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

'You do not wish to take her with you to the Font?'

'There is no reason why I should.' Eos was silent, but he could feel the softest touch on his temples, like that of teasing fairy fingers. He knew that Eos was unconvinced by what he had said and was trying to enter his head, trying to reach into his mind and steal his thoughts. With a psychic effort he blocked her entrance, and immediately she withdrew.

'You are tired, Taita. You must sleep awhile.'

'I am not tired in the least,' he replied, and it was true: he felt vital and fresh.

'We have so much to discuss that we are like runners at the start of a long race. We must pace ourselves. After all, we are destined to become companions for all eternity. There is no need to hasten. Time is our plaything, not our adversary.' Eos rose from her couch and, without another word, slipped through a doorway in the back wall that he had not noticed before.

A lthough he had felt no fatigue, when he stretched out on the ¦k padded silken sleeping mat in his chamber Taita fell into deep JL ~ sleep. He woke to find a shaft of sunlight playing down through the opening in the ceiling. He felt wonderfully alive.

His soiled clothing had disappeared and a fresh tunic had been laid out for him with a new pair of sandals beside his leather cloak. A meal had been placed on the ivory table near his head. He bathed, ate and dressed. The tunic Eos had provided was of a delicate material that caressed his skin, while the sandals were worked from the skin of a newborn goat and embossed with gold leaf. They fitted perfectly.

He returned to Eos's green room to find it deserted. Only her perfume

lingered. He crossed to the doorway through which she had gone the previous night. The long passage beyond led him out into the sunlight.

Once his eyes had adjusted he found that he was in another volcanic crater, not as large as the Cloud Gardens but more lovely by far. Yet he had no eyes for the luxuriant forests and orchards that covered the floor of the crater in profusion: directly in front of him spread a green lawn with a small marble pavilion above a pool in the middle, a rill of bright water cascading into it. Although the stream was clear, the surface of the pool was black and shiny as polished jet.

Eos sat on the marble bench in the pavilion. Her head was bare, but she faced away from him so that only her hair was visible. He moved quietly towards her, hoping to come on her unawares and catch a glimpse of her face. Her hair rippled down to her waist. It was as dark as the water of the pool, but ineffably more lustrous. As he drew closer to her he saw that the soft reflections of the sunlight glowed in the tresses like the glint of precious rubies. He longed to touch it, but as he reached out, Eos lifted the veil over her head, covering herself, denying him even the briefest glimpse of her face. Then she turned to him. 'Take your place beside me, for that is where you belong.'

They sat in silence for a while. Taita was angry and frustrated: he longed to see her face. She seemed to sense his mood and laid her hand on his arm. Her touch thrilled him, but he steeled himself and asked, 'We have spoken much of physical appearance, Eos. Do you suffer from some blemish? Is that why you hide yourself behind the veil? Are you ashamed of the way you look?'

He had tried to provoke her as she had him. But her voice was sweet and calm as she replied: 'I am the most beautiful person, man or woman, who has ever walked the earth.'

'Then why do you hide that beauty?'

'Because it can blind the eyes and unhinge the minds of men who look upon it.'

'Must I take your boast on trust?'

'It is no boast, Taita. It is the truth.'

'Will you never reveal this beauty to me?'

'You will look upon my beauty when you are ready to do so, when you realize the consequences and are prepared to accept them.' Her hand still lay upon his arm. 'Do you not see how my lightest touch disturbs you?

I can feel the beating of your heart through the tips of my fingers.' She withdrew her hand, leaving his senses in turmoil. It took him a while to

bring them under control. 'Let us speak of other matters. There are many questions you have for me, and I have given you my undertaking to answer them truthfully,' she said.'

Taita's voice sounded a little breathless as he took up her invitation.

'You have placed barriers across the headwaters of the Nile. What was your purpose in doing so?'

'My reasons were twofold. First, it was an invitation to you to come to me. You were unable to resist it, and now you sit beside me.'

He thought on it deeply, then asked, 'What was the other reason?'

'I was preparing a gift for you.'

'A gift?' he exclaimed.

'A betrothal gift. Once we are joined in spirit and flesh, I will give to you the Two Kingdoms of Egypt.'

'Only after you have destroyed them? What perverse and savage gift is this?'

'When you wear the double crown and we sit side by side on the throne of Egypt, 1 will restore the Nile and its waters to our kingdom . .. the first of our many kingdoms.'

'In the meantime it is only the termites of humanity who suffer?' Taita asked.

'Already you begin to think and act like the lord of all creation, whom you will soon become. I showed it to you in the images beside the grotto in the Cloud Gardens. Dominion over all the nations, eternal life, youth and beauty, and the wisdom and learning of the ages, which is the diamond mountain.'

'The greatest prize of all,' Taita said. 'I call it the Truth.'

'It shall be yours.'

'I still doubt that you offer me this without demanding some commensurate price from me.'

'Oh, I have already spoken of that. In return for what I offer, I demand your eternal love and devotion.'

'You have existed so long without a companion, why do you wish one now?'

'I have been overtaken by the tedium of eternity, a staleness of spirit and the aching boredom of lacking someone with whom to share these wonders.'

'That is all the price you ask of me? I have had a glimpse of your mighty intellect. If your beauty matches your mind, it is a trivial price to pay.' Her lies were disguised by truths. He pretended to believe them.

They were like the commanders of two armies arrayed against each other.

This was the skirmishing and maneuvering that preceded the battle. He was afraid, not so much for himself as for Egypt and Fenn, the two things dearest to him, both in deadly danger.

They spent the days that followed beside the black pool and most of the nights in Eos's green chamber. Gradually she exposed more of her physical form to him while keeping her spirit soul concealed. Her discourse grew daily more absorbing. Occasionally she would lean forward to pick up a morsel of fruit from the silver tray and artlessly let her sleeve fall back to reveal her forearm. Or she would shift position on her ivory couch and let the skirt of her black robe expose a knee. The shape of her calf was sublime. He should have become conditioned to the perfection of her limbs, but he had not. He dreaded the moment when her entire body would be revealed. He doubted his ability to resist its enchantment.

The days and nights sped by with startling rapidity. The carnal and astral tensions built up between them until they were almost unbearable.

She touched him, taking his hand when she wanted to emphasize a point. Once she clasped it to her bosom and he had to exert all of his self-control not to groan at the pain in his groin as he felt the warm elasticity of her breast.

Her perfume never changed: it was always the scent of sun lilies.

However, she changed her raiment morning and evening. Always it was long and voluminous, barely hinting at the swells and curves of her body beneath the delicate fabrics. Sometimes she was serene, at other times restless: then she circled his couch with the graceful menace of a man eating tigress. Once she knelt in front of him and brazenly slipped her hand up his thigh under his tunic while continuing her erudite discourse, her fingers stopping just short of his manhood and withdrawing as she felt it swell. At other times she reverted to the black robes and kept herself completely hidden, not allowing even her toes to show.