The Quest tes-4

by Wilbur Smith

  The little group were left standing bewildered in the circle. They were bathed in their own sweat and blood and that of their enemies. They looked at each other with incomprehension, unable to understand why they were still alive. The field was almost obscured by the clouds of dust kicked up by feet and hoofs, while thick eddies of smoke drifted down from the burning stockade. It was barely possible to see the tree line.

  'Horses!' gritted Meren. 'I hear hoofs.'

  'You imagine it,' said Taita, as hoarsely. 'It is not possible.'

  'No, Meren is right,' piped up Fenn, and pointed towards the trees.

  'Horses!'

  Taita blinked in the dust and smoke, but he could not see clearly. His vision was blurred and dull. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, then stared again. 'Cavalry?' he muttered, in disbelief.

  'Egyptian cavalry,' Meren whooped. 'Crack troops! A blue pennant flying over them.' The cavalry charged through the Basmara lines, taking them on the lance, then wheeling back to finish the work with the sword. The Basmara threw down their weapons and fled in disarray.

  'It cannot be,' Taita muttered. 'We are two thousand leagues from our very Egypt. How come these men to this place? It is not possible.'

  'Well, I believe my eyes - or should I say my one good eye?'i cried Meren gaily. 'These are our countrymen!' Within minutes the only Basmara remaining on the field were either dead or soon to be so. The guardsmen were trotting back, leaning from the saddle to lance the wounded where they lay. A trio of high-ranking officers detached themselves from the main body of cavalry and cantered towards the small party of survivors.

  'The senior officer is a colonel of the Blue,' Taita said.

  'He wears the Gold of Merit and the Cross of the Red Road Brotherhood,' Meren said. 'He is a warrior indeed!'

  The colonel pulled up in front of Taita and raised his right hand in salute. “I feared that we might be too late, exalted Magus, but I see that you are in good health still and I thank all the gods for that mercy.'

  'You know me?' Taita was further astonished.

  'AH the world knows Taita of Gallala. However, 1 met you at the court of Queen Mintaka, after the defeat of the false pharaoh, but that was many years ago when 1 was a mere ensign. No wonder it has slipped from your memory.'

  'That? Colonel That Ankut?' Taita resurrected a memory of the man's face.

  The colonel smiled with gratification. 'You honour me with your recognition.'

  That Ankut was a handsome man, with strong, intelligent features and a level gaze. Taita viewed him through the Inner Eye and saw no taint or defect in his aura, although a sombre blue flicker in its depths betokened some deep emotional disturbance. He knew at once that That was not a contented man. 'We had news of you when we passed through Fort Adari,' Taita told him, 'but the men you left there thought you had perished in the wilderness.'

  'As you can see, Magus, they were mistaken.' That did not smile. 'But we must leave this place. My scouts have descried many thousands more of these savages converging upon us here. I have done what I was sent to do, which was to take you under protection. We must waste no time, but leave at once.'

  'Where will you take us, Colonel That? How did you know that we were here and in need of aid? Who sent you to rescue us?' Taita demanded.

  'Your questions will be answered in due course, Magus, but I regret

  I THE QUEST

  not by me. I leave Captain Onka here to care for your other needs.' He saluted again and turned his horse away.

  They got the horses up. Most had been wounded, two so gravely that they had to be destroyed, but Windsmoke and Whirlwind had come through unscathed. Although they had little baggage remaining, Taita's medical equipment was heavy and bulky. They did not have enough baggage animals to carry it all so Captain Onka called for more pack horses, and Taita tended the injuries and wounds of his band and their mounts. Onka was impatient, but the work could not be hurried, and it was some time before they were ready to ride out.

  When Colonel That returned a squadron of his cavalry led them. Taita's band marched in the centre and was well protected. Another large column laboured behind, which included many hundreds of lamenting captives, most of them Basmara women.

  'Slaves,' Meren guessed. 'That combines slave-catching with saving innocent travellers.'

  Taita made no comment, but considered their own position and status.

  Are we prisoners also, or honoured guests? he wondered. Our welcome was ambiguous. He considered putting the question to Captain Onka, but he knew it would be a wasted effort: Onka was as reticent as his commander had been.

  Once they had left Tamafupa they went south, following the dry course of the Nile towards the lake. Soon they were in sight of the Red Stones and the abandoned temple on the bluff above, but at that point they left the river and headed eastwards on a track beside the lake. Taita tried to talk to Onka about the temple and the stones, but Onka had a stock reply: 'I know nothing about it, Magus. I am a common soldier and no great sage.'

