by Wilbur Smith
At night when she slept near him under the awning on the sleeping mats spread on the deck he wanted to snatch her up and crush her to him so tightly that not even death could tear them apart.
The galley captain spoke of sudden violent gales that swept across the lake without warning. He told of the many vessels that had been overwhelmed and now lay in the unplumbed deeps. Each evening, as night fell over the great waters, the flotilla found anchorage in a sheltered bay or cove. Only when the first rays of the rising sun opened, like the tail of a peacock, above the eastern horizon did the ships hoist their sails, run out the banks of their oars and turn their prows east once more. The extent of the great lake astounded Taita. The shoreline seemed endless.
Is it as large as the Middle Sea or the mighty Ocean of the Indies, or is it without limits or boundaries? he wondered. In spare moments he and Fenn drew maps on sheets of papyrus, or made notes of the islands they passed and the features they saw upon the shore.
‘We shall take these to the geographer priests at the temple of Hathor. They know nothing of these secrets and wonders,’ he told her.
A dreamy look clouded the green of her eyes. ‘Oh, Magus, I long to return with you to the land of my other life. You have made me remember so many precious things. You will take me there one day, won’t you?’
‘Be sure of it, Fenn,’ he promised.
By observations of the sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies, Taita calculated that the lakeshore was gradually inclining towards the south. ‘This leads me to believe that we have reached the western limit of the lake, and that we will soon be sailing due south,’ he said.
‘Then in time we will reach the end of the earth and fall off it into the sky.’ Fenn sounded undaunted by the prospect of such a catastrophe.
‘Will we fall for ever, or will we come to rest at last in another world and another time? What do you think, Magus?’
‘I hope our captain will have the sense to turn back as soon as he sees the void gaping ahead, and we will not have to tumble through time and space. I am quite content with the here and now.’ Taita chuckled, delighted with the blossoming of her imagination.
That evening he examined the wound in her thigh and was gratified to find that it had healed cleanly. The skin around the horse-hair stitches was flushed an angry red, a sure sign that it was time to remove them.
He snipped at the knots and pulled them out with his ivory forceps. A few drops of yellow pus oozed from the puncture marks they left. Taita sniffed it and smiled. ‘Sweet and benign. I could not have hoped for a better result. See what a pretty scar it has left you, shaped like the petal of your water-lily symbol.’
She cocked her head to one side as she examined the mark, which was no bigger than the nail on her little finger. ‘You are so clever, Magus. I am sure you did that by design. It is more pleasing to me than Imbali’s tattoos are to her. She will be so envious!’
They sailed on through a maze of islands on which grew trees with trunks so thick and tall they seemed to be the pillars that held aloft the inverted blue bowl of the heavens. Eagles roosted upon the galleries of shaggy nests they had built in the high branches. They were magnificent birds with shining white heads and russet pinions. In flight they would emit a wild, chanting cry, then plunge into the lake and emerge with a large fish gripped in their talons.
They saw monstrous crocodiles sunning themselves on every beach, and gatherings of hippopotamus in the shallows. The rounded grey backs were as massive as granite boulders. When they sailed out into open water again, the shore turned due south, as Taita had predicted, and they ran on towards the end of the earth. They sailed past endless forests populated by great herds of black buffalo, grey elephant and enormous pig-like creatures that carried sharp horns upon their noses. They were the first of the kind they had encountered, and Taita drew sketches of them, which Fenn declared a marvel of accuracy.
‘My friends the priests will hardly believe in the existence of such wondrous beasts,’ Taita observed. ‘Meren, might you be able to slay one of those creatures so that we could take the nose-horn back with us as a gift for Pharaoh?’ Their mood had become so buoyant that they had begun to believe there would be an eventual return to their own land in the far north.
As always, Meren was eager for the chase, and leapt at the suggestion.
‘If you can prevail upon That and the captain to anchor for a day or two, I will go ashore with a mount and a bow.’
Taita approached That with the suggestion that the horses, having been confined so long in the cramped conditions aboard the barges, would benefit greatly from a gallop, and found him surprisingly amenable.
