"Your majesty has long had reason to suspect the loyalty of Thudos,"
Tomos reminded her, "and in the interest of your majesty's welfare and
the safety of the throne, I am constantly watchful of the activities of
this powerful enemy. Spurred on by love and loyalty, the noble Erot has
been my most faithful agent and ally; and it is really to him that we
owe the information that I bring you."
Nemone tapped her sandalled foot impatiently upon the mosaic floor.
"Have done with the self-serving preamble, and tell me what you have to
tell me," she snapped, for she did not like Tomos and made no effort to
hide her feelings.
"Briefly, then, it is this; Gemnon conspires also with Thudos, hoping,
doubtless, that his reward will be the beautiful daughter of his chief."
"That hollow-cheeked strumpet!" exclaimed Nemone. "Who said she was
beautiful?"
"Erot tells me that Gemnon and Thudos believe her the most beautiful
woman in the world," replied Tomos.
"Impossible! Did Erot see her?"
"Yes, majesty, he saw her."
"What does Erot say?" demanded the Queen.
"That she is indeed beautiful," replied the councillor. "There are
others who think so too," he added.
"What others?"
"One who has been drawn into the conspiracy with Gemnon and Thudos by
the beauty of Doria, the daughter of Thudos."
"Whom do you mean? Speak out! I know you have something unpleasant in
your mind that you are suffering to tell me, hoping that it will make
me unhappy."
"Oh, majesty, you wrong me!" cried Tomos. "My only thoughts are for the
happiness of my beloved Queen."
"Your words stink with falseness," sneered Nemone. "But get to the
point; I have other matters to occupy my time."
"I but hesitated to name the other for fear of wounding your majesty,"
said Tomos oilily; "but if you insist it is the stranger called Tarzan."
Nemone sat up very straight. "What fabric of lies is this you and
M'duze are weaving?" she demanded.
"It is no lie, majesty. Tarzan and Gemnon were seen coming from the
house of Thudos late at night. Erot had followed them there; he saw
them go in; they were there a long while; hiding in the shadows across
the avenue, he saw them come out. He says that they were quarrelling
over Doria, and he believes that it was Gemnon who sought the life of
Tarzan because of jealousy."
Nemone sat straight and stiff upon her couch; her face was pale and
tense with fury. "Some one shall die for this," she said in a low
voice. "Go!"
Tomos backed from the room. He was elated until he had time to reflect
more fully upon her words; then he reflected that Nemone had not stated
explicitly who should die. He had assumed that she meant Tarzan,
because it was Tarzan whom he wished to die; but it presently occurred
to him that she might have meant another, and he was less elated.
It was almost noon when Tarzan and Gemnon returned to the city, and
time for the latter to conduct Tarzan to his audience with Nemone. With
a guard of warriors they went to the palace, where the ape-man was
immediately admitted alone into the presence of the Queen.
"Where have you been?" she demanded.
Tarzan looked at her in surprise; then he smiled. "I visited the Mine
of the Rising Sun."
"Where were you last night?"
"At the house of Gemnon," he replied.
"You were with Doria!" accused Nemone.
"No," said the ape-man; "that was the night before."
He had been surprised by the accusation and the knowledge that it
connoted, but he did not let her see that he was surprised. He was not
thinking of himself but of Doria and Gemnon, seeking a plan whereby he
might protect them. It was evident that some enemy had turned informer
and that Nemone already knew of the visit to the house of Thudos;
therefore he felt that it would but have aroused the Queen's suspicions
to have denied it; to admit it freely, to show that he sought to
conceal nothing, would allay them. As a matter of fact Tarzan's frank
and ready reply left Nemone rather flat.
"Why did you go to the house of Thudos?" she asked, but this time her
tone was not accusing.
"You see, Gemnon does not dare to leave me alone for fear that I shall
escape or that something may befall me; and so he is forced to take me
wherever he goes. It is rather hard on him, Nemone, and I have been
intending to ask you to make some one else responsible for me for at
least a part of the time."
