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Updated: June 18, 2025
"THOU!" and with a hoarse cry, Zephoranim sprang upon, and seized him by the throat.. "Thou liest! I, I, crowned King of Al-Kyris, I am her lover! chosen by her out of all men! ... and dost thou dare to pretend that she hath preferred THEE, a mere singer of mad songs, to ME? ... Thou unscrupulous knave! ... I tell thee she is MINE! .. Dost hear me?
Thy marble palaces are already ringed round with a river of blood! the temples of thy knowledge wherein thy wise men have studied to exceed all wisdom, begin to totter to their fall, thou shalt be swept away even as a light heap of ashes, and what shall all thy learning avail thee in that brief and fearful end! Hear me, O people of Al-Kyris!
The word acted as a stimulant to his tired struggling brain, and he all at once remembered what Sah-luma had said to him at their first meeting: "There is but one Poet in Al-Kyris, and I am he!" O true, true!
He smiled condescendingly as he met Theos's half-surprised, half-inquiring look, and saluted him with a gravely pompous air, which however, was not without a saving touch of that indescribable, easy grace which seemed to distinguish the manners of all the inhabitants of Al-Kyris.
He recollected all the heart-sore sufferings he had endured through that ill-fated and cruelly condemned composition, and now he was listlessly amazed at the breathless rapture and excitement it evoked here in this marvellous city of Al-Kyris, where everything seemed more strange and weird than the strangest dream!
Mourn and bend ye all beneath the iron stroke of Destiny! for know ye not how fierce a thing has come upon Al-Kyris? ... a thing that lips cannot utter nor words define, a thing more horrible than strange sounds in thick darkness, more deadly than the lightning when it leaps from Heaven with intent to slay! O City stately beyond all cities!
"'Tis well thou art not a citizen of Al-Kyris" he said scornfully "To strangers we accord a certain license of opinion, but if thou wert a native of these realms, thy speech would cost thee dear!
I will call upon the desert of the sea to hear my voice, . . I will pour forth my sorrows on the wind, and it shall carry the burden of grief to the four quarters of the earth, all nations shall shudder and be astonished at the direful end of Al-Kyris, the city beautiful, the empress of kingdoms!
Vain, vain is all beseeching, shut forever are the doors of escape, therefore cover yourselves with the garments of burial, prepare each one his grave and rich funeral things, gather together the rosemary and myrrh, the precious ointments and essences, the strings of gold and the jewelled talismans whereby ye think to fight against corruption, and fall down, every man in his own wrought hollow in the ground, face turned to earth and die for Death hath broken through the strong gates of Al-Kyris, and hath taken the City Magnificent captive unknowingly!
"Hush, hush, my son!" said the aged Zuriel anxiously "These stone walls hear thee far too loudly, who knows but they may echo forth thy words to unsuspected listeners! Peace peace! ... Lysia is as much Queen, as Zephoranim is King of Al-Kyris; and surely thou knowest that the sins of tyrants are accounted virtues, so long as they retain their ruling powers?
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