Merytra, recovered from her madness, lay upon a bed, when a womanentered and stood over her. Looking up she saw it was the Queen.
"Hearken to me," said the Queen in an icy voice, "and tell the wordsI speak to Abi. The time is accomplished, and I leave him. If he wouldlook again upon Neter-Tua, Morning Star of Amen, the Great Lady ofEgypt, let him seek her in the camp of Rames. There he shall find her inthe temple of Amen, which is set upon the mountain in the midst of thecamp."
Then she was gone.
Merytra rose from the bed, and called to the guards to lead her to Abi.So loudly did she call, saying that she had a message for him which mustnot be delayed, that at length one went and told him of her words, andhe came to her.
"What is it now, Sorceress?" he asked. "Have you dreamed more ill-omeneddreams?"
"Nay, Pharaoh," she answered, "but the Queen has fled to Rames," andword for word she repeated what had been told her.
"It is a lie," said Abi. "How can she have fled through a triple line ofguards?"
"Search, then, and see, O Pharaoh."
So Abi searched, but though none had seen her pass, and none had gonewith her, the Queen could not be found.
It was midnight, and while they still searched, by the light of the moona tall figure clad in tattered robes, who bore a thornwood staff inhis hand, and had a white beard that fell down below his middle, wasperceived walking to and fro about the camp.
"Who is that fellow?" asked Abi, and as he spoke the figure cried aloudin a great voice:
"Listen, Councillors, Captains, and Soldiers of Egypt, to the command ofAmen, spoken by the lips of his messenger, Kepher the Wanderer. Lift nosword against Rames, Lord of Kesh, for he is my servant, and shall bePharaoh over you, and husband of your Queen, and father of kings tocome. Seize Abi the usurper, the murderer of Pharaoh, his brother, andKaku the sorcerer, and Merytra the traitress, and lead them at the dawnto my temple upon yonder hill, where I will declare my commands toyou in the sanctuary of the temple. So shall peace be upon you and allEgypt, and the breath of life remain in your nostrils."
Now hearing these fearful words, and remembering dead Pharaoh's prophecyof a Beggar who should bring a message to him, Abi drew his sword andrushed at the man. But ere ever he came there, the Wanderer was gone,and lo! they heard him repeating his message far away. Thither they ranalso, but now the words of doom were being called upon the ships, andon their prows they saw his tall shape stand--first on this and then onthat.
"It is the gods who speak," cried the priests, "let us obey the gods!"and suddenly they flung themselves upon Abi and bound him, and Kakuand Merytra they bound also, waiting for the dawn. But of the tall,white-bearded man in beggar's robes they saw and heard no more.
At that same time Tua slept in a chamber of the temple upon the hill,while Asti watched her. Presently a wind blew in the chamber, and Asti,looking up, became aware of a Shape that she knew well, the very shapeof Tua who slept upon the bed.
"What is your will, O Double?" asked Asti.
"My will is that you give me rest," answered the Ka. "My task isaccomplished, I am weary. Speak the secret words of power that you have,and let me return to her from whom I came, and in her bosom sleep tillthe great Day of Awakening."
So Asti, knowing that she was commanded so to do, uttered those secretwords, and as she spoke them the glorious Shape seemed to grow faintand fade away. Only Tua rose upon her bed, stretched out her arms andsighed, fell back again and slept heavily until the morning. Then sheawoke, asking what had befallen her, for she was changed.
"This has befallen, Queen. That which went forth from you by the commandof Amen has returned to you again, its duty done. Rise up now and adornyourself, for this is your day of victory and marriage."
As the sun rose Tua went forth more beautiful than the morning, and atthe gates of the temple found Rames awaiting her, clad in his armour,while from the mists below came a sound as of an army approaching.
"What passes?" asked Tua, looking at him, and there was more love in herblue eyes than there is water in the Nile at flood.
