"At last, Azala," I said, clasping her soft hands tenderly, and gazing into those brilliant black eyes that seemed to delight in the anxious curiosity which they aroused in my features. "Of a verity Allah is all-powerful and all-merciful. Our destinies are written in the Book, and therefore what is there left but to submit? For many moons have I striven to seek thee, to redeem the pledge I made unto thee, and now at last is our meeting accomplished."

Noticing that I looked askance at the presence of Ayesha and the young negress, she waved her hand to them to retire. Then, when the curtains had fallen behind them, she led me slowly to her divan, saying in serious tones, "Come hither, O Zafar, I would have long and serious speech with thee."

She having ensconced herself comfortably among her rich, downy cushions, I seated myself beside her, and as one arm stole around her slim waist, encircled by its bejewelled girdle, I drew her tenderly towards me with the intention of imprinting on her white, sequin-covered brow a pa.s.sionate caress. Gently but firmly she disengaged herself from my embrace. At first the marvellous beauty of my divinity held me spell-bound, but fortified by her smile I found courage to pour out a rhapsody of love and admiration, to which she listened, blushing deeply.

Thus, in the bliss of whispering love, we forgot the heavy sorrows oppressing us, and put aside all apprehension for the present and all care for the future.

After a recital of my adventures on being torn from her presence, I told her how wearily the hours had pa.s.sed and of my mad desire to be again at her side, to which she answered,--

"In thee, O Zafar, have I placed my trust. The sun of the favour of the One Merciful shineth upon us, therefore let us abandon all fear."

"The firmament possesseth but one sun, and the Empire of Sokoto but one Princess. That life, light, joy and prosperity may attend thee is my most fervent desire."

"May perfect peace attend thee in the rose-grove of thine happiness,"

she answered, turning towards me the most beautiful face that Allah had ever formed. "For many moons have I waited at yonder lattice for thy coming, knowing full well that thou art ready to serve me."

"Ay, ready to serve thee, O Pearl of Sokoto," I said fervently. "I love only thee, and am thy slave."

She was toying in hesitation with her broad gold armlet that contained a talisman. Spells and charms are believed in as strongly by the ladies of Kano as those of Omdurman. The eye and knuckle-bone of a fox hung upon the neck of a boy gives him courage; its fat rubbed on a woman will convert her husband's love into indifference. The dried liver of a cat is believed to bring back the love of a desired object to the person who possesses it; the skin of its nose, if worn on the ankle, is a preventive against murder by poison; while its ashes, if taken internally, will give all the shrewd, cunning qualities of the cat. The one Azala wore was the _kus kaftar_--a portion of the dried skin of a female leopard one moon old, which always bears the greatest price in the seraglios, because, if worn on the arm, it is believed to conciliate the affections of all to its wearer; and as she fingered it she uttered some kind of incantation that I failed to understand.

Her head had fallen back upon the great gold-ta.s.selled pillow, and with her white arm thrown out above she looked up smiling into my face, uttering words of courage, declaring that I was the only man she had ever asked to perform a service.

"But," she added, suddenly raising herself into a sitting position and gazing straight into my eyes, "how little--how very little we are thinking of the deadly peril which threateneth us! Both of us are confident in each other's love; but, alas! no safety can there be until the Great Secret be solved."

"What secret?" I asked, endeavouring to read her story in her brilliant eyes.

"The Secret of the Asps," she answered, in a calm, low tone. "The secret of the strange, mysterious mark that is upon my breast and thine.

When it is solved, then only may peace be ours."

"Tell me all thou knowest regarding the curious imprint," I said eagerly, lifting her bejewelled hand and pressing it tenderly. "Now that I am thy best beloved, ready to serve thee blindly and implicitly, surely I may know the secret of things concerning both of us," I argued.

But with a sigh she answered, "No. Some knowledge hath been conveyed to me upon condition that I should preserve its secret until such time as the mystery shall be elucidated. Suffice it to thee to know that thou art the person to whom the truth may be revealed if thou hast forbearance and courage."

"Will any act of mine place about thee the walls of security and the stillness of peace?" I inquired, with eagerness.

