CHAPTER FIVE.
GASITYE THE WIZARD.
For long I stood there thinking. I looked at the ground, all red andsplashed with blood. I looked at the distorted body of the dead slaveand the great gaping wound which had let out the life--the sure andcertain mark of the dreaded Red Death--always dealt as it was, in thesame part of the body--and for all my thought I could think out nomethod of finding and slaying this evil thing. Then I thought of the_muti_--the amulet which Lalusini had hung around my neck. Should Ilook within it? Her words came back to me. "Seek not to look withinuntil such time as thy wit _and the wit of others_ fail thee." Yet, hadnot that time come? I could think of no plan. The monster was not ofthis world. No weapon ever forged could slay it; still there must be away. Ha! "_the wit of others_!" Old Masuka had departed to the land ofspirits himself. He might have helped me. Who could those "others" be,of whom my sorceress-wife had spoken while her spirit was away among thespirits of those unseen?
"Remain here," I said suddenly, to Jambula and the other slave. "Remainhere, and watch, and stir not from this spot until I return."
They made no murmur against this--yet I could see they liked not theorder. But I gave no thought to them as I moved forward with my eyesfixed upon the tracks of the retreating monster.
The bloody imprint of the huge hoofs was plain enough, and to followthese was a work of no difficulty. Soon, however, as the hoofs hadbecome dry, it was not so easy. Remembering the crashing noise I hadheard as the thing rushed on its course, I examined the bushes andtrees. No leaves or twigs were broken off such as could not but havehappened with such a heavy body plunging through them. Then thehoof-marks themselves suddenly ceased, and with that, _Nkose_, the bloodonce more seemed to tingle within me, for if the thing had come nofurther was it not lying close at hand--those fiery eyes perhaps at thatvery moment watching me--those awful horns even now advancing silent andstealthy to rip and tear through my being? Ha! It seemed to me thatthis hunting of a terrible ghost was a thing to turn the bravest maninto a coward.
Then as I stood, my hearing strained to its uttermost, my hand grippingmy broad spear ready at any rate to fight valiantly for life, and allthat life involved, something happened which well-nigh completed thetransformation into a coward of a man who had never known fear.
For now a voice fell upon my ears--a voice low and quavering, yetclear--a voice with a strange and distant sound as though spoken afaroff.
"Ho! fearless one who art now afraid! Ho! valiant leader of armies!Ho! mighty induna of the Great King! Thou art as frightened as a littlechild. Ha, ha, ha!"
This last was very nearly true, _Nkose_--but hearing it said, and thehideous mocking laugh that followed, very nearly turned it into a lie.
"I know not who speaks," I growled, "save that by the voice it is a veryold man. Were it not so he should learn what it means to name me acoward."
"Ha, ha, ha!" screamed the voice again. "Brave words, O holder of theKing's assegai. Why, thy voice shakes almost as much as mine. Comehither--if thou art not afraid."
From where the bush grew darkest and thickest the voice seemed to come.I moved cautiously forward, prepared at every step to fall into sometrap--to meet with some manifestation of abominable witchcraft. Forlong did I force my way through the thick growth, but cautiously ever,and at last stood once more in the open. Then astonishment was my lot.Right before me rose a great rock wall. I had reached the base of oneof the heights which shut in the hollow.
"Welcome, Untuswa," cackled the voice again. "Art thou still afraid?"
Now, _Nkose_, I could see nobody; but remembering the Song of theShield, and how Lalusini had caused it to sound forth from the cliff tohearten us during the battle--she herself being some way off--I was notso much amazed as I might have been, for the voice came right out of thecliff.
"If thou art not afraid, Untuswa," it went on, "advance straight, andtouch the rock with thy right hand."
I liked not this order, but, _Nkose_, I had ever had to do withmagicians, and had dipped somewhat into their art, as I have alreadyshown. Here, I thought, was more sorcery to be looked into, and howshould I root out the sorcery of the Red Magic save by the aid of othersorcery? So I advanced boldly, yet warily. And then, indeed, amazementwas my lot.
For, as my right hand touched it, the hard rock moved, shivered. Then aportion of this smooth, unbroken wall seemed to fall inward, leaving ablack gaping hole like a doorway, through which a man might enterupright.
"Ho, ho! Untuswa!" cackled the voice again, now from within the hole."Welcome, valiant fighter. Enter. Yet, wilt thou not leave thy weaponsoutside?"
"Not until I stand once more in the presence of him who sent me do Idisarm, O Unknown One. And now, where art thou? for I like better totalk to a man with a voice than to a voice without the man."
"And how knowest thou that I am a man, O Fearless One? Yet, enter,weapons and all. Ha! Knowest thou not _this_ voice?"
_Whau_! It seemed to me then that my flesh crept indeed, for I did knowthat voice. Ah, yes, well indeed; and it was the voice of one who hadlong since sat down in the sleep of death--the voice of old Masuka, themightiest magician our nation had ever seen.
Then, indeed, did I enter, for, even though dead, the voice was that ofone who had done naught but well by me during life, and I feared not achange the other way now. I entered, and, as I did so, I stood indarkness once more. The rock wall had closed up behind me.
