Chapter XXIII. In the Temple of Fate
Yva glanced at me, and in her eyes I read tenderness and solicitude,also something of inquiry. It seemed to me as though she were wonderingwhat I should do under circumstances that might, or would, arise, and insome secret fashion of which I was but half conscious, drawing an answerfrom my soul. Then she turned, and, smiling in her dazzling way, said:
"So, Bickley, as usual, you did not believe? Because you did not seehim, therefore the Lord Oro, my father, never spoke with Humphrey.As though the Lord Oro could not pass you without your knowledge, or,perchance, send thoughts clothed in his own shape to work his errand."
"How do you know that I did not believe Arbuthnot's story?" Bickleyasked in a rather cross voice and avoiding the direct issue. "Do youalso send thoughts to work your errands clothed in your own shape, LadyYva?"
"Alas! not so, though perhaps I could if I might. It is very simple,Bickley. Standing here, I heard you say that although the sun was welldown there was no one to meet you as Humphrey had expected, and fromthose words and your voice I guessed the rest."
"Your knowledge of the English language is improving fast, Lady Yva.Also, when I spoke, you were not here."
"At least I was very near, Bickley, and these walls are thinner than youthink," she answered, contemplating what seemed to be solid rock witheyes that were full of innocence. "Oh! friend," she went on suddenly,"I wonder what there is which will cause you to believe that you do notknow all; that there exist many things beyond the reach of your learningand imagination? Well, in a day or two, perhaps, even you will admit asmuch, and confess it to me--elsewhere," and she sighed.
"I am ready to confess now that much happens which I do not understandat present, because I have not the key to the trick," he replied.
Yva shook her head at him and smiled again. Then she motioned to all ofus to stand close to her, and, stooping, lifted Tommy in her arms. Nextmoment that marvel happened which I have described already, and we werewhirling downwards through space, to find ourselves in a very littletime standing safe in the caves of Nyo, breathless with the swiftness ofour descent. How and on what we descended neither I nor the others everlearned. It was and must remain one of the unexplained mysteries of ourgreat experience.
"Whither now, Yva?" I asked, staring about me at the radiant vastness.
"The Lord Oro would speak with you, Humphrey. Follow. And I pray you alldo not make him wrath, for his mood is not gentle."
So once more we proceeded down the empty streets of that undergroundabode which, except that it was better illuminated, reminded me of theGreek conception of Hades. We came to the sacred fountain over whichstood the guardian statue of Life, pouring from the cups she held thewaters of Good and Ill that mingled into one health-giving wine.
"Drink, all of you," she said; "for I think before the sun sets againupon the earth we shall need strength, every one of us."
So we drank, and she drank herself, and once more felt the blood godancing through our veins as though the draught had been some nectar ofthe gods. Then, having extinguished the lanterns which we still carried,for here they were needless, and we wished to save our oil, we followedher through the great doors into the vast hall of audience and advancedup it between the endless, empty seats. At its head, on the daisbeneath the arching shell, sat Oro on his throne. As before, he wore thejewelled cap and the gorgeous, flowing robes, while the table in frontof him was still strewn with sheets of metal on which he wrote with apen, or stylus, that glittered like a diamond or his own fierce eyes.Then he lifted his head and beckoned to us to ascend the dais.
"You are here. It is well," he said, which was all his greeting. Onlywhen Tommy ran up to him he bent down and patted the dog's head with hislong, thin hand, and, as he did so, his face softened. It was evident tome that Tommy was more welcome to him than were the rest of us.
There was a long silence while, one by one, he searched us with hispiercing glance. It rested on me, the last of the three of us, and fromme travelled to Yva.
"I wonder why I have sent for you?" he said at length, with a mirthlesslaugh. "I think it must be that I may convince Bickley, the sceptic,that there are powers which he does not understand, but that I have thestrength to move. Also, perhaps, that your lives may be spared for myown purposes in that which is about to happen. Hearken! My labours arefinished; my calculations are complete," and he pointed to the sheets ofmetal before him that were covered with cabalistic signs. "Tomorrow I amabout to do what once before I did and to plunge half the world in thedeeps of ocean and lift again from the depths that which has been buriedfor a quarter of a million years."
"Which half?" asked Bickley.
"That is my secret, Physician, and the answer to it lies written herein signs you cannot read. Certain countries will vanish, others will bespared. I say that it is my secret."
"Then, Oro, if you could do what you threaten, you would drown hundredsof millions of people."
