BOND AND FREE
"A horned owl in the twilight; a horned owl in the dark! How many horns
does my owl hold up!" A merry laugh was ringing in her ear, a soft hand
was laid over her eyes, while the white fingers of its fellow twinkled
before her face, and Ishtar recognised the voice of Kalmim, challenging
her to one of those foolish games of guessing so popular from the
earliest ages with the thoughtless children of the south.
It was something to meet a friend, and of her own sex, even though that
friend was one with whom her deeper, purer nature had but little in
common. Strung to their highest pitch, her feelings now gave way; and
leaning on Kalmim's shoulder, Ishtar burst into a passion of weeping
that perhaps did more to calm and restore her than all the feminine
consolations and condolences lavished by the other, whose compassion,
lying near the surface, seemed easily aroused and quickly exhausted.
A weeping girl was no unusual sight in the public places of great
Babylon. Exciting neither pity nor comment, Ishtar and Kalmim withdrew
unnoticed from the crowd, to stand apart in the shelter of a gigantic
fountain, erected for the refreshment of her people by the Great Queen,
where the younger woman soon recovered composure to answer the voluble
questions of the elder.
"Where have you been hiding, and what have you been doing, and why have
we never seen you at the well, in the temple, at market, sacrifice, or
on the city wall?" said Kalmim, flirting the water about while she
dipped her white hand in its marble basin. "Surely the days of mourning
are past, and those of feasting should have begun. Why, then, in the
name of Ashtaroth, do I find the fairest damsel in Babylon with her eyes
unpainted, her head untied, and, my dear, a dress that looks as if it
had been trodden in the dust by every beast in the market? How did you
ever get it so rumpled and soiled?"
Ignoring this important consideration, Ishtar took the other by the
hand, and gazing in her face with large serious eyes, replied,
"Kalmim, I believe you would serve me, if you could. I believe you are
my friend."
"As far as one woman can be a friend to another," laughed Kalmim. "And
that is about as far as I could fathom the great river with my bodkin.
Trust me, dear, you are too comely to possess friends, either men or
women. Nevertheless, you sat on my knees when you were a curly-headed
child, and I--well, when I was better and happier than I am now. I would
serve you if I could. By the light of Shamash, I would, though I might
hate myself and you the next minute! Take me, therefore, while the good
mood is on. What can I do to please my white-faced Ishtar?"
"You have influence and power," was the reply. "He--my father used--I
have heard it said that you are deep in her counsels, and high in favour
with the Great Queen."
An angry flush rose to Kalmim's brow, and her laugh was not pleasant to
hear, while she answered,
"The Great Queen is a woman like the rest of us. I wish I had never seen
her haughty face. For days together it was Kalmim here, Kalmim there;
who so quick-witted as Kalmim? whom could she trust like Kalmim? Kalmim
was never to be out of her sight. I must have had a score of hands, and
as many wings as Nisroch, to do half her bidding. Then, in the
twinkling of an eye, lo, in the threading of a needle, all is changed,
and because the Great King went to the stars or wherever he _did_ go, I
am to be cast aside like a frayed robe or a soiled napkin, and must see
her face no more. She might have been a little fonder of him while he
_was_ here, I think, instead of making all this mourning now he's gone.
You would suppose that in the whole land of Shinar no wife was ever left
a widow before. Queen though she be, she must take her chance with the
others, I trow."
"And are you no longer in the royal service?" asked Ishtar, sadly
disappointed.
"In the royal service I must ever be," answered Kalmim, "since I was
born a bondwoman in old Nineveh, whence come the fairest of us, after
all, say what they will of this great wicked town! I can no more help my
bonds than my beauty, and I do not know, my pretty Ishtar, that I am
more anxious to get rid of the one than the other. But it vexes me sore,
and angers me too, when I think that the queen, because she sits in
sackcloth and scatters ashes on her head, should refuse to admit her
faithful slave and servant, who never failed her yet, even to the outer
court of the palace. If I were free, like you, my dear, I swear by Baal
I would take my leave of great Babylon for good and all!"
"Free!" repeated the girl bitterly, reflecting how little availed her
freedom, her birth, even her beauty to attain the one object of her
life, in the pursuit of which she was fain to implore the assistance of
this bondwoman. "If I were _free_, as you say, I would leap on yonder
camel, with a lump of dates and a barley-cake in my hand, turn his head
for the northern mountains, and never wish to see the city walls again."
"I guessed it!" exclaimed Kalmim, clapping her hands. "The daughter of
the stars has gone the way of us poor children of earth, as if she too
were made of common clay. He has taken your heart with him, whoever he
is. I see it all, and follow him you must, at any labour and at any
cost. I can feel for you, dear: I know what it is. Now, there was
Sethos, the Great King's cup-bearer, as goodly a youth as ever longed
for a beard. And, lo, he vanishes one summer's morning with a score of
horsemen, rides away into the desert, and I shall never see him more."
"Take comfort," rejoined Ishtar, glad to do a kindness even for this
flighty dame. "I left him safe and well at Ascalon, and beheld him with
my own eyes drinking wine of Eschol the night before I fled."
