Solomon and Sheba Page #6

and that your only love, | your only thought, must be your duty.

Your Majesty came to Jerusalem

in search of a means to destroy | an enemy whom you once hated!

Yes, Baltor.

I have been trying to evade reality.

I have found myself trying to forget | the purpose for which I came,

as one would try to forget an evil dream.

I have been reluctant | to make an end of him.

The most merciful way to kill is to thrust | quickly and strongly with a knife.

It seems to me that we are no nearer a kill | than we were before we came.

You are wrong, Baltor. I have known | for days how to destroy Solomon.

Suppose I get his permission to hold the | rites of Rha-Gon upon the soil of Israel,

to set up a pagan god | in the face of the great Jehovah,

the one god who commands the Israelites | to have no other god before him?

That would cause more | than angry murmurings against him.

The priests and the people | would rise up against Solomon.

Yes, Baltor.

His own people | would accomplish his end.

Are you satisfied now | that I am still the Queen of Sheba?

Majesty.

How many times | shall I tell you that I love you?

Over and over, | until you make me believe it.

I will.

But you have known so many loves.

I will take you by the hand

and in the temple, before all Israel, | I"ll pledge you my love in marriage.

To shut me away in your harem? | To share your love?

No, to share my throne with you.

You honour me, but I am already a queen.

We will join our lands | as we will join our lives.

A dream that can never be. | Too much stands between us.

Nothing must stand between us.

Not even our gods?

I knew this moment would come, for the | things we believe in are not the same.

I had hoped that in time | you would come to accept Jehovah.

As king of Israel, would you abandon | the god of your people for mine?

Still I dared hope.

My love, I must leave Israel.

Why? Why? I cannot let you go.

The time has come | for the yearly feast of Rha-Gon.

Can you grant me permission | to hold it here in Israel?

It would be a sacrilege.

Then I must go to celebrate it elsewhere.

You see? You cannot banish | what stands between us.

No, wait. Listen to me. | There must be a way to...

No!

Help! Help! The king!

Help! Guard! Josiah!

Joab.

Are you safe, sire?

We"ll deliver him to the one who sent him.

Come on!

Thank all the gods you are not harmed.

For the first time in my life, | I... I had no thought for myself.

I feared only for him.

You men, that way. | The rest, follow me.

Are you expecting me to plead for mercy?

I have overlooked your hatred | because of your value to Israel.

- I pledged never to turn against you. | - I asked for no pledge.

But tonight you raised your hand | against the life of Israel.

You and your Sheban slut | have defiled the fair name of Israel.

I sought only to preserve our country | from your contamination.

Only because the blood of David | flows through your veins as well as mine,

I grant you your life, | but I banish you from Israel forever.

I suppose I should be grateful, but you | should be concerned with your own life -

if it has not already been lost | to the poison of Sheba.

- Remove him, Josiah. | - Take him, and him.

I charge you to cleanse yourself of | this iniquity you have permitted to spawn.

Abjure this woman of her idolatries. Tear | down the abomination she has erected.

I have given her permission | to hold the sacred rite of her own religion.

A pagan revel! An orgy!

I have no apology to make | for what I have done.

As I have commanded, so shall it be.

You have broken God"s covenant | and his commandment:

"Thou shalt have no other gods | before me. "

"Thou shalt not make unto thyself | any graven images. "

"Thou shalt not kill. " | But murder was attempted against me.

If Sheba had not escaped, | the assassins would not have spared her.

The permission I have granted is poor | compensation for the crime attempted.

It seems that in your lust for this woman, | you have lost your reason.

Choose your words carefully, Hezrai. | It is love I have for her.

Out of love, | I offered to share this throne with her.

And out of love, I will attend her ritual.

- Hear me, Solomon. | - I have heard all I want to hear from you.

Then hear the voice of God.

The royal raiment | will be stripped from you.

You will cry out your repentance,

but the ears and hearts of your people | will be closed against you.

And my ears are closed to cackling priests | and mumbling old men.

I will show you | I am king in Israel, not you.

Woe unto you, Solomon.

Rha-Gon! Rha-Gon!

Hear us, O Rha-Gon, | god of love, giver of life.

Let thy spirit enter into our bodies.

Endow our men with strength and vitality

and our women with endless fruitfulness.

My door was closed.

Must you intrude upon my privacy?

Can you shut out your conscience | by closing the door?

Say what you must, | then please leave me alone.

I come seeking the man I once knew.

The man who was noble, gentle and kind, | the man who walked with God.

- Those are mere words, Abishag. | - I entreat you to listen.

When I was a child, | you were the world and I adored you.

But time passed, | and love changed even as I did.

My love became | that of a woman for a man.

But the man became a king,

and in his eyes, | the woman was still a child.

I know how strongly it calls to you.

Listen to your people. Their love | calls to you, as I call in my love.

Listen to them if not to me.

Whether you or my people approve, | I must go.

You cannot go. Do not destroy yourself!

I beg of you!

Lord God, hear the prayer of thy servant.

Mine was not the strength | to save my lord Solomon from himself.

But thine is the power. | Let not thy wrath descend upon him.

Look into his heart and pity him.

But if it be thy will to punish him, | visit it upon me in his stead.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Why?

The sin was mine. | Why did you not strike me?

I warned you, Solomon. | The hand of God is upon you.

Majesty, you must rest.

I cannot rest, Takyan.

I have come to ask your permission | to arrange your immediate departure.

Yes.

Let us go - quickly.

There is no reason for us to remain now | that I have accomplished my purpose.

Your Majesty should not reproach herself. | It was nothing more than a sudden storm.

It is not the first time lightning | has dealt death, nor will it be the last.

Was it nothing more than a coincidence?

Surely Your Majesty | cannot believe the Israelites,

that it was a sign | of the anger and revenge of their god?

- I no longer know what I do believe. | - Majesty, you"re overwrought.

Yes, the strain of the last few days | has affected us all.

But this is your hour of triumph. | The Pharaoh will rejoice in your victory.

Sheba can be proud of her queen.

I am very proud of myself.

I have earned my reward from Egypt. | We will have our port on the Red Sea.

We will have more gold, | more power, more everything.

Because I have betrayed | a great man who trusted me,

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