The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
LYONE'S MANIFESTO TO KING AND PEOPLE.
"Might I ask your holiness," said the high priest, "if you will reallytake so determined a step as that indicated by the action of the royalcouncil? The thought of such a thing strikes me dumb with fear."
"Hushnoly," said Lyone, "I have ever found you faithful to myinterests, and I will now confide in you my purposes. You are a man ofwisdom, calm and conservative, and can rest happy in the possession ofyour counterpart soul. Your character has become moulded by your longnovitiate until you have become a part of the institution itself. Tothink of any other state of things is to you an impossibility. Onthousands of souls here, your inflexible laws have only developed arebellious energy that will some day utterly destroy the fabric ofEgyplosis. The true union of souls is not artificial restraint and thepresent calmness is only the pause that preludes the explosion."
"But do you, supreme goddess, indeed desire to leave us forever? Willyou profane your holy office? Will you despoil the temple of ideallove?" said Hushnoly, with emotion.
"You think it monstrous," said Lyone, "that I should desire to uprootprinciples so fixed and permanent. You can judge, then, how fiercemust be the passion that causes me to antagonize duty consecrated bythe ties and memories of my holy office."
"To break away from a responsibility so supreme," I said, "arguesalone an extraordinary force. Your very system creates just such alove as this. Here souls are required to meet in rapture, and yet tostand balanced, as it were, on the thin edge of naked swords, and fallneither this way nor that. The development of a purely romantic loveeffeminates the race. The example of Egyplosis if carried outuniversally would obliterate the nation in one generation. The nationis wiser than its creed. Let us therefore choose the wiser path."
"It was the dream of your noble parents," said Hushnoly to Lyone, "tosee you supreme goddess of Egyplosis. When you obtained this peerlesshonor they died. Your mother, dying, implored you to remember yourvows, and to be ever true to your high office. 'Love only duty,' washer last sigh. If you love aught else, there is but a cruel death foryou, and your memory will be an everlasting disgrace. Will you, theideal of hopeless love, be the first to prove faithless?"
"What you say is true," I said, replying for Lyone, "but what is duty?Lyone not only owes a duty to her office, but also to herself. Herduty to herself is to rise up and break down this monstrousenvironment that chains down her soul, and her duty to these tenthousand souls is to tell them that an institution that constantlyantagonizes nature is immoral. Here refined souls," I continued, "seekthe cloister, not for peace, but for ecstatic anguish. They love andweep, and thus agitated they grow at once weak and violent, and cannever accommodate themselves to the serious purposes of life. Thussacrificed on the altar of a false god, weary of a life of barrenblessedness, you will discover, if you but seriously inquire into it,that this palace is purely a prison for thousands of noble souls."
As I spoke, Hushnoly clasped his head with his hands and groaned."With the downfall of Egyplosis," he murmured, "farewell delights,farewell tendernesses, farewell mystical, chivalrous love!"
"Do not be so dejected," said Lyone; "your imagination gives you but acapricious view of the future, which will be even nobler than thepast."
The high priest could hear no more, and left us seized with affrightas to the future, and mourning the anticipated downfall of Egyplosis.
Lyone, far from exhibiting fear, grew enthusiastic over our projected_coup d'etat_, that would certainly, if successful, create an organicchange in the constitution of the kingdom.
We discussed the situation at length, and determined to leaveEgyplosis for Calnogor forthwith.
I could in some measure appreciate the struggle undergone by Lyonenecessary to sever her forever from so ineffable a retreat. Butpassion was stronger than environment, and it was duly announced thatthe supreme goddess and the commander of the _Polar King_ and theirimmediate followers would leave for Calnogor forthwith.
Our departure from Egyplosis was attended with impressive ceremonies,our journey to Calnogor being made in the aerial ship of the goddess.
On our arrival at Tanje we discovered that the king and government hadheld their council unknown to the people. We did not think itexpedient either, just then, to make public the determination of thegoddess. I ordered my officers and sailors to Kioram forthwith to takecommand of the _Polar King_. My instructions to Captain Wallace wereto have the ship fully supplied with stores, and remove her from thebasin where she lay into the outer harbor of Kioram, and there awaitfurther orders. After a considerable period of inactivity the ship'scompany were nothing loath to get on board again with the prospect ofanother voyage. I confided to the officers the possibility of ourbeing engaged in hostile operations, and ordered the ship to be putin fighting trim without delay. The officers and men were tendered thedignity of riding to Kioram in the sacred locomotive, and theirdeparture was made amid the enthusiasm of the populace.
As for myself, I remained at the palace of Tanje, the residence of thegoddess, to assist Lyone in preparing her manifesto to the people.
It was a painful crisis for her, who was the symbol of ideal love, tobe the first to renounce its delights for the sake of an every-dayunion with a beloved soul.
