“And has not Avil already told you your lives are safe?” added a newcomer, who needed no torch-glimmer on his eagle features to proclaim him the king himself. “Put away your sword, son of Hystaspes; it avails you nothing. The Lady Atossa trembles at sight of bare steel, and well she may!”
In the faint light they saw Darius break his sword across his knee and dash the hilt away.
“You are right, O king,” he cried, shrill with anger, “for her sake I must bow my neck in peace. Only wreak the vengeance all on me. It was I who sought this meeting, who plotted all; she had no part, and is guiltless.”
“The noble Persian wrongs himself,” spoke Avil, as sweetly as when he commented on his dinner; “neither he nor the Lady Atossa arranged this meeting in these delightful gardens. The author is your most obedient slave.” Whereupon he salaamed.
“You?” burst forth the prince. “What snake’s part is this of yours? By the aid of what dæva came you here with the king? My plans were well laid, my servants trusty.”
“Excellently laid, and exceedingly trusty,” quoth Avil, still perfectly cool; “alas! that Wisdom is not ever the bedfellow of Faithfulness. It did not need the knowledge of Ea to discover that your Highness would love nothing fairer than an evening’s talk with her ladyship. That being the case, and we being greatly desirous to discover your noble plans and the reports you were anxious to transmit to the king’s illustrious ally, Cyrus the Persian, I took it upon myself to make this interview in every way most easy. It was I that arranged that the eunuchs and guards should prove conveniently corruptible, that nothing should hinder your easy access to these Gardens, or interrupt your agreeable conversation until you had unbosomed your hearts one to another. I must confess myself deeply pained to have to disarrange the least of your Highness’s projects.”
“You have overheard?” questioned the prince, controlling himself by an effort. “Be so gracious, then, as to inform a barbarous Persian like myself by what wings you flitted up into these Gardens.”
“By the wings of the same privy staircase soon after your Highness ascended. You may deign to recollect you left your Boges on watch below. It was no grievous matter to overpower and gag without a cry escaping. Afterward I conducted his Majesty and these worthy guardsmen to this thicket, whence we could hear all that passed. As Marduk liveth! I believe we could have made more commotion than we did, and to little harm; you two had ears only for each other.”
“And you understand Persian, priest?” asked Darius.