How Nefra Came to Babylon
After he who was known as the Scribe Rasa, the envoy of Apepi, King
of the North, had received the betrothal ring from his affianced,
Nefra the Queen, and sailed down Nile to Tanis, there to undergo many
evil things, at the Temple of the Dawn all came about as the Captain
of the Pyramids afterwards described to him and the priest Temu.
Scarcely had this Rasa, who was Khian the Prince, departed, than there
arrived at the temple, disguised as Arabs, an embassy from Ditanah,
the old king of Babylon. These men, nobles of Babylon, were received
in secret by the Council, and bowing before Roy the Prophet, presented
to him tablets of clay covered with strange signs.
“Read the writing, Tau,” said Roy, “for my sight grows feeble and I
forget this foreign tongue which is your own.”
So Tau took the tablets and read:
“From Ditanah the aged, Lord of Babylon and King of Kings, whose glory
is as that of the Sun, the Mighty One. To Roy the holy Seer, the
Friend of Heaven, the Prophet of the Order of the Dawn, and to him who
sits under Roy, the first of the Brothers of the Dawn, who in Egypt is
named Tau, but who, as I, Ditanah, have heard, in Babylon aforetime
was named the High Prince Abeshu, the lawful son of my body, with whom
I quarrelled because he rebuked my Majesty as to a certain vengeance
which I took upon a subject people, and who thereafter fled away and
as I believed was long dead--Greetings.
“Know, O Roy, and O Tau or Abeshu, that I have received your letters
informing me of all that passes in Egypt, and that you, Abeshu, still
live. Also that it was the desire of my daughter Rima whom I gave in
marriage to Kheperra, the Pharaoh of the South and by right of descent
the King of all Egypt, that her bones should be brought back for
burial to Babylon. Also I have read that her daughter Nefra has in
secret been crowned Queen of Egypt and seeks my help to win her throne
out of the hands of my enemy, Apepi the Usurper who rules at Tanis.
“Now I, Ditanah, say to you, Roy the Holy, and to you, Queen Nefra my
grandchild, ‘Come to me at Babylon with all your company. Thither I
swear you safe-conduct in the name of my god Marduk, Ruler of Heaven
and Earth, in the name of the gods Nebo and Bel, and of all the other
gods who are my lords. There, also, you shall be guarded from all harm
by the strength of my hands, and there we will talk together of all
these matters.’
“And to you who are called Tau, I say, ‘Come also, and if you can
prove to me that you are in truth my son, the Prince Abeshu, I will
give you all things that you desire, who have mourned over you for
many years, save one thing only, the succession to my throne after me
which is promised to another. But if you have lied to me in this
matter, then do not come, for surely you shall die.’
“To the bones, also, of my daughter Rima, whose husband Kheperra, the
wolf, Apepi brought to his death, I will give honourable burial in the
sepulchre of kings, where it was her desire to lie at last. Nor do I
think that I shall refuse her death-prayer, if Nefra, my grandchild
the Queen, will obey me in a certain matter.
“Sealed with the seal of Ditanah, the Great King and with the seals of
his Councillors.”
When Tau had read he touched his forehead with the tablet and gave it
to Nefra who sat upon her throne in the centre of the Council. She
also laid it against her forehead, then turned to Tau and said:
“How comes it, my Lord Tau, that all these years you have kept this
secret from me, who if the tale that is written here be true, must be
a brother of my mother and my uncle?”--a question which caused the
envoys to stare at him.
Tau smiled and answered:
“O Queen and Niece, the tale is true enough, as should we live to come
to Babylon, I will prove to my royal father Ditanah and his
Councillors. I am Abeshu and the half-brother of Queen Rima. But when
I left Babylon she was but a little child born of another mother whom
I had scarcely seen, since she dwelt with the royal women. Nor did I
reveal myself to her afterwards when we met again and I saved her from
the plots of Apepi at Thebes, or to you when you grew to womanhood,
because of oaths that I had taken when I became a Brother of the Dawn,
which oaths bound me to lay down all my earthly rank and to forget
that I had been a prince. Yet in those oaths there was a
loophole--namely, should it ever become needful to declare myself and
my true name and history thereby to help the Order of the Dawn, I was
free to do so. To all of which our father the Prophet can bear me
witness.”
