The major-domo let Fou-tan through a dimly lighted corridor to a small
apartment not far from the banquet hall. The interior walls of thin
sheet lead, hand-pounded upon great blocks of stone, were covered with
paintings depicting scenes of war, the chase, the palace, and the
temple. There were spearmen and bowmen and great elephants trapped for
war. A king upon horseback, followed by his courtiers, rode down a
tiger and slew him with a spear. Countless apsarases posed in wooden
postures of the dance. Priests in long robes and fantastic headdresses
marched in interminable procession toward a temple to Siva, and
everywhere throughout the decorations of the chamber was the symbol of
the Destroyer. Upon the floor were costly rugs and the skins of tigers
and leopards. There were low tables with vessels containing fruit or
sweets and statuary of pottery and stone. At one side of the chamber,
depending from the ceiling by three chains, swung an elaborately carved
vessel from which arose the smoke and the heavy fragrance of burning
incense, while upon the floor was an abundance of cushions covered
by rich embroidery of many hues. The whole apartment was a blaze of
colour, softened and subdued in the light of three cressets burning
steadily in the quiet air.
"Why have you brought me here?" demanded Fou-tan.
"It is the will of Lodivarman, the King," replied the major-domo.
"I should be allowed three days to prepare myself," said the girl. "It
is the custom."
The major-domo shook his head. "I know nothing beyond the orders I
received from Lodivarman," he said. "Customs are made by kings--and
unmade."
Fou-tan looked apprehensively about her, taking in the details of the
apartment. She saw that in addition to the door through which they had
entered there was another door at one end of the room and that along
one side there were three windows, entirely covered now by the hangings
that had been drawn across them. She moved uneasily about while the
major-domo remained standing, always facing her. "Will you not be
seated?" he asked.
"I prefer to stand," she replied, and then, "What are your orders?"
"To bring you here," replied the major-domo.
"And that was all?"
"That was all."
"Why was I brought here?" persisted the girl.
"Because the King ordered it," replied the man.
"Why did he order it?"
"It is not for me to know or to seek to know more than the King
divulges. I am but a servant." For a time the silence of the room was
broken only by their breathing and the soft movements of the girl's
skirt as she paced nervously the length of the gorgeous apartment that,
had its walls been of cold granite, could have meant no more a prison
to her.
Her thoughts were confused by the hopelessness of her situation.
She had had no time to prepare for this, not in the sense of the
preparation that was customary for a new bride for Lodivarman, but in a
sterner, a more personal sense. She had sworn to herself that she would
die before she would submit to the loathsome embraces of the Leper
King; but taken thus unaware she had no means for death, so that now
she concentrated every faculty of her ingenuity to discover some plan
whereby she might postpone the fatal hour or find the means to liberate
herself at once from the hateful crisis which she felt impended.
And then the door at the end of the room opened and Lodivarman entered.
He halted just within the threshold, closing the door behind him, and
stood thus for a moment in silence, his dead eyes upon her where,
reacting unconsciously to a lifetime of training, she had gone on her
knees before the King, as had the major-domo.
"Arise!" commanded Lodivarman, including them both in a gesture, and
then he turned to the man. "You may go," he said. "See that no one
enters this wing of the palace until I summon."
The major-domo, bowing low, backed from the room, closing the door
softly as he departed. Then it was that Lodivarman advanced toward
Fou-tan. He laid a hand upon her naked shoulder as she shrank back
involuntarily.
"You fear me," he said. "To you I am a loathsome leper. They all fear
me; they all hate me, but what can they do? What can you do? I am King.
May the gods help the poor leper who is not a king!"
"Oh, King, I am not a king," cried the girl. "You call upon the gods to
help the poor leper who is not a king, and yet you would make a leper
of me, you who could save me!"