"Already have I told thee that, if thou wilt, thou canst save me."

"From what destiny?"

"From one unknown, yet horrible--undecided, yet terrible," she answered, hoa.r.s.ely.

"Then I am thine to command, O Azala," I answered. "In Zafar thou hast a servant who will serve thee with faith and fearlessness, unto even the uttermost ends of the earth."

"When the dawn cometh we shall be compelled to part, for full well thou knowest what fate awaiteth thee if thou wert discovered by Khazneh or his brutal myrmidons," she said, slowly. "But ere we bid each other farewell we have much to arrange, for upon the success of our plans dependeth whether our hands again clasp in welcome, or our lips meet in salutation. In receiving thee here I have run many risks in common with thee. If our enemies conveyed word unto the Sultan, a.s.suredly would the vials of his wrath be poured out upon me, and he would execute his threat of giving me in marriage to some common soldier of the palace-guard."

"Has his Majesty given utterance to such a threat?"

"Yea. Because I fell into the displeasure of Khadidja, the scheming slave who now ruleth the harem as his chief wife, I became banished from the Courts of Enchantment. Indeed, only by the intercession of mine own mother, who hath long ago been deposed from her position of Sultana, and is now a mere slave, compelled to wash the feet of many who once served her, was I spared the indignity of being cast out from the palace and given as drudge to one of the hors.e.m.e.n who guard the Kofa-n-Kura.

Indeed, the hand of misfortune hath fallen heavily upon me," and she drew a long sigh, as in deep thought her pointed chin rested in her dainty palm.

"What was the nature of thine offence?" I inquired, interested.

"Involuntarily I acted as eaves-dropper. One morning, lying in my hammock in a corner of the harem-garden where the rose-bushes grow thickly, I suddenly heard voices beyond. One I recognised as that of Khadidja, and the two others those of Shekerleb and Leilah, Arab slaves.

Listening, I heard them discuss in detail an ingenious plot they had arranged to poison my mother, myself and three others, for Khadidja expressed herself determined to be supreme mistress of the seraglio.

Appalled by this bold scheme of wholesale revenge, I lay silent, scarce daring to breathe, but when they had left I went straightway to the Sultan and in my mother's presence explained all to him. The woman Khadidja was brought before him, but denied the accusation, swore on the Koran that she had not walked into the garden that morning, and brought Shekerleb and Leilah to corroborate her false statement. My father was convinced of her innocence, and believed also her allegation that a plot hatched by my mother was on foot to encompa.s.s her death. He grew angry, degraded my unfortunate mother from her position of Sultana to the meanest slavery, and subsequently banished me to the loneliness of this high abode."

"Of a verity thy lot, O beloved, hath been an unhappy one, but let us now look forward to the dawn of a joyous day, to a noonday of prosperity, and to a sunset of peace. Azala, I love thee," and as our lips met for the first time in a hot, pa.s.sionate kiss, her bare, scented chest, with its profusion of jewels, rose and fell with an emotion she was unable to suppress.

In the dead, unbroken silence that followed, the distant roll of a drum, and the cry of the sentinels on the watch-towers at the city gates came up through the silk-curtained lattice, announcing that another hour had pa.s.sed.

"Harken," she cried quickly, springing to her feet, clutching me by the arm, and looking earnestly into my face. "We have but brief s.p.a.ce wherein to plan our emanc.i.p.ation. Fearest thou to investigate the mysteries of Eblis, or to serve his handmaiden?"

"Fear dwelleth not in mine heart when the Pearl of Sokoto is nigh," I answered gallantly, bending to kiss her hand.

"Even though thy Pearl may be daughter of the Evil One, and able to accomplish things superhuman?" she asked, in a strange, harsh voice.

"He who believeth in the one Allah and in his Prophet, holdeth in his hand a two-edged sword against the Ghul (Devil) and all the evil spirits of Al-Hawiyat," I replied, surprised at this latter speech, and at the strange, haggard look that had suddenly overspread her beautiful countenance. "At the moment before our enemy Khazneh laid hands upon me, thou didst promise to reveal unto me some hidden marvel, the nature of which thou wouldst not disclose. For that purpose have I come hither, and now await the fulfilment of thy promise."

