Fenn's eyes glittered like emeralds in her anger. 'You have done away with him, you villain!' she yelled. 'You shall have an arrow through your black heart.'
'Fenn! Behold my spirit sign!' Taita called urgently, in the Tenmass.
Her chin jerked up. Then she saw the sign of the wounded falcon floating above his head and blanched with shock. 'Nay! Nay! It is him! It is Taita! Put up your sword, I tell you! Put it up, Meren!' Meren swerved, then reined his mount back.
Fenn sprang down from Whirlwind and raced to Taita. She flung both her arms round his neck and sobbed brokenheartedly. 'Oh! Oh! Oh! I thought you were dead. I thought they had killed you.'
Taita held her tightly to his chest, her body lithe and hard against his.
The sweet smell of her filled his nostrils and made his senses swim. His heart swelled in his chest so that he was unable to speak. They held each other with a silent intensity, while the others stared at them in bewilderment.
Hilto tried to maintain his usual phlegmatic air, but he was unsuccessful. Nakonto and Imbali were mute with the fear of witchcraft, both spitting to left and right, making the sign against evil spirits.
'It's not him,' Meren was repeating. 'I know the magus better than any man alive. This young buck is not him.'
After a long while Fenn drew back and held Taita at arm's length.
She studied his face raptly, then stared into his eyes. 'My eyes tell me it
is not you, but my heart sings that it is. Yes, it is you. It is verily you.
But, my lord, how have you become so young and surpassingly beautiful?'
She stood on tiptoe to kiss his lips. At this the others burst out laughing.
Meren jumped down from the saddle and rushed to join them. He pulled Taita out of Fenn's embrace and wrapped him in a bear-hug of his own. 'I still cannot believe it! It is not possible!' He laughed. 'But I give testimony that you wield a pretty sword, Magus, else I would have run you through.' They crowded round him excitedly.
Sidudu came to kneel before him. 'I owe you so much, Magus. I am so glad to see you safe. Before you were beautiful of spirit, but now you are beautiful in the flesh too.'
Even Nakonto and Imbali at last conquered their superstitious dread and came to touch him in awe.
Hilto exclaimed loudly, 'I did not doubt for a second that you would come back to us. I knew it was you the instant I laid eyes on you.' No one took any notice of this blatant falsehood.
Meren demanded answers to twenty different questions and Fenn clung to his right arm and gazed into his face with shining eyes.
At last Taita recalled them to stark reality: 'There will be time for this later. All you need to know now is that Eos can harm neither us nor our very Egypt again.' He whistled for Windsmoke, who rolled her eyes at him coquettishly and came to nuzzle his neck. 'You at least recognize me, my darling.' He hugged her round the neck, then looked again to Meren.
'Where is That?'
'Magus, he is already on the march for the Kitangule river. The Jarrians have discovered our plans. We must ride at once.'
By the time they had left the valley and started towards the plain, the sun was setting. It was dark when they entered the forest and, once again, Sidudu was their guide. Taita checked her heading by the stars and found that her knowledge of the land and her sense of direction were infallible. He could devote all of his attention to Fenn and Meren.
The three rode side by side with Taita in the middle, their stirrups touching, while Fenn and Meren described to him all that had transpired while they were apart.
Then Taita told them, 'While I was in the palace I was able to eavesdrop on Aquer's battle council. He is taking command of the army himself. His scouts have reported the movement of the main body of our people along the road towards the east. He has deduced that That is trying to reach the shipyards at the head of the Kitangule river and seize the boats there, for he knows that our only escape from Jarri is down
that river. Tell me where exactly That is now and how many are with him.”
'He has about nine hundred people, but many of the men are sick and weak from the treatment to which they were subjected in the mines.
He has only a few more than three hundred who can fight. The rest are women and children.'
'Three hundred!' Taita exclaimed. 'Aquer has five thousand trained warriors. If he catches That it will go hard with him.'
'Worse, That is short of horses. Some of the children are very young.
With them and all the sick, he is moving slowly.'
'He must send a small band of fighting men ahead with all speed to seize the boats. In the meantime we must delay Aquer,' Taita said grimly.
'That hopes to give him pause at the Kitangule Gap. Fifty men can hold an army there, at least until the women and the sick are on the boats,' said Meren.
'Don't forget that Aquer has scouts who know the country as well as Sidudu does,' Taita reminded him. 'They will certainly know of the other route to bypass the gap and reach the boatyards. Instead of waiting for him to come at us, we should strike at him before he expects it.' Meren had glanced at Sidudu as Taita mentioned her name. Even in the moonlight his expression was doting. Poor Meren, the famous philanderer, is smitten, Taita thought, and smiled inwardly, but he said, 'We will need more men than we have now if we are to hold Aquer. I will stay to watch the road for him. Meren, you must take Fenn with you and ride as fast as you can to find Tinat—'
'I will not leave you!' Fenn cried. 'I have come so close to losing you that I will never leave you again.'
'I am not a messenger, Magus. You owe me more respect than to treat me as one. Like Fenn, I will stay with you. Send Hilto,' Meren declared.
Taita made a gesture of resignation. 'Will no one take an order from me without argument?' he demanded of the night sky.
'Probably not,' Fenn answered primly, 'but you might try speaking gently to Hilto.'
Taita capitulated and called Hilto forward. 'Ride ahead at first light as fast as your horse will carry you. Find Colonel That Ankut and say that I have sent you. Tell him that Aquer knows we are aiming for the Kitangule river, and is in hot pursuit. That must send a small detachment of fighting men ahead to seize the boats at the headwaters of the river before the Jarrians can destroy them. Tell him his plan to hold
the Kitangule Gap until all our people have been embarked is a good one, but he must send me twenty of his best men. This is desperately urgent. Hilto, you must lead the men he gives you back along the1 east road towards Mutangi until you find us. Go now! At once!' Hilto saluted and, without another word, cantered away.
'What we need is an ambuscade where we can wait for Aquer.' Taita turned back to Meren. 'You know precisely the kind of place we are looking for. Ask Sidudu if she knows of one.' Meren spurred forward to Sidudu, who listened intently to his request.
'I know just such a place,' she said, as soon as he had finished speaking.
'You are such a clever girl,' Meren told her proudly, and for a moment the two of them were lost in each other's eyes.
'Come, then, Sidudu,' Taita called. 'Show us if you are truly as clever as Meren declares you are.'
Sidudu led them off the track they had been following and turned towards the great starry cross in the southern sky. Within an hour's ride she had reined in at the top of a low, wooded hill and, in the moonlight, pointed down at the valley that opened before them.
'There is the ford of the Ishasa river. You can see the glint of the water. The road that Lord Aquer must follow to reach the Kitangule Gap crosses there. The water is deep so their horses will have to swim. From the top of the cliff we can shower arrows and rocks on them once they enter the water. They will have to ride forty leagues downstream to find another ford.'