There is no that the of Phorenice were into quick in the city of Atlantis. Her modern was that the country and all only for the good of the Empress, and when she had a desire, no cost possibly be too great in its out.
She had her the alive of Nais, and though the were that I was to the of stone, it was an thing that the manual was to be done for me by others. Heralds the in every of the city, and masons, labourers, stonecutters, sculptors, engineers, and took hands from was them for the moment, and to the rendezvous. The a who gave directions, and the and the saw these into effect. Any material the of the city on which they set their seal, was taken at once without payment or compensation; and as the of they were the most that be got, they were to no to give them passage.
I have spoken of the modern for new and pyramids, and though at the moment an army of was with at the city walls, the were at work, and their skill (with Phorenice’s to them) was on the increase. True, they not move such of as those which the early Gods planted for the circle of our Lord the Sun, but they had got and trucks and which bulks.
The was to be in the open square the pyramid. Seven of were there for a groundwork, each a knee-height deep, and each cut in the with three steps. In the was a to the of Nais, and above this was the which the seat of the itself.
Throughout the night, to the light of torches, after of the stonecutters, and the masons, and the had over up the and it into fit shape, and it in position; and the had for lifting, and the had proved that each in its just and perfect place. Whips cracked, and men with the labour, but so soon as one was another pressed into his place. No was when Phorenice had said her wish.
And finally, as the square to with people come to at the of to-day, the and the were away, and with it the of some half-score of who had died from or their the building, and there the throne, in its carvings, and all for completion. The part more than two man-heights above the ground, and no of its less than twenty men; the upper part was the weight of any of these, and was so that the the chair, and the great it. But at present the upper part was not on its bed, being up high by rams, for what purposes all men knew.
It was to this scene, then, that I came out from the at the of the in the of next morning. Each great man who had come there me had banner-bearers and to his presence; the middle were in all their of apparel; and creatures, with of through their skins, had and of colour about their to mark the of the day.
The my coming, and the people welcome, and with the walking in advance, I across to a that had been prepared, and took my seat upon the it.
And then came Phorenice, my that was to be that day, fresh from sleep, and in her beauty. She was out from the in an open of gold and by from Europe, her own of being up into all the higher by with their ugliness. One the people a of as their upon her; and it is easy to there was not a man in that which the square who did not me her choice, was there a present (unless Ylga was there veiled) who by any that I was not in so a wife.
For myself, I up all the iron of my to the of my face. We were here on to-day; a all its acts, if you choose, but still ceremonial; and I was to Phorenice a manner that would her nothing to at. After all that had been gone through and endured, I did not a great to be by my and pain themselves, in either a hand or a cheek. When it came to the point, I told myself, I would the of my love in the the as calmly, and with as little emotion, as though I had been a out the of some stranger. And she, on her part, would not, I knew, our secret. With her, too, it was “Before all Atlantis.”
I think it a to that there was to be no or in what forward. All was and impressive; and, though a and which into my was to the crowd, I that the shape of the they that day would not be by any of them, although the meaning of it all was from their minds. When it her fancy, none be more on the of a than this many-mooded Empress, and it appeared that on this occasion she had that all were to be out with the and of the older manner.
So she was up by her Europeans to the awning, and I her to the ground. She seated herself on the cushions, and me to her side, her with mine as has always been the with of Atlantis and their consorts. And there us as we sat, a of up, and opening out Nais in their midst. She had a of metal her neck, with from it by a of guards, so that she should not in upon the of the escort, and thus a quick and easy death, which is often the of those to the more punishments.
But it was to see that she still her clothing. Raiment, of or skin, has its value, and has always the of the to the soldiers them. So as Nais was not stripped, I not but see that some one had to the as a recompense, and in this I I saw the hand of Ylga, and a her.
The soldiers her to the of the pavilion’s shade, and she was herself the Empress, and this she did and so and force. Her was pale, but neither defiance, and her were and natural. She was what was to Atlantis, and I was with love and as I her.
But I, too, was as a man of stone, and though I that Phorenice’s was on my face, there was anything on it from to last that I would not have had her see.
“Nais,” said the Empress, “you have from my when you were fan-girl, and from my cup, and what was yours I gave you. You should have had more than gratitude, you should have had knowledge also that the arm of the Empress was long and her hand heavy. But it that you have neither of these things. And, moreover, you have to take a that the Empress has set for herself. You were offered pardon, on terms, and you rejected it. You were foolish. But it is a day now when I am to clemency. Presently, seated on that of which he has me yonder, I shall take my Lord Deucalion to husband. Give me a plain word that you are sorry, girl, and name a man you would choose, and I will the of the occasion, you shall be and we from these cushions.”
“I will not wed,” she said quietly.
“Think for the last time, Nais, of what is the other choice. You will be taken, warm, and quick, and as you there this minute, and in the place that is the throne-stone. Deucalion, that is to be my husband, will you in that bed, as a symbol that so shall all Phorenice’s enemies, and then he will the and the upper into place, and the world shall see your no more. Look at the sky, Nais, your with the sweet warm air, and then think of what this death will mean. Believe me, girl, I do not want to make you an example unless you me.”
