Queen Isori had come, and, with her army, was in possession of her royal
capital of Karnadama.
She had taken away fifty-six thousand foot and mounted soldiers. She
brought home forty-eight thousand six hundred and twenty able-bodied
amazons. Seven thousand three hundred and eighty dauntless females had
found the death they coveted, and over a thousand disconsolate widowers
bewailed their fate loudly in the temple courtyards. It was the custom
for those bereaved widowers to mourn in public for their departed
spouses, while they prayed that their sins might be overbalanced by
their good deeds, in the scales of the gods.
The men of Karnadama were unquestioning slaves to custom, therefore they
covered their smooth heads with ashes, wailed, howled, and prayed during
the hours appointed for mourning. Afterwards they met together in those
vaults and shades where the wine was kept cool in great clay-baked jars,
and drowned their sorrows as deeply as possible.
Bands of them reeled past the garden walls, over which Ned and his
companions leaned, watching the bustling midnight streets in the
moonlight. Some of them were trying to sing, others laughed
hysterically, while a few of the morbid class, remembering the fine
women they had lost, wept feebly while they recounted the departed one's
charms. Ned almost pitied those ownerless and most degenerate goats.
Now that they had seen the great queen, Ned had only one desire left;
that was, to lead his men safely from this city, and back to Rhodesia as
quickly as possible.
He had passed through every street and alley until he knew each mart and
building by heart. He and his companions had sailed on the lake and
along the canals that intersected the city, hundreds of times. They had
watched the men in their open shops: the working jewellers and
enamellers, the carvers, sculptors, and painters; the armourers and
blacksmiths; the confectioners, bakers, hairdressers, and loom-workers.
These were all quaint and interesting for a time, but they had now grown
stale. They abhorred the men, and did not feel over comfortable with
those bold-eyed, combative women, beautiful although most of them were.
The day when Isori returned at the head of her victorious cohorts was
the climax to all the brilliant sights they had witnessed; after that
procession with the audience which followed were over, Ned began to feel
that he could not get too quickly away.
The citizens had been preparing for days to give their queen a right
royal welcome. For the past week advance messengers had arrived every
hour, announcing the progress of the army as it approached. The roads
and streets had been crowded with people flocking in, and every house of
entertainment was filled.
In answer to his enquiries about the country, he was told that the lake
was a hundred miles long by fifty broad. A wide river flowed from the
eastern end of it, and, after a considerable distance, became a boiling
cataract that rushed through deep gorges into low marsh and forest
lands. To the north lay a range of lofty mountains, precipitous and
densely wooded, where dwelt the dwarfs, who were hunted, captured, and
used as slaves. In their wild state those dwarfs were rather
troublesome neighbours, being very numerous and fierce, also using
poisoned arrows, the slightest prick of which was fatal. They were also
cannibals of the most repulsive type, torturing their victims
mercilessly when they could trap them. To the west, as in the south,
spread vast deserts.
The climate of Karnadama was all that could be desired: our heroes and
their followers had never had a day of sickness, even during the long
and wet season. At present the weather was simply delightful.
Diamonds were found in great numbers about half-way between Ra-bydus and
the mountains; and, as Ned had seen for himself, their gold-mine yielded
them so plentiful a supply that the most ordinary utensils were
fashioned from it. On the plains, which were well watered, dense herds
of game roamed about.
Ra-bydus was the only city of importance, although there were several
villages scattered over the country.
Queen Isori could call out an army of over a hundred thousand trained
amazons. This, however, comprised the bulk of the female population; on
ordinary occasions only the young warriors were kept constantly in arms.
These seldom exceeded ten thousand, who were spread throughout the
country in regiments.
The training of these young amazons was exceedingly hard. From their
birth they were constantly exercised like Spartans, until they reached
the age of sixteen. From that age to twenty-five they were constantly
in harness, and kept single. After this age they were allowed to marry
and settle down.
Pylea and her regiment were about the same age, having been enrolled
together four years previously. They were then nineteen years of age,
and had six years still before them of active service and enforced
celibacy.