“Aye,” said Roy, “it is true. Hearken, Queen and Sister, and you, the
envoys of Ditanah. Many years ago a brother of our Order, now long
dead, brought to me a man who said that he desired to become one of
us, a noble-looking warrior man, stalwart and square-bearded, who, I
judged, had drunk of the water of Euphrates. I asked him his name and
country, also why he sought the shelter of the Dawn. He told me, and
proved his words, that he was Abeshu, a Prince of Babylon, who had
quarrelled with his father, Ditanah the Great King, whose General he
had been, over the matter of a subject people whom he had been ordered
to massacre, but would not for mercy’s sake, and because of his
disobedience had been banished or left the land. Afterwards he had
served under other kings, those of Cyprus and of Syria, as a captain
of their armies, but in the end grew weary of fightings and ambitions,
of loves who betrayed him also, and determined to bid farewell to the
vanities of the world and in solitude and silence to feed and purify
his soul.
“Therefore, having heard of the Order of the Dawn, he came to knock
upon its gate. I answered to him that among us there was no room for
one who only sought salvation for himself and rest from earthly toil,
since those of our Brotherhood must be the servants of all men and
more particularly of the poor and those bound with the chains of sin,
sworn to bring peace to the world, even at the cost of their own
lives, sworn, too, to poverty and, except for special purposes, to
celibacy and the renouncement of all earthly honours. For thus only,
as we held, could the soul of man come into union with its god.
Therefore, if he became one of us, it must be as the slave of the
humblest and he must forget that he had been a Prince of Babylon and a
General of her hosts, he who henceforward would be but a minister of
Heaven appointed to tasks, mayhap, that the meanest idolater would
refuse.
“In the end, Queen, this suppliant bowed his neck beneath our yoke and
laying down all his titles, became known under the humble name of Tau.
Yet from Tau the Servant he grew to be Tau the spiritual Lord, and
after me, its aged Prophet, the greatest in our Brotherhood, and so
acknowledged throughout the world, though until it became necessary to
proclaim it to the Great King Ditanah but the other day, none knew
that he was Abeshu, the Prince of Babylon.”
Now when they heard this strange story the members of the Council rose
and bowed to Tau, as did the envoys from Babylon, setting their hands
upon their hearts. But Nefra did more, for she rose also and kissed
him on the brow, calling him her beloved uncle and saying that now she
understood why she had always loved him from a child.
Then Tau spoke, saying:
“All is as has been told, but because of it I neither seek nor deserve
your praise. What I have done I did for my own soul’s sake who came to
know that there is no true joy save in the service of others and in
the seeking to draw near to God. Now for a while it seems that, still
in the service of others, I must once more be known as a prince and
perhaps as a captain in war. If so, let not my royal Father have any
fear lest I should seek to claim the heritage of those whom he has
appointed to succeed him, I whose only hope and purpose is that I may
live and die a Brother of the Dawn.”
At this moment he who kept the door advanced and whispered into the
ear of Roy, who said:
“Admit them.”
There came in three men, travel-stained and weary, who when they threw
open their cloaks and made the signs, were seen to be Brothers of the
Order.
“Holy Prophet,” said one of them, “we come from Tanis and from the
camp of Apepi’s army. We have it from those in authority who in secret
are the friends of our Order, that Apepi makes preparation, should a
certain request of his be refused, to attack you here; to put every
one of the Brotherhood to the sword and to drag away yonder royal lady
to be his wife. His troops are gathered and in a few days will be upon
you.”
“I know it well,” answered Roy. “Let those mad servants of Apepi come,
for I have words to say to them.”
Then he commanded Tau to call together all the people of the Dawn,
that he might take counsel with them.
They gathered together and in their presence Roy the Prophet laid down
his office and consecrated Tau as his successor, as the Sheik of the
Pyramids had told Khian and Temu. Then, too, he bade them farewell and
blessed them, and they departed weeping, after which all things
happened as the Sheik had said. There were some among the
Council--Nefra the Queen was one of them--who would have seized Roy
and borne him away by force. But he read their minds and forbade it.
