Both Legionaries had to fight from shrugging. They had never lived so long and so closely with strangers from so many nations. To them, anything any of these people did was strange. "Then, the wind started to blow. A cloud covered the moon. And we heard hissing...."
"We heard that before, the night you woke up, sir."
Outside Merv, when the fear of giant serpents had struck the entire camp. Quintus didn't need to know that Draupadi and Ganesha were leaning forward, as intent on the Legionaries' story as their officers.
"And so they ran, didn't they?" Lucilius drawled. He slipped past the first rank of armed men to run his eyes over Quintus's companions. They lit appreciatively at the sight of Draupadi. She caught his glance and looked aside.
"No, sir!" The denial came too fast, and, despite the differences in rank and status between them and a patrician tribune, too hotly.
"So you heard ... what? What you thought were serpents? So you went quiet, with your swords ready, in case they got closer?"
Gaius had one hand on his breast, as if he reached for the comfort of some amulet. Lad, Quintus thought at the Legionary, who was not all that much younger than he, I know just how you feel. The man had begun to sweat, and whites showed all around the pupils of his eyes.
"The rustling ... I'm from Arpinum, sir, and I've grown up around fields, and I've been in the desert, but this was worse ... I mean louder than I have ever heard. It came between us and the ... the merchants. I could see light ... oh, a black light, if you see what I mean. And we could not move."
"I thought we were done for," Decimus interrupted. "Like a bird, staring at a big snake. Couldn't even shout for help, not that we'd have done so."
"It was like everything went away. Then the light went away, too. The rustling died, and the moon came out from behind the clouds. And they were gone, the wagons were. Not even cart tracks to show the path they'd taken."
Draupadi rose to her knees and bent over the water. She stretched out her hands to the right and left; and the water was still.
"Are these the ones whom you have lost?"
Figures moved in the shining depths, so clear that more than one man looked over his shoulder. Even Quintus, who had seen her illusions before, was tempted. Surely, those carts, those beasts, those lean merchants with the faces of traitors—but so like in feature to the priest and priestess before him—had to be reflections of something.
She raised her head commandingly, gazing at the two guards. They nodded and looked away from her.
"We lost more of them," Quintus said. "When you brought us here..."
Murmurs rose at his back.
"...Some of their party were missing. We thought the Yueh-chih had slain them, or they had taken their own way, betraying even their comrades."
"Ahhhhh, tribune, betrayal is ever the way of the Black Naacal."
Ganesha chuckled richly. "Do not fear here, warriors. This place is protected. When we came here, fleeing over-mountain, we expended our last strength in warding it. You saw the Naga, the snake with seven heads, as you approached."
"They could not pass," Ssu-ma Chao muttered. For an instant Quintus heard the nasal tones of Ch'in speech before the cultivated Latin of a noble officer replaced them. "They dared not. You are—what? Wizards, alchemists—or are you witches?"
Ssu-ma Chao drew steel on Ganesha and advanced, holding the tip of his blade at the man's throat.
"I will have the answer from you," he ordered. "Or I will cut it out of your treacherous throat."
"Another mistake," Ganesha said, even as Draupadi cried out. If she asked him to spare the old scribe's life, Quintus did not know if he could withstand her plea.
"You are afraid," the scribe said. "You know what I am, and I am not the first to travel in these lands which your Son of Heaven waters with the lives of his soldiers."
"You look like one of the beggar monks from the south and west...."
"And truly, we have come from over the mountain."
"But..." Ssu-ma Chao jerked his head toward the priestess. "She is a great witch."
"She believes us!" One of the Roman guards ran toward Draupadi and hurled himself, forgetful of all discipline, at her feet. "She is a sybil, a prophetess. She knows I have not lied, my soul upon it!"
Rufus strode forward, grabbed the man by his tunic, and jerked him back. "Sir, I'd be inclined to say he believes that. Why else break ranks where I could see him? That's a brave man." He gave the Legionary a last shove. "That's for stepping out of formation, and there'll be more tonight. Remind me."
It was hard to laugh with a Ch'in noble's blade at one's throat: Ganesha managed it. If Ssu-ma Chao swapped off his head, would the scribe return as Quintus had seen him? A shadow, as of an elephant, seemed to shimmer on the stone behind him.
"Show the warrior, Draupadi. Quickly."
"Another brave man." Rufus, speaking out of turn.
Two of the patrician officers raised their brows at Rufus, who saluted offhandedly enough with his vine-staff that it was an insult. Quintus thought he didn't need Ganesha to interpret the centurion's thoughts. Proconsul's dead, the old fox, and we're a long way from Rome, boys.
"Let him go." Her words dropped into the crowd of anxious men like oil, calming turbulent waters. Once again, she held out her hands over the pool, where the images of wagons, frightened beasts, and Black Naacals had waited for her notice.
"Until all is made ready, there are limits on my strength. I had not known that others of their number had fled," she mused and knelt, staring into the water as the sun rose in the sky. Its flat surface glared like molten bronze, reflecting the great climbing disk and its rays, like a shrine to the ancient religion she and the scribe had claimed they served.
Only an eagle might look into the sun without being blinded.
"Lady," Quintus asked, "what of our Eagle? I see it flying to the West, even as the one we served heads east."
"The Eagle!" The woman clapped her hands in discovery.
Beneath them, as if a servant had been summoned, the water shifted. The image of the Black Naacals vanished. Replacing it came a picture of rammed-earth walls, a high tower from which soldiers in Ch'in uniform shot arrows while others built high a fire that smoked. Even as they watched, the men interrupted the billowing smoke.
"The fort at Miran!" Ssu-ma Chao cried. "Who would strike the Empire in the heart of the desert?"
"Those for whom the desert holds no fear," Draupadi said.
"These people claim they have enemies who can..."
"We do not claim, tribune," Ganesha cut in. "Should they gain the power they seek, the Black Naacals could wreak such devastation that the sandstorm you rode through to come here would look like a garden by comparison."
"My general! The Son of Heaven's town. What will become of them?" Ssu-ma Chao demanded.
Smoke swirled in the water that held the images of an embattled garrison. As they watched, a volley of arrows whined out and men, chariots, and carts retreated. Arrows and smoke from the tower persisted some while longer. Then, when the arrows ceased, the smoke billowed, covering the entire scene. It cleared and the tower lay in waste, thin smoke trailing up forlornly into the desert sky.
"And how do we know this is true?" Lucilius demanded, an instant behind Ssu-ma Chao.
"Draupadi," Ganesha asked. "Are you able?"
She held out a hand. For the first time, Quintus noticed the sweat on her brow, the deep circles—wider than made by any kohl—beneath her dark eyes.
The water shifted once again. When it cleared, it revealed an officer garbed similarly, but much more richly, to Ssu-ma Chao. But his cloak was torn. Padding gaped from his quilted tunic, and his scale armor was smeared. The tiny figure looked so real that when he shouted, Ch'in soldiers and Romans alike started, surprised that no sound emerged from his squared mouth.