"We will speak of that later," replied the Queen. "Why does Gemnon go
to the house of Thudos?" Nemone's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
The ape-man smiled. "What a foolish question for a woman to ask!" he
exclaimed. "Gemnon is in love with Doria. I thought all Cathne knew
that; he certainly takes enough pains to tell all his acquaintances."
"You are sure that it is not you who are in love with her?" demanded
Nemone.
Tarzan looked at her with disgust he made no effort to conceal. "Do not
be a fool, Nemone," he said. "I do not like fool women."
The jaw of the Queen of Cathne dropped. In all her life no one had ever
addressed her in words or tones like these. For a moment they left her
speechless, but in that moment of speechlessness there came the sudden
realization that the very things that shocked her also relieved her
mind of gnawing suspicion and of jealousy--Tarzan did not love Doria.
And, too, she was compelled to admit that his indifference to her
position or her anger increased her respect for him and made him still
more desirable in her eyes. She had never known such a man before; none
had ever ruled her. Here was one who might if he wished, but she was
troubled by the fear that he did not care enough about her to wish to
rule her.
When she spoke again, she had regained her calm. "I was told that you
loved her," she explained, "but I did not believe it. Is she very
beautiful? I have heard that she is considered the most beautiful woman
in Cathne."
"Perhaps Gemnon thinks so," replied Tarzan with a laugh, "but you know
what love does to the eyes of youth."
"What do you think of her?" demanded the Queen.
The ape-man shrugged. "She is not bad looking," he said.
"Is she as beautiful as Nemone?" demanded the Queen.
"As the brilliance of a far star is to the brilliance of the sun."
The reply appeared to please Nemone. She arose and came closer to
Tarzan, "You think me beautiful?" she asked in soft, insinuating tones.
"You are very beautiful, Nemone," he answered truthfully.
She pressed against him, caressing his shoulder with a smooth, warm
palm. "Love me, Tarzan," she whispered, her voice husky with emotion.
There was a rattling of chains at the far end of the room, followed
by a terrific roar as Belthar sprang to his feet. Nemone shrank
suddenly away from the ape-man; a shudder ran through her body, and an
expression, half fright, half anger, suffused her face.
"It is always something," she said irritably, trembling a little.
"Belthar is jealous. There is a strange bond linking the life of that
beast to my life. I do not know what it is; I wish I did." A light,
almost of madness, glittered in her eyes. "I wish I knew! Sometimes I
think he is the mate that Thoos intended for me; sometimes I think he
is myself in another form; but this I know: When Belthar dies, I die!"
She looked up rather sadly at Tarzan as again her mood changed. "Come,
my friend," she said; "we shall go to the temple together and perhaps
Thoos may answer the questions that are in the heart of Nemone." She
struck a bronze disc that depended from the ceiling, and as the brazen
notes reverberated in the room a door opened and a noble bowed low
upon the threshold.
"The guard!" commanded the Queen. "We are visiting Thoos in his temple."
The progress to the temple was in the nature of a pageant--marching
warriors with pennons streaming from spear tips, nobles resplendent in
gorgeous trappings, the Queen in a golden chariot drawn by lions. Tomos
walked upon one side of the glittering car, Tarzan upon the other where
Erot had previously walked.
The ape-man was as uneasy as a forest lion as he strode between
the lines of gaping citizenry. Crowds annoyed and irritated him;
formalities irked him; his thoughts were far away in the distant jungle
that he loved. He knew that Gemnon was nearby watching him; but whether
he were nearby or not, Tarzan would not attempt to escape while this
friend was responsible for him. His mind occupied with such thoughts,
he spoke to the Queen.
"At the palace," he reminded her, "I spoke to you concerning the matter
of relieving Gemnon of the irksome job of watching me."
"Gemnon has acquitted himself well," she replied. "I see no reason for
changing."