"If I could do! If I could do!" he exclaimed, glaring at Bickley. "Well,tomorrow you shall see what I can do. Oh! why do I grow angry with thisfool? For the rest, yes, they must drown. What does it matter? Their endwill be swift; some few minutes of terror, that is all, and in one shortcentury every one of them would have been dead."
An expression of horror gathered on Bastin's face.
"Do you really mean to murder hundreds of millions of people?" he asked,in a thick, slow voice.
"I have said that I intend to send them to that heaven or that hell ofwhich you are so fond of talking, Preacher, somewhat more quicklythan otherwise they would have found their way thither. They havedisappointed me, they have failed; therefore, let them go and make roomfor others who will succeed."
"Then you are a greater assassin than any that the world has bred, orthan all of them put together. There is nobody as bad, even in the Bookof Revelation!" shouted Bastin, in a kind of fury. "Moreover, I am notlike Bickley. I know enough of you and your hellish powers to believethat what you plan, that you can do."
"I believe it also," sneered Oro. "But how comes it that the Great Onewhom you worship does not prevent the deed, if He exists, and it beevil?"
"He will prevent it!" raved Bastin. "Even now He commands me to preventit, and I obey!" Then, drawing the revolver from his pocket, he pointedit at Oro's breast, adding: "Swear not to commit this crime, or I willkill you!"
"So the man of peace would become a man of blood," mused Oro, "and killthat I may not kill for the good of the world? Why, what is the matterwith that toy of yours, Preacher?" and he pointed to the pistol.
Well might he ask, for as he spoke the revolver flew out of Bastin'shand. High into the air it flew, and as it went discharged itself, allthe six chambers of it, in rapid succession, while Bastin stood staringat his arm and hand which he seemed unable to withdraw.
"Do you still threaten me with that outstretched hand, Preacher?" mockedOro.
"I can't move it," said Bastin; "it seems turned to stone."
"Be thankful that you also are not turned to stone. But, because yourcourage pleases me, I will spare you, yes, and will advance you in myNew Kingdom. What shall you be? Controller of Religions, I think, sinceall the qualities that a high priest should have are yours--faith,fanaticism and folly."
"It is very strange," said Bastin, "but all of a sudden my arm and handare quite well again. I suppose it must have been 'pins and needles' orsomething of that sort which made me throw away the pistol and pull thetrigger when I didn't mean to do so."
Then he went to fetch that article which had fallen beyond the dais, andquite forgot his intention of executing Oro in the interest of testingits mechanism, which proved to be destroyed. To his proposed appointmenthe made no illusion. If he comprehended what was meant, which I doubt,he took it as a joke.
"Hearken all of you," said Oro, lifting his head suddenly, for whileBastin recovered the revolver he had been brooding. "The great thingwhich I shall do tomorrow must be witnessed by you because thereby onlyc
an you come to understand my powers. Also yonder where I bring it aboutin the bowels of the earth, you will be safer than elsewhere, since whenand perhaps before it happens, the whole world will heave and shake andtremble, and I know not what may chance, even in these caves. For thisreason also, do not forget to bring the little hound with you, sincehim least of all of you would I see come to harm, perhaps because once,hundreds of generations ago as you reckon time, I had a dog very like tohim. Your mother loved him much, Yva, and when she died, this dog diedalso. He lies embalmed with her on her coffin yonder in the temple, andyesterday I went to look at both of them. The beasts are wonderfullyalike, which shows the everlastingness of blood."
He paused a while, lost in thought, then continued: "After the deed isdone I'll speak with you and you shall choose, Strangers, whether youwill die your own masters, or live on to serve me. Now there is oneproblem that is left to me to solve--whether I can save a certainland--do not ask which it is, Humphrey, though I see the question inyour eyes--or must let it go with the rest. I only answer you thatI will do my best because you love it. So farewell for a while, and,Preacher, be advised by me and do not aim too high again."
"It doesn't matter where I aim," answered Bastin sturdily, "or whetherI hit or miss, since there is something much bigger than me waiting todeal with you. The countries that you think you are going to destroywill sleep quite as well tomorrow as they do tonight, Oro."
"Much better, I think, Preacher, since by then they will have leftsorrow and pain and wickedness and war far behind them."
"Where are we to go?" I asked.
"The Lady Yva will show you," he answered, waving his hand, and oncemore bent over his endless calculations.
Yva beckoned to us and we turned and followed her down the hall. She ledus to a street near the gateway of the temple and thence into one of thehouses. There was a portico to it leading to a court out of which openedrooms somewhat in the Pompeian fashion. We did not enter the rooms, forat the end of the court were a metal table and three couches also ofmetal, on which were spread rich-looking rugs. Whence these came I donot know and never asked, but I remember that they were very beautifuland soft as velvet.
