The Quest - Smith Wilbur (читаем книги онлайн бесплатно TXT) 📗

craft we need. Once we are on the river it will be an easy run downstream to the great Nalubaale lake.' He paused and looked shrewdly at Meren.

'We can be ready to leave within ten days.'

'We cannot leave without the Magus Taita,' Meren said quickly.

'Taita is one man,' That pointed out. 'Hundreds of our own people are in danger.'

'You will not succeed without him,' Meren said. 'Without his powers you and all your people will be doomed.'

That thought about it, frowning morosely and pulling at a strand of his bristling beard. Then he seemed to reach a decision. 'We cannot wait for him for ever. What if he is already dead? I cannot take the risk.'

'Colonel ThatI' Fenn burst out. 'Will you wait for Taita until the rise of the harvest moon?'

That stared at her, then nodded curtly.' But no longer. If the magus does not come down from the mountain before then, we can be sure he never will.'

'Thank you, Colonel. I admire your courage and good sense.' Fenn smiled sweetly at him. He mumbled with embarrassment and looked into the flames. She went on remorselessly, 'Do you know about the girls in the Temple of Love, Colonel?'

'Of course I know there are temple maidens, but what of it?'

Fenn turned to Sidudu. 'Tell him what you told us.'

That listened with mounting horror to Sidudu's account. By the time she had finished, his expression was bleak. 'I had no inkling that atrocities such as these were being perpetrated on our young women. Of course I knew that some of the girls were being taken to the Cloud Gardens.

Indeed, I escorted some, but they went willingly. I had no idea that they were being sacrificed to the goddess, or that cannibal rites were being conducted on the mountain.'

'Colonel, we have to take them with us. We cannot leave them to the Jarrians,' Meren broke in. 'I have already sworn an oath that I will do everything in my power to set them free and take them with us when we escape from Jarri.'

'Here and now I make that same oath,' That growled. 'I swear in the name of all the gods that I will not leave this land until we have freed those young women.'

'If we must wait until the harvest moon how many more will be sent up the mountain before then?' Fenn asked.

The men were silenced by her question.

'If we act too soon, we will lose the element of surprise. The Jarrians will immediately unleash all their forces upon us. What do you propose, Fenn?' It was That who had spoken.' ¦ 'Only the girls with child are sent up the mountain,' Fenn pointed out.

'From my own observation I know that is true,' That admitted. 'But how does that help us? We cannot prevent them conceiving if they are being treated as playthings by many men.'

'Perhaps we cannot prevent it, as you say, but we can halt the growth of an infant.'

'How?' Meren demanded.

'As Taita did for Sidudu, with a potion that induces miscarriage.' The men thought about what Fenn had said, until Meren spoke again.

'Taita's medical bag is in the house at Mutangi. We cannot return to fetch it.'

'I know which herbs he used to make the potion. I helped him gather them.'

'How will you get these medicines to the women?' That asked. 'They are guarded by trogs.'

'Sidudu and I will take them to the temple and explain to the girls how to use them.'

'But the trogs and the priestesses - how will you avoid them?'

'In the same way that we hid Sidudu from Onka,' Fenn replied.

'A spell of concealment!' Meren exclaimed.

'I don't understand,' That said. 'What are you talking about?'

'Fenn is the magus's initiate,' Meren explained. 'He has taught her some of the esoteric arts and she is far advanced in these skills. She is able to hide herself and others behind a cloak of invisibility.'

'I don't believe it is possible,' That declared.

'Then I will demonstrate it to you,' Fenn told him. 'Please leave the fire and wait beyond that clump of trees until Meren calls you back.' Frowning and grumbling, That stood up and strode into the darkness. Within minutes Meren hailed him and That returned to find him alone.

'Very well, Colonel Cambyses. Where are they?' That growled.

'Within ten paces of you,' Meren told him. That grunted and walked slowly round the fire, peering left and right until he came back to where he had started from.

'Nothing,' he said. 'Now tell me where they are hiding.'

'Directly in front of you.' Meren pointed.

That stared hard, then shook his head. 'I see nothing—' he began, then reeled back and let out a shout of astonishment. 'Osiris and Horus, this is witchcraft!' The two girls sat exactly where he had last seen them.

They were holding hands and smiling at him.

'Yes, Colonel, but only a small act. The trogs will be much easier to deceive than you were,' Fenn told him, 'for they are brutes of limited intelligence, while you are a trained warrior with a superior mind.' That was disarmed by the compliment.

She really is a witch. That is no match for her. Meren smiled inwardly. If she set her mind to it, she could make him stand on his head and whistle through his arse.

They could not approach the Temple of Love too closely on horseback. Unlike Taita, Fenn's skills were not sufficient to conceal a large party of horses and men. They left the horses with Meren and Nakonto, hidden in a dense stand of trees, and the two girls went forward alone on foot. Sidudu was carrying four small linen bags of herbs tied round her waist under her skirt.

They climbed up through the forest until they reached a crest of higher ground and could look down into the valley beyond. The temple stood at the far end. It was built of yellow sandstone, a large, gracious building, surrounded by lawns and pools of water on which floated the leaves of a gigantic water-lily. There was the faint sound of revelry, and they saw a gathering of women on the bank of the largest pool. Some were sitting in a circle, singing and clapping, while others danced to the music.

'We did that every day at this time,' Sidudu whispered. 'They are waiting for the men to visit them.'

'Do you recognize any of them?' Fenn asked.

'I am not sure. We are too far away for me to tell.' Sidudu shaded her eyes. 'Wait! The girl on her own at this side of the pool - do you see her? That is my friend Jinga.'

Fenn studied a willowy girl who was walking along the bank of the pool. She was dressed in a short chiton. Her arms and long legs were bare, and there were yellow flowers in her hair. 'How reliable is she?'

Fenn asked.

'She is a little older than most of the others, the most sensible of them all. They look up to her.'

'We will go down to speak to her,' Fenn said, but Sidudu seized her arm.: 'Look!' she said, her voice shaking. Just below where they crouched on the ridge a file of shaggy black shapes emerged from the trees. They lolloped along on all fours, knuckling the ground with their hands.

'Trogs!'

The great apes were circling the periphery of the temple grounds, but keeping out of sight of the women on the lawns. Every few paces one sniffed at the ground with dilated nostrils, searching for the scent of strangers or runaways from the temple.

'Can you mask our scent?' Sidudu asked. 'The trogs have a keen sense of smell.'

'No,' Fenn admitted. 'We must let them pass before we go down to the girls.' The trogs were moving rapidly and disappeared back among the trees.

'Now!' said Fenn. 'Quickly!' She reached for Sidudu's hand. 'Remember, don't speak, and don't run or break contact with me. Move slowly and carefully.'

Fenn cast the spell over them, then led Sidudu down the slope.

Sidudu's friend, Jinga, was still alone, sitting under a willow tree, throwing crumbs of dhurra cake to a shoal of fish in the water below her. The pair knelt beside her and softly Fenn lifted the spell of concealment from Sidudu. She herself remained cloaked so that Jinga was not startled by a strange face. The girl was so preoccupied with the swirling fish that, for a while, she was not aware of Sidudu. Then she started and half rose to her feet.