"At Ascalon!" exclaimed Kalmim. "Where Rekamat was--I heard them say so!
The treacherous tiger-cat! The false villain! See what it is to let a
man find out you have thought twice about him. He cares no more for you
than we do for a garment worn a score of times, or a husband we have
known a score of years. And yet he swore and protested. Well, I was born
under Ashtaroth, and I have been a fool like many another. Nevertheless,
the broken jar will mend no doubt, and the empty gourd can be filled
again at the stream."
"I think he came not into Ascalon of his own free will," answered
Ishtar. "He galloped through the gate like one who rides for life, with
a cloud of Egyptian horsemen at his heels."
"I wish with all my heart they had caught and flayed him alive!" laughed
the other. "But I might have known him better than to think he would
look at that cream-faced Rekamat, for all her delicate gait and her
tawny hair. So he escaped with the skin of his teeth, say you, and was
last seen safe in Ascalon. I pray you, is he there now?"
"I know not," answered Ishtar. "O Kalmim, I will trust you. I am so
miserable. He entered the city with--with Sarchedon. And the walls were
guarded, the watch set, because of the false Egyptian, so that a mouse
could scarce creep out unnoticed. Nevertheless, we glided through the
gate at sunrise, he and I, and--and, right or wrong, we fled into the
wilderness."
"Like a pair of pelicans!" exclaimed the other in high glee. "And so,
being in the wilderness, you made yourselves a nest no doubt, and folded
your wings in peace, as it had been behind the city wall!"
"The children of Anak surprised us sleeping," sobbed Ishtar, whose tears
were beginning to flow afresh. "They killed our dromedary, poor beast,
and spoiled our goods--all that we had--a lump of bread and a handful of
dates. They spared our lives in pity, but they set me down beside the
Well of Palms, and they sold him into captivity. O Kalmim, comfort me,
for indeed I fear I shall never see him more!"
Light-hearted and impressionable, the other was ready enough with
sympathy, advice, and perhaps assistance, up to the point at which it
could inconvenience herself.
"Take heart," said she; "the world is wide, but woman has her wits, as
the bird of the air has its wings. Can you not discover where he is
gone? Knowing this, surely the bow is bent, and the arrow fitted to the
string. You need but let it fly."
"I was guided by Nisroch," was the tearful answer; "for I came hither
into the market from the halls of my ruined home and the bones of my
dead father. O Kalmim, I watched by them all last night, to drive the
wild-dogs away."
Again she laid her face on the other's shoulder, and wept.
Kalmim was greatly moved.
"I will help you," she protested. "Indeed, I will. I have friends; I
have lovers--scores of them, girl; and in high places too. I will seam
my face with scars, tear out my hair by handfuls, but they shall listen
to my prayer. What! is my cheek sun-burned? are mine eyes grown dim? I
will force my way to the queen! I will humble myself before the prince!"
"The prince!" interrupted Ishtar. "He is in Ascalon."
"Foolish girl!" replied the other. "He is even now coming out from the
queen's palace to do justice amongst the people. Every second morning he
rides forth on a white horse, with Assarac at his right hand. Grave has
he grown, and severe, putting aside the wine-cup, speaking but a word at
a time, and scarce suffering the people to look on his face. Ashtaroth,
what a face it is! Surely he is more beautiful than dawn."
Ishtar shuddered. To her, for all his comeliness, he was loathsome as a
leper, terrible as a beast of prey.
"It is but justice I require," said she, wringing her hands. "Bare
justice for an Assyrian-born carried into captivity."
"He shall be brought back by the sons of Ashur with the strong hand,"
replied Kalmim stoutly. "Who can stand against Assyria in her might? But
I know not yet whither they have taken him, nor how you have discovered
the prison-house where he is lodged."
"I came into the market at sunrise," answered Ishtar, "to sell the clasp
of my father's girdle, that I might eat a morsel of bread. Ashtaroth
must have had pity on me; for she directed my steps to those very
traders who bought Sarchedon from the sons of Anak. One, who seemed
chief among them, spoke me fair, and treated me well. Perhaps he has a
daughter of his own. From him I learned, that when they divided the
spoil, his brother had taken the Assyrian warrior for his share, and was
journeying with him to Armenia, where he would sell him for a goodly
slave to stand before the king. I pray you, Kalmim, is it very far to
Armenia?"
"It is many days' journey," replied Kalmim hopefully. "But those who
have horses and camels need not the wings of a bird. I have heard it
said of the Great King, that his sceptre stretched over the whole land
of Shinar, his spear to the uttermost ends of the earth, and his arrows
reached the heavens. I know not; but I think the sons of Ashur can
obtain what they want, even from beyond the mountains of Armenia, if
they go to ask for it with bow and spear. These traders, though, are
soft and smooth-spoken, false as prosperous lovers, every man of them!
How know you their tale is true?"
"By this token," answered Ishtar, showing Sarchedon's amulet in her
hand.