Lodivarman laughed. "Why should I spare you?" he demanded. "It was a
woman who made me a leper. Let her sin be upon all women. The accursed
creature! From that moment I have hated women; even while I have
held them in my arms I have hated them, but some malignant demon has
thwarted me. Never has a woman contracted leprosy from me; yet I always
hope, and the more beautiful and young they are the higher rises my
hope, for once I was young and beautiful until that accursed woman
robbed me of happiness and took away from me all except the life I
had grown to hate; but perhaps in you my revenge shall be consummated
as I have always hoped. With you it seems that it must be fulfilled,
for you are very young and by far the most beautiful woman that has
been offered in atonement for the sin of her sister. I shall tell you
the story; I tell it to each of them that they may know how well they
deserve whatever fate the gods may hold in store for them, because,
like the accursed one, they are women.
"It was many years ago. I was in the prime of my youth and my beauty. I
had ridden out to hunt My Lord the Tiger with a hundred courtiers and a
thousand men-at-arms. The hunt was a success. Upon that wall beside you
the artist has painted Lodivarman slaying the great beast. Never shall
I forget the day of our triumphal return to Lodidhapura. Ah, Siva, no,
never shall I forget. It was a day of triumph, a day of discovery, and
the day of my cruel undoing by the foul creature whose sin you are to
expiate.
"It was upon that day that I first tasted a mushroom. At a little
village in the jungle a native upon bended knee offered me a platter
of this then strange food. I partook. Never in my life had I tasted a
viand more delicious. Dismounting, I sat beneath a tree before the hut
of the poor peasant, and there I ate all of the mushrooms that he had
prepared--a great platter of them--but I did not seem able to satisfy
my craving for them, nor have I since then. I questioned him as to what
they were and how they grew, and I gave orders that he be brought to
Lodidhapura and given the means to propagate the royal food. He still
lives. He has been showered with honours and riches, and still he
raises mushrooms for Lodivarman; nor may any other in the realm raise
them, nor any but the King partake of them. And thus there occurred a
great happiness and a great satisfaction upon the selfsame day that saw
all else snatched from me.
"As we entered Lodidhapura later in the day, crowds lined the avenue
to see their King. They sang and shouted in welcome and threw blossoms
at us. My charger, frightened by the noise and the bombardment of
blossoms, became unmanageable, and I was hurled heavily to the ground;
whereat a woman of the crowd rushed forward and threw herself upon me
and with her arms about me covered my face and mouth with kisses. When
my courtiers reached my side and dragged her from me and lifted me to
my feet, it was seen that the woman was a leper. A great cry of horror
arose, and the people who had come to applaud me shrank away, and even
my courtiers drew to one side; and alone I mounted my horse and alone I
rode into the city of Lodidhapura.
"Within an hour I was stricken; these hideous sores came upon my body
as by magic, and never since have I been free from them. Now you shall
have them, woman--daughter of a woman. As I have rotted, so shall you
rot; as I am loathed, so shall you be loathed; as my youth and beauty
were blasted, so shall yours be. Come!" and he laid a heavy hand upon
the arm of Fou-tan.
Gordon King, entering the dimly lighted corridor, paused a moment to
listen, to note if he might not hear voices that would guide him to
those he sought. As he stood there thus, he saw a door open farther
along the corridor and a man back out whom he instantly recognised
as the major-domo. King looked for a place to hide, but there was no
hiding-place; the corridor was straight and none too wide, and it was
inevitable that he would be discovered if the major-domo came that way,
as he did immediately he had closed the door of the apartment he had
just quitted.
King grasped at the only chance that occurred to him for disarming the
suspicions of the major-domo. Snapping to rigid attention, he stood as
though a posted sentry just inside the entrance to the corridor. The
major-domo saw him, and a puzzled frown crossed the man's face as he
approached along the corridor, halting when he came opposite King.
"What do you here, man?" he demanded suspiciously.
"By the command of Lodivarman, the King, I have been posted here with
orders to let no one enter."
The major-domo seemed puzzled and rather at a loss as to what action he
should take in the matter. He thought of returning to Lodivarman for
verification of the warrior's statement, but he knew the short temper
of his King and hesitated to incur his wrath in the event that the
warrior had spoken the truth. "The King said naught to me of this,"
he said. "He commanded me to see that no one entered this wing of the
palace."