"Relieve him then occasionally," suggested Tarzan. "Let Erot take his
place."
Nemone looked at him in astonishment. "But Erot hates you!" she
exclaimed.
"All the more reason that he would watch me carefully," argued Tarzan.
"He would probably kill you."
"He would not dare if he knew that he must pay for my death or escape
with his own life," suggested Tarzan.
"You like Gemnon, do you not?" inquired Nemone innocently.
"Very much," the ape-man assured her.
"Then he is the man to watch you, for you would not imperil his life by
escaping while he is responsible."
Tarzan smiled inwardly and said no more; it was evident that Nemone was
no fool. He would have to devise some other plan of escape that would
not jeopardize the safety of his friend.
They were approaching the temple now and his attention was distracted
by the approach of a number of priests leading a slave girl in chains.
They brought her to the chariot of Nemone, and while the procession
halted the priests chanted in a strange gibberish that Tarzan could not
understand. Later he learned that no one understood it, not even the
priests; but when he asked why they recited something that they could
not understand no one could tell him.
Gemnon thought that once the words had meant something, but they had
been repeated mechanically for so many ages that at length the original
pronunciation had been lost and the meaning of the words forgotten.
When the chant was completed the priests chained the girl to the
rear of the Queen's chariot; and the march was resumed, the priests
following behind the girl.
At the entrance to the temple Phobeg was on guard as a girl entered
to worship. Recognizing the warrior, she greeted him and paused for
a moment's conversation, the royal party having not yet entered the
temple square.
"I have not seen you to talk with for a long time, Phobeg," she said.
"I am glad that you are back again on the temple guard."
"Thanks to the stranger called Tarzan I am alive and here," replied
Phobeg.
"I should think that you would hate him," exclaimed the girl.
"Not I," cried Phobeg. "I know a better man when I see one. I admire
him. And did he not grant me my life when the crowd screamed for my
death?"
"That is true," admitted the girl. "And now _he_ needs a friend."
"What do you mean, Maluma?" demanded the warrior.
"I was in an adjoining room when Tomos visited the Queen this morning,"
explained the girl, "and I overheard him tell her that Thudos and
Gemnon and Tarzan were conspiring against her and that Tarzan loved
Doria, the daughter of Thudos."
"How did Tomos know these things?" asked Phobeg. "Did he offer proof?"
"He said that Erot had watched and had seen Gemnon and Tarzan visit the
house of Thudos," explained Maluma. "He also told her that Erot had
seen Doria and had reported that she was very beautiful."
Phobeg whistled. "That will be the end of the daughter of Thudos," he
said.
"It will be the end of the stranger, too," prophesied Maluma; "and I am
sorry, for I like him. He is not like the jackal, Erot, whom everyone
hates."
"Here comes the Queen!" exclaimed Phobeg as the head of the procession
debouched into the temple square. "Run along now and get a good place,
for there will be something to see today; there always is when the
Queen comes to worship god."
Before the temple, Nemone alighted from her chariot and walked up the
broad stairway to the ornate entrance. Behind her were the priests
with the slave girl, a frightened, wide-eyed girl with tears upon her
cheeks. Following them came the nobles of the court, the warriors of
the guard remaining in the temple square before the entrance.
The temple was a large three-storied building with a great central
dome about the interior of which ran galleries at the second and third
stories. The interior of the dome was of gold as were the pillars
that supported the galleries, while the walls of the building were
embellished with colorful mosaics. Directly opposite the main entrance,
on a level with a raised dais, a great cage was built into a niche, and
on either side of the cage was an altar supporting a lion carved from
solid gold. Before the dais was a stone railing inside of which was a
throne and a row of stone benches facing the cage in the niche.
Nemone advanced and seated herself upon the throne, while the nobles
took their places upon the benches. No one paid any attention to
Tarzan; so he remained outside the railing, a mildly interested
spectator.
