Now the passage, though its entrance had been by man’s artifice, was one of those in which the blood of our mother, the Earth, had coursed. Long years had passed since it streams, but the air in it was still warm and sulphurous, and there was no to in transit. I me a lamp which I in an niche, and walked along my ways, coughing, and I had some of those which a that has a to catarrh. But, alas! all that packet of which were my from the vice-royalty of Yucatan were in the sea-fight with Dason’s navy, and since landing in Atlantis there had been little time to think for the of medicine.
The network of earth-veins prodigiously, and if any but one of us Seven Priests had a way into its by chance, he would have in the windings, or have into one of those which lead to the below. But I the of the true in my head, it from that old of twenty years back, when, as an viceroy, I was to the but one to our Clan, and was its and implements.
The way was long, the was uneven, and the air, as I have said, bad; and I that day would be the told me that I had passed the walls, and was well the of the city. And here the of the Seven my progress; for it is that under no circumstances, the stress, shall be from this passage eye. One branch after another did I try, but always near the exits. I had to make my by that path which came the pyramid. But there was no of up here; the place was like a hive. And so, too, with each of the five next that I visited. The city was with some excitement.
But I came at last to a temple of one of the Gods, and the image for a while making observation. The place was empty; nay, from the which all the and the seats of the worshippers, it had been empty long enough; so I moved all that was needful, out, and closed all entry me. A on one of the pews, and with this I soon all of footmark, and took my way to the temple door. It was shut, and though I was, the of its opening was me.
Here was a pass. No one but the of the temple move the which closed and opened the which the doorway; and if all had gone out to this spectacle, it might be, that was the city, why there I should be no nearer than before.
There was no of life the temple precincts; there were of and spread on every hand; but according to the law there should be one at least on watch in the priests’ dwellings, so the passages which to them I my way. It would have me little to have these deserted. That the old order was I knew, but I was only then to the with which it had been away, and how much it had place to the new.
However, there can be some men in an age of apostasy, and on making my way to the door of the (which in the of the temple) I gave the call, and presently it was opened to me. The man who me, through the gloom, had at least to his vows, and I the him with a of respect.
His name was Ro, and I him well. We had passed through the college together, and always he had been as the dullard. He had for learning little of the of the Gods, less of the of ruling, less still of the of arms; and he had been to some office in this temple, and had to being its second and one of its two through the of all his colleagues. But it was not to think that a should true where men the old beliefs.
Ro did me the obeisance. He his in the fashion, but it was done. His was ill-fitting and unbrushed. He always had been a fellow. “The temple door is shut,” he said, “and I only have the of its opening. My lord comes here, therefore, by the way, and as one of the Seven. I am my lord’s servant.”
“Then I ask this small service of you. Tell me, what the city?”
“That Phorenice has herself Goddess, and that she will light the with her own fire. She will do it, too. She everything. But I wish the may her when she calls them down. This new Empress is the of our Clan, Deucalion, these days. The people neglect us; they no offerings; and now, since these have been at the walls, I might have gone if I had not some small store of my own. Oh, I tell you, the of the true Gods is well-nigh out of the land.”
“My brother, it comes to my mind that the Priests of our Clan have been in their service to let these come to pass.”
“I we have done our best. At least, we did as we were taught. But if the people will not come to your exhortations, and neglect to the God, what have you over their religion? But I tell you, Deucalion, that the High Gods try our own hard. Come into the here. Look there on my bed.”
I saw the shape of a man, in bandages.
“This is all that is left of the that was my in this cure. It was his turn yesterday to the to our Lord the Sun with the circle of His great stones. Faugh! Deucalion, you should have how he was when they him to me here.”
“Did the people on him? Has it come to that?”
“The people passive,” said Ro bitterly, “what of them had to attend; but our Lord the Sun saw fit to try His minister harshly. The was laid; the was upon it according to the rites; the had been the altar, and the and the were speaking forth, to let all men know that presently the of their prayer would be up Those that in the great places in the heavens. But then, above the noise of the ceremonial, there came the of wings, and from out of the sky there one of those great man-eating birds, of a such as has been seen.”
“An in the eye, or a long-shafted them best.”
