The Crowning of Nefra
So this pair started upon their long walk, Nefra being careful to
lead her companion wide of that overthrown statue behind which hid
Kemmah and Ru.
“Do you live in this place?” asked Khian presently.
“Yes, Sir, here and hereabouts,” replied Nefra with vagueness.
“And might I ask what is your office when you are not escorting
travellers, who must be rare, and arranging for the transport of their
baggage by uncommon means?”
“Oh! anything,” replied Nefra still more vaguely, “but generally I run
errands.”
“Indeed! And where to?”
“Oh! anywhere. But tell me, Sir, are you acquainted with the
pyramids?”
“Not at all, Friend, except from a distance. The pyramids, it would
appear, are now the private property of that Order you mentioned, to
which, by the way, I, who also run errands, have a message to deliver.
None may approach them. Indeed, I have heard that some unfortunate men
who wished to explore their wonders not long ago, came to a terrible
end. According to the story a black lion rushed out of one of them,
killed three of those men, and mauled the fourth so badly that
afterwards he died. Or it may have been one of your ghosts that rushed
out. At any rate, the men died.”
“What a strange tale, Sir. I wonder that we did not hear of it, but
living quite secluded as we do, we hear nothing, or at least very
little. But they are beautiful, those pyramids, are they not, standing
up thus against the evening sky in majesty? Look how their sharp
outlines seem to cut into the heavens. Also from them the great dead
seem to speak to us across the gulfs of Time.”
“I perceive, Young Person, that you have imagination, which is unusual
in those who run errands and guide travellers. Yet I dare to differ
from you. These stone heaps undoubtedly are beautiful with a beauty
that crushes the mind, though not so much so as are mountains
chiselled out by Nature and capped with snow, such as I have seen in
Syria. But to me they speak not of the mighty dead whose memories they
glorify, but of the thousands of forgotten ones who perished in the
toil of their uprearing, that in them the bones of kings might find a
house deemed to be eternal and their names preserved among men. Was it
worth while to leave monuments to be the marvel of generations at the
cost of so much doom and misery?”
“I do not know, Sir, who never thought of the matter thus. Yet there
is this to be said. Mankind must suffer, so I have been told who am
but an ignorant----”
“--Young person,” suggested Khian.
“And generally it suffers to no end,” went on Nefra as though she had
not heard him, “leaving naught behind, not even a record of its pain.
Here at least something remains which the world will admire for
thousands of years after those who caused the suffering and those who
suffered are lost in darkness. Suffering that has purpose, or that
bears fruit, even though we know not the purpose and never see the
fruit, may be borne almost with joy, but empty, sterile suffering is a
desert without water and a torment without hope.”
Khian looked at the speaker, or rather at her hood, for he could see
nothing else, and remarked:
“The thought is just and finely put. They instruct those who run
errands well in this land.”
“The brethren of the Order are learned, so even the young can pick up
crumbs of knowledge from their feasts--if it pleases them to look for
them, Sir--but forgive me, how are you named?”
“Named?--Oh! I am called Rasa the Scribe.”
“Is it so? I did not guess your trade because among us scribes carry
palettes at the girdle, not swords; also their hands are different. I
should have thought that you were a soldier and a hunter and a climber
of the mountains of which you spoke, not a copyist of documents in hot
palace rooms.”
“Sometimes I am these things also,” he replied hastily, “especially a
climber--when I was in Syria. By the way, my guide, I have heard
strange stories of another climber, one who scales these pyramids. It
is said at Tanis and elsewhere that they are haunted by a spirit who
runs up and down their sides at night, and even in the daytime also. I
say by a spirit, for woman she cannot be.”
“Why not, Scribe Rasa?”
“Because, or so the tale tells, this climber is so beautiful that
those who look upon her go mad, and who could be made mad by the sight
of any woman? Also what woman could clamber over those smooth and
mighty monuments like a lizard?”
“If you are a scaler of mountains, Scribe Rasa, you will know that
such feats are often not so difficult as they seem. There lives a
family of men in this place that for generations has been able to
conquer the pyramids by day or night,” she replied, leaving the first
part of his question unanswered.
