and there he raised a finger and pointed, and the soldiers advanced and closed round one or another and returned with him to the band. There was no protest, no struggle; once a woman cried out as her son was taken, but her cries were quickly stifled by those around her. Folk slipped away if they could, but if they could not, they went quietly; for this band of the high priest was picking up the sacrifices for the sea, and it was an evil omen if a man resisted, and would bring the wrath of the sea upon the whole people. Moreover, the man who was chosen was extraordinarily fortunate, for he went to an eternity of bliss in the sea-palaces, where the fairest of the sea-women were his, and the pearls of the sea and her gems, and richest food and finest drink in all abundance. Moreover, all his kin were blessed unto the second and third generation, and the king rewarded them with grants of land and gifts of jewels. Yes, it was indeed a very fortunate thing to be chosen as a sacrifice, and those so chosen were greatly honoured, and each one could ask for what he would on the eve of his death, and it was granted him. There was only one thing that was refused him, and that was mercy. Now I know not what madness possessed me, but it seemed to me, having seen this priestess, that there was no other under the sun that could be a woman to me; and as the band of the high priest went by, I put myself in their way, and in a fever of anxiety, even as those who strove to avoid his notice, I sought it. His dark bright eyes met mine, and with as much eagerness as one who seeks for a reprieve, I saw his finger raised. The guards closed round me, and I joined the band. Then the scene changed again, and I was back once more in the cave under Bell K-nowie, lit by the fires, but this time 1 was seated at the high table, I and two others, and facing me was the sea-priestess in her great carved chair, and upon her right was the high priest, parchment-faced and shaven, and upon her left the high king, bronzed and bearded; and between them she sat and smiled at me, and she was even lovelier man I had thought, so that I felt well repaid for my sacrific'e. I feasted and drank with joy in my heart, though those upon my either hand made no pretence at eating. And when the naming wine came round I pledged the priestess with such joy that all present looked at me strangely, and the priestess smiled her slow, amused smile that had no feeling in it, for she had seen very many men die as I was about to die. Now it was ordained that no man should know the hour of his death till it came, lest, it was thought, his last hours should be clouded, for the sea liked her sacrifices in the full vigour of their manhood. Therefore each night three dined at the high table, and of these three, two should go free and one should die, therefore all had hope, so that the life ran high in them. None knew who should die, not even the sea-priestess; for three cups were prepared and filled with the naming wine, but in one was a pearl, and whoso received the pearl was the one to die. Upon either side of me the men sipped slowly, hardly able to swallow; but I flung down the wine at one draught, and upon my lips I felt the pearl. I turned down the empty cup, and cried "I am the sacrifice!" and the pearl fell out upon the board and rolled towards the priestess, and her red lips curled in a smile as her hand closed over it. Then all present held out their cups towards me and hailed me as chosen of the sea. And the chief priest and the high king together asked me my last wish, pledging themselves that it should be granted--and I asked for the priestess! Then there was confusion among them, for such a thing had never been known before. Men asked for lands for their family, or for their wives to die with them, or for vengeance on an enemy, but such a thing as this had never been heard of and they did not know what to do, for she was of the sacred clan and the punishment for taking her was death by torture. But I smiled and said that that was my wish, and were it not granted I would carry ill tales of them to the sea-gods to whom I was going; and the priestess smiled also, and I judged that she was not ill content. But the high priest was white with wrath, and I know not what he would have done if the king had not struck his hand upon the board and said that a pledge was a pledge, and must be kept, else should I go free. But the high priest said that they dared not deny the sea-gods the sacrifice they had set their seal upon, lest worse befall the land than had already fallen; die I must, and die I should. It is in my mind that the high king was well pleased of an opportunity to humiliate the priesthood and maybe put a check upon the bloody worship he had let loose in the land. Then the high priest, smiling grimly, said that the law of 1 the sacred clan decreed death for her who mixed the blood, * and death by torture for him who took her. "So let it be," said the high king, looking well content that he would see the last of the sea-priestess and her sacrifices. But the high priest looked mad with wrath, for he had no mind to destroy his priestess; but he put a good face on it, and smiled his smile, which was more terrible than other men's frowns, and said that it should be as I wished, the pledge would be kept. I should possess the priestess till the tide rose, and then I should see death coming with open eyes, instead of drinking the drugged wine as was the custom; for it might justly be reckoned that a death by slow drowning was a death by torture if one went to it in full consciousness, and so both laws would be fulfilled. And turning to me, he asked me was I willing, and would I pledge myself not to disgrace them all by going to the sea-gods struggling? And I swore that I would. Then from the centre of the cavern they turned back the rich carpets that covered the stone, and revealed a great ringbolt set in a flag of the floor; two slaves passed a bar through it and raised it, disclosing a stair; and the priestess, still smiling, took a torch in her hand and descended, I following. We went down a winding stair of steps roughly cut in the rock till we came to a natural cave, low of roof and floored with sand, and I guessed we were at the river level, for the sand and the walls were wet and weed-clad. In the centre was a rectangular block whose length was twice its breadth and whose height equalled its width; this was the altar of sacrifice whereon the one who was given to the sea awaited her coming. But whereas they that had gone before had lain thereon so drugged that they knew not who came, I was to await the water open-eyed, for this was my punishment for my presumption. And in those hours while the tide rose there were delivered to me things whereof but few have dreamed and fewer still have known, and I learnt why Troy was burnt for a woman. For this woman was not one woman, but all women; and I, who mated with her, was not one man, but all men; but these things were part of the lore of the priesthood, and it is not lawful to speak of them. And through my bliss I heard the wash of the waves coming closer. Then when the water reached our feet the priestess kissed me and left me. And presently the water rose over me, and I fought for breath between the ripples till finally I breathed no more. And as the vision darkened into death, I awoke, and as I woke, I knew the asthma had me by the throat.