'No, sir,' the bald soldier said. 'We saw no officers at all, nor any soldiers we didn't know. The only strangers were traders, men with caravans.'
'Did you happen to see…' Bak described Seneb's caravan in detail, the men and children and animals.
'Sure we did.' The older man spat on the ground to show his contempt. 'It was all we could do to make ourselves- stay at our post. But since our sergeant would've served up our heads to Troop Captain Nebwa if we so much as set one foot off that hill, we had to content ourselves with a signal to Kor. Hope it did some good.'
'You did well.' Bak smiled. 'I was summoned from Buhen, and now the trader Seneb is locked away, awaiting his turn to stand before Commandant Thuty.' His smile faded. 'Now tell me, did he or anyone else in his party ever leave the caravan?'
'I don't know what they did farther upstream, but from the time we first laid eyes on them until they walked into Kor, not a man among them set foot off the trail.'
South of Kor, they found the river obstructed by islands, some large enopugh for habitation, others mere boulders, black granite glistening wet from the frothy waters roiling around them. On one of the bigger chunks of land, men as industrious and plentiful as ants climbed among new mudbrick walls rising above the rocks and trees and brush. A fortress was taking shape, replacing a mudbrick fort built in the distant past and long ago fallen to ruin.
They plodded on, deeper into the Belly of Stones. There they found the river wild and angry, as different as night from day to the smooth, sedate flow that passed Buhen. Clusters of rocky islets, many bleak and bare, some green with vegetation, formed a labyrinth of narrow, swift channels and tumbling rapids. Where the channel was clear, the reddish brown water flowed smooth and strong, but across much of the width of the great river, it leaped over boulders and tumbled down falls and whirled in circles around unseen obstacles, whipped into a colorless froth. At times, it collected in quiet pools or rippled through narrow passages or cascaded down steps of glittering black stone. All the while, it whispered and murmured and sang like a living creature, a siren.
Bak was awed by its raw power and its beauty and at the same time he was appalled. A fleeting vision of himself in a skiff, riding these tumultuous waters, sent a chill down his back. He dismissed the thought as fanciful. No sane man would take a boat into bedlam.
Away from the water, a world of golden sand and black rocks stretched out to the west, disappearing in a pinkish haze that blended land and sky. The opposite shore, less encumbered by sand, looked bleak and desolate in the distance, a tortured world of rock eroded by sun and wind, abraded by blowing sand. The rising- sun Khepre slowly climbed the vault of heaven, drawing the moisture from their bodies, burning their flesh, searing the barren land. Their feet, shod in reed sandals, burned with every step. They stopped often to dunk themselves in a pool of still water and drink their fill or merely to look at a river gone mad.
Life went on, even amidst the desolation. Crocodiles sunned themselves on a sandy bank; birds chattered in acacias clinging to tiny pockets of earth; waterfowl paddled among the reeds growing in sheltered coves or skimmed the water in search of an easy meal. They saw no people or houses, but each time they came upon a protected inlet, they found neat rows of onions or melons or lentils and sometimes even a patch of grain.
The stony ridge that paralleled the river gradually drew closer, terminating abruptly in a tall, sheer precipice facing the water. Four soldiers, their long spears close at hand, sat on the rocks atop the formation, watching Bak and his Medjays approach. They were watchmen assigned to the signal station located on that highest point in the region.
Leaving his men at the water's edge beside a tranquil pool, Bak climbed a steep skirt of windblown sand rising up the formation. His feet sank deep in the soft slope; the sand clutched his ankles, making his legs feel heavy. It was a relief to reach the naked rock above the drift, to climb the cracked and broken pinnacle of stone. Three spearmen and a sergeant met him at the top, high above the rapids. Bak read curiosity on their faces and the caution inherent to their task.
The sergeant, a short, powerful man close in age to Bak's twenty-four years, examined his traveling pass, then gave him a long, speculative look. 'Not many men choose to climb this pinnacle to pass the time of day. And you an officer, too.'
