IMAR'S TALE--REVENGE
"In the morning I arose with all my strength renewed, and the sense of
wrong as cold as stone, and keen as steel throughout me. My brother
Stepan was at my side, for he had come to watch me, knowing what I had
endured, and fearing that it might outdo my sense of life. I smiled at
him; and he saw that I would smile, until I made others weep. Not a word
was said between us. My wrongs were hotter in his heart than in my own;
for I felt doubts about myself, and he had none. By the sacred custom of
our tribe, which is a very ancient one, he was bound to hold my welfare
even dearer than his own. When the eldest son of the Chief is born, and
old enough to shape his lips, he is sent round to the nursing mothers of
the tribe to suckle. Whatever babe is placed with him at one breast, he
at the other, thenceforth their lives are more than twin--for twins may
often fall out and fight, as did myself and Marva, but never those
milk-brothers. Stepan's mother was the first to whom I paid my duty in
that tender way, and Stepan's arms were twined in mine; and nothing
could sever our hearts thenceforth from the allegiance of boy twins.
"As I would not enter the inner chambers, where I had been so happy,
Stepan led me to the bath, and fetched another suit of travelling
clothes, and everything I wanted, not forgetting a trusty sword and a
pair of heavy pistols. Then we had breakfast, and set forth without a
word to Marva. My children even I durst not ask for, fearing to hear
that their mother had carried them into my dishonour.
"But luckily my good horse _Ardon_, who had borne me through many
adventures, had been left at home when I last set forth, and was
neighing for me in the road below, for none but a mule or mountain-pony
could clamber up the steep access. Our vehicles also we kept below,
using hand-litters to the gates of Karthlos, for ladies or feeble
travellers. And thus we three set forth on horseback, with provisions
for three days--myself, and Stepan, and the other trooper who had
returned with me from Guinib, a faithful and brave fellow who is with me
now, named Usnik. Others would have joined us in the valley, but I would
not have them. Enough of disgrace already.
"The roads, or tracks as you would call them, bad enough at any time,
were now at many places blocked by heavy and windy snowfalls; for the
season was come to the middle of October, and winter had set in early.
Any one who sees not much of such things, and might be in a mood to
consider them, would have found no small delight in the grandeur of the
world around. But all that I could think of was the bitterness and
baseness of the human race that breathed therein; and when we had passed
the post-house (where I kept my troika for long journeys) and learned
that the Princess had taken my carriage three days ago, when the weather
was fair, and ordered the driver to proceed with all possible haste to
Patigorsk, my last hope fell, and before me rose only the fury of
revenge, and then the despair of a desert life.
"To that town, whose name was now poison to me, where dissolute Russians
came to revel, and vile Circassians to sell their daughters, the journey
from Karthlos in the best of weather was a matter of three days; and now
with the road so cumbered, and the buffet of thick snowstorms often
dashing in our faces, it seemed as if a week was likely still to find us
struggling vainly. But about noontide of the second day, being on the
northern fall of mountains, and within the boundaries of Ossetland, we
came to a fork of the torrent channel which here served for a roadway,
and we knew not whether to go right or left. As for any guidance the
chance was small, one traveller in a winter week was enough for such a
road as that. The harvesting of the tissue-grass between the crags was
over; the neatherd, the shepherd, and the goatherd had long driven home
their charges. We knew not what to do, until one of us espied a little
drift of smoke among the pine-trees on the ridge, and I sent the hardy
Usnik on foot in that direction, while we rested the horses and awaited
his return. By this time the wind had dropped a little, but a white
vapour rolled in and out the crags and forest, as if a giant lay
snorting among them, and the air felt like the breath of death. Stepan
strode up and down, when he had tied the horses, slapping his bosom to
keep himself warm; but I sat upon a rock, and cast my eyes upon the
ground. I was thinking of what I had heard from an Englishman, who had
been our guest at Karthlos. He had told me of the savage gaze of Prince
Rakhan, at my then beloved wife, when he met her at our summer-feast of
roses, when I had been called away from home.
