With sudden movement she drew aside the silken curtain, and we stepped
into a small, dark, stone chamber, almost a cell. Then with a word of
warning she guided my footsteps to a narrow flight of stairs, which she
descended with caution, her golden anklets jingling as she went. As I
followed, there clung about her soft draperies those sweet perfumes of
the harem, the fragrance of which had intoxicated me.
Again she flung back a second heavy curtain that barred a horse-shoe
arch at the foot of the stairs, when instantly my eyes were blinded by a
flood of brilliant light. Under my feet I felt a carpet so thick that
my slipper sank deep into it, and gradually as my dazzled vision grew
accustomed to the unusual glare, I realised that I was in a chamber
about the size of the one we had just quitted, but decorated entirely in
bright green, the hue of which, reflected into Azala's anxious
countenance, gave her a complexion pallid and ghastly. The walls and
ceiling were painted green, with good counsels from the Koran in long,
lean letters of darker shade, the divans and cushions were of green
silk, the stools of malachite, the large alcoves at the end fashioned
from dark green marble, beautifully carved, while a malachite table,
shaped like a crescent, near the end of the apartment, was studded with
huge green crystals that glittered in the light like emeralds. The
effect was weird and startling, for the bright white light came from a
thousand lamps cunningly arranged overhead, while screens of glass, the
colour of the deep sea, shot from the walls slanting beams of brilliant
green.
The place was luxurious, yet, as I gazed around it, I could not repress
a shudder.
"Go! Take thine ease upon yonder divan," Azala said in a strange voice,
pointing to the great couch within the alcove, and as I obeyed her, she
took from her arm the gold band with its talisman of leopard's skin and
handed it to me. Apparently she dare not wear it there.
Standing in the centre of the curious chamber, she clapped her hands
loudly, and instantly a curtain opposite was drawn aside, and there
appeared the ugly, hunchbacked form of the grinning dwarf, Tiamo,
followed by two female Arab slaves handsomely dressed in tissue of white
and gold, and wearing long strings of talismans, and embroidered bags
containing mysterious powders, cabalistic figures, and prayers in the
language of Maghrib.
The trio, advancing, knelt before their mistress, and with a murmured
blessing kissed her feet, prostrating themselves before her.
"Rise," she commanded, almost breathless with excitement. "Know ye that
in one brief hour the dawn will show in the direction of the holy city.
Speed therefore on the wings of haste and execute my will."
"We, thy slaves, obey thee, O Mistress," they answered with one accord,
and, rising, disappeared for a few moments. The two girls presently
came forth bearing between them a huge golden bowl full of some sweet
yet pungent perfume, which they set on a tripod upon the table of green
malachite while Tiamo produced a small golden brazier which he lit and
placed beneath the bowl. Then the girls produced green-painted
derboukas, and seating themselves upon the mats at the horns of the
crescent-shaped table, commenced a monotonous thumping on their drums,
while the hideous dwarf, grinning from ear to ear, beat a rapid tattoo
upon a double tambourine or _kalango_, all three chanting a
weirdly-intoned accompaniment.
The curious spectacle held me on the tiptoe of expectation, for while
the music was continued with a regularity that quickly became
monotonous, Azala stood with her bejewelled hands outstretched over the
bowl, repeating some words in the Hausa tongue which I could not
understand. Her face had now grown deathly pale; surrounding her eyes
were large, dark rings that betrayed the terrible anxiety at her heart.
As the golden bowl became heated, the colourless liquid perfume gave off
a vapour so pungent that it caused water to well in my eyes and my head
to swim as if I had drunk marissa too freely. I was afraid to rise to
my feet lest I should stagger and fall, so upon the edge of the divan I
sat entranced and fascinated. The brighter the brazier grew the more
dimly burned the lamps above until the brilliant light vanished and we
remained in a semi-darkness, made brighter now and then by the uncertain
flicker of the fire. Emerald crystals everywhere in ceiling and walls
flashed like jewels with a bright green brilliance each time the flames
shot up, producing a weird and dazzling effect, while in the shadow
Azala prostrated herself, uttering an appeal to some power unseen.
Eagerly I watched the next development of this remarkable experiment.
Suddenly the woman I loved struggled to her feet and with her right
forefinger touched the edge of the steaming bowl. As she did this, a
bright flash, blinding as lightning, shot through the chamber, causing
the music to cease and the slaves, awe-stricken, to bow their heads
until their brows touched the carpet.
"Malec, iron-hearted Janitor of Hell, hath been overthrown!" they
exclaimed, in voices hushed in fear.
Again was the flash repeated as Azala's hand touched the edge of the
bowl of repousse gold, and the slaves gasped in Arabic,--
"Lo! the Guardian of Al-Hawiyat is vanquished by the sword of Eblis!"
