Xanthippus started to object, but he stopped short when she reached behind her head and removed the ivory comb. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders.
"The fate of a woman would be much worse…" he began to say, but now she twisted the clasps at her shoulders and her gown fell to the floor. She stepped out of the fabric that had pooled around her bare feet. Xanthippus took her gently into his arms.
"I will take you with me wherever I go," he promised.
And he covered her mouth with his.
Chapter 33
Kunuum was speaking when Hurrus arrived at the temple.
The altar fire was burning and peasants filled the courtyard, grasping their little offerings under their arms, their lambs and their bristling jars of wheat. A trio of priests scurried up the steps while two more rushed down. Hurrus strode through them, taking the steps two at a time. In astonishment, the priests stopped to let him pass. Xandros and Jorem dashed after him, pushing the startled priests aside.
"Jhar!" Hurrus bellowed as he passed beneath the 30-foot-high Kunuums that flanked the entrance. His voice filled the chamber. Every priest in the place stopped to look. The interior of the temple seemed pitch black after the brightness of the day outside and it took a moment for Hurrus' eyes to adjust. The giant columns cast shadows everywhere he looked. He strode boldly past them. "Jhar!"
Hurrus could hear Xandros calling behind him, but he paid him no heed. A simpering little priest stepped into his path from behind one of the pillars. He recognized him as Hersut, the rat-catching priest.
"My lord, please!" the little man said, laying his clammy palms on Hurrus' chest. "You are in the Temple of Kunuum. He is speaking. You must..."
He regarded Hurrus' bandaged head with a puzzled look and when he saw Xandros and Jorem striding out of the gloom towards him, he left his words hanging. He took a step back and regarded the trio in fear.
"Where is he?" Hurrus asked.
"Wh-who?" Hersut stammered.
"Your master. Where is he?" Hurrus looked over the little man's head into the gloomy hall beyond. "Jhar!" he bellowed.
His eyes darted from one corner to the next. He spotted Jhar ascending a set of steps in the rear of the hall. His head appeared and then his shoulders. Hurrus pushed the little rat-catcher aside and strode towards the high priest, his mind a blur.
"What is all this fuss?" Jhar was muttering in irritation as he trudged up the steps. "Doesn't anyone realize that Kunuum is speaking…" He looked up to see Hurrus coming right at him and his eyes went wide. Hurrus grabbed him by the collar and hurled him up against the wall. The high priest was a long slender man and Hurrus lifted him from the stairs easily. Xandros was shouting again, but he did not care.
"No more lies!" Hurrus hissed into Jhar's face. "I will be Bathed in Blood, priest. I will be as Xarhux" - he fumbled at the hilt of his sword, finally drawing it and holding the blade to the terrified priest's throat - "or you will die right here in your own temple."
He could feel his chest heaving, the sound of his breathing heavy in his ears. Once he felt Xandros' strong hands grasp his shoulders, he realized that a madness had seized him. He allowed Xandros to pull him away from the priest. Jhar almost collapsed from relief. He stood against the wall and closed his eyes, covering them with a trembling hand.
"You heard the prince. Speak up, priest," Jorem snapped. "He commands you--"
"It is all right, Jorem," Hurrus said gently, re-sheathing his blade. "We will respect the house of Kunuum. Let us give the priest a moment to collect his thoughts so he can speak sanely to me. I will tolerate no more lies, Jhar."
"But I have told you no lies, prince," Jhar said. He straightened, composing himself and at once his face became a blank slate. Torchlight caught the jewel set in the center of the golden medallion he wore around his neck, his black eyes glittering. This was the Jhar Hurrus knew from Nadia's tomb, a man whose tongue dripped lies.
He closed his fist around Jhar's medallion and pulled the chain until the priest's face was but a hand's-breadth from his own. "I will tell you right now, it is madness to lie to me," Hurrus rasped. He released the medallion and Jhar fell back against the wall.
Fear had replaced his cunning expression.
"Ask of me what you will, prince," he said. "You shall have all the answers you desire."
A wailing voice shattered the quiet behind them. A shiver ran through Hurrus at his recollection of the sound. It was the Faceless Man. In a moment, they heard him speaking the words of Kunuum, the unknowable syllables spilling rapidly out of veiled lips spitting blood.
