 HEART OF THE WORLD by H. RYDER HAGGARD CHAPTER XXII. Matai prophesies evil. At Decau's words the company murmured in astonishment, and Matai, bending forward, began to whisper in his ear. Decau listened for a moment, then turned upon him fiercely, and said aloud, so that all could hear him, I tell you, Matai, that I will be no party to this inequity. Have such a thing been heard of before, that the lady of the heart, the highest lady in the land, should be given in marriage to a stranger who, like some lost dog, has wanted to our gate. The prophecy began, Matai, the prophecy, I put no faith in prophecies. Why should I obey a prophecy written now, when, or by whom, I do not know? This lady was my affianced bride, and now I am asked to unite her to a nameless man who is not even of our blood or faith. Well, I will not. Surely, Lord, you blaspheme, answered Matai, growing wrath, seeing that it is not for the high priest to speak against the oracle of the God. Also he added with meaning, what can it be to you who are not ten days wed to the lady at your side, that she to whom once you were affianced should choose another as her husband? What is it to me, he said to call furiously. If you desire to know, I will tell you, it is everything. How did I come to break my troth, and to take your daughter as a wife? Through you, Matai, through you, the liar and false prophet. Did you not swear to me that Maya was dead yonder in the wilderness? And did you not to satisfy your own ambitions force me to take your daughter to life, and is not this marriage between the lady of the heart and the white man, a plot of yours, devised for the furthering of your ends? Now, while we all stood astonished, of a sudden, Nawa, who hitherto had listened in stony silence, rose and said, The Lord, to call my husband, forgets that common courtesy should protect even an unwelcome wife from public insult. Then she turned and left the hall by the door which was behind her. A murmur of pity for the lady and indignation at the man ran through the company. As it died away, Tikal said, Evil will come of this night's work, and in it I will have no hand, do what you will, and abide the issue. And before any could speak an answer, he also had left the hall followed by his guards. For a while there was silence. Then men began to talk confusedly, and some of the members of the brotherhood of the heart, rising from their chairs, took hurried counsel together. At length they receded themselves, and holding up his hand to secure silence, Matai spoke thus, Forgive me, he said, addressing the audience. If my words seem few and rough, but it is hard for me to be calm in face of the open insult which has been put upon my daughter and myself before you all. I will not stoop to answer the charges that the Lord Tikal has brought against me in his rage. Surely some evil power must have afflicted him with madness, that forgetting his honor as a man, and his duty as a prince and priest, he should dare to utter such co-lmanies against the God we worship, the white man whom the God has chosen to be husband, to the Lady Maya, and myself, the keeper of the sanctuary. There were many among you who held me foolish when, after much prayer and thought to further what I believed to be the true interests of the whole people, I gave my voice in favor of the lifting up of Tikal to fill the place in honor of Tachike, in room of our late Prince Abalbe, whom we thought dead with his daughter in the wilderness. Today I see that they were right, and that I was foolish indeed. But enough of regrets and bitter talk that make ill music at a marriage feast. Tikal, the head of our hierarchy, has gone, but other priests are left, nor is his will the will of the council or of the people of the heart for whom the council speaks. Their will is that this marriage should go forward, and deem us my brother as the oldest among us. I call upon you to celebrate it. Now the company shouted in applause, for they were set upon this strange union of a white man with their lady, if only because it was a new thing, and touched their imagination. Also, even those of them who were of his party were wrath, with Tikal, on account of his ill behavior and the cruel affront that he had offered to his new-made wife. So soon as the Talmud had died away, the old priests deem us rose, and, taking the hands of Maya and the Senor, he joined them and said a very touching and beautiful prayer over them, blessing them and in treating the spirit, heart of heaven and other gods, to give them increase and to make them happy in mutual love. Lastly, he laid a white-silken cloth, which had been prepared upon their heads as they knelt before him, and, loosening the emerald girdle from about the waist of the bride, he took her right hand and placed it upon the arm of the Senor. Then he bound the girdle round the waist and arm, buckled it, and, in a few solemn words declared, these quaint to be man and wife in the face of heaven and earth, till death undid them. Now the cloth was lifted and the girdle loosed, and, standing upon their feet, the new wed pair kissed each other before the people. A shot of joy went up that shook the paneled roof, and one by one, in order of their rank, the guest pressed forward to wish happiness to the bride and bridegroom, most of them bringing some costly and beautiful gift, which they gave into the charge of the waiting ladies. Last of all came the old priest Dimas and said, sweet bride, the gift that I am commanded by the council to make to you, though of little value in itself, is yet one of the most precious to be found within the walls of this ancient city, being nothing less than the holy symbol of the all-seeing eye of the heart of heaven, which, through you men behold today for the first time for many generations. Wear it always, lady, and remember that, though this jewel has no sight, yet that eye whereof it is a token, from hour to hour, read your most secret soul and purpose. Make your thoughts, then, as fair as your body, and let your breast harbor neither guile nor evil, for of all these things in a day to come, you must surely give account. As he spoke, he drew from the case that hid it nothing less than that awful eye which we had seen within the hollow of the heart, when with unhallowed hands we robbed it, substituting the false for the true. Now it had been set in a band of gold, and hung to a golden chain, which he placed about the neck of the bride, so that the red and cruel-looking gem lay gleaming on her naked breast. My about and muttered some word of thanks, but I saw that her spirit failed her at the touch of the ominous thing, for she turned faint and would have fallen had not her husband caught her by the arm. While the senior and his wife were receiving gifts and listening to pretty speeches, a number of attendants had brought tables laden with every sort of food from behind the pillars, where they had been prepared, and at a signal the feast began. It was long and joyous, though joy seemed to have faded from the face of Maya, who sat neither eating nor drinking, but from time to time lifting the red eye from her breast, as though it scorched her skin. At length she rose and accompanied by her husband, walked bowing down the hall to the courtyard, where bearers waited for them with carrying chairs. In these they seated themselves, and a procession having been formed very long and splendid, though I will not stay to describe it. We started to march round the great square, to the sound of music and singing, our path being lit by the light of the moon and with hundreds of torches. Here in this square we gathered all the population of the city of the heart, men, women, and children, to greet the bride, each of them bearing flowers and a flaming torch, and never have I seen any sight more beautiful than this of their welcome. The circuit of the square being accomplished, the procession halted at the palace gates, and many hands were stretched out to help the bride and bridegroom from their litters. It was at this moment that I, who was standing near, felt a man wrapped in a large feather cloak, push past me, and saw that he held something which gleamed like a knife. By instinct, as it were, I cried, Beware my friend in Spanish, and in so piercing a voice that it caught the senor's ear. He swung round for already he was standing on his feet, and as he turned, the man in the cloak