Текст книги "The Quest"

Автор книги: Wilbur Smith

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The Quest

Wilbur Smith

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Two lonely figures came down from the high mountains. They were dressed in travel-worn furs and leather helmets with ear-flaps strapped beneath their chins against the cold. Their beards were untrimmed and their faces weatherbeaten. They carried all their meagre possessions upon their backs. It had taken a hard and daunting journey to reach this spot. Although he led, Meren had no inkling where they were, neither was he sure why they had come so far. Only the old man who followed close behind him knew that, and he had not yet chosen to enlighten Meren.

Since leaving Egypt they had crossed seas and lakes and many mighty rivers; they had traversed vast plains and forests. They had encountered strange and dangerous animals and even stranger and more dangerous men.

Then they had entered the mountains, a prodigious chaos of snowy peaks and gaping gorges, where the thin air was hard to breathe. Their horses had died in the cold and Meren had lost the tip of one finger, burned black and rotting by the crackling frosts. Fortunately it was not the finger of his sword hand, nor one of those that released the arrow from his great bow.

Meren stopped on the brink of the last sheer cliff. The old man came up beside him. His fur coat was made from the skin of a snow tiger that Meren had slain with a single arrow as it sprang upon him. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they looked down on a foreign land of rivers and dense green jungles.

'Five years,' Meren said. 'Five years we have been upon the road. Is this the end of the journey, Magus?'

'Ha, good Meren, surely it has not been that long?' Taita asked, and his eyes sparkled teasingly under frost-white brows.

In reply Meren unslung his sword scabbard from his back and displayed the lines of notches scratched in the leather. 'I have recorded every day, should you wish to count them,' he assured him. He had followed Taita and protected him for more than half his own lifetime, but he was still never entirely certain whether the other was serious or merely jesting with him. 'But you have not answered my question, revered Magus. Have we reached the end of our journey?'

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'Nay, we have not.' Taita shook his head. 'But take comfort, for at least we have made a good beginning.' Now he took the lead and set out along a narrow ledge that angled down across the face of the cliff.

Meren gazed after him for a few moments, then his bluff, handsome features creased into a grin of rueful resignation. 'Will the old devil never stop?' he asked the mountains, slung his scabbard on his back and followed him.

At the bottom of the cliff they came round a buttress of white quartz rock and a voice piped out of the sky, 'Welcome, travellers! I have waited a long time for your coming.'

They stopped in surprise and looked up at the ledge above them. On it sat a childlike figure, a boy who seemed no older than eleven years. It was odd that they had not noticed him before for he was in full view: the high bright sunlight picked him out and reflected off the shining quartz that surrounded him with a radiant nimbus, which pained the eyes.

'I have been sent to guide you to the temple of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and regeneration,' said the child, and his voice was mellifluous.

'You speak the Egyptian language!' Meren blurted in astonishment.

The boy turned the fatuous remark with a smile. He had the brown face of a mischievous monkey, but his smile was so winsome that Meren could not help but return it.

'My name is Ganga. I am the messenger. Come! There is still some way to go.' He stood, and his thick braid of black hair dangled over one bare shoulder. Even in the cold he wore only a loincloth. His smooth bare torso was a dark chestnut colour, yet he carried on his back a hump like that of a camel, grotesque and shocking. He saw their expressions and smiled again. 'You will grow accustomed to it, as I have,' he said. He jumped down from the shelf and reached up to take Taita's hand. 'This way.'

For the next two days Ganga led them through thick bamboo forest.

The track took many twists and turns and without him they would have lost it a hundred times. As they descended, the air grew warmer and they were able at last to shed their furs and go on bareheaded. Taita's locks were thin, straight and silvery. Meren's were dense, dark and curling.

On the second day they came to the end of the bamboo forests and followed the path into thick jungle with galleries that met overhead and blotted out the sunlight. The air was warm and heavy with the scent of damp earth and rotting plants. Birds of bright plumage flashed over their heads, small monkeys chattered and gibbered on the top branches and brilliantly coloured butterflies hovered over the flowering vines.

With dramatic suddenness the jungle ended and they came out into an open plain that extended about a league to the opposite wall of the jungle. In the centre of this clearing stood a mighty edifice. The towers, turrets and terraces were built from butter-yellow stone blocks, and the entire complex was surrounded by a high wall of the same stone. The decorative statues and panels that covered the exterior depicted a riot of naked men and voluptuous women.