“I will not wed,” said the quietly.
The Empress her from my arm, and against the cushions. “If the girl on our old familiarity, or thinks that I jest, her now, Deucalion, that I do not.”
“The Empress is from jesting,” I said. “I will do this thing it is the wish of the Empress that it should be done, and it is the of the Empress that a symbol of it shall for as an example for others. Lead your to the place.”
The soldiers wheeled, and the two with the of the which was on the of Nais prepared to put out to her up the steps. But she walked with them willingly, and with a colour unchanged, and I rose from my seat, and to the Empress and them.
Before all those ten thousand eyes, we two no of then, not only for Atlantis’ sake, but also Nais and I had a and a in our natures. We were not as Phorenice to others.
Yet, when I had the the which the prisoner’s neck, and my arms around her, all the of one who has no mind that his shall or struggle, a through me so that I was like to have fainted, and it was only by of will that I on with the ceremonial. I, who had a woman with but the arm of before, now pressed to me one I loved with an tenderness, and the of how love can come out and link with love was almost my undoing. Yet, outwardly, Nais so sign, but half-strangled in my arms, as any woman that is being away by a spoiler.
I with her to the step, the throne-stone us, and then so that all of those who were from the of the and the of the might see, though we were Phorenice’s view, I used a that was in her across the level, and her into the hollow. And yet the girl me with no one whatever.
So that the might not out and be crushed, and so an easy death when the descended, there were to fit into of the above the where she lay, and these I in place above her, and one by one, doing this butcher’s work with one hand, and still her by the other. Gods! and the of from me on to the thirsty as I worked. I not keep that in.
I and locked the last two in place, and took my brute’s hand away from her throat.
The as in the of her skin. For the life of me, yes, for the of Atlantis, I not help my upon her face. But she was than I. She gave me no last look. She her on the above, and so I left her, that it was best not to longer.
I came out from under the stone, and gave the to the who by the rams. The were taken away from their sides, and the metal in them to contract, and slowly the of the throne-stone to its bed.
But ah, so slowly! Gods! how my was as I and waited.
Yet I my impassive, as any officer might a piece of work which others were out under his direction, and on which his rested; and I in my place till the had let the come on its final place, and had been away by the engineers; and then I with the master with his and level, he this last piece of the and it perfect.
It was a form, this last, that by they how the must rest; but the have their and customs, and on these occasions of high ceremonial, they are out, these middle-class people wish always to appear and to the who are their inferiors. But I am hard there on them. A man who is taken to and level the where his love living, may be by the on high a little of bitterness.
I had gone up the steps to do my work a man full of grief, though unmoved. As I came again I had a of incompleteness; it as though my had been left with Nais in the of the stone, and their place was taken by a which wearily; but still I a face, and memory that all these private the of the High Council, which sat the Ark of the Mysteries.
So I and Phorenice, and said the which the the out of her wish.
“Then, now,” she said, “I will give myself to you as wife. We are not as others, you and I, Deucalion. There is a law and a set for the marrying of these other people, but that would be for our purposes. We will have neither to join us and set the union. I am the law here in Atlantis, and you soon will be part of me. We will not be by hands. We will make the for ourselves, and for witnesses, there are in waiting. Afterwards, the record shall be cut in the you have for me, and the in with gold, so that it shall and for always.”
“The Empress can do no wrong,” I said formally, and took the hand she offered me, and helped her to rise. We walked out from the into the of the sunshine, she on me, flushing, and so that the people to her with of “A Goddess; our Goddess Phorenice.” But for me they had no word. I think the set of my and them.
We up the steps which to the throne, the people still shouting, and I sat her in the seat the snake’s head, and she me to her.
She her hand, and a on that great throng, as though the had been cut for all of them.
Then Phorenice proclamation:
“Hear me, O my people, and me, O High Gods from I am come. I take this man Deucalion, to be my husband, to with me the of Atlantis, and join me in our great possession. May all our as she is now above we sit.” And then she put her arms around my neck, and me on the mouth.
In turn I also spoke: “Hear me, O most High Gods, I am, and me also, O ye people. I take this Empress, Phorenice, to wife, to help with her the of Atlantis, and join with her in the of that great possession. May all the of this country as they have in the past.”
And then, I too, who had not been permitted by the to touch the of my love, the I had woman to Phorenice, that was now being my wife.
But we were not yet.
“A woman is one, and man is one,” she proclaimed, for the time the old of words, “but in marriage they merge, so that wife and husband are no more separate, but one conjointly. In of this we will now make the joining together, so that all may see and remember.” She took her dagger, and the on my till a of blood appeared, set her red to it, and took it into herself.
“Ah,” she said, with her sparkling, “now you are part of me indeed, Deucalion, and I you have me already.” She the of her robe. “Let me make you my return.”
I the of her shoulder. Gods! when I who was us as we sat on that throne, I have the through to her heart! And then I, too, put my lips, and took the of her blood that was to me.