"I think that Abi attacks us, Lady," he said, bowing the knee to her,"and I am fearful for you, for our men are few, and his are many."
"Be not afraid of Abi, or of anything, O Rames, though it is true thatthis day you must lose your liberty," she answered with a sweet andgentle smile, and he wondered at her words.
Then, before he could speak again, two of the captains of his outpostsran in and reported that without were priests and heralds, who came inpeace from the army of Abi.
"Summon the officers, and let them be admitted," said Rames, "but becareful, all of you, lest this embassy should hide some trick of war.Come, Queen, it is to you that they should speak, and not to me, who ambut a general of your province, Kesh," and he followed her to the innercourt, where, in front of the sanctuary, was a chair, on which, at hisprayer, she seated herself, as a mighty Queen should do.
Now, conducted by his own officers, the embassy entered, bearing withthem three closed litters, and Tua and Rames noted that among thatembassy were the greatest generals, and the most holy priests of Egypt.At a given sign they prostrated themselves before the glory of theQueen, all save the soldiers who bore the litters. Next, from amongtheir ranks out stepped the venerable High-Priest of Amen at Thebes, andstood before Tua with bowed head till, with a motion of her hand, shecommanded him to speak.
"O Morning-Star of Amen," he began, "after you left our camp last nighta messenger came to us from the Father of the Gods----"
"Stay, O High-Priest," broke in Tua. "I did not leave your camp whonever tarried there, and who for two long years have set no foot uponthe holy soil of Egypt. No, not since I fled from Memphis to save myselffrom death, or what is worse--the defilement of a forced marriage withAbi, my Uncle, and Pharaoh's murderer."
Now the High-Priest turned and stared at those behind him, and all whowere present stared at the Queen.
"Pardon me," he said, "but how can this thing be, seeing that for thosetwo years we have seen your Majesty day by day living among us as thewife of Abi?"
Now Tua looked at Asti, who stood at her side, and the tall and nobleAsti looked at the High-Priest, saying:
"You know me, do you not?"
"Aye, Lady," he answered, "we know you. You were the wife of Mermes,the last shoot of a royal tree, and you are the mother of the LordRames yonder, against whom we came out to make war. We know you well,O greatest of all the seers in Egypt, Mistress of Secret Things. But webelieved that you had perished in the temple of Sekhet at Memphis, thattemple where Pharaoh died. Now we understand that, being a magician, youonly vanished thence."
"What bear you there?" asked Asti, glancing at the litters.
"Bring forth the prisoners," said the High-Priest.
Then the curtains were drawn, and the soldiers lifted from the littersAbi, Kaku, and Merytra, who were bound with cords, and stood them ontheir feet before the Queen.
"These are the very murderers of Pharaoh, my Father, who would have alsobrought me to shame. Why are my eyes affronted with the sight of them?"asked Tua indignantly.
"Because the Messenger of the Gods, clothed as a Beggar-man, commandedit, your Majesty," answered the High-Priest. "Now we understand thatthey are brought hither to be judged for the murder of Pharaoh, the goodgod who was your father."
"Shall a wife sit in judgment on her husband?" broke in Abi.
"Man," said Tua, "I never was your wife. How can I have been your wife,who have not seen you since the death of Pharaoh? Listen, now, allof you, to the tale of that marvel which has come to pass. At mybirth--you, O High-Priest, should know it well--Amen gave to me a Ka, aSelf within myself, to protect me in all dangers. The dangers came uponme, and Asti the Magician, my foster-mother, speaking the words that hadbeen taught to her by the spirit of the divine Ahura who bore me, calledforth that Ka of mine, and left it where I had been, to be the wife ofAbi, such a wife, I think, as never man had before. But me, Amen, myfather, res
cued, and with me Asti, bearing us in the Boat of the Sun tofar lands, and protecting us in many perils, till at length we came tothe city of Napata, where we found a certain servant of mine whom, as itchances, I--love," and she looked at Rames and smiled.