He had noticed a change come over Nemone the instant that she had
entered the temple. She had shown signs of extreme nervousness, the
expression of her face had changed; it was tense and eager; there was
a light in her eyes that was like the mad light he had seen there
occasionally before, yet different--the light of religious fanaticism.
Tarzan saw the priests lead the girl up onto the dais and then, beyond
them, he saw something rise up in the cage. It was an old and mangy
lion. The high priest began a meaningless, singsong chant, in which the
others joined occasionally as though making responses. Nemone leaned
forward eagerly; her eyes were fastened upon the old lion. Her breasts
rose and fell to her excited breathing.
Suddenly the chanting ceased and the Queen arose. "O Thoos!" she cried,
her hands outstretched toward the mangy old carnivore. "Nemone brings
you greetings and an offering. Receive them from Nemone and bless her.
Give her life and health and happiness; most of all Nemone prays for
happiness. Preserve her friends and destroy her enemies. And, O Thoos,
give her the one thing that she most desires--love, the love of the one
man in all the world that Nemone has ever loved!" And the lion glared
at her through the bars.
She spoke as though in a trance as though oblivious to all else around
her save the god to which she prayed. There were pathos and tragedy in
her voice, and a great pity rose in the breast of the ape-man for this
poor Queen who had never known love and who never might because of the
warped brain that mistook passion for affection and lust for love.
As she sat down weakly upon her golden throne, the priests led the
slave girl away through a doorway at one side of the cage; and, as she
passed, the lion leaped for her, striking heavily against the bars
that restrained him. His growls rolled through the temple, filling the
chamber with thunderous sound, echoing and reëchoing from the dome.
Nemone sat, silent and rigid, upon her throne staring straight ahead at
the lion in the cage; the priests and many of the nobles were reciting
prayers in monotones. It was evident to Tarzan that they were praying
to the lion, for every eye was upon the repulsive beast; and some of
the questions that had puzzled him when he had first come to Cathne
were answered. He understood now the strange oaths of Phobeg and his
statement that he had stepped upon the tail of god.
Suddenly a beam of light shone down directly into the cage from above,
flooding the beast-god with its golden rays. The lion, which had been
pacing restlessly to and fro, stopped and looked up, his jaws parted,
saliva dripping from his jowls. The audience burst in unison into a
singsong chant. Tarzan, half guessing what was about to occur, arose
from the rail upon which he had been sitting, and started forward.
But whatever his intention may have been, he was too late to prevent
the tragedy that followed instantly. Even as he arose the body of the
slave girl dropped from above into the clutches of the waiting lion. A
single piercing scream mingled with the horrid roars of the man-eater
and then died as its author died.
Tarzan turned away in disgust and anger and walked from the temple out
into the fresh air and the sunlight, and as he did so a warrior at
the entrance hailed him by name in a whisper. There was a cautionary
warning in the voice that prompted the ape-man to give no apparent
sign of having heard as he turned his eyes casually in the direction
from which the words had come, nor did he betray his interest when he
discovered that it was Phobeg who had addressed him.
Turning slowly, so that his back was toward the warrior, Tarzan looked
back into the temple as though expecting the return of the royal party;
then he backed to the side of the entrance as one might who waits and
stood so close to Phobeg that the latter might have touched him by
moving his spear hand a couple of inches; but neither gave any sign of
being aware of the identity or presence of the other.
In a low whisper, through lips that scarcely moved, Phobeg spoke. "I
must speak to you! Come to the rear of the temple two hours after the
sun has set. Do not answer, but if you hear and will come, turn your
head to the right."
As Tarzan gave the assenting signal the royal party commenced to file
from the temple, and he fell in behind Nemone. The Queen was quiet and
moody, as she always was after the sight of torture and blood at the
temple had aroused her to religious frenzy; the reaction left her weak
and indifferent. At the palace, she dismissed her following, including
Tarzan, and withdrew to the seclusion of her apartments.