“Then if I stay here long enough I will pray them to teach me their
art, in the hope that at the top of them I might meet this spirit and
be made mad by drinking of the Cup of Beauty. But you have not
answered me. Is there such a spirit, and if so, can I see her?--to do
which I would give my--well, a great deal.”
“Here before us is the Sphinx which I thought, Scribe Rasa, being one
so curious, you would have noticed as we approached it. Now put your
question to that god, for they say that he solves riddles sometimes,
if he likes the asker, though never yet have _I_ wrung an answer from
those stony, smiling lips.”
“Indeed? I have sundry problems that I seek to solve and one of them
is what may be hidden by that long cloak of yours, my young guide with
an instructed mind.”
“Then you must propound them at another time, after the needful
prayers and fastings. And now, your pardon, but I am commanded to
blindfold you because we have come to the entrance of the sanctuaries
of the Order of the Dawn, of which no stranger may learn the secret.
Will you be pleased to kneel down, for you are very tall, Scribe Rasa,
and I can scarcely reach your head.”
“Oh! why not?” he answered. “First my packages are stolen; then I am
thrown to the crocodiles of curiosity, and now I must be blindfolded,
or perhaps beheaded by a ‘young person’ who has driven me as mad as
though she were the Spirit of the Pyramids herself. I kneel. Proceed.”
“Why do you talk of a poor youth who earns his bread by following the
profession of a guide as ‘she,’ also as a thief or perhaps a murderer,
and compare him to the Spirit of the Pyramids, Scribe Rasa? Be so good
as to keep your head still and not try to look over your shoulder as
you are doing, lest I should hurt you with the bandage. Fix your eyes
upon the face of the Sphinx in front of you and think of all the
riddles you would like to ask of its divinity. Now all is ready, I
begin”; and very deftly and softly she tied a scented silken cloth,
warm from her own bosom, about his head, saying presently:
“It is finished. You may rise.”
“First I will answer your question, knowing that you cannot be wroth
with one who is blinded. I call you ‘she’ because by accident I forgot
and looked down instead of up and thus saw your hands, which are those
of woman; also the ring you wear, which is an ancient signet; also a
long lock that escaped from beneath your hood while you bent over me;
also----”
“Kemmah,” broke in Nefra, “my task is finished and I go to ask my fee
from the gatekeeper. Be pleased to guide this scribe or messenger into
the presence of the holy Prophet and let the man with you bear his
goods, which all the way he has accused me of stealing from him, so
that they may be checked in his presence.”
He who was called the Scribe Rasa sat in the presence of the Prophet
Roy, of the Lord Tau, and of the elders of the Council of the Order of
the Dawn, venerable, white-robed men. Roy spoke, saying:
“We have read the roll, O Envoy Rasa, which you bring to us from
Apepi, King of the Shepherds, at this time sitting at Tanis in the
Land of Egypt. Briefly it contains two questions and a threat. The
first question is whether Nefra, Royal Princess of Egypt, the child
and heiress of the Pharaoh Kheperra, now gathered to Osiris whither he
was sent by the spear of Apepi, and of Rima the daughter of the King
of Babylon, lives and is dwelling among us. To that question you will
learn the answer at a certain ceremony this night. The second question
is whether this Royal Nefra, if she still looks upon the sun, will
become the wife of Apepi, King of the Shepherds, as he demands that
she should do. To this doubtless the Royal Nefra, if she lives, will
give her answer when she has considered of the matter, for then there
is a queen in Egypt, and a Queen of Egypt chooses whom she will as
husband.
“After this comes the threat, namely, that should there be a certain
Lady to refuse this offer and should it be refused, Apepi, King of the
Shepherds, violating all treaties made between his forefathers and
himself with our ancient Brotherhood of the Children of the Dawn, will
in revenge destroy us root and branch. To this we reply at once and
afterwards will write it in a roll, that we do not fear Apepi, and
that should he attempt this evil thing, every stone of the great
pyramids would lie lighter on his head than will the curse of Heaven
that he has earned as a man foresworn.
