his fate and ours, for though he is so gentle, none can turn him."

As she spoke the words, somewhere, far beneath them, arose a cry, a
voice of one in dread or woe, and with it the sound of feet upon the
stairs.

"What passes?" said Asti, leaping to the door.

"Pharaoh is dead or dying," answered the terrified voice without. "Let
her Majesty come to Pharaoh."

They threw on their garments, they ran down the narrow stair and across
the halls till they came to the chamber of Pharaoh. There upon his
bed he lay and about him were the physicians of his Court. He was
speechless, but his eyes were open, and he knew his daughter, for,
raising his hand feebly, he beckoned to her, and pointed at his feet.

"What is it, man?" she asked of the head physician, who, by way of
answer, lifted the linen on the bed, and showed her Pharaoh's legs and
feet, white and withered as though with fire.

"What sickness is this?" asked Tua again.

"We know not, O Queen," answered the physician, "for in all our lives
we have never seen its like. The flesh is suddenly wasted, and the limbs
are paralysed."

"But I know," broke in Asti. "This is not sickness, it is sorcery.
Pharaoh has been smitten by some foul spell of the Prince Abi, or of his
wizards. Say, who was with him last?"