The Quest

If her feet were lovely, her hand was exquisite. His breathing checked and he felt the hair on his forearms rise as he watched its graceful gestures.'

'But for you it need not be so,' Eos said softly.

'You have not answered my question, Eos. Why me?'

'In the short time that you have lived you have achieved much. If I extend your life eternally you will become a giant of intellect.'

'That does not explain all of it. I am old and ugly.'

'I have already renewed part of your body,' she pointed out. He laughed bitterly. 'So, now I am an ugly old man with a young and beautiful cock.'

She laughed with him, that thrilling sound. 'So elegantly phrased.'

She drew her hand back under the cloak, leaving him bereft. Then she went on, 'In the grotto I showed you an image of yourself as a young man. You were beautiful, and you can be again.'

'You can have any beautiful young man you choose. I do not doubt that you have already done so,' he challenged.

She answered at once, fairly and honestly: 'Ten thousand times or more, but despite their beauty they were ants.'

'Will I be any different?'

'Yes, Taita - yes.'

'In what way?'

'Your mind,' she said. 'Carnal passion alone soon palls. A superlative intellect is endlessly alluring. A great mind growing stronger with time in a fine body eternally youthfuclass="underline" these are godlike attributes. Taita, you are the perfect companion and mate I have longed for down the ages.'

Hour after hour they discoursed. Although he knew that her genius was cold and malevolent, it was still fascinating and seductive. He felt charged with energy, physical and intellectual. Eventually, to his annoyance, he felt the need to absent himself, but before he could voice it she told him, 'There are quarters set aside for you. Pass through that doorway at your right hand and follow the passage to the end.'

The room to which she had directed him was large and imposing, but he hardly noticed his surroundings for his mind was alight. He felt no fatigue. In a cubicle he found an ornately carved stool with a latrine bucket set beneath it and relieved himself. In the corner, scented warm water ran from a spout into a basin of rock crystal. As soon as he had washed he hurried back to the green chamber, hoping that Eos would still be there. The sunlight no longer glowed through the shafts in the

I mTHE QUEST ¦ roof. Night had fallen but the rock crystals on the walls glowed with a warm light. Eos sat as he had last seen her, and as he settled himself opposite her, she said, 'There is food and drink for you.' With that lovely hand she indicated the ivory table beside him. During his absence silver dishes and a chalice had been set upon it. He felt no hunger, but the fruit and sherbet looked delicious. He ate and drank sparingly, then returned eagerly to their conversation: 'You speak easily of eternal life?'

'The dream of all men, from pharaohs to serfs,' she agreed. 'They long for eternal life in an imagined paradise. Even the old people who lived before I was born painted images of that dream on the walls of their caves.'

'Is it possible to fulfil it?' Taita asked.

'I sit before you as living proof that it is.'

'How old are you, Eos?'

'I was already old when I watched Pharaoh Cheops raise the great pyramid at Giza.'

'How is this possible?'

'Have you heard of the Font?' she asked.

'It is a myth that has come down to us from antiquity,' he replied.

'It is no myth, Taita. The Font exists.'

'What is it? Where is it?'

'It is the Blue River of all life, the essential force that drives our universe.'

'Is it truly a river or a fountain? And why “Blue”? Can you describe it for me?'

'There are no words, not even in the Tenmass, that adequately describe its might and beauty. When we have become one, I will take you to it.

We will bathe side by side in the Blue, and you shall come forth in all the splendour of youth.'

'Where is it? Is it in the sky or in the earth?'

'It moves from one place to another. As the seas shift and the mountains rise and fall, so the Font moves with them.'

'Where is it now?'

'Not far from where we sit,' said Eos, 'but be patient. In time I will lead you to it.'

She lied. Of course she lied. She was the Lie. Even if the Font existed, he knew she would lead no other person to it, but still the false promise intrigued him.

'I see you doubt me still,' Eos said softly. 'To demonstrate my utmost

good faith, I will allow you to take another person with you to the Fbnt, to share in its blessing. Someone whom you count dear. Is there such a person?'

Fenn! Instantly he cloaked the thought so that even she could not read it. Eos had set a trap, and he had almost blundered into it. 'There is no such person,' he answered.

'Once when I overlooked you, you sat beside a pool in the wilderness.

I saw a child with you, a pretty child with pale hair.'

'Ah, yes,' he agreed. 'I forget even her name, for she was one of those you call termites. She was a companion of the moment only.'

'You do not wish to take her with you to the Font?'

'There is no reason why I should.' Eos was silent, but he could feel the softest touch on his temples, like that of teasing fairy fingers. He knew that Eos was unconvinced by what he had said and was trying to enter his head, trying to reach into his mind and steal his thoughts. With a psychic effort he blocked her entrance, and immediately she withdrew.

'You are tired, Taita. You must sleep awhile.'

'I am not tired in the least,' he replied, and it was true: he felt vital and fresh.

'We have so much to discuss that we are like runners at the start of a long race. We must pace ourselves. After all, we are destined to become companions for all eternity. There is no need to hasten. Time is our plaything, not our adversary.' Eos rose from her couch and, without another word, slipped through a doorway in the back wall that he had not noticed before.

A lthough he had felt no fatigue, when he stretched out on the ¦k padded silken sleeping mat in his chamber Taita fell into deep JL ~ sleep. He woke to find a shaft of sunlight playing down through the opening in the ceiling. He felt wonderfully alive.

His soiled clothing had disappeared and a fresh tunic had been laid out for him with a new pair of sandals beside his leather cloak. A meal had been placed on the ivory table near his head. He bathed, ate and dressed. The tunic Eos had provided was of a delicate material that caressed his skin, while the sandals were worked from the skin of a newborn goat and embossed with gold leaf. They fitted perfectly.

He returned to Eos's green room to find it deserted. Only her perfume

lingered. He crossed to the doorway through which she had gone the previous night. The long passage beyond led him out into the sunlight.

Once his eyes had adjusted he found that he was in another volcanic crater, not as large as the Cloud Gardens but more lovely by far. Yet he had no eyes for the luxuriant forests and orchards that covered the floor of the crater in profusion: directly in front of him spread a green lawn with a small marble pavilion above a pool in the middle, a rill of bright water cascading into it. Although the stream was clear, the surface of the pool was black and shiny as polished jet.

Eos sat on the marble bench in the pavilion. Her head was bare, but she faced away from him so that only her hair was visible. He moved quietly towards her, hoping to come on her unawares and catch a glimpse of her face. Her hair rippled down to her waist. It was as dark as the water of the pool, but ineffably more lustrous. As he drew closer to her he saw that the soft reflections of the sunlight glowed in the tresses like the glint of precious rubies. He longed to touch it, but as he reached out, Eos lifted the veil over her head, covering herself, denying him even the briefest glimpse of her face. Then she turned to him. 'Take your place beside me, for that is where you belong.'