"Behold the Lady Baaltis and her lover, and with them that priest
of a false faith who called down curses upon our city."
"You told us indeed, daughter," answered the Shadid; "pardon us if we
were loth to believe that such a thing could be." Then with a cry of
rage he added, "Take them."
Now Aziel drew his sword, and sprang in front of Elissa to protect her,
but before he could strike a blow it was seized from behind, and he was
gripped by many hands, gagged, bound and blindfolded. Then like a man
in a dream he felt himself carried away through long passages, till
at length he reached an airless place, where the gag and bandages were
removed.
"Where am I?" Aziel asked.
"In the vaults of the temple," answered the priests as they left the
prison, barring its great door behind them.
CHAPTER XIII
THE SACRILEGE OF AZIEL
How long he lay in his dungeon, lost in bitter thought and tormented by
fears for Elissa, Aziel could not tell, for no light came there to
mark the passage of the hours. In the tumult of his mind, one terrible
thought grew clear and ever clearer; he and Elissa had been taken
red-handed, and must pay the price of their sin against the religious
customs of the city. For the Baaltis to be found with any man who was
not her husband meant death to him and her, a doom from which there was
little chance of escape.
Well, to his own fate he was almost indifferent, but for Elissa and
Issachar he mourned bitterly.
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