Her tiny hands were so tightly clenched that the nails were driven into
her palms, her breasts heaved and fell quickly, her brows knit in a
fierce anger, but in her eyes was a look of unutterable dread.
For a moment she covered her face with her hands, as if to shut me out
of her gaze, but next instant she raised her narrow eyebrows, her
blanched lips parted, and she turned upon the high-priest in a sudden
outburst of fury. Extending her bare arm towards him she cursed him.
"Knowest thou not the writing upon my foundation-stones, offspring of
Anu, defiler of the holy Ziggurratu?" she screamed in rage.
The aged high-priest uttered a cry, as if he had been struck a blow.
But he answered not.
"Knowest thou the words graven upon the great image? Speak, accursed
one. Speak!"
"I do, O Queen," he faltered.
"Then, malediction upon thee. Vengeance and hate, sorrow and torture of
the flesh. May the Air-god rend thee; may Shamas, the lord of Light,
hide his face from thee for ever; and may Niffer, lord of the Ghost
Land, take thee for his slave! May Ninkigat, the lady of the great Land
of Terrors, strangle thee, and may the other--whom I dare not name--fill
thy vitals with molten metal and consume thee!"
"Mercy!" cried the wretched man, falling upon his knees, and grovelling
upon the polished pavement. "Mercy, O Istar, Queen of Ea, and ruler of
all creatures! Have mercy upon thy servant!"
"Nay, unto me thou hast shown no mercy, accursed spawn of a scorpion;
thou shalt receive none," she answered. Then, lifting her hand towards
the file of soldiers that lined the walls, she commanded,--
"Abla, Nabu-nur-ili, Akabi-ilu, forward quickly, ye guards of our
majesty. Take this son of Nergal forth to the top of the steps and cast
him down with force like a dog, so that his bones be broken and his body
mutilated. Then, with his blood, let the words graven upon the image be
re-written on the lintel of the Temple of the Seven Lights, so that all
may remember. Away with him. Let his body be cast into the lion-pit,"
she added, with a majestic sweep of her white arm. "I have spoken."
"Have compassion, O Istar! At least, let me live!" cried the aged
priest; but ere he could utter the last sentence the soldiers had
dragged him forth, with the dreaded Queen's imprecation resounding in
his ears in multiplied echoes.
In the full fury of her ungovernable rage this beautiful goddess of the
Mysterious Land, at first so graceful and languorous, looked
magnificent. With her unbound hair falling about her shoulders and
reaching below her girdle, she raised her arms in mad rage, pouring
forth a string of curses so terrible that those surrounding her visibly
shuddered.
"And thou!" she cried, suddenly turning and gazing intently upon me with
eyes sharp as arrows. "So thou art the stranger!"
The people around me were full of passionate anger and abject terror.
Behind, before me, everywhere, I saw only glaring eyes, strained wide
open as if to devour me, defiant faces, eager hands fingering
sword-hilts, and heard the gnashing of teeth between threatening lips.
"So thou hast dared to accompany that viper Rabbani, and enter my
presence!" she cried, in a second outburst of indignation. Her strange
terror had been succeeded by rage and defiance terrible to behold. The
veins in her brow stood out like blue cords as she spoke, and her soft,
perfumed cheeks were suffused by anger.
"I was brought before thee by thy people, O Queen," I answered,
endeavouring to appease her. "I knew not thine high-priest, ere I
entered thine House of Lustre."
"I have spoken; and he shall die," she snapped, apparently thinking I
was making an appeal on the aged man's behalf. "Ascend to me, so that I
may see thee more closely."
Thus commanded, I crossed the inlaid pavement and ascended the broad,
silver steps leading to the great throne of crystal, before which she
now stood upon her prostrate women, erect and queenly. Gaining the
pavement of gold whereon the throne was set, I was drawing nearer, when
two great eunuchs sprang forward, motioning me not to approach her
further.
"Arrest thy steps," they cried, frantically. "The person of Istar, our
ruler, is sacred. None but dwellers within this, her temple, may look
upon her."
"Retire," she cried to the eunuchs. "I commanded him to approach me."
The men slunk back to their places in chagrin, and as they did so I
advanced yet another couple of paces, and dropped upon one knee before
her. Her beauty was amazing. The sweet perfumes that exuded from her
ample draperies filled my nostrils.
"Whence comest thou?" she asked me in calm, serious voice, gazing upon
me with her huge, wonderful eyes.
"From the world that lieth beyond the impregnable limits of thy kingdom,
O Queen," I answered.
"Who art thou, that thou shouldst speak our sacred tongue?" she inquired
quickly, in surprise.
"I am but a wanderer," I replied. "The language of ancient Assyria hath
been recovered by our wise men from the monuments of Nimroud and of
Babylon." Her surprise found echo in the murmurings of the eager,
excited crowd; but a moment later she asked,--
"How camest thou hither?"
"By an entrance which I followed. It led me through the Valley of
Mists, until I came hither unto this thy city."
"An entrance!" she cried, in alarm. "Then thou earnest not as a bird of
the air!"