rushed at him and stabbed with the knife, but being warned, the senor was too quick for him. Springing to one side with the same movement, he dealt his would-be murderer a great buffet that caused him to drop the dagger and sent him staggering to the dense shadow of the archway. For some seconds no one seemed to understand what had happened, when they did and began to search for the man he was not found. Who he was, or why he had attempted this cowardly deed, was never discovered, but for my part, I had little doubt that either Tikal himself, or some creature of his, was wrapped in the dark feathered cloak, and sought thus to rid him of his rival. Indeed, as time went on, this belief took firm hold of the mind of the people, and was one of the causes that led to the snapping of Tikal's power and popularity. Very hastily, the senor assured the lords in attendance who crowded round him that he had received no manner of hurt. Then, after speaking a few brief words of thanks, he withdrew into the palace with his wife, and I saw him no more that night. The day of this marriage was to me the beginning of the longest and most weary year that ever I had spent in long weary life. Very soon I understood how it came about that Maya had learned to hate the city of the heart in which she was born, its people, and its ways, and ardently to desire a new life and new lands. Here there was no change and little work. Here, innervated by a cloying luxury, the poor remnant of a great civilization rotted slowly to its fall, and none lifted a hand to save it. Since man must do something, the priests and nobles plotted for place and power indeed, and the common people listlessly followed this trade or that, providing food and raiment for the community, not for themselves. But there was little heart in what they did, and in it they took no pleasure. Basking in an eternal sunshine, they loitered from the cradle to the grave, hoping nothing, suffering nothing, fearing nothing, content to feast and make love amid their crumbling palaces, and when they were weary to sleep till it was time to feast and love again, satisfying their souls the while with the husks of a faith, whereof they had lost the meaning. Such were the people of whom Zibalbe hoped to fashion a race of conquerors. Still to this life they were born, and it became them. Indeed, they could have endured no other, for the breath of hardship must have melted them away as my Indian forefathers melted beneath the iron rule of the Spaniard. To me it was daily torment. Often I have beheld some wild creature pine and die in its prison, though food was given to it in greater abundance than it could find in its native woods, and like that wild creature was I in this soft city of the heart. The wealth I came to seek was round me in abundance, useless and unproductive, as the dead hands that had stored it, and yonder in Mexico were men who, by aid of that wealth, might become free and great. Alas, I could not bring them together. I could not even escape from my gaol, for my every movement was watched. Yet I would have tried so to do, had it not been for the senior who, when I spoke of it, said I should be no true friend if I went and left him alone in this house of strangers. Indeed, his plight was worse than mine, for he too soon grew utterly weary of this dreadful city of eternal summer, and of everything in it except his wife. For whole hours we would sit gazing on the wide waters of the lake and make plan after plan, whereby we might gain the mountains and freedom, only to abandon each and turn. For they were hopeless. Day and night he was watched, since here alone this people forgot to be indolent. They knew that their race was dying, and lifting no hand to save themselves, they preferred to pin their faith upon the prophecy which promised that from this white man should spring a savior. Meanwhile, fall so it may have been the prophecy, or one part of it, was in the way of fulfillment, which in itself was a wonder to this people, among whom the births of children were so rare. At length that child was born, a son, and the rejoicing new no-bounds, strangely enough upon the same day, Nowag also gave birth to a son, and great was her anger when she learned that it was not on her account, or that of her offspring, that the people were so glad. Within a few days of the Senora's marriage, we heard that Matai had been seized with sickness, a kind of palsy, together with a leperous condition of the arms that baffled all skill. For months he lay in his house, growing gradually worse, so said the physicians. One night I remember that it was three days previous to the birth of Maya's child. He appeared before Maya, the Senora and myself, as we sat together in the palace, looking out upon the moonlit garden. At first we did not know him, for never before had I seen a sight so dreadful. His body was bloated, one arm his left, with swathed in bandages, his head shook incessantly, and the leprosy had seized his face, which was of a livid hue. Do not shrink from me, he began in a low and quavering voice, as he gazed upon us with his whitening eyes. Surely you should not shrink, seeing that all of you are partners in the crime that has made of me the loathsome thing I am. I deny it, if you will, but I know it. The vengeance of the God has fallen upon me, his false servant, and it has fallen justly. Moreover, be assured that on you also shall that vengeance fall, for the eye has seen, the mouth is told, and the heart has thought upon your doom. Look upon me, and learn how rich are the wages of him who works in equity, and by my suffering strive to count the measure of your own. For a chance your cup is not yet full, but chance you have still greater sins to work, but vengeance shall come. I tell you that vengeance shall come here and hereafter. I did this thing for my daughter's sake, yes, for love of her, my only child. She was ambitious, and she desired this man, and I thought to assure greatness to her and to her children after her. But see how her wine has turned to vinegar, and her pleasant fruit to ashes. Her husband hates her with an ever-growing hate. Now they scarcely speak, only to shower bitter words upon each other's head. More not for long will to call Bikachike of this city of the heart, for his jealous rage has soured all his mind. His deeds are deeds of oppression and injustice. Already he is detested by the people, and even those who loved him turned from him and plot against him. Do you know what they plot? They plot to make that child that shall be born to you, Maya, Kachike in his room, and to set up you and your outland husband as regents till it shall be of an age to govern. Oh, you have planned cunningly, and things look well for you, but I say that they shall not prosper. The curse is on you, Ignatio, Lord of the heart, for all your high-built hope shall fall like rotted roof, and never shall the eagles of that empire you have dreamed be bordered on your banners. Slaves are the people you have toiled for, and slaves they shall remain, for by the crime to which you gave consent, Ignatio, you have riveted their fetters. The curse is on your child, Maya, never shall it live to become a man. The curse is on your husband, his hair shall not grow gray, but heaviest of all the curse rests upon you, false lady of the heart, you whose life is one long lie, you who forsook your faith and broke your oath, you who turn from your people and from the law of your high and ancient house that you might win a wandering white man to your arms. Woman, we shall meet no more, but in the hour of your last misery and in the long, long ages of the eternal punishment. Remember the words that I speak to you today. Then, shaking his withered arm in our faces, Matai turned and limped from the chamber. He went and we sat gazing at each other in horror. For though we, none of us, had any faith in the God he worshiped, in our hearts we felt that this man spoke truth, and that evil would overtake us. For a moment Maya hid her face in her hands and wept, then she sprang up, a fire in her eyes had dried her tears. So let it be, she cried. I care nothing. At least I won you my love, and for some months through all our troubles, I have been most happy at your side, and come good, come ill, nothing can rob me of my memories. But for you I fear husband. Husband, I fear for you. Then her passion passed, she flung herself