Kalmim recognised it at once. Many a time since she missed it from the
Great Queen's neck had she speculated on its absence, and wondered what
fresh combinations of intrigue and duplicity were denoted by this
imprudent generosity of her mistress. Though Semiramis, she knew,
entertained a peculiar reverence for the trinket, as possessing some
supernatural charm, yet when she bade her tirewoman go back to search
for it in the temple of Baal, there was a restless anxiety in her
demeanour not to be explained by mere concern for a lost jewel. And now
her eyes were opened. She marvelled how she could have been so dull and
blind. She resolved to hold the clue tight, and never let it go till she
had turned its possession to her own advantage. Though she tried to look
innocent and unconscious, it was impossible to keep down the sparkle in
her eye, the crimson on her cheek, while she asked as carelessly as she
could,
"Is it a sign between you, and did he send it to vouch for the truth of
the messenger?"
"Not so," answered Ishtar. "They took it from his neck by stealth, and
the good trader gave it into my hand, because I desired it from him as a
gift. When I look on it, I seem to see the noble face of my beloved. O
Kalmim, we must deliver him, and bring him back."
"We must deliver him, and bring him back," repeated Kalmim, pondering
deeply. In a few seconds she ran through the main points and bearings of
the case.
So long as Sarchedon remained a captive in Armenia, it was obvious that
he could be of little service to her designs, but if she could by any
means recall him to Babylon, a path seemed open that should lead to her
own aggrandisement and paramount influence in the palace. She was
sufficiently persuaded that the seclusion of Semiramis would last but
for a short time; that her masculine intellect would soon weary of
inactivity; and that her energies would again rule the nation through
the son, as heretofore through the sire. She was shrewd enough to have
observed that Ninyas did nothing without the counsel of Assarac; and she
had not forgotten Assarac's implicit and slavish devotion to the queen.
She was also satisfied that her royal lady had contracted one of those
infatuated passions for Sarchedon to which she was occasionally subject,
and which her tire-woman's experience reminded her would be gratified at
any cost of danger or shame. If, then, she could go to the queen when
the days of mourning had expired, and say to her, "I have got your
treasure safe in Babylon, under lock and key; I brought him back from
Armenia by my own exertions, and you need but lift up your finger to
behold him here at your feet," would she not become one of the greatest
personages in Assyria, herself the fount of honour, wealth, influence,
and promotion? Sethos, she decided, should obtain the leadership of the
royal guard, and her other lovers be rewarded, more or less, in
proportion to their attractions. Meantime Sarchedon must be brought
back.
"You love him dearly then," said she, "and would shrink from no
sacrifice to insure his safety?"
There was more than devotion in Ishtar's simple answer,
"I would give my life for the life of him."
"There is but one power under that of Ashtaroth to help you at your
need," pursued Kalmim. "If the king will send an embassy to Armenia, as
to Egypt, for the recovery of Sarchedon, the youth may yet return, fast
as camels can travel. But you must make your petition at once, and in
person. You are young and comely, though a little too pale. Such faces
as yours seldom plead with Ninyas in vain."
Ishtar clasped her hands and trembled.
"Is there no other way?" said she. "There is none in all the land of
Shinar before whom I would not rather bow down my face than the prince."
"The prince, girl! what mean you?" exclaimed the other. "Are you mad?
There is none can help you in such a matter but the king."
"Only--only," stammered Ishtar, "I fled on purpose to avoid him."
"Fled!" repeated Kalmim scornfully; "whence and why? There is no time to
lose. Tell me in a word: has Ninyas, too, taken a fancy to that white
face of yours?"
That white face turned crimson, while about brow and lip gathered such
haughty defiance, that for a moment the girl looked like her father when
he set the battle in array.
"He would have forced me to love him," said she; "but I had rather be
lying dead without the city wall!"
"Is it so indeed?" exclaimed Kalmim, a little vexed, it may be, to hear
of another woman's conquest, yet highly pleased with the promise of
success it seemed to offer. "Then Ashtaroth doth indeed favour us, and
the prey is taken ere we spread the net. If he wooed you unsuccessfully,
believe me, he is not out of your power yet. You need but ask your
price, and he will pay it. That price must be the recovery of
Sarchedon."
Love and hatred were tearing at the poor girl's heart--love gained the
mastery.
"What would you have me do?" she asked; but her voice was so changed,
the other looked anxiously in her face.
"Now you are reasonable," said Kalmim, after a pause, "and will take a
friend's advice. So shall all turn to our advantage at last. This must
you do: rend that garment of yours thus, not down to the hem, but so
that it falls gracefully away in two pieces, uncovering neck and
shoulder. Scatter a little dust on your head--a very little--not enough
to dim the lustre on your hair. Then sit you down in the gate yonder; I
will show you the place. Wait till Ninyas rides by, coming from the
judgment seat. He must be leaving it ere now. When you hear the tramp of
the white horse, turn not your face to right or left; but as he draws
near, start up in front of him, throw back your veil, wreathe your arms
about his knee, pour forth your prayer, and implore your lord to do with
you what he will."
"Be it so," answered Ishtar, calm and pale, like one in the grasp of
death. "Thus shall I save you, Sarchedon my beloved! But never, never
will I look in your dear face again."