TRAPPED!
One day the king announced his intention to fix a day for Leonard's
formal betrothal to Ulama according to the usage of the country.
Immediately the people began preparations to do honour to the event;
and congratulations and marks of friendship and goodwill were showered
upon the young couple by all those who were well affected towards the
king.
In the opposite camp, however, as might be expected, the announcement
was differently received; and, indeed, the crafty Coryon took advantage
of it to sow dissension among some of the people, and to suggest
opposition to the proposal. His adherents had certain supporters in the
land; people who bought their own security by aiding Coryon secretly
against their neighbours. This was why the king had shrunk from
pushing matters to the extreme against the priest. He knew that these
half-hearted or doubtful ones were quite as likely to side with Coryon,
at the last moment, as with himself, and that thus a civil war would be
inaugurated.
Monella, since he had come into the country and espoused the king's
side, had thrown more energy and method into the cause than had been
previously bestowed upon it. Through the Fraternity of the White
Priests, and their covert friends and sympathisers, and through
Ergalon, who had secretly gained over some of Coryon's people,
an active work had been carried on amongst all classes, and with
satisfactory results. But Coryon, on his side, had been busy too;
though hitherto with less success. Now, however, he found a useful aid
in the objection many felt to seeing the king's only daughter wedded
to one who--as it was cunningly suggested to them--was a stranger,
an adventurer, come from no one knew where, and unable to show such
evidence of descent and other qualifications as should entitle him to
seek alliance with the daughter of their king.
But Coryon's emissaries worked silently and unseen; and there was
nothing outwardly to show that two undercurrents were gradually gaining
strength and approaching that point whence the slightest accident might
bring them into active opposition.
Indeed, in announcing the proposed betrothal, the king had, for once,
acted directly against Monella's advice. The latter had counselled that
the matter should be kept secret until the contest with Coryon--now in
abeyance--had been finally decided; for he foresaw the use to which
Coryon would put it.
Leonard and Ulama were too much taken up with each other and with their
own happiness to trouble themselves about the 'pros and cons' that had
weighed in the minds of Monella and those who thought with him. That
the effect of the proclamation would be to hasten his marriage was, of
course, sufficient to commend it to Leonard; and he left all the rest
to others.
Templemore knew not sufficient of what was going on around him to
have any opinion upon the subject. Since the night when the real use
to which the great devil-tree was put had been revealed to him, he
had been very unhappy. He felt as might one who had been slumbering
peacefully in sight of a terrible peril, to whose existence he had
suddenly been awakened. Not that he had any fear for his own safety;
yet he was filled with a nameless dread, a vague sense of horror and
distrust, of unreality, in the life about him. He could not but realise
that there would be no real peace, no security for life or property,
until an absolute end had been put to Coryon and his atrocious crew,
and their abominable fetish-tree destroyed. But when would that be?
he wondered. His sense of disquiet was increased by having to keep
from Leonard the knowledge he had gained, and being thus debarred
from discussing matters with him. Not, however (as he acknowledged to
himself), that that would have been of much advantage; for Leonard was
too much absorbed in 'love's young dream' to be likely to discuss such
things coolly and critically.
Three days before that fixed for the ceremony of betrothal, which
was to be marked by a still grander entertainment, the king gave a
preliminary _fête_. There was much feasting for all and sundry; boats,
gaily decorated with flowers and banners and coloured streamers, glided
to and fro upon the lake; the young people skilled in diving from great
heights into the water with their parachute aids, contended for prizes,
and there were many other forms of gaiety and festivity.
Leonard and Ulama, seated upon a terrace, looked upon the scene, and
waved their hands in frequent recognition of friendly faces and signals
here and there amongst the crowd. Ulama's lovely face was radiant,
and the soft light in her gentle eyes, her pleased acknowledgment of
the tokens of affection and the good wishes she received on every
side, and her grateful smiles for all, were charming to behold. Her
wondrous grace and beauty seemed, if possible, enhanced by her
half-shy, half-proud glances, and the flush that mounted to her cheeks
when she turned her eyes with love on Leonard. Never before, even in
that country where the charms of the daughters of the land exceed the
average, had such a vision of lovely maidenhood and such rare beauty
been beheld. And yet all those who knew her, loved her as much for the
innocence and sweetness that beamed ever in her face and guided all her
thoughts and words and actions, as for the physical perfection that
compelled their admiration.