"Here you may sleep," she said, "if sleep you can, and eat of the foodthat you have brought with you. Tomorrow early I will call you when itis time for us to start upon our journey into the bowels of the earth."
"I don't want to go any deeper than we are," said Bastin doubtfully.
"I think that none of us want to go, Bastin," she answered with a sigh."Yet go we must. I pray of you, anger the Lord Oro no more on this orany other matter. In your folly you tried to kill him, and as it chancedhe bore it well because he loves courage. But another time he may strikeback, and then, Bastin--"
"I am not afraid of him," he answered, "but I do not like tunnels.Still, perhaps it would be better to accompany you than to be left inthis place alone. Now I will unpack the food."
Yva turned to go.
"I must leave you," she said, "since my father needs my help. The matterhas to do with the Force that he would let loose tomorrow, and itsmeasurements; also with the preparation of the robes that we must wearlest it should harm us in its leap."
Something in her eyes told me that she wished me to follow her, andI did so. Outside the portico where we stood in the desolate, lightedstreet, she halted.
"If you are not afraid," she said, "meet me at midnight by the statue ofFate in the great temple, for I would speak with you, Humphrey, where,if anywhere, we may be alone."
"I will come, Yva."
"You know the road, and the gates are open, Humphrey."
Then she gave me her hand to kiss and glided away. I returned to theothers and we ate, somewhat sparingly, for we wished to save our food incase of need, and having drunk of the Life-water, were not hungry. Alsowe talked a little, but by common consent avoided the subject of themorrow and what it might bring forth.
We knew that terrible things were afoot, but lacking any knowledge ofwhat these might be, thought it useless to discuss them. Indeed wewere too depressed, so much so that even Bastin and Bickley ceased fromarguing. The latter was so overcome by the exhibition of Oro's powerswhen he caused the pistol to leap into the air and discharge itself,that he could not even pluck up courage to laugh at the failure ofBastin's efforts to do justice on the old Super-man, or rather toprevent him from attempting a colossal crime.
At length we lay down on the couches to rest, Bastin remarking that hewished he could turn off the light, also that he did not in the leastregret having tried to kill Oro. Sleep seemed to come to the othersquickly, but I could only doze, to wake up from time to time. Of this Iwas not sorry, since whenever I dropped off dreams seemed to pursue me.For the most part they were of my dead wife. She appeared to be tryingto console me for some loss, but the strange thing was that sometimesshe spoke with her own voice and sometimes with Yva's, and sometimeslooked at me with her own eyes and sometimes with those of Yva. Iremember nothing else about these dreams, which were very confused.
After one of them, the most vivid of all, I awoke and looked at mywatch. It was half-past eleven, almost time for me to be starting. Theother two seemed to be fast asleep. Presently I rose and crept down thecourt without waking them. Outside the portico, which by the way was acurious example of the survival of custom in architecture, since nonewas needed in that weatherless place, I turned to the right and followedthe wide street to the temple enclosure. Through the pillared courtsI went, my footsteps, although I walked as softly as I could, echoingloudly in that intense silence, through the great doors into the uttersolitude of the vast and perfect fane.
Words can not tell the loneliness of that place. It flowed over me likea sea and seemed to swallow up my being, so that even the wildest andmost dangerous beast would have been welcome as a companion. I was asterrified as a child that wakes to find itself deserted in the dark.Also an uncanny sense of terrors to come oppressed me, till I could havecried aloud if only to hear the sound of a mortal voice. Yonder wasthe grim statue of Fate, the Oracle of the Kings of the Sons of Wisdom,which was believed to bow its stony head in answer to their prayers. Iran to it, eager for its terrible shelter, for on either side of it werefigures of human beings. Even their cold marble was company of a sort,though alas! over all frowned Fate.
Let anyone imagine himself standing alone beneath the dome of St.Paul's; in the centre of that cathedral brilliant with mysterious light,and stretched all about it a London that had been dead and absolutelyunpeopled for tens of thousands of years. If he can do this he willgather some idea of my physical state. Let him add to his mind-picturea knowledge that on the following day something was to happen not unlikethe end of the world, as prognosticated by the Book of Revelation and bymost astronomers, and he will have some idea of my mental perturbations.Add to the mixture a most mystic yet very real love affair and anassignation before that symbol of the cold fate which seems to sway theuniverses down to the tiniest detail of individual lives, and he maybegin to understand what I, Humphrey Arbuthnot, experienced during myvigil in this sanctuary of a vanished race.
