by Wilbur Smith
Over the ensuing days, while they waited for the summons from the Supreme Council, they fell back into their old ways. Taita and Fenn studied from early morning until after the midday meal. In the afternoons they exercised at archery or rode out with Meren and the others to hunt the giant forest hogs that abounded in the surrounding woods. Nakonto and Imbali acted as hounds and went on foot into the densest thickets, armed only with spear and axe to flush the animals into the open. Hilto took them with the lance and Meren sharpened his new eye with the bow, then finished off the wounded beasts with the sword. They sought out the huge old boars, which were
ferocious, fearless and could rip a man to shreds with their tusks. The sows, even though they were smaller, had sharper tusks and were just as aggressive as the boars - they were also better eating. Taita kept Fenn with him, holding her in check when she wanted to race forward on Whirlwind and try her little bow on one of the great boars. They were short-necked and barrel-chested, their hides so thick and tough that they stopped or turned all but the heaviest arrows. Their humped backs, bristling with black manes, were level with Whirlwind's stirrup. With a toss of the head they could lay a man's thigh open to the bone, and sever the femoral artery.
Nevertheless, when a fat sow came grunting and snorting out of the thickets, Hilto and Meren drew back and shouted, 'This one is for you, Fenn!'
With a quick appraisal of the quarry, Taita decided to let her ride. He had shown her how to come in at an angle from behind the animal, leaning out from the saddle to draw her short recurved cavalry bow until the string touched her lips. 'The first arrow is the one that counts,' he had said. 'Go in close and send it to the heart.'
As the sow felt the strike she turned in a single stride and lowered her head for the charge, sharp white tusks protruding from the sides of her jaws. Fenn pivoted Whirlwind neatly and led the sow's charge, drawing her out so that the arrowhead could work deeper into her chest, its cutting edges slicing through arteries, lungs and heart. Taita and the others cheered her lustily.
'Now the Persian shot!' Taita shouted. He had learnt it from the horsemen of the great plains of Ecbatana, and taught it to her. Adroitly, she reversed her grip on the bow stock, holding it in her right hand, and drew with her forward hand so that the arrow was aimed back over her shoulder. Then, with her knees, she controlled Whirlwind, slowing him to let the sow close in to a certain range. Without turning in the saddle she sent arrow after arrow thumping into the sow's chest and throat. The beast never gave up, but kept fighting until it collapsed in full stride and died. Fenn wheeled Whirlwind and, flushed and laughing with excitement, rode back to claim the tail and ears as trophies.
The sun was not far above the horizon when Taita called, 'Enough for one day! The horses are tired and so should the rest of you be. Back to Mutangi.' They were more than two leagues from the village and the path wound through thick forest. The shadows of the trees fell across it and the light was sombre. They were strung out in single file, Taita and Fenn in the fore, Nakonto and Imbali bringing up the rear, leading the
pack horses, with the carcasses of the five hogs they had killed strapped over their backs.; Suddenly they were all startled by a series of terrified screams from' the forest on the right of the path. They reined in the horses and hefted their weapons. A girl ran into the path just ahead. Her tunic was muddy and torn, her knees were grazed and her feet bare and bleeding from the thorns and rocks. Her hair was thick and black, tangled with twigs and leaves, and her eyes were huge, dark and lit with terror. Even in her present state she was beautiful. Her skin was moon pale, and her body lithe and shapely. She saw the horses and turned, like a swallow in flight, towards them, 'Help me!' she screamed. 'Don't let them get me!' Meren spurred forward to meet her.
'Beware!' the girl shrieked. 'They are close behind me!'
At that moment two huge shaggy shapes burst out of the forest, running on all fours. Briefly Meren thought they were wild boar, then realized they were propelling themselves on long arms, knuckling the ground with each bounding stride. They were overhauling the girl.
'Apes!' Meren yelled, as he nocked an arrow and urged the bay to the top of its speed, racing to intercept the leader before it could catch the girl.