“Say to Apepi, O Ambassador, that we who seem but a weak band of
hermits living in solitude far from the world and there practising our
innocent rites, we who have no armies and who, save to defend our
lives, never lift a sword, are yet far more powerful than he, or any
king upon the earth. We do not fight as kings fight, yet we marshal
hosts unseen, since with us goes the Strength of God. Let him attack
if he will to find naught but tombs peopled with the dead. Then let
him set his ear to the ground and listen to the tread of armies who
rush to stamp him down to doom. Such is our message to Apepi, King of
the Shepherds.”
“I hear it,” said Khian, bowing respectfully, “and glad am I to learn,
O Prophet, that it is your intention to write it in a roll, for
otherwise King Apepi, a violent man who loves not rough words, might
make him who delivered it by word of mouth, shorter by a head. Be
pleased, therefore, to remember, O Prophet and Councillors, that I,
the Scribe Rasa, am but a messenger charged to deliver a writing and
to carry back the answer; also to collect certain information if I
can. Of the matter of treaties between the Shepherd kings and your
Order I know nothing, nor is it one that I am commanded to discuss. Of
threats uttered against you, or what may be the end of these threats,
I know nothing, whatever I may guess. Be pleased, therefore, to write
down at your leisure all you have to say, that it may be delivered to
King Apepi in due season. Meanwhile, grant me safety while I dwell
among you, and with it as much liberty as you can, since, to speak
truth, these temple tombs of yours have something of the air of
prisons, nor do I love bandages upon my eyes, seeing that I am an
ambassador, not a spy charged to report upon the secrets of your
dwelling place.”
Roy looked at him with his piercing eyes and answered:
“If you will swear to us upon your soul to reveal nothing that you may
learn of these poor secrets of ours that lie outside the matters of
your commission; also not to attempt to depart from among us until
such time as we think fitting and our written answers are prepared,
we, for our part, will grant you liberty to come and go among us as
you will, O Messenger, who tell us that you are named Rasa and a
scribe by occupation. This we grant because, having gifts of
discernment, we believe you to be an upright man, although perchance
you have been commanded to travel under another name than that by
which you are known at the Court of Tanis, one, too, who has no desire
to bring evil upon the innocent.”
“I thank you, Prophet,” said Khian, bowing, “and all these things I
swear gladly. And now I am charged to deliver offerings to your gods
in atonement for a crime against you that was wrought recently by
certain evildoers.”
“Our god, Scribe Rasa, is the Spirit above all gods who rules the
earth and whose raiment we behold in the stars of heaven, one to whom
we make no offering save those of the spirit. Nor do we accept
presents for ourselves who being a Brotherhood in which each serves
the other, have no need of gold. Therefore, Ambassador, be pleased to
take back the gifts you bring and on our behalf to pray the King of
the Shepherds that he will distribute them among the widows and
children of those men who came by their death in seeking, at his
command as we suppose, to do violence to one of us and to discover our
secrets.”
“As regards this new god of yours,” answered Khian, “if it be lawful,
Prophet, I would pray of you, or of any whom you may appoint, to
instruct me, a seeker after Truth, in his attributes and mysteries.”
“If there is opportunity it shall be done,” said Roy.
“As touching the matter of the presents,” went on Khian when he had
bowed acknowledgment of this promise, “I have naught to say, save that
I pray that you will return them with your written answer and, if
possible, by another hand than mine. You who are so wise and aged,
Prophet, may have noted that great kings do not love to have gifts
thrown back into their faces with words like to yours, and, in such
cases, are apt to blame their bearer.”
Roy smiled a little and without comment on this matter, said:
“This night we invite you to a ceremony, Scribe Rasa. Go now, eat and
rest till, at the appointed hour, you are summoned, if it be your
pleasure to attend.”
“Surely it is my pleasure,” answered Khian, and was led away.
It was near to midnight, and Khian, having arrayed himself in garments
that he had brought with him, such as scribes wear upon occasions of
festival, lay upon the bed in his chamber, thinking of the strange
place in which he found himself and its still stranger inhabitants. He
thought of the wondrous hawk-eyed old prophet, of his grave-miened
councillors as they had appeared gathered in that tomb-temple, of the
ceremony to which he was to be summoned, if indeed he had not been
forgotten, and what might be its occasion. He thought also of how his
father, Apepi, would receive the proud answer of these anchorites; of
the smile upon the face of the mighty Sphinx which that day he had
seen for the first time, and of other things.