I replied in the negative, and was about to explain the extraordinary
manner by which I had gained access to the mysterious Land of the No
Return, when she turned upon me with clenched hands, in a paroxysm of
rage so sudden that I was startled.
"Then thou art actually a pagan from the unknown land beyond," she
cried, trembling with anger. "Be thou accursed! accursed! accursed!
May the celestial triad cut thee off, and may Rimmon tear and devour
thee!"
A murmur of approbation went round those assembled, and at the mention
of the dreaded god all bowed, while the priests in their horned caps
raised their arms and lifted their deep voices in adulation.
Speechless, I stood before her while she poured out upon me the vials of
her uncurbed wrath. I trembled, fearing lest she should condemn me to a
similar doom to which the aged high-priest had been hurried for what
appeared to be a petty offence. In her anger she stamped her tiny foot
upon the neck of one of the prostrate women, causing her to writhe. But
the half-nude pair acting as her footstool uttered no cry. They were
worshipping the goddess and sacrificing themselves to her.
"Thou accursed son of the Unknown!" she cried, addressing me. "Thou
hast dared to enter this my forbidden land, therefore thou art my
captive, my slave, my servant!" She had folded her arms with an air so
terrible that I was immediately as one rooted to the golden pavement.
"Kill him, O Istar!" the people cried. "Suffer not his baneful presence
to contaminate us! Suffer not his unclean hand to touch the hem of thy
sacred robe! Kill him! Let us witness the lions tearing him!"
At the raising of her white, bejewelled hand there was complete silence.
She looked at me, crushing me with her haughty beauty.
"He came hither," she said, addressing her courtiers and slaves, "in
order to feast his eyes upon what is forbidden, to discover that which
for a hundred generations hath been hidden from the pagans of the other
world. He therefore shall, ere his soul is given unto Rimmon, witness
that which he desireth. He is my captive. My name shall gnaw him like
remorse. I will be to him more execrable than the pest, and he shall
feel every moment, until the day he is cast into the lion-pit, the
chastisement of a goddess."
Ghastly, and with hands clenched, I quivered like a stringed instrument
when the over-tense strings are about to snap. Words choked me, and I
bowed my head before her.
"My slave thou art," she cried, turning suddenly upon me. "Thou shalt
ever grovel in the dust before me; thou shalt take the place of those
women who have prostrated themselves before me, and are from this time
forth absolved. In future thou shalt be as my footstool. Neither by
night nor day shalt thou leave my presence. In my waking hours my heel
shall be upon thy neck; in my hours of slumber thou shalt still be
wakeful. Whithersoever I go there also shalt thou go, placing thyself
as rest for my feet, and thus be ever in my sight. If thou attemptest
to fly, I will draw the bears from the mountains, and the lions shall
hunt thee, even unto the ends of the earth."
Stepping from the women, upon whose quivering bodies she had been
standing, she commanded them to rise, and at signal from her the eunuchs
tore from my shoulders the robe in which I had been attired. Then,
although struggling vainly in their iron grip, I was cast, face
downwards, upon the pavement before the throne, and a moment later the
mysterious Queen of Ea stood with her feet upon my back. Her weight
crushed my breast, causing my breathing to become difficult; but,
applauded by her subjects, she remained in that position addressing
them, cursing me for daring to enter her kingdom, and assuring them that
ere long they should be entertained by my death beneath the claws of the
lions.
"I heed not the graven lines upon the foundation-stone," she exclaimed,
in conclusion. "Three hundred thousand soldiers are ready day and night
to do my bidding, and if men fail me, I will call down the wrath of the
gods most terrible. I will overthrow this my city and burn its temples.
Not a single tower, nor tree, nor wall shall remain, and the galleys
shall float on streams of blood. I fear not this slave beneath my heel.
I would kill him now, with this my poniard; but ere he dies he shall
feel the chastisement of Istar. I am thy ruler, and his punishment is
in my hands."
"Wisely hast thou spoken, O Goddess, whom we worship with one accord,
and to whom we sacrifice those of thy sex. Thou art indeed our just
ruler, at whose word mountains tremble and rivers stand still. Thine
armed men shall ever be faithful unto thee, and beneath thine heel we
leave the wanderer from the Unknown."
"Then go; let the veil fall," she answered. "In my temple, before the
graven lines upon my foundation-stone, let full thanksgiving be offered
at moonset for our discovery of this wanderer, who is safe in our hands,
and thus prevented from escaping back unto his own execrable, accursed
race."
"We obey thee, O mighty Istar!" rose from the throats of the assembled
multitude as, with one accord, they moved back towards the ante-chamber,
still keeping their faces towards the beautiful woman they worshipped.
Confusion spread for a few minutes, but at last all retired, save those
grouped around the throne, and the great yellow curtain fell, leaving
the brilliant Queen in ease and semi-privacy.
Wearied, she threw herself upon her great crystal lounge, lying
gracefully back, with the toes of one bare foot just touching me, while
her women crowded about and attended her at her elaborate toilet.