"'Why, who comes here on this evil travelling day?' cried Stepan,
turning suddenly. 'My lord will have company, I think; but not of the
kind he delights in.'
"His dark look showed me that there was something to be met, and,
leaping to my feet, I beheld a company of horsemen advancing towards us
by the road upon our left. They broke through the drifts by twos and
threes, which was all that the track in its widest parts admitted; but
the one who rode first rode singly, and he was a big man, stern and
swarthy. The slope they were descending showed us a score of men,
well-armed, behind him.
"'Behold they are too many for us! Let us fly up the other road.' Stepan
loosed the horses as he spoke. 'They will kill my lord, and then where
is our revenge?'
"'What matters my life to me? Whoever they are, I will not fly. But why
should they desire to kill us, Stepan? They look not like bandits; and
they are not Russians.'
"'Nay, but they are worse than either. They are Ossets of the Karai
Khokh, who go either side of the mountains. Their Chief is dead, and
they are Rakhan's children now. Rakhan rides first in this handful.'
"'Rakhan shall have speech with me,' I spoke, with the heart of my
spirit rising, as the Lord has granted it to rise when He has beaten
down the body. 'Rakhan is welcome! I will salute him.'
"The man had been out of my sight so long (not only because of my
service with Shamyl, but through his own avoidance of me) that I did not
know his face for certain till I met his eyes. Then I felt sure what my
duty was; as God himself ordained it, when He made man to be true to
woman, and woman true to man, and their children to spring of their own
loins,--there was no choice left me but to slay this man, or be slain by
him.
"Having this within my mind, and being calmer than I can be now in
looking back upon it, I stood across the narrow track, and took the
horse that Rakhan rode by the head, and gazed at Rakhan. He was amazed
at first, and the colour of his great black eyes turned paler, and he
fumbled for a pistol, without daring to take his gaze from mine. I would
not speak, but I struck his hand up with a flip of mine. The lips that
had sullied my dear wife's should have no sort of speech with mine. He
tried to regard me humorously, as a man who thinks woman his slave
blinks eye, when the question is about her; but the sparkle of his gaze
died under mine, like an ember with the sun on it.
"'Get off thy horse, Prince Rakhan,' Stepan shouted, with his big arm
laid across. 'The time hath come for man to man, instead of lying with
another man's wife.'
"Rakhan made pretence to smile, and to leap from horseback lightly.
'What a stir to make about a light-of-love! Fool that knows not what a
woman is! Stand back, my sons; this is not for you.'
"The Ossets took their orders gladly. Every savage man loves to see a
fight. They leaped from their horses, and squatted in the snow, and
filled their pipes, and kindled them.
"There was a clear place close at hand, with a ring of black cedars
round it, and room inside for stepping to and fro, if life and death
required it. I threw off my furs, and so did he; and we stood against
one another.
"'Hold! Is this what you call fair duel? His sword is three inches
longer than mine,' Rakhan shouted, and I saw that it was just, although
I had not dreamed of it. I threw away my blade, and took Stepan's,--a
common short weapon, stout and broad.
"'One thing before I slay thee, Imar,' said Rakhan, with his bright
Genoese on guard; and I saw that my sword was as nothing to his. 'Young
man it was I who slew thy father; and now, by the same hand, thou shalt
die.'
"Before the words were finished, he advanced upon me, taking the
coward's advantage, as he hoped, of striking me when stricken with that
shock. But I just drew back for a moment; and then, when he made sure
that he had me, and the point of his weapon flashed into my breast, up
flew his steel, like the sparks of a flint, and my short strong blade
rushed through his heart. He gave me one glare, and he lay between my
feet, with a gurgle of blood spouting out upon the snow.
"'Go home to the Devil that made thee,' I said, 'and commit adultery if
thou canst, in hell!'
