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Updated: May 5, 2025
Nehushta rested upon one elbow, her feet drawn together upon the carpet of dark soft colours and waited a few minutes as though in thought. At last she seemed to have decided, and turned to the slave who had brought her cushion, as she stood at a little distance, motionless, her hands folded and hidden under the thickness of the broad sash that girded her tunic at the waist.
Here in this silent, sunless vault for many, many days Marcus lay sick with a brain fever, of which, had it not been for the skilful nursing of Nehushta and of the leeches among the Essenes, he must certainly have died.
Now Nehushta came out of the cabin and prayed the captain to save them also, whereon he answered her with an oath that this bad luck was because of them, and that if either she or her mistress tried to enter the boat, they would stab them and cast them into the sea as an offering to the storm-god.
Moreover, they purveyed articles of food such as they found the child loved; and this it was that led to their detection, for, having eaten of them, she was ill. Thereupon Nehushta, enraged, disclosed the whole plot, using the most violent language, and, amidst murmurs of "Shame on them!" designating the offenders by name.
The thought crossed her mind that the king perhaps knew something of what had passed between her and Nehushta nearly a year before, with regard to a certain Indian dagger. The knives the juggler tossed in the air reminded her of it by their shape.
Presently the package was undone, and within it appeared, first, two flagons of old wine, then meats more tasty then Nehushta had seen for months, then rich cloaks and other garments made in the Phoenician fashion, and a robe of white with coloured edges, such as was worn by the body-slaves of the wealthy among that people.
Zoroaster left Atossa with the hope of finding some means of seeing Nehushta. But it was impossible.
He still gazed fearlessly into the eyes of his terrible conqueror. His voice came in a hoarse whisper. "I fear not death. Slay on if thou wilt thou hast conquered." Nehushta had come near. She trembled now that the fight was over, and looked anxiously to the heavy curtains of the tent-door. "Tell him," she whispered to Zoroaster, "that you will spare him if he will do no harm to you, nor to me."
Within, he lay upon his couch, dry-eyed and stark, staring at the painted carvings of the ceiling. The time passed, and it was eleven days since Zoroaster had set out. The king and Nehushta had continued to meet in the garden as before, and neither had ever referred to the day when the torrent of his heart had been suddenly let loose.
Be swift, I hear the guard stirring without." Nehushta glided forward and knelt by the wounded man, placing her arms beneath him. "Ready," she said. "Here is the iron." Miriam took it, and stepping to the wall, felt with her fingers for the crack, which in that darkness it took time to find. At length she had it, and inserting the thin hooked iron, lifted the hidden latch and pulled.
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