The Quest tes-4

by Wilbur Smith

  'From my own observation I know that is true,' That admitted. 'But how does that help us? We cannot prevent them conceiving if they are being treated as playthings by many men.'

  'Perhaps we cannot prevent it, as you say, but we can halt the growth of an infant.'

  'How?' Meren demanded.

  'As Taita did for Sidudu, with a potion that induces miscarriage.' The men thought about what Fenn had said, until Meren spoke again.

  'Taita's medical bag is in the house at Mutangi. We cannot return to fetch it.'

  'I know which herbs he used to make the potion. I helped him gather them.'

  'How will you get these medicines to the women?' That asked. 'They are guarded by trogs.'

  'Sidudu and I will take them to the temple and explain to the girls how to use them.'

  'But the trogs and the priestesses - how will you avoid them?'

  'In the same way that we hid Sidudu from Onka,' Fenn replied.

  'A spell of concealment!' Meren exclaimed.

  'I don't understand,' That said. 'What are you talking about?'

  'Fenn is the magus's initiate,' Meren explained. 'He has taught her some of the esoteric arts and she is far advanced in these skills. She is able to hide herself and others behind a cloak of invisibility.'

  'I don't believe it is possible,' That declared.

  'Then I will demonstrate it to you,' Fenn told him. 'Please leave the fire and wait beyond that clump of trees until Meren calls you back.' Frowning and grumbling, That stood up and strode into the darkness. Within minutes Meren hailed him and That returned to find him alone.

  'Very well, Colonel Cambyses. Where are they?' That growled.

  'Within ten paces of you,' Meren told him. That grunted and walked slowly round the fire, peering left and right until he came back to where he had started from.

  'Nothing,' he said. 'Now tell me where they are hiding.'

  'Directly in front of you.' Meren pointed.

  That stared hard, then shook his head. 'I see nothing—' he began, then reeled back and let out a shout of astonishment. 'Osiris and Horus, this is witchcraft!' The two girls sat exactly where he had last seen them.

  They were holding hands and smiling at him.

  'Yes, Colonel, but only a small act. The trogs will be much easier to deceive than you were,' Fenn told him, 'for they are brutes of limited intelligence, while you are a trained warrior with a superior mind.' That was disarmed by the compliment.

  She really is a witch. That is no match for her. Meren smiled inwardly. If she set her mind to it, she could make him stand on his head and whistle through his arse.

  They could not approach the Temple of Love too closely on horseback. Unlike Taita, Fenn's skills were not sufficient to conceal a large party of horses and men. They left the horses with Meren and Nakonto, hidden in a dense stand of trees, and the two girls went forward alone on foot. Sidudu was carrying four small linen bags of herbs tied round her waist under her skirt.

  They climbed up through the forest until they reached a crest of higher ground and could look down into the valley beyond. The temple stood at the far end. It was built of yellow sandstone, a large, gracious building, surrounded by lawns and pools of water on which floated the leaves of a gigantic water-lily. There was the faint sound of revelry, and they saw a gathering of women on the bank of the largest pool. Some were sitting in a circle, singing and clapping, while others danced to the music.

  'We did that every day at this time,' Sidudu whispered. 'They are waiting for the men to visit them.'

  'Do you recognize any of them?' Fenn asked.

  'I am not sure. We are too far away for me to tell.' Sidudu shaded her eyes. 'Wait! The girl on her own at this side of the pool - do you see her? That is my friend Jinga.'

  Fenn studied a willowy girl who was walking along the bank of the pool. She was dressed in a short chiton. Her arms and long legs were bare, and there were yellow flowers in her hair. 'How reliable is she?'

  Fenn asked.

  'She is a little older than most of the others, the most sensible of them all. They look up to her.'

  'We will go down to speak to her,' Fenn said, but Sidudu seized her arm.: 'Look!' she said, her voice shaking. Just below where they crouched on the ridge a file of shaggy black shapes emerged from the trees. They lolloped along on all fours, knuckling the ground with their hands.

  'Trogs!'