He drew the bow to full stretch and let fly. The arrow caught the animal high in the chest. It roared and reached up to snap the shaft as though it were a straw, hurling the butt away in the same movement. It barely broke stride and bounded forward again only yards behind her. Meren shot another arrow and hit the beast close to where the stump of the first arrow protruded from its hairy torso.
Now Hilto was galloping forward to help. He shot and hit the leading creature again. It was so close behind the girl that when it bellowed her legs buckled under her. It reached out to grab her, but Meren drove the bay between them and leant out to seize her round the waist and swing her up in front of his saddle. Then he spurred the bay away. The ape bounded after him, shrieking with the pain of its wounds, and fury at having been deprived of its prey. The second ape was close behind its mate, gaining ground swiftly.
Hilto couched his long lance and galloped to head it off. The ape saw him coming and turned to meet him. As they closed, Hilto lowered the lance head and the ape sprang at him, launching itself high in the air.
Hilto caught it on the lance, sending the bronze head through the centre of its chest, right up to the cruciform guard on the shaft, which prevented it penetrating deeper than a cubit. The ape squealed as Hilto used his weight and the momentum of the charge to pin it to the earth.
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The first ape, although mortally wounded, was using the last of its strength to chase down Meren and the girl. Meren was holding her, so he was unable to nock an arrow, and the animal was gaining on them.
Before Taita realized what she was about, Fenn turned Whirlwind and raced off to help.
'Come back! Be careful!' Taita yelled after her, in vain. With the stumps of the broken arrows in its chest and blood splattering from the wounds, the ape sprang high and landed on the rump of Meren's horse.
Its jaws were wide open, its head thrust forward to sink its long yellow fangs into the back of Meren's neck. He turned to meet the attack. Still holding the girl in the crook of his left arm, he used his right hand to thrust the stock of his bow into the ape's open mouth and force its head backwards. The ape locked its jaws on the wood, chewing splinters out of it.
'Be careful!' Taita yelled again, as Fenn rode in beside Meren with her little bow at full draw. 'Don't hit Meren!' She gave no sign of having heard him, and as soon as she had the right angle, she let fly. The range was less than two arm's span. The arrow hit the ape in the side of its neck, severing both of the great carotid arteries, half of its length emerging on the other side of its neck. It was a perfect shot.
The ape released Meren's bow and tumbled backwards over the bay's rump. It rolled in the forest mulch, squealing with rage and plucking at the arrow with both hands. Imbali darted in, lifted her axe high and swung down, splitting the thick bone of the skull as though it were eggshell. Nakonto left the pack horses, which took to their heels, and rushed past her to where Hilto was still holding down the other on the end of his lance. He stabbed down with his short assegai, twice through the throat, and the ape uttered one last roar before it died.
Fenn was still keeping pace with Meren's bay, but now they slowed.
Meren was holding the girl tenderly to his chest. Her face was buried in his neck and she was sobbing wildly. He patted her back, murmuring reassurance. 'It's all over, my beauty. No need to weep, sweetling. You are safe now. I will take care of you.' His attempts to express concern and sympathy were spoiled somewhat by his self-satisfied grin.
Fenn wheeled back on one side of him, and Taita rode up on the other. 'Young lady, I am not sure which is the greater danger to you, the wild ape or the man who rescued you from it,' he remarked. With one last sob, the girl looked up, but she kept her arm round Meren's neck and he made no effort t
o dislodge her. Her nose was running and her eyes were streaming. They all studied her with interest.
Tears notwithstanding, Taita decided, she is a beauty. Then he asked her, in a kindly tone. 'What were you doing alone in the forest when you were set upon by those beasts?'I 'I escaped and the trogs came after me.' The girl hiccuped.
'Trogs?' Meren asked.
Her dark eyes went back to his face. 'That is what they are called.
They are horrible things. We are all terrified of them.'