Then, a third time my eyes became dazzled by the sudden brilliance which
apparently proceeded from the great basin of perfume, and the slaves
lifted their voices, saying,--
"The Pillars of Hell have indeed fallen!--the sword of Eblis is
sheathed, and Malec, trembling, hath hidden his dog's face before the
incomparable beauty of her Highness, the Lalla Azala!"
Tiamo, whom Azala addressed as El-Sadic (the Sincere), rose at the
bidding of his mistress. With her hand pressed to her heart, as if to
stay its wild beating, she stood close to me with her face upturned and
her lips moving as if invoking the aid of some unseen power.
"Behold!" she cried, with a suddenness that caused me to start.
"Behold, the Prism of Destiny!" And as the words fell from her white,
trembling lips, there was a wild noise like the rushing of great waters,
and a circular portion of the wall of the chamber directly opposite
appeared to fall asunder, disclosing a huge gold ring, within which,
placed perpendicularly, was a large crystal prism, the length of a man's
body, which, as it revolved in its setting, showed all the gorgeous hues
of the spectrum with a rapidity that was bewildering.
Azala, standing motionless, gazed at it, while the slaves remained
kneeling with eyes riveted upon it in fear and expectation. Propelled
by some unseen agency, it revolved noiselessly within its golden circle,
emitting shafts of multi-coloured light that illumined parts of the
strange chamber, leaving the remainder in deepest shadow. Gradually,
however, the speed with which the great crystal turned slackened, and
Azala, advancing towards me, placed her hand lightly upon my shoulder,
exclaiming in a low, intense tone,--
"Lo! that which we sought is revealed! Behold! before us is the
forbidden Prism of Destiny, into which none may gaze without incurring
the displeasure of the One Merciful, and the curse of Eblis the
Terrible."
The lights flashing full upon my face seemed to enthral my senses, for
her words sounded distant, discordant and indistinct. But a sudden
exclamation of hers aroused me.
"See!" she cried, pointing to the three-sided crystal. "Its motion
steadies! It mirrors life in its wondrous depths, but those who dare
discern their future ofttimes pay the penalty of their folly by being
struck with blindness, and ignominy attendeth them. Allah, though
merciful, is just, and it is written in the Book of Everlasting Will
that we may know nought of the hereafter, save what holy writ teacheth
us."
"But how is the extraordinary effect produced?" I asked, marvelling
greatly at the curious chimera, for though it appeared but a phantom,
the prism actually revolved, and the illusion could not be caused by
reflected light, as I at first had been inclined to believe.
"By offering sacrifice to Eblis," she answered, looking into my eyes, an
intoxicating gaze of promise, triumph, tenderness. On her lips dawned a
smile which was pledge of the future--the future all light, all hope,
all love. Then, pointing to the boiling bowl, she said, "He giveth
sight of it to those of his slaves and handmaidens who invoke his aid."
"Art thou actually one of his handmaidens?" I gasped in fear, amazed to
observe that her beauty seemed to gradually fade, leaving her face
yellow, care-lined and withered.
"I am," she answered in a deep, discordant voice. "Once before, after
thou wert taken from me, the Prism of Destiny made its revelation. The
temptation to gaze therein proved too great, and, alas! I fell."
"What didst thou discern?" I eagerly inquired, my eyes still fixed in
fascination upon the mysterious, rotating crystal, my senses gradually
becoming more than ever confused.
"I pierced the impenetrable veil of futurity."
"And what manner of things were revealed?"
"I beheld many marvels," she answered, in a slow, impressive voice.
"Marvels that thou, too, canst behold if thou darest brave the wrath."
She spoke so earnestly, fixing her searching eyes upon me, that I felt
my courage failing. The constant flashing of brilliant colours in my
eyes seemed to unnerve me, throwing me into a kind of helpless stupor,
in which my senses became frozen by the ghastly mysteries practised
before me. It was this feeling of helplessness that caused my heart to
sink.
"Didst thou not declare thou wouldst engage Malec in single combat in
thine endeavour to fathom the Secret of the Asps?" she observed, half
reproachfully. "Yet thine hand quivereth like the aspen, and thou
carest not to seek the displeasure consequent upon such an action."
Erect, almost statuesque, she stood before me, pale and of incomparable
beauty, holding my sun-browned hand in hers.
"Hearken, O Azala," I cried, struggling with difficulty to my feet, and
passing my hand across my aching brow to steady the balance of my brain.
"No man hath yet accused Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz of cowardice. If, in order to
seek the key to the mystery of the strange marks we both bear, it is
imperative that I should gaze into yonder crystal, then I fear nought."
"It is imperative," she stammered. "If it were not, I, of all persons,
would not endeavour to induce thee to invoke the curse upon thyself."
"Then let me gaze," I said, and with uneven steps went forward, my hand
in hers, to where the great prism had so miraculously appeared. It was
moving very slowly, the only light in the chamber being that emitted
from its triangular surfaces, and as I halted before it my head reeled
with a strange sensation of dizziness I had never before experienced.