by Wilbur Smith
'Trying to find out if your flower is large enough.'
'My flower? Is that what you call it? Imbali calls it something else.'
'I am sure she does,' Taita said. 'However, if we think about it, it is shaped just like a flower. Give me your finger and let me show you.
These are the petals and at the top here is the stamen.' As a botanist, she accepted this description without demur.
'And I thought it was just for making water,' she said, and then was silent a little longer. At last she lay back, closed her eyes and gave a gentle sigh. 'I feel wet all over. Am I bleeding again, Taita?'
'No, it is not blood.'
They lapsed back into silence until Fenn suggested timidly, 'Do you think we should try that with your mannikin rather than just your fingers?'
'Would you like to?'
'Yes, I think I would like that very much.' She sat up quickly and gazed at his manroot with fascination. 'It is impossible, but he seems to have doubled in size. I am a bit frightened of him. You may have to perform some of your magic to get him inside me.'
So close was the bond that they had built up between them that he could feel the sensations she was experiencing as though they were his own. By reading her aura as they went along, he could anticipate her needs before she became aware of them. He paced her perfectly, never too fast or too slow. When she realized he would not hurt her she relaxed and followed his lead in total trust. With all the skills he had perfected in the Cloud Gardens, he played her body as though it was a sensitive musical instrument. Time and again he brought her to the very brink, then held her back, until at last he knew the exact moment when she was ready. Together they soared higher and impossibly higher. In the end she screamed as they plummeted back to earth, 'Oh, save me, sweet Isis.
I am dying. Help me, Hathor. Help me!' Taita's own voice blended with hers, his cry as wild and unrestrained.
Meren heard their cries and sprang to his feet, dropping the beer pot he was holding. The contents splashed into the fire, sending up a cloud of steam and ash. He snatched his sword from its scabbard and, his features contorted in a warlike scowl, ran towards Taita's hut. Nakonto was almost as swift: he bounded after Meren with a stabbing spear in each fist. Before they were half-way across the enclosure, Sidudu and Imbali barred their way resolutely.
'Stand aside!' Meren shouted. 'They are in trouble. We must go to them.'
'Get back, Meren Cambyses!' Sidudu pounded on his broad chest with her small fists. 'They do not need your help. You will get no thanks from either of them.'
'Nakonto, you ignorant Shilluk!' Imbali yelled at her man. 'Put up your spears. Have you learnt nothing in all your stupid life? Leave them alone!'
The two warriors stopped in confusion and stared at the women
¦who confronted them. Then they glanced at each other shamefacedly.
'Surely not.. . ?' Meren started. 'Not the Magus and Fenn—' He broke off lamely.
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'Surely yes,' Sidudu answered him. 'That is exactly what they are at.'
She took his arm firmly and led him back to his stool beside the fire. 'I will refill your beer pot for you.”
'Taita and Fenn?' Bemused, he shook his head. 'Who would have thought it?'
'Everybody except you,' she said. 'It seems that you know nothing of women and what they need.' She felt him bridle, and laid a hand on his arm to placate him. 'Oh, you know very well what a man needs. I am sure you are the greatest expert in all of Egypt on that subject.'
He subsided slowly and thought about what she had said. 'I expect you are right, Sidudu,' he admitted at last. 'Certainly I do not know what you need. If only I did I would give it to you with all my heart.'
'I know you would, dear Meren. You have been kind and gentle with me. I understand how dearly your restraint has cost you.'
'I love you, Sidudu. Since the first instant that you ran out of the forest pursued by the trogs, I have loved you.'
'I know that.' She moved closer to him. 'I explained to you. I told you much of what happened to me in Jarri, but there were other things that I could not bring myself to tell you. That monster Onka .. .' She trailed off, then said quietly, 'He left wounds.'
'Will those wounds ever heal?' he asked. 'I will wait for that all my life.'