‘You are correct, Magus, and a goodly supply of fresh meat would not go amiss. With soldiers and slaves, I have many bellies to fill.’
That evening they came to a wide floodplain on the lakeshore. The open glades were alive with multitudes of game, from the grey pachyderms to the smallest, most graceful antelope. The plain was bisected by a small estuary running in from the east and debouching into the lake. It was navigable for a short distance, and provided a secure harbour for the flotilla. They landed the horses, and the men set up a camp on the riverbank. They were all delighted to have solid ground under their feet, and as they rode out the next morning the mood was festive. That instructed his hunters to attack the herds of buffalo and to pick out the cows and heifers, whose flesh was more palatable than that of the old bulls - they were so tough and rank that they were almost inedible.
By now Meren and Hilto had recovered from the wounds they had received at Tamafupa. They would lead the chase after the monstrous pachyderms with nose-horns. Nakonto and Imbali would follow on foot, while Taita and Fenn would stay behind as spectators. At the last moment Colonel That rode across and asked Taita, ‘I would like to ride with you to watch the sport. I hope that you do not object to my presence.’
Taita was surprised. He had not expected such a friendly overture from the morose fellow. ‘I would be delighted to have your company, Colonel. As you know, we are after one of those strange creatures which carries a horn upon its nose.’
By this time bands of cavalry were roving across the plain, harrying the buffalo herds with cries of excitement, riding in close to use the lance upon them. When the doughty bovines turned at bay they shot them down with volleys of arrows. Soon black carcasses were littered across the sward, and the panic-stricken herds charged willy-nilly about the plain, desperate to escape the hunters.
To avoid the confused ruck of herds and horsemen, and to discover open ground where they could hunt the pachyderm selectively, Meren crossed the little estuary and rode along the bank. The others followed him until they were out of sight of the vessels, and had the field to themselves. Ahead, they could see a number of quarry scattered across the grassland in small family groups of females and calves. However, Meren was determined to procure the horn of a patriarch, a trophy fit to present to Pharaoh.
As he led them further from the anchored ships, Taita noticed a gradual change coming over Colonel That. His reserve was softening, and he even smiled at some of Fenn’s chatter. ‘Your ward is a bright young girl,’ he remarked, ‘but is she discreet?’
‘She is a young girl, as you said, and is free of spite or malice.’ That relaxed a little more, so Taita opened his Inner Eye and assessed the man’s state of mind. He is under restraint, he thought. He does not want to be seen by his officers to converse freely with me. He is afraid of somebody among his men. I have no doubt it is Captain Onka, who has probably been placed here to watch and report on his superior officer. That has something to tell me, but he is fearful.
Taita reached out with his mind to Fenn, and saw her become receptive. He sent her a message in the Tenmass: ‘Join Meren. Leave me alone with That.’
Immediately she turned towards him and smiled. ‘Please excuse me, Magus,’ she said sweetly. ‘I would ride with Meren a space. He has promised to build me a bow of my own.’ With her knees she pushed Wh
irlwind into a canter, leaving Taita alone with That.
The two men rode in silence until Taita said, ‘From my conversation with Pharaoh Nefer Seti, I understood that his orders to you when you left Egypt all those years ago were to journey to the source of Mother Nile, then return to Karnak to report your findings.’
That glanced at him sharply, but did not reply.
Taita paused delicately, then went on: ‘It seems strange that you have not returned to tell him of your success and to claim from him the reward you so handsomely deserve. It puzzles me to discover that we are journeying in the diametrically opposite direction to Egypt.’
That remained silent for a short while longer, then said softly, ‘Pharaoh Nefer Seti is no longer my ruler. Egypt is no longer my homeland. My men and I have adopted a more beautiful, bountiful and blessed country as our own. Egypt is under a curse.’
‘I would never have believed that any officer of your status could turn away from his patriotic duty,’ Taita said.