She stole her little hand into her lover's and sighed quietly.
"I am so happy, and yet my eyes are full of tears. And I feel half
frightened too; frightened lest my happiness should be too great to
last. Is it wrong, then, to be happy, think you? It almost seems so,
when I know so many others are unhappy."
Leonard fondly pressed her hand, and gazed deep down into her eyes.
"If you feel happy in your love, dear heart," he answered, "it is
because you love so much; and surely to love cannot be wrong, or to
take pleasure in it. Besides, in that you think so much of others you
but show your sweet unselfishness. Therefore, trouble not yourself
about the regrets for others that accompany your love. For, if to-day
they sorrow, they have had their times of happiness in the past, or may
have them in the future."
"It may be so," replied Ulama. "I doubt whether in all the world there
is another maiden who loves as I do, and therefore who could know the
dread that weighs me down. But as for me--ah, I tremble at my own great
joy, and fear it is too great to last. And every one is so kind to me
and seems so rejoiced to see me happy--that--that I can hardly keep
from crying."
And for a brief minute the gentle-hearted girl placed her hands before
her face to hide her tears--tears that were born of the great gladness
of her love and her tender sympathy for others.
And so for these two the day passed, like many that had gone before it,
in a blissful dream; but it was a dream from which they were soon to be
roughly awakened to the dark knowledge of what wickedness can achieve.
For, amid the feasting and among the revellers, were evil beings
who had plotted in their black hearts to kill the joy of the
gentlest-hearted maiden that ever with her sweetness brightened this
sorrow-laden earth; wretches that even then were spinning around her
the treacherous web designed by the fell Coryon to end her dream of
happiness for ever.
* * * * *
When Templemore woke up the next morning he gazed about him in
surprise. He was not in his usual sleeping apartment; but, instead, in
some room that was strange to him. It was small, dingy and ill-lighted,
and the couch upon which he found himself was not that on which he
had lately slept. He sprang up and, in vague alarm, looked round for
his clothes and his arms; the clothes were there, but there was no
revolver, and his rifle was nowhere to be seen. Even his sword and
dagger, that formed part of his usual dress, had been removed. Dressing
himself hastily, he rushed to the door, but it was fastened.
"Great heavens!" he exclaimed, "I am a prisoner; my rifle and pistol
have been taken away in my sleep. Oh, what, what has happened to
Leonard? What can it all mean?"
He hammered at the door, but no answer came. Then he tried to look out
of the window, but it was too high for him to be able to see anything
through it but the sky. There was nothing to be done but wait; so
he sat down upon the bed, a picture of misery and bewilderment, and
forthwith began to formulate all sorts of theories and ideas to account
for what had happened to him.
When, after a long interval, the door was opened, a man entered whose
dress showed him to be one of Coryon's black-tunicked soldiers. He
brought in some food, and a pitcher and a mug, which he deposited upon
a small table, and was turning to go, when Templemore sprang up and
addressed him. He felt so incensed at the sight of this emissary of
Coryon's that he could indeed scarcely refrain from hurling himself
upon him, despite the fact that the man was armed. But just outside the
door, as he could see, were other soldiers; he could hear, too, the
clank of their arms, so he knew that to attack the one before him would
be worse than useless.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.
The man, who was just on the point of going out, turned back for a step
or two, and then said in a low tone,
"You are the prisoner of the High Priest Coryon."
"But how, and why, and where?"
The man shook his head quietly. He was not an ill-favoured fellow, and
regarded his prisoner in a half-friendly manner, Templemore thought.
"You are still in the king's palace," he continued, "but your friend
and the princess have been taken away to Coryon's abode."
"Taken away to his place? Great God help them and help us all,
then!" Jack moaned, as the picture of what he had seen there that
well-remembered night rose up before his mind. "And how has all this
come about? and where is Monella, and where is the king?"