  After several more leagues the party climbed another bluff above the lake and looked down into a sheltered bay. Taita and Meren were astonished to see a fleet of six war galleys and several large transport barges riding at anchor on the tranquil waters only a few cubits off the white beach. The craft were of an unusual design the like of which they had never seen in Egyptian waters: they were open-decked and double ended. It was obvious that the single long mast could be unstepped and laid flat down the length of the hull. The sharp bows and sterns were

  designed to drive through rough white water in the cataracts and rapids of a fast-flowing river. It was a clever design, Taita conceded. He learned later that the hulls could be broken into four separate sections to be carried round waterfalls and other obstructions.

  The fleet looked handsome and businesslike, riding at anchor in the bay. The water was so pure and clear that the hulls seemed to hang suspended in air rather than water, and their shadows were clearly outlined on the bottom of the lake. Taita could even make out the shoals of large fish that cruised round them, attracted by the rubbish that the crews threw overboard.

  'The design of those hulls is foreign,' Meren remarked. 'They are not Egyptian.'

  'On our travels in the Orient we saw their like in the countries beyond the Indus river,' Taita agreed.

  'How did such vessels come to be on this remote uncharted inland sea?'

  'One thing I know for certain,' Taita remarked, 'is that there will be no profit in asking Captain Onka.'

  'For he is just a common soldier and no great sage.' Meren laughed for the first time since they had left Tamafupa. They followed their guide down to the beach, where embarkation began almost immediately. The captured Basmara were put on two of the barges, the horses and Tinat's troops on to the others.

  Colonel That Ankut became quite animated as he studied Wind smoke and Whirlwind. 'What a magnificent pair. Clearly they are dam and foal,' he remarked to Taita. 'I have probably seen fewer than three or four to match them in my life. They have the fine legs and strong chests you see only in animals of Hittite bloodlines. I would hazard these hail from the plains of Ecbatana.'

  'You have hit upon it exactly.' Taita applauded. 'I congratulate you.

  You are a skilled judge of horseflesh.'

  That mellowed still further, and he set aside quarters for Taita, Meren and Fenn aboard his galley. Once everyone was embarked, the fleet cast off from the beach and headed out into the lake. As soon as they had made their offing they turned westward along the shoreline. That invited the three to share a meal with him on the open deck. In comparison to the lean fare of the years since they had left Qebui, the food that his cook provided was memorable. Freshly caught and grilled lake fish were followed by a casserole of exotic vegetables, and the amphora of red wine was of a quality that would have graced Pharaoh's own table.

  As the sun sank into the waters ahead the fleet drew level with the Red Stones at the mouth of the Nile, and they pulled beneath t
he tall bluff on whose summit stood the temple of Eos. That had drunk two bowls of wine and had become a gracious, affable host. Taita attempted to take advantage of his mood. 'What building is that?' He pointed across the water. 'It seems to be a temple or palace, but of a design such as I never saw in our very Egypt. I wonder what manner of men erected it.'

  That frowned. 'I have given it little thought, as I have no particular interest in architecture, but you may be right, Magus. It is probably a shrine or a temple, or possibly for storage of grain.' He shrugged. 'May I offer you more wine?' Clearly the question had annoyed him, and he was once more aloof and coolly polite. Furthermore, it was apparent that the galley crew had been instructed not to hold any conversation with them, or to answer their questions.

  Day after day the fleet sailed westward along the lakeshore. At Taita's request the captain rigged a sail to give them shade and privacy. Screened from the eyes of That and the crew, Taita made progress training Fenn.

  During the long march southwards there had been little opportunity for them to be alone. Now their secluded corner of the deck became sanctuary and schoolroom, in which he could hone her perception, concentration and intuition to a fine edge.

  He introduced her to no new aspects of the esoteric arts. Instead he spent hours each day practising those she had already acquired. In particular he worked on communication through the telepathic exchange of mental images and thoughts. He was haunted by a premonition that at some time in the near future they would be separated. If this should happen, then such contact would be their lifeline. Once the connection between them was swift and sure, his next concern was to suppress the display of her aura. Only when he was satisfied that she had perfected these disciplines could they proceed to review the conjugation of the words of power.

  Hours and days of practice was so demanding and exhausting that Fenn should have been mentally and spiritually drained: she was a novice in the arcane arts, a girl in body and strength. However, even when he had taken into account that she was an old soul, who had lived another life, her resilience astounded him. Her energy seemed to feed on her exertions in the same way that the water-lily, her life symbol, fed on the mud of the river bed.

  Disconcertingly, she could change in a beat from serious student to

  spirited girl as she switched from the obscure conundrum of the conjugations to delight in the beauty of ruby-winged flamingos passing overhead.

  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?'