into his arms and again began to weep. In due course the child was born, a beautiful boy, almost white in color, with his mother's star-like eyes, and on the same night we learned that Matai had died and much torment, and that Nawa was delivered of a son. Eighteen days went by, and Maya, new risen from her bed, was seated with her husband and myself, while behind us stood a waiting lady, holding the sleeping infant in her arms, when it was announced to us that an embassy of great lords of the council sought speech with her. Presently they entered, and the spokesman, the Lord Dimas, bowed before her and set out his mission, saying, We have come to you, lady of the heart, on behalf of the council and of the people, to rejoice with you and your great happiness, and to lay certain matters of the state before you. For some months the people have grown weary of the oppression and cruelties of Tikal, who, in defiance of the laws of the land, has put many to death on suspicion of their being concerned in plots against his power. Further but yesterday it came to the ears of the council, through the confession of one whom he had employed to execute his wickedness, that a plan was laid to murder your husband, your child, and the Lord Ignatio here. Indeed, said Maya, and why was my name omitted from this list? Lady, we do not know, he answered, but it seems that the assassins had orders to take you living and to hide you away in a secret part of Tikal's house. Now the senor sprang to his feet and swore a great oath to be avenged upon Tikal. Nay, Lord, said Dimas, his person is holy and must not be touched, nor need you have any further fear of him, for those whom he corrupted await their trial, and he himself is washed by day and night. Also not for long will Tikal remain kachike of the city of the heart, for the council have met in secret session to which you were not summoned, and have decreed that he shall be deposed because of his inequities, and in accordance with the desire of the people. Can a kachike be deposed? asked Maya. Yes, lady, if he has broken the law, for was not your father to be deposed for this same reason? Also Tikal holds his place not by right of birth, but by treaty. You are the true heir to Zimbabwe, lady of the heart? It may be so, she answered coldly, but I have renounced my claim, and I do not desire to go back upon my word. If you have renounced it, said Dimas, there is one to whom it passes, and he pointed to the sleeping infant. Yonder is the child of prophecy, hope of the people, and he it is whom we propose to crown as our ruler, setting you and your husband up to act for him till he reaches his full age. Nay, said Maya, for thus shall he become the mark of Tikal's rage, and be put to death openly or in secret, as it may chance. Not so, lady, for in that hour when he is proclaimed, Tikal will be taken into safekeeping, where he shall abide for so long as his life lasts. And when is this to be, asked the senior, tomorrow at noon upon the pyramid, that the child may be solemnly anointed three days hence in the sanctuary on the night of the rising waters. It is foolish to crown a babe, and neither I nor my husband seek this greatness, said Maya. If Tikal is to be deposed because of his crimes, let one of the great lords be set in his place, until the child is old enough to rule. Although you and your husband are to command us in the future, answered Dimas sternly, till then you must obey, lady, for the voice of the council is supreme, and it carries out the will of its founder, an invisible president, the heart of heaven. The council has determined that the heaven sent child of whom you are the earthly parents, must take his own. As you will, said Maya with a sigh, and presently they went. That evening the senior and I attended a feast at the house of one of the great nobles, once we returned somewhat late. Having dismissed those who had escorted us, I walked with him as far as the door of his private chambers, proposing to leave him there, but he bade me enter, for he wished to talk with me about the events of the day, and this forthcoming ceremony of the anointing of the child. Accordingly I did so, and passing through the first chamber, we came to the second, beyond which lay his sleeping rooms. Here we halted by the open window, and I approached a lamp, for I wished to smoke, and had no light. As I bent over it, something caught my ear, and I listened. Since it seemed to me that, through the massive doors of the bed-chamber, I heard the sound of a woman's voice crying for help. Instantly I flung them open and rushed thither, by way of an ante-room, calling to the senor as I went. I did not arrive too soon, for in the bed-chamber itself a strange sight met my eyes. At the foot of the bed stood a cradle in which lay the child, and near to it two women struggled, one of these in which I knew Nawa, the wife of Tikal, held a copper knife in her hand, and the other Maya gripped her around the body and arms from behind so that, strive as she would, she could not free herself to use it. Still, of the two women, Nawa was the heavier and the more strong, and though slowly she dragged the other closer to the cradle. Indeed, as I reached the room, she wrenched her right arm loose and raised it to strike at the infant with the knife. Here the matter ended, for at that moment I caught her round the waist and threw her back so that she fell heavily on the floor, letting drop the knife in her effort to save herself. She sprang to her feet and ran towards the door, there to be met by the senor who seized her and held her fast. End of Chapter 22. Heart of the World by H. Rider Haggard. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter 23. Our Flight and How It Ended. How came this lady here, Maya, and what does she seek? the senor asked. I do not know how she came, gasped his wife. My waiting women were gone, and I had begun to prepare myself for sleep. When looking in yonder mirror, I saw her behind me, having in her hand a naked knife and searching the room with her eyes. Presently they fell upon the cradle, and lifting the knife, she took a step towards it. Then I turned and gripped her, holding her as well as I was able, but she was too strong for me, and dragged me forward so that had it not been for Ignacio, by now she would have made an end of our son. Is this true? said the senor Tonawa. It is true, white man, she answered. Why do you desire to kill one so innocent, he asked again. Is it not natural that I should wish to destroy the child, who is to supplant my child, and to break the heart of the woman who has broken my heart? Nawa answered, sullenly. Amongst many other things, I have learned, white man, of that ceremony, only which is to take place tomorrow, where at my husband is to be deposed, and my child dishonored, that they may make room for you, and for your child, you, the white wanderer in your son, the heaven-born, the poor ordained. What have we to do with these things, O woman, with the heart of a puma? he asked. If the call is to be driven from his place, it is because of his crimes. And if you and yours are to be set in it, white man, without doubt it is because of your virtues. And yet, O black-hearted knave, that you are, I tell you, I know the truth. I know how you forged the writing, setting the false, for the true within the holy symbol of the heart. I know also that my father helped you to the deed, for although he is dead, he wrote down the tale before he died, and gave it to me together with the ancient prophecy that you dared to steal from the holy sanctuary. Yes, I have the proofs, and when needful I will show them. I did not come here to do murder, at least not upon the infant, but the sight of it sleeping in its cradle overcame me, and of a sudden I determined to rake my wrongs upon it, and upon its mother. In this I have failed, but when I denounce you to the council, then I shall not fail. Then you will be known for what you are, and die the death that you deserve. It comes into my mind, husband, said Maya coldly, that if we would save our own lives, we must rob this woman of hers. Such a doom she has richly earned, nor will any blame us when they learn what was her errand here. Now when she heard these words, Nawa struggled in this in your grasp, and opened her mouth as so to scream, be silent, he said, if you wish to keep your soul in you. Ignatio, close the doors and