by Wilbur Smith
There was fresh green grass growing on the lower slopes so we pitched our rudimentary camp and hobbled the horses and turned them loose to graze.
Then the three of us set off to search the lower slopes for some clue to the entrance to Hecate’s cave. I had a strong premonition of where I would find Inana. I knew she would not want to appear before all three of us, so I sent Rameses and Serrena off in the opposite direction. Then I wandered along the northern slope alone. I heard her before I saw her. She was sitting on a rock and preening her feathers again, pausing every few minutes to trill her sweet warbling song. I found a seat on the rock beside her and she finished her song before she addressed me.
‘Hecate was here,’ she said. ‘She was expecting you to arrive. She wanted to frighten you off. She wanted to interpose herself and conceal the entrance to her cavern, but I drove her away.’
I was shocked by this news. I felt my skin crawling as if it was covered with poisonous insects. I glanced around expecting Hecate to materialize at any moment, hissing and spitting like a cobra. ‘Do you have the power to do that?’ I asked her with trepidation.
‘I am Artemis, daughter of Zeus,’ she answered me simply. ‘She fled squawking and shrieking back to where she belongs.’ She hopped up on to my shoulder and spoke into my ear: ‘Remember always, Taita, that you are one of my special favourites. That’s why I love to tease you. Come, let me guide you to the entrance to the horrible harridan’s hiding place.’
We started up the slope with Inana warbling in my ear and breaking off now and then to give me directions. We reached a sheer wall of rock at the base of the conical hill and Inana told me to wait a while.
‘Whatever for?’ I wanted to know.
‘The other two are coming back here,’ she told me. I had no idea how she knew that, but I thought it best not to argue. It was as well I didn’t because within a few minutes I heard Serrena‘s melodious voice as she chatted cheerfully to Rameses, and his gruffer tones as he answered her. Their voices grew louder as they approached, then Inana flew off my shoulder and settled on the cliff above me. At that moment the other two came into sight around the rocky wall and waved to me. Inana had timed it perfectly and they had no inkling that I was in any way related to the pretty little bird perched on the cliff above me.
‘Did you find anything?’ I called to them.
‘No, nothing,’ Rameses called back. ‘How about you?’
I was about to give him the same reply when I looked up and saw something that I had not noticed until that moment. ‘There is a fissure in the cliff wall over there. It looks interesting.’ They quickened their pace and when they reached me I pointed out the opening. It was almost hidden by the dense vegetation that choked it, and it was obvious that no man nor animal had entered it in many years.
The crack in the rock face was just wide enough to allow three grown men to enter it simultaneously shoulder to shoulder. I drew my sword from the sheath on my hip and began to hack away at the bushes and creepers that obstructed the entrance. Rameses joined me and Serrena hovered behind us, giving good advice, and urging us onwards. Above us the pretty little warbler fluttered from bush to bush chattering excitedly. We worked our way into the fissure for about twenty paces before we reached a gigantic round boulder that was jammed in between the walls, blocking the entrance off entirely. It looked as though it had been in place for a very long time, perhaps even for centuries. We cleared away the growth of bush in front of this obstacle and then I turned back to Serrena. ‘I hope that you remember the password?’ I asked her.
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied. ‘It’s “Open—”’
‘No!’ I raised my voice only slightly. ‘Don’t say the words until we are both ready.’
‘You don’t have to shout at me,’ she replied haughtily.
‘It’s better than throttling you,’ I pointed out.
‘I suppose it is, when you put it like that,’ she agreed with a repentant grin. She proffered her hand and I took it. We stood side by side facing the rock jam, with Rameses close behind us.
The warbler flew down into the fissure and perched on top of the massive round rock that confronted us. I drew a deep breath; for some reason I felt suddenly nervous. I squeezed Serrena’s hand and we started together.
‘Open mighty Janus of two faces!’ we chanted in unison, and then paused.
‘Open mighty Janus of two faces!’ we repeated our exhortation. Then we drew breath together and did so for the third and final time: ‘Open mighty Janus of two faces!’