'Your reply has flushed out a flock of questions. But let us find an answer to the first one. Where were you going?' Taita intervened. The girl tore her eyes from Meren and looked at Taita. 'I was coming to find you, Magus. I need your help. You are the only one who can save me.'
'That raises another flock of questions. Shall we begin with a simple one? What is your name, child?'
'I am called Sidudu, Magus,' she said, and shivered violently.
'You are cold, Sidudu,' Taita said. 'No more questions until we have you home.' Taita turned to Meren and kept his expression serious as he asked, 'Is the lady causing you inconvenience or discomfort? Do you think you will be able to carry her as far as the village, or shall we put her down and make her walk?'
'I can abide with any suffering she may cause me,' Meren replied, equally seriously.
'Then I believe we have finished our business here. Let us go on.'
It was dark when they entered the village. The houses were mostly in darkness and nobody seemed to notice their passing. By the time they dismounted in the stableyard Sidudu had made a remarkable recovery.
Nevertheless Meren was taking no risks and carried her into the main living room. While Fenn and Imbali lit the lamps and reheated a pot of rich game stew on the hearth, Taita examined Sidudu's injuries. They were all superficial grazes, scrapes and embedded thorns. He dug the last out of her pretty calf and smeared ointment over the wound, sat back and studied her. He saw a maelstrom of fear and hatred. She was a confused, unhappy child, but beneath the turmoil of suffering her aura was clear and pure. She was essentially a sweet, innocent creature forced prematurely to face the world's evils and wickedness.
'Come, child,' he said. 'You must eat, drink and sleep before we talk any more.' She ate the stew and dhurra bread that Fenn brought to her, and when she had wiped the bowl with the last crust of bread and popped it into her mouth, Taita reminded her, 'You said that you were coming to find me.'
'Yes, Magus,' she whispered.
'Why?' he asked.
'May I talk to you alone, where nobody else can hear us?' she asked shyly, and glanced involuntarily at Meren.
'Of course. We shall go to my chamber.' Taita picked up one of the oil lamps. 'Follow me.' He led her to the room that he and Fenn shared, sat on his mat and indicated Fenn's to her. Sidudu folded her legs under her and arranged her torn skirts modestly. 'Now tell me,' he invited.
'Everybody in Jarri says you are a famous surgeon and skilled with all manner of herbs and potions.'
'I am not sure who “everybody” is, but I am indeed a surgeon.'
'I want you to give me something to flush the infant from my womb,'
she whispered.
Taita was taken aback. He had not expected anything like that. It took him some moments to decide how to reply. At last he asked gently, 'How old are you, Sidudu?'
'I am sixteen, Magus.'
'I thought you were younger,' he said, 'but no matter. Who is the father of the child you are carrying? Do you love him?'
Her reply was bitter and vehement: 'I don't love him. I hate him and wish he was dead,' she blurted out.
He stared at her while he composed his next question. 'If you hate him so, why did you lie with him?'
'I did not wish it, Magus. I had no choice. He is a cruel, cold man. He beats me, and mounts me so violently when he is in wine that he tears me and makes me bleed.'
'Why do you not leave him?' he asked.
'I have tried, but he sends the trogs to fetch me back. Then he beats me again. I hoped that he would beat me until I lost the brat he put inside me, but he is careful not to hit me in the belly.'
'Who is he? What is his name?'
'You promise to tell nobody?' She hesitated, then went on in a rush, 'Not even the good man who saved my life and carried me in from the forest? I don't want him to despise me.'
'Meren? Of course I will not tell him. But you have no need to worry.
No one would ever despise you. You are a good, brave girl.'
'The man's name is Onka - Captain Onka. You know him, I think.
He told me about you.' She seized Taita's hand. 'Please help me!' She shook it in her desperation. 'Please, Magus! I beg you! Please help me!
If I don't rid myself of the baby they will kill me. I don't want to die for Onka's bastard.'