‘I am not the first Egyptian officer to do so. There was another, ninety years ago, who discovered this new country and never returned to Egypt. He was sent by Queen Lostris on a similar mission, to discover the headwaters of the Nile. His name was General Lord Aquer.’
‘I knew him well,’ Taita interjected. ‘He was a good soldier, but unpredictable.’
Although That looked at him askance, he did not query Taita’s assertion. Instead he continued, ‘Lord Aquer pioneered the settlement of Jarri, the Land of the Mountains of the Moon. His direct descendants have built it into a powerful and advanced state. I am honoured to serve them.’ Taita regarded him with the Inner Eye and saw that this statement was untrue: far from being honoured by his service to this foreign government, That was a man in turmoil. ‘That is where you are taking us now, is it? To this state of Jarri?’
‘Those are my orders, Magus,’ That agreed.
‘Who is the king of this country?’ Taita asked.
‘We do not have one. An oligarchy of noble and wise men rules us.’
‘Who chooses them?’
‘They are selected for their apparent virtues.’
Again, Taita saw that That did not truly believe this. ‘Are you one of the oligarchs?’
‘Nay, Magus, I could never warrant that honour as I am not of noble birth. I am a recent arrival in Jarri, an incomer.’
‘So Jarrian society is stratified?’ Taita asked. ‘Divided into nobility, commoners and slaves?’
‘In broad outline, that is so. Although we are known as migrants, not commoners.’
‘Do you Jarrians still worship the panoply of Egyptian gods?’
‘Nay, Magus, we have but one god.’
‘Who is he?’
‘I do not know. Only the initiates to the religion know his name. I pray that one day I am granted that boon.’ Taita saw many conflicting currents running below this assertion: there was something that That could not bring himself to say, even though he had escaped the surveillance of Onka to voice it.
‘Tell me more of this land, so wondrous that it could pre-empt the loyalty of a man of your worth.’ Taita was encouraging him to speak out.
‘No words are adequate to the task,’ That replied, ‘but we will be there soon enough, and you shall judge for yourself.’ He was letting the opportunity to speak openly slip away.
‘Colonel That, when you rescued us from the Basmara you said something that made me believe you had been sent for that express purpose. Was I correct?’
‘I have already said too much … because I hold you in such high respect and esteem. But I must ask you not to press me. I know that you have a superior and enquiring mind, but you are entering a land that has a different code of customs and laws. At this stage you are a guest, so it will be expedient to us all if you respect the mores of your hosts.’ Now That was in full retreat.
‘One of which is not to pry into matters that don’t concern me?’
‘Precisely,’ That said. It was a sober warning, and that was as much as he could bring himself to say.
‘I have always held the view that expediency is a justification for tyranny, and the sop of serfs.’
‘A dangerous view, Magus, which you should keep to yourself while you are in Jarri.’ That closed his mouth as if it were the visor of his bronze helmet, and Taita knew that he would learn no more now, but he was not disappointed. Indeed, he was surprised to have learnt so much.
They were interrupted by the faint cries of the hunters. Far ahead, Meren had run down a quarry worthy of his arrows.
The antediluvian monster stood at bay, snorting like a fire-breathing dragon, making short but furious rushes towards its tormentors, kicking up the dust with its great hoofs, swinging its horned nose from side to side, piggy eyes bright, ears pricked forward. Its nose-horn stood tall as a man, polished by constant honing on tree trunks and termite mounds until it gleamed like a sword.
Then Taita saw Fenn, and felt acid rise in his throat. She was flirting with the beast. Serenely confident of her own horsemanship and Whirlwind’s speed, she was crossing at an oblique angle in front of the beast’s nose, inviting his charge. Taita kicked his heels into Windsmoke’s flanks and raced to restrain her. At the same time he sent an urgent astral impulse directly to her. He felt her parry it, with the skill of an expert swordsman, then close her mind to him. His anger and concern flared hotly. ‘The little she-devil!’ he muttered.