'It will not be necessary. With your help, they have healed cleanly, without so much as a scar.' She hung her head shyly. 'Perhaps you will allow me to bring my sleeping mat to your hut tonight. ..'
'We do not need two mats.' His face in the firelight was adorned with a wide grin. 'The one I have is large enough. Certainly there is space for a little thing like you.' He stood up and lifted her to her feet. As they left the circle of firelight, Imbali and Nakonto watched them go.
'These children!' Imbali said, in an indulgent and motherly tone. 'It has not been easy to make them see what lies before their eyes, but now my work is done. Both in a single night! I am well pleased with myself.'
'Do not concern yourself with those others so that you neglect what lies closer to hand, woman,' Nakonto told her sternly.
'Ah, I was mistaken. My work is not yet done.' She laughed. 'Come with me, great chief of the Shilluk. I will sharpen your spear for you. You will sleep all the better for it.' She stood up, and laughed again. 'And so will I.'
A road beaten by countless generations of elephant wound down the escarpment of the rift valley, but it was narrow and they were forced to spend much time and labour widening it before they could carry the boats to the lower reaches of the river below the Kabalega falls. At last they relaunched the flotilla and rowed into the centre of the flow. The current was swift and sped them northwards, but it was also treacherous. In as many days they lost five boats on the fangs of the submerged rocks. Three men were drowned and six of the horses with them. Almost all of the other boats were battered and scarred by the time they came out into the open waters of Semliki Nianzu lake. Even in the short time since the Nile had begun to flow again, its waters had been replenished dramatically. They were no longer shallow and muddy and sparkled blue in the sunlight. Across the wide waters to the north the vague blue outline of the far shore was just visible, but to the west there was no glimpse of land.
There were many new villages along the near shore that had not been there when last they passed this way. It was obvious that they had recently been inhabited, for freshly caught catfish were laid out on the smoking racks and hot embers glowed in the fireplaces, but the people had fled at the approach of the flotilla.
'I know this tribe. They are timid fishermen and will not threaten us,'
Imbali told Taita. 'These are dangerous times and they are surrounded by warlike tribes, which is why they have run away.'
Taita ordered that the boats be dragged ashore for repairs to their hulls. He left That and Meren in charge of the encampment. He and Fenn took Nakonto and Imbali with them to act as interpreters and set off in one of the undamaged boats towards the western end of the lake and the mouth of the Semliki river. Taita was determined to find out if this other large tributary of the Nile was flowing again, or if it was still dammed by the malevolent influence of Eos. When they reached Karnak he must be able to inform Pharaoh of all these matters, which were essential to the welfare of Egypt.
The wind stood fair from the east and they were able to hoist the lateen sail to aid the efforts of the crew on the rowing benches. With a bow wave curling under the prow they bore away along a shoreline of white beaches and rocky headlands, with a rampart of blue mountains on the horizon. On the fifth day they reached the mouth of a broad, swift river discharging into the lake from the south.
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'Is this the Semliki?' Taita demanded of Imbali.
'I have never ventured so far east before. I cannot tell,' she answered.
'I must be certain of it. We must find some of the people who live here.' The inhabitants of the villages along the banks had also fled as soon as they saw the boat, but at last they spotted a decrepit dugout c
anoe far out in the lake. The two old men on board were so busy that they did not see the boat until it was upon them. Then they abandoned their net and tried to make a dash for the beach, but they had no chance of outrunning the galley. They gave up in despair and resigned themselves to the cooking pot.
Once the two greybeards had realized they were not to be eaten, they became garrulous with relief. When Imbali questioned them, they confirmed readily that this river was indeed the Semliki and that until very recently it had been dry. They described the miraculous manner of its resuscitation. At a time when the earth and the mountains shivered and rocked and the lake waters were tossed by waves as high as the skies, the river had come down in full spate and was now running as high as it had done many years ago. Taita rewarded them with a gift of beads and copper spearheads, then sent the two old fishermen on their way, astonished by the extent of their good fortune.