My was dry, my was parched, and my suffused, and I I should have choked.
But the Empress, who was so acute, was then. “It you?” she cried. “It you like fire? I have just it. By my face! Deucalion, if I had the it to be a wife, I do not think I should have waited this long for you. Ah, yes; but with another man I should have had no thrill. I might have gone through the with another, but it would have left me cold. Well, they say this comes to a woman but once in her time, and I would not it for the of all my and the of all my power.” She in close to me so that the red of her my cheek, and her came against my mouth. “Tasted you any sweet so as this knowledge that we are one now, Deucalion, past all possible dissolving?”
I not to her any more just then. The Gods know how I had to play the part me for Atlantis’ good, but there is a limit to endurance, and mine was reached. I was not all anger her. I had some for this of hers, which had of itself certainly, but which I had done nothing to check; and the with which it was was only part of the of who what would hide. But always my was a picture of the girl on her had taken such a vengeance, and to lover’s talk then was a thing my to do.
“Words are things,” I said, “and I am a man to women, and have but a small stock of any phrases the dryest. Remember, Phorenice, a week agone, I did not know what love was, and now that I have learned the lesson, of the suddenest, the language still to come to me. My speak; they are full of speech; but I cannot into cold what they say.”
And here, surely the High Gods took on my and my misery, and an opportunity for the to an end. A man ran into the square shouting, and a that dripped, and presently all that which on the pavements, and the of the pyramids, and the of the temples, took up the cry, and to for their weapons.
“The are in!” “They have a path into the city!” “They have killed the cave-tigers and taken a gate!” “They are the whole place to the storm!” “They will presently no of us here alive!”
There then was a of our marriage cooings. With at the walls, it was to put trust in the defences, and easy to affect for the besiegers’ powers, and to keep the of and and on easy wheels. But with soldiers already the city (and of others pressing on their heels), the took a different light. It was no moment for delay, and Phorenice was the to admit it. The that had been in her to the of the fighter, as the who had up out his tidings.
I and my chest. I in need of air. “Here,” I said, “is work that I can more clearly. I will go and this to their burrows, Phorenice.”
“But not alone, sir. I come too. It is my city still. Nay, sir, we are too newly to be yet.”
“Have your will,” I said, and together we the steps of the to the below. Under my I said a to Nais.
Our armour-bearers met us with weapons, and we into litters, and the took us off foot. The man who had the news had in a faint, and no more was to be got from him, but the of the gave us the direction, and presently we to meet of people who near the place of irruption, away in wild panic, with their goods.
It was to stop these, as they not, and if they had they would have been like flies, and would in all have our own soldiery. And so we let them on their way, but the through them with but very little for their convenience.
Now the of the rebels, when it came to be looked upon by a soldier’s eye, was a thing of little importance. They had a from a mound, the walls, and had opened it through the of a middle-class house. They had come through into this, their numbers under its shelter, and that the marriage of the Empress (of which had them information) would the of the city guards. But it they were and they were to emerge, and, as a of were near the spot, their would have been a of time, if we had not come up.
It did not take a long to decide on this, and Phorenice, with a laugh, on the of the litter, and returned her to the armour-bearer who came up to them. “We with our married life, my Deucalion,” she said. “We are this new-found be taken from us too suddenly.”
But I was not to be of my breathing-space in this wise. “Let me a wedding gift of you,” I said.
“It is yours you name it.”
“Then give me troops, and set me wide a city gate a mile away from here.”
“You can five hundred as you go from here to the gate, taking two hundred of those that are here. If you want more, they must be from other along the walls. But where is your plan?”
“Why, my strategy teaches me this: these have set all their on this mine, and all their on its present success. If they are here by a Phorenice, who will give them some without them unduly, they will press on to the attack and all else, and so much as of a sortie. And meanwhile, a Deucalion with his will out of the city well away from here, without of or of trumpet, and most upon their rear. After which, a Phorenice will the house here at the mine’s head, which is of wood, and thatched, to egress, and either go to the to watch the from there, or out also and on the as her dictates.”
“Your is so pretty, I would I you of it for my own credit’s sake, and as it is, I must you for your cleverness. But you got my word first, you fellow, and you shall have the men and do as you ask. Eh, sir, this is a sad of our life, if you to your little wife of all the of from the outset.”
She took the and she had to the armour-bearer, and over the of the to the ground. “But at least,” she said, “if you are going to fight, you shall have that will do to my drill,” and to tell off the of men-at-arms who were to me. She left herself to the of who in through the tunnel; but as I had seen, with Phorenice, added only to her enjoyment.
But for the Empress, I will own at the time to have little of thought. My own proper were me, and I for that of all else which gives, so that for I might have a from their gnawings.
It my blood to once more the of me, and when all had been collected, we out through a gate of the city, and presently were through and through the of the enemy. By the Gods! for the moment Nais was from my mind. Never had I loved more to let my riot. Never have I more over the terrible of battle.
Nais must my in to her for a breathing-space. Had that opportunity been me, I the of would have my brain-strings for always.