So at last they went, leaving him alone according to his commands. Yet
that was a sad parting and at it many tears were shed. Thus Nefra wept
much, for she loved Roy who from her infancy had watched over this
orphan child as though he were her father. He noted her grief and
called her to him:
“Lady of Egypt,” he said, “you who to-day are a queen in name and ere
so very long, unless my wisdom fails me, will be so indeed, wide seems
the gulf that is set between you and the old hermit, the Prophet of a
secret faith whose name will vanish away and who ere long will be
utterly forgotten upon the earth. Also between you and me lies the
span of many years, for I am very, very old, while but yesterday you
came to womanhood. Moreover, your lot in life is far different from
that which I have trod and that now is ending, so it would seem as
though there were little in common between us. Yet it is not so,
because we are tied together by the bond of love which, did you but
know it, is the one perfect, eternal thing in Heaven and earth. Time
is nothing; it seems to be and yet is not, for in everlastingness what
place is there for time? Pomp and glories, beauty and desire, wealth
and want, things lost and things achieved, all we seek and all we
gain, our joys and griefs, yes, birth and death themselves, are but
bubbles on the stream of being which appear and disappear. Only love
is real and only love endures. For love is God, and being God, is King
of the world; a King with a thousand faces, who in the end will
conquer all and make of hate a footstool and of evil the oil within
his lamp. Therefore, Child, follow after love, not only that love
which you know to-day, but the love of all, even of those who do you
wrong, for this is the true sacrifice, and through it only shall your
soul be fed. Now for an hour, farewell.”
Then he kissed her on the brow and bade her leave him.
Such was the parting of Roy the ancient Prophet and Nefra the royal
maid who all her life through remembered this his last message, though
perhaps its full mystery and meaning never came home to her until at
last she was about to follow him into the shadows. Never did she
forget the sight of him, white-robed and bearded, hawk-nosed and
wrinkled, seated alone upon his chair of state within that dusky hall,
staring with steady eyes out into the farther gloom, as though there
he sought some beckoning hand of light and awaited the signal to
follow whither it might lead.
Ere the dawn they marched, fifty or more of them, besides those who
bore the coffin of Rima the Queen. Swiftly they marched by secret
ways, for already the sick, the young, and the aged had departed to
their appointed hiding places, so swiftly that when the sun rose the
pyramids were already distant. Then it was that Nefra bade farewell to
the Sheik who had accompanied them thus far, and gave him those
commands of which he had spoken afterwards.
For always she believed that Khian would return to seek her there, as
did Tau and others of the Brotherhood, who perchance had received some
message or spiritual instruction on this matter, and bitterly she
grieved that it was not possible to await his coming that he might fly
with her. The Sheik bowed and went his way, swearing to fulfil her
words, and by degrees the pyramids that had been her only home faded
and were lost to sight. Then for the first time Nefra wept a little,
for she loved those pyramids which she had conquered and where her joy
had found her, and did not know whether she would ever see them more.
They came unharmed to the borders of Egypt, and leaving the great gulf
of the Red Sea to the south of them, passed safely into the deserts of
Arabia. Indeed, on all that journey through Egypt, avoiding towns and
villages, they met few in the war-wasted lands, and those few either
fled away or made pretence not to see them. It was almost as though
some command had gone out that they should not be observed, though
whence it came Nefra did not know. Not until she made that journey did
Nefra learn how great was the secret power of the humble Order of the
Dawn.
At length they were out of Egypt and camped one night by a well in the
desert. Next morning when Nefra looked at dawn out of the tent in
which she slept with Kemmah, she perceived a caravan of camels and
horsemen advancing upon them and was afraid.
“Now I think that Apepi has us in his net,” she said to Kemmah, who
looked also, then left the tent, making no answer. Soon she returned
accompanied by two of the envoys from Babylon, with whom came the Lord
Tau himself.
“Have no fear, Queen,” said Tau, “all has gone well. Those whom you
see are not Shepherds, but troops of your grandsire, the great King
Ditanah, sent by him to escort you to his city of Babylon. Behold the
banner of the Great King blazoned with the symbols of his gods.”
“Thanks and praise be to Heaven,” answered Nefra. Then a thought took
her and she led Tau aside and said to him: “I believe and you believe
that the Prince Khian will return to the pyramids to seek us and to
give us warning. There he may be driven into hiding, being pursued. If
so he will need help. Cannot some be found to give it to him in his
extremity?”
“I will consider the matter and take counsel; indeed, I have already
begun to do so,” answered Tau.