It seemed long before Yva came, but at last she did come. I caught sightof her far away beyond the temple gate, flitting through the unholybrightness of the pillared courts like a white moth at night and seemingquite as small. She approached; now she was as a ghost, and then drawingnear, changed into a living, breathing, lovely woman. I opened myarms, and with something like a sob she sank into them and we kissed asmortals do.
"I could not come more quickly," she said. "The Lord Oro needed me, andthose calculations were long and difficult. Also twice he must visit theplace whither we shall go tomorrow, and that took time."
"Then it is close at hand?" I said.
"Humphrey, be not foolish. Do you not remember, who have travelled withhim, that Oro can throw his soul afar and bring it back again laden withknowledge, as the feet of a bee are laden with golden dust? Well, hewent and went again, and I must wait. And then the robes
and shields;they must be prepared by his arts and mine. Oh! ask not what they are,there is no time to tell, and it matters nothing. Some folk are wise andsome are foolish, but all which matters is that within them flows theblood of life and that life breeds love, and that love, as I believe,although Oro does not, breeds immortality. And if so, what is Time butas a grain of sand upon the shore?"
"This, Yva; it is ours, who can count on nothing else."
"Oh! Humphrey, if I thought that, no more wretched creature wouldbreathe tonight upon this great world."
"What do you mean?" I asked, growing fearful, more at her manner and herlook than at her words.
"Nothing, nothing, except that Time is so very short. A kiss, a touch,a little light and a little darkness, and it is gone. Ask my father Orowho has lived a thousand years and slept for tens of thousands, as Ihave, and he will say the same. It is against Time that he fights; hewho, believing in nothing beyond, will inherit nothing, as Bastinsays; he to whom Time has brought nothing save a passing, blood-stainedgreatness, and triumph ending in darkness and disaster, and hope thatwill surely suffer hope's eclipse, and power that must lay down itscoronet in dust."
"And what has it brought to you, Yva, beyond a fair body and a soul ofstrength?"
"It has brought a spirit, Humphrey. Between them the body and the soulhave bred a spirit, and in the fires of tribulation from that spirit hasbeen distilled the essence of eternal love. That is Time's gift to me,and therefore, although still he rules me here, I mock at Fate," and shewaved her hand with a gesture of defiance at the stern-faced, sexlesseffigy which sat above us, the sword across its knees.
"Look! Look!" she went on in a swelling voice of music, pointing to thestatues of the dotard and the beauteous woman. "They implore Fate, theyworship Fate. I do not implore, I do not worship or ask a sign as evenOro does and as did his forefathers. I rise above and triumph. As Fate,the god of my people, sets his foot upon the sun, so I set my foot uponFate, and thence, like a swimmer from a rock, leap into the waters ofImmortality."
I looked at her whose presence, as happened from time to time, had grownmajestic beyond that of woman; I studied her deep eyes which were fullof lights, not of this world, and I grew afraid.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Yva, you talk like one who has finishedwith life."
"It passes," she answered quickly. "Life passes like breath fading froma mirror. So should all talk who breathe beneath the sun."
"Yes, Yva, but if you went and left me still breathing on that mockingglass--"
"If so, what of it? Will not your breath fade also and join mine whereall vapours go? Or if it were yours that faded and mine that remainedfor some few hours, is it not the same? I think, Humphrey, that alreadyyou have seen a beloved breath melt from the glass of life," she added,looking at me earnestly.
I bowed my head and answered:
"Yes, and therefore I am ashamed."
"Oh! why should you be ashamed, Humphrey, who are not sure but thattwo breaths may yet be one breath? How do you know that there is adifference between them?"
"You drive me mad, Yva. I cannot understand."
"Nor can I altogether, Humphrey. Why should I, seeing that I am nomore than woman, as you are no more than man? I would always haveyou remember, Humphrey, that I am no spirit or sorceress, but just awoman--like her you lost."
I looked at her doubtfully and answered:
"Women do not sleep for two hundred thousand years. Women do not takedream journeys to the stars. Women do not make the dead past live againbefore the watcher's eyes. Their hair does not glimmer in the dusk nordo their bodies gleam, nor have they such strength of soul or eyes sowonderful, or loveliness so great."
These words appeared to distress her who, as it seemed to me, was aboveall things anxious to prove herself woman and no more.
"All these qualities are nothing, Humphrey," she cried. "As for thebeauty, such as it is, it comes to me with my blood, and with it theglitter of my hair which is the heritage of those who for generationshave drunk of the Life-water. My mother was lovelier than I, as was hermother, or so I have heard, since only the fairest were the wives ofthe Kings of the Children of Wisdom. For the rest, such arts as I havespring not from magic, but from knowledge which your people will acquirein days to come, that is, if Oro spares them. Surely you above allshould know that I am only woman," she added very slowly and searchingmy face with her eyes.
