It was Nais herself who sent me to to my duties. The of the attack came to us in the house where I was her, and she asked its meaning. As as might be, for she was in no condition for listening, I gave her the history of her nine years’ sleep.
The colour more to her face. “My lord is the man in all the world to be King,” she whispered.
“I to touch the till they had me the Queen I desired, safe and alive, here upon the Mountain.”
“How we are the of you men! But, for myself, I to like the traffic well enough. You should not have let me in the way of Atlantis’ good, Deucalion. Still, it is very sweet to know you were weak there for once, and that I was the of your weakness. What is that over yonder? Ah! I remember; my none of the just now.”
“You have the beginning. Your will return to you by quick degrees. But it will not hurrying. You must have a patience.”
“Your ear, sir, for one moment, and then I will in peace. My looks, are they all gone? You to have no here. I had that I should wake up and old.”
“You are as you were, dear, that night I saw you—the most woman in all the world.”
“I am pleased you like me,” she said, and took the cup of I offered her. “My to have grown; but it needs sadly. I had a fancy, dear, once, that you liked best, and not a plain brown.” She closed her then, the where I had her, and off into healthy sleep, with the still playing upon her lips. I put the over her, and her lightly, my it should her cheek. And then I out of the chamber.
That had to me these last hours, and then I into a room in the house, and instruments, and it to the chin. A of also I there and took it of my rags. If a man is in truth a king, he these to the of his office.
But, if the of the was any guide, mine was a kingdom. Every hour it to and more near, and it was clear that some of the gates in the passage up the in the cliff, though all men had them, had to the of Phorenice’s attack. And, indeed, it was to be at. With all her on to by the that had been at her by so a part of the city, the Empress would be no light for a place to resist, and the Sacred Mountain was no longer strong.
Defences of stone, planned and built, it still possessed, but these will not alone. They need men to line them, and, moreover, of men. For always in a of this kind, some will at death and to hand grips, or and in their shot, or the throwing-fire home, or (as here) some machine like Phorenice’s fire-tubes, make one in a thousand of their the life; and so, though the his hundreds, the also are not without their dead.
The slaughter, as it out, had been prodigious. As fast as the came up, the Priests who the gate to us great upon them till the narrow of the was with their dead. But Phorenice on a of the them on the charges, and with an company after company up to themselves against the defences. They had no to the gates, and their attack was as as that of a child who against a with an orange; and meanwhile the terrible from above them remorselessly.
Company after company of the into this terrible death-trap, and not a man of all of them came back. Nor was it Phorenice’s policy that they should do so. In her for this final conquest, she was to out till she had up the with the slain, so that at last she might on to a level over the of their bodies. It was no part of Phorenice’s mood to count the cost. She set the object which was to be gained, and it was her policy that the people of Atlantis were there to it for her.
Two gates then had she in this fashion, those Priests that behind, them who had not been already down. And here I came from above to take my in the fight. There was no to my coming, no to my quality, but the Priests as a up “Deucalion!” as a battle-cry; and some that, with a King to lead, there would be no ground lost.
It was clear that the name to the other and weight with it. A company of poor, who were up stopped in their charge. The word “Deucalion!” was and the line. I with some satisfaction, that here was I was not in the land.
There came to them from to on their advance; but they did not budge; and presently a officer up, and to right and left them with his sword. From where I on the high above the gate, I see him plainly, and him at once.
“It not what they use for their battle-cry,” he was shouting. “You have the orders of your Empress, and that is enough. You should be proud to die for her wish, you cowards. And if you do not obey, you will die under the of the tormentors, very painfully. As for Deucalion, he is any time these nine years.”
“There it you lie, my Lord Tatho,” I to him.
He started, and looked up at me.
“So you are there in truth, then? Well, old comrade, I am sorry. But it is too late to make a now. You are on the of these Priests, and the Empress has an that they are to be out, and I am her most servant.”
“You used to be of fence,” I said, and there was little to choose us. “If it you to stop this killing, make the of your side, and I will for mine, and we will out this in some place, and our parties to by the result.”
“It would be a us two, old friend, and it goes hard with me to you of it. But I cannot you. I am here under Phorenice, and she has me the orders not to myself. And besides, though you are a great man, Deucalion, you are not chief. You are not one of the Three.”