The end of it was that certain high-bred men of the desert, disguised
as Bedouins and mounted on swift horses, Brethren of each other and of
the Dawn every one of them, and sworn to its service to the death,
were sent back to watch the pyramids with certain instructions, of
which men we have already heard.
Then came the General of Ditanah and his officers who kissed the
ground before Nefra, greeting her, she noted, not as Queen of Egypt,
but as a Princess of the House of Babylon. Also they were led to the
tent where rested the body of Queen Rima, before which they knelt
while a priest of their worship made prayers and offerings. These
things done, camels were brought, a great herd of them, on which were
mounted all the Company of the Dawn, and with them a chariot wherein
were set Nefra and the Lady Kemmah. Then they departed, guarded by
squadrons of Babylonian horsemen and led by guides mounted on fleet
camels.
Thus they travelled forward very swiftly across the burning deserts of
Arabia by the great military road, halting where there were wells of
water, or if there were none, carrying it with them in bags of hide.
Moreover, at certain places, oases in the desert, fresh camels and
horses awaited them, so that bearing the mummy of Queen Rima with them
they advanced almost at the speed of the King’s post, helped by all
and unharmed by any, and within some five and thirty days beheld
before them the mighty walls of Babylon.
Built upon either side of the great river Euphrates, filled with
towering temples and glittering palaces, there stood the vast city,
the wonder of the world, so huge a place that for a whole day they
journeyed through its outskirts before they came to its inmost walls.
Then brazen gates rolled back, and as night fell they were conducted
down broad, straight streets filled with thousands upon thousands of
people, who stared at them curiously, half seen in the twilight, till
at length they halted before a palace.
Slaves came forward and led Nefra up steps and through doorways
guarded by winged figures of bulls with the heads of men, into a
wonderful place such as she had never seen, whose home had been in
sepulchres and ancient temple halls. Chamberlains received her,
princes bowed before her, eunuchs and women surrounded her and Kemmah,
bringing them to a chamber that was hung with tapestry and furnished
with vessels of gold and silver. Then they were led to a heated marble
bath, welcome indeed after their long journeyings, though never before
had Nefra seen such a place, and when they had bathed and been rubbed
with oils, were brought back again to their chamber where delicate
foods and wines awaited them. Having eaten and being very weary, they
laid themselves down upon silken, broidered beds and slept, watched by
women slaves and guarded by armed eunuchs who stood without the door.
Nefra was awakened at the dawn by the sound of women’s voices singing
some hymn to Sames the Sun god, at his rising. For a while she lay
contemplating the splendours by which she was surrounded, and already
hating them in her heart. By rank she was a queen indeed, but by
upbringing only a simple country girl accustomed to the free air of
the desert, to the exercise and dangers of scaling rocks and pyramids,
to narrow sleeping chambers that once perhaps were tombs, and to the
hard, rough fare of the Brethren of the Dawn which she had shared with
the humblest of the Order. These silks and broideries, these gorgeous
chambers, these scented waters, these crowds of obsequious slaves,
these foreign, delicate foods, this pomp and state, crushed and
overwhelmed her; she loathed it all.
“Nurse,” she said to Kemmah whose bed was near, “I would that we were
back upon the banks of Nile, watching the first rays of Ra gild the
Sphinx’s brow.”
“If you were back upon the banks of Nile, Child,” answered Kemmah,
“and continued to watch Ra at all, it would be to see his first rays
gilding the gates of your palace prison at Tanis and to hear the voice
of old Apepi calling you by hateful names of love. Therefore be
thankful to find yourself where you are.”
“Nurse, I have dreamed a dream. I dreamed that Khian, my betrothed,
lay in danger of his life and called to me to come to save him.”
“Doubtless, Child, he calls to you wherever he is and doubtless he is
in danger of his life, as all of us are in this fashion or in that.
But what of it? Have we not the promise of my great-uncle, the
Prophet, that no harm shall come to him? Listen. I, too, dreamed a
dream. It was that Roy himself, clothed in light, as I am sure he is,
for doubtless he has been dead for many days, stood beside me.
“‘Bid Nefra,’ he seemed to say, ‘to calm her heart, for though dangers
are many they shall be driven away like storm clouds by the keen
desert winds, leaving her sky clear and in it twin stars shining.’”