But most of all did he think of the guide who had led him from the
palm grove and afterwards bandaged his eyes. This guide was a woman, a
young woman with beautiful hair and hands, on one of which she wore a
royal ring. That was all he knew of her who for aught he could tell
might be very ugly, as the ring might be one she had found or stolen.
Yet this was certain, that however common her face or humble her
station, her mind was neither. No uninstructed peasant girl could
harbour her thoughts or clothe them in her words. Much indeed did he
long to see that guide unveiled and to discover the mystery of one who
had so sweet a voice.
At this point a deep, gruff voice asked leave to enter, which he gave.
As he rose from the bed there appeared before him in the lamplight a
black man more gigantic than any he had ever seen, who carried in his
hand an enormous axe.
“I pray you tell me, who are you and what is your business with me?”
Khian inquired, staring at him and rubbing his eyes, for at first he
thought he must be dreaming.
“I am your guide,” said the giant, “and I come to take you with me.”
“By Set, another guide, and very different from the last!” exclaimed
Khian. “Now I wonder if this ceremony is that of my execution,” he
added to himself. “Surely the man and his axe would be well suited to
such a purpose. Or is he but another of the ghosts that haunt these
pyramids?” Then he addressed Ru, for it was he, saying:
“Sir Giant on the Earth, or Sir Spirit from the Underworld, for I know
not which you are, I feel no wish for a journey in your company. I am
tired and prefer to stop where I am. I bid you good-night.”
“Sir Envoy, or Sir Scribe, or Sir Prince in disguise, or Sir Soldier,
for that at any rate I am sure that you are because of your bearing
and the scars on you, which were never made with a stylus, however
tired you may be, you cannot remain upon that bed. I am commanded to
lead you elsewhere. Will you come or must I carry you as I did your
baggage?”
“Oh! So you were the thief who stole my parcels and left a
smooth-tongued wench behind you to conduct me across the sand!”
“A wench!” roared Ru. “A wench----” and he lifted his axe.
“Well, Friend, what else was she? Not a man, that I’ll swear, and
between man and woman there is no halfway house. Tell me, I pray you,
for I am curious. Sit down and take a cup of wine, for this place is
cramping to one of your stature. These monks of yours seem to have
very good wine. I never tasted better in my--in the King’s Court. Try
it.”
Ru took the cup which he proffered to him and drained it.
“I thank you,” he said. “The worst of dwelling with hermits is that
they are so fond of water, though they have plenty of good stuff
stored away in some grave or other. Now let us be going. I tell you I
am commanded----”
“So you said before, Friend Giant. By whom are you commanded?”
“By her----” began Ru, and stopped.
“Her, who or what? Do you mean the lady who guided and blindfolded me?
Stay. Take one more cup of this excellent wine.”
Ru did so, answering as he set it down:
“You are not far from it, but my tongue is tied. Come, Prince.”
“Prince!” he exclaimed, holding up his hands. “Friend Giant, that wine
must be getting into your head if it can reach so far in so short a
time. What do you mean?”
“What I say, though I should not have said it. Don’t you understand,
Prince, that these tomb dwellers are wizards and know everything
although they pretend to know nothing? They think me a stupid
Ethiopian, just a black fellow who can handle a battle-axe, which
perhaps is all I am. Still, I have ears and I hear, and that is how I
come to know that you are a certain Prince, and a soldier like myself,
though it pleases you to pretend to be a scribe. Still, I have not
mentioned it to any one else, not even to---- But never mind. Be
sure--she knows nothing. She thinks you are just what you say--a
fellow who scribbles on papyrus. Now talk no more; come, come. Time
passes. Afterwards you shall tell me what wars go on in Egypt to-day,
for in this place I hear nothing of battle who before I became a nurse
was a warrior”; and seizing Khian by the hand--he dragged him away
down sundry dark passages, till at length, at the end of one of them,
he saw light gleaming faintly.
They entered a great hall of the temple. It was roofed and the moon’s
rays shining through the clerestory windows and the high-set opening
at its end, showed Khian that in it were gathered a multitude of men
or women--he could not see which because they were all draped in white
robes and wore veils upon their faces, that gave them a ghost-like
air. At the head of this hall, on a stage lit with lamps, also
white-robed but unveiled, sat the Council of the Order of the Dawn. In
the centre of their long, curved line was a shrine half hidden by a
curtain and in front of this alabaster shrine stood an empty chair
with sphinx-headed arms. Nothing more could be seen in that dim light.