"That is what I am here for," replied King; "and, furthermore, I must
tell you that nothing was said to me about you and, therefore, I must
order you to leave at once."
"But I am the major-domo," said the man haughtily.
"But I am the King's sentry," replied the American, "and if you wish to
question the King's orders, let us go to Lodivarman together and see
what he has to say about it."
"Perhaps he forgot that he had ordered a sentry posted here,"
temporised the major-domo. "But how else could you have been posted
here other than by orders from an officer of the King?"
"How else indeed?" inquired the American.
"Very well," snapped the major-domo. "See that you let no one enter,"
and he was about to pass on when King detained him.
"I have never been posted here before," he said; "perhaps you had
better tell me if there is any other doorway in the corridor through
which anyone might enter this section of the palace, that I may watch
that also; and also if there is anyone here beside the King."
"Only the King and an apsaras are here," replied the man. "They are in
that room from which you saw me come. The doorway this side upon the
right leads down a flight of steps to a corridor that terminates at a
door opening into the royal garden at this end of the palace. It is
never used except by Lodivarman, and as the door is heavily barred upon
the inside and a sentry posted upon the outside, there is no likelihood
that anyone will enter there, so that there remains only this doorway
to be guarded."
"My zeal shall merit the attention of the King," said the sentry, as
the major-domo passed on into the banquet hall and disappeared from
view.
The moment that the man was out of sight King hastened quickly up the
corridor and paused before the door, behind which the major-domo told
him he had left Lodivarman and Fou-tan. As he paused he heard a woman's
voice raised in a cry of terror; it came from beyond the heavy panels
of the door, and it was scarcely voiced ere Gordon King pushed the
portal aside and stepped into the room.
Before him Fou-tan was struggling to release herself from the clutches
of Lodivarman. Horror and revulsion were written large upon her
countenance, while rage and lust distorted the hideous face of the
Leper King.
At sight of the warrior Lodivarman's face went livid with rage even
greater than that which had been dominating him.
"How dare you!" he screamed. "You shall die for this. Who sent you
hither?"
Gordon King closed the door behind him and advanced toward Lodivarman.
"Gordon King!" cried the girl, her astonishment reflected in her tone
and in the expression upon her face. For an instant hope sprang to her
eyes, but quickly it faded to be replaced by the fear that she felt for
him now as well as for herself. "Oh, Gordon King, they will kill you
for this!"
And now Lodivarman recognised him, too. "So you are the warrior who
slew the tiger single-handed!" he cried. "What brought you here?"
"I have come for Fou-tan," said King simply.
Lodivarman's rotting face twitched with rage. He was rendered
speechless by the effrontery of this low knave. Twice he tried to
speak, but his anger choked him; and then he sprang for a cord that
depended against one of the walls, but King guessed his purpose and
forestalled him. Springing forward, he grasped Lodivarman roughly by
the shoulder and hurled him back. "Not a sound out of you," he said,
"or Lodidhapura will be needing a new king."
It was then that Lodivarman found his voice. "You shall be boiled in
oil for this," he said in a low voice.
"Then I might as well kill you," said Gordon King, "for if I have to
die, it is well that I have my vengeance first," and he raised his
spear as though to cast it.
"No, no!" exclaimed Lodivarman. "Do not kill me. I grant you pardon for
your great offence."
King could not but marvel at the workings of the great law of
self-preservation that caused this diseased and rotten thing, burdened
by misery, hatred, and unhappiness, so tenaciously to cling to the hope
of life.
"Come, come!" cried Lodivarman. "Tell me what you want and be gone."
"I told you what I wanted," said King. "I came for Fou-tan."
"You cannot have her," cried Lodivarman. "She is mine. Think you that a
woman would leave a king for you, knave?"
"Ask her," said King; but there was no need to ask her. Fou-tan crossed
quickly to the American's side.
"Oh, Lodivarman," she cried, "let me go away in peace with this
warrior."