"I may not talk to you," the soldier answered. "I have disobeyed orders
in telling you thus much. But Ergalon was a friend of mine and I know
that he is a friend of yours." And he went out, closing and fastening
the door behind him.
Here was terrible news! Leonard and Ulama prisoners of Coryon; perhaps
immured in one of those awful dungeons within reach of the terrible
tree, where the very sight of what went on beyond those barred and
grated doors was enough to drive the bravest mad; and where, at any
moment, that whistle--a door run back--and then----!
"It's too dreadful--too horrible to think of!" Templemore exclaimed.
He sprang up and began pacing restlessly up and down. "I shall go mad
myself, if I dwell upon such thoughts."
The hours dragged slowly by till evening, when, just when it was
growing dark, the door was once more opened and the same man came in
and, looking at Templemore, made a sign to be silent. Then he returned
to the door and led in a muffled figure, and, without a word, retired.
The figure threw back a hood that covered the head, and Templemore,
with glad surprise, saw that it was Zonella.
He ran forward and took her hand in his.
"Zonella!" he exclaimed. "This is surprising, and gladdening too. It
does one good to see your face after all that I have been imagining.
Tell me--what does it all mean?"
She laid her finger on her lips and said in a hushed voice,
"It means that the cunning, treacherous Coryon has played a trick upon
us all, and made you prisoners. Your friend and our beloved princess
have been carried off, the king himself is kept a prisoner in his
room, and so are many of his ministers."
"And Monella and Ergalon?"
"Monella was away in Myrlanda, as you know, and so has escaped; and
Ergalon--who is free too, but in hiding--has sent a trusty messenger to
warn him."
"And you?"
"I am virtually a prisoner too. That is, I am forbidden to leave the
palace. But I am free to go about within it. The whole place is full of
Coryon's soldiers."
"Can you tell me how it was managed?"
"The 'loving cup' was drugged. All who partook of it fell into an
unnaturally heavy sleep. You remember almost every one throughout the
palace drank some, in honour of your friend and our poor princess.
Alas! alas! My dear, my loved Ulama!"
She sobbed bitterly, while Jack marched excitedly up and down the place.
"Is there no hope--nothing to be done?" he exclaimed despairingly.
"There is only one thing," was answered in a low, hesitating tone.
"What is that?" he asked eagerly.
"I have come to try to aid you. If you wrap up in this cloak and go out
quietly now, while it is half dark, you may get clear out of the palace
unobserved. One of my maids is waiting for me without, and will show
you the way. I warned her of my plan, and she is to be trusted."
"What! And leave you here in my place to suffer Coryon's vengeance?
Why, Zonella--dear, kind friend--what must you think of me?"
"I can think of nothing else," she answered simply. "And for me--I care
not. Whatever may befall me, _you_ will be able to get away; perhaps
even to serve your friend."
Jack took her hand in his, not noticing that she seemed to shiver under
the touch.
"Such an offer is too kind, too much, my dear, good friend," he said.
"It cannot be; we must try----"
"For _my_ sake, then," she exclaimed impulsively. "I would rather
die myself than see you carried off to yonder dens. Or"--she paused
confusedly, and then went on--"for your friend's sake. Think! Consider!
Do you refuse merely from any thought about me? Think what you might be
able to do for others--for your friend, for Ulama!"
Templemore passed his hand over his face; the tears were coming into
his eyes. When he tried to speak again, he felt half choking.
"You are a noble girl, Zonella," he answered with emotion; "and when
you appeal to me on _their_ behalf you cannot know how hard it is to me
to stay on here, knowing that I have the chance--just the chance--of
saving them. But it cannot be, dear friend, it cannot be; but--I thank
you. My whole heart thanks you." He pressed her hand, and turned
sorrowfully away.
Presently, she spoke again, this time in a different tone; indeed, her
voice sounded hard and strained.
"Then Ergalon shall risk his life for you," she said. "I know that
which will induce him to attempt what to-day he said could not be done.