When Khian entered there was silence in the hall; it was as though his
appearance had been awaited for some rite to be begun.
“We are late,” muttered Ru and dragged him forward up a kind of aisle,
all present turning their veiled heads and staring at him as he went
by, through eyeholes cut in the veils. They came to a seat set in
front of the stage or dais, but at a little distance, so that he could
see everything that happened there. Into this seat Ru thrust him,
whispering that he was not to move. Then he departed and presently
reappeared upon the dais where he took his stand upon the left-hand
side of the shrine to the right of which stood the tall, white-haired
Kemmah.
“Let the entrance be shut and guarded,” said Roy presently, and
movements behind him told Khian that this was being done. Then Roy
rose and spoke, saying:
“Brethren and Elders of the holy, ancient, and mighty Order of the
Dawn, whereof the Council at this time has its home amid these tombs
and pyramids and is sentinelled by the watching Sphinx, the symbol of
the rising sun, hear me, Roy the Prophet. You are summoned hither from
every nome and city in Egypt, from Tyre, from Babylon and Nineveh,
from Cyprus and from Syria, and from many another land beyond the sea,
being the chosen delegates of our Brotherhood in those towns and
countries, among which it dwells to kindle light in the hearts of men
and to instruct them in the laws of Truth and Gentleness, to overthrow
oppressors by all righteous means and to bind the world together in
the service of that Spirit whom we worship, who, enthroned on high,
makes of all gods its ministers.
“Why have you been called from so far away? I will tell you. It is
that you may take part in the crowning of a Queen of Egypt, the true
descendant of the ancient Pharaohs who for thousands of years have sat
upon her throne, and a sworn neophyte of our Order, vowed to its faith
and to the execution of its duties, the daughter and heiress of King
Kheperra and of Queen Rima of the royal House of Babylon, now both
gathered to Osiris. We, the Council of the Dawn, among whom this Queen
to be has sheltered from her infancy, declare to you upon our oaths
that she who presently will appear before you is none other than
Nefra, the Princess of Egypt, the daughter and only child of Kheperra
and Rima, as her nurse, the Lady Kemmah, who stands before you, can
testify, for she was present at her birth and has dwelt with her till
this hour. Are you content, Councillors and Elders of the Dawn, or do
you demand further proofs?”
“We are content,” answered the audience with one voice.
“Then let Nefra, Princess of Egypt and heiress of the Two Lands,
appear before you.”
As Roy spoke these words the curtain in front of the alabaster shrine
was drawn, and standing within it, glittering in the lamplight,
appeared Nefra. So lovely did she seem in her coronation robes upon
which shone the royal emblems and jewels of the ancient kings, so
stately in her youthful, slender grace, so fair of form and
countenance, that a sigh of wonder went up from that veiled gathering,
while Khian stared amazed, and as he stared became aware that Love had
gripped him by the heart.
The figure in the shrine stood quite still, so still that for a while
he wondered if she were human, or perchance Hathor, goddess of Love
herself, or a statue fashioned by some great artist. Suddenly his
doubts were ended, for behold! she smiled, then stepped from the
shrine and was led to the carven chair in which she took her seat.
Thrice the veiled company bowed to her, Khian with them, and thrice
she bowed back to them. Then, advancing to the side of the chair, Roy
addressed her.
“Princess of Egypt,” he said, “you are brought before this gathering
of true and pure-hearted men from many lands that in their presence
you may be anointed and crowned the Queen of Egypt. Not thus should
this holy rite have been performed, but the times are difficult and
dangerous, and a foreign king of desert blood holds half the land and
rings it round with swords. Therefore here in secret and at midnight
in a place of ghosts and tombs, and not beneath the sun in the
presence of thousands at Memphis or at Thebes, must your hand grasp
the sceptre and Egypt’s crown be set upon your brow. Yet know that
presently from the Cataracts to the sea and far away beyond the sea,
aye, and in the Court of the Shepherd King himself, the news will fly
that once more Egypt has a Queen. Do you accept this royalty, great as
may be its burdens and its perils?”