"It is that or death, Lodivarman," said King coldly.
"That or death," repeated Lodivarman in a half whisper. "Very well,
then, you have won," he added presently. "Go in peace and take the girl
with you." But even if he had not noted the cunning expression in the
King's eyes, Gordon King would not have been deceived by this sudden
acquiescence to his demand.
"You are wise, Lodivarman," he said--"wise to choose the easiest
solution of your problem. I, too, must be guided by wisdom and by my
knowledge of the ways of tyrants. Lie down upon the floor."
"Why?" demanded Lodivarman. "What would you do to me? Do you forget
that I am a king, that my person is holy?"
"I remember that you are a man and that men may die if, living, they
present an obstacle to another man who is desperate. Lodivarman, you
must know that I am desperate."
"I have told you that you might go in peace," said the monarch. "Why
would you humiliate me?"
"I have no desire to humiliate you, Lodivarman. I only wish to assure
myself that you will not be able to give the alarm before Fou-tan and
I are beyond the walls of Lodidhapura. I would secure you so that you
cannot leave this chamber; and as you have given orders that no one is
to enter this part of the King's house until you summon, it will be
morning, at least, before you can despatch warriors in pursuit of us."
"He speaks the truth," said Fou-tan to the King; "you will not be
harmed."
For a moment Lodivarman stood silent as though in thought, and then
suddenly and quite unexpectedly he leaped straight for King, striking
up the warrior's spear and endeavouring to clutch him by the throat.
Lodivarman was no coward.
So impetuous was the leper's charge that King was borne backward
beneath the man's weight. His heel caught in the fold of a tiger skin
upon the floor, and he fell heavily backward with Lodivarman upon
him. The fingers of the leper were already at his throat; the rotting
face was close to his; the odour of fetid breath was in his nostrils.
But only for an instant did the Khmer King have an advantage. As he
raised his voice to summon help, the hand of the American found his
throat, choking out the sound even as it was born. Youth and strength
and endurance all were upon the side of the younger man. Slowly he
wormed his body from beneath that of the King; and then, kicking one
of Lodivarman's braced feet from beneath him, he rolled the Khmer over
upon his back and was upon him. Lodivarman's grip was wrenched from
King's throat, and now the Khmer was gasping for breath as he fought,
violently but futilely, to disengage himself from the clutches of the
man upon him.
"Lie still," said King. "Do not force me to kill you." The repulsive
sores upon the face of the King were directly beneath his eyes. Even
in this tense moment that was so closely approaching tragedy, the
habits of his medical training were still sufficiently strong to cause
the American to give considerably more than cursory attention to
these outward physical symptoms of the dread disease that had given
Lodivarman the name of the Leper King; and what the doctor in him saw
induced a keen regret that he could not investigate this strange case
more fully.
At King's last command and threat, Lodivarman had ceased his struggles,
and the American had relaxed his grasp upon the other's throat. "Are
there any cords attached to the hangings in the room, Fou-tan?" he
demanded of the girl.
"Yes, there are cords at the windows," replied she.
"Get them for me," said the American.
Quickly Fou-tan wrenched the cords loose from their fastenings and
brought them to King, and with them the man bound the wrists and ankles
of the Khmer King. So securely did he bind them and so tightly did he
tie the knots that he had no fear that Lodivarman could release himself
without aid; and now to be doubly certain that he could not summon
assistance, King stuffed a gag of soft cloth into the mouth of his
royal prisoner and bound it tightly there with another cord. Then he
sprang to his feet.
"Come, Fou-tan," he said. "We have no time to lose; but wait, you
cannot go abroad in that garb. You are to accompany me as a slave girl,
not as an apsaras."
Fou-tan snatched off her ornate headdress and threw it upon the floor;
then she loosened the golden girdle that held her voluminous skirt in
place, and as it dropped to the floor King saw that she wore a silken
sampot beneath it. Across a taboret was a long drape, the ends of which
were spread upon the floor. This Fou-tan took and wound about her lithe
form as a sarong.
