Thoth: A Romance/Chapter 18
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS.
After some time Thoth returned and informed Daphne that all was ready. He clad her in her disguise, and told her to keep herself covered until he ordered otherwise.
They paused before the building in which the council-chamber was situated, and Thoth produced a small cake and divided it carefully. He ate a portion himself, and requested Daphne to eat also, saying it was the necessary antidote in case of need.
Then he said to her, "Be not afraid, for first of all only those who are bound to obey me will have ears to hear."
They entered the building by steps descending into the earth, through a massive iron gate, which Thoth carefully closed after them. The clang of the iron sounded horribly, and the dim light made everything appear weird and sombre.
They passed through many devious passages, and every one, after they entered, was closed by a similar massive door.
At length they reached a spacious vault. In the centre was a kind of platform, and in the midst a curiously carved chair. Upon this chair sat a man with closed eyes and pallid face. To Daphne he seemed the image of Thoth.
She glanced round the immense chamber, and it seemed almost filled with similar stone chairs, and in each of them sat a pallid motionless figure. They were arranged in circles round the central throne, but for a radius of a score of paces there were none of the sleeping figures. In this open space, however, immediately before the central figure, stood about fifty men in the same garments as Thoth, but not masked.
Thoth, accompanied by Daphne, advanced to the front, and as they did so they were saluted by a profound obeisance, in perfect silence.
Thoth took up his position beside the central throne, and placed Daphne on his right hand.
"Are all the fitting preparations made? Have all our ancestors been brought to the light and set upon their thrones?"
A murmur of assent arose.
Then he spoke to the cloaked figures in a low clear voice—
"At length the day of our triumph has arrived, but in the very hour of victory a most difficult problem has arisen. In every respect save one the wisdom of our revered ancestor"—and he turned to the sleeping figure—"has proved faultless. But the continuous degradation of the women of our race has failed in both its objects. For, in the first place, I have proved beyond doubt that our ruling race has degenerated. With the single exception of myself, we are all inferior to our predecessors, and in the last generation, which should take your place, there is not one worthy successor.
"And, furthermore, this treatment has failed to eradicate love, for," he continued, drawing away from Daphne her mask and disguise, "I, your vice-regent, love this maiden most passionately."
A look of dismay overspread the faces of his audience. They started back, as if some monster, and not a most beautiful woman, had been revealed to them. Amazed and confounded, they gazed on one another like men suddenly stricken with hopeless foolishness.
Thoth eyed them for a time with curious contempt, and then continued—
"Degenerate ye are in very deed, but it is not you whom I must consult. Recover your senses, and prepare to rouse the sleepers."
Thoth then gave certain directions, and his comrades dispersed. In a short time they returned to their former position, and Daphne observed a peculiar pungent odour, gradually increasing in intensity, pervade the air.
Thoth took her hand and whispered to her words of encouragement. She knew that the eventful moment had arrived. Like a bird fascinated by a snake, she kept her eyes on the pale face of the sleeping tyrant.
In a few moments his eyelids began to tremble, and a faint flush appeared in his cheeks. Then he seemed to begin to breathe again. His lips parted, and slowly his eyes opened.
Daphne glanced round the chamber, and saw that all the sleepers had been similarly affected.
In a low voice Thoth said to her—
"Fear not. They will regain speech and reason long before they can move their limbs."
She roused her courage, for though she could not doubt that the mysterious beings were living, their eyes looked dull and vacant, and she hoped that nature had become her ally.
The silence was profound, and moments seemed years in duration. Surely, she thought, this is but a momentary awakening of the dead.
Suddenly, however, she saw the eyes of the ancient king gleam with intelligence, and she knew that both will and reason were awake.
Thoth took his place in front of the king, and when he saw that his long sleep was broken, he bowed to the ground, and stood still, as if awaiting his commands. Daphne remained at the side of the throne, still unseen by the monarch, though in full sight of all the others.
At last the lips of the awakened sleeper began to move, and Thoth presented him very gently with a curiously shaped cup. He sipped at first with difficulty, but after a time took a full draught.
Then his face became animated, and in a moment he looked like a man in the full vigour of life. Still, however, he did not move, though apparently he made an effort to rise. He gazed fixedly at Thoth, and then spoke. The voice and accent of ancestor and descendant were the same.
"Thou art my present vice-regent?"
"I am."
"I see," he said, "for the first time a multitude of my race aroused from sleep. Is, then, our task complete?"