“I am King.”
Tatho laughed. “Few but would say so, my lord.”
“Few truly, but what there are, they are powerful. I was the name for the time yesterday, and as a in the there was some done in the city. I was there myself, and saw how you took it.”
“You were in Atlantis!”
“I for Nais. She is on the now, and to-morrow will be my Queen. Tatho, as a to a priest, let me to your memory the power you bite against on this Sacred Mountain. Your teaching has you of the that are in the Ark of the Mysteries. If you in this attack, at the best you can lose; at the you can about a over which the High Gods will as They order it.”
“You cannot us now by words,” said Tatho doggedly. “And as for magic, it will be met by magic. Phorenice has by her own as many powers as were up in the Ark of the Mysteries.”
“Yet she looked on last night, when her was into a heap. Zaemon had that this should be so, and for a witness, why I myself closer to her than we two now, and saw her.”
“I will own you took her by there. I do not these myself; I was more than one of the Seven in the old days; and now, rightly, Phorenice the knowledge of her magic to herself: but it time is needed when one magic is to be met by another.”
“Well,” I said, “I know little about the either. I these now to those who are higher above me in the priesthood. Indeed, having a for Nais, it I am from being about the of the higher Mysteries. So I myself with being a soldier, and when the day comes, I shall and my mother the Earth for the last time. You, so I am told, have for longer life.”
He nodded. “Phorenice has the Great Secret, and I am to be the that will it with her. We shall be as Gods upon the earth, that Death will be powerless to touch us. And the sons she has me, will be also.”
“Phorenice is headstrong. No, my lord, there is no need to shake your and try to it. I have had some with her. But the order has been made, and her will be from her very rudely. Now, mark my words. I, Deucalion, have been King of Atlantis by the High Council of the Priests who are the of the most High Gods, and if I do not have my reign, then there will be no Atlantis left to either King or Empress. You know me, Tatho, for a man that lies.”
He nodded.
“Then save it is too late. You shall have again your vice-royalty in Yucatan.”
“But, man, there is no Yucatan. A great of little creatures, that were something less than and something more than beasts, upon our and ate them out. Oh, you may if you choose! Others when I came home, till the Empress stopped them. But you know what a train of driver is, that you meet with in the forests? You may light across their path, and they will into them in their bravery, and put them out with their bodies, and those that are left will on in an column, and all that in their path. I tell you, my lord, those little were like the ants—aye, for numbers, and bravery, as well as for appetite. As a result to-day, there is no Yucatan.”
“You shall have Egypt, then.”
He at me hotly. “I would not take seven Egypts and ten Yucatans. My lord, you think more of me than is kind, when you ask me to a traitor. In your place would you your Nais away, if the doing it would save you from a danger?”
“That is different.”
“In no degree. You have a for her. I have all that and more for Phorenice, who is, besides, my wife and the mother of my children. If I have qualms—and I I know you are men up there, and have powers at your command—my are for them and not for myself. But I think, my lord, this is leading to nothing, and though these common soldiers here will little of our talk, they may be up a word here and there, and I do not wish them to go on to their death (as you will see them do shortly) and reports about me to Gods they to come before.”
He me with his and back, and once more the to fly, and the wretches, who had been the of the pass once more to press forward. They had scaling-ladders certainly, but they had no of these planted. They do but the narrow way with their bodies, and to that end they had been sent, and to that end they died. Our Priests with and from their lodging-places the great which had been ready, and sent them down, so that once more the pass, and the was renewed.
But and again, some or some sling-stone, or some fire-tube’s would its way up from and through the defences, and there we would be with a man the less to on the fight. It was well for Phorenice to be with her troops; indeed, if she for success, there were no two for it; and when those she had were killed, she press others into the service, that she had the whole of the country under her rule. But with us it was different. A man on our was a man arm would be missed, and one which in no possible way be replaced.
I of the chances, and saw that, if we the on the present plan, they would the gates one after another as they came to them, and that by the time the gate was reached, there would be no Priest alive to it. And so, not to fashion myself on Phorenice’s newer plan, which that a should at times in plot from a place of some safety, and not lead the thick of the fighting, I left those who to the gate with some soldier’s of cheer, and again up the narrow of the pass.