“I accept it,” said Nefra in her sweet, clear voice that Khian seemed
to know again. “Unworthy as I am, I accept that which comes to me
unsought and undesired, brought to me by right of blood. Nor do I fear
its perils and its burdens, for the Strength that led me to the throne
will safeguard me there.”
There was a faint murmur of applause--even Khian found himself
murmuring applause--and as it died away, Roy took an alabaster vase of
oil and dipping his finger into it, made some sign upon her brow. Then
appeared Kemmah and gave to him a circlet of gold from which rose the
royal uræus, and an ivory sceptre surmounted with gems. This circlet
he set upon her head and the sceptre he placed in her right hand. Then
he bowed the knee to her, and said:
“In the name of the Spirit that rules the world, I, Roy the ancient,
son of your great-grandsire, appointed prophet of the Spirit during my
life days, before this company of brethren and officers of the Order
of the Dawn, anoint and declare you, Nefra, Princess of Egypt and
sister-elect of the Order of the Dawn, being a woman come to full
estate, Queen by right divine and human of the Upper and the Lower
Lands, and call down upon you the blessing of the Spirit. As yet you
have no Court nor armies and your prerogatives are usurped by others,
yet learn, O Queen, that you are acknowledged in a million hearts and
that if anywhere your glance falls upon five talking together, three
of them in secret are your faithful subjects. Of the future we know
nothing because it is hid from men, yet we believe that in it much joy
awaits you with length of days, and that the crown which now we set
upon your head in secret in time to come shall shine openly before the
multitudes of earth. In the name of Egypt and of the Order of the Dawn
to which you are sworn, O Queen, I, Roy the Prophet, do you homage.”
Then kneeling down, while the company prostrated itself before her as
though she were a goddess, Roy touched the new-made queen’s fingers
with his lips.
With her sceptre Nefra signed that he and all should rise. Then she
stood upon her feet and said:
“At such a time as this what can I say to so many great ones who have
gathered here to do me honour, and for Egypt’s sake to crown me
Egypt’s queen, I who am but an untaught maiden? Only one thing, I
think. That I swear I will live and die for Egypt. I have been told
that at my birth Egypt’s goddesses appeared in a dream to my mother
and gave to me a certain title, that of the Uniter of Lands. May this
dream come true. May I prove to be the Uniter of the Upper and the
Lower Lands, and when I pass to join my fathers, leave Egypt one and
great. Such is my prayer. Now I thank you all and ask of you leave to
go.”
“Not yet, O Queen,” said Roy. “An ambassador has come to us from the
Court of the Shepherd King at Tanis, he who sits before you, bringing
messages that to-morrow must be considered by you in Council. Yet
there is one of them to which we think an answer should be given here
and now, before all this company. Apepi, King of the Shepherds, being
unwed, demands the hand of your Majesty in marriage, promising to your
children the inheritance of all Egypt. What says your Majesty?”
Now Nefra started and bit her lip as though to keep herself from the
uttering of rash words. Then she answered:
“I thank the King Apepi, but like others, this matter must be
considered with the rest, seeing that it is a great one to Egypt and
to Egypt’s Queen. Let King Apepi’s envoy”--here she glanced swiftly at
Khian--“be pleased to accept our hospitality in this secret place
until once more the full moon shines above the pyramids, while I take
counsel with myself and with some that dwell far off. Meanwhile, let
messengers be sent to King Apepi to inform him how it comes about that
the return of his ambassador is delayed. Or if it pleases him, let
that ambassador make his own report at once to his master, the King
Apepi.”
Now Khian rose, bowed, and said:
“Nay, Lady and Council of the Dawn, the command given to me, Rasa the
Scribe, was that with my own hands I should bear back the answers to
those questions which were written in the roll of my commission. Here
then I bide till these are delivered to me. Meanwhile, if it pleases
you to send messages to King Apepi, it is not in my power to say that
they shall not be sent. Do as you will.”
“So be it,” said Nefra.
Then she rose, bowed, and departed, led by the Lady Kemmah and
escorted by the Council.
Thus ended the midnight crowning of Nefra as Queen of Egypt.