THE KING TAKES HIS REVENGE
Azemilcus walked to the window and stood there leaning against the
frame. Day was breaking, sullen and gray, in a wrack of flying clouds,
and the uneasy moaning of the sea sounded in his ears.
There Hur and Esmun, panting from their long climb, found him standing.
The prince carried a drawn sword in his hand and he glanced quickly
from side to side as he burst into the room. Behind him came Ariston
and a guard of twenty or thirty soldiers, headed by one of the generals
of the garrison. Hur had expected to find the Greeks. He saw only his
father, leaning wearily in the window. He stood abashed, looking at
Esmun as if for advice.
The old king remained motionless until all had entered, and then he
turned slowly and faced them. The lines of his countenance, deepened
by months of anxiety, told of the strain he had passed through, and his
shrunken frame seemed aged and feeble in its magnificent robe of state.
His eyes met theirs steadily and frankly, yet with a look of sadness as
he gave them his greeting.
"Welcome, my son and gentlemen," he said. "You come early to seek your
king; but in these times I know that ceremony must be disregarded.
What news do you bring?"
The authority in his tone and the dignity of his bearing, which most of
the men who stood before him had been accustomed from boyhood to
respect, had their effect. The soldiers, who knew nothing of the plot,
stared wonderingly about them. Ariston had prudently halted near the
door, and he now edged still farther into the background.
"Come, gentlemen!" the king said, finding that none replied to his
question. "What is the news that brings you hither at this hour? Do
not fear to tell me, since it is the lot of kings to share the dangers
and sorrows of their people. Have I not done it for nearly fifty
years?"
He smiled somewhat sadly and waved his thin hand with a gesture that
seemed to dismiss all that he had done for the city as something for
which he required no return of gratitude.
"Do not hesitate," he continued, "because you would spare me. It is
true that in all that now threatens us I have more to lose than you. I
am ready, as you know, to sacrifice even life itself if that would save
the city. Is it concerning the offering to Baal-Moloch that you desire
to consult me?"
He addressed himself to Esmun, recognizing in the priest the man from
whom he had most to fear. He had scarcely glanced at his son, who
stood helpless, raging inwardly to find himself presenting the
appearance of a culprit caught in some fault, instead of the avenger
that he had expected to be. Esmun looked at the prince and saw that
nothing was to be expected from him. He took up the situation boldly,
relying upon his sacred office to protect him.
"It is true that I wished to consult you concerning the sacrifice to
Baal-Moloch, whom I serve," he said, "but we had still another reason
for coming. We have been informed that a plot against your life has
been conceived. It was told to us that certain Greeks had been brought
into the city by the treachery of your enemies, and we made all haste
to summon this guard to protect you in case of need. It is said that
the assassins are even now in the palace. If anything should happen to
your Highness, then, indeed, the city might despair. In guarding thy
safety, we guard the safety of all."
The two men looked into each other's eyes. The king read the threat
that lay behind Esmun's words and he took up the challenge.
"Why should they seek to destroy a man whose days are fast nearing
their close?" he asked. "The death of one of these soldiers would
profit them more, since it would leave one less dauntless heart for
them to conquer. It seems to me that the alarm is needless, although I
thank you for your care; and yet, I will not conceal from you that
there may after all be some basis for the story you have heard. Within
the week, the crown rubies have been stolen, and it is clear that I
have some unfaithful servants. Perhaps they have brought in the Greeks
to prevent detection and the punishment they deserve. Search the
palace, and if the assassins are found, we will make an example of
them."
Esmun's heavy face quivered when the king spoke of the rubies, for his
words were accompanied by a look full of significance. He knew that
the Greeks were in the city, but the willingness of the king to have
the search made indicated that they were no longer in the palace. He
racked his brains to think what had become of them.
Ariston slipped out of the door and stole softly down the stairs. The
astute Athenian saw that the counterplot had collapsed.
"You, my son, and you, Esmun, will remain with me while the guard makes
the search," the king said coolly, "and let us eat, for there is much
to be done to-day."
He engaged the priest in talk regarding the details of the sacrifice to
Baal while the soldiers dispersed through the palace and slaves brought
food. To Hur he did not speak. The general in charge of the guard at
last returned, saying that no trace of the presence of strangers in the
palace could be discovered. He knew nothing of the secret passages,
and the prince did not venture, in his father's presence, to reveal
them. Esmun, with the theft of the rubies in his mind, dared not
betray his knowledge of their existence.
"It is as I thought," the king said, dismissing the guard. "I thank
you for your zeal."
The slaves had already withdrawn, since it was unlawful for any who had
not been initiated to be present while the mysteries of the worship of
Baal were being discussed.
"You seem downcast, my son!" the king said when he was left alone with
Hur and the priest. He took his seat at the table, upon which the food
had been placed, and motioned them to a seat opposite to him. "You
will never be a king," he continued, "until you learn how to conquer
failure. I have noted a certain nervousness in you of late. You
should overcome it. Misfortune is half disarmed when you meet her in a
cheerful spirit."
Hur let his eyes fall, but he made no reply. Esmun kept his gaze on
the king's face.
"Come!" Azemilcus said in the same bantering tone, "you do not eat.
You should leave the welfare of the city to me. You thought you knew,
when you did not. You should remember that kings do not always reveal
their purposes."
He filled his cup from the great flagon and pushed it toward them.
"Let us drink to the safety of Tyre," he said.
"To that I say amen," Esmun exclaimed, "and may the curse of Baal rest
upon all who seek to betray her!"
"So say I--be they high or low!" Hur echoed boldly.
The old king's eyes sparkled and he looked at them with the mocking
smile that they knew so well.
"Drink, then!" he said, spilling a few drops from his cup upon the
floor as a libation.
The others followed his example, Esmun with a muttered word of
invocation, and both drank off what remained. The king was seized by a
violent fit of coughing that shook his withered frame and forced him to
set his cup down untasted. As he did so Esmun rose to his feet.
The face of the priest was convulsed and purple and his eyes seemed
starting from his head. He raised his clenched hands and made a
tottering step toward the king as though he would strike him with his
fists. He struggled to speak, but no words issued from his throat. He
reeled blindly and crashed down across the table like a slain bullock,
overturning it in his fall. His eyes rolled up in his head and he lay
motionless.
The prince did not rise from his chair, but his fingers gripped
convulsively the carved arms of ebony and he writhed in agony.
"Father!" he gasped.
His form stiffened, his head fell back, and a slight foam appeared on
his lips.
Azemilcus drew the skirts of his robe around him and stepped carefully
across the litter caused by the wreck of the table, with its linen
cloth stained in the spilled wine that flowed from the shattered
flagon. He walked quietly to the door and vanished between the crimson
curtains, leaving the two dead men alone in the room.