This one approach to the Sacred Mountain was, as I have said before, more difficult and in the days when it as a as the High Gods it. But a had been here, a cut through the solid there, and in many places the was up on from so as to make all and easy. It came to my mind now, that if I this path, we might a space for effort.
The idea good, or at least no other to me which would in any way our situation, and I looked around me for means to put it into execution. Up and down, from the to the below, I had that narrow of a pass some thousands of times, and so in a manner of speaking every stone, and every turn, and every cut of it by heart. But I had looked upon it with an to off all to the Sacred Mountain, and so now, in this moment of stress, I had to it no less than three times I decide upon the best site for demolition.
But once the point was fixed, there was little in the in movement. Already I had sent men to the the Priests’ to me rams, and crows, and acids, and hammers, and such other material as was needed, and these one of the upper gates. I put on every pair of hands that be to the work, no what was their age and feebleness; yes, if Nais have walked so I would have pressed her for the labour; and presently balustrade, and statue, together with the wall-stones and the foot-worn cobbles, into the below, and added their to the and and of the fighting. Gods! But it was a task, that of the men of the past. But it was that it should crash to in the below, than that Phorenice should it with her sandals.
At I had that it would be needful to the of men who were so the gate then being attacked. It is to be into a measure of this kind, but in hard it is often needful to the out of his for a to a part of his to to a finish, and without of rescue, as as they may; and all he can do for their is to them to the of the Gods. But when the work of the was nearly completed, I saw a of them.
We had not been with arches, and the piers. We had got our and under the itself on which all the whole stood; and fire to the for their work; and when the word was given, the whole be sent the of the of repair.
All was, I say, prepared in this fashion, and then I gave the word to hold. A narrow still undestroyed, and offered footway, and over this I crossed. The cut we had was the gate of all, and it there were three more gates still unviolated, the one then being so attacked. Already, the had been retired from these, and I passed through them all in turn, and unchecked, and came to that where the twelve Priests left alive worked, to the waist, at the rocks.
For I myself at their side, stopping an occasional fire-tube or on my and them the tidings. The attack was every minute now. The enemy had packed the pass well-nigh full of their dead, and our had less to and so do less execution. They pressed more than with their ladders, and it was plain that soon they would put the place to the storm. Even the time I was there, their sling-stones and took life from three more of the twelve who with me on the defence.
So I gave the word for one more of to be down, and the were out from those killed by the discharge, and the next of came up over the bodies, I sent my nine men away at a up the of the path, and then them myself. Each of the gates in turn we passed, them after us, and the and with which they were moved, and not till we were through the last did the of from tell that the had the gate they against was deserted.
One by one we our way across the narrow which was left where the path had been destroyed, and one Priest that a giddy, and his here, and to his death in the a hand be out to him. And then, when we were all over, was put to the rams, and they with their force, and the from their in the rock. I think a through us all then when we saw for ourselves the last link cut away from the of our Sacred Clan on the Mountain, and the of our great nation, who had so to us, below.
But here at any was a in the fighting. There were no we make for our defence, and high though I Phorenice’s to be, I did not see how she very well do other than accept the check and retire. So I set a on the of the gate to watch all possible movements, and gave the word to the others to go and the which so much they needed.
For myself, I to Zaemon first, going on the my proper self, for there was little of on the Sacred Mountain, although the name and title had been me. But Zaemon was not to be come at. He was the Ark of the Mysteries with another of the Three, and being myself only one of the Seven, I had not rank in the to in upon their workings. And so I was free to turn where my would have me first, and that was to the house which Nais.
She as I came in over the threshold, and her with a welcome for me. I across and where she lay, my on the pillow her. She was full of talk and sweet endearments. Gods! What an of I had missed by not my Nais earlier! But she had a will of her own through it all, and some which her all the more adorable. She me on the new of my chin, and on the which I had taken as a covering. She a for my kingship, and that had she of my she would have to a love for me. But about my marriage with Phorenice she spoke with less lightness. She put out her thin white hand, and my to her lips.
“It is weak of me to have a jealousy,” she murmured, “knowing how my lord is mine alone; but I cannot help it. You have said you were her husband for awhile. It me a to think that I shall not be the to in your arms, Deucalion.”