  The great apes were circling the periphery of the temple grounds, but keeping out of sight of the women on the lawns. Every few paces one sniffed at the ground with dilated nostrils, searching for the scent of strangers or runaways from the temple.

  'Can you mask our scent?' Sidudu asked. 'The trogs have a keen sense of smell.'

  'No,' Fenn admitted. 'We must let them pass before we go down to the girls.' The trogs were moving rapidly and disappeared back among the trees.

  'Now!' said Fenn. 'Quickly!' She reached for Sidudu's hand. 'Remember, don't speak, and don't run or break contact with me. Move slowly and carefully.'

  Fenn cast the spell over them, then led Sidudu down the slope.

  Sidudu's friend, Jinga, was still alone, sitting under a willow tree, throwing crumbs of dhurra cake to a shoal of fish in the water below her. The pair knelt beside her and softly Fenn lifted the spell of concealment from Sidudu. She herself remained cloaked so that Jinga was not startled by a strange face. The girl was so preoccupied with the swirling fish that, for a while, she was not aware of Sidudu. Then she started and half rose to her feet.

  Sidudu restrained her with a hand on her arm. 'Jinga, don't be afraid.'

  The girl stared at her, then smiled. 'I didn't see you, Sidudu. Where have you been? I missed you so much. You have grown even more beautiful.'

  'You also, Jinga.' Sidudu kissed her. 'But we have little time to talk.

  There is so much I must tell you.' She studied the girl's face and, with dismay, saw that the pupils of her eyes were dilated from a potion she had been given. 'You must listen carefully to what I say.' Sidudu spoke slowly as though to a very young child.

  Jinga's eyes focused more clearly as she began to understand the enormity of what Sidudu was telling her. At last she whispered, 'They are murdering our sisters? It cannot be true.'

  'It is, Jinga, you must believe me. But there is something we can do to prevent it.' Quickly she explained about the herbs, how to prepare and

  administer them. 'They only take the girls who are with child up the mountain. The medicine brought down my infant. You must give it to anyone who is in danger.' Sidudu lifted her skirt and untied the bags of herbs from round her waist. 'Hide these well. Don't let the priestesses find them. As soon as Dr Hannah chooses a girl to go up the mountain to be exalted by the goddess, you must give her a potion. This is all that can save them.'

  'I have already been chosen,' Jinga whispered. 'The doctor came four days ago and told me I was soon to meet the goddess.'

  'Oh, my poor Jinga! Then you must take it this very night, as soon as you are alone,' Sidudu told her. She embraced her friend again. 'I cannot stay with you longer, but soon I will return with a band of good men to rescue you. We will take you and the others away to a new land where we will be safe. Warn them to be ready to leave.' She released Jinga.

  'Hide the herbs well. They will save your life. Now go, and don't look back.'

  As soon as Jinga had turned her back Fenn spread the cloak of concealment over Sidudu. Jinga had gone no more than twenty paces before she glanced over her shoulder. Her face paled as she saw that Sidudu had vanished. With a visible effort she braced herself and walked away across the lawns towards the temple.

  Fenn and Sidudu started back through the forest. Half-way up the hill Fenn stepped off the path and stood perfectly still. She dared not speak, but squeezed Sidudu's hand firmly to caution her to keep the spell intact.

  Barely breathing the two girls watched a pair of huge black trogs shamble down the path towards them. The apes were swinging their heads from side to si
de as they searched the bushes that flanked the track, their eyes moving quickly beneath beetling brows. The male was the larger of the pair, but the female following him seemed more alert and aggressive.

  They drew level with the girls and, for a moment, it seemed they would pass by. Then the female stopped abruptly, lifted her snout, flaring the wide nostrils and snuffling noisily at the air. The male followed her example and both of them began to grunt softly but eagerly. The male gaped to display a vicious set of fangs, then gnashed them shut. They were so close that Fenn smelt the stench of his breath. She felt Sidudu's hand tremble in hers and squeezed her fingers again to encourage her.