“Oh, all men know what they were as children, Deucalion; but these were unarmed, according to the rubric, which that they shall themselves to the of the High Gods the hours of sacrifice. The great bird down, settling on the pyre, and the with and talon. My here, still in his faith, called on our Lord the Sun to power to his arm, and up on the with but his teeth and his arms for weapons. It may be that he a miracle—he has not spoke since, soul, in explanation—but all he met were from wings, and from which near to him. The bird him away as easily as we a fly, and there he on the the altar, the was and in the presence of all the people. And then, when the bird was glutted, it away again to the mountains.”
“And the people gave no help?”
“They out that the thing was a portent, that our Lord the Sun was a God no longer if He had not power or to His own sacrifice; and some that there was no God now, and others would have it that there was a new God come to on the country, which had to take the of a common man-eating bird. But a to that Phorenice for all the Gods now in Atlantis, and that was taken up till the of the great circle with it. Some may have they were convinced; many the was new, and pleased them; but I am sure there were not a who joined in it was to such an unwelcomed. The Empress can be hard to those who neglect to give her adulation.”
“The Empress is Empress,” I said formally, “and her name respect. It is not for us to question her doings.”
“I am a priest,” said Ro, “and I speak as I have been taught, and the Faith as I have been commanded. Whether there is a Faith any longer, I am to doubt. But, anyway, it a nowadays. There have been no at this temple this five months past, and if I had not a of put by, I might have for anything the of this city cared. And I do not think that the of that is likely to put new into our cold votaries.”
“When did it happen?”
“Twenty hours ago. To-day Phorenice the herself. That has the you spoke about. The city is in the of one of her pageants.”
“Then I must ask you to open the temple doors and give me passage. I must go and see this thing for myself.”
“It is not for me to offer to one of the Seven,” said Ro doubtfully.
“It is not.”
“But they say that the Empress is not at your absence,” he mumbled. “I should not like to come in your way, Deucalion,” he said aloud.
“The is in the hands of the most High Gods, Ro, and I at least that They will out our to each of us as They in Their see best, though you to have your faith. And now I must be your for a passage out through the doors. Plagues! man, it is no use your out your hand to me. I do not own a coin in all the world.”
He something about “force of habit” as he the way the door, and I about the of his customs. “If it were not for your and your customs, the Priests’ Clan would not be this to-day.”
“One must live,” he grumbled, as he pressed his levers, and the in the ajar.
“If you had been a more man, I might have the necessity,” said I, and passed into the open and left him. I myself to like Ro.
A the which ran past the of this temple, and all were one way. With what I had been told, it did not take much art to that the great circle of our Lord the Sun was their mark, and it me to think of how many centuries that great had the weather and the earth tremors, without such as it would to-day. And also the to me, “Was our Great Lord above this woman on to her destruction? Would He take some and final act of when she her final sacrilege?”
But the pressed on, and excited, and little (as is a crowd’s wont) on the which the spectacle. From one of the city the of an attack from the itself from over the house, and the temples and the intervening, but no one it. They had callous, these townsfolk, to the of rams, and the of fire-darts, and the other of a bombardment. Their nerves, their hunger, their desperation, were to such a that little of an them into new over the siege.
All were weaponed. The arms in the of meeting some one they overcome and rob; those that had a walked to do a for its ownership. There was no security, no trust; the lesson of had away from these common people as is from the by rain, and in their new and their they had gone to the from which like those of Europe have yet emerged. It was a on the success of Phorenice’s rule.
The me into their ranks without question, and with them I pressed the streets, once so clean and trim, now so and mud-strewn. Men and had died of in these these years, and where they lay, and we their as we walked. Yet out of this and this were great and palaces, the like of which for and had been before. It was a admixture.
In time we came to the open space in the centre of the city, which Phorenice had not to upon with her schemes, and on the ground which the most ancient, the most grand, and the of all this world’s temples.
Since the of time, when man the beasts, our Lord the Sun has always been his God, and says that He this circle of Himself to be a place where should offer Him worship. It is the fashion us not to take these old in a too sense, but for myself, this one me. By our we can six hundred men, and set them as the of our pyramids. But to the of that great circle would be all our art, and much more would it be to-day, to transport them from their across the mountains.
There were nine-and-forty of the stones, with spaces, and set in an circle, and across the of them other were set, huge. The were and rugged; but the of them the more than all the temples and of our city. And in the centre of the circle was that still which the altar, and which was carved, in the of the ancients, the and the hand.
The which me on came to a the circle of stones. To this is death for the common people; and for myself, although I had the right of entrance, I to where I was for the present, the mob, and wait upon events.