“Those are happy words, Nurse, that is, if you dreamt them at all,
which you know alone; words that give me comfort in this strange and
gorgeous place. But look, here come those fat, large-eyed women,
bearing gifts I think. Nurse, I will not be touched by them. I will
clothe myself or you shall clothe me.”
The women came, prostrating themselves almost at every step, and laid
the gifts upon a table of jasper stone: wonderful and gorgeous
garments, royal robes, collars and belts of jewels, and a crown of
gold set with great pearls.
“The gifts of Ditanah the mighty King to his granddaughter, Princess
of Babylon and Queen of Egypt,” said the chief of the women, bowing
and speaking in the Egyptian tongue. “Be pleased to array yourself in
them, O Princess of Babylon and Queen of Egypt, that Ditanah, the Lord
of lords, may behold your beauty suitably adorned. We, your slaves,
are here to serve you.”
“Then be pleased to bear my thanks to the mighty Ditanah, my
grandsire, and to serve me without the door,” answered Nefra, throwing
the coverlet over her face so that she might see no more of them.
When they were gone, with many protestations and even tears, Nefra
arose and by the help of Kemmah, set to clothing herself in these
glittering garments. Yet before all was done that chief of the women
must be called back again to show them how they should be worn.
At length she was attired after the fashion of a Babylonian royal
lady, marvellously attired, and a mirror was brought that she might
behold herself. She looked and cast it down upon the bed, crying:
“Am I Nefra, the Egyptian maid, or the woman of some Sultan of the
East? Look at this outspread hair sprinkled with gems! Look at these
garments in which I can scarcely walk! Smell these unguents with which
my face and flesh are smeared! Nurse, rid me of this truck and give me
back my white robe of a Sister of the Dawn.”
“It is too travel-stained, Child,” answered Kemmah drily, adding with
satisfaction, “moreover, you look well enough as you are, though
somewhat sunburned, and that crown becomes you. Oh! complain no more;
in the spirit you may be a Sister of the Dawn, but here you are a
Princess of Babylon. Would you anger the Great King from whom you ask
so much? See, they summon us to eat. Come, eat, for you will need
food.”
“Mayhap, Nurse. But what is it that the Great King asks of _me_?
Something, as we have heard, of which none will tell us, not even my
Uncle Tau, though I think he knows.”
Then, sighing and pouting her lips, Nefra gave way and ate, but to her
question Kemmah made no answer, either because she could not, or for
other reasons.
A while later there came the chief of the eunuchs, a fat, vainglorious
person, and cringing chamberlains wearing tall caps, musicians
fancifully attired, and women of the Household, and officers, and a
guard of swarthy soldiers. All these, gathering together in an
appointed order, set Nefra and the Lady Kemmah in the midst of them
surrounded by the fan-bearers, the women, and the eunuchs and preceded
by the musicians. Then at a word of command they marched and though
they never left the precincts of the palace, that walk was long. Down
sculptured passages they went, through great chambers, across
courtyards where fountains played and gardens that grew beyond them,
till at last they reached a flight of many steps and up these climbed
to the bull-guarded doorway of a vast hall.
This hall was roofless, but at the farther end, for a third of its
length perhaps, awnings were stretched over it, from one side to the
other. The place was filled with people, more people than Nefra had
ever seen; thousands of them there seemed to be, all of whom stared at
her, and as she passed, bowed low. Up a wide pathway between the crowd
to the right and the crowd to the left went Nefra and her company,
till they came to that part of the hall over which was stretched the
awning.
Here the shadow was so deep by contrast with the brilliance without
that at first she could see nothing. Presently, however, her eyes grew
accustomed to the gloom and she perceived that before her was gathered
the glittering Court of the King of Babylon. There were lords; there
were ladies seated together by themselves; there were soldiers in
their armour, there were square-bearded councillors and captains;
there were shaven priests; there were officers of the Household with
wands; there were slaves, black slaves and white slaves, and she knew
not who besides. Moreover, above all this splendour, its centre and
its point, seated on a jewelled throne, was an aged, white-bearded,
wizened man, wearing a strange headdress who, she guessed, must be her
grandsire, Ditanah the Mighty, the King of kings.
As they entered the line of shadow a trumpet blew, whereon all the
Court and all the company about her prostrated themselves before the
majesty of the King and lay with their foreheads touching the
pavement, yes, even Kemmah prostrated herself. But Nefra remained upon
her feet, standing alone like one left living among an army of dead
men; it was as though some spirit within her told her so to do. At
least thus she stood looking at the little wizened man upon the
throne, while he looked back at her.