"Why, Yva? During the little while that we have been together I haveseen much which makes me doubt. Even Bickley the sceptic doubts also."
"I will tell you, though I am not sure that you will believe me." Sheglanced about her as though she were frightened lest someone shouldoverhear her words or read her thoughts. Then she stretched out herhands and drawing my head towards her, put her lips to my ear andwhispered:
"Because once you saw me die, as women often die--giving life for life."
"I saw you die?" I gasped.
She nodded, then continued to whisper in my ear, not in her own voice,but another's:
"Go where you seem called to go, far away. Oh! the wonderful place inwhich you will find me, not knowing that you have found me. Good-bye fora little while; only for a little while, my own, my own!"
I knew the voice as I knew the words, and knowing, I think that I shouldhave fallen to the ground, had she not supported me with her strongarms.
"Who told you?" I stammered. "Was it Bickley or Bastin? They knew,though neither of them heard those holy words."
"Not Bickley nor Bastin," she answered, shaking her head, "no, nor youyourself, awake or sleeping, though once, by the lake yonder, yousaid to me that when a certain one lay dying, she bade you seek herelsewhere, for certainly you would find her. Humphrey, I cannot say whotold me those words because I do not know. I think they are a memory,Humphrey!"
"That would mean that you, Yva, are the same as one who was--not calledYva."
"The same as one who was called Natalie, Humphrey," she replied insolemn accents. "One whom you loved and whom you lost."
"Then you think that we live again upon this earth?"
"Again and yet again, until the time comes for us to leave the earthfor ever. Of this, indeed, I am sure, for that knowledge was part of thesecret wisdom of my people."
"But you were not dead. You only slept."
"The sleep was a death-sleep which went by like a flash, yes, in aninstant, or so it seemed. Only the shell of the body remained preservedby mortal arts, and when the returning spirit and the light of life werepoured into it again, it awoke. But during this long death-sleep, thatspirit may have spoken through other lips and that light may have shonethrough other eyes, though of these I remember nothing."
"Then that dream of our visit to a certain star may be no dream?"
"I think no dream, and you, too, have thought as much."
"In a way, yes, Yva. But I could not believe and turned from what I heldto be a phantasy."
"It was natural, Humphrey, that you should not believe. Hearken! In thistemple a while ago I showed you a picture of myself and of a man wholoved me and whom I loved, and of his death at Oro's hands. Did you noteanything about that man?"
"Bickley did," I answered. "Was he right?"
"I think that he was right, since otherwise I should not have loved you,Humphrey."
"I remember nothing of that man, Yva."
"It is probable that you would not, since you and he are very far apart,while between you and him flow wide seas of death, wherein are setislands of life; perhaps many of them. But I remember much who seem tohave left him but a very little while ago."
"When you awoke in your coffin and threw your arms about me, what didyou think, Yva?"
"I thought you were that man, Humphrey."
There was silence between us and in that silence the truth came home tome. Then there before the effigy of Fate and in the desolate, glowingtemple we plighted anew our troth made holy by a past that thus sowonderfully lived again.
Of this consecrated
hour I say no more. Let each picture it as he will.A glory as of heaven fell upon us and in it we dwelt a space.
"Beloved," she whispered at length in a voice that was choked as thoughwith tears, "if it chances that we should be separated again for alittle while, you will not grieve over much?"
"Knowing all I should try not to grieve, Yva, seeing that in truth wenever can be parted. But do you mean that I shall die?"
"Being mortal either of us might seem to die, Humphrey," and she benther head as though to hide her face. "You know we go into dangers thisday."
"Does Oro really purpose to destroy much of the world and has he intruth the power, Yva?"
"He does so purpose and most certainly he has the power, unless--unlesssome other Power should stay his hand."
"What other power, Yva?"
"Oh! perhaps that which you worship, that which is called Love. The loveof man may avert the massacre of men. I hope so with all my heart. Hist!Oro comes. I feel, I know that he comes, though not in search of us whoare very far from his thought tonight. Follow me. Swiftly."
She sped across the temple to where a chapel opened out of it, which wasfull of the statues of dead kings, for here was the entrance to theirburial vault. We reached it and hid behind the base of one of thesestatues. By standing to our full height, without being seen we stillcould see between the feet of the statue that stood upon a pedestal.
Then Oro came.
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