The Quest

She emits no aura. She is able to protect herself with spells and wiles that far surpass my own knowledge of the occult. She lays snares to catch those who search for her. She can move with ease from one continent to another. Kurma merely enhanced her powers. Nonetheless I once succeeded in finding her.' He corrected himself: 'That is not entirely true, I did not find her. She sought me out.'

Taita leant forward eagerly. 'You know this creature? You have met her face to face? Tell me, Demeter, what is her appearance?'

'If she is threatened she can change her appearance as a chameleon does. Yet vanity is among her multitudinous vices. You cannot imagine the beauty she is able to assume. It stuns the senses, and negates reason.

When she takes on this aspect no man can resist her. The sight of her reduces even the most noble soul to the level of a beast.' He fell silent, his eyes dulled with sorrow. 'Despite all my training as an adept I was not able to restrain my basest instincts. I lost the ability and the

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inclination to reckon consequences. For me, in that moment, nothing but her existed. I was consumed by lust. She toyed with me, like the winds of autumn with a dead leaf. To me it seemed she gave me everything, every delight contained in this earth. She gave me her body.'

He groaned softly. 'Even now the memory drives me to the brink of madness. Each rise and swell, enchanted opening and fragrant cleft … I did not try to resist her, for no mortal man could do so.' A faint, agitated colour had risen to his wan features.

'Taita, you remarked that the original Eos was an insatiable nymphomaniac, and that is so, but this other Eos outstrips her in appetite. When she kisses, she sucks out the vital juices of her lover, as you or I might suck out the juices from a ripe orange. When she takes a man between her thighs in that exquisite but infernal coupling she draws out of him his very substance. She takes from him his soul. His substance is the ambrosia that nourishes her. She is as some monstrous vampire that feeds on human blood. She chooses only superior beings as her victims, men and women of Good Mind, servants of the Truth, a magus of illustrious reputation or a gifted seer. Once she detects her victim, she runs him down as relentlessly as a wolf harries a deer. She is omnivorous. No matter age or appearance, physical frailty or imperfection. It is not their flesh that feeds her appetites, but their souls. She devours young and old, men and women. Once she has them in her thrall, wrapped in her silken web, she draws from them their accumulated store of learning, wisdom and experience. She sucks it out through their mouths with her accursed kisses. She draws it from their loins in her loathsome embrace. She leaves only a desiccated husk.'

'I have witnessed this carnal exchange,' Taita said. 'When Kashyap reached the end of his life he passed on his wisdom and learning to Samana, whom he had chosen as his successor.'

'What you witnessed was a willing exchange. The obscene act Eos practises is a carnal invasion and conquest. She is a ravager and devourer of souls.'

For a while Taita was dumbstruck. Then he asked, 'Ancient and infirm? Whole or maimed? Man and woman? How does she couple with those who are no longer capable of union?'

'She has powers that you and I, adepts though we may be, cannot emulate or even fathom. She has developed the art of regenerating the frail flesh of her victims for a day, only to destroy them by wiping away their minds and their very substance.'

'Nevertheless, you have not answered my question, Demeter. What is

she? Mortal or immortal, human or goddess? Does this rare beauty she possesses know no term? Is she not as vulnerable to the ravages of time and age as you and I?'

'My answer to your question, Taita, is that I know not. She may well be the oldest woman on earth,' Demeter spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness, 'but she seems to have discovered some power previously known only to the gods. Does that make her a goddess? I do not know.

She may not be immortal, but she is certainly ageless.'

'What do you propose, Demeter? How will we trace her to her lair?'

'She has already found you. You have excited her monstrous appetites.

You do not have to seek her out. She is already stalking you. She will draw you to her.'

'Demeter, I am long past any temptations and snares that even this creature can place in my path.'

'She wants you, she must have you. However, you and I together pose a threat to her.' He thought for a while about his own statement, then went on, 'She has already taken from me almost everything I can give her. She will want to rid herself of me, and isolate you, but at the same time she must see to it that no harm comes to you. Alone, you will find it almost impossible to resist her. With our combined forces we may be able to repel her, and even find a way to put her apparent immortality to the test.'

'I am glad to have you at my side,' said Taita.

Demeter did not respond at once. He studied Taita with a strange new expression. At last he asked quietly, 'You feel no sense of dread, no premonition of disaster?'

'No. I believe that you and I can succeed,' Taita told him.

'You have considered my solemn warnings. You understand the powers against which we will pit ourselves. Yet you do not hesitate. You entertain no doubts — you, who are the wisest of men. How can you explain this?'

'I know it is inevitable. I must face her with boldness and good heart.'

'Taita, search the innermost recesses of your soul. Do you detect in yourself a sense of elation? When last did you feel so vigorous, so vital?'

Taita looked thoughtful, but did not answer.

'Taita, you must be entirely truthful with yourself. Do you feel like a warrior marching to a battle you may not survive? Or do you find in your breast another unwarranted emotion? Do you feel reckless of all consequences, like a young swain hurrying to a lovers' tryst?'

Taita remained silent but his mien changed: the light flush of his

cheeks subsided and his eyes became sober. 'I am not afraid,' he said at last.

'Tell me truly. Your mind swarms with prurient images, and unconscionable yearnings, does it not?' Taita covered his eyes and clenched his jaw. Demeter went on remorselessly: 'She has already infected you with her evil. She has begun to bind you with her spells and temptations. She will twist your judgement. Soon you will begin to doubt that she is evil.

She will seem to you fine, noble and as virtuous as any woman who ever lived. Soon it will seem that I am the evil one, who has poisoned your mind against her. When that happens she will have divided us and I will be destroyed. You will surrender yourself to her freely and willingly. She will have triumphed over both of us.'

Taita shook his whole body, as though to rid himself of a swarm of poisonous insects. 'Forgive me, Demeter!' he cried. 'Now that you warn me of what she is doing, I can feel the enervating weakness welling within me. I was losing control of judgement and reason. What you say is true. I find myself haunted by strange longings. Great Horus, shield me.' Taita groaned. 'I never thought to know such agony again. I thought myself long past the torments of desire.'

'The contrary emotions that assail you spring not from your wisdom and reason. They are an infection of the spirit, a poisoned arrow shot from the bow of the great witch. I was once harassed by her in the same manner. You can see the state to which I have been reduced. However, I have learnt how to survive.'

'Teach me. Help me to withstand her, Demeter.'

'I have unwittingly led Eos to you. I believed I had eluded her, but she has used me as a hunting hound to lead her to you, her next victim.

But now we must stand together, as one. That is the only way we can hope to withstand her onslaughts. However, before all else, we must leave Gallala. We cannot rest long in one place. If she is uncertain of our exact whereabouts, it will be more difficult for her to focus her powers upon us. Between us we must weave a perpetual screen of concealment to cover our movements.'