Again the trumpet blew, whereon all rose, and once more her company
advanced, to halt near to the throne, on either side of which stood
massed a number of gorgeous nobles who afterwards she learned were
kings’ sons, princes, and satraps of the subject peoples. For a while
there was silence, then the King upon the throne spoke in a thin,
clear voice, an interpreter rendering his words sentence by sentence
into the Egyptian tongue.
“Does my Majesty behold before me Nefra, the daughter of my daughter
Rima, the Princess, wife of Kheperra, once Pharaoh of Egypt?” he
asked, studying her with his sharp and bird-like eyes.
“That is my name, O Grandsire and Great King of Babylon,” answered
Nefra.
“Why, then, O Granddaughter, do you not prostrate yourself before my
Majesty as all these great ones are not ashamed to do?”
Now again something within her seemed to tell Nefra what to say, and
while all stared and listened, she answered proudly:
“Because, Grandsire, if you are King of Babylon, I am Queen of Egypt,
and Majesty does not kiss the dust to Majesty.”
“Well and proudly said,” answered Ditanah. “Yet, Granddaughter, I
think that you are a queen without a throne.”
“That is so, and therefore I come to you, O Father of my Mother, O
Mighty King of Kings, O Fount of Justice, seeking your aid. Apepi the
Shepherd usurped my throne as his forefathers did before him, and now
seeks to make a wife of me, the Queen of Egypt, and thereby to gain my
heritage. But by a little I have escaped out of his hands, helped of
your Majesty, and now here I stand and make my prayer to you, the King
of Kings from whose body I am sprung.”
“Well spoken again,” answered the old monarch. “Yet, my Daughter of
Egypt, you ask much. Apepi I know and hate; for years I have waged a
frontier war against him, yet to cross the waterless deserts with a
mighty host to invade him in his territory and drag the stolen crown
from off his head would be a great venture that might end ill for
Babylon. What have you to promise in return, Lady of Egypt?”
“Nothing, O King, save love and service.”
“Aye, thus it stands: you ask much and have nothing wherewith to pay.
I must take counsel of this matter. Meanwhile Mir-bel, my grandson,
the King of Babylon to be, lead this lady hither and place her where
as a Queen she has a right to sit, near to my throne.”
Now from among the throng of princes came forward a tall man of middle
age, gloriously apparelled and wearing a diadem upon his head; a
strong-faced man with black and flashing eyes. He bowed before her,
searching her beauty with those hawk-like eyes in a fashion that
pleased her little, and saying in a smooth, rich voice:
“Greeting, Queen Nefra the Beautiful, my cousin. Glad am I to have
lived to look upon one so fair and royal.”
Then he took her by the hand and led her up the steps of the dais to a
chair of state that had been made ready for her upon the right of the
throne. There he bade her be seated and with bows to her and to the
King, returned to his place among the princes.
Nefra sat herself down and for a while there was silence.
At length the old King spoke:
“You say that you have nothing to give, Daughter. Yet it seems to me
that you have much, for you have yourself to give, who are, I hear,
unwed. If the Queen of Egypt,” he went on, speaking slowly and in a
fashion which told her that the words had been prepared, “were to take
as her lord the heir of Babylon, so that thereafter, if all went well,
these two great lands were joined into one empire, then perchance
Babylon might be ready to send her armies to conquer Apepi and set
that Queen upon the throne of her forefathers. What say you,
Daughter?”
Now when Nefra heard and understood at length what was sought of her,
the blood left her face and her limbs turned cold. For a moment she
hesitated, in her heart putting up a prayer for guidance, as Roy had
taught her to do when in difficulty or trouble. It seemed to come, for
presently she answered very quietly:
“It may not be, O King and Grandsire, for thus Egypt would be set
under the heel of Babylon, and when I was crowned I swore an oath to
keep her free.”
“That trouble might be overcome, Daughter, in a fashion pleasing to
both our countries of which we can speak hereafter. Have you any other
reason against this alliance? He who is offered to you is not only the
heir to the greatest kingdom in the world; he is also, as you have
seen, a man among men, in the flower of his age, a soldier, and one
who, as I know, is both wise and kind of heart.”
