The feasters murmured at the omen of the death of the Fire, but that draught seemed to sober Ochus, who took no heed of it. The wildness left his eyes; they grew cunning as those of a merchant. Merchant–like he appraised my loveliness seen through the gauzy wrappings such as are used to deck the painted effigy of the goddess.
"I look before I take," he said. "'Twas good to win Egypt; it will be better to win you, O Divine in flesh if not in spirit. Now I understand why in the past you would not suffer me to draw your veil."
Thus he spoke slowly, savouring the words upon his tongue as his greedy eyes savoured my beauty. Then he rose to pass the small altar and advance upon me.
In that fierce moment of time I considered all. It came into my mind that Bagoas had tricked me; that his cup lacked poison, or at least that the plan had failed, and that if I was to be saved it must be by myself. Yet I paused ere I did that which would cause the death of hundreds.
"Stay!" I said to him. "Lay no finger on me lest you shall call the curse of Isis upon your head."
"Nay," he answered, "it is the blessing of Isis that I am about to call upon my lips, O most Beautiful, O Loveliness incarnate!"
He came on. He was past the marble altar. His fierce, bestial face glared into mine and he gripped me; his hot arm was about me, he dragged me to his embrace, while all the beasts of his company shouted in vile joy.
I let fall the sistrum that I held. The moment of mercy had gone by. That shout had sealed the doom of all those dogs and satyrs. It was the signal!
By the arts known to us instantly the command was passed on to her who waited below. Instantly this fierce–souled destroyer was at her work with lamp and torch. Never did lover run so swiftly to her lover's side as she did from pile to pile, firing the oil, firing the reeds.
Now that brute–king had me! He pressed his hot kisses upon my breast, upon my lips. I stood still. I struggled not. I stood like the statue of the goddess. This cold calm of mine seemed to frighten him.
"Are you woman?" he asked, hesitating.
"Nay," I hissed back, "I am Isis. Woe to them who lay hands upon Isis!"
He unloosed. He stood staring at me, and as he stared I saw his face change.
"What is in your eyes?" he asked. "All the devils in Egypt are looking out of your eyes."
"Nay," I answered, "all the devils of hell look out of my eyes. Isis commands the devils of hell and unchains them, O death–clothed king."
"What do you mean? What do you mean?" he asked.
"That you will learn presently—in hell. Therefore bid farewell to the world, O Corpse of a king!"
He glowered at me. He swayed to and fro. Then suddenly down he went like one pierced through the heart with an arrow. There he lay upon his back across the altar staring up at the moon.
"Isis is in the moon!" he cried. "She threatens me from the moon. Persians, be afraid of Isis the Moon–dweller. Bagoas! Physician! Physician! Bagoas! protect me from Isis. She is wringing my heart with her hands. Witch! Witch! loose my heart from your hands."
Thus he wailed in a horrible voice and these were his last words, for having spoken them he lifted his head, glaring about him with a twisted mouth, then let it fall heavily, rolled to the platform, and was still.
Bagoas and the physician ran to him.
"The Curse of Isis has fallen upon the King of kings," cried Bagoas.
"He who bestrode the world is dead, smitten by Isis of the Egyptians!" cried the physician.
From the royal women and all that company there went up a wail of:
"Ochus is dead! Artaxerxes is dead! The King of kings is dead!"
Bagoas and the physician, helped by the wailing women of Ochus, lifted the body. They carried it from the platform, they bore it down the hall, they vanished with it into the darkness, and presently in the utter silence I heard the gates of the courts and the outer gates of the pylon clang behind them and the clashing of the bolts as they were shot by the guards of the gates.
Still for awhile the silence held, for all were like dead men with terror. Then a voice cried,
"The witch has killed the king with her kiss! Slay her. Tear her to pieces. Slay her and her company!"
The spell–bound mob began to stir; I heard swords rattling in their scabbards. They rose like waves on a quiet sea, and like a wave began to flow toward the platform on which I now stood alone. I stooped down, lifted the sistrum from the platform, and held it toward them.
"Be warned!" I cried. "Stay still lest the Curse of Isis fall on you also."
"Witch! Witch! Witch!" they screamed, hesitating awhile, and again swayed forward.
I waved my arm, and as though in answer to it from the grating of stone beyond the platform suddenly arose dense smoke followed by bursts of flame. I waved it a second time, and from the gratings at the end of the hall arose smoke followed by bursts of flame. They looked, they saw, they understood.
"The Curse of Isis!" they screamed. "The Curse of Isis is upon us! Fire rises from hell."
"Nay," I answered, "fire falls from Heaven sent by the outraged gods!"
Now between me and them flared a fence of flame which the boldest dared not face. They paused, one hurled a sword at me which passed above my head. Then they turned, flying for the gateways of the hall, and there were met by another fence of flame. Some of the boldest leapt through it only to find that the gates were shut and that the terror–stricken guards had fled. They rushed back, burning, yea, their silken robes and their oil–anointed hair turned them, yet living, into torches. Now they took another counsel. They dragged the tables together, piling them each on each and striving thus to climb the walls of the hall. This, perhaps, they might have done, some of them, had not every man pulled down his neighbour, so that they fell in tumbled heaps upon the stone flooring where the life was trampled out of them.
I turned and behind the veil of smoke fled from the platform, none seeing me, back behind the hangings that hid the outer sanctuary, where all the company of Isis was gathered, save only that fierce old priestess who yet with lamp and torch lit fire upon fire in the vaults beneath and, at last, doubtless, passed to Heaven on the chariot wheels of flame.
Here my servants stripped off my sacred trappings, wrapping me in dark garments and a hooded cloak. While they did so I looked back. The hall was filled with spouts of fire. The platform upon which Ochus had feasted was burning and the royal dead beneath blazed merrily. Only the stone gods by whom it was upborne still stared silent and dreadful through the vesture of smoke and fire, emblems of vengeance and eternal doom.
I could see no more but above the roaring flames I heard the mad screams of those trapped feasters who had come to see their king make a mock of Isis and her priestess, and these were terrible to hear. Then the floor gave way and down they went into the furnace pit beneath. Yes, they who worshipped fire were devoured of their own god.
Thus did I, Ayesha, Child–of–Wisdom, daughter of Yarab according to the flesh, work the vengeance of Heaven upon the Persians and their King of kings. By fire I wrought it, I whose path ever was and ever shall be marked by fire; I, Ayesha, who grew undying in the breath of fire and who, in the caverns of Kor, clasped it to my breast and was wedded to its secret Soul.
Chapter XVII
The Flight and the Summons
We gained the hidden passage, bearing with us the treasures and the holy books of the Sanctuary that to this day lie buried in the caves of Kor. We came safely to the ruined temple of Osiris that the Persians had destroyed, and through it to the water–gate where the boats waited. None noting us, we embarked upon the boats, and glided away down Nile. If any saw us pass, they thought us country–folk, or perchance Egyptians who fled from the Persians in Memphis. But I think that none did see us, since all eyes were bent upon the flaming temple of Isis and all ears were filled with the rumours that fled from mouth to mouth, telling that the goddess had descended in fire and made an end of the tyrant Ochus, his generals, his councillors, and his court.