'Our work here is done,' Taita told Fenn. 'Now we can return to Egypt.'
When they arrived back at the encampment at the mouth of the Nile, they found that Meren and That had completed the repairs to the damaged hulls and the flotilla was seaworthy once more. Taita waited for the rise of the noon wind before he gave the order to weigh anchor.
Hoisting the lateen sails and running out the oars, they bore away across the open waters of the lake. With the wind on their best point of sailing they reached the northern shore before sunset and sailed into the branch of the Nile that was augmented with the waters of the two mighty lakes, Nalubaale and Semliki Nianzu. It took them northwards through the territory they had traversed on their journey south.
The next impediment to their voyage was the deadly belt of tsetse fly.
They had long ago used up the last of the Tolas cakes, that sovereign cure for the horse sickness, so as soon as the first fly flitted from the near bank to land on the deck of the leading boat, Taita ordered a change of course and took the flotilla into the centre of the river. They ran down in line astern, and it soon became clear that his instinct had been accurate. The fly would not cross open water to reach the boats in the middle, so they sailed on unmolested. At nightfall Taita would not allow
any of the boats to approach the bank, let alone land upon it, and they sailed on in darkness, lit by a gibbous moon.
For two more days and three nights they kept strictly to the middle of the current. At last they made out in the distance the hills shaped like a virgin's breasts, which marked the northern boundary of the fly belt. Still Taita would not place the horses at risk, and they sailed on for many more leagues before he ordered the first tentative approach to the bank.
To his relief they found no sign of the fly, and the run to Fort Adari was clear.
Colonel That was particularly anxious to discover what had become of the garrison he had left at the fort almost eleven years previously. It was his duty, he felt, to rescue the exiles and take them back to their homeland. When the flotilla was level with the hills on which the fort stood, they moored the boats to the bank and offloaded the horses.
It was good to be released for a while from the tedium of river travel and to have good horses under them again, so Taita, Fenn and That were in high spirits as they rode with a group of mounted men through the pass and were able to look down on the grassy plateau that surrounded the fort.
'Do you remember Tolas, the horse surgeon?' Fenn asked. 'I look forward to seeing him again. He taught me so much.'
'He was a wonder with horses,' Taita agreed. 'He coveted Windsmoke, and could certainly recognize a good mount when he saw one.' He patted the mare's neck and she twitched her ears back to listen to his voice. 'He wanted to steal you from me, didn't he?' She blew through her nose, and nodded. 'You would probably have gone with him willingly, too, you unfaithful old strumpet.'
They rode on towards the fort, but before they had gone much further they had the first inkling that something was seriously wrong. There were no horses or cattle in the pastures, no smoke rose from within the walls and no banners flew above the parapets.
'Where are all my people?' That fretted. 'Rabat is a reliable man.
I expected him to have spotted us by now … if he is still here.' They trotted on anxiously, until Taita exclaimed, 'The walls are in a sad state of repair. The whole place seems deserted.'
'The watch-tower has been damaged by fire,' That observed, and they urged the horses into a canter.
When they reached the gates of the fort they found them standing open. They paused at the entrance and looked through into the interior.
The walls were blackened by fire. That rose in the stirrups and hailed
the deserted parapet in a stentorian bellow. He received no reply and they drew their weapons, but they were many months too late to be of assistance to the garrison. When they rode through the gates, they found their pathetic remains scattered around the cooking fires in the central courtyard.
'Chima!' Taita said, as they looked down at the evidence of the cannibal banquet. To get at the marrow, the Chima had roasted the long bones of the arms and legs on the open fires, then cracked them open between large stones. The shattered fragments were scattered all about.
They had treated the severed heads of their victims in the same way, throwing them into the flames until they were scorched and blackened, then chopping them open as though they were boiled ostrich eggs. Taita imagined them sitting in a ring, passing round the open skulls, scooping out the half-cooked brains with their fingers and cramming them into their mouths.
