The Quest - Smith Wilbur - Страница 29

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A solitary figure stood on the bank they had just left. Although his dark robes merged into the shadows, Taita recognized him immediately.

He opened his Inner Eye and Soe's distinctive aura appeared enveloping the man, like the flames of a bonfire. It was an angry scarlet, shot with purple and green. Taita had never seen an aura so menacing.

'Soe is here!' he called, in urgent warning to Demeter, as he lay in his palanquin, but it was too late: Soe raised an arm and pointed at the surface of the pool through which the camel was wading. Almost as though it was responding to his command, a monstrous toad launched itself from the water and, with a snap of its jaws, ripped a deep gash in the camel's back leg above the knee. The animal bawled with shock and, breaking free of its lead rein, bolted out of the pool. Instead of heading for the far bank it turned and galloped wildly along the riverbed, with Demeter's palanquin swaying and bouncing from side to side.

'Meren! Habari!' Taita shouted, as he kicked his mare into a full gallop in pursuit of the runaway camel. Meren and Habari swung their mounts round and urged them back into the riverbed to join the pursuit.

'Hold fast, Demeter!' Taita shouted. 'We are coming!' Windsmoke was flying under him, but before he caught up with Demeter the camel reached another pool and dashed into it, throwing up sheets of spray.

Then the surface of the water directly in its path opened as another toad shot out. It sprang high at the head of the panic-stricken beast and clamped its jaws on the bulbous nose in a bulldog grip. It must have struck a nerve, for the front legs of the camel collapsed. Then it rolled

on to its back as it thrashed its head from side to side in an attempt to break the grip of the toad's fangs. The palanquin was trapped beneath it, and its light bamboo framework was crushed into the mud under its weight.

'Demeter! We must rescue him!' Taita shouted to Meren, and urged on his mare. But before he reached the edge of the pool Demeter's head broke the surface. Somehow he had escaped from the palanquin, but he was half drowned in the mud that plastered his head, coughing and vomiting, his movements feeble and erratic.

'I am coming!' Taita shouted. 'Do not despair!' Then, suddenly, the pool was boiling with toads. They came swarming up from the bottom and fell upon Demeter, like a pack of wild dogs pulling down a gazelle.

The old man's mouth was wide open as he tried to scream, but the mud choked him. The toads pulled him below the surface, and when he emerged again briefly his struggles had almost ceased. His only movements were caused by the toads below the surface, tearing off lumps of his flesh.

'I am here, Demeter!' Taita yelled despairingly. He could not take the mare among the frenzied toads for he knew they would rip into her. He reined in and slipped off her back with his staff in his hands. He started to wade into the pool, then gasped with agony as a toad sank its fangs into his leg below the surface. He thrust down at it with his staff, exerting all his physical and spiritual strength to bolster the blow. He felt the jolt as the tip struck squarely, and the creature released him. It came to the surface on its back, stunned and kicking convulsively.

'Demeter!' He could not tell the man from the toads that were devouring him alive. Man and beasts were thickly coated with shining black mud.

Suddenly two thin arms were lifted high above the teeming pack and he heard Demeter's voice. 'I am done. You must go on alone, Taita.' His voice was almost inaudible, choked by mud and the poisonous red water.

And then it was snuffed out as a toad, larger than all the others, clamped its jaws into the side of his head, and pulled him under for the last time.

Taita started forward again, but Meren rode up behind him seized him with one strong arm round his waist, lifted him out of the mud and carried him back to the bank.

'Put me down!' Taita struggled to free himself. 'We cannot leave him to those foul creatures.' But Meren would not release him.

'Magus, you are hurt. Look to your leg.' Meren tried to calm him. The blood gushed from the bite to mingle with the mud. 'Demeter is finished.

I will not lose you also.' Meren held him firmly, while they watched the death struggles in the pool diminish until the surface was still once; more.

'Demeter is gone,' Meren said quietly, and lowered Taita to his feet.

He went to catch the grey mare and brought her to him. As he helped Taita to mount, he said softly, 'We must go, Magus. There is nothing more for us here. You must tend your injury. No doubt the toad's fangs are poisonous, and the mud is so foul that it will contaminate your flesh.'

However, Taita lingered a little longer, looking for some last sign from his ally, seeking some final contact from the ether, but there was none.

When Meren leant from the back of his own mount, took hold of the mare's reins and led her away, Taita made no further protest. His leg was paining him, and he felt shocked and bereft. The old savant had gone and Taita realized how much he had come to rely on him. Now he confronted the witch alone, and the prospect filled him with dismay.

Once they were safely returned to their quarters in the palace at Thebes, Ramram sent slave girls with urns of hot water and bottles of perfumed unguents to bathe Taita and wash away the mud. When he was thoroughly cleansed two royal physicians arrived, followed by a train of assistants bearing chests filled with medicine and magical amulets. On Taita's instruction Meren met them at the door and sent them away: 'As the most skilled and learned surgeon in all of Egypt, the magus is attending to his own injury. He presents his compliments and thanks for your concern.'

Taita washed his wound with a distillate of wine. Then he numbed his leg with a self-induced trance, while Meren cauterized the deep gash with a bronze spoon heated in the flame of an oil lamp. It was one of the few medical skills that Taita had been able to teach him. When he had finished, Taita roused himself and, using long hairs from Windsmoke's tail as thread, stitched together the lips of his wound. He dressed them with ointments of his own concoction and bound them with linen bandages. By the time he had finished he was exhausted by pain and filled with sorrow at the loss of Demeter. He sank on to his mattress and closed his eyes.

He opened them when he heard a commotion at the doorway, and a familiar, authoritative voice bellowed, 'Taita, where are you? Cannot I trust you out of my sight, but that you commit some rash folly? Shame on you! You are no longer a child.' At that the Divine God on Earth,

Pharaoh Nefer Seti, burst into the sickroom. His suite of lords and attendants crowded in after him.

Taita felt his spirits rise and the well of his strength begin to refill. He was not entirely alone. He smiled at Nefer Seti, and struggled up on an elbow.

'Taita, are you not ashamed of yourself? I expected to find you breathing your last. Instead you are lying at your ease, with a foolish grin on your face.'

'Majesty, it is a smile of welcome, for I am truly delighted to see you.'

Nefer Seti pushed him back gently on to the pillows, then turned to his retinue. 'My lords, you may leave me here with the magus, who is my old friend and tutor. I shall summon you when I need you.' They backed out of the chamber and Pharaoh bent to hug Taita. 'By the sweet milk from the breast of Isis, I am glad to see you safe, though I hear that your companion magus was lost. I want to hear all about it, but first let me greet Meren Cambyses.' He turned to Meren, who stood guard at the door. Meren went down on one knee before him, but Pharaoh lifted him to his feet. 'Do not abase yourself to me, companion of the Red Road.'

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