'Where will you take us, Colonel That? How did you know that we were here and in need of aid? Who sent you to rescue us?' Taita demanded.
'Your questions will be answered in due course, Magus, but I regret
I THE QUEST
not by me. I leave Captain Onka here to care for your other needs.' He saluted again and turned his horse away.
They got the horses up. Most had been wounded, two so gravely that they had to be destroyed, but Windsmoke and Whirlwind had come through unscathed. Although they had little baggage remaining, Taita's medical equipment was heavy and bulky. They did not have enough baggage animals to carry it all so Captain Onka called for more pack horses, and Taita tended the injuries and wounds of his band and their mounts. Onka was impatient, but the work could not be hurried, and it was some time before they were ready to ride out.
When Colonel That returned a squadron of his cavalry led them. Taita's band marched in the centre and was well protected. Another large column laboured behind, which included many hundreds of lamenting captives, most of them Basmara women.
'Slaves,' Meren guessed. 'That combines slave-catching with saving innocent travellers.'
Taita made no comment, but considered their own position and status.
Are we prisoners also, or honoured guests? he wondered. Our welcome was ambiguous. He considered putting the question to Captain Onka, but he knew it would be a wasted effort: Onka was as reticent as his commander had been.
Once they had left Tamafupa they went south, following the dry course of the Nile towards the lake. Soon they were in sight of the Red Stones and the abandoned temple on the bluff above, but at that point they left the river and headed eastwards on a track beside the lake. Taita tried to talk to Onka about the temple and the stones, but Onka had a stock reply: 'I know nothing about it, Magus. I am a common soldier and no great sage.'
After several more leagues the party climbed another bluff above the lake and looked down into a sheltered bay. Taita and Meren were astonished to see a fleet of six war galleys and several large transport barges riding at anchor on the tranquil waters only a few cubits off the white beach. The craft were of an unusual design the like of which they had never seen in Egyptian waters: they were open-decked and double ended. It was obvious that the single long mast could be unstepped and laid flat down the length of the hull. The sharp bows and sterns were
designed to drive through rough white water in the cataracts and rapids of a fast-flowing river. It was a clever design, Taita conceded. He learned later that the hulls could be broken into four separate sections to be carried round waterfalls and other obstructions.
The fleet looked handsome and businesslike, riding at anchor in the bay. The water was so pure and clear that the hulls seemed to hang suspended in air rather than water, and their shadows were clearly outlined on the bottom of the lake. Taita could even make out the shoals of large fish that cruised round them, attracted by the rubbish that the crews threw overboard.
'The design of those hulls is foreign,' Meren remarked. 'They are not Egyptian.'
'On our travels in the Orient we saw their like in the countries beyond the Indus river,' Taita agreed.
'How did such vessels come to be on this remote uncharted inland sea?'
'One thing I know for certain,' Taita remarked, 'is that there will be no profit in asking Captain Onka.'
'For he is just a common soldier and no great sage.' Meren laughed for the first time since they had left Tamafupa. They followed their guide down to the beach, where embarkation began almost immediately. The captured Basmara were put on two of the barges, the horses and Tinat's troops on to the others.
Colonel That Ankut became quite animated as he studied Wind smoke and Whirlwind. 'What a magnificent pair. Clearly they are dam and foal,' he remarked to Taita. 'I have probably seen fewer than three or four to match them in my life. They have the fine legs and strong chests you see only in animals of Hittite bloodlines. I would hazard these hail from the plains of Ecbatana.'
'You have hit upon it exactly.' Taita applauded. 'I congratulate you.
You are a skilled judge of horseflesh.'
That mellowed still further, and he set aside quarters for Taita, Meren and Fenn aboard his galley. Once everyone was embarked, the fleet cast off from the beach and headed out into the lake. As soon as they had made their offing they turned westward along the shoreline. That invited the three to share a meal with him on the open deck. In comparison to the lean fare of the years since they had left Qebui, the food that his cook provided was memorable. Freshly caught and grilled lake fish were followed by a casserole of exotic vegetables, and the amphora of red wine was of a quality that would have graced Pharaoh's own table.
As the sun sank into the waters ahead the fleet drew level with the Red Stones at the mouth of the Nile, and they pulled beneath the tall bluff on whose summit stood the temple of Eos. That had drunk two bowls of wine and had become a gracious, affable host. Taita attempted to take advantage of his mood. 'What building is that?' He pointed across the water. 'It seems to be a temple or palace, but of a design such as I never saw in our very Egypt. I wonder what manner of men erected it.'
That frowned. 'I have given it little thought, as I have no particular interest in architecture, but you may be right, Magus. It is probably a shrine or a temple, or possibly for storage of grain.' He shrugged. 'May I offer you more wine?' Clearly the question had annoyed him, and he was once more aloof and coolly polite. Furthermore, it was apparent that the galley crew had been instructed not to hold any conversation with them, or to answer their questions.
Day after day the fleet sailed westward along the lakeshore. At Taita's request the captain rigged a sail to give them shade and privacy. Screened from the eyes of That and the crew, Taita made progress training Fenn.
During the long march southwards there had been little opportunity for them to be alone. Now their secluded corner of the deck became sanctuary and schoolroom, in which he could hone her perception, concentration and intuition to a fine edge.
He introduced her to no new aspects of the esoteric arts. Instead he spent hours each day practising those she had already acquired. In particular he worked on communication through the telepathic exchange of mental images and thoughts. He was haunted by a premonition that at some time in the near future they would be separated. If this should happen, then such contact would be their lifeline. Once the connection between them was swift and sure, his next concern was to suppress the display of her aura. Only when he was satisfied that she had perfected these disciplines could they proceed to review the conjugation of the words of power.
Hours and days of practice was so demanding and exhausting that Fenn should have been mentally and spiritually drained: she was a novice in the arcane arts, a girl in body and strength. However, even when he had taken into account that she was an old soul, who had lived another life, her resilience astounded him. Her energy seemed to feed on her exertions in the same way that the water-lily, her life symbol, fed on the mud of the river bed.
Disconcertingly, she could change in a beat from serious student to
spirited girl as she switched from the obscure conundrum of the conjugations to delight in the beauty of ruby-winged flamingos passing overhead.
At night when she slept near him under the awning on the sleeping mats spread on the deck he wanted to snatch her up and crush her to him so tightly that not even death could tear them apart.
The galley captain spoke of sudden violent gales that swept across the lake without warning. He told of the many vessels that had been overwhelmed and now lay in the unplumbed deeps. Each evening, as night fell over the great waters, the flotilla found anchorage in a sheltered bay or cove. Only when the first rays of the rising sun opened, like the tail of a peacock, above the eastern horizon did the ships hoist their sails, run out the banks of their oars and turn their prows east once more. The extent of the great lake astounded Taita. The shoreline seemed endless.