Генри Хаггард - Heart of the World

Now the face of Maya became drawn with pain, so that she looked as though age had overtaken her. Then she answered:

"Go, tell those that sent you, Dimas, that these are the words of Maya, Lady of the Heart: My child is dear to me, for he is flesh of my flesh; but my husband is yet dearer, for he is both flesh of my flesh and soul of my soul. Therefore, if I must choose between the two, I choose him who is nearest; for I may have another child, but never another husband."

Some hours passed, and again the gates were opened, and through them came Tikal and a guard of five men. The guard he left by the gates, advancing alone to where we were seated at the far end of the hall.

"What would you of us?" asked Maya. "Can you not leave me in peace even here in my dungeon?"

"I desire to speak with you alone, Maya."

"Then, Tikal, I tell you now what I have told you before, that I will not listen to your words alone. If you have anything to say, say it in the presence of my husband and my friend, or go and leave it unsaid."

"You speak roughly to one who comes here in the hope of saving the lives of all of you," he answered; "still I will bear with you in this as I have borne with you in much else. Listen: all your crimes are known to me, for Nahua, my wife, has revealed them to me. I know how you and that dead rogue, Mattai, on whom the curse of heaven has most justly fallen, forged the prophecy and violated the sanctuary, for I have held the proofs of it in my hand."

"Do you know that we did this to save our lives," asked Maya, "for if we had not done it, Mattai would have murdered us in order that, by removing me, he might assure his daughter in her place?"

"I do not know why you did it, nor do I care, seeing that nothing can lighten such a crime; but I think that you did it in order that you might win yonder white man as a husband. At the least, the thing is done, and vengeance waits you—vengeance from which there is but one escape."

"What escape?" asked Maya quickly, for when she learned that Tikal knew everything, all hope had faded from her heart, as from ours.

"Maya, two people live, and two alone, who know this tale—Nahua my wife, and I myself. Till this morning there was but one, for Nahua only told me of it when she found that you had not escaped, and this she has done that she may be rid of you whom she hates as her rival. Therefore it was that she would have held me back from pursuing you, and therefore it is that she will appear before the Council of the Heart this night, so that her evidence may ensure your instant death in the Pit of Waters. But as it chances, least of anything on the earth do I desire that my eyes should lose sight of you, whom now as ever I love better than anything on the earth."

Now the señor grew white with rage, and he broke in—

"You will do well to keep such words to yourself, Tikal; for of this be sure—if you do not, I will add to my crimes and you shall not leave this place alive. No need to look at your guards. What do I care for your guards, who have but one life to lose. Speak thus again, and, before they reach you, you shall be dead."

"Let him go on, husband," said Maya; "what can a few insults more or less matter to us now. Continue, most noble Tikal; but, for your own sake, restrain yourself, and say nothing that a husband should not hear."

"It is for this reason," he went on, taking no notice of the señor's anger, "that I have come here with a plan to save you all; yes, even this braggart white man who has robbed me of you. If Nahua and I are silent, who will know of your crimes? And if the evidence of them is destroyed before your eyes, who is there that can prove them? Now, I will be silent—at a price. I will even bring the true tablet of the prophecy and the roll of Mattai's confession, and destroy them with fire before you."

"You will be silent," said Maya—"but what of Nahua? Will she be silent also?"

Now Tikal's dark face grew evil with some purpose of his own, though whether it were of murder or of what I do not know.

"Leave Nahua to me," he said. "Withdraw the charge you made against her, of attempting to kill yonder child, and free her thus of the need of appearing this night in the Sanctuary, and I swear to you that no word of her dreadful secret shall ever pass her lips. Then you will be tried upon one issue only—that of having broken your oaths by flying the city—a crime that is not beyond forgiveness."

"You spoke of a price, Tikal; tell us, what is this price that we must pay?"

"The price is yourself, Maya. Nay—hear me out; and you, White Man, keep silent. If you will swear upon the Heart to become my wife within six months from this day, then I, on my part, will swear that the white man—your husband who is not your husband, for he won the consent of the Council to his marriage by a trick—shall be suffered to escape the land unharmed, taking with him his friend and so much of our treasure and things needful for their journey as he may desire. I will swear also—and by this you may see how deep and honest is my love for you—that your son shall not be dispossessed of the place and rank which he holds in the eyes of the people as a Heaven–sent Deliverer whose coming was foretold by prophecy. My child shall give place to yours, Maya. Once before I held out the hand of peace to you, but you refused it and tricked me, and from that refusal has sprung the death of your father and many other sorrows. Do not refuse me again, Maya, lest these sorrows should be increased and multiplied upon you, and upon us all. It is no strange or unnatural thing I ask of you—that you should wed the man to whom for so many years you were affianced, and take your place as the first lady in this city, instead of giving yourself over, with your accomplices, to the most infamous of deaths."

"Yet it is most strange and unnatural, Tikal, that a wife should be asked to part thus from her husband. But stay—it is for him to speak, not me, for he may be glad to buy safety at this cost. First, what do you say, Ignatio? Tell me—though I fear your answer, for it is easy to guess, seeing that Tikal offers all that you can desire, freedom, and treasure to enable you to execute your plans."

"It is true, Lady," I replied, "that he offers me these things—though whether or no he is able to give them I cannot say; and it is true also that I have no wife here whom I must leave, and no prospect save that of a traitor's death. Still, Lady, I remember a certain promise that I made to you yonder in the wilderness, when by your courage you saved your husband's life; and I remember also that it was through me that he, my friend, came to visit this accursed city. Therefore I say, let our fate be one fate."

"Those are very noble words, friend," she said, "such as could have come only from your noble heart. Now, husband, do you speak?"

"I have nothing to say, Maya," replied the señor with a little laugh, "except that I wonder why you waste time, which we might spend happily together, in listening to this fellow's insults. If you bid me to go to save you, perhaps I might think about it; but certainly I will not stir one pace from your side to save myself from any death."

"It seems that I have got my answer," said Tikal. "May none of you regret it to–night when you come to look down into the Pit of Waters. Well, time presses, and I have much to do before we meet again"—and he turned to leave us.

Now, as he went, despair took hold of Maya. For a moment she struggled with it and with herself, then she cried:

"Come back, Tikal!"

He came, and stood before her in cold silence, and she spoke, addressing her husband in a slow voice:

"You are over–hasty; my answer is not yet spoken, husband. Tikal, I accept your offer. Prevent Nahua from giving testimony against us; destroy the evidences she holds, and set these men safe, with all that they may desire, on the further side of yonder mountain, and within six months I will become your wife."