"Meanwhile, my Shadow did the work to which it was appointed, ruling forme in Egypt, and drawing on Abi to his ruin. But last night It returnedto me, and will be seen no more by men, except, perchance, in my tombafter I am dead. Judge you if my tale be true, and whether I am indeedNeter-Tua, Daughter of Amen," and opening the wrappings about herthroat, she showed the holy sign that was stamped above her breast,adding:
"The High-Priest yonder should know this mark, for he saw it at mybirth."
Now the aged man drew near, looked, and said:
"It is the sign. Here shines the Star of Amen and no other. Still we donot understand. Tell us the tale, O Asti."
So Asti stood forward, and told that tale, omitting nothing, and thenRames told his tale, whereto Tua the Queen added a little, and, althoughere they finished the sun was high, none wearied in listening save onlyAbi, Kaku, and Merytra, who heard death in every word.
It was done at length, and a great silence fell upon the place, for thetongues of men were tied. Presently, the High-Priest, who all this whilehad stood with bent head, lifted up his eyes to heaven, crying:
"O Amen, Father of the Spirit of this Queen, show now thy will, that wemay learn it and obey."
For a while there was silence, till suddenly a sound was heard in thedark sanctuary where stood the statue of the god, a sound as of a sticktapping upon the granite floor. Then the curtains of that sanctuarywere drawn, and standing between them there appeared the figure of anancient, bearded man, with stony eyes, who was clad in a beggar's robe.It was he who had met Tua and Asti in the wilderness and eaten up theirfood. It was he who had saved them in the palace of the desert king. Itwas he who but last night had walked the camp of Abi.
"I am that Messenger whom men from the beginning have called Kepher,"he said. "I am the Dweller in the wilderness whom your fathers knew, andyour sons shall know. I am he who seeks for charity and pays it back inlife and death. I am the pen of Thoth the Recorder, I am the scourge ofOsiris. I am the voice of Amen, god above the gods. Hearken you peopleof Egypt--not for a little end have these things come to pass, but thatye may learn that there is design in heaven, and justice upon earth,and, after justice, judgment. Pharaoh, the good servant of the gods, wasbasely murdered by his own kin whom he trusted. Neter-Tua, his daughter,and daughter of Amen, was condemned to shame, Rames of the royal racewas sent forth to danger or to death, far from her he loved, and wholoved him by that divine command which rules the hearts of men. This isthe command of the gods--Let these twain be wed and take Egypt as theirheritage, and call down upon it peace and greatness. But as forthese murderers and wizards"--and he pointed to Abi, to Kaku, and toMerytra--"let them be placed in the sanctuary of Amen, to await what heshall send them."
So spoke Kepher the Messenger, and departed whence he came, nor in thatgeneration did any see him more.
Then they took up Abi, Kaku, and Merytra, and cut their bonds. Theythrew them into the dark sanctuary before the great stone image of thegod. They shut the electrum doors upon them, and left them there wailingand cursing, while the High-Priest of Amen joined the hands of Rames andof Tua, and declared them to be man and wife for ever.
Now, after these things were done, the Pharaoh and his Queen drovethrough the hosts of Egypt in their golden chariot, and receivedthe homage of the hosts ere they departed northwards for Thebes. Atnightfall they returned again and sat side by side at the marriagefeast, and once more Tua swept her harp of ivory and gold, and sang theancient song of him who dared much for love, and won the prize.
So in the dim, forgotten years, their joy fell on Rames and on Tua,Morning-Star of Amen, which still with them remains in the new immortalkingdom that they have won long and long ago.
But when in the morning Asti the wise dared to open the great doors andpeer into the sanctuary of Amen, she saw a dreadful sight. For thereat the feet of the effigy of the god lay Abi, who slew his brother, andKaku the sorcerer, and Merytra the traitress, dead, slain by their ownor by each other's hand, and the stony eyes of the god stared down uponthem.
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