A FOOL IN HIS FOLLY
It is not to be supposed that the warlike skill which assisted Ninus to
form his plans, and the courage which rivalled his own in carrying them
out, would fail Semiramis now that she was unfettered by the counsels
and commands of her lord. The sons of Ashur had never yet been led so
judiciously, organised so carefully, as in this daring expedition to the
north, under conduct of the Great Queen.
Aryas little knew with whom he had to deal, when he spoke of surprising
her by sudden onslaught, or hoped to rout her in the fury of his attack.
Her watchmen were posted, her defences prepared, her dispositions made
to meet his wiliest stratagems; and all the time, while every
working-party was covered by a guard of twice its number, the labour
progressed steadily, and the river, on which the besieged chiefly
depended for security, waned cubit by cubit and hour by hour.
None knew better than this woman-warrior how the presence of a commander
infuses spirit into the operations of an army, how the ubiquity of a
leader promotes that attention to details which alone insures success:
there was no period of the day or night but the queen's white horse
might be seen flitting through the lines of her innumerable host, while
the lovely face smiled its calm approval, or expressed displeasure, no
less fatal because so grave and quiet; always pale, immovable, and
serene, under gleam of moonlight, flash of torches, or glare of day.
Men wondered when she ate and slept, inclining to believe that this
supernatural beauty must be above such human wants, tended and nourished
by the stars from whence it came.
Only Assarac perhaps, in all that host, knew too well that the Great
Queen's passions and affections were of earth, earthly; that the flame
which scorched her heart and blazed in her eyes was no enlightening
radiance, but a devouring fire to wither and consume--knew too well, yet
loved her all the more; for the eunuch's whole being was now saturated
with a sentiment noble in its origin, disastrous in its results, that
yet springs from the fairest and sweetest instincts of man's nature, as
poison may be distilled from flowers.
It caused him to labour and watch, to endure hunger, thirst, heat and
fatigue. It bade him forget pride, ambition, self-respect. It made him a
warrior, a hero, and a slave. It rendered him brave, pitiful, generous,
and unhappy.
Twice since sundown had the queen ridden out through the camp with
Assarac at her rein. Once more she was astir an hour before daybreak,
yet, as she mounted at the entrance of her pavilion, the eunuch stood
there in waiting to help her to the saddle, and attend her in her ride.
Without a word she galloped through the lines, at such speed as the
dubious light permitted amongst the numerous obstacles of a camp, nor
drew bridle till she reached a spot by the river, where certain masses
of shadows looming against the sky denoted that the walls of Ardesh
would be visible with dawn of day. Here she halted and broke silence.
"A city of defence," said she with a gentle laugh, "like a blade, or a
pitcher, or a woman, or anything else you please, is no stronger than
its weakest place. On this side alone is Ardesh not impregnable. I have
made thee a warrior, Assarac, as a girl spins her hank out of a tangle
of flax, with the patient heart and the gentle hand. Show me thou hast
profited by my lessons, and tell me why I brought thee here at a gallop
before dawn?"
Brightening as he always did with the sound of her voice, Assarac
answered, reasonably enough, "To scan the place warily as soon as it is
light: to learn every bush and stone, count every blade of grass on the
ground where we mean to give the assault."
"Not so," she answered, in the same light tone. "All that was done in
this poor head of mine when first I marked the spot. No; the
warrior-eunuch has yet much to learn from the warrior-queen. It is not
enough to set your own host in array, and mark your own plan of battle;
you must also fight for your enemy, put yourself in his place, and so,
anticipating him in every plan he can devise, force him at last to
accept the contest when and where you choose to offer it. The reason
women always foil men is, that they _cannot_ put themselves in our
places, nor foresee what we may or may not do in the plainest situation.
But this concerns neither thee nor me. I think I have even less of the
woman than thou, Assarac, of the man."
He answered not a word, moving uneasily in his saddle, as if from a
sudden hurt.