  Both trogs hopped forward cautiously towards where they stood, still testing the air. The female lowered her head and sniffed the ground over which the girls had passed. She shuffled towards them slowly, following their scent. Sidudu was shaking with terror and Fenn could sense the

  panic rising in her to the point when it must boil over. She drew deeply upon her training and sent out waves of psychic strength to steady her, but by now the ape's questing snout was only inches from the toe of Sidudu's sandal. Sidudu urinated with terror. Her water ran down her legs and the trog grunted again as she smelt it. The ape gathered herself to spring forward, but at that moment a small antelope rustled the bushes as it fled, and the male trog let out a ferocious bellow and bounded away in pursuit. Immediately the female went after him, passing so close to Sidudu that she almost brushed against her. As the apes crashed away through the undergrowth, Sidudu sagged against Fenn and might have fallen to the ground if Fenn had not grabbed her. Holding her close, Fenn led her slowly up to the crest of the hill, taking care not to break the spell of concealment until they were out of sight of the temple. Then they ran to where Meren and Nakonto were waiting with the horses.

  They never slept two nights in the same bivouac. Between them That and Sidudu knew all the back ways and hidden tracks through the forest, so they moved swiftly and secretly, avoiding well-travelled paths, covering much ground between one camp and the next.

  They went from village to village, meeting local magistrates and headmen who were sympathizers. All were incomers, and most of the villagers were loyal to them. They provided food and safe houses for the fugitives. They kept watch for Jarrian patrols and warned of their approach.

  In each village Meren and That held a war council.

  'We are going back to our very Egypt!' they would tell the magistrates and headmen. 'Have your people ready to march on the night of the harvest moon.'

  That would look round the circle of faces that glowed with elation and excitement in the firelight. He pointed to the chart he had unrolled and spread before him. 'This will be the route you must follow. Arm your menfolk with what weapons you have to hand. Your womenfolk must gather food, warm clothing and blankets for their families, but bring nothing that you cannot carry. It will be a long, hard march. Your first assembly point will be here.' He indicated the place on the chart. 'Move swiftly to it. There will be scouts waiting for you. They will have more weapons for your men, and they will guide you to the Kitangule Gap.

  That will be the main mustering ground for all our people. Be discreet and circumspect. Tell only those you can trust of our plans. You know from bitter experience that the spies of the oligarchs are everywhere. Do not move before the appointed time, unless you receive direct orders from either Colonel Cambyses or me.' Before sunrise they rode on. The commanders of the outlying garrisons and military forts were almost solidly Tinat's men. They listened to his orders, made few suggestions and asked fewer questions. 'Send us the order to march. We will be ready,' they told him.

  The three main mines were in the south-eastern foothills of the mountains. In the largest, thousands of slaves and prisoners toiled on the stopes, digging out the rich silver ore. The commander of the guards was one of Tinat's men. He was able to spirit That and Meren, dressed as labourers, into the slave barracoons and prison compounds. The inmates had organized themselves into secret cells and elected their leaders. That knew most of the leaders well: before their arrest and incarceration they had been his friends and comrades. They listened to his orders with joy.

  'Wait for the harvest moon,' he told them. 'The guards are with us.

  At the appointed time they will open the gates and set you free.'

  The other mines were smaller. One produced copper and zinc, the alloy needed to turn copper into bronze. The smallest of all was the richest.

  Here the slaves worked a thick seam of gold-bearing quartz, so rich that lumps of pure gold gleamed in the light of the miners' lamps.

  'We have fifteen wagonloads of pure gold stored in the smelter,' the chief engineer told That.

  'Leave it!' Meren ordered brusquely.

  That nodded. 'Yes! Leave the gold.'

  'But it is a vast treasure!' the engineer protested.

  'Freedom is an even greater treasure,' Meren said. 'Leave the gold.

  It will slow us down, and we can find better use for the wagons. They will carry the women, children and any men who are too frail or sick to walk.'

  It was still twenty days short of the harvest moon when the oligarchs struck. Many thousands were already privy to the planned exodus so a bright flame was burning throughout Jarri. It was inevitable that the spies would pick up its smoke. The oligarchs sent Captain Onka with two hundred men to Mutangi, the village from which the rumours had emanated.