With a thunderous roar the rock exploded into hundreds of flying pieces. The red-winged warbler was sitting directly on top of it and she was hurled up the spout of the fissure. Her shrieks of surprise and terror almost matched the force of the explosion. Even in my own distress I was grateful for Inana’s immortality and her invulnerability from physical harm for without that protection she would have suffered serious injury. Serrena and I were standing well clear, but we were thrown backwards off our feet and showered with rock shards and other debris. Rameses was twice as far again from the source of the explosion but being only human he suffered a great deal more than Serrena and I did. I was very touched by Serrena’s concern for him, but I do think he was rather overplaying the dying-hero image. I left them to it and scrambled forward over the rubble to the cavern entrance that had been exposed, and I peered into it.
It did indeed appear to be the opening to the cavern which Hecate had used to store the blades and weapons amongst which she had tried to conceal the one which was capable of terminating Terramesh’s evil existence. However, the dense shadows and the fine dust cloud raised by the explosion almost totally obscured the interior. The three of us were forced to restrain our impatience and wait until the dust settled. By the time this happened the sun was setting behind the conical hill.
Fortunately I had brought with us a good supply of torches made from dried reeds and resinous sticks of wood. We lit three of these from fire-sticks and, holding them aloft, we made our way back to the cave entrance and peered through the opening.
The cavern that was now revealed was not particularly large. Nevertheless, it resembled the interior of a particularly slovenly quartermaster’s store-room; one which had not been cleaned out or tidied for a century or more. It was piled from wall to wall and head-high with this trash. Only a few of the items could still be recognized for what they were: these were bundles of arrows, hand axes, swords and other edged weapons.
The rest of the contents of the cave consisted of hundreds upon hundreds of other amorphous items, piled upon each other and then coated with a thick layer of dust which effectively concealed their identity. My spirits quailed as I realized we would have to bring every item out into the daylight, clean the filth off it and then by some means or other try to arrive at a conclusion as to which was the weapon that had so grievously wounded Terramesh all those centuries ago. As a long liver and a putative divine I discovered that I had not the slightest intuitive inkling as to which it was.
I looked around for the red-winged warbler but, typical woman, she was nowhere in sight when she was needed most.
‘Well, we had better get started, I suppose.’ I tried to sound enthusiastic.
‘Cheer up, Tata,’ Serrena encouraged me. ‘It should take no more than a month or so at the most.’
There was not the space for more than one of us to work in the cavern at the same time. Rameses and I took it in turns to do so. The other two took up position in the entrance fissure and passed each item from hand to hand until they could be stacked outside the entrance. It was a slow and tedious procedure. Even with strips of cloth tied around our noses and mouths the dust we stirred up choked us and could not be long endured before we had to change places.
We laboured on as the moon rose and infinitely slowly traversed the sky above us. A little before midnight I had relinquished my position in the main store-room to Rameses and I moved back into the tunnel. On the wall above my head I had pla
ced one of the torches of dried reeds in a bracket. It was throwing a good light.
I had lost count of the number of dusty items Rameses had passed to me to carry down to Serrena at the entrance, but then he did something that broke the rhythm and monotony. He passed me an ancient leather bag that was dry and brittle with age. As I took it from his hand the leather tore open and the contents spilled on to the floor of the fissure at my feet. I muttered an oath and then stooped to gather up the contents. These were four bronze arrowheads. Before I touched them I stopped and stared at them. Three of them were corroded with age, black and worn until they were barely recognizable. The fourth arrowhead was as pristine as if it had that very minute come off the blacksmith’s anvil. It was shining and sharp-edged, so the torchlight danced on its surface.
I reached for it, but as my fingers touched it I exclaimed with surprise and jerked my hand back. It was hot, almost but not quite painful to the touch. I had my back turned to Rameses so he had not seen my reaction. Outside the cave entrance Serrena was also turned away stacking the other items I had passed out to her. Neither of them was aware of my discovery.