give me yonder shawl. I did so, and with the shawl we bound Nawa's arms behind her, fastening it over her mouth so that she could make no sound. Then we took a leather girdle and strapped it about her knees so that she could not move but lay helpless on the floor, glaring at us with fierce eyes. Now let us take council, I said. Yes, answered the senior, let us take council for we need it. One of two things we must do, kill that woman, or fly the city, for if she leaves this place alive, we are certainly doomed to death before the altar, I and the child also. Fly, said Maya, how can we fly when I am still weak, and the babe is so young and tender? Should we succeed in escaping from the city and across the lake? Certainly we must perish among the snows of the mountains, or in the deserts beyond, also we should be missed and overtaken. Then Nawa must die, said the senior. Could we not swear her to silence if we released her, I asked, for I shrank from such a dreadful deed however just and necessary it might be? Swear her to silence, said Maya contemptuously. As easily might you swear a snake not to use its fangs if one should chance to tread on it. Do you understand that this woman hates me so bitterly who as she thinks has robbed her of her husband's love that she would gladly die herself if thereby she could bring about my death and that of those who are dear to me? So soon as she could leave her bed of sickness she came here to taunt me with the doom she had prepared knowing that I was alone. Then she saw the child, and so great was her desire for revenge that she could not even wait till the law should reek it for her. No, the issue is plain. If we cannot fly, either she must die or we must. Is it not so Ignatio? It seems that it is so, I answered sadly, and yet the thing is awful. It is awful, but it must be done, said the Senor, and it falls on me to do it for the sake of my wife and child. Alas, that I was ever born, that I should live to stand face to face with such necessity. Could not another hand be found? No, for then we should confess ourselves as murderers. Give me the knife. Nay, my hands will serve, and this end will seem more natural, for I can say that when I found her in the act of murder, I seized her and killed her suddenly by my strength alone, not meaning it in my wrath. Now he stepped to where now a lay and knelt beside her, and we too drew away sick at heart and hid our faces in our hands. Presently he was with us again. Is it done? asked Maya Horsley. No, nor will by me, he answered in a fierce voice. Sooner would I choke the breath out of my own body than strangle this defenseless woman cruel, hearted, murderous though she is. If she is to be killed, some other man must do the deed. Then it will remain undone, said Maya. Now, since we have thus determined, let us think of flight, for the night draws on and in flight is our only hope. What then is to be done with this woman, we cannot take her with us. No, but we can leave her here gagged and bound till they chance to find her, answered the senior. Harkonawa, we spare you, and to do it go forth to our own deaths. May your fierce heart learn a lesson of mercy from the deed. Farewell. Two hours had gone by, and three figures wrapped in rough syrups, such as the common people were, one of whom a woman carried an infant in her arms, might have been seen cautiously descending the city wall, by means of a wooden ladder that rang from its summit to a jetty built upon the piers at the foot of it, which was used as a mooring place for boats during the months of inundation. As was common at this season of the year, the lake was already rising and floating in the shallow water at the end of the jetty, lay a pleasure skiff, which the senor and I accustomed to use for the purposes of fishing whenever we could escape for a few hours from our weary some life in the city. Into the skiff, we entered, and having hoisted the sail, set our course set our course by the stars, steering for that village whence a year before we had embarked for the city of the heart. The wind being favorable to us, our progress was rapid, and by the first gray light of dawn we caught sight of the village, not a mile away. Here, however, we did not dare to land, for we should be seen and recognized. Therefore, we beached our boat behind the shelter of some dwarf water palms, three furlongs or more below the village, and having hidden it as well as we were able, set out at once towards the mountains. Passing round the back of the village without being seen, for as yet broke were scarcely a stir, we began our dreadful journey, for a while my aborab well, but as the heat of the day increased, she showed signs of tiring, which was little to be wondered at seeing that she carried in her arms a child not three weeks old. At midday, we halted that she might rest, hiding ourselves beneath a tree by the banks of a brook, and eating such food as we had brought with us. In the early afternoon, we started on again, and for the rest of that dreary day struggled forwards as best we could. The senor and I carrying the infinite alternately, in addition to our other burdens. At length the evening fell, and we camped for the night, if camping it can be called, to sleep beneath the shadow of a cedar tree, without fire and with little food, having no covering except our syrapes. Towards morning, the air grew cold, for already we were at some height above the lake, and the tender infant began to wail piteously, a wail that rung our hearts. Still we rose with the sun, and went on our way, for it seemed that there was nothing else to do. Throughout that day, with ever-wearing footsteps, we journeying, till at sunset we reached the snowline, and saw before us the hunter's rest house where we had slept, when first we entered the country of the heart. Let us go in, said Maya, and find food and shelter for the night. Now our plan had been to avoid this house, and gain the pass where we proposed to stay till day break, and then to travel down the mountain slopes into the wilderness. If we enter there, Maya, we shall be trapped, said the senor. Our only safety lies in traveling through the pass before we are overtaken, for it is against the law that any of your people should follow us into the wilderness. If we do not enter, my child will die in the cold, she answered. You were too tender to secure our safety by putting that would-be murderous to death. Have you then the heart husband to kill your own child? Now with these words I saw the senor's eyes filled with tears, but he said only, Be it as you will. By now indeed we understood, all three of us, that if we would save our lives, must suffer the child to die, and however great our necessity, this we could not do. So we went up to the house and entered, and thereby the fire set the same man and his wife, whom we had found in this room a year ago. Who are you, he cried, springing up. Pardon, lady, but in that garb I did not know you. It is best that you should not know us, said Maya. We are wanderers who have lost their way out hunting. Give us food as you are bound to do. Then the man and his wife, who were kindly people, made obeisance to us, and set up the best they had before us. We ate and after eating slept, for we were very weary, bidding the man watch and tell us if he saw any stranger approaching the house. Before dawn he woke us and we rose. A little later he came into my room and told me, that a large body of men were in the sight of the house. Then I knew that it was finished, and called the others. Now there are three things that we can do, I said, fly towards the pass, defend this house, or surrender ourselves. There is no time to fly, answered the senior. Therefore it is my council that we fight. Is it your council that two men armed with bows, for our firearms had been taken from us on the pyramid, and we had never been able to recover them? Should engage with fifty? Well, friend, we can try it if you wish, and perhaps it will be as good a way of meeting our deaths as any other. This is folly, broken Maya. There is but one thing to do. Yield ourselves and trust a fortune, if indeed fortune has any good in store for us. Only I wish that we had done it before we undertook this weary journey. As she spoke by the light of the rising sun, we saw a great number of men forming a circle around the house. With them were several captains and lords, and among