"I am ready, Gordon King," she said.
"The ear-rings," he suggested, "the necklace, and your other wrist
ornaments. They look too royal for a slave."
"You are right," she said, as she removed them.
King quickly extinguished the cressets, leaving the room in darkness.
Then together the two groped their way to the door. Opening it a
little, King looked out. The corridor was empty. He drew Fou-tan into
it and closed the door behind him. To the next door in the corridor he
stepped and tried it; it was not locked. He could just see the top of a
flight of stone steps leading down into utter darkness. He wished that
he had brought one of the cressets, but now it was too late. He drew
Fou-tan within and closed the door, and now they could see nothing.
"Where does this lead?" asked Fou-tan in a whisper.
"It is the King's private passage to the garden," replied the American,
"and if I have made no mistake in my calculations, the other end of it
is guarded by a sentry who will pass us with a wink."
As they groped their way slowly down the steps and along the corridor
King explained to Fou-tan the subterfuge he had adopted to obtain a
place upon the guard that night and that he had particularly noticed
the little door at the end of this wing of the palace and when the
major-domo had told him of the private passage leading to the garden he
had guessed that it ended at this very door. "The sentry there," he had
concluded, "is from my own barracks and knows the story. That is why
you must be a little slave girl to-night, Fou-tan."
"I do not mind being a slave girl--now," she said, and King felt the
little fingers of the hand he held press his own more tightly.
They came at last to the end of the corridor. In the darkness King's
fingers ran over the surface of the door in search of bars and bolts.
The fastening, which he found at last, was massive but simple. It moved
beneath the pressure of his hand with only a slight grating sound. He
pushed the door slowly open; the fresh night air blew in upon them; the
starlit heavens bathed the garden in gentle luminosity. Cautiously King
crossed the threshold. He saw the warrior upon his post without, and
instantly the man saw him.
"Who comes?" demanded the sentry, dropping his spear-point on a level
with King's breast as he wheeled quickly toward him.
"It is I--King--of Vama's ten. I have found the slave girl of whom I
told you, and I would walk in the garden with her for a few moments."
"I do not know you," snapped the warrior. "I never heard of you or
your slave girl," and then it was that King realised that he had never
seen this man before--that the sentries had been changed since he had
entered the palace. His heart sank within him, yet he maintained a bold
front.
"It will do no harm to let us pass for a while," he said, "you can see
that I am a member of the guard, as otherwise I could not have gained
access to the King's house."
"That may be true," replied the warrior, "but I have my orders that
no one shall pass either in or out of this doorway without proper
authority. I will summon an officer. If he wishes to let you pass, that
is none of my affair."
Fou-tan had been standing at King's side. Now she moved slowly and
languorously toward the sentry. Every undulating motion of her lithe
body was provocative. She came very close to him and turned her
beautiful face up toward his. Her eyes were dreamy wells of promise.
"For me?" she asked in a soft, caressing voice. "For me, warrior, could
you not be blind for a moment?"
"For you, yes," said the man huskily, "but you are not for me; you
belong to him."
"I have a sister," suggested Fou-tan. "When I return within the King's
house, perhaps she will come to this little door. What do you say,
warrior?"
"Perhaps it can do no harm," he said hesitatingly. "How long will you
remain in the garden?"
"We shall be in the garden only a few minutes," said King.
"I shall turn my back," said the sentry. "I have not seen you. Remember
that, I have not seen you."
"Nor have we seen you," replied King.
"Do not forget your sister, little one," said the sentry, as he turned
away from them and continued along his post, while Gordon King and
Fou-tan merged with the shadows of the trees beyond.
Perhaps, hours later, when he was relieved, the sentry realised that
he had been duped, but there were excellent reasons why he should keep
a still tongue in his head, though he intended at first opportunity
to look up this warrior who said that his name was King and demand an
accounting from him. Perhaps, after all, the slave girl had had no
sister, with which thought he turned on his pallet of straw and fell
asleep.