'What those statues are playing at would startle the horses,' Meren said, in a censorious tone, although his eyes glittered.

'Methinks you would have made a fine model for the sculptors,' Taita suggested. Every conceivable conjunction of human bodies was carved into the yellow stone. 'Surely there is nothing shown on those walls that is new to you?'

'On the contrary, I could learn much,' Meren admitted. 'I had not even dreamed the half of it.'

'The Temple of Knowledge and Regeneration,' Ganga reminded them. 'Here, the act of procreation is regarded as both sacred and beautiful.'

'Meren has long held the same view,' Taita remarked drily.

Now the path beneath their feet was paved and they followed it to the gateway in the outer wall of the temple. The massive teak gates stood open.

'Go through!' Ganga urged. 'You are expected by the apsaras.'

'ApsarasV Meren asked.

'The temple maidens,' Ganga explained.

They went through the gateway, and then even Taita blinked with surprise, for they found themselves in a marvellous garden. The smooth green lawns were studded with clumps of flowering shrubs and fruit trees, many of which were already in full bearing, the plump fruits ripening lusciously. Even Taita, who was a learned herbalist and horticulturist, did not recognize some of the exotic species. The flower-beds were a splendour of dazzling colours. Near the gateway three young women were seated on the lawn. When they saw the travellers they sprang up and ran lightly to meet them. Laughing and dancing with excitement, they kissed and embraced both Taita and Meren. The first apsara was slim, golden haired and lovely. She, too, appeared girlish, for her creamy skin was unblemished. 'Hail and well met! I am Astrata,' she said.

The second apsara had dark hair and slanted eyes. Her skin was as translucent as beeswax and polished, like ivory carved by a master craftsman. She was magnificent in the full bloom of womanhood. 'I am

Wu Lu,' she said, stroking Meren's muscled arm admiringly, 'and you are beautiful.'

'I am Tansid,' said the third apsara, who was tall and statuesque. Her eyes were a startling turquoise green, her hair was flaming auburn, and her teeth were white and perfect. When she kissed Taita her breath was as perfumed as any of the flowers in the garden. 'You are welcome,' Tansid told him. 'We were waiting for you. Kashyap and Samana told us you were coming. They sent us to meet you. You bring us joy.'

With one arm round Wu Lu, Meren looked back at the gateway.

'Where has Ganga gone?' he asked.

'Ganga never was,' Taita told him. 'He is a forest sprite, and now that his task has been completed he has gone back into the other world.' Meren accepted this. Having lived so long with the Magus, he was no longer surprised by even the most bizarre and magical phenomena.

The apsaras took them into the temple. After the bright hot sunlight of the garden the high halls were cool and dim, the air scented by the incense-burners that stood before golden images of the goddess Saraswati.

Priests and priestesses in flowing saffron robes worshipped before them, while more apsaras flitted through the shadows like butterflies. Some came to kiss and hug the strangers. They stroked Meren's arms and chest, and fondled Taita's silver beard.

At last Wu Lu, Tansid and Astrata took the two by the hand and led them down a long gallery, into the living quarters of the temple. In the refectory the women served them bowls of stewed vegetables and cups of sweet red wine. They had been on meagre rations for so long that even Taita ate hungrily. When they were replete, Tansid took Taita to the chamber that had been set aside for him. She helped him undress and made him stand in a copper basin of warm water while she sponged his weary body. She was like a mother tending a child, so natural and gentle that Taita felt no embarrassment even when she ran the sponge over the ugly scar of his castration. After she had dried him, she led him to the sleeping mat and sat beside him, singing softly, until he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Wu Lu and Astrata led Meren to another chamber. As Tansid had done for Taita, they bathed him, then settled him to sleep on his mat.

Meren tried to keep them with him, but he was exhausted and his efforts half-hearted. They giggled and slipped away. Within moments he, too, had fallen asleep.

He slept until the light of day filtered into the chamber and woke, feeling rested and rejuvenated. His worn, soiled clothing had disappeared,

replaced with a fresh, loose-fitting tunic. No sooner had he dressed than he heard sweet feminine laughter and voices approaching down the gallery outside his door. The two girls burst in upon him, carrying porcelain dishes and jugs of fruit juice. While they ate with him the apsaras talked to Meren in Egyptian, but between themselves they spoke a medley of languages, all of which seemed natural to them. However, each favoured what was clearly her mother tongue. Astrata's was Ionian, which explained her fine gold hair, and Wu Lu spoke with the chiming, bell-like tones of far Cathay.