'I've a purpose,' Bak assured him with a genial smile. The sergeant remained stern. 'And that is?'
The man's duty required him to be suspicious, Bak reminded himself. 'I'm in search of information. And since you sit here day after day, high above the river and the desert sands, perhaps you can help me.'
The sergeant eyes darted toward the base of the cliff and the two Medjays lazing in the water. 'You must be the police officer from Buhen. The one who's come to find the man who slew Lieutenant Puemre.'
Bak stiffened, surprised. 'You've heard of my errand already?'
'We saw your Medjay sergeant come and go yesterday, and a courier from Commandant Thuty passed by last night.
Then this morning, when our supplies were dropped off by the desert patrol, we learned of your purpose, for word has spread through Iken like the grains of sand blown in on a storm.'
Bak frowned. The fact that Commander Woser had repeated the message was interesting, for he had essentially admitted publicly that he had failed to satisfy Thuty, his superior officer. But if the admission carried any subtle meaning, it eluded him.
'You must be dry after so long a walk,' the sergeant said, more amiable now. 'How about a jar of beer?' Accepting with a nod, Bak followed him to a reed lean-to built against a crude mudbrick hut. The shelter stood just below the summit among the fallen walls of several older ruined buildings. Beyond, on the desert side of the ridge, he glimpsed additional watchmen. Four large porous water amphorae leaned against a shaded wall, and a dozen smaller jars hung from the frame of the lean-to. They swung gently back and forth in a light breeze that drifted across the ridge, providing a breath of air.
The sergeant untied two jars, twisted out the rock-hard earthen plugs, and handed one to his guest.
Bak took a long drink of the warm, thick liquid. Raising the jar to his companion, he smiled. 'An excellent brew, Sergeant.'
The soldier took a long pull, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 'You have questions, sir?'
Nothing like a jar of beer to turn strangers into friends, Bak thought. 'How long ago did you hear of Lieutenant Puemre's death?'
'We heard he was missing three, maybe four days ago. We didn't know his ka had fled his earthly body until the patrol passed by this morning.'
'I came upon him floating past Buhen four days ago. Did you or your men see anything in the river that day or the day before? Anything that might've been his body?' The sergeant laughed, swept his arm in an arc embracing the great river below. 'Could you spot a body out there?' To the north and south, as far as the eye could see, spread an awesome panorama of cluttered boulders small and large, some fringed with reeds, some tufted with mimosa or crowned with acacia or palm, all with tendrils of water writhing around them or waves leaping over them or falls cascading among them. What might have been a piece of driftwood or a crocodile or a figment of Bak's imagination appeared in a quiet pool, then drifted into a fast-moving stream, dropped over a watery ledge, and was sucked into a vortex of foam.
Bak's eyes darted upward, where he saw a half dozen black specks wheeling in a loose circle high overhead. 'Wouldn't a corpse attract vultures?'
'Oh, I've no doubt they spot any likely meal in the water, but as they prefer dining on dry land, they'll look for something that's already washed ashore.'
Bak felt like a man banging his head against a stone pillar. 'Did you see…' Doggedly he described Seneb's caravan for the second time that morning.
'We no doubt saw it,' the sergeant said, 'but from this distance, one caravan looks much like another. As long as they keep to the trail and behave themselves, we mind our own business. Only if we spot marauding tribesmen or someone in trouble do we signal the patrol. It's their job to keep order on the desert track.'
Leaving the lean-to, they walked toward the watchmen hunkered down at the edge of the precipice, looking out over the river.
Bak hated to go with no more knowledge than when he had come. Perhaps if he went on a fishing expedition… 'How long have you been posted here without a break?'
'Nine days. Tomorrow will end our time on duty, and we'll be relieved by other men until our next stint.' 'Do you have much contact with Iken?'
'The patrol comes by each morning to deliver fresh food and drink.'
