'Come with me,' said Dian, and she continued across the square.
On the opposite side of the square from the temple was the house of the go-sha. Before the entrance stood a number of warriors on guard duty. They knelt and covered their eyes as Noada approached, but when they arose and Dian saw their faces she saw no reverence there—only fear and hate.
'You are fighting men,' said Dian. 'Are you treated well?'
'We are treated as well as the slaves,' said one, bitterly.
'We are given the leavings from the tables of the go-sha and the nobles, and we have no pieces with which to buy more,' said another.
'Why have you no pieces? Do you fight for nothing?'
'We are supposed to get five pieces every time go-sha sleeps, but we have not been paid for many sleeps.'
'Why?'
'The go-sha says that it is because the priests take all the pieces for you,' said the first warrior, boldly.
'Come with me,' said Dian.
'We are on guard here, and we cannot leave.'
'I, your Noada, command it; come!' said Dian, imperiously.
'If we do as the Noada commands us,' said one, 'She will protect us.'
'But Gamba will have us beaten,' said another.
'Gamba will not have you beaten if you always obey me. It is Gamba who will be beaten if he harms you for obeying me.'
The warriors followed her as she stopped and talked with men and women, each of which had a grievance against either the priests or the go-sha. Each one she commanded to follow her; and finally, with quite a goodly procession following her, she returned to the temple.
Gamba and Hor had been standing in the entrance watching her; now they followed her into the temple. She mounted the dais and faced them.
'Gamba and Hor,' she said, 'you did not kneel as your Noada passed you at the temple door. You may kneel now.'
The men hesitated. They were being humiliated before common citizens and soldiers. Hor was the first to weaken; he dropped to his knees and covered his eyes. Gamba looked up defiantly at Dian. Just the shadow of a smile, tinged by irony, played upon her lips. She turned her eyes upon the soldiers standing beside Gamba.
'Warriors,' she said, 'take this—' She did not have to say more, for Gamba had dropped to his knees; he had guessed what was in her mind and trembling on her lips.
After she had allowed the two to rise, she spoke to Hor. 'Have many pieces of bronze brought,' she said.
'What for?' asked Hor.
'The Noada does not have to explain what she wishes to do with her own,' said Dian.
'But Noada,' sputtered Hor; 'the pieces belong to the temple.'
'The pieces and the temple, too, belong to me; the temple was built for me, the pieces were brought as gifts for me. Send for them.'
'How many?' asked Hor.
'All that six priests can carry. If I need more, I can send them back.'
With six priests trailing him, Hor left the apartment, trembling with rage; but he got many pieces of bronze, and he had them brought into the throne room of the temple.
'To that man,' said Dian, pointing at the worker in bronze, 'give two hundred pieces in payment for these bracelets for which he was never paid.'
'But, Noada,' expostulated Hor, 'the bracelets were gift offerings.'
'They were forced offerings—give the man the pieces.' She turned to Gamba. 'How many times have you slept since your warriors were last paid?'
Gamba flushed under his yellow skin. 'I do not know,' he said, surlily.
'How many?' she asked the warriors.
'Twenty-one times,' said one of them.
'Give each of these men five pieces for each of the twenty-one sleeps,' directed Dian, 'and have all the warriors come immediately to get theirs'; then she directed the payment of various sums to each of the others who had accompanied her to the temple.
Hor was furious; but Gamba, as he came to realize what this meant, was enjoying it, especially Hor's discomfiture; and Dian became infinitely more desirable to him than she had been before. What a mate she would be for a go-sha!
'Now,' said Dian, when all had received their pieces, 'hereafter, all offerings to your Noada will be only what you can afford to give—perhaps one piece out of every ten or twenty; and to your go-sha, the same. Between sleeps I shall sit here, and Hor will pay to everyone who comes the number of pieces each has been forced to give. Those who think one piece in ten is fair, may return that amount to Hor. If you have any other grievances, bring them to your Noada; and they will be corrected. You may depart now.'
They looked at her in wonder and adoration, the citizens and the warriors whose eyes had first been filled with fear and hatred of her; and after they had knelt, they paid to Hor one piece out of every ten they had received. Laughing and jubilant, they left the temple to spread the glad tidings through the city.
'Pu will be angry,' said Hor; 'the pieces were Pu's.'
'You are a fool,' said Dian, 'and if you don't mend your ways I shall appoint a new high priest.'
'You can't do that,' Hor almost screamed, 'and you can't have any more of my pieces of bronze!'
'You see,' said Gamba to Dian, 'that what I told you is true—Hor collects all the pieces for himself.'
'I spoke with many people in the square before the temple,' said Dian, 'and I learned many things from them—one of them is that they hate you and they hate me. That is why I called you a fool, Hor; because you do not know that these people are about ready to rise up and kill us all—the robbed citizens and the unpaid warriors. After I return their pieces that have been stolen from them, they will still hate you two; but they will not hate me; therefore, if you are wise, you will always do what I tell you to do—and don't forget that I am your Noada.'
XIV
DIAN SLEPT. Her sleeping apartment was darkened against the eternal noonday sun. She lay on a leather couch—a tanned hide stretched over a crude wooden frame. She wore only a tiny loin cloth, for the apartment was warm; She dreamed of David.
A man crept into her apartment on bare feet, and moved silently toward the couch. Dian stirred restlessly; and the man stopped, waiting. Dian dreamed that a tarag was creeping upon David; and she leaped up, awake, to warn him; so that she stood face to face with one of the lesser priests who carried a slim bronze dagger in one hand.
Face to face with Death in that darkened chamber, Dian thought fast. She saw that the man was trembling, as he raised the dagger to the height of his shoulder—in a moment, he would leap forward and strike.
Dian stamped her foot upon the floor. 'Kneel!' she commanded, imperiously.
The man hesitated; his dagger hand dropped to his side, and he fell to his knees.
'Drop the dagger,' said Dian. The man dropped it, and Dian snatched it from the floor.
'Confess!' directed the girl. 'Who sent you here? but do I need ask? It was Hor?'
The priest nodded. 'May Pu forgive me, for I did not wish to come. Hor threatened me; he said he would have me killed if I did not do this thing.'
'You may go now,' said Dian, 'and do not come again.'
'You will never see me again, my Noada,' said the priest. 'Hor lied; he said you were not the true Noada, but now I know that you are—Pu watches over and protects you.'
After the priest had left the apartment, Dian dressed slowly and went to the temple throne room. As usual, she was ushered in by priests to the accompaniment of drums and chants. The priests, she noticed, were nervous;