When the meal was finished they took Meren out into the sunlight to where a fountain played over the waters of a deep pool. Both dropped the light garments they wore and plunged naked into the pool. When she saw that Meren was hanging back, Astrata came out of the pool to fetch him, her hair and body streaming with water. She seized him, laughing, stripped him of his tunic and dragged him to the pool. Wu Lu came to help her, and once they had him in the pool, they frolicked and splashed. Soon Meren abandoned his modesty, and became as frank and unashamed as they were. Astrata washed his hair, and marvelled at the combat scars that scored his knotted muscles.

Meren was astonished by the perfection of the two apsaras' bodies as they rubbed themselves against him. All the time their hands were busy beneath the surface of the water. When, between them, they had aroused him, they shrieked with delight and pulled him from the pool to a small pavilion under the trees. Piles of carpets and silken cushions lay on the stone floor, and they stretched him out on them still wet from the pool.

'Now we will worship the goddess,' Wu Lu told him.

'How do we do that?' Meren demanded.

'Have no fear. We will show you,' Astrata assured him. She pressed rhe full silken length of her body to his back, kissing his ears and neck From behind, her belly warmly moulded to his buttocks. Her hands reached round to caress Wu Lu, who was kissing his mouth and encircling him with her arms and legs. The two girls were consummately skilled in I he arts of love. After a while it was as though the three had flowed together and been transformed into a single organism, a creature possessed of six arms, six legs and three mouths.

Like Meren, Taita woke early. Although he had been wearied by the long journey, a few hours of sleep had restored his body and spirits.

The dawn light filled his chamber as he sat up on the sleeping mat, and became aware that he was not alone.

Tansid knelt beside his mat and smiled at him. 'Good morrow, Magus.

I have food and drink for you. When you have fortified yourself, Kashyap and Samana are eager to meet.'

'Who are they?'

'Kashyap is our revered abbot, Samana our reverend mother. As you are, so are they both eminent magi.'

Samana was waiting for him in an arbour in the temple gardens. She was a handsome woman of indeterminate age, wearing a saffron robe.

There were wings of silver in the dense hair above her ears, and her eyes were infinitely wise. After she had embraced him, she bade Taita sit beside her on the marble bench. She asked him about the journey he had made to reach the temple, and they talked for a while before she said, 'We are so glad that you have arrived in time to meet the Abbot Kashyap. He will not be with us for much longer. It was he who sent for you.'

'I knew I had been summoned to this place, but I did not know by whom.' Taita nodded. 'Why did he bring me here?'

'He will tell you himself,' Samana said. 'We will go to him now.' She stood and took his hand. They left Tansid, and Samana led him through many passages and cloisters, then up a spiral staircase that seemed endless.

At last they came out in a small circular room at the top of the highest temple minaret. It was open all round with a view over the green jungles to the far parapets of snow-topped mountain ranges in the north. In the middle of the floor a soft mattress was piled with cushions, on which sat a man.

'Place yourself in front of him,' Samana whispered. 'He is almost completely deaf, and must be able to see your lips when you speak.' Taita did as she had said, then Kashyap and he regarded each other in silence for a while.

Kashyap was ancient. His eyes were pale and faded, his gums toothless.

His skin was as dry and foxed as old parchment, his hair, beard and eyebrows were as pale and transparent as glass. His hands and head shook with uncontrollable tremors.

'Why have you sent for me, Magus?' Taita asked.

'Because you are of good mind.' Kashyap's voice was a whisper.

'How do you know of me?' Taita asked.

'With your esoteric power and presence, you leave a disturbance on the ether that is discernible from afar,' Kashyap explained.

'What do you want of me?'

'Nothing and everything, perhaps even your life.'

'Explain.'

'Alas! I have left it too late. The dark tiger of death is stalking me. I will be gone before the setting of the sun.'

'Is the task you have set me of moment?'

'Of the direst moment.'

'What must I do?' Taita asked.

'I had purposed to arm you for the struggle that lies ahead of you, but now I have learned from the apsaras that you are a eunuch. This I did not know before you came here. I cannot pass on my knowledge to you in the manner I had in mind.'