I will seek him at once. For now, good-bye; do not go to bed, but be
ready, if you hear some one at the window. You can reach it, if you
stand up on the table." And, without further explanation, she left him.
Templemore sat for long pondering upon this strange interview, and
wondering too what she had planned; and the time seemed to drag
wearily while he waited for some signal at the window.
It was about midnight, as he judged, when there came a tap, tap from
the outside. He sprang on to the table; then by the dim light that came
through the window he could discern the upper part of a man's body
swinging on a rope.
"Is that Ergalon?" he whispered.
"Yes," came back the answer. "If I send you in a short rope and you
wait till I have gone down, you can then pull in the rope I am on, get
on to it, and come down yourself. Do you dare try it?"
"Yes."
"Then here it is. Now wait till you find you can pull this one in."
Templemore felt about and caught hold of a small cord that was hanging
inside the window--which was open to the air--and he pulled lightly
at it till he felt the strain upon the rope to which it was attached,
relaxed. Then he pulled harder, and a portion of a thicker rope came
inside. By its means he was able to climb up on to the sill. With
some trouble and manoeuvring he got outside and was soon sliding down
the rope, which Ergalon steadied from below. It was very dark, and he
descended amidst some trees where it was darker still. When he touched
the ground, at first, he could see nothing; but Ergalon turned on the
light of a bull's-eye lantern. It was one of those Monella had brought
with him, and lent by him to Ergalon.
A voice, that he knew to be Zonella's, whispered,
"That has been well done. Now what do you propose to do?"
"I must get down to the canyon by which we came into the mountain.
There we have left spare weapons. But I can't get down in the dark;
not even, I fear, with the lantern."
"There will be a moon later; perhaps that will help. Let us go in that
direction."
"What! you, too?" Jack asked in surprise.
"Yes, why not? I shall be as safe with you as in the midst of Coryon's
hateful minions, and I may be of service."
"You couldn't climb down that place and up again," Jack reminded her.
"Then I can wait near the top, and Ergalon can go with you to help you
carry what you want."
"But we shall be a long time, all day to-morrow."
"No matter, I will manage."
Then the three made their way with much difficulty, owing to the
darkness, to the top of the canyon. Here they sat and talked in guarded
voices till the moon had risen high enough to light the hazardous
descent.
Templemore learned how Coryon's plans had been carried out; how
Ergalon's escape had been due to his absence from the palace, awaiting
the return of a messenger from Monella. At a late hour, on his way back
to the palace, he had been warned by a friend amongst Coryon's people.
On this he had sent on the messenger to Monella to inform him of all
that had occurred. The man had been only just in time to get through
the subterranean road before Coryon's soldiers took possession of it
and closed it.
Templemore's escape had been planned by Zonella. She had smuggled
Ergalon into the palace and up to the roof disguised as one of her own
maids; and in this she had been aided by one of his friends amongst
the soldiers of the priest. Ergalon had at first objected strongly,
conceiving that the attempt was foolhardy and could not succeed; that
he would only lose his own liberty and, perhaps, his life, and that
Monella might be displeased. In short, he had considered himself bound
to do nothing that was in any way risky until Monella had communicated
with him. But Zonella had contrived, by some means, to persuade him;
and had herself stolen out and steadied the rope for Ergalon in his
perilous descent.
From his friend in the opposite camp Ergalon had learned one very
important thing--that nothing was likely to be done to Leonard or Ulama
till the day that had been named for their betrothal. That day Coryon
had fixed upon, with cruel irony, for the holding of a sort of trial,
the result of which would be a foregone conclusion.
"Therefore," said Ergalon, "if you can get back by the morning of
to-morrow" (it being then already morning) "you will be in time; though
I fear you will find it difficult to effect much good alone, and I
cannot yet tell when the lord Monella may be able to get through the
subterranean passage to come to your assistance."
"We will try, anyhow," said Jack, setting his teeth with grim
determination. "And, if I fail, we will die together. One can but die
once. I think it is possible to get back with a couple of rifles and
pistols and the necessary ammunition by the morning. If human effort
can do it, it shall be done; and I can then put a pistol into your
hands, too, my good friend."