“Then I shall have Kerœcia for my wife, and live in peace.”
“Thou wilt neither espouse Kerœcia nor live in peace. Marriage to thee is forbidden. Only the commonplace mortal is content to vegetate, procreate and perish.” Then after a pause, he added: “Thine is not only race condition, Yermah, but before thou wert born, the Brotherhood decreed it for thee.”
“Thou—thou durst tell this to me, the future Servitor of Atlantis and all her dependencies! Out upon thee and thy Brotherhood! I will not submit to thy decrees! Thou—thou hast made me believe in thy love. Is this the language of consideration? The Brotherhood demands all that I value in life! Thou sayest that I have not failed so far. Be assured that I shall succeed finally.”
“Thou hast already developed the feminine principle within thee and hast assumed the flowing locks and robe, so that thy fellows may know thou art fit to lead them. My personal tutorship goes no farther. Thy future is distinctly in thine own hands, Yermah.” Akaza gave a soft reply, and his rash hot-headed companion was mollified.
“Give thy tongue full license, Akaza. What does the Brotherhood require of its fellows?” Yermah was still the master of Tlamco. His tone and manner betrayed it.
“Absolute freedom must be achieved before the candidate can enter the Gates of Light.” Akaza was quiet, but firm.
“Freedom from what?”
“From the enslavement of Desire. Man’s perverted love nature is the great stumbling block.”
Yermah’s face was aflame in an instant. He was furiously angry. He turned toward Akaza with a threatening gesture, while his resentment was at flood tide. Then his arm fell aimlessly to his side. He realized that it was shocking to quarrel with his preceptor—his spiritual father—the man who had unselfishly followed him from one colony to another for the past seven years.
The Dorado held his tongue, but with an impetuous fling of the cloak over his shoulder, he abruptly left the hierophant.