them I recognized Dimas and Tikal. Let us put a bold face on it, said Maya. So we opened the door, walked out, and came into the presence of Tikal, Dimas, and the other lords. Whom do you seek that you come with an armed force? asked Maya. Whom should I seek but your fair self, cousin? answered Tikal, and I saw that his eye was wild as though with drink. If now my wife had had her way, she would have let you go, for she desires to see the last of you. But her will is not my will, nor her desire my desire, and as it chances we have come up with you in time. Maya turned from him in with a scornful gesture and addressed herself to Dimas, saying, Tell us of what we are charged that you follow us as though we were evildoers. Lady, the old priest answered gravely, It would seem that you have earned this name, you and your companions together. Listen, two days since you were missing and the Lady Nawa was also missing, search was made and at last your private apartments were broken open and there she was discovered, bound in gag. From her we learned the secret of your flight and followed after you. Did she then tell you why we fled? asked Maya. Did she tell you that she crept to my chamber like a thief in the night, and there was found in the act of doing murder on my child? No, lady, she told us nothing of this. Indeed, her manner was strange for as soon as she was recovered somewhat. She took back her words and said that she knew not of you or your plans and that she had fled, we should do well to let you go before worse things happen. But knowing that for all this she had reasons easy to be guessed, we followed and found you and now we arrest you to answer before the council for your great sins and that you have broken your solemn oaths by attempting to leave the land without the consent of the council and have added to your crimes by taking with you this child, the heaven sent deliverer on whom rest the hopes of our race. If we have broken our oaths said Maya, we broke them to save our lives. Were we then to stop in the city till the knife of the assassin found us out? On the very night of my marriage a murderer was set upon my husband and perhaps one stands there and she pointed to Tikal who could tell us who he was and whence he came. Three days ago another murderer sought the life of our child and that murderer the wife of the Lord Tikal. Is it then a sin that we should take from the land one whose life is not safe within it? All these matters you can lay before the council lady answered Demas and if now is what you say without a doubt she must suffer for her crime. Yet her evil doing cannot pay for yours for when you found yourself in danger you should have claimed protection from those who could give it and not have taken yourselves to flight like thieves in terror of the watch. Come enter the litter that is prepared for you and let us be going. As you will she said but one thing I pray of you let this man, my cousin, Tikal, the Kachukke, may be kept away from me for the sight of him is hateful to me seeing that not content with plotting to kill my husband and my child he puts me to shame continually by the offer of his love. It shall be as you wish lady your husband and your friend can travel by your side and garge shall surround your litter to see that none molests you. Then we started. Of our journey back there is nothing to tell unless it is to say that after its own fashion it was even more wretched than that which we had just accomplished. Then indeed we were foot sore hungry and wracked with fears but at least the hope of freedom shown before us like a guiding star whereas now although we traveled in comfort it was to find shame exposure and death awaiting us at last. For my part indeed this thought did not move me very much seeing that hope had left me and without hope I no longer wish to live. You my friend for whom I write this history may think my saying strange but had you stood where I stood that day you would not wonder at it. Even now I sometimes dream that I am back in the city of the heart and wake cold with fear as a man wakes from some haunted sleep. True there I had place and power and luxury but oh sooner would I have earned my livelihood herding cattle in the wilderness than fret away my life within that golden cage. What to me were the banquets and their empty pleasures or their petty strivings for rank and title to me who all my days had followed the star of my high aim that star which was now setting. Maya and the senor had each other and their child to console them but I had nothing except such friendship as they chose to spare me the memory of my many failures the clinging bitterness of conscience the fear of vengeance to be reeked and the hope of peace beyond the end. Therefore I an outworn and disappointed man was prepared to welcome the doom that awaited me but how would it be with the others who were still full of love and youth. Late that night we reached the city and were led not to the palace where we lived but towards the enclosure of the pyramid. How was this asked Maya of the captain of the guard our road lies yonder no lady he answered my orders are to take you up the stairway of the pyramid now Maya pressed her face against the face of her child and sobbed for she knew that once more we must inhabit the dark some volt where her father had been taken to die they let us up the stair and down the narrow way till we stood in the lamp lit hall and heard our prison gates clash behind us then they gave us food and let us alone never did I pass a more evil night for strive as I would to win its sleep fled from me and I tossed upon my couch wondering where my bed would be on the morrow after we had stood before the council of the sanctuary of the heart of Nawa had borne witness against us I remembered that shaft before the altar and seemed to hear the murmur of the water in its depths well as I have said I did not fear to die for God is merciful to sinners but oh it was dreadful to meet this liar's doom and to remember that it was I who brought the senior here to share it as I'm used thus even through the massive walls of the vault I heard a woman scream and springing from my bed I ran into the central hall where the lamps burned always here I met Maya clad in her nightdress only and speeding down the hall her wide eyes filled with terror what has happened I said stopping her as I spoke the senior came up oh I have dreamed she grasped I have dreamed a fearful dream I dreamed that my father came to me and I cannot tell it the child the child and she broke down utterly and could say no more this place is full of evil memories and her strength is shattered said the senior when we had calmed her somewhat come back wife and sleep sleep she answered I do not think I shall ever sleep again and yet unless I sleep I shall go mad oh that vision truly the curse of Matai has taken hold of me some few hours later we met again in the great hall but Maya said nothing of her dream nor did I ask her to tell it though I could see from her face that it was not forgotten we ate or made pretence to eat and sat for a while in silence till it length the gates opened and through them came Demas and some companion priests bidding these to stand back he advanced alone and greeted us kindly I am grieved he said that you should again be called upon to occupy this gloomy lodging but I had no choice in the matter since I am but the servant of the council and its commands restrict it was feared lest the infant might be spirited away where you left at liberty it will soon be spirited away indeed Demas said Maya if it be kept here in the darkness already the child pines within a week he will be dead have no fear lady your imprisonment is not for long for this very night the night of the rising of waters you will all of you be put upon your trial before the council in the sanctuary and charged with the crime of attempting to escape the land is there no other charge as Maya none lady that I've heard of what other charge should there be be and what will be the verdict of the council I cannot say lady but I know that none wish to deal harshly with you and if that charge which you bring against the lady now can be proved it will go in your favor the crime you've attempted is a great one both in our eyes and still more in the eyes of the people for now they talk day and night of this deliverer who has been born to them and