The Rose of Dawn | Page 7

a queen, my queen, she is,?And still my slave in fetters of my love."
Uhila watched him from the shadow.?Gods!?How young he was! as Vave, the swift-footed?Splendidly strong, an innocent god of war.?The morn with chilly lips laid myriad kisses?About his beauty, slipped thro' jealous leaves?Dripping with silver and fantastic fingers?Reached to caress him from the amorous trees.?Hither and forth he paced; Uhila's eyes?Ached with his hatred of the sight; at length?"Taka," Malua cried, and stretched his arms?Rigid in air, his face against the sky.?The goad was in Uhila's soul, he leapt?Into the moonlight and upon his foe.?Fixed to the ground, they strove as giant trees?Tossing fierce branches in a storm; their wrath?Smote on them like a tempest, hot with hate.?Malua knew a curse was in the hands?That sought his throat, and in the blazing eyes?Close to his own. Life would defend fair life?As chief and Taka's lover. Round the shoulders?Dark and strong, straining to his heaving breast,?He threw his arms, and locked in that embrace?They stood a moment, breathing with the quick?Sharp catch of weary runners. Then a turn--?Raising his knee, Uhila strove in vain?To throw his enemy. Upon their heads?And swaying bodies lay the silver light?Of the bright moon. The great night seemed to pause?Chin upon hand to watch the struggle, air?Hushed to retain the hoarse and laboring sobs?Such strain brought forth. Their shining bodies, oiled?In honor of the feast, granted no hold?To the fierce gripping arms.
Then suddenly?Uhila sprang aside and grasped a branch,?A rough, harsh weapon--for they were unarmed.?Wary they watched each other's eyes, like beasts?Stealthy, retreating, circling with heads low,?Bodies bent for the catch. Malua sprang?Close to Uhila, caught his murderous hand,?And with the branch between them, all its thorns?Tearing their breasts, they strove once more. The moon?Glittered in troubled ripples, they had come?Under the shadow of the trees, the dark?Goaded Uhila's soul anew, his blood,?Blazing with conflict, gave him mad-man's strength?And devil's skill. His straining form relaxed,?Heavily slipping earthward; ere Malua?Could gain fresh hold upon his fainting foe,?Uhila with a twist had laid him low,?Knee on his breast, lean fingers at his throat?Seizing his life.
Malua's eyes grew dim,?The gentle stars seen faint thro' hanging leaves?Wavered uncertainly; his brain seemed black,?Confused with horrid death, the dewy moss?He lay on failed beneath him. Suddenly?Hanging upon the brittle rim of death,?His outstretched hand, gripping the scattered leaves,?Closed on a sharp stone, instinct more than brain?Showed him the way; he raised his weapon, struck?And struck and struck again.?The night looked down?Waning, and saw thro' tangled boughs a still,?Dead figure on the troubled earth. All stained?With crimson blood, there lay a crimson wreath,?And thro' the forest stole a dusky shade?Fleeing he knew not where save that he 'scaped?Death, that was lying by the forest pool.
At dawn the weary boy, who thro' the night?Had cried his love and anguish to the dark,?Wandering half crazed thro' forest deeps unknown,?Feeling upon his throat the hand of hate,?Feeling upon his heart the still more potent?Fingers of love, came to the open shore?Waiting for day. The restless, eager foam,?Stretching white arms around the sleeping earth,?Woke his great love anew. The loneliness?Of open spaces set his hungry soul?Dreaming of Taka, Taka who should come?And fill the empty world for him. The sky?Paled at the thought. The dawn was stealing near,?Glimmering faintly on the edge of night.?He could delay no longer; like a thief?He must secure his jewel in the dark.?In the vast pause that presages the morn?He came to Taka's door. Ajar it stood,?And on the mats within he saw revealed?The pure young oval of her perfect face.?"Taka, my little one," Malua whispered,?And thro' her dreams "Malua" passed her lips,?Slipping insensibly to waking. So?She saw him at the door and came to him,?Her dewy dreams still warm within her eyes,?And gave her face to passionate caress.?Then with soft, broken words he told again?His love, and after when her heart was full?Of glad acceptance, as a flash of fire?Searing his image on her soul, he told?How blood had paid the price of love.
She heard,?And daylight ebbed before her eyes to faint?White mist, then refluent turned and smote?Her heart's eyes with the horror of the truth.?Uhila dead. Uhila with the smile?That woke for her alone. Her thoughts, like leaves?Blown by cold winds, were scattered, and the words?"Uhila dead" was but a symbol grim?Of darkness. All the past, her happy life?Flower in the sun, her home, and all the dear?Familiar duties, all her life to come?Woven with thoughts of kind Uhila, all?Struck to the ground by murder. In her blood?The pale drops cried to heaven against the wrong,?Wrong to her people and her love, till now?So beautiful.
Malua knew her pain,?And how upon its verdict hung his life.?Death's flame had touched the golden rose of love.?If it be dross or gold, the test should tell.?The black gulf night that lies 'twixt