Here I used to expend many an hour in perfect solitude, seeking repose and release from the canker of anxiety, trying more or less effectually to emulate the advice of the poet and to annihilate my entity to a green thought in a green shade.
It was on a hot afternoon that after the midday meal I sought as usual my cherished retreat, wherein I seated myself according to my custom, appreciating at once the melody of the unseen fountain, the droning of the bees in the scented bloom without and the amber radiance caught in the interwoven branches overhead. Lying thus, I sought to hit on some apposite theme whereon to concentrate my powers of meditation. But the jaded brain and the perturbed mind to-day refused to permit me any relief from the engrossing melancholy of my present situation. Thus I sat limp and despairing on my bench, utterly oblivious of the passage of time and only dimly conscious of the amenities of art and nature wherewith I was surrounded. From this drowsy mood of reflection I was suddenly recalled by a rustling sound close beside me. With ears alert I heard the sound increase, and a moment later descried the thick wall of box and laurel tremble and then divide so as to allow the figure of a young female to emerge from its depths. In sheer amazement I continued to stare, grasping every detail of the intruder's face and dress, as she gracefully extricated her form out of the detaining undergrowth. She was taller and slighter in build than the average type of her sex in Meleager; her skin was considerably fairer and of an elegant pallor; her hair had glints of gold and chestnut to relieve its blackness; her eyes were like beryls. Clad in her green robe and coif she certainly appeared a natural incarnation, a veritable hamadryad, amidst these secluded groves which had just produced her. Instinctively I realised she was no true native of Meleager; her figure, her eyes, her skin, her gestures were not those of my subjects; on the contrary, there was a subtle but pervading suggestion that this interloper was of the Earth. Was she then the daughter, or possibly the descendant, of some predecessor of mine in this perilous throne who had risked his crown in an amorous adventure? Who was she? Whence was she? Why was she here? Such questions naturally chased one another across my perplexed brain, but the third of them at least the new-comer was evidently only too anxious to explain. I myself was the goal and aim of her present vagary, for still crouching low she writhed towards my feet, which she proceeded to clasp, whilst with tears in her beautiful eyes and breakings of her rich tender voice she began to implore my protection.
Beset thus unawares, I could do no less than listen to the rambling tale of woe and injustice her parted rosy lips delivered; how she had managed to escape from the hateful tutelage of the priestesses of the Sun; how she knew she could rely on my assistance; and how many sanctuaries of easy concealment existed in the purlieus of the palace. All the while this torrent of entreaty, flattery and self-commiseration was being poured forth in an unbroken stream, my suppliant contrived to edge nearer and nearer to myself, half-rising from her knees and lifting her shapely white arms to the level of my shoulders. There was an influence, an aroma about her that vaguely suggested the women of my own planet. I realised the existence of some indefinable link between my own nature and hers, something of the Earth earthy, and therefore inestimably precious here in Meleager. A warm current of human sympathy and magnetic attraction seemed to be circulating around me. One moment, one second more, and I felt we should be locked together in one another's arms, we two hapless dwellers on Meleager belonging of right to another world and meeting in an alien planet. One second more, and we two waifs of different sexes would have been caught in an embrace of commingled sorrow and devotion, caring naught for the dangers ahead and happy only in our new-found union of congenial souls. The bewitching face, with eyes that sparkled through the film of tears and with radiant youth lurking in their wells of light, was almost touching my own, when there flashed before me a vision rather than a thought of my impending danger. I glimpsed a sensation of orbs vigilant and sinister, multitudinous as the eyes in the peacock's tail, usurping the places of the leaves around me; the playing water's chant turned into a sudden note of terrified warning and entreaty; the golden haze above grew lurid. With supreme energy I knit my remaining strength together, as I battled with the temptation to surrender. My bodily powers rose in obedience to my guiding brain, and extricating myself none too gently from the already twining arms of the maiden, I caught her with my right palm a resounding box on the ear which echoed through that sylvan silence. At the same moment I shouted aloud, and leaped to my feet. It was as if scales had fallen from my mental eyes, for I could sense, even if I could not actually see the enclosing hedges filled with spies, some of whom were hurrying stealthily hence, whilst others were preparing to enter the alley in as natural a manner as they could assume. These latter came forward sheepishly and stood before me, as I pointed to the grovelling form of the girl who was now weeping violently at my feet. Whose duty was it, I asked, to prevent strange women from invading these gardens and disturbing the noontide repose of the Child of the Sun? As to my late reception of the charmer, even assuming that every motion of mine had been carefully observed by this battalion of eavesdroppers, there could be no question as to the final rebuff her advances had encountered. Her shriek of dismay and the scarlet flush on her pale cheek were at least sufficient witnesses of the fact that I had not fallen into the trap that had been so elaborately prepared for my ensnaring. Without proof positive I had good reason to imagine that many of the persons concealed in the bushes were not spies at all, but admirers and supporters of my own, who had been specially invited hither to test my fallibility. If such were the case, the Arch-priest and his satellites must have received a distinct shock over this conspicuous miscarriage of their scheme concocted for the express purpose of alienating and disgusting those members of the council who upheld my honour and integrity.
Quivering with an anger that I did not attempt to dissemble, I left the open-mouthed group beside the girl who was still sobbing hysterically on the ground. As for her, why should I waste a tittle of compassion on her misfortune? Are not all creatures and tools of cunning politicians always treated with contumely both by employers and unmaskers when their ignoble missions fail? With indignant mien therefore I strode from the gardens and retired to the palace, where I gave the captain of the royal bodyguard a rating for his alleged lack of vigilance. One result at any rate this plot secured for me, and that was a complete freedom from further molestation during the remainder of the period before the coming festival. A further interview with Marzona however soon after this incident only made me perceive yet more clearly the utter impossibility of my arriving at any compact with an implacable and unscrupulous enemy, who was merely biding his time to strike again and strike harder. It was in vain that I essayed overtures; all my attempts at understanding and conciliation were met with an icy condescension that made my task obviously hopeless; and indeed from this time forward the Arch-priest rarely gave me the opportunity of an interview save in the presence of other colleagues.