With a look of shock, Xandros ducked as if the words were darts aimed at his ears. "Ye gods!" he cried. "What on earth is that?"
Hurrus had recovered quickly. "That is the Faceless Man uttering the words of Kunuum," he said, knowing that Xandros' puzzlement would go unrelieved by his explanation. He felt a sudden coldness regarding the interpreted words of the bull-man.
"That is Kunuum answering the prayers of--"
"We have no interest in this blabbering, Jhar. It is a small god who troubles himself over such petty little requests, such pathetic appeals for mercy from the likes of those who clog your courtyard…" Jhar winced.
"This is the voice of a god?" Xandros asked in amazement.
"This is a farce," Hurrus snapped. "The real Kunuum speaks elsewhere, doesn't he, Jhar?" That was what Jhar had been trying to conceal from him, what had been on the tip of his tongue, what he had wanted to tell him, but did not dare. "I seek only what Xarhux sought. I shall hear the words of Kunuum. I shall hear them as Xarhux did, not spilling from the tongue of some veiled charlatan, but directly from the bull-man's own lips."
Jhar's face grew suddenly grim. "You don't know what you're asking, Hurrus. If it were just a matter of speaking and listening, I would gladly relent - gladly! - but it is so much more. You don't understand…"
Hurrus reached for the hilt of his sword. "I understand that you will die if you do not show me." His hand was shaking as he fumbled with the grip.
Jhar angrily swatted Hurrus' hand from his sword before he could draw it. "You want to see? So be it! I will show you - and gods have mercy!" He started down the steps. "Well, if you are so eager to die, come with me," he called back over his shoulder when no one followed.
The base of the stairs was lost in a sea of blackness. Jhar grabbed a torch from the wall. As he descended, the darkness seemed to part before him. Hurrus had never seen a man so angry. He stomped down the steps, muttering to himself. Near the bottom, he turned with such fire in his eyes that Hurrus, even in his own madness, was taken aback. He pointed a long, bony finger at Hurrus' bandaged head as if making an accusation. "This is your temple, after all. You have fought and bled for it. It is yours. Do with it as you will."
Hurrus traced a path with his fingers along the gash in his scalp, feeling the ache through the bandage. "I have fought for no temple," he said.
"You fought for this one," said Jhar. "Why do you think the Sarian god-king brought his army to Tygetia? What prize but death is to be won out in Hathor's desert? It was the Temple of Kunuum he wanted. All who know of its secrets, covet it. It is best you killed him, for he would not have stopped. I fear you will not either."
"Kunuum would have devoured him, had I not," Hurrus said, speaking words that entered his head unbidden. "His occupation of this temple would have profited him nothing, for he is not a Son of Kunuum as I am."
"You are no Son of Kunuum," said Jhar with just a hint of a joyless laugh. "Not yet, you're not,"
He came to the bottom of the steps and led them through a wide corridor that ended at an arch that had been bricked over. The corridor walls and arch were of rough stone, hewn from the living rock beneath the temple. In comparison, the bricks and mortar might have been laid yesterday. Torchlight flashed in Jhar's eyes as he passed the flame across the face of the brick wall. Out of the darkness behind them, they could hear the low mutterings of the Faceless Man, his voice reaching
their ears by some trick of acoustics.
"What is this, Jhar?" Hurrus asked, turning to see no adjoining corridors in any direction. "A dead end? Is that what you have brought me to? I see nothing but a brick wall--"
Jhar shushed him. He put his ear to the bricks. "Listen!" he whispered.
The group grew silent for a moment. "I hear the mutterings of your veiled man, Jhar--"
Jhar held up a warning finger. "When Kunuum is speaking, you can hear him…"
"Riddles!" Hurrus snapped. "Damn you, priest! You speak in circles!"
Jhar shot him a heated look. "Inside, you fool! Shut up and listen!"
Hurrus pressed his ear to the cold bricks, but heard nothing. "I will not be pacified by tricks, priest…" He let his words fall away. From behind the wall came a kind of skittering sound. He pressed closer. He heard a distinct footfall, and then another. Someone was behind the brick wall, walking towards him. Then he heard a loud clacking and clicking and he could feel the sound vibrating in the bricks. He pulled his ear away in alarm. Whatever was inside stood just on the other side of the wall, separated from him by a mere hand's-breadth of brittle masonry.