“I have another reason, King. Already I am affianced.”
“To whom, Daughter?”
“To the Prince Khian, King.”
“The Prince Khian! Why, he is Apepi’s heir, and yet you told me that
Apepi would have married you.”
“Yes, Sire, and therefore Apepi and Khian do not love each other,
but”--here she looked down--“but Khian loves me and I love Khian.”
At these words a whisper went round the Court and old Ditanah smiled a
little, as did many others. Only Mir-bel did not smile; indeed, he
looked angry.
“Is it thus?” said the King. “And where, now, is the Prince Khian?
Have you brought him here in your company?”
“Nay, Sire. When last I heard of him he was at the Court of Tanis,
and, it was said, in prison.”
“Where I think he will certainly remain, if, as I doubt not, your
story be true, Child,” answered Ditanah, and was silent.
Just then, when Nefra thought that all was finished and that her
prayer for succour was about to be refused, swelling sweet and solemn
she heard a familiar sound, that of a certain funeral chant of the
Order of the Dawn. She looked to discover whence it came and perceived
Tau followed by all the Brotherhood who had accompanied her from
Egypt, and certain others who were strangers to her, clad in simple
white robes, every one of them, advancing into the hall by a side
entrance to the right. Nor did they come alone, for in the centre of
their company, borne upon a bier by eight of the brethren, was a
coffin which Nefra knew covered the mummy of her mother, Queen Rima.
The coffin was brought and set down before the throne. Then suddenly
the lid, which had been loosened in readiness, was lifted, revealing a
second coffin within. This also was opened by the priests who very
reverently took from it the embalmed and bandaged body of Queen Rima
and stood it on its feet before the King, holding it thus, a sight
from which all that saw shrank away, for the Babylonians did not love
to look upon the dead.
“Whose corpse is this and why is it brought into my presence?” asked
the King in a low voice.
“Surely your Majesty should know,” answered Tau, “seeing that this
dead flesh sprang from your flesh and that here before you, within
these wrappings, stands all that is left of Rima your daughter,
aforetime Princess of Babylon and Queen of Egypt, who thus comes home
again.”
Ditanah stared at the mummy, then turned his head aside, saying:
“What is that which hangs about the neck of this royal companion of
the gods, as doubtless she is to-day?”
“A letter to you, O King, sealed with her seal while she was still one
of the company of the living.”
“Read it,” said Ditanah.
Then Tau cut the fastenings and unrolled the writing from which fell a
ring. This ring he took, and gave it to the King, who sighed when he
looked upon it, for well he remembered that he had set it upon his
daughter’s finger when she left him to journey into Egypt, swearing to
her that he would refuse to her no request which was sealed with this
seal.
Next Tau read from the scroll in the Babylonian tongue thus:
“From Rima, aforetime Princess of Babylon, aforetime wife of Kheperra,
Pharaoh of Egypt, to her sire Ditanah, the King of Babylon, or to him
who sits upon his throne. Know, O King, that I call upon you in the
name of our gods and by our common blood, to avenge the wrongs that I
have suffered in Egypt, and the slaying of my lord beloved, the King
Kheperra. I call upon you to roll down in your might upon Egypt and to
smite the Shepherd dogs who slew my husband and took his heritage, and
to establish my daughter, the Princess Nefra, as Queen of Egypt, and
to slay those who were traitors to her and would have given her and me
to doom. Know also that if you, my father, Ditanah the King, or you,
that King my kinsman, who sit upon his throne after him, deny this my
prayer, then I call down the curse of all the gods of Babylon and
Egypt upon you and upon your people, and I, Rima, will haunt you while
you live, and ask account of you when we meet at last in the
Underworld.
“Sealed by me Rima with my seal upon my deathbed.”
These solemn words which seemed almost as though they were spoken by
the royal woman whose corpse was set upon its feet before the throne,
went to the hearts of all who heard them. For a while there was deep
silence. Then Ditanah the King lifted his eyes which had been fixed
upon the ground, and it was seen that his withered face was white and
that his lips quivered.
“Terrible words!” he said, “and a terrible curse decreed against us if
we shut our ears to them. She who spoke the words and sealed them with
this seal that once I gave to her together with a certain solemn
promise, she who stands there dead before me, was my beloved daughter
whom I wed to the lawful Pharaoh of Egypt. Can I refuse the last
prayer of my daughter, who suffered so many wrongs at the hand of
Apepi the Accursed, and who doubtless stands among us now awaiting its
answer?”