Ned asked how the population had been kept within limits all these
centuries, and was horrified at the reply.
All decrepit and sickly children of both sexes were destroyed at birth.
Every five years a census was taken, and judges sent round to weed out
the surplus population. The victims were selected by the judges
appointed, and ruthlessly destroyed by accompanying executioners. These
executioners were appointed from the men, who found their opportunity
then of indulging in their natural instinct of cruelty. Old age, on the
male side, was no more respected than childhood, although the women were
exempted from this wholesale massacre.
When the husbands became shattered with their vices, they were
strangled. When they grew too obnoxious to live with any longer, they
were at once made into mummies. The women were the judges and sole
arbitresses of their fate. There were no divorces in this wise and
loveless community. If a woman wished to be released from one husband,
she made herself a widow, and picked out a younger mate. As Pylea had
remarked, they did not expect too much from the poor things, so
completely at their discretion. They persuaded them to drink, eat, and
smoke as they liked, until they were tired of them, then they gave the
final wrench to their rope, and ended that domestic worry.
It was a paradise for the fair sex, according to the modern ideas of the
new womanhood. Also the ceremony of the mummy-case being drawn round
the feasting halls was no empty or obsolete sign to the men. "Eat,
drink, and enjoy yourselves, for tomorrow you die," was grimly
significant to these degraded wretches.
When Ned explained these lop-sided laws and customs to his sable
followers, they showed the whites of their eyes, and decided that
prudence was the better part of valour when dealing with those
fascinating amazons. All vowed that they would respect the obligations
of the service, and not tempt the girls to break their military
engagements for their sakes.
"Let us get out of this, baas, before it is too late," said Cocoeni,
gloomily, as he recalled some pleasant evenings he had spent under the
trees, while trying to master the language with one of the fair guards.
"Yes, we must," added Clarence, almost as seriously--"Even the forest
will be healthier for us than this atmosphere."
"As soon as her majesty turns up, I'll make the move," answered Ned.
Our heroes were accommodated with horses on the morning of the arrival,
while Cocoeni and his comrades walked. They were all in fine condition,
and looked like giants behind the undersized bystanders.
Pylea and her regiment used their leopard-chariots, and drew up in line
along the streets close to the palace to keep the sightseers back. Ned
and his company occupied the post nearest the gates. Close to his side
Pylea stood in her chariot, splendidly attired and looking her best.
"Isori is a great warrior, and the tallest woman of our race, as her
mother was before her," she remarked while they waited.
"How old is she?" asked Ned.
"Thirty-three, but she has not lost her swiftness, agility, or
strength."
The blare of instruments announced that the conquerors were coming, and
soon afterwards the first of the procession appeared.
A thousand richly caparisoned elephants came first, laden with mail-clad
warriors. Behind these came the miserable captives, chained to bars of
wood, and drawn along by women on horseback, who cracked their whips
over them constantly. Four thousand of these hideous dwarfs of both
sexes had been brought alive from their native haunts. Following the
elephants, they passed the palace walls, while the people looked at them
silently.
A large troop of horsewomen came next, and then, at the head of her
charioteers, appeared the victorious queen.
Our heroes looked at her as she stood upright in her golden chariot,
resting on her massive spear, and they were dazzled at her majesty and
the light that blazed from her.
Over six feet in height she stood in her jewelled sandals. Round her
brows wound the royal serpent with uplifted crest, while from behind
fell a fringe of blue, red, white, and yellow, barred with gold and
crusted with precious stones. Her breasts and limbs were covered with
golden links, while from her shoulders fluttered a rich light cloak,
that trailed over the back of the chariot. Three young lions dragged
the car. She was an imperial woman, with a pale face regularly
featured, and great dark eyes that looked out coldly yet steadily as the
car slowly glided forward.
Beautiful she was, in the full pride of power and matured strength, with
a figure that was matchless. But it was a face to shudder before. It
was so pitiless, and so icily composed.
No cry of welcome greeted her approach, but a great hush fell over the
multitude, that was more impressive. She was in their eyes a goddess as
well as a queen, and all bent their heads and covered their eyes. Ned
and his followers felt decidedly uncomfortable.