"He moves," Jhar said in a kind of dreamy ecstasy. He gently pressed his palm to the bricks where Hurrus' ear had been as if he could feel the heat of whatever stood on the other side. "It is Kunuum. He moves."
"Is there a way in?" Hurrus asked.
"My lord..." Xandros began. "Hurrus, please…I beg you to leave this place. Let us leave the gods lay--"
"This god does not lay," Hurrus shot back. He snapped a look at Jhar. "Is there a way in?"
Jhar ran his hand almost lovingly over the brick, his long knuckly fingers rising and falling over the uneven structure. "This wall has been rebuilt only once. You see the bricks at the base here." His torch traced a path through the air just above the floor. The bricks were pale with age, the mortar dry and brittle. "They are a thousand years old."
"And up above?" Hurrus asked.
"Myletos would have nothing to do with this place," Jhar said. "He was like your large friend here. 'Let the gods be,' he said. The wisest of all Xarhux's men was Myletos."
"Myletos is no Son of Kunuum. He has no divine blood."
"No," Jhar said reflectively. "No, he is not…and he has not. You are right. It was your father, Hurrus, who…urged me down here. Much as you are doing now, only with…less anger."
"My father!" Hurrus cried.
"Your father, yes. And his brother, Xarhux." Jhar uttered a thoughtful little chuckle. "I could not tell them apart, the twins Arrhus and Xarhux. Not until after Xarhux began wearing Tygetian garb, the blue headscarf. It is after him that the Mejadym pattern themselves." He looked appreciatively at Jorem.
"You brought them here?" Hurrus asked. "Xarhux himself? To this wall?"
"The wall had stood for a thousand years. When originally sealed, there had been no temple above this archway, no giant Kunuums, no courtyards full of supplicants, just a hole in the ground. At first the ancient priests expanded it, paved it and built archways and passages. Later, in their wisdom, they bricked it up and buried it. Alas, they could hide it, but could not make men forget it. Kunuum would not let them. A temple was built where the gasses rise. These vapors were found to be the mind of a captive Kunuum and our Faceless Men trained in breathing them and speaking Kunuum's voice. So it stood for a thousand years until Xarhux learned of it. He would not be happy until he had peered inside."
"Xarhux stood on this spot?" Jorem asked.
"Indeed he did," Jhar said. "And I with him. And Arrhus, too. Xarhux was holding a torch just as I am now. It was Arrhus who did the hammering. A strong man, Arrhus' hammer bit into the ancient brick, chipping away at the wall, piece by piece. The first brick to fall inward released such a pent up wind that Xarhux's torch went black. We worked for some time in the utter darkness to relight it. While we worked, we could feel cold air issuing from that space in the wall where the brick had broken free. Even through the darkness, something watched us through that gap, something ancient beyond telling and cold as death itself.
"It was with much relief that we were finally able to relight the torch. When the light burst forth from the flame once again, we saw that it was just a black hole in the wall where a brick had fallen and nothing more. Nothing had slithered out of it and nothing peered at us through it. We all laughed nervously in great relief. Hammering, Arrhus expanded the hole and then made it larger still. Soon it was large enough for Xarhux to reach his torch inside."
"What did he find?" Hurrus asked, transfixed. He scrutinized the wall, trying to see the spot where his father's hammer had broken through. He felt he was standing on hallowed ground.
"Nothing," Jhar said.
"Nothing?" Hurrus exclaimed, deflated. Certainly, Jhar would not have brought him this far for nothing. "Then why seal it at all if there is nothing inside?"
"Nothing at first," Jhar finished. "Xarhux reached the torch inside. This time, the flame guttered but held. The hole was just large enough to fit his head through as well as the torch. When he looked in, Arrhus asked him, 'What do you see?' His reply was just what I have told you. 'Nothing,' he said. Our hearts sank. 'Ours,' I say, because I was no passive bystander, make no mistake. To be sure, I never would have descended these stairs on my own, but once here, I wanted it as much as anyone. To see inside Kunuum's tomb, the first eyes in a thousand years--"
"He saw nothing at first, you say?" Hurrus urged Jhar back to the point.