they will not easily forgive those who strove to take him from them still I think that upon certain terms the anger of your judges may be appeased what terms asked Maya now Demas hesitated and answered by the strict letter of the law if your offense is proved against you you are worthy of death everyone unless you yourself are held in violet because of your hereditary rank as lady of the heart but it may be that the council will not exact the extreme penalty it may be that it will satisfy itself by driving out those strangers from our borders instead of driving them from the land of life yet one of them is my husband Demas true lady but the child is born I cannot be parted from my husband better than we should die together than we should be parted if the people have no need of him neither have they any need of me let us bid them farewell and go free together I'm weary of this land Demas for here murdered dogs are steps and I am in terror of my life I desire nothing from my people save liberty to leave them but lady your people desire something from you they desire the child of these strangers they would be rid by death or otherwise and you though of this I am not sure they may allow to accompany them but with your child they will never part for he is their heaven sent king the son of prophecy it comes to this then that if the council should exercise its prerogative of mercy as it will do if I and my party have sufficient weight at the best you must choose between the loss of your husband or of your son now the face of Maya became drawn with pain so that she looked as though age had overtaken her then she answered go tell those that sent you Demas that these are the words of Maya lady of the heart my child is dear to me for he is flesh of my flesh but my husband is yet dear for he is both flesh of my flesh and soul of my soul therefore if I must choose between the two I choose him who is nearest for I may have another child but never another husband end of chapter 23 heart of the world by H writer Haggard this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org chapter 24 now a bear's witness some hours past and again the gates were opened and through them came Tikal and a guard of five men the guard he left by the gates advancing alone to where we were seated near the far end of the hall what would you have us asked Maya can you not leave me in peace even here in my dungeon I desire to speak with you alone Maya then Tikal I tell you now what I have told you before that I will not listen to your word alone if you have anything to say say it in the presence of my husband and my friend or go and leave it unsaid you speak roughly to one who comes here in the hope of saving the lives of all of you he answered still I will bear with you in this as I have borne with you in much else listen all your crimes are known to me for now my wife has revealed them to me I know how you and that dead rogue Matai on whom the curse of heaven has most justly fallen forged the prophecy and violated the sanctuary for I have held the proofs of it in my hand do you know that we did this to save our lives asked Maya for if we had not done it Matai would have murdered us and ordered that by removing me he might assure his daughter in her place I do not know why you did it nor do I care seeing that nothing can lighten such a crime but I think that you did it in order that you might win yonder white man as a husband at the least the thing is done and vengeance waits you vengeance from which there is but one escape what escape asked Maya quickly for when she learned that Tikal knew everything all hope had faded from her heart as from ours Maya two people live and two only who know this tale now my wife and I myself till this morning there was but one for now I only told me of it when she found that you had not escaped and this she has done that she may be rid of you whom she hates as her rival therefore it was that she would have held me back from pursuing you and therefore it is that she will appear before the council of the heart this night so that her evidence may ensure your instant death in the pit of waters but as it chances least of anything on the earth do I desire that my eyes should lose sight of you whom now as ever I love better than anything on the earth now the senior grew white with rage and he broke in you do well to keep such words to yourself to call for of this be sure if you do not I will add to my crimes and you shall not leave this place alive no need to look at your guards what do I care for your guards who have but one life to lose speak thus again and before they reach you you shall be dead let him go on husband said Maya what can a few insults more or less matter to us now continue most noble to call but for your own sake restrain yourself and say nothing that a husband should not hear it is for this reason he went on taking no notice of the Seniors anger that I have come here with a plan to save you all yes even this braggard white man who has robbed me of you if now and I are silent who will know of your crimes and if the evidence of them is destroyed before your eyes who is there that can prove them now I will be silent at a price I will even bring the true tablet of the prophecy and the role of Matai's confession and destroy them with fire before you you will be silent said Maya but what of now will she be silent also now to Cal's dark face grew evil with some purpose of his own though whether it were of murder or of what I do not know leave now to me he said withdraw the charge you made against her of attempting to kill yonder child and free her thus of the need of appearing this night in the sanctuary and I swear to you that no word of her dreadful secret shall ever pass her lips then you will be tried upon one issue only that of having broken your oaths by flying the city a crime that is not beyond forgiveness you spoke of a price to Cal tell us what is this price that we must pay the price is yourself Maya nay hear me out and you white man keep silent if you will swear upon the heart to become my wife within six months from this day then I on my part will swear that the white man your husband who is not your husband for he won the consent of the council to his marriage by a trick shall be suffered to escape the land unharmed taking with him his friend and so much of our treasures and things needful for their journey as he may desire I will swear also and by this you may see how deep and honest is my love for you that your son shall not be deposed of the place and rank which he holds in the eyes of the people as a heaven sent deliverer whose coming was foretold by prophecy my child shall give place to yours Maya once before I held out the hand of peace to you but you refused it and tricked me and from that refusal has sprung the death of your father and many other sorrows do not refuse again Maya less these sorrows should be increased and multiplied upon you and upon us all it is no strange or unnatural thing I ask of you that you should wed the man to whom for many years you were affianced and take your place as the first lady in this city instead of giving yourself over with your accomplices to the most infamous of deaths yet it is most strange and unnatural to call that a wife should be asked to part thus from her husband but stay it is for him to speak not me for he may be glad to buy safety at this cost first what do you say Ignacio tell me though I fear your answer for it is easy to guess seeing that Tecal offers all that you can desire freedom and treasure to enable you to execute your plans it is true lady I replied that he offers me these things though whether or no he is able to give them I cannot say and it is true also that I have no wife here whom I must leave and no prospect save that of a traitor's death still lady I remember a certain promise that I made to you yonder in the wilderness when by your courage you saved your husband's life and I remember also that it was through me that he my friend came to visit this accursed city therefore I say let our fate be one fate those are very noble words friend she said such as could have come only from your noble heart now husband do you speak I have nothing to say Maya replied the senior with a laugh except that I wonder why you waste time which we have to spend happily together and listening to this fellow's insults if you bid me to go to save you