For long we there, our Lord the Sun high and from the clear sky above our heads. The of the rebels’ attack upon the came to us clearly, above the of the multitude, but no one gave attention to it. Excitement about what was to in the circle every other emotion.
I learned that so pressing was the rebels’ attack, and so the of their new engines, that Phorenice had gone off to the to her skill for its repulse, and to put into the defenders. But as it was, the day had out to its middle and us intolerably, the noise of the and gave that the had in procession; and of those who waited in the crowd, many had with and the heat, and not a had died. But life was in the city of Atlantis now, and no one the fallen.
Nearer and nearer the and the of the other music, and presently the of a to arrive and itself in the space which had been set apart. Many a thousand when they saw the of it. But these and these of this new Atlantis had no their own and their own backs, for their one regard—their for Phorenice.
I think, though, their for the Empress was enough, and it was not to be at, since they had came from her hands. Indeed, the woman had a that cannot be denied, for when she appeared, in the (where I also had ridden) on the of her mammoth, the of the as though a and had been upon them; and without a word of command, without a of compulsion, they into of welcome.
She it with a of thanks. Her were a little flushed, her movements quick, her manner high-strung, as all well might be, the she had in mind. But she was lovely; yes, more than with her present of excitement; and when the was brought, and she walked from the mammoth’s to the ground, those near to their and gave her worship, out of for her and charm.
Ylga, the fan-girl, alone of all that the Sun temple herself with her and duties. She looked and troubled. It was plain to see, from the where I stood, that she a under the of her robe. It was fitting, too, that this should be so. Though she had been long from his and by the Empress, Ylga was a of Zaemon, and he was the of our Lord the Sun’s ministers here on earth. She not her now at this moment when the of the old Gods was to be defied. And also (having a for Phorenice) she was not a little of the consequences.
But the Empress had no for one sad look all that sea of faces. Boldly and proudly she out into the circle, as though she had been the for the sacrifice. And after her came a of men, as priests, and the victim. Some of these were of her own, and it was easy to laymen, over by the of Phorenice’s presence. But some, to their shame, were men in the Priests’ Clan, and up in the and of the Sacred Mountain, and for their there be no palliation.
The had already been on the altar-stone in the by the symbolism, and the Empress those who did what was needful. As they opened out, I saw that the was one of the small, cloven-hoofed that the plains—a most sacrifice. They its with metal gyves, and put it on the pyre, where, for a while, it neighing. Then they aside, and left it living. Here was an innovation.
The false to the of the circle, and Phorenice alone the altar. She up her voice, sweet, tuneful, and carrying, and though the of the still came from over the city, no ear there a word of what was spoken.
She her aloft, and all other it. The was clear as the sea, a blue. But as the came from her, so a small was in the sky, and like a ball, although the day was windless, and and more compact. So had it become, that presently it a on part of the circle and it into twilight, though all without where the people was still day. And in the of were little quick and of noiseless flame.
She spoke, not in the priests’ tongue—though such was her cleverness, that she may very well have learned it—but in the common speech of the people, so that all who might understand; and she told of her birth (as she to name it), and of the direct of the most High Gods, which had her to work so many marvels. And in the end she of her white arms the above, and with her set with the of will, she her final cry:
“O my high Father, the Sun, I pray You now to me as Your very daughter. Give this people a that I am a child of the Gods and no mortal. Here is unlit, where with their had weekly, since the of this land, sent the sky. I pray You send the fire to this here offered, in that though You still on high, You have me Atlantis to be my kingdom, and the people of the Earth to be my worshippers.”
She off and the sky. Her was contorted. Her shook. “O Father,” she cried, “who me a God and an equal, me! Hear me!”
Out of the black cloud overhead there came a of light, which on to the altar. The cloven-hoofed gave one neigh, and one convulsion, and dead. Flames out from the pile, and the air rich with the of flesh. And lo! in another moment the cloud above had melted into nothingness, and the pale, and the up in a thin the of the sky.
Phorenice, the Empress, there the great stone, and the and the hand of life which were upon it, flushed, exultant, and once more lovely; and the of the circle, and the great of people without, to the ground adoring.
“Phorenice, Goddess!” they cried. “Phorenice, Goddess of all Atlantis!”
But for myself I did not kneel. I would have no part in this apostasy, so I there fate.