I gathered up all four of the arrowheads. Now that I was ready for it, the heat of the fourth was almost comforting. I carried them to the entrance where Serrena turned back to meet me with a weary smile.
‘Are we almost finished?’ she asked.
‘Well, almost halfway perhaps,’ I told her and she rolled her eyes. I placed the three ancient and time-eroded arrowheads in her outstretched hand. She began to turn away but I checked her.
‘There is one more,’ I told her and she turned back to me and proffered her other hand. I placed the fourth arrowhead in her palm. She jerked as though she had been stung by a bee. She threw the three ancient arrowheads in her other hand to the ground and cupped the fourth in both hands as if it was something exceedingly precious.
‘This is it, Tata!’ She brought the shining arrowhead up close to her face and stared at it. ‘This is the one we are searching for.’
‘How do you know?’ I asked.
‘I know. I just know. And you know too, Tata.’ She looked up at me in accusation. ‘You knew before you gave it to me, admit it.’
I chuckled. ‘Call your friend Rameses. We ride at once for your papa’s camp at Abu Naskos. And don’t lose that arrowhead. Your kingdom and your husband’s life may depend on it.’
The three of us were mounted within the hour and reached the Tantica River before dawn. We watered the horses and then rode on until the middle of the afternoon when we rested the horses and ourselves for three hours. Then we rode on through the second night. Two of the horses broke down during this leg of the journey, but we abandoned them and rode on. We lost two more of them at the end of the following day but we reached King Hurotas’ camp opposite Abu Naskos before dawn. We had ridden from Hecate’s cavern to Hurotas’ camp in three days, which was a feat to be proud of. However, I was not so proud of having killed horses in the process.
We found that very little had changed in our absence. A stand-off had developed between the two armies with each side sticking to their own territory on their respective sides of the Nile. Not one of our men was prepared to cross the Nile and face the certainty of being confronted by Terramesh.
The only significant change had been the decision of two of the petty kings to renege on their oaths of An offence to one is an offence to all. They had boarded their ships with their particular armies and sailed back down the Nile to the Middle Sea, and from there set sail for their own kingdoms – if you could call a pestilent wind-swept rock inhabited by a few treacherous pirates a kingdom. As Hurotas pointed out, there were fewer than 150 of them in total and every single one of them was a whiner and a coward, which included their two kings.
After greeting Hurotas and Hui my next act was to call for Tarmacat, who was the most celebrated bow-maker and fletcher in the civilized world. We were old friends and he came at once to my summons. After we embraced and exchanged greetings I told him, ‘I want you to make me the most perfect arrow in existence. The fate of the civilized world may depend upon it.’
‘This is a summons I have waited for all my life,’ he replied. ‘Show me the bow and I will make the arrow for it.’
I led him to the ivory table at the back of my tent and drew back the silken cloth that covered it. An unstrung bow lay upon it. Tarmacat approached it and before he even touched it his expression changed to one of awe.
‘I have only ever seen three other bows to match this one.’ He stroked with reverence the intricate bindings of gold wire which covered the grip. ‘All of them were the property of a king or a monarch.’
‘This one is no exception, good Tarmacat. It belongs to Rameses the First, Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt.’
‘I expected as much, my Lord Taita. I will begin at once. I will not waste another hour of my life.’
‘I will help you,’ I told him. Tarmacat had a lifetime’s accumulation of the finest materials at his disposal. It took another two days for us to make a selection of the best of it, and then to carve and shape four shafts to perfection. Then Tarmacat balanced them so that they would fly true to a range of two hundred paces. Finally we fitted the arrowhead that Serrena and I had discovered in Hecate’s cavern into each of the perfect shafts in succession. Rameses shot each arrow once, and we chose the one that showed the least deflection, which was less than half an inch.
That evening I swam to the third of the four islands in the Nile before the fortress of Abu Naskos, and as I waited for Inana to put in an appearance I once more examined the shaft that the old people had built. I found that its purpose was still a riddle to me. I was relieved when Inana finally put in an appearance. The last time I had laid my eyes upon her was when she was chirping a pretty tune, perched in her feathered finery on top of the great rock that blocked the entrance to Hecate’s cavern. I had the good sense not to remind her of that occasion.
