Robert Chambers - The Slayer Of souls

"You are Yulun. You are alive and real―" He looked at Tressa: "She is real, isn't she?" And, to Yulun: "Where do you come from?"

The girl replied seriously: "I come from Yian." She turned to Tressa with a dazzling smile: "Thou knowest, my heart's gold, how it was I came. Tell thy dear lord in thine own way, so that it shall be simple for his understanding…. And now—because my visit is ending—I think thy dear lord should sleep. Bid him sleep, my heart's gold!"

At that calm suggestion Cleves sat upright on the bed,—or attempted to. But sank back gently on his pillow and met there a dark, delicious rush of drowsiness.

He made an effort—or tried to: the smooth, sweet tide of sleep swept over him to the eyelids, leaving him still and breathing evenly on his pillow.

The two girls leaned over and looked down at him.

"Thy dear lord," murmured Yulun. "Does he love thee, rose–bud of Yian?"

"No," said Tressa, under her breath.

"Does he know thou art damned, heart of gold?"

"He says no soul is ever really harmed," whispered Tressa.

"Kai! Has he never heard of the Slayer of Souls?" exclaimed Yulun incredulously.

"My lord maintains that neither the Assassin of Khorassan nor the Sheiks–el–Djebel of the Eight Towers, nor their dark prince Erlik, can have power over God to slay the human soul."

"Tokhta, Rose of Yian! Our souls were slain there in the Yezidee temple."

Tressa looked down at Cleves:

"My dear lord says no," she said under her breath.

"And—Sanang?"

Tressa paled: "His mind and mine did battle. I tore my heart from his grasp. I have laid it, bleeding, at my dear lord's feet. Let God judge between us, Yulun."

"There was a day," whispered Yulun, "when Prince Sanang went to the Lake of the Ghosts."

Tressa, very pallid, looked down at her sleeping husband. She said:

"Prince Sanang came to the Lake of the Ghosts. The snow of the cherry–trees covered the young world.

"The water was clear as sunlight; and the lake was afire with scarlet carp…. Yulun—beloved—the nightingale sang all night long—all night long…. Then I saw Sanang shining, all gold, in the moonlight…. May God remember him in hell!"

"May God remember him."

"Sanang Noïane. May he be accursed in the Namaz Ga!"

"May he be tormented in Jehaunum!—Sanang, Slayer of Souls."

Tressa leaned forward on the bed, stretched herself out, and laid her face gently across her husband's feet, touching them with her lips.

Then she straightened herself and sat up, supported by one hand, and looking silently down at the sleeping man.

"No soul shall die," she said. "Niaz!"

"Is it written?" asked Yulun, surprised.

"My lord has said it."

"Allahou Ekber," murmured Yulun; "thy lord is only a man."

Tressa said: "Neither the Tekbir nor the fatha, nor the warning of Khidr, nor the Yacaz of the Khagan, nor even the prayers of the Ten Imaums are of any value to me unless my dear lord confirms the truth of them with his own lips."

"And Erlik? Is he nothing, then?"

"Erlik!" repeated Tressa insolently. "Who is Erlik but the servant of Satan who was stoned?"

Her beautiful, angry lips were suddenly distorted; her blue eyes blazed. Then she spat, her mouth still tremulous with hatred. She said in a voice shaking with rage:

"Yulun, beloved! Listen attentively. I have slain two of the Slayers of the Eight Towers. With God's help I shall slay them all—all!—Djamouk, Yaddin, Arrak Sou–Sou—all!—every one!—Tiyang Khan, Togrul,—all shall I slay, even to the last one among them!"

" Sanang, also? "

"I leave him to God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"

Yulun calmly paraphrased the cant phrase of the Assassins: "For it is written that we belong to God and we return to Him. Heart of gold, I shall execute my duty!"

Then Yulun slipped from the edge of the bed to the floor, and stood there looking oddly at Tressa, her eyes rain–bright as though choking back tears—or laughter.

"Heart of a rose," she said in a suppressed voice, "my time is nearly ended…. So…. I go to the chamber of this strange young man who holds my soul like a pearl afire between his hands…. I think it it written that I shall love him."

Tressa rose also and placed her lips close to Yulun's ear: "His name, beloved, is Benton. His room is on this floor. Shall we make the effort together?"

"Yes," said Yulun. "Lay your body down upon the bed beside your lord who sleeps so deeply…. And now stretch out…. And fold both hands…. And now put off thy body like a silken garment…. So! And leave it there beside thy lord, asleep."

They stood together for a moment, shining like dewy shapes of tall flowers, whispering and laughing together in the soft glow of the night lamp.

Cleves slept on, unstirring. There was the white and sleeping figure of his wife lying on the bed beside him.

But Tressa and Yulun were already melting away between the wall and the confused rosy radiance of the lamp.

Benton, in night attire and chamber–robe belted in, fresh from his bath and still drying his curly hair on a rough towel, wandered back into his bedroom.

When his short, bright hair was dry, he lighted a cigarette, took the automatic from his dresser, examined the clip, and shoved it under his pillow.

Then he picked up the little leather–bound Testament, seated himself, and opened it. And read tranquilly while his cigarette burned.

When he was ready he turned out the ceiling light, leaving only the night lamp lighted. Then he knelt beside his bed,—a custom surviving the nursery period,—and rested his forehead against his folded hands.

Then, as he prayed, something snapped the thread of prayer as though somebody had spoken aloud in the still room; and, like one who has been suddenly interrupted, he opened his eyes and looked around and upward.

The silent shock of her presence passed presently. He got up from his knees, looking at her all the while.

"You are Yulun," he said very calmly.

The girl flushed brightly and rested one hand on the foot of the bed.

"Do you remember in the moonlight where you walked along the hedge of white hibiscus and oleander—that night you said good–bye to Tressa in the South?"

"Yes."

"Twice," she said, laughing, "you stopped to peer at the blossoms in the moonlight."

"I thought I saw a face among them."

"You were not sure whether it was flowers or a girl's face looking at you from the blossoming hedge of white hibiscus," said Yulun.

"I know now," he said in an odd, still voice, unlike his own.

"Yes, it was I," she murmured. And of a sudden the girl dropped to her knees without a sound and laid her head on the velvet carpet at his feet.

So swiftly, noiselessly was it done that he had not comprehended—had not moved—when she sat upright, resting on her knees, and grasped the collar of her tunic with both gemmed hands.

"Have pity on me, lord of my lost soul!" she cried softly.

Benton stooped in a dazed way to lift the girl; but found himself knee deep in a snowy drift of white hibiscus blossoms—touched nothing but silken petals—waded in them as he stepped forward. And saw her standing before him still grasping the collar of her golden tunic.

A great white drift of bloom lay almost waist deep between them; the fragrance of oleander, too, was heavy in the room.

"There are years of life before the flaming gates of Jehaunum open. And I am very young," said Yulun wistfully.

Somebody else laughed in the room. Turning his head, he saw Tressa standing by the empty fireplace.

"What you see and hear need not disturb you," she said, looking at Benton out of brilliant eyes. "There is no god but God; and His prophet has been called by many names." And to Yulun: "Have I not told you that nothing can harm our souls?"