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

Sidudu restrained her with a hand on her arm. 'Jinga, don't be afraid.'

The girl stared at her, then smiled. 'I didn't see you, Sidudu. Where have you been? I missed you so much. You have grown even more beautiful.'

'You also, Jinga.' Sidudu kissed her. 'But we have little time to talk.

There is so much I must tell you.' She studied the girl's face and, with dismay, saw that the pupils of her eyes were dilated from a potion she had been given. 'You must listen carefully to what I say.' Sidudu spoke slowly as though to a very young child.

Jinga's eyes focused more clearly as she began to understand the enormity of what Sidudu was telling her. At last she whispered, 'They are murdering our sisters? It cannot be true.'

'It is, Jinga, you must believe me. But there is something we can do to prevent it.' Quickly she explained about the herbs, how to prepare and

administer them. 'They only take the girls who are with child up the mountain. The medicine brought down my infant. You must give it to anyone who is in danger.' Sidudu lifted her skirt and untied the bags of herbs from round her waist. 'Hide these well. Don't let the priestesses find them. As soon as Dr Hannah chooses a girl to go up the mountain to be exalted by the goddess, you must give her a potion. This is all that can save them.'

'I have already been chosen,' Jinga whispered. 'The doctor came four days ago and told me I was soon to meet the goddess.'

'Oh, my poor Jinga! Then you must take it this very night, as soon as you are alone,' Sidudu told her. She embraced her friend again. 'I cannot stay with you longer, but soon I will return with a band of good men to rescue you. We will take you and the others away to a new land where we will be safe. Warn them to be ready to leave.' She released Jinga.

'Hide the herbs well. They will save your life. Now go, and don't look back.'

As soon as Jinga had turned her back Fenn spread the cloak of concealment over Sidudu. Jinga had gone no more than twenty paces before she glanced over her shoulder. Her face paled as she saw that Sidudu had vanished. With a visible effort she braced herself and walked away across the lawns towards the temple.

Fenn and Sidudu started back through the forest. Half-way up the hill Fenn stepped off the path and stood perfectly still. She dared not speak, but squeezed Sidudu's hand firmly to caution her to keep the spell intact.

Barely breathing the two girls watched a pair of huge black trogs shamble down the path towards them. The apes were swinging their heads from side to side as they searched the bushes that flanked the track, their eyes moving quickly beneath beetling brows. The male was the larger of the pair, but the female following him seemed more alert and aggressive.

They drew level with the girls and, for a moment, it seemed they would pass by. Then the female stopped abruptly, lifted her snout, flaring the wide nostrils and snuffling noisily at the air. The male followed her example and both of them began to grunt softly but eagerly. The male gaped to display a vicious set of fangs, then gnashed them shut. They were so close that Fenn smelt the stench of his breath. She felt Sidudu's hand tremble in hers and squeezed her fingers again to encourage her.

Both trogs hopped forward cautiously towards where they stood, still testing the air. The female lowered her head and sniffed the ground over which the girls had passed. She shuffled towards them slowly, following their scent. Sidudu was shaking with terror and Fenn could sense the

panic rising in her to the point when it must boil over. She drew deeply upon her training and sent out waves of psychic strength to steady her, but by now the ape's questing snout was only inches from the toe of Sidudu's sandal. Sidudu urinated with terror. Her water ran down her legs and the trog grunted again as she smelt it. The ape gathered herself to spring forward, but at that moment a small antelope rustled the bushes as it fled, and the male trog let out a ferocious bellow and bounded away in pursuit. Immediately the female went after him, passing so close to Sidudu that she almost brushed against her. As the apes crashed away through the undergrowth, Sidudu sagged against Fenn and might have fallen to the ground if Fenn had not grabbed her. Holding her close, Fenn led her slowly up to the crest of the hill, taking care not to break the spell of concealment until they were out of sight of the temple. Then they ran to where Meren and Nakonto were waiting with the horses.

They never slept two nights in the same bivouac. Between them That and Sidudu knew all the back ways and hidden tracks through the forest, so they moved swiftly and secretly, avoiding well-travelled paths, covering much ground between one camp and the next.

They went from village to village, meeting local magistrates and headmen who were sympathizers. All were incomers, and most of the villagers were loyal to them. They provided food and safe houses for the fugitives. They kept watch for Jarrian patrols and warned of their approach.

In each village Meren and That held a war council.

'We are going back to our very Egypt!' they would tell the magistrates and headmen. 'Have your people ready to march on the night of the harvest moon.'

That would look round the circle of faces that glowed with elation and excitement in the firelight. He pointed to the chart he had unrolled and spread before him. 'This will be the route you must follow. Arm your menfolk with what weapons you have to hand. Your womenfolk must gather food, warm clothing and blankets for their families, but bring nothing that you cannot carry. It will be a long, hard march. Your first assembly point will be here.' He indicated the place on the chart. 'Move swiftly to it. There will be scouts waiting for you. They will have more weapons for your men, and they will guide you to the Kitangule Gap.

That will be the main mustering ground for all our people. Be discreet and circumspect. Tell only those you can trust of our plans. You know from bitter experience that the spies of the oligarchs are everywhere. Do not move before the appointed time, unless you receive direct orders from either Colonel Cambyses or me.' Before sunrise they rode on. The commanders of the outlying garrisons and military forts were almost solidly Tinat's men. They listened to his orders, made few suggestions and asked fewer questions. 'Send us the order to march. We will be ready,' they told him.

The three main mines were in the south-eastern foothills of the mountains. In the largest, thousands of slaves and prisoners toiled on the stopes, digging out the rich silver ore. The commander of the guards was one of Tinat's men. He was able to spirit That and Meren, dressed as labourers, into the slave barracoons and prison compounds. The inmates had organized themselves into secret cells and elected their leaders. That knew most of the leaders well: before their arrest and incarceration they had been his friends and comrades. They listened to his orders with joy.

'Wait for the harvest moon,' he told them. 'The guards are with us.

At the appointed time they will open the gates and set you free.'

The other mines were smaller. One produced copper and zinc, the alloy needed to turn copper into bronze. The smallest of all was the richest.

Here the slaves worked a thick seam of gold-bearing quartz, so rich that lumps of pure gold gleamed in the light of the miners' lamps.

'We have fifteen wagonloads of pure gold stored in the smelter,' the chief engineer told That.

'Leave it!' Meren ordered brusquely.

That nodded. 'Yes! Leave the gold.'

'But it is a vast treasure!' the engineer protested.

'Freedom is an even greater treasure,' Meren said. 'Leave the gold.

It will slow us down, and we can find better use for the wagons. They will carry the women, children and any men who are too frail or sick to walk.'