IV
At length the expected date of my official rejuvenating process arrived, to which I submitted with unusual docility. Despite the murderous intentions of Marzona, I endured the subsequent plunge into the fountain without trepidation, although I dared not face the baleful eyes of the personage whose malignity was rendered powerless for this occasion by the inevitable laws of Meleager. I fancied I could detect an air of quiet reassurance to myself in the bearing of the two inferior councillors; but in any case I swallowed my apprehensions to the best of my ability and entered that malodorous but invigorating fluid with a firm bearing. I duly obtained my reward, for when I emerged all dripping from the seething pool, I experienced a buoyancy of mind and body beyond that of any previous occasion. Thus refreshed and refortified, I deemed myself capable of taking the initiative, and so cheerful and confident did I feel that I was almost tempted to snap my fingers in that saturnine face as it grimly surveyed my drying and dressing. Before ever I quitted the baptistery, several schemes of policy, and even of escape, began to invade my brain, so that I longed to be alone with my own thoughts; nor did many days elapse before I had adumbrated a certain scheme of procedure.
This plan was, it is true, somewhat shadowy in its outline, but it was founded on the assumption that any active effort on my part was preferable to mere stagnation, to a passive courting of future disaster. My idea too was of a dual nature, for it aimed both at self-preservation and also at an unveiling of The Secret. For some time past I had been speculating on the uses of Mount Crystal with its temple of the Altar of the Sun, and from many items of information I had acquired in devious or accidental ways, I had come to the certain conclusion that on this rocky peak was to be sought the key of the mystery. A presentiment, that was already become an article of faith to me, told me that by penetrating hither even at a venture, I should be pursuing the sole avenue leading to ultimate escape, to regained liberty, to a safe return to Earth. In my fresh exuberance of mentality I kept arguing to myself that as my translation to Meleager had been successfully accomplished, so also there existed a chance, however difficult, of my returning safe to my original domicile. My immediate object therefore was to enter that distant temple on the shoulder of the mountain, which I could descry from my palace windows; the goal once attained, I must trust further to my sharpened wits. The spirit of adventure flamed hot within me, so that I found some difficulty in concealing my vigorous excitement under an air of lazy indifference.
My first piece of preparation caused me to smile inwardly, but it at least implied belief in a successful issue of my plan. It consisted in extracting a number of gems from various ornaments which had been bestowed on me for the decoration of my person, had I been so minded. From these I cautiously removed a quantity of sapphires, alexandrites and other precious stones, which I enclosed in a small leather bag attached to a stout gold chain round my neck. Without such a reserve of potential capital I scarcely relished the prospect of my return in the form of a pauper to my native Earth, where that ancient deity Mammon draws a conspicuous following in every cult, and is likewise the leading, if not the sole, guide of the irreligious. Without the possession of such a talisman, I knew I should be liable to exposure to many ills and indignities; and I congratulated myself on my forethought in this measure of precaution, and also on my retentive memory concerning the universal conditions of the Earth at the date of my removal.
Having completed this minor preliminary detail, I proceeded to greater things. Now the sacred mountain stands at a considerable distance from Tamarida, and in no case would it have been possible for me (setting aside the existence of watchers and spies in the palace itself) to make my way thither within the few hours of darkness on which I was compelled to rely for the execution of my plan. I therefore decided to pay a visit to a nobleman named Lotta, who owned an estate that was bounded by the ravine separating the area of Mount Crystal from the mainland. For the mountain itself is a peninsula, washed on three sides by the sea, whilst the fourth side consists of a long narrow arid gully which is crossed at one spot by a viaduct. The precincts of Mount Crystal are, as I have already said, the property of the hierarchy, and nobody is permitted to enter this reserved domain save the councillors and their servants, who approach by this solitary bridge. In vulgar esteem the thick forests and rocky glens of the forbidden space are haunted by evil spirits, so that I felt sure no Meleagrian of the people would venture to scale its precipitous slopes, even by daylight; whilst no noble would naturally intrude on this sacrosanct spot. From these deductions therefore I concluded that the sole means of ingress, the viaduct, was not likely to be guarded with any great strength or vigilance, seeing how little fear of a trespasser there must be on the part of the custodians of the place. Having reasoned so far, I had also formed the opinion that, the bridge once safely traversed, there would be little to hinder my speedy arrival at the temple itself, beyond which my present calculations did not extend.
Not many days after the solstice therefore I set forth, accompanied only by Zulàr, on my proposed visit to the country house of my indicated host who received me with every sign of satisfaction and respect. I had paid several visits here in the past, so that my present resolution could not, and indeed did not, excite the smallest suspicion on the part of my enemies, who were in no wise disturbed by my departure from the palace. On the second evening of my visit I was talking to young Bávil, my entertainer's son and heir, a special favourite of mine, and in the course of our conversation I promised the lad a particular spear of my own invention. The boy's eyes eagerly glistened at the mention of this welcome gift, whereupon I summoned Zulàr and bade him hasten to the palace after his supper, fetch the required weapon, and return with it on the following morning. Having thus contrived to rid myself of Zulàr's presence on so simple an errand, I continued to sit with Lotta and his family during the sociable interval that in Meleager extends from supper till bedtime.