"Then Stepan drew the lids upon those toadstool eyes, and gazed at me
with terror; for there are times when the God that made us takes us out
of His own knowledge with the passions Himself has placed in us. Stepan
thought that I would have slain him too, for doing this ministry to the
dead; but he did not understand me. I was quiet as a lamb, and would not
have resisted if any one had seized that bloody sword and driven it
through my own heart too.
"'Is there any one among you men,' I asked, coming out into the road
before them,--'any milk-brother of Prince Rakhan, who feels a desire to
encounter me? I am weary now, and he will have fine chance. Or he can
shoot at me, if he likes.' But they smoked their pipes, and hugged their
knees together, and glanced at their horses, as if they loved their
backs. How different it would have been with my own tribe!
"In this stir I was forgetting about Usnik and his message. 'The first
half is finished. Now for the second!' I shouted to Stepan from
_Ardon's_ back, as I spurred him up the track by which the Ossets had
descended. 'This must be the way to the Princess Oria.' For what else
could I suppose after meeting Rakhan there?
"But the Ossets, who were departing by the road which had brought us
hither, said something to Stepan, and he fetched me back, and pointed to
the track upon our right hand. At the same time Usnik returned from the
fire in the wood, and the result of his inquiry agreed with what
Rakhan's retainers had declared. Patigorsk could be reached by either
road; but the one on the left was blocked for wheels, and would soon be
closed to horses. If I wished to follow the course of the troika, the
road on the right was the one to choose. Moreover, at about three hours'
distance, it passed a summer-house, or hunting-lodge, belonging to the
Osset Chief, but at this time of year unoccupied, where, if we could get
no further, as appeared too likely already, we could shelter our horses
for the night, and kindle fire for ourselves. Patigorsk was the place I
wanted, and I took what seemed to be the best road to it.
"As we three set forth again, with our horses looking considerate,--for
these are better endowed than we are with knowledge both of sky and
ground,--a little toss of white softness met us, harbouring into our
eyes and beards. The ears and forelocks of our horses pricked themselves
with a glittering fringe; and then their manes were like a fountain, and
the bow of the saddle became an arch. Presently we could see nothing at
all, but left it to them to find the way, which they did without any
complaint, not even making a merit of obedience. I let the bridle fall,
and wished that I could only submit to God, as these good creatures do
our will, and never even seek for thanks.
"We went on thus, with the snow-cloud thickening, and black rocks or a
bough of pine jumping out of the white against us, when suddenly my
horse pulled up, and his chin was striking something. He seemed to know
it, and so did I. It was the black rail of my troika, in which we had
enjoyed so many a summer jaunt, in the days when my Oria loved me. The
carriage was standing in the middle of the road, but there was no Oria
in it, neither any other human being, nor even a horse in front of it.
The cushions were gone: the contents were snow.
"'Her Highness must be close at hand,' cried Stepan, leaning over it,
'and yonder is Rakhan's pleasure-lodge. God grant that the wolves have
not gotten her!'
"'One wolf hath had her; but he will no more;' I answered, with my heart
on fire through all the snow that froze my breast. 'Thou, and Usnik,
hold the horses; I will see to this myself.'
"Then I stamped on the road, and shook the snow off, and saw that it was
red with my own blood where the dead man's sword had touched me; and
following the shelter of some trees, where the streaks of the storm went
by me, I stood at the door of a house built of logs, with plaster
slabbed between them. Thrice I knocked with the hilt of my sword,
without drawing it from the scabbard, while I felt that the crisis of my
life was come--the time that comes only once, thank God, in His
creature's three score years and ten.
"'How soon thou art back! How glad I am! This is so kind and faithful of
thee.' It was Oria's voice, and I ground my teeth. She expected her new
love, Rakhan.
"Then she drew back the bolt, and stood before me, glittering in all her
perfect beauty, but pale as a ghost at this surprise. 'My lord!' she
gasped, for she was always timid; and I said, 'Yes, thy proper lord.'
