The Quest - Smith Wilbur - Страница 47

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From powdered bark and the seeds of a small nondescript shrub Taita compounded a laxative of such extraordinary power that Nakonto, who seemed to have rock-hard bowels, was delighted with the results. He came daily to Taita to demand his dose, and in the end Taita limited him to one every third day.

Despite her appetite Fenn remained skinny and her stomach was tight and distended. Taita prepared another potion of boiled roots, with which she assisted him. When he invited her to drink it she took a single sip, then took to her heels. She was quick, but he was ready for her. The ensuing battle of wills lasted almost two days. The men laid wagers on the outcome. In the end Taita won the day, and she drank a full dose without him having to resort to psychic persuasion, to which he was reluctant to subject her. Her sulks continued until the following day when, to her astonishment, she passed a ball of writhing white intestinal worms almost the size of her head. She was immensely proud of this achievement and took first Taita, then everybody else to admire it. They were all suitably impressed and everyone agreed loudly that Fenn was, indeed, a clever, brave girl. Within days her stomach took on more pleasing contours and her limbs filled out. Her physical development was startling: in months she had made progress that would have taken normal girls years to accomplish. To Taita, it seemed that she was growing and blossoming before his eyes, 'She is not a normal child,' he explained to himself. 'She is the reincarnation of a queen and a goddess.' If he ever felt the slightest twinge of doubt about it, he had only to open the Inner Eye and gaze upon her aura. Its splendour was divine.

'Your lovely smile would startle the horses now,' Taita told her, and she showed her once-black teeth in a wide grin. The dye had faded until her teeth were salt-white and perfect. Taita showed her how to select a green twig and chew the fibrous end into a brush to polish her new teeth and sweeten her breath. She liked the taste and never shirked the daily ritual.

Her command of the language passed from abysmal to poor, to good and, finally, to perfect. Her vocabulary burgeoned: she could choose the exact word to express her feelings or describe an object accurately. Soon she could play word games with Taita, and delighted him with her rhyming, riddling and punning.

Fenn was ravenous for learning. If her mind was not fully occupied she became bored and difficult. When it was grappling with a task he had set her, she was sweet and pliable. Almost daily Taita had to seek new challenges for her.

He made writing tablets from the clay of the riverbank and started her on a study of hieroglyphics. He laid out a boo board in the hard clay outside the doorway of their hut and selected coloured stones as counters.

After a few days she had picked up the elementary principles, and as she

advanced he taught her the Rule of Seven, then the Massing of Castles.

One memorable day she vanquished Meren in three out of four straight games, to his mortification and the delight of the onlookers.I With the ashes of the saltwort bush, Taita converted into soap the fat of the game that the hunters brought in. Liberal applications removed from Fenn's body the last stubborn stains of the dyes and other nameless substances with which her adopted Luo mother had beautified her.

With further applications of Taita's sovereign salve and unrelenting persecution, the last of her vermin were rooted out. Their bites faded and finally disappeared. Her skin took on a creamy unblemished texture, shaded to lucent amber where the sun touched it. Her hair grew and at last covered her ears, becoming a shining aureate crown. Her eyes, though still green and enormous, no longer dominated her other, more delicate features but complemented and enhanced them. Before Taita's doting eyes she became as beautiful as she had been in the other life.

When he gazed upon her, or listened to her soft breathing at night on the sleeping mat beside his, his pleasure was soured by dread of what the future must bring. He was acutely aware that, in a few brief years, she would become a woman and her instincts would demand something he was unable to give her. She would be driven to look elsewhere for a man who could meet those overpowering female needs. For the second time in his life he would be forced to watch her go into the arms of another, and experience the bitter sorrow of lost love.

'The future will take care of itself. I have her for this day. I must make that suffice,' he told himself, and thrust aside his fears.

Although all about her were fascinated by her burgeoning beauty, Fenn seemed unaware of it. She repaid their adulation with unstilted grace and friendliness, but remained an unfettered spirit. She reserved her affection for Taita.

Windsmoke was just one of those who came under Fenn's spell.

When Taita was preoccupied with chemistry or meditation, Fenn would go out into the pasture to find her. The mare allowed Fenn to use her mane to clamber on to her back, and then gave the child riding lessons. At first she would move no faster than a sedate walk. Despite all Fenn's urging she would not break into a trot until she felt that her rider's balance was right and her seat secure. Within weeks she had introduced Fenn to an easy canter. She ignored the hammering

of small heels into her flanks, the loud exhortations and pleas to 'Hi up!'

Then, one afternoon, when Taita was napping in the shade by the door of their hut, Fenn went down to the horse zareeba and swung herself on to the grey mare's back. Windsmoke walked away with her. At the gate of the zareeba Fenn poked her with a toe behind the shoulder and Windsmoke opened into a smooth, high-stepping trot. When they were in the golden fields of savannah grass Fenn asked the mare again, and she extended into a canter. Fenn was seated close up behind her withers, weight well forward, knees clamped firmly so that she was perfectly in h tune with Windsmoke's every stride. Then, more in hope than expectation of the animal's co-operation, Fenn seized a handful of mane and cried, 'Come, my darling, let us away.' Under her, Windsmoke smoothly released all her speed and power, Whirlwind following closely. They swept away joyfully across the basin of open grassland.

Taita was woken by the shouts of the men: 'Run, Windsmoke, run!'

And 'Ride, Fenn, ride!'

He ran to the gate just in time to see the distant trio disappear over the skyline. He was uncertain on whom he should first vent his fury.

Meren chose that moment to cry, 'By the thunderous peals of Seth's farts, she rides like a trooper!' so nominating himself the target.

Taita was still haranguing him when Windsmoke tore back across the basin with Fenn shrieking with excitement upon her back and Whirlwind at her heels. She stopped in front of Taita, and Fenn slid down and ran to him. 'Oh, Taita, did you see us? Wasn't it wonderful? Were you not proud of me?'

He glared at her. 'You are never to do something as dangerous and foolish as that again, not in all your life.' She was crestfallen. Her shoulders drooped and her eyes swam with tears. He relented stiffly: 'But you rode well enough. I am proud of you.'

'The magus means that you rode like a trooper, but we were all afraid for your safety,' Meren explained, 'but there was no cause for us to worry.'

Fenn brightened immediately, and dashed away the tears with the back of her hand.

'Is that what you really meant, Taita?' she demanded.

'I suppose it was,' he admitted gruffly.

That evening Fenn sat cross-legged upon her sleeping mat and, by the light of the oil lamp, regarded Taita solemnly as he lay on his back with his beard brushed out and his hands folded on his chest, composing himself for sleep. 'You will never go away and leave me, but will always be with me, won't you, Taita?'

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