For days her decision trembled in the balance. Her avowal of being ledcaptive by human love would be a national catastrophe. She trembledfor her ten thousand devotees in Egyplosis. It seemed a cruel andheartless trampling under foot of throbbing hearts that were thrillingwith faith in their goddess. When I saw Lyone prepared to abandonEgyplosis for my sake, when I knew she would forever resign thatsplendid throne swept by whirlwinds of adoration, for the sake ofbeing clasped to my heart, when I saw her risk even life itself forthe simple love of one adoring heart, I then knew what love reallywas. It was, as Dante says,
"Joy past compare, gladness unutterable, Exhaustless riches and unmeasured bliss."
At last the decision was made. Lyone had decided that the ideal loveof Egyplosis was only suited to disembodied spirits, and not for thosebreathing elements of matter that are unable to exist in the spiritualstate.
The following was the text of her manifesto to the king, Borodemy andpeople:
"_The Avowal of_ LYONE, _Supreme Goddess of Atvatabar, Holy Ruler of the palaces, Supernal and Infernal, of Egyplosis, Queen of Magicians, Mother of Sorcerers, Princess of Arjeels, etc., etc., to His Most Excellent Majesty_ KING ALDEMEGRY BHOOLMAKAR _and the People of Atvatabar_.
"The supreme goddess presents her respectful salutations, and desires to inform his majesty the king and the people that her ardent soul, sensitive to the tender feelings of human affection, desires to live no longer without a counterpart soul. The love of ten thousand souls does not satisfy the craving for the love of but one soul. She has been told to love Harikar the unseen. She reaches out her lips, but they do not meet with love's delirious kisses. Her heart, withering within her because of soul loneliness, has taught her to seek liberty, to love the soul of her choice.
"She resigns her seat on the throne of the gods, as goddess, having discovered her counterpart soul.
"She hopes that reform and not destruction will guide the king and his ministers in dealing with Egyplosis at this crisis.
"Given at her palace of Tanje in this, the eleventh year of her deification as supreme goddess.
LYONE."
This memorial fell upon the people like a shell of terrorite. No onehad ever suspected the crisis was so real. The king had lulled himselfwith the belief that, as my sailors had already departed to embark onthe _Polar King_, I would possibly quietly follow them, and leave thecountry without his having the trouble of even asking me to go. Themessage of the goddess, however, opened his eyes to the true state ofthings, and I forthwith received the following decree from hismajes
"ALDEMEGRY BHOOLMAKAR, _King of Atvatabar, to His Excellency Lexington White, Commander of the ship Polar King, etc., etc., greeting_:
"It having come to our knowledge that you, the said Lexington White, have conceived an affection for the sacred person of our illustrious supreme goddess, Lyone, spouse of Harikar, holy ruler of Egyplosis, mother of sorcerers, etc., in defiance of our holy faith and laws of this our realm, and furthermore it having come to our knowledge that the said supreme goddess has so far forgotten her holy duty as to reciprocate your affection, be it known to you that the penalty prescribed by the laws of this our realm for your heinous offence (which is sacrilegious treason) is death by magnicity, for both guilty persons.
"To inform you of the law and the penalty for your crime, and to give you an opportunity of renouncing your affection for our supreme goddess, and for your immediate departure from the soil of Atvatabar, we send you this our decree, commanding you as follows: That you forthwith renounce your treasonable affection, love and interest in the personality of said supreme goddess. That you embark, together with your officers and seamen, on board your ship, the _Polar King_, within one week from date hereof, and forever leave our realm of Atvatabar and the surrounding seas thereof. You must not again return to this our realm in any manner whatsoever, or send messengers, or correspond or conspire with any inhabitant thereof, particularly with our said supreme goddess, under penalty of death, both for yourself and for your entire crew.
"Given at our palace in Calnogor, in this fifty-sixth year of our reign.
"ALDEMEGRY BHOOLMAKAR,
"_King of Atvatabar_."
I received the document from the hands of the admiral with deeprespect, and requested him to assure his majesty King AldemegryBhoolmakar of my profound regard and deep gratitude for the hospitablereception we had received from his majesty and his people during ourstay in the glorious kingdom of Atvatabar.
I stated that we were at present in the act of leaving their countryon a voyage of further discovery, but could not say that we would notagain return to Atvatabar. We should be most happy to obey the commandof the king, but should we receive a message to return from thesupreme goddess ere we left the interior world, we might possiblyreturn, notwithstanding the royal command, and brave the wrath of hismajesty.
"In that case," said the admiral, "it would be my duty to prevent youfrom landing on Atvatabar soil; and should you succeed in eluding thevigilance of the fleet, your apprehension and that of your people byhis majesty's wayleals would mean the execution of your entire party.We are a proud nation, and our army and navy are invincible."
I thanked the admiral for his well-meant warning, whereupon hewithdrew from the palace.