'What manner was that?' Taita asked.

'By carnal exchange.'

'Again I do not understand.'

'It would have involved sexual congress between us. Because of your injuries, that is not possible.' Taita was silent. Kashyap reached out to lay a withered, clawlike hand upon his arm. His voice was gentle when he said, 'I see by your aura that in speaking of your injuries I have offended you. For this I am sorry, but I have little time left and I must be blunt.'

Taita remained silent, so Kashyap went on: 'I have resolved to make the exchange with Samana. She is also of good mind. Once I am gone she will impart to you that which she has garnered from me. I am sorry I have upset you.'

'The truth may be painful, but you have not been. I will do whatever you need of me.'

'Then stay with us while I pass everything I possess, the learning and wisdom of all my long life, to Samana. Later she will share it with you, and you will be armed for the sacred endeavour that is your destiny.'

Taita bowed his head in acquiescence.

Samana clapped her hands sharply and two strange apsaras came up the stairs, both young and lovely, one brunette, the other honey blonde.

They followed Samana to the small brazier against the far wall and assisted her in brewing a bowl of sharply scented herbs over the coals.

When the potion was prepared, they brought it to Kashyap. While one

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steadied his shaking head, the other held the bowl to his lips. He drank the potion noisily, a little dribbling down his chin, then sagged back wearily upon the mattress.

The two apsaras undressed him tenderly and respectfully, then poured aromatic balm from an alabaster bottle over his groin. They massaged his withered manroot gently but persistently. Kashyap groaned, muttered and rolled his head from side to side, but in the skilful hands of the apsaras, and under the influence of the drug, his sex swelled and engorged.

When it was fully tumescent Samana came to his mattress. She lifted the skirt of her saffron robe as high as her waist, to reveal finely sculpted legs and buttocks that were round and strong. She straddled Kashyap, then reached down to take his manroot in her hand and guide it into herself. Once they were joined in congress she let the saffron skirts drop to screen them and began to rock gently over him, whispering softly to him: 'Master, 1 am prepared to receive all you have to give me.'

'Willingly do 1 entrust it to you.' Kashyap's voice was thin and reedy.

'Use it wisely and well.' Again he rolled his head from side to side, his ancient features puckered in a dreadful rictus. Then he stiffened and groaned, his body locked in a convulsion. Neither moved again for almost an hour. Then the breath rattled out of Kashyap's throat and he collapsed on to the mattress.

Samana stifled a scream. 'He is dead,' she said, with the greatest sorrow and compassion. Gently she uncoupled from Kashyap's corpse. Kneeling beside him, she closed the lids over his pale staring eyes. Then she looked across at Taita.

'At sunset this evening we will cremate his husk. Kashyap was my patron and guide throughout my life. He was more than any father to me. Now his essence lives on within me. It has become one with my spirit soul. Forgive me, Magus, but it may be some time before I am recovered sufficiently from this harrowing experience to be of any use to you. Then I will come to you.'

That evening Taita stood, with Tansid at his side, on the small darkened balcony outside his chamber and watched the funeral pyre of the Abbot Kashyap burning in the garden of the temple below. He felt a deep sense of loss that he had not come to know the man sooner. Even during their brief acquaintance he had been aware of the affinity that had existed between them.

A soft voice spoke in the darkness, startling him out of his reverie. He turned and saw that Samana had come up to them quietly.

'Kashyap was also aware of the bond between you.' She stood at Taita's other hand. 'You, too, are a servant of the Truth. That is why he summoned you so urgently. He would have come to you if his body had been able to carry him that far. During the carnal exchange you witnessed, the last great sacrifice he made to the Truth, Kashyap passed a message to me to deliver to you. Before I do so he required me to test your faith. Tell me, Taita of Gallala, what is your creed?'

Taita thought for a while, and then he replied: 'I believe that the universe is the battleground of two mighty hosts. The first of these is the host of the gods of the Truth. The second is the host of the demons of the Lie.'

'What role can we feeble mortals play in this cataclysmic struggle?'

Samana asked.

'We can devote ourselves to the Truth, or allow ourselves to be swallowed by the Lie.'

'If we choose the right-hand path of the Truth, how may we resist the dark power of the Lie?'

'By climbing the Eternal Mountain until we can see clearly the face of the Truth. Once we have achieved that we will be assimilated into the ranks of the Benevolent Immortals, who are the warriors for the Truth.'