"Nay," she added, guessing his discomposure from his silence; "I meant
we are both above the weaknesses of our fellows--kindred spirits
treading down all obstacles in our path, knowing no law but our own will
and our own desires. Listen, then, thou priest of Baal in harness of
proof--listen, and learn while I teach thee that which shall be of more
service to-day than all the lore aching neck and dazzled eyes ever yet
gathered from the stars. Is not this the weak side of the fortress, and
therefore the better for our assault?"
"Aryas must know it also," replied the eunuch, "and will have mustered
here his chief power of defence. Peradventure we might surprise him,
with less loss, on a stronger quarter."
"An apt scholar," replied the queen, "and worthy to be a captain of ten
thousand; nevertheless, in so far at fault that he sees not with the
eyes of his enemy. Behold! The Armenian, hopeless of defending his city
from such a host as mine in the process of a regular siege; and seeing
the river in which he trusted turning to dry ground beneath his eyes,
will determine to hazard a battle here on this narrow strip where he can
fight at a vantage, while half the attacking army is engaged with
pickaxe and spade. Listen, priest. I hear the tinkle of their tools even
now, borne on the light breeze that steals in advance of day. He little
guesses the work was all completed by the middle watch of night; that
every company is bending, armed, over a feigned task in order of battle;
that, at the first note of a trumpet from the queen's pavilion, be it
dark or daylight or gray uncertain dawn, the hosts of Assyria will set
themselves in array without hesitation or confusion, every bow bent,
every horse mounted, every man in his place.
"Since my tent was pitched yonder by the stream, I have not found a
moment till now to breathe the cool night air and loose the buckle of my
belt. Is it not grand and joyous, this pause before the storm? At such a
moment I feel how noble it is to lead the sons of Ashur to battle.
To-night, Assarac, I _know_ that I am the Great Queen!"
She seldom thus divulged her own thoughts, her own sentiments. The tones
of that voice, always so bewitching, thrilled to his heart's core; and
with irrepressible admiration he burst out, "Queen of the sons of
Ashur! Queen of the whole earth! Were there indeed crowns of fire above,
queen of the host of heaven! What have I to offer in earnest of such
devotion as never worshipper yielded to his god? It is little enough to
give this poor brain in council, this poor body in battle; but O that I
could take the heart out of my breast now, this moment, and lay it down
before thee there, to trample beneath thy feet!"
"It is too much," she answered, almost in a whisper. "I may tread
warriors in the dust, but I make no footstool of a servant's heart, be
he man of war, eunuch, or priest of Baal. Keep it in thy harness, good
friend, and see that to-day it turn not to water in the face of the
Comely King."
Dawn was still below the mountain, and he could not read her
countenance; but on his ear, sharpened by intense emotion, there jarred
a something in her voice that broke its full melodious ring. Was it
kindness? Was it pity? Maddening thought! was it the insult of covert
mirth?
"I am not like others," said he. "I know it too well; and yet my
adoration of my queen is less the blind man's yearning for the day he
hath never seen than that desire of the spirit for some star it must not
hope to attain, which yet raises it, by the very agony of its despair,
towards the light for which it longs."
She had a brief space of leisure before the joyous revelry of battle
would commence. There was no better pastime, she thought, at hand. Why
not examine into so strange a phase of human suffering, and learn how
much the heart, even of such a man as this, could be made to bear,
before it maddened him past all endurance? Surely such studies, so
curious in themselves, enhanced the flavour of that pursuit she
dignified with the name of love; a pursuit far inferior, no doubt, to
war, equal though, and perhaps in very hot weather preferable, to the
chase. Here a memory of Sarchedon came to disturb her equanimity; but so
much of bitterness and vexation mingled with the thought, that her heart
grew all the harder for its indulgence. What had she to do with pity,
she who had slain beasts by scores and men by hundreds to pass an idle
day? Had she ever wished her shaft recalled when it pierced the lion
through from shoulder to shoulder; and were these human creatures half
so brave, so noble as the brutes? Was she not the Great Queen,
answerable to none on earth, and fearless of the very stars in heaven?
Besides, it amused--more, it interested--her. So she, the conqueror of
the world, thought no shame to trifle with him as a village maid trifles
with her peasant lover, as a cat trifles with its paltry little prey.
