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

A they descended the last slopes of the mountain they saw a larger group of horsemen coming towards them. When the two parties .were separated by less than a few hundred paces one of the strange riders spurred forward at a canter. As he drew closer, Meren exclaimed, 'It is Onka.'

'Your new eye serves you as well as the old one,' Taita remarked, and he looked upon the approaching horseman with the Inner Eye. Onka's aura was aflame, seething like the cauldron of an active volcano.

'The captain is angry,' said Taita.

'I have given him good reason,' admitted That. 'You and I will be unable to speak to each other in private again. However, if you need to send a message to me, you can do so through Bilto, the magistrate of Mutangi. He is one of us. But now we have the company of Captain Onka.'

Onka reined in just ahead of them, forcing them to a halt. 'Colonel That, I am grateful to you for taking over my duties.' He did not salute his superior, and his sarcasm came close to insubordination.

'I see you are fully recovered from your indisposition,' That replied.

'The Supreme Council are less grateful to you than I am. You exceeded your orders in taking over the escort of the magus.'

'I shall be happy to answer to Lord Aquer.'

'You may be required to do so. In the meantime he has ordered you to place the Magus, Taita of Gallala, in my charge. You are also to hand Dr Hannah's report to me. I shall take it to him. You are then further ordered to guide these other travellers to the Cloud Gardens without delay.' He indicated the group following him. 'Once you have delivered them to Dr Hannah you are to return at once.' That took the papyrus scroll of Hannah's report from his pouch and gave it to Onka. They saluted each other stiffly. That nodded a chilly farewell to Taita and Meren, then rode off down the path to take his place at the head of the second column and retrace his tracks up the mountain.

At last Onka turned to Taita. 'Greetings, revered Magus. Hail, Colonel Cambyses. I see that the operation on your eye was successful. My felicitations.

I have been ordered to take you to your quarters at Mutangi. You are to wait there until sent for by the Supreme Council. Their summons

should not be more than a few days in coming.' Onka's aura was still blazing with anger. He kicked his horse into trot and they rode on down the mountain.) Neither That nor Onka acknowledged each other as the two parties passed, one ascending, the other descending the mountain. Taita, too, ignored Colonel That but looked instead at the members of the party he was leading up to the Cloud Gardens. There were six troopers in full uniform, three in the van and the other three in the rear. Between them rode five young women, all comely and all with child. They smiled at Meren and Taita as they passed, but none spoke.

They were still half a league from Mutangi when a small figure on a large grey colt burst out of the woods and tore across the green fields towards them, her long blonde hair streaming out behind her like a banner in the wind.

'Here comes trouble, and as usual she is in good voice,' laughed Meren.

Even at this distance they could hear Fenn squealing with excitement.

'That is a sight to warm the heart,' Taita said, his gaze fond and tender.

Fenn reined in beside him and launched herself across the gap. 'Catch me!' she cried breathlessly.

Taita was almost taken unawares by the onslaught, but he recovered his balance and she locked both arms round his neck, pressing her cheek to his.

'You are getting too big for those tricks. You could have injured us both,' Taita protested, but held her as tightly as she was hugging him.

'I thought you would never come back. I have been so bored.'

'You have had all the village children for company,' Taita pointed out mildly.

'They are children and therefore childish.' Still clinging to Taita, she looked across at Meren. 'I missed you too, good Meren. You will be amazed at how Hilto has taught me to shoot. We shall have an archery contest, you and I, for an enormous prize—' She broke off and stared at him with astonishment. 'Your eye!' she cried. 'They have mended your eye! You look so handsome again.'

'And you are bigger and even more beautiful than you were when last I saw you,' Meren replied.

'Oh, silly Meren!' She laughed, and once more Taita felt the twinge of jealousy.

When they reached the village, Hilto, Nakonto and Imbali were just as happy to welcome them back. As a home-coming gift Bilto had sent

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five large jugs of excellent wine and a fat sheep. Hilto and Nakonto slaughtered it, while Imbali and Fenn prepared dhurra and vegetables.

Later, they feasted round the fire for half the night, celebrating their reunion. It was all so homely and familiar after the weird otherworld of the Cloud Gardens that, for the moment, the menace of Eos seemed remote and insubstantial.

At last they left the fire and retired to their sleeping chambers. Taita and Fenn were alone for the first time since he and Meren had left her.

'Oh, Taita, I was so worried. I expected you to cast for me and I could hardly sleep for fear that I might miss you if you did.'

'I am sorry I caused you distress, little one. I have been to a strange place where strange things happen. You know the good reasons why I was silent.'

'Good reasons are just as hard to bear as bad ones,' she said, with precocious feminine logic. He chuckled and watched as she pulled off her tunic and washed herself, then rinsed her mouth with water from the large earthenware jug. She was maturing with such extraordinary rapidity that he felt another pang.

Fenn stood up, dried herself on the tunic, then threw it over the lintel to air. She came to lie beside him on the mat, slipped an arm around his chest and snuggled close. 'It's so cold and lonely when you are gone,' she murmured.

This time I may not be forced to give her up to another, he thought.

Perhaps there is a chance that Hannah can transform me into a full man. Perhaps one day Fenn and I may become man and woman who know and love each other, not only in spirit but also in body.' He imagined her in her magnificent womanhood and himself as youthful and virile, as he had appeared in the image that the imp had shown him in the pool. If the gods are kind and we both attain that happy state, what a wondrous couple we would make. He stroked her hair and said aloud, 'Now I must tell you all that I have discovered. Are you listening or are you half asleep already?'

She sat up and looked at him sternly. 'Of course I am listening. How cruel you are! I always listen when you talk.'

'Well, lie down again and keep listening.' He paused. When he went on, his tone was no longer light. 'I have found the witch's lair.'

'Tell me about it - all of it. Keep nothing from me.'

So he told her about the Cloud Gardens and the magical grotto. He described the sanatorium and the work Hannah was doing there. He told her the details of the operation on Meren's eye. Then he hesitated, but

at last he summoned the courage to tell her of the operation Hannah planned for him.

Fenn was quiet for such a long time that he thought she had fallen asleep, but then she sat up again and stared at him solemnly. 'You mean she will give you a dangling thing, like the one Imbali told me about, the thing that can change shape and size?'

'Yes.' He could not help but smile at the description, and for a moment she looked bemused. Then she smiled like an angel, but the outer corners of her green eyes slanted upwards wickedly. 'I would love us to have one of those. It sounds like such rich sport, much better than a puppy.'

Taita laughed at the way she had claimed joint ownership, but his guilt was as keen as a razor's edge. The imp of the grotto had put the devils into his mind, but Taita found himself imagining things that were best kept locked away and never spoken of. In the time Fenn had been with him she had developed much faster than a normal child would. But she was not a normal child: she was the reincarnation of a great queen, not governed by the natural order of this world. As swiftly as her body was altering, their relationship was also changing. His love for her was strengthening by the day, but it was no longer solely the love of a father for a daughter. When she looked at him in that new way, her green eyes slanted like those of a Persian cat, she was no longer a girl: the woman lay just below the innocent surface, a butterfly in its chrysalis. The first cracks were appearing in the shell and soon it would burst open for the butterfly to fly free. For the first time since they had been together, the witch in her Cloud Gardens was out of both their minds, and they were occupied with each other to the exclusion of all else.