He paused and from all who heard him there went up a murmur of “You
cannot, O King.”
“It is true, I cannot who soon must be as is the royal Rima; whate’er
the cost, I cannot. Hearken, priests, councillors, princes, satraps,
officers, and people. I, Ditanah the King, make a decree. In the name
of the Empire of Babylon I declare war by Babylon upon Apepi the
Shepherd usurper who rules in Egypt; war to the end! Let my decree
that cannot be changed be recorded and proclaimed in Babylon and all
her provinces.”
Again rose the murmur of assent. When it had died away the King turned
to Nefra, saying:
“Fair Queen and grandchild, your prayer and that of your mother who
begat you is granted. Therefore rest you here in peace and honour till
all things are made ready for this war, and then go forth to conquer.”
Nefra heard. Rising from her seat, she cast herself upon her knees
before the King and, seizing his hand, pressed it with her lips, for
speak she could not. Drawing her to her feet, he bent forward, touched
her with his sceptre, and kissed her on the brow.
“I add to my words,” he said. “Knowing your errand, Child, I made a
plan that as a price for the aid of Babylon you should give yourself
in marriage to Mir-bel, the heir to my throne. Now I put aside that
plan, for so my heart is moved to do, whether because you ask it or
for other reasons. You tell me that you are affianced to the Prince
Khian of whom I have heard a good report, although on his father’s
side he comes of an evil stock. Mayhap this Prince is dead already at
the hands of Apepi, or thus will die. If so, mayhap also you will turn
to Mir-bel because it is my wish and his, though on this matter I make
no bargain with you. Yet if Khian lives and you live to find him, then
wed him if you will and take my blessing on you both. Look not wrath,
Mir-bel, for in the end who knows what the gods may bring to pass.
Learn also from this thwarting of your desire that they do not give
everything to any man, who to you have given so much. Should this
Queen slip through your hands, the heir to Babylon can find another to
share his throne. It is my will, Prince Mir-bel, that when the army
marches against Apepi, you bide here to guard me, lest some evil god
should tempt you to do wrong.”
When Mir-bel heard this command, knowing that it could not be altered
under the ancient law of Babylon, he bowed first to the King and next
to Nefra. Then he turned and left the Court followed by his officers.
Nor did Nefra see him again till after many years; for at once he took
horse and rode for his own Governorship far away, where he remained
till all was finished.
When he had gone the King fixed his gaze upon Tau, considering him.
“Who are you, Priest?” he asked.
“I am named Tau, a prophet of the Order of the Dawn, O King.”
“I have heard of that Order and I think that certain of its brethren
dwell in Babylon and even in my Court. I have heard also that it gave
shelter to my dead daughter, Rima the Queen, and to this lady, her
child, for which I thank it. But tell me, Prophet Tau, have you any
other name?”
“Yes, O King. Once I was named Abeshu, the eldest lawful son of his
Majesty of Babylon. Yet many years ago I quarrelled with his Majesty
and went into exile.”
“I thought it! And now, Prince Abeshu, do you return out of exile to
claim your place as the eldest born of his Majesty of Babylon?”
“Not so, O King, I claim nothing, as your envoys may have told your
Majesty, save perchance the forgiveness of the King. I am but a
Brother of the Dawn and as such dead to the world and all its
glories.”
Now Ditanah stretched out his sceptre to Tau in token of peace and
pardon, and Tau touched it according to the custom of Babylon.
“I would hear more of this faith of yours which can kill ambition in
the heart of man. Wait upon me, Prophet, in my private chamber, and we
will talk together.”
Then waving Tau aside, Ditanah addressed himself to a gorgeous high
priest, saying:
“Let this dust that once was my daughter and a Queen, be re-coffined
and borne hence to the sepulchre of kings, where to-morrow we will
give it royal burial.”
Presently it was done, and as the coffin passed away Ditanah stood up
and bowed towards it, as did all in that great place. When it had gone
he waved his sceptre and a herald blew upon his trumpet, signifying
that the Court was ended. Next the King descended from the throne and,
taking Nefra by the hand, led her away with him, beckoning to Tau to
follow them.