  They surrounded it at night and captured all the inhabitants. Onka interrogated them one at a time in the village council hut. He used the lash and the branding iron. Although eight men died during the questioning, and many more were blinded and maimed, he learned little.

  Then he started on the women. Bilto's youngest wife was the mother of twins, a girl and a boy aged four. When she resisted Onka's questions, he forced her to watch while he decapitated her son. Then he threw the boy's severed head at her feet, and picked up his sister by a handful of her curls. He dangled her screaming and wriggling before her mother's face. 'You know that I will not stop with just one of your brats,' he told the woman and pricked the little girl's cheek with his dagger. She shrieked afresh with pain, and the mother broke down. She told Onka everything she knew, and that was a great deal.

  Onka ordered his men to drive all the villagers, including Bilto, his wife and their surviving daughter, into the thatched council hut. They barred the doors and windows, then set fire to the thatch. While the screams were still ringing from the burning building, Onka mounted and rode like a fury for the citadel to report to the oligarchs.

  Two of the villagers had been hunting in the hills. From afar they witnessed the massacre and went to warn That and Meren that they had been betrayed. They ran all the way to where the band was hiding, a distance of almost twenty leagues.

  That listened to what the two men told him, and did not hesitate.

  'We cannot wait for the harvest moon. We must march at once.'

  'Taita!' Fenn cried out, in agony of spirit. 'You promised to wait for him.'

  'You know that I cannot,' That replied. 'Even Colonel Cambyses must agree that I dare not do so.'

  Reluctantly Meren nodded. 'Colonel That is right. He cannot wait.

  He must take the people and fly. Taita himself wanted it.'

  'I will not go with you,' Fenn cried out. 'I will wait until Taita comes.'

  'I will stay too,' Meren told her, 'but the others must leave at once.'

  Sidudu reached for Fenn's hand. 'You and Meren are my friends. I will not go.'

  'You are brave girls,' said That, 'but will you go again to the Temple of Love and bring out our young women?'

  'Of course!' Fenn exclaimed.

  'How many men will you need to go with you?' asked That.

  'Ten will suffice,' Meren told him. 'We will also need spare horses for the temple girls. We will bring them to you at the first river crossing on the road to Kitangule. Then we will come back to wait for Taita.'

  They rode for
most of the night. Fenn and Sidudu led, but Meren followed close behind on Windsmoke. In the early light of dawn, before sunrise, they breasted the top of the hills and looked down on the Temple of Love, nestled in the valley below.

  'What is the morning routine in the temple?' Fenn asked.

  'Before sunrise the priestesses take the girls to the temple to pray to the goddess. After that they go to the refectory for breakfast.'

  'So they should be in the temple now?' Meren asked.

  'Almost certainly,' Sidudu affirmed.

  'Whatofthetrogs?'

  'I am not sure, but I think they will be patrolling the temple grounds and the woods.'

  'Are any of the priestesses kind to the girls? Are there any good women among them?'

  'None!' said Sidudu bitterly. 'They are all cruel and merciless. They treat us like caged animals. They force us to submit to the men who come, and some of the priestesses use us for their own foul pleasures.'

  Fenn looked across at Meren. 'What shall we do with them?'

  'We kill any who get in our way.'

  They drew their swords and rode down in a tight group, making no attempt to conceal their approach. The trogs were nowhere to be seen, and Sidudu led them directly to the temple, which stood detached from the main building. They raced towards it and pulled up the horses in front of the wooden doors. Meren jumped down and tried the latch, but it was barred from the inside.

  'On me!' he shouted to the men who followed him, and they formed up in phalanx. At his next order they lifted their shields and charged the door, which burst open. The girls were huddled on the floor of the nave

  with four black-robed priestesses standing guard. One was a tall, middle aged woman with a hard, pockmarked face. She lifted the golden talisman she held in her right hand and pointed it at Meren.'

  'Beware!' Sidudu shouted. 'That is Nongai and she is a powerful sorceress. She can blast you with her magic'

  Fenn already had an arrow nocked to her bow and did not hesitate.