Now my misgivings returned, for, _Nkose_, no living man, be he never sobrave, can find himself suddenly entombed within the heart of the earthalone, the voice of one who has long been dead talking with him in theblack, moist darkness, and not feel some alarm. Again the voice spoke,and this time it was not that of Masuka, but the mocking cackle whichhad at first startled me.
"Ho, ho! Untuswa, the valiant, the fearless. Dost thou not tremble--thou who art even now within the portal of the Great Unknown? Did everperil of spear, or of the wrath of kings, make thy face cold as it nowis? Ha, ha!"
True indeed were the words, for the position was fearful; but then sowas that which had been the means of driving me into it. But Ianswered:
"I have seen strange and mysterious and terrifying things before, myfather, else would I fear greatly now. Yet let us talk face to face."
For a moment there was no reply, then with startling suddenness a lightflashed forth. On the floor just in front of me burned a small fore--throwing a ball of green misty light upon the tomb-like blackness.Within this I could make out the figure of a man--a very old man.
A man, did I say? _Whau_! It was more like that of a monkey, or agreat crouching spider. The limbs were thin as the shaft of a spear--too withered and dried even to show the wrinkles of age; the face, too,was like a dry piece of skin spread over the skull; and on the head awisp or two of white hair. If it was a man, in truth he must have livednearly as long as the world itself. His hands, which were like theclaws of a bird, were spread over the fire, which burned not upon thefloor, but in a large clay bowl. Into this he seemed to be sprinklingsome kind of powder which caused the green flame to leap and hiss.
But now another sound stopped my ears; an awesome and terrible sound--asound full of fear and agony indescribable--for it was again thedeath-yell, such as I had heard in the darkness of the night when theslave, Suru, looked upon the Red Terror and parted with life. And nowit was not night, but broad, clear, golden day--outside the cavern atleast--and the other slave had parted with life by the same dread means;and I--while this thing of horror was abroad--this monster I had come toslay--here was I imprisoned within the heart of the earth--held there atthe will of a being who seemed less a man than the ghost of one who haddied while the world was yet young. I leaped to my feet.
"Ha, ha, ha! Sit again, induna of the King, who knows not fear,"cackled the shrivelled old monkey before me. "Ha, ha, ha! But now Ithink thou art afraid."
"Afraid or not, thou evil scorpion--thou creeping wiza
rd--if I stand notin the light of day before I strike the ground with my foot three times,this spear shall see if there be any blood to run from thy dried-up oldheart." And, raising the blade aloft, I struck the ground once with myfoot.
"Ha, ha, ha!" cackled the wizard again, still scattering his magicpowder into the fire. "Look again, Untuswa; look again."
I did look again, I could not do otherwise, and then I stood as oneturned into stone--with the spear still uplifted--unable to move hand orfoot, as I glared in front of me. For the whole vault was filled with avivid green flash, and in it the wizard seemed to dissolve.
His shrivelled limbs seemed to turn into black, horrible snakes, whichglided away hissing into the darkness beyond; then the light sanksomewhat, and before me there started up faces dim and shadowy, andtheir aspect turned my heart into water indeed, for I was gazing uponthe faces of those I knew had long been dead.
Dim and shadowy as they were, I knew them all, knew them at first sight.There was Hlatusa, who had been sent to "feed the alligators" by reasonof this very magic I was here to destroy. There was Tyuyumane, who hadconspired with the Amabuna to overthrow our nation; and Notalwa, thechief of our _izanusi_, who had aided him, both faces wreathed with hateand torture as I had last beheld them, writhing on the stake ofimpalement. There were many others who had died for the conspiracy ofNcwelo's Pool. There was the face of my brother, Sekweni--he who hadbeen slain for sleeping at his post--and that of Gungana, the indunawhom I myself slew, and to whose command I had succeeded. All thesewere glowering upon me with a very whirlwind of hate and vengeance, andI--_whau_!--I was as a man who had died ten deaths. Then I saw the faceof Tauane, the chief of the People of the Blue Cattle, and--Ha! what wasthat? The face of Lalusini, beautiful, but sad and agonised? Yet no.But as a flash I had seen it, and lo! it became that of Nangeza, myerstwhile _inkosikazi_, even as when she had failed in her attempt uponthe life of the song. And then indeed did I know what hate andvengeance could look like. For long it seemed I stood there face toface with that terrible countenance--with it alone--and my lungs nowseemed to fill with choking fiery air. I beheld a vast array defilingbefore me--of warriors I had met in battle, of all races, but chieflythose of our parent nation. On, ever, they passed, silent grimspectres, with broad spear and tufted shield, even as in life. Othersfollowed densely in rank, company upon company. _Hau_! Once more thebattle! I heard the clash of shields, the shiver of assegai hafts, theflash and flame as of fire weapons. I saw the red blood spout and flow;I heard the roaring of an army of warriors in the full career of theirvictorious charge; my ears were dulled by the screams of the vanquished,for mercy, for pity; the wild hiss and whistle of the conquerors as theystabbed and stabbed; and lo! blood swirled around my feet in rivers, andstill the screaming and wailing of those beneath the spear went on.Then I could no longer breathe. The earth itself seemed to be heapingon high to fall on me and crush me to dust. I sank down, as it seemed,in death.
The Induna's Wife Page 6