"Her hand went to her heart, as if it were failing her in this
amazement, and she spread the other arm to me; but I drew back and gazed
at her. 'Never touch me more,' I said; and her soft eyes fell before the
flash of mine.
"'What have I done to enrage thee, Imar? Thou hast never spoken to me
like this? I have left thy roof. But how could I help it? I have done
what women may not do. But it was only for thy sake--and oh, my lord is
wounded!'
"'Yes, through thee. But what is that?' I stretched my scabbarded sword
across, as she with a rush of tears approached. 'Thy paramour lies dead
for this. And what art thou? Liar, adulteress, Zanska.'
"That last is the lowest word that can be used to any woman. She gazed
at me for a moment with a look that will never leave me, and then in a
low clear voice she said,--
"'It is enough. No woman of my race must hear that name from her lord,
and live.'
"She bowed her head, as if receiving the sentence of death submissively,
and then walked slowly towards the inner room. At the door she turned,
and waved her hand with a proud and calm farewell to me. I knew what it
meant, and sprang towards her, but my scabbard struck the door-post, my
feet were cased in ice and snow, and I fell on my back in the outer
room, as a flash came from the inner.
[Illustration: "_At the door she turned with a proud and calm farewell
to me._"]
"'Help, help! My lord will bleed to death! Lady Oria! Baboushka!' The
voice was not Stepan's, but Kobaduk's; and I felt my boiling blood run
cold.
'What dost thou here? What have I done?' I shouted, rising clumsily, for
my wound had burst forth through the fall. 'Old man, thy mistress hath
shot herself. What dost thou in Rakhan's service?'
"'Nought have I to do with Rakhan. Sûr Imar knows not what he saith.
Baboushka and I have been with the lady, all the way from Karthlos, till
I went to yon village for food for us.'
"I fell against the wall, and stared at him. Then Stepan stood also in
the doorway, and his voice was like the moan of death.
"'It is true, Sûr Imar. The troika hath broken down at this gate. The
Princess Oria hath never seen Rakhan; neither came she to see him.'
"I laughed, I shouted, as at some fine joke. 'I see, I see my sweet
mistake. He came not from her; he came to seek her. Ah, but he met the
wrong one; the wrong one it was, and yet the right.'
"What matter what I did or said? Henceforth in all my life, what
matters? And when it is over, can I be saved? If so, it will be for
Oria's sake. Thank God that she knew before she died, slain by the
weapon which she had brought to protect her honour,--and Rakhan would
have tasted cold lead, I trow, if his miscreant scheme had entrapped
her,--by the mercy of God, she knew in that short hour the hellish fraud
which slew her.
"The bullet had not touched her heart, and she passed away as a flower
fades, drooping from some inward harm. My pistols were left in my
holsters, but I loaded Oria's again, that I might not be slow to follow
her, the moment she could not see it done. But she opened her eyes for
the last time, when they seemed to have lost all sight of earth, and she
tried to lay her hand on mine, with deep love looking back upon me
through the cloud of Death.
"'For Orry's sake, for babe's, for _mine_,' she whispered with her
latest breath.
"I pledged my word; but how often was it almost beyond my power to keep!
And one of my pledges was lost already; when I got home--to my desolate
and wretched home--there was only my baby Dariel left, to link me to
this altered world. Marva was gone back to her Osset tower, and it
seemed better so; for I had brought her husband's lying letter, handed
me by Kobaduk, and purporting to come from her. To wit, an urgent
summons for my wife to fly to my bedside and nurse me through a
dangerous wound at Patigorsk. This letter I meant to place on Marva's
lap, and ask if she were privy to it. I hope not, I pray not; for it
would be almost too black-hearted, too treacherous for the worst woman's
revenge. I hope she believed that Oria, whom she always hated, had left
home through her own desire, to meet Rakhan in that festive town. For a
woman has not strong faith always in the virtue of other women. To her
own faith she will be true; but she doubts about theirs too shrewdly.
Women of the common sort, I mean. My Oria was too sweet for that."