At that moment the creature’s eye was drawn by Whirlwind’s shining grey coat, and it accepted Fenn’s challenge. It hurled itself at them, grunting, snorting and pounding the earth with its great hoofs. Fenn touched the colt’s neck and they jumped into full gallop. She was twisted in the saddle to judge the distance between the point of the horn and Whirlwind’s flying tail. When they drew a little too far ahead, she held Whirlwind back to let the gap close and to urge the beast on.
Despite his fear for her safety Taita could not help but admire her skill and nerve, as she led the animal in front of Meren at close range.
He loosed three arrows in rapid succession, and all flew in behind the shoulder to bury their full length up to the fletching in the thick grey hide. The animal stumbled and Taita saw bloody froth spray from its mouth. At least one of Meren’s arrows had pierced a lung. Fenn led the beast on, skillfully bringing it round in a circle under Meren’s poised bow and forcing it to expose its other flank to him. He shot and shot again, and his arrowheads went deep, raking through the heart and both lungs.
The beast slowed as its lungs filled with blood. The lethargy of death transmuted its mighty limbs to stone. At last it stood, head hanging, blood pouring in rivulets from its open mouth and its nose. Nakonto raced in from the side and drove in the point of his spear behind its ear, slanting the blade forward to find the brain. The body dropped with such weight that it jarred the earth and raised a cloud of dust.
By the time Taita reached them they had all dismounted and were gathered around the carcass. Fenn was dancing with excitement and the others were laughing and clapping. Taita was determined to punish her defiance by sending her back to the galley in disgrace, but as he dismounted, stony-featured, she rushed to him and jumped up to throw her arms round his neck.
‘Taita, did you see it all? Was it not splendid? Were you not proud of Whirlwind and me?’ Then, before he could deliver himself of the harsh rebuke that scalded his lips, she pressed her lips to his ear and whispered, ‘You are so kind and good to me. I do love you, darling Taita.’
He felt his anger deflate and he asked himself ruefully, who is training whom? These are the arts she perfected in the other life. I still find myself defenceless against them.
The hunters had killed more than forty large animals, so it was a few days before all the carcasses could be butchered, the meat smoked and packed aboard the barges. Only then could they board the galleys and continue the voyage southward. When That was back with his officers he became aloof and unapproachable once more.
Wat
ching him with the Inner Eye, Taita saw that he was regretting their conversation and the disclosures he had made. He was fearful of the consequences of his indiscretion.
The wind veered into the north and freshened. The galleys shipped their oars and hoisted large lateen sails. White water curled under their prows and the shore flew by on the starboard side. On the fifth morning after the hunt they reached the mouth of another tributary. Coming down from the high ground to the west, it poured an enormous volume of water into the lake. Taita heard the crew talking among themselves, and the name ‘Kitangule’ bandied about. Clearly that was the name of the river before them. He was not surprised when the captain ordered the sail to be lowered and the oars run out once more. Their galley led the flotilla into the Kitangule and pushed against the mighty flow.
Within a few leagues they had come to a large settlement built along the riverbank. Here, there were shipyards with the unfinished hulls of two large vessels lying on the slipways. Workmen swarmed over them, and Taita pointed out the overseers to Meren. ‘That accounts for the foreign design of the ships in this squadron. All must have been built in these yards, and those who built them are unmistakably from the lands beyond the Indus.’
‘How came they to this place, so far from their own land?’ Meren wondered.
‘There is something here that attracts worthy men from afar, like bees to a garden of flowers.’
‘Are we bees also, Magus? Does the same attraction entice us?’
Taita looked at him with surprise. This was an unusually perceptive idea from Meren. ‘We have come here to fulfill a sacred oath made to Pharaoh,’ he reminded him. ‘However, now that we have arrived we must be on our guard. We must never allow ourselves to be turned into dreamers and lotus-eaters, as it seems so many of these Jarrians are.’
The flotilla sailed on up the river. Within days they had encountered the first cataracts of white water that blocked the river from bank to bank. This did not daunt That and his captains, for at the foot of the torrent there was another small village, and beyond that extensive cattle stockades, which held herds of humped oxen.