“Then you may your away,” I back. “I was husband to Phorenice in word for how long I do not know. But in anything beyond, I was her husband at all. She married me by a she herself, all the old and ceremonies, and it would as legal or not, we need not trouble to inquire. She herself has most and that marriage as I have told you. Tatho is her husband now, and father to her children, and he to have a for her which him credit.”
We said other too in that chamber, those small of which are so to lovers, and so the of other folk, but they are not to be set on these sheets. They are a private which can have no to any one our two selves, and more are themselves up in for the historian.
Phorenice, it seemed, had more against the Priests’ Clan on the Mountain and more to help her to a than I had credited. Her easily the gates we had left to them, and up till they where the was down. In the of their rush, the were over the by those pressing up behind, the be halted, and these to a death in the great below. But it was no position here that a of men take, and presently all were off, save for some half-score who as sentries, and out of arrow-shot of the rock.
It seems, too, that the Empress herself the place, using and quickness, and so got for herself a full plan of its without being to trust the of another eye. With she must have planned an engine such as was necessary to her purposes, and orders for its making; for with the and at her disposal, the speed with which it was was prodigious.
There was very little noise to tell of what was afoot. All the and was cut, and tongued, and forged, and by below, in the plain at the of the cleft; and when each and each crosspiece, and each was up the pass through the gates, it was for into its place in the machine.
The was where they set about their building, and there was no or of the to their from those of the Priests who from the above our one gate. But Phorenice had a her engine should be it was completed, and so to screen it she had a fire at the point where the was off, and with wet and green wood, so that a great out, like a that out all view. And so though the Priests on the above the gate off now and again some of those who the fire, they do the no injury, and up to the last in of their tactics.
The passage up the was in the night hours, for, though all the of the Sacred Mountain was always by the which its on the side, their no that where the ran to the beneath. And so it was under of the that Phorenice up her engine into position for attack.
Planking had been for its wheels, and the themselves well greased, and it may be that she to in upon us all slept. But there was a and of timbers, and of men, which gave that something was being attempted, and the was spread in the that if a had been planned, the might be the other way.
A messenger came to me running, where I sat in the house at the of my love, and she, like the soldier’s wife she was to be, me and me go and for my honour, and my for her to mend.
On the above the gate all was silence, save for the of men, and out of the black ahead, and from the other of the causeway, came the of which the messenger me.
The captain of the gate came to me and whispered: “We have no light till the King came, not the King’s will in the matter. Is it I send some of the throwing-fire yonder, on the that it some harm, and at the same time lights up the place? Or is it that we wait for their surprise?”
“Send the fire,” I said, “or we may that Phorenice’s brain has been one too many for us.”
The captain of the gate took one of the in his hand, the fuse, and it. The thing a of men who were with a engine, them with its fire, and their garments. The plan of the engine itself plainly. They had them a great tower, on at its base, so that it might by pushed from behind, and at its to allow for the of the path and it always upright.
It was inside, with joining each floor, and through in the which us an attack. From its top a great high above it, being till the tower was near for its use. The was at the third of the tower, and with to its top; but, once the were cut, the would fall, and light upon came its swing, and be there by the with which it was beneath.
I saw, and myself conquered. The of Phorenice had been too for my defence. No war-engine of which we had the tower. The whole of its were with the wet new-stripped skins of beasts, so that the throwing-fire not it. What means we had to those who pushed it would have little effect. Presently it would come to the place appointed, and the would be cut, and the would on the above our last gate, and the would out to their final success.
Well, life had very for me these days with a warm and Nais once more in touch of my arms, but the High Gods in Their best always, and I was no to stiff-necked against their decision. But it is a soldier’s privilege, come what may, to warm over a fight, and the most of all is that final of a man who that he must die, and who only to make his of high to a memory of his powers with those who come to upon it. I my axe, and the of my arms out in at the of it. Would Tatho come to give me sport? I not. They would send only the common soldiers to the storm, and I must be to do my killing on those.
And Nais, what of her? I had a mind there. When any came to the house where she lay, she would know that Deucalion had been taken up to the Gods, and she would not be long in him. She had her dagger. No, I had no of being long from Nais now.