perhaps I might think about it but certainly I will not stir one pace from your side to save myself from any death it seems that I have got my answer said to call may none of you regret it tonight when you come to look down into the pit of waters well time presses and I have much to do before we meet again and he turned to leave us now as he went to spare took hold of Maya for a moment she struggled with it and with herself then she cried come back to call he came and stood before her in cold silence and she spoke addressing her husband in a slow voice you are over hasty my answer is not yet spoken husband to Cal I accept your offer prevent now from giving testimony against us destroy the evidence she holds and set these men safe with all that they may desire on the further side of yonder mountains and within sucks six months I will become your wife now the senior and I stared at each other against are you mad he said or do you speak so in the hope of saving us would it be wonderful husband she answered if I should wish to save myself and my child that I have loved you and love you you know yet is there any love in the grave well I live at least I have my memories if I die even these may be taken from me go back husband go back wealthy to your own people in your old life and choose some other woman to be your companion do not forget me indeed but let me become as a dream to you seeing that for all our sakes this is the best to you also Ignatio I say go our fellowship has brought you little luck may it severing be more fortunate and may you at last attain your ends to cow give me your hand and let us swear the oath he stepped towards her his eyes glowing with triumph but as their fingers touch she glanced sideways and upwards and saw the doubt and agony written on her husband's face with a little scream she sprang to him and threw herself into his arms saying forgive me I have tried my best but this is more than I can do oh we can foolish that I am I cannot part from you no not even to save your life surely you do not think that I should have fulfilled this oath and given myself to him in marriage no no it is to death that I should have given myself when you were gone but I cannot part with you I cannot part with you though my selfishness is your doom I rejoice to hear it said the senior listen you to call if you are a man give me a sword and let us settle this matter face to face so shall one of us at least be rid of his doubts and troubles surely white man answered to call you must be a fool as well as a rogue otherwise you would scarcely ask me to risk my life against yours which is already forfeit to the law farewell Maya long have you fooled and tormented me tonight I will repay you all so he went it might be thought that after to call was gone we should have spoken together of what had passed and of the dangerous before us but this was not so I think we felt all of us that there was nothing more to be said it is useless to fight against fate and it is still more useless to be afraid of him seeing that whatever we do or leave undone he has his will of us at last so we sat and chatted on indifferent things of our life at the mine of kumarvo of that night which we spent in the hacienda Santa Cruz of the death of our brave companion molas and I know not what besides presently the child awoke and its parents occupied themselves with it finding resemblance to each other in its tiny features while I walked up and down the hall counting the lamps smoking and wondering where I should be by this time on the morrow at length the gates opened for now it was almost the middle of the night and there came through them demas and a guard of priests the old man bowed before us and said that the time had come to lead us before the council in the sanctuary but that we were to have no fear seeing that from all that he had been able to learn our offense would be leniently dealt with my asked what was to become of the infant which could not be left alone and he replied that she must bring it with her where on she began to wrap it in a syrapi your care is needless said demas there is a secret way to the sanctuary from this place by which I propose to lead you in order that the child our lord shall not be exposed to the raw cold of the night then he took a bunch of keys from his girdle and handing them to one who accompanied him a fellow priest and a member of the council he commanded him to go forward with several of the escort to open the doors and light lamps in the passage that lay between us and the sanctuary the priest went and having waited a while we followed him to find him standing by the marble wall which separated the passages from the sanctuary unseeing us approach he gave the signs which were answered from within next he opened the false door with a silver key leaving the key and a bunch to which it was attached fixed in the lock for demas to take us as he passed this however the old priest did not do for he thought that we should all return by this passage and as we stepped into the sanctuary he contented himself with closing the door without locking it now once more we stood within the dim and holy place there to take our trial for offenses committed against the laws of the city of the heart there was a full gathering of the council and to call its high priest and president sat in his seat behind the altar but I noted with a thrill of hope that now his wife was not by his side nor was she to be found among the members of the council we took seats that had been prepared for us in the open space before the altar maya being placed in the center and the senior and myself on either side of her next the priest of the records rose and announced that the first business before the council was the trial of three of its members namely maya lady of the heart her husband the white man son of the sea and Ignatio the wanderer a lord of the heart from beyond the mountains upon the charge of having broken their oaths which they took as members of the council having read this formal accusation the priest set out the case against us clearly but briefly on this very night of the festival of the rising of waters a year ago he began you strangers amongst other things wore upon the altar setting in pledge your souls and bodies for the fulfillment of the oath that without the consent of this high brotherhood you would not attempt to leave the gates of the city of the heart yet but the other day you were overtaken and seized and the act of flying across the mountains to the wilderness beyond nor is this all your crime for with you was that infant born of the white man and the lady of the heart the heaven sent child of prophecy of whom you wickedly sought to rob us and the people say now how do you plead to these charges we plead guilty answered maya but we asked to be heard in our own defense listen lords since that night when we were married by your command my husband and myself have been dogged by murder and yonder as high priest of the heart and president of your council he sits who would have murdered us i see among you this night some of those who waited on me upon the day of our escape having the lord deem us at the head of them what did they tell me that a plot had been discovered made by to call my cousin to murder my husband my child and my friend Ignacio the wanderer they told me also that to call would be deposed because of this and his other crimes and that the infinite my arms would tonight be anointed kachike of the people of the heart is it not so deem us it is so lady he answered and learned that you are not the only ones who are on trial this night though your case is taken first that if decal the high priest and others will follow but till then in virtue of his rank office he sits as president of our council now to call sprang from his seat but deem us turned upon him and said sternly keep silent lord or speak only to fulfill the duties of your place your judging shall be just but know that there is no hope of escape for you till it is done seeing that your guards are disarmed and all the paths are watched decal seated himself again and Maya went on on that very night of the coming of the lord deem us when I was alone in my chamber the lady now the wife of decal crept upon me and strove to murder this my child next she set out the story telling how the senior and I hearing her cries for help had entered the chamber seized and bound