Taita made an approximate count of the skulls. 'It seems that none of the garrison escaped. The Chima had them all, men, women and children.'
There were no words to express their horror and revulsion.
'Look!' Fenn whispered. 'That must have been a tiny baby. The skull is not much larger than a ripe pomegranate.' Her eyes were bright with tears.
'Gather up the remains,' Taita ordered. 'We must bury them before we go back to the boats.'
They dug a small communal grave outside the walls, for there was little to lay to rest.
'We have still to pass through the land of the Chima.' Tinat's face was cold and set. 'If the gods are kind they will allow me a chance to settle the score with those murderous dogs.'
Before they left they searched the fort and the forest around it, hoping for some sign of survivors, but there was none. 'They must have been taken unawares,' That said. 'There is no evidence of any fighting.'
They rode back to the river in sombre silence, and on the following day resumed the journey. When they reached the territory of the Chima, Taita ordered two small detachments of mounted scouts to be landed, one on either bank.
'Ride ahead and keep a sharp eye open. We will stay well behind you so that we do not alarm the Chima. If you find any sign of them you must ride back at once to give us warning.'
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On the fourth day That was granted his wish. They rounded another wide bend of the river and saw Hilto, with his scouts, waving to them from the bank. Hilto jumped aboard as the leading boat grounded and hurried to salute Taita. 'Magus, there is a large village of Chima on the riverbank not far ahead. Two or three hundred of the savages are gathered there.'
'Did any spot you?' Taita demanded.
'No. They suspect nothing amiss,' Hilto replied.
'Good.' Taita summoned That and Meren from the other boats and quickly explained his plan of attack. 'It was the men under Colonel Tinat's command who were massacred, so he has the right and obligation to vengeance. Colonel, this evening you will take a strong force ashore to avoid being seen by the Chima you must make a night march. Under cover of darkness, take up a position between the village and the edge of the forest. At first light we will bring the boats to the village, then flush the Chima from their huts with a blast on the trumpets and a volley or two of arrows. They will almost certainly bolt for the trees and will be looking over their shoulders when they run into your men. Have you any questions?'
'It is a good, simpl
e plan,' Meren said, and That nodded agreement.
Taita went on, 'As soon as the Chima run, Meren and I will land the rest of our men and go after them. We should be able to catch them between us in a pincer movement. Now, remember what we found inside the walls of Fort Adari. We will take no slaves or captives. Kill every last one.'
At dusk Hilto, who had studied the location and layout of the village, led Tinat's column down the riverbank. The boats remained moored to the bank for the night. Taita and Fenn spread their sleeping mat on the foredeck and lay gazing up at the night sky. Fenn loved to listen to his discourse on the heavenly bodies, the legend and myths of the constellations.
But in the end she always came back to the same subject: 'Tell me again about my own star, Magus, the Star of Lostris that I became after my death in the other life. But start at the beginning. Tell me how I died and how you embalmed me and decorated my tomb.' She allowed him to omit not a single detail. As she always did, she wept quietly when he reached the part of the story where he cut the lock of her hair, then made the Periapt of Lostris. She reached across and cupped the talisman in her palm. 'Did you always believe that I would come back to you?' she asked.
'Always. Every night I watched for the rise of your star and waited for the time when it would disappear from the firmament. I knew that that would be the sign that you were returning to me.“
'You must have been very sad and lonely.'
'Without you my life was an empty desert,' he said, and she wept again.
'Oh, my Taita, that is the most sad and beautiful story ever told.
Please make love to me now. I ache for you with all my body and all my soul. I want to feel you inside me, touching my core. We must never be parted from each other again.'
With the dawn light and the river mist drifting across the water, the flotilla pulled downstream in line ahead. The oars were muffled and the silence was eerie. The archers lined the gunwales with their arrows nocked. Thatched roofs appeared out of the mist, and Taita signalled to Meren at the helm to steer in closer to the bank.