"It is complete."
A smile of majestic triumph passed over the face of the mighty ruler.
"The cars are prepared?"
"They are perfect."
"And the arrows of death?"
"Nothing living can escape, such is their abundance and variety."
Again the king smiled with gratified vengeance.
Then he said, "A few days will suffice to regain the full strength of life in our limbs—already my mind is as vigorous as of old. At last, then, I become the ruler of the earth, and the races of men shall for evermore be such as my will has planned."
For a time he seemed lost in an ecstatic vision, as if the present had faded from his sight.
Then he said, "This moment is worth all the toil and waiting."
He raised his voice, which every moment became more vigorous, and, speaking to the assembly, said—
"Rejoice, my sons, with me."
He looked at the faces of Thoth's companions, and suddenly his face darkened.
"Why look ye so amazed, weaklings? Feeble and childish ye seem compared with your fathers." He turned to Thoth. "Thou seemest indeed my son. Surely it is not possible that my strict commands as to life and death have not been obeyed? Speak," he hissed—"are these the best of thy generation?" for they trembled and looked foolish.
Then Thoth knew that the moment of trial had come, and he said with courage and simplicity, and speaking as if to an equal—
"These, oh king, are the best of thy race of my generation, and all are born of unions such as thou didst ordain. Know, also, that their children, are still more weak and feeble, and that thy royal race appears to be threatened with destruction."
The monarch grew pale with anger, and said—
"My rules have not been followed. Some traitor has been a victim to the guile of woman."
Then Thoth replied, "Hear me, oh king, with attention, and know that in one thing thy policy has utterly failed. The rest of thy people have become, from age, more vigorous and skilful, because their women have been treated with affection and honour. But thy royal race has dwindled. I am the son of a stranger woman, though my father was deceived and knew it not. That miserable being trembling there is thy true successor, according to thy laws of descent. Know that the degradation of women has failed, and thou must choose between love and death. My counsel is, that ye who have returned to life take for wives the best maidens of the ancient cities of Greece, and make honour to women the foundation of our new world."
Then he took Daphne by the hand, and placing her before the king, said—
"This is the maiden whom I myself have chosen, and, in spite of generations of oppression, I love her as passionately as thou didst once love the mother of our race."
The monarch shook with anger and loathing, and in vain struggled to rise. "Traitor!" he cried, "darest thou thus to speak to me? Strike this woman dead on the instant."
But Thoth stood motionless, and said, "Thy whole power has grown out of wisdom—listen for a moment to reason."
"Dost thou speak of reason to me, son of an outcast? Ah, that my strength had returned, that I might kill thee with my own hand."
"Revered king," said Thoth, "I only ask for delay. Thou shalt examine the case thyself. Without thy consent I will do nothing. I have been faithful to all thy commands. The arrows of death and the aerial cars are at thy disposal. Had I been a traitor and a victim to the guile of love, thy sleep would have passed into death."
"Hold thy peace!" cried the monarch. "In a short time I and my true sons will be as strong as thou, and then thy doom will be swift and terrible."
A hoarse murmur of approval arose from the parched throats of the motionless figures.
Then the king spoke to his latest descendants—
"Are ye all traitors, weaklings? Seize them both, and tear them limb from limb. Ha! I feel my strength," and he half rose from his seat.
Urged by him, they began to advance, but Thoth eyed them with scorn, and, accustomed to obedience from their childhood, they paused.
The monarch hissed with rage, and cried, "Advance! seize them!"
Again Thoth said, "Revered king, listen to the voice of reason." He was answered by a louder cry than before, as the multitude of those who had slept rose at last from their seats, and painfully and slowly began to advance. The king himself in a moment seemed to recover, and tried to seize Thoth. But Thoth easily eluded his feeble grasp, and saying—
"Once more, wilt thou hear reason? for I, as well as thou, have will and wisdom. One step more, and I plunge all of you once more in sleep."
"Thou darest not—thou canst not," cried the king; and, inspirited by his example, all advanced against Thoth and Daphne.
"Thus," said Thoth, "I dare and thus I do!"—and he dashed to the ground a vessel that at once broke in a thousand fragments.
In an instant every one except Thoth and Daphne fell to the earth, speechless, senseless, motionless.
Thoth seized Daphne by the hand. "All is over. Come."
They passed again through the corridors, and the doors clanged behind them. At last they reached the open air and sunlight.