"There is a light," she said, reverting gently to his wild confession of
idolatry, "that blinds a man's eyes, besides burning his fingers. It is
not that by which he sees his way clearly to safety or success."
"And of what avail are safety and success to _me_?" demanded Assarac,
striving in the early twilight to read his doom on that remorseless
face. "Success, the prize of him who hopes; safety, the desire of him
who fears. If I am below hope, surely I am also above fear. My queen,
look on that shadowy mass of wall and tower, darkening every moment
against the coming light of dawn. How many bold warriors, think you, are
within that city who to-day will draw the sword and throw away the
scabbard once for all? I too have drawn the sword and rushed upon my
fate. Like one who leaps into air from the tower of Belus, I cannot
recall my plunge. Great Queen, I have dared to love the very dust
beneath your feet. Here, in the day of battle, I dare to tell you so.
Ere set of sun, Semiramis shall be ruler over all the world, from the
warm river of Egypt to the bleak snow-deserts of the north; or Assarac
shall be down in the strife of horsemen, trodden out of all likeness to
humanity. Enough! I can but serve her at the end as I have served her
from the beginning; and for wages I do but ask, great glorious queen,
look kindly on me ere I die!"
His voice came hoarse and broken, his smooth face worked convulsively
from chin to eyebrows. Surely any other woman must have been moved--at
least to compassion; but Semiramis, pulling her horse's head up from the
wet morning herbage he was cropping with avidity, gazed intently on the
walls of Ardesh, now visible in the light of dawn.
Was not the great stake for which she played enclosed within those
towers, the desire of her eyes, the treasure of her wilful heart? She
could understand, she thought, those longings on which the eunuch laid
such stress, but of pity, save for her own sufferings, she had none to
spare.
"Listen!" exclaimed the queen, turning round on her companion with one
hand held in air, as though she had not heard a syllable of his appeal,
"they are mustering even now within the place. Stand still, Merodach!
Good horse, the ring of steel stirs thee like thy mistress! What say
you, Assarac--can we creep on a bowshot nearer to make sure? The light
is behind them, and we may defy their archers for a few moments yet."
Thus speaking, she moved her horse forward a score of paces, followed by
the priest, vexed, smarting, dizzy with anger and shame.
But his tortures were not over, his punishment not yet complete. Sitting
calmly on her horse, though day was breaking fast, and every instant
brought nearer the certainty of a storm of arrows from the wall,
Semiramis looked round with a careless smile, like some light-minded
dame chattering with her tirewoman.
"What think you, Assarac?" she whispered. "Is he waking yet, this Comely
King?--of whose beauty they make such a prate you would suppose he was
Shamash, god of day. I would fain see him rise from his couch; for I
like well to look on beauty, both of man and beast."
Then she patted Merodach on his swelling neck, sighing and smiling too
while she caressed her favourite: the sigh was for memory, the smile for
triumph and for hope.
"We shall rouse him to some purpose," answered the eunuch, mastering his
emotion bravely. "And the Great Queen shall judge of his beauty for
herself, naked and a prisoner, bound at her chariot-wheels."
He spoke firmly, even gaily, as behoved one who had made up his mind for
the worst. That day, he resolved, should see the end of all this doubt,
and longing, and misery. In the front of battle he would perform such
deeds of valour as should force the queen's regard for _him_, the
eunuch, who could thus put to shame her stoutest men of war, or in the
ranks of the long swords he would find out the great secret, and start
for yonder place, wherever it might be, that Ninus and Sargon, and so
many others, had reached long ago.
Semiramis caught up her rein with an exclamation of delight.
"I was sure of it!" she said; "I knew it from the first! They will fight
in the plain--they are moving the host down even now. Behold, I can see
their archers on the wall! It is time for you and me, Assarac, to prove
the mettle of our horses and the surety of their archers' aim."
As she spoke, she urged Merodach to a gallop, while an arrow whistling
by her cheek quivered in the ground a spear's length farther on. The
good horse only sped the faster, and ere morning had brightened the
mountain's crest, Semiramis reached her pavilion, and her trumpets rang
gaily out, to set the sons of Ashur in array.