'Is this the destiny of all men?'

'Nay! Only very few, the most worthy, will achieve that rank.'

'At the end of time will the Truth triumph over the Lie?'

'Nay! The Lie will persist, but so will the Truth. The battle rages back and forth but it is eternal.'

'Is the Truth not God?'

'Call him Ra or Ahura Maasda, Vishnu or Zeus, Woden or whatever name rings holiest in your ears, God is God, the one and alone.' Taita had made his confession of faith.

'I see from your aura that there is no vestige of the Lie in what you

affirm,' Samana said quietly, and she knelt before him. 'The spirit soul of Kashyap within me is satisfied that you are indeed of the Truth. There is no check and impediment to our enterprise. Now we may proceed.'

'Explain to me what is our “enterprise”, Samana.'

'In these dire times, the Lie is once more in the ascendancy. A new and menacing force has arisen that threatens all of mankind, but especially your very Egypt. The reason you have been summoned here is to be armed for your struggle against this terrible thing. I will open your Inner Eye so that you may see clearly the path you must follow.'

Samana stood up and embraced him. Then she went on, 'There is little time to spare. We will begin on the morrow. But before that I must select a helper.'

'Who is there to choose from?' Taita asked.

'Your apsara, Tansid, has assisted me before. She knows what is required.'

'Then choose her,' Taita agreed. Samana nodded and held out a hand to Tansid. The two women embraced, then looked again to Taita.

'You must choose your own helper,' Samana said.

'Tell me what is required of him.'

'He must have the strength to stand firm, and compassion for you.

You must have trust in him.'

Taita did not hesitate. 'Meren!'

'Of course,' Samana acceded.

A dawn the four ascended the foothills of the mountains, taking the path through the jungle and climbing until they reached the bamboo forest. Samana examined many of the swaying yellow bamboos before she selected a mature branch, then had Meren cut out a supple segment. He carried it back to the temple.

From the branch Samana and Tansid carefully fashioned a selection of long bamboo needles. They polished them until they were not much thicker than a human hair, but sharper and more resilient than the finest bronze.

An air of tension and expectation pervaded the serenity of the temple community. The laughter and high spirits of the apsaras were muted.

Whenever Tansid looked at Taita it was with awe tinged with something close to pity. Samana spent most of the waiting days with him, fortifying

him for the ordeal that lay ahead. They discussed many things, and Samana spoke with the voice and the wisdom of Kashyap.

At one point Taita broached a subject that had long occupied him: 'I perceive that you are a Long Liver, Samana.'

'As are you, Taita.'

'How is it that so few of us survive to an age far in excess of the rest of humanity?' he asked. 'It is beyond nature.'

'For myself, and others such as the Abbot Kashyap, it may be the manner of our existence, what we eat and drink, what we think and believe. Or perhaps that we have a purpose, a reason to continue, a spur to goad us on.'

'What of me? Although I feel I am a stripling, compared to you and the abbot, I have far surpassed the lifespah of most other men,' Taita said.

Samana smiled. 'You are of good mind. Until this time the power of your intellect has been able to triumph over the frailty of your body, but in the end we must all die, as Kashyap has.'

'You have answered my first question, but I have another. Who has chosen me?' Taita asked, but he knew that the question was doomed to remain unanswered.

m, Samana flashed a sweet, enigmatic smile and leant forward to place a nger on his lips. 'You have been selected,' she whispered. 'Let that suffice.' He knew that he had pushed her to the limit of her knowledge: that was as far as she could go.

They sat together and meditated, for the rest of that day and half of the night that followed, on all that had passed so far between them.

Then she took him to her bed-chamber and they slept entwined, like a mother and child, until dawn filled the chamber with light. They rose imd bathed together, then Samana took him to an ancient stone building in a hidden corner of the gardens that Taita had not visited before.

Fansid was already there. She was busy at a marble table that stood in the centre of the large central room. When they entered she looked up at them. 'I was preparing the last of the needles,' she explained, 'but I will leave if you wish to be alone.'

'Stay, beloved Tansid,' Samana told her. 'Your presence will not disturb us.' She took Taita's hand and led him about the room. 'This building was designed by the first abbots in the beginning time. They needed good light in which to operate.' She pointed to the large open windows set high in the walls above them. 'On this marble table more than fifty generations of abbots have performed the opening of the Inner

Eye. Each one was a savant, the term by which we describe the initiates, those who are able to see the aura of other humans and animals.'