As she passed the split lines of Matabeles and Basutos, she shot side
glances over their stalwart figures without turning her head. Then she
came to a dead stop opposite Ned, and fixed upon him her steady great
black eyes. He bent his head under that passionless but strangely
disquieting stare.
While she stood, from the palace gates came her brother consort, mounted
on a white horse, and clad in royal robes that were also blazing with
precious stones. He was taller than the male attendants who accompanied
him, but, in spite of his tiara and rich robes, looked the trembling
wreck that he was.
Isori looked at her bibulous-faced and purple-nosed consort with a
mocking yet indulgent curl of her proud lip, as he bent humbly before
her. Then she said, in a rich, clear voice--
"Hast thou composed many couplets during our absence, Sotu? I can
perceive that thou hast partaken of many cups."
"Immortal one, I have not been idle," answered the poor king, fumbling
nervously in the breast of his robe, and wisely ignoring the latter
portion of this wifely greeting. He produced a roll of papyrus. "I
have here a powerful epic to read to you, which I composed in honour of
your victory, O brave Isori."
"Ah! that is sweet. Keep it till after supper, when thou wilt be in thy
best form."
"But, gracious and great one, I hoped to read it here, before our
people."
"Ride thou at my side, Sotu, King of Karnadama, and give that roll to
one of the servants," she said, with chilling coldness.
Sotu sighed deeply, but yielded, and together the badly assorted pair
went between the sphinxes.
About two hours later Ned and his followers were commanded to appear in
the presence. It was a trying ordeal, but our heroes braced up their
courage, and stalked through the crowd of courtiers and warriors with
erect heads and bulging chests. They were no slavish male Karnadamains,
and they meant to show what men ought to look like; what Britishers are
in every land under the sun, except the Transvaal.
It was a much more extensive reception-hall than the dining chamber,
vast although that was.
Four lines of columns with lotus capitals supported the flat roof. The
walls were richly covered with varied coloured enamels and plated gold;
the floor was of highly polished marble or granite of different tints
wrought in subtle patterns of mosaic. It was a noble throne-room, the
vast proportions of which dwarfed the humanity that it was meant to
hold.
Five thousand amazonian captains, officers, and female grandees were
assembled, besides the priestesses and other civic dignitaries. There
were also the obsequious husbands, in dutiful attendance upon these
their imperious mistresses. These, with the waiting slaves and court
musicians, brought up the number present to considerably over twelve
thousand. Yet there were wide spaces between the pillars, and our
heroes with their followers were by no means crowded.
The queen and king sat on two thrones, side by side, only her throne was
elevated several steps above his, and of a much more gorgeous
description.
Fifty broad but shallow steps led from the hall up to the platform on
which the thrones were placed. At each corner of the steps crouched
sphinxes, as large as full grown lions, made from beaten gold. The
throne of the queen, with its canopy and dais, were composed entirely of
exquisitely carved ivory, encrusted with diamonds. That of the king was
of gold, and, beyond the back, had no canopy.
Queen Isori had been bathed, perfumed, and re-costumed since our heroes
had last seen her. She now appeared more like the conventional woman,
and less like the paladin.
Her jet black hair was plaited, and hung down over her shoulders in two
thick links, being placed also low on her broad forehead. Above this
sat her serpent tiara.
Her superb arms were naked to the shoulders, except for the jewelled
bracelets and wristlets that she wore. One breast was also bare, the
other being covered with golden scales. Large ear-rings rested against
her cheeks, and a wide necklet of diamonds and a Scarabaeus made of
emerald, as a pendant, encircled her smooth neck. From the snake zone
round her waist, to her jewelled sandals, fell a robe of diaphanous and
changing silk in numerous folds, which, closely plaited as these were,
still exhibited her limbs beneath. In her right hand she held a sceptre
of ivory, gold, and jewels, while at her sides kneeled eight slaves
fanning her with large peacock feathers. In front of them crouched two
living lions and four leopards.