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Taita began to make sense of the situation. If Sidudu was Onka's woman, she was the one of whom Colonel That had spoken, the one who had doctored Onka's food to keep him out of the way so that That could escort Taita down from the Cloud Gardens. She was one of them and she must be protected. 'I must examine you first, but I will do my best. Would you object if I called Fenn, my ward, to be with us?'
'The pretty blonde girl who shot the trog off Meren's back? I like her.
Please call her.'
Fenn came at once. As soon as Taita had explained what was required of her, she sat down beside Sidudu and took her hand. 'The magus is the finest surgeon on earth,' she said. 'You need have no fear.'
'Lie back and lift your tunic,' Taita instructed her, and when she obeyed, he worked quickly but thoroughly. 'Are these bruises from the beatings Onka gave you?' he asked.
'Yes, Magus,' she replied.
'I will kill him for you,' Fenn offered. 'I never liked Onka, but now I hate him.'
'When the time comes I will kill him myself,' Sidudu squeezed her hand, 'but thank you, Fenn. I hope you will be my friend.'
'We are friends already,' Fenn told her.
Taita finished his examination. 'Already he could discern the faint aura of the unborn child, shot through with the black evil of its father.
Sidudu sat up and smoothed down her clothing. 'There is a baby, isn't there, Magus?' Her smile faded and she looked woebegone again.
'In the circumstances, I am sad to have to say, yes.'
'I have missed my last two moons.'
'The only good thing in this business is that you have not gone too far. So early in your term, it will not be difficult for us to dislodge the foetus.' He stood up and crossed the room to where his medical bag stood. 'I shall give you a potion. It is very strong and will make you vomit and purge your bowels, but it will bring down the other thing at the same time.' He measured a dose of green powder from a stoppered phial into an earthenware bowl, then added boiling water. 'Drink it as soon as it cools, and you must try to keep it down,' he told her.
They sat with her as she forced herself to swallow it, a mouthful at a time, gagging at the bitter taste. When she had finished she sat for a while, panting and heaving spasmodically. At last she grew quieter. 'I shall be all right now,' she whispered hoarsely.
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'You must sleep here with us tonight,' Fenn told her firmly. 'You might need our help.'
Sidudu's groans woke them at the darkest hour of the night. Fenn sprang from her mat and lit the oil lamp. Then she helped Sidudu to her feet and led her, doubled over with cramps, to the nightsoil pot in the small adjacent room. They reached it just before Sidudu voided, with a spluttering liquid rush. Her cramps and pains grew more intense as the hours passed and she strained over the pot. Fenn stayed at her side, massaging her belly when the cramps were at their height, sponging her sweating face and chest after each bout passed. Just after the moon set Sidudu was convulsed with a spasm more powerful than all those that had gone before. At its height she cried out wildly, 'Oh, help me, Mother Isis! Forgive me for what I have done.' She fell ba
ck, spent, and the foetus made a pathetic mound of bloody jelly in the bottom of the pot.
With fresh water and a linen cloth, Fenn cleaned and dried Sidudu's body. Then she helped her to her feet and led her back to the sleeping mat. Taita gathered up the foetus from the pot, washed it carefully, then wrapped it in a fresh linen headcloth. It had not developed far enough to tell whether it had been a boy or a girl. He carried it out into the stableyard, called Meren to help him and they lifted a paving slab in the corner of the yard. They scooped a hollow in the earth beneath it, then Taita laid the bundle in it.
When Meren had replaced the slab Taita said quietly, 'Mother Isis, take this soul into your care. It was conceived in pain and hatred. It perished in shame and suffering. It was not meant for this life. Holy Mother, we pray you, treat the little one more kindly in its next life.'
When he returned to the chamber, Fenn looked up at him enquiringly.
'It is gone,' he said. 'The bleeding will soon staunch, and Sidudu will be well in a few days. She has nothing more to fear.'
'Except the awful man who beats her,' Fenn reminded him.
'Indeed. But she is not the only one: we must all fear Captain Onka.'