Perhaps as a reward for my tact she came directly to me out of the dark night and for the first time ever she kissed me on both cheeks, and then, despite the fact that I was sopping wet from the river, she perched on my lap.
‘I am delighted that you and your henchman Tarmacat have been able to produce the perfect arrow,’ she told me without preamble.
‘You never miss a thing, do you?’ I was still savouring those kisses, and I was astonished by how much I enjoyed the experience. ‘But are we ever going to be given a chance to use that arrow?’
She ignored my quibble. ‘There is a hidden glade in the forest behind Utteric’s fortress of Abu Naskos on the western bank of the River Nile. Hecate has fashioned it as a retreat and a refuge especially for her own son.’
‘How do you mean a hidden glade?’ I was intrigued.
‘I mean it exactly as I say it. It does not exist except to those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.’
‘Where would I get the use of such eyes and ears?’
‘Only from one of us who live on Mount Olympus.’
‘You mean from a god? Not even from a divine?’
‘Dear Taita, you amaze me with your acumen! That is precisely what I mean.’
‘My acumen almost matches your sarcasm.’ I dropped my voice as I said it.
‘I am glad I did not hear that.’ She shrugged. ‘But to return to more important matters than acumen and sarcasm: Terramesh, the son of the goddess Hecate, is in this secret garden at this very moment, but he grows restless. Even I do not know if he will still be there by tomorrow morning.’
‘How soon can you take us there?’
‘I will speak to my friend the red-winged warbler,’ she said, and then she smiled. ‘I hope she has recovered from the opening of the cavern of Hecate. The poor little thing suffered a dreadful shock.’
It was not yet midnight when I parted with Inana and left her on the third island. I had warned Rameses and Serrena to be prepared to act swiftly on my return to Hurotas’ camp. The two of them were s
equestered in my tent, fully dressed and sleeping lightly on my bed. They responded instantly to my quiet call to awaken them. I had horses saddled and ready to ride in the stables behind my tent.
I had also arranged for light rowing skiffs to be hidden at intervals along the river-bank, both upstream and downstream of the main camp, for as yet I had no inkling of where we must cross. In the event, Terramesh’s hidden glade turned out to be less than two leagues downstream from us. Dawn was breaking as the three of us reached the eastern bank opposite it. We turned our mounts loose to make their own way back to the camp. Then we went down to the bank of the Nile and found the skiff hidden under a pile of driftwood and other trash. We cleared away the debris and then Rameses and I dragged the boat down to the water’s edge, while Serrena followed us carrying the long leather bow case and the other light equipment. We clambered aboard and pushed off from the bank and rowed over to Utteric’s side of the river. We were concealing the skiff again under a covering of vegetation when I heard a familiar twittering and I looked up to see the red-breasted warbler fluttering impatiently in the branches of the tree above us. Rameses strung his bow and checked the contents of his quiver before we set off towards the north at an easy lolloping run. Neither of the other two realized that I was following the bird. They were not even aware of its existence.
We ran for half the morning. There was no path or roadway to follow but the warbler picked the easiest terrain for us to traverse. The hills we climbed were heavily wooded, and the forest grew denser as we forged our way deeper into it.
Suddenly without warning the warbler vanished. We came to an abrupt halt and both Serrena and Rameses looked at me expectantly. I was as perplexed as they were, but I put on the best face possible and told them with an assumed air of confidence: ‘Wait here. I won’t be long. I just want to check the lie of the land ahead.’
I left them and pushed my way through what appeared to be an impenetrable barrier of thorn bush. But despite the savage appearance of the hooked red-tipped thorns they turned out to be amazingly accommodating. They slid over my limbs and body without snagging my flesh or clothing. However, after a very short while I found myself subject to a sudden and debilitating languor. My footsteps slowed and I came to a halt. I wanted to sit down and rest, and possibly take a short nap. My vision grew dark.