Jhar did not miss a beat. "'What do you see?' Arrhus asked him. 'Nothing,' came the reply. From my position alongside the wall, I could just make out the profile of Xarhux's face, lit in the torchlight. Suddenly, I saw his eyes light up. There was such a look of awe in his expression that I became excited and fearful at once. Arrhus asked him again 'What do you see?' and this time Xarhux replied, 'Marvelous things…"
Hurrus waited, but Jhar said no more. "What things?" he asked. "Jhar! What things? What did he see?"
"No one knows," Jhar said helplessly after a moment. His voice cracked with anguish. "Arrhus continued to hammer. As soon as the opening was large enough for Xarhux to crawl inside, he did."
"And no one followed him in?"
"He would not allow it."
"That would not have stopped me," Hurrus said.
Jhar regarded him coolly. "At this time, Xarhux had united all of Gyriece by the sword and he had conquered every land between. And he did so for one reason - to crawl through this wall." Jhar patted the bricks. "No one would dare defy him, not even his own brother. I daresay, not even his brother's son would have done so."
Hurrus stiffened. "You might be surprised what his brother's son would do. Xandros!" Hurrus called. His voice seemed to desecrate the silence of the space. He wondered if the thing on the other side of the wall could hear him. He hoped it could. "Those workmen in the temple…Go fetch us a hammer. Two of them."
"Hurrus, I beg you," Xandros said. "This is madness…"
"Go!" Hurrus commanded.
With a parting look, Xandros disappeared into the gloom. In a moment, they could hear him climbing the stair.
"Madness it is, Hurrus," Jhar said. "I have not told you yet. While it is true that no one followed Xarhux inside, Xarhux did come out. And when he did, he was--"
"Mad!" Jorem finished for him. Hurrus snapped his head around. "It was this place that caused him to go mad, that caused him to turn on the Mejadym." Jorem's eyes darted all around as if Xarhux's mad ghost inhabited every corner and crevice of the rough-hewn walls around them.
"Xarhux was not mad," Hurrus insisted.
"He wasn't when he went in," said Jhar. "I knew the risk, but I made no move to stop him, I said not a word. I knew…I knew…but I could not. I had to let him go…"
Hurrus looked from one man to the other in disbelief. "Jhar…Jorem…What is this nonsense? Xarhux mad? I refuse to believe it."
But in fact he had heard this before. Nadia had always made a distinction be
tween the men who had entered Tygetia with the Conqueror from those who had left. In one of her most lucid moments, she had called Hurrus' companions 'the sons of men who have never known what it is to follow a madman.' Her words still rang in his ears.
He did not believe it then; he would not believe it now.
"You cannot tear down this wall, sire," Jorem said. "It is what the Mejadym feared in you - the madness of Xarhux. It is a great evil."
"The man who came out was not the same man who went in," Jhar said. "After he left, I sealed this place up as you see it now. I built this wall with my own hands, each brick resisting my will to place it. Even now, a part of me wants to peer inside, to take up the hammer and smash it down." Jhar's chin sank to his chest and he shook his head miserably.
Hurrus scowled, feeling only shame for these two, for their misery and their pleading expressions. Were they not even men? "What is this? Are you cowards? I will have what Xarhux had - not madness, Jorem," - he could do nothing but spit the name, so repulsive did it seem to him now - "but power. Xarhux was Bathed in Blood - by your own words, Jhar! - and he left here to conquer the entire world. Not in madness - but with the strength of a thousand men. Is it fear that moves you, now? Is it cowardice that makes you call strength madness?"
"And what would you call this?" Jorem turned and spread his shoulder blades, broadening his back. Above the linen bandages that wrapped his torso, Hurrus could see a tangle of thick welts left by the lash, so numerous in places that the flesh appeared to have been burnt in flames. "After all we did for him, this was how he repaid us, delivered by his own hand. I was just a boy, but strong - stronger than the others." Supposing Hurrus had seen enough, he turned back. "He rounded us up, Hurrus. Some he tortured, some he just had a little sport with - we, who served him! He seemed a giant in my eyes. I cowered from the lash and the more I cowered, the larger grew the whip, and the larger grew the man. I was seeing visions before I passed out. The last I saw of Xarhux, he was laughing through my torment. The man I loved, the savior of Tygetia. He was a laughing bull-man who towered over me. I had seen nothing like it until...until Kerraunus, when I doubted my own sanity. I still do, when the lash cracks..."
The Blood Gate Page 43