The Quest

'I told you, Colonel That. I saw them both taken up into the sky by the djinni,' Meren tried to dissuade him.

That, though, was dogged and determined: 'Nonetheless we must continue our search. We must comb every inch of the grove,' he insisted.

Once again, the men spread out in an extended line and advanced through the trees.

Meren and That were in the lead and Meren walked within arm's length of where they sat. His face was set in a formidable frown and he muttered to himself under his breath: 'Come now, That, don't be so pigheaded. Let us go back to the boats and leave the magus to his tricks.'

At that moment there was a shout as a searcher found Fenn's bloodstained tunic. Meren hurried to him and they heard him arguing with That, trying to persuade him to abandon the search. Presented with the evidence of the bloody garments That at last gave in. They took Windsmoke and Whirlwind and rode back to the carcass of the

giraffe to butcher it and carry away the meat to the boats. Taita and Fenn stood up, picked up their weapons and wandered away towards the north, angling back to meet the Nile again far downstream.

'I do so love being alone with you,' Fenn said dreamily. 'Shall we stop and rest again under the shade of that tree?'

'It seems I have awakened in you the sleeping dragon.'

'I have discovered that my little dragon never sleeps,' she assured him.

'She is always wide awake and ready to play. I hope she does not weary you, my lord?'

Taita led her to the trees. 'It will be pleasantly diverting to see who will first weary whom,' said he.

The entire company were plunged into mourning when they heard the dire tidings of Taita's disappearance. The next day when they had reloaded the horses and set off again downstream, they went like a procession of funeral barges. Not only had they lost the magus, but Fenn, too, was gone. Her beauty and winsome ways had been talismans of good fortune to all the company. The younger women like Sidudu, especially those she had set free from the breeding farms, worshipped her.

'Though I know it is not true, even I feel bereft without her,' Sidudu whispered to Meren. 'Why is Taita playing this cruel trick?'

'He must make a new life for himself and for Fenn. Few of those who knew him when he was ancient and silver-haired will understand his magical transformation. They will see in his rebirth some malevolent act of black witchcraft. He and Fenn will become objects of fear and loathing.'

'So they will go to some place where we will not be able to follow them.'

'I cannot comfort you for I fear that it will be so.' He placed his arm round her shoulders. 'From here on, you and I must make our own way.

We must find strength and purpose in each other.'

'But what will happen to them? Where will they go?' Sidudu persisted.

'Taita seeks a wisdom that you and I cannot understand. All his life has been a quest. Now that his life has become eternal, so the quest also.' He thought about what he had said, then went on, in what was for him a rare flash of insight: 'That could be either a great blessing or a great burden.'

'Will we never set eyes upon them again? Please tell me that it will not be so.'

'We will see them again before they go. Of that we can be certain.

They would never treat us so cruelly. But one day soon they will be gone.'

While Meren was speaking he was watching the near bank as it slid by, looking out for the sign that Taita had promised he would leave. At last he saw a bright prick of light from the bank, a reflection of sunlight off polished metal. He shaded his eyes and peered ahead. There it is!'

He steered in towards the bank. The rowers shipped their oars. Meren jumped the gap between the deck and dry land and ran to the sword that stood on end, its point buried in the earth. He drew it out and brandished it over his head. 'Taita's sword!' he called to That in the following galley. 'This is an omen!'

That sent a shore party across to him, and they searched the bank for half a league in either direction, but found no further sign of human presence.

Taita is a crafty old fox, Meren thought. He has played this charade to such perfection that even I find myself almost taken in by it. He smiled to himself, but kept a solemn mien as he told the men, 'It is futile to continue the search. These affairs are beyond our understanding. If Taita, the magus, has succumbed, what chance do we stand? We must go back to the flotilla before we ourselves are overwhelmed.' They obeyed with alacrity, consumed by superstitious dread, and eager to take refuge in the galleys. As soon as all were safely embarked, Meren gave the order to continue the voyage. The rowers took their seats on the benches and pulled for a league in silence.

Hilto was at the stroke oar in the bows. Suddenly he lifted his head and began to sing. His voice was rough but powerful, the voice that had commanded men over the din of battle. It rang out across the silent river:

'Hail, thou dread goddess, Hag-en-Sa, whose years stretch into eternity.

Hail, thou who art the keeper of the first pylon.

Thou abidest in the uttermost parts of the earth. Thou diest each day at the setting of the sun.

In the dawn thou art renewed. Each day thou arisest with thy youth renewed as the bloom of the Lotus.

Taita possesses the words of power.

Let him pass the first pylon!'

I

480 I

It was a chapter from the Book of the Dead, a lament for a king. At once the company took up the chant and sang the refrain:

'Let him go where we may not follow.

Let him know the mysteries of the dark places.

He hath become the wise serpent of the mighty God Horus.'

Hilto sang the next verse:

'Hail, Seth, the destroyer of worlds.

Hail, Mighty One of Souls, thou divine soul who inspireth great dread.

Let the spirit-soul of Taita pass the second pylon.

He possesses words of power.

Let Taita make his way to the Lotus Throne of Osiris, behind which stand Isis and Hathor.'

The others came in together with some of the women singing a descant:

'Let him go where we may not follow.

Let him know the mysteries of the dark places.

Let him pass!

Let him pass!'

Standing in the stern of the leading boat, gripping the steering oar, Meren sang with them. Beside him, Sidudu's voice quivered and almost broke under the weight of her emotion as she reached the higher notes.

Meren felt a light touch upon his muscled right arm that rested on the steering oar. He started with surprise and looked about. Nobody was there, yet the touch had been distinct. He had learnt enough while he had been a novice in the service of Taita not to stare directly at the source, so he turned his gaze aside and saw a vague shape appear in the periphery of his vision. When he focused upon it, it disappeared.

'Magus, are you here?' he whispered, so that his lips did not move.

The voice that answered him was just as airy: 'I am with you, and Fenn stands beside Sidudu.'

As they had planned, they had come on board while the galley was moored to the bank at the spot where Taita had planted the sword.

Meren tried not to show his relief and joy in any way that the others might see. He switched his gaze and saw at the opposite edge of his vision another airy shape appear close beside Sidudu.

'Fenn stands at your left hand,' he warned Sidudu, who looked round

in astonishment. 'No, you cannot see her. Ask her to touch you. As Sidudu felt the brush of Fenn's invisible fingers on her cheek her smile became radiant.'

When they moored in the late afternoon to set up the zareeba on the bank, Meren addressed the assembled throng: 'We will set up a shrine on the foredeck of the leading galley in the place they favoured while they were with us. It will be a refuge where the spirit-souls of Taita and Fenn can rest during the ninety days while they are trapped in this plane of existence, the period before they may pass the first pylon on the road to the underworld.'