She pointed out to him the writing carved into the walls. 'Those are the records of all who have gone before us throughout the centuries and the millennium. Between ourselves there must stand no reservation. I will give you no false assurances – you would see through any attempt I made to deceive you before I could speak the first word. So I tell you truly that, under the tutelage of Kashyap, I attempted to open the Inner Eye four times before I was successful.'

She pointed to the most recent set of inscriptions. 'Here you can see my attempts recorded. Perhaps at first I lacked skill and dexterity.

Perhaps my patients were not far enough along the right-hand path. In one instance the result was disastrous. I warn you, Taita, the risks are great.' Samana was silent for a while, ruminating. Then she went on, 'There were others before me who failed. See here!' She led him to a set of time-worn, lichen-coated inscriptions at the furthest end of the wall.

'These are so old that they are extremely difficult to decipher, but I can tell you what they record. Almost two thousand years ago a woman came to this temple. She was a survivor of an ancient people who once lived in a great city named Ilion beside the Aegean Sea. She had been the High Priestess of Apollo. She was a Long Liver, as you are. Over the centuries, since the sack and destruction of her city, she had wandered the earth, garnering wisdom and learning. The abbot at that time was named Kurma. The strange woman convinced him that she was a paragon of the Truth. In that way she induced him to open her Inner Eye. It was a success that astonished and elated him. It was only long after she had left the temple that Kurma was overtaken by doubts and misgivings. A series of terrible events occurred that made him realize she might have been an impostor, a thief, an adept of the left-hand path, a minion of the Lie. At length he discovered that she had used witchcraft to kill the one who had been originally chosen. She had assumed the murdered woman's identity and been able to cloak her true nature sufficiently to dupe him.'

'What became of this creature?'

'Generation after generation of the abbots of the goddess Saraswati have tried to trace her. But she has cloaked herself and disappeared.

Perhaps by this time she is dead. That is the best we can hope for.'

'What was her name?' Taita asked.

'Here! It is inscribed.' Samana touched the writing with her fingertips, 'She called herself Eos, after the sister of the sun god. I know now that it

was not her true name. But her spirit sign was the mark of a cat's paw.

Here it is.'

'How many others failed?' Taita sought to divert himself from his dark forebodings.

'There were many.'

'Tell me about some from your own experience.'

Samana thought for a moment, then said, 'One in particular I remember, from when I was still a novice. His name was Wotad, a priest of the god Woden. His skin was covered with sacred blue tattoos. He was brought to this temple from the northlands across the Cold Sea. He was a man of mighty physique, but he died under the bamboo needle.

Even his great strength was insufficient to survive the power that was unleashed within him by the opening. His brain burst asunder, and blood spurted from his nose and ears.' Samana sighed. 'It was a terrible death, but swift. Perhaps Wotad was luckier than some of those who preceded him. The Inner Eye can turn itself back on its owner, like a venomous serpent held by the tail. Some of the horrors it reveals are too vivid and terrible to survive.'

For the remainder of that day they were silent while Tansid busied herself at the stone table, polishing the last of the bamboo needles and arranging the surgical instruments.

At last Samana looked up at Taita and spoke softly: 'Now you know the risks that you will run. You do not have to make the attempt. The choice is yours alone.'

Taita shook his head. 'I have no choice. I know now that the choice was made for me on the day of my birth.'

That night Tansid and Meren slept in Taita's chamber. Before she blew out the lamp Tansid brought Taita a small porcelain bowl filled with a warm infusion of herbs. As soon as he had drunk it he stretched out on his mat and fell into a deep sleep. Meren rose twice in the night to listen to his breathing and to cover him when the cold air of the dawn seeped into the chamber.

When Taita awoke he found the three, Samana, Tansid and Meren, kneeling round his sleeping mat.

'Magus, are you ready?' Samana asked inscrutably.

Taita nodded, but Meren blurted out, 'Do not do this thing, Magus. ) not let them do it to you. It is evil.'

Taita took his muscular forearm and shook it sternly. 'I have chosen you for this task. I need you. Do not fail me, Meren. If I must do this alone who can say what the consequences might be? Together we can win through, as we have so often before.' Meren took a series of ragged deep breaths. 'Are you ready, Meren? Are you at my side as ever you were?'