Grasping my right wrist and looking into my face with eyes that seemed to emit fire, so strangely brilliant were they, she said,--

"Hast thou no fear of the future, or of the power of the Evil Eye?"

"The curse of Eblis himself shall not deter me from seeking to fathom the Mystery of the Asps. A voice that is dead hath commanded me, and I shall obey, even though I am compelled to engage Azrael in single combat. There is some strange secret in the mystic links that bind our existence--a secret I intend to discover at any hazard."

"Bravely spoken, O Zafar," she answered, her cheeks flushing with excitement and her sequins tinkling musically as she moved. "Thine heart is true as thy trusty Ma.s.ser blade. May it be the will of Allah, who made the earth for a carpet, that thy courage never fail thee in thine attempt to rescue me from the plots that encompa.s.s me, and to penetrate the veil that hath so long hidden the truth of the entwined serpents." She raised her face with a fond, wistful look.

Our lips met, and with her arms about my neck she clung to me, trembling, as if in fear. Then, fortifying herself for an effort, she slowly withdrew from my embrace, and led me across to the heavily-curtained door of the inner chamber, saying,--

"Thou hast declared thyself fearless and undaunted in the coming fight to possess the secret which none may know, even though it is imperative that thou shouldst pa.s.s barriers. .h.i.therto considered by all insurmountable. Truly thou art worthy a woman's love."

"Thou knowest how the unquenchable fire of love burneth within me, O light of mine eyes," I answered, in fervent adoration. "With thee as the sun of my firmament, and with a stout heart within me, I am not afraid."

For answer she turned, and with her hand upon the curtain, said,--

"Come hither. As a preliminary to thine encounter with the Invisible, I will reveal unto thee an undreamed of marvel that will cause thine eyes to open wide in wonderment, and thine heart to cease its beating. Fear abideth not within thee. Enter therefore this portal whereat Malec, powerful yet invisible, mounteth guard, and learn the means by which the Mystery of the Asps may be unravelled."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE PRISM OF DESTINY.

With sudden movement she drew aside the silken curtain, and we stepped into a small, dark, stone chamber, almost a cell. Then with a word of warning she guided my footsteps to a narrow flight of stairs, which she descended with caution, her golden anklets jingling as she went. As I followed, there clung about her soft draperies those sweet perfumes of the harem, the fragrance of which had intoxicated me.

Again she flung back a second heavy curtain that barred a horse-shoe arch at the foot of the stairs, when instantly my eyes were blinded by a flood of brilliant light. Under my feet I felt a carpet so thick that my slipper sank deep into it, and gradually as my dazzled vision grew accustomed to the unusual glare, I realised that I was in a chamber about the size of the one we had just quitted, but decorated entirely in bright green, the hue of which, reflected into Azala's anxious countenance, gave her a complexion pallid and ghastly. The walls and ceiling were painted green, with good counsels from the Koran in long, lean letters of darker shade, the divans and cushions were of green silk, the stools of malachite, the large alcoves at the end fashioned from dark green marble, beautifully carved, while a malachite table, shaped like a crescent, near the end of the apartment, was studded with huge green crystals that glittered in the light like emeralds. The effect was weird and startling, for the bright white light came from a thousand lamps cunningly arranged overhead, while screens of gla.s.s, the colour of the deep sea, shot from the walls slanting beams of brilliant green.

The place was luxurious, yet, as I gazed around it, I could not repress a shudder.

"Go! Take thine ease upon yonder divan," Azala said in a strange voice, pointing to the great couch within the alcove, and as I obeyed her, she took from her arm the gold band with its talisman of leopard's skin and handed it to me. Apparently she dare not wear it there.

Standing in the centre of the curious chamber, she clapped her hands loudly, and instantly a curtain opposite was drawn aside, and there appeared the ugly, hunchbacked form of the grinning dwarf, Tiamo, followed by two female Arab slaves handsomely dressed in tissue of white and gold, and wearing long strings of talismans, and embroidered bags containing mysterious powders, cabalistic figures, and prayers in the language of Maghrib.