now then it was brethren she went on that sudden terror took us and we fled seeking to escape a land where we could not live in safety from one hour to another this is our sin and we leave our punishment in your hands surely it was better that we should strive to save the child so that he might live to play his part whatever that may be then that he should be kept here and to be butchered by those whom you have raised up to rule you when Maya had finished her speech the senior and I addressed the council in turn confirming all that she had said and submitting ourselves to the judgment of the brotherhood now we were commanded to fall back and took our stand beneath the mask of the nameless god while the council consulted together and there we awaited our doom presently we were brought forward again and to call spoke to us saying that our sentence was postponed till the charge against now the daughter of matai and against himself to call the kachi k and high priest of the city of the heart had been considered adding in a slow and triumphant voice let now the daughter of matai who waits without be brought into the presence of the heart we heard and gathered up our courage to meet the advancing fate for we knew that death was on us and that for us there was no more pity or escape the door was opened and now came through it dressed in the robes of her rank and wearing the green diadem that could be carried only by the wife or mother of the kachi k what is your pleasure with me lords she said proudly after she had made her obeisance to the altar then the priest of the records rose and read the charges namely that she had attempted with her own hand to do murder upon the body of the infant child of Maya lady of the heart and her husband the white man also that she had aided and abetted to call her husband in various acts of cruelty and misgovernment that were alleged against him asking her what she pleaded an answer to the last charge not guilty she said let to call defend his own sins to the first guilty i did attempt to put an end to yonder brat but maya discovered me and i was caught and bound surely brethren said demas rising we need carry this matter no farther we have heard the evidence of the lady maya and the others and now now confesses to her crimes she confesses that she attempted to take the life of him who she knew to be the sacred child the hope of the people of the heart and for such a sin it seems to me that there is but one punishment though it is terrible and she who must suffer is the woman and of high rank stay broken now you have not heard me out and i have the right to speak before i am condemned to die you charge me with having attempted to take the life of the sacred child the hope of the people of the heart and had i done this doubtless i should be worthy of your doom whereas in truth i am worthy of your praise lords of the heart this child whom you adore the heaven sent child of prophecy whom tonight you would anoint as your kachikade opposing to call my husband and who as you believe shall be the star to light our race to greatness and to victory is a living lie a fraud and a bastard now a confusion broke out among the council and angry voices called her to cease her blasphemies but she won silence and went on hear me out i pray you for even if i wished it i should not dare to speak thus at random but i am prepared with proof of every word i utter you think that i would have killed this child to ring the heart of my rival maya and indeed i desire to ring it and that i would set my own son in its place and indeed i wish to set him there yet these were not my reasons for the deed lords of the council listen to a tale the strangest that ever you have heard and judge between me and to call my husband and maya my rival and her friends matai my father was known to you all seeing that at the time of his death and indeed since to call was anointed kachikade he stood next to him in place and power among the people of the heart holding those offices in the brotherhood which now are filled by demas and among them that of keeper of the sanctuary yet lords matai my father was no true man alas that i should have to say it seeing that it was more for my sake that he sinned then for his own since he loved me and desired my welfare above everything on earth it was this love of his that ruined him making him false to his god to his oaths and to his country thus in the beginning he knew that since i was a child i had set my heart upon the lord to call who was a fiance to the lady maya also that i was ambitious and yearned to be great therefore it was that he deceived to call pretending that it had been revealed to him by heaven that the lady maya and her father were dead in the wilderness therefore it was also that when he was had persuaded him that she was lost to him forever he pressed it upon the lord to call that he should marry me in place of maya his a fiance who was dead promising him in return that he would bring it about that he should be anointed kachikade of the people of the heart all these things and others he did though at the time i knew nothing of them and thought in my folly that to call married me because he loved me and sought me as the companion of his life and power then ze ball bay returned on the night of our marriage feast and with him came maya and the strangers and from that hour my husband began to hate me because i was his wife in place of maya whom he loved more as i have learned since he went to ze ball bay while he lay in prison and offered to resign his place as kachikade in his favors for so long as he should live and no more to oppose his schemes if he would give him maya in marriage after i had been put away either by death or by divorce this ze ball bay would have done and gladly but as it chanced maya here had set her heart upon the white man during their journeyings together through the wilderness and refused to be separated from him that she might be palmed off in marriage upon to call yet he might have won his way for their case was desperate and the alternative was death had not metai my father found a plan whereby they could be saved and i remain the wife of the kachikade this was the plan lords that a prophecy should be set in the symbol of the heart yonder such as would deceive the council of the heart and bring it about that maya should be given in marriage to the white man whom she lived lords this was done at the dead of night they crept to the sanctuary and opening the heart they placed within it that tablet that foreshadowed the birth of a deliverer the rest you know it is false cried many voices such sacrilege is not possible it is not false censored now and i will prove to you that the sacrilege was possible the heart was opened and the false prophecy forged by my father was placed within it where it was found by you on the night of the festival of the rising of waters this day a year ago but when the holy heart was open behold it was not empty for in it lay another prophecy a true prophecy which was removed from it that the lie which has deceived you might be set in its place where then is that writing as dimos here she answered drawing the tablet from her breast listen and she read the eye that has slept and is awakened sees the heart and purpose of the wicked i say that in the hour of the desolation of my city not all the waters of the holy lake shall wash away their sin take it lords and see for yourselves she continued laying the tablet on the altar now listen again and learn how it chanced that this relic came into my keeping after he had wrought this great sin the curse of the nameless god fell upon my father and as you know he was smitten with a sore disease then it came about that when he laid dying remorse took him and he wrote a certain paper which he caused to be witnessed and given to me together with this tablet in my hand i hold that paper lords hear it and judge for yourselves whether i have spoken truth or falsehood and she read aloud the confession of matai that set out every detail of our plot and the manner of its execution now lords she added when the reading was finished and the signatures had been examined you will understand how it happened that in my rage at these tidings i strove to kill yonder infant who has been palmed off upon you as the seed of the god and i leave it to you to deal with those who planned that fraud it end of chapter 24