Chapter 11
“Are you sure you’re all right, sir?” Psuro, seated on the damp sand at the edge of the wadi with Bak and Amonmose, seemed not to know whether he should laugh with delight at finding them alive and well or worry about their many bruises, scratches, and cuts.
Bak finished eating the grouse and threw away the last of the bones. Cold though it was, it was as delicious as the warm birds he had eaten the previous day. “You’ve no need to worry, Psuro. Considering how fast the water flowed and the many objects it carried with it, we fared very well.”
“I thank the gods you came when you did.” Amonmose glanced toward the goats, waiting patiently for their small shepherd. “I was beginning to look upon those lambs as a tasty meal.”
Bak eyed the child, who stood a few paces away with User and Senna. He was small, dark-skinned, and dressed in rags, a miniature version of Imset. “The boy would never have for given you. Those animals are his responsibility, and he must return them to the family flock.”
The child’s reserve had melted away when User had given him a grouse. He had gobbled the food and eagerly accepted a second bird. After he finished eating, however, when the explorer had summoned Senna and tried to talk to him, his shyness had returned tenfold. He seldom raised his eyes from the wadi floor, did not know what to do with his hands and feet, and seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
User, with the guide translating, was trying to learn where the boy’s family might be found. The child had nodded when asked if he had been caught in the defile while searching for strays, but had shaken his head when asked where his mother was camped with their flock.
“They can’t be far away,” a frustrated User said. “Why won’t he tell us where they are? His mother might wish to trade for medicines or cloth or needles, or any of the other necessities I’ve brought that she’ll never be able to find in this wretched desert.”
“He knows where they are,” Senna said, openly irritated.
“Why he won’t tell, I can’t say.”
“Something has to be troubling him,” Bak murmured to his companions.
“You should try, sir.” Psuro stood up and took the halter of the donkey, prepared to return it to User’s string of animals, gathered at the edge of a puddle spread across the wadi floor.
“He’s seen with his own eyes that you’re a brave man, the way you survived the flood. And he knows you’re an officer, the one we Medjays look to for guidance. For those two rea sons alone, he might speak.”
Bak studied the two men and the boy. The latter had dis played no shyness toward User until he began asking ques tions. Could Senna’s presence have inhibited his speech?
“Summon Kaha, Psuro. I wish to use another translator.”
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant said, not bothering to hide his ap proval. He had not witnessed Bak’s fall into the floodwaters, but he had heard the tale from men who had. Like Amon mose, he had aired his mistrust of the nomad guide.
After cleaning his hands on the sand, Bak rose to his feet and joined User, Senna, and the boy. “The caravan must move on, Senna. If you wish to walk at its head, go with Psuro.”
“But, sir…”
“We’ve a long journey to the next well.” Bak’s voice was curt, allowing for no disagreement.
Senna flushed. “Yes, sir.”
The guide, who had managed to cling to the crag, thereby saving himself from being torn away by the flood as Bak and
Amonmose had been, had begged forgiveness. He had since been subdued, self-effacing. Bak had not meant to belittle him, but he wanted no argument from the man who might well have brought about his death.
Amonmose hoisted himself to his feet, threw away the last few bones, and walked to the boy. With a broad smile, he ruffled his hair and bade him goodbye. The child’s smile was shy, wistful almost, as if he thought himself losing a friend.
“Could I have a word with you, User?” Amonmose asked.
The explorer gave him and Bak a speculative look, evi dently realizing he was being steered away. He offered a farewell smile to the child and strode toward the waiting car avan with the trader.
When Kaha hurried up, Bak told him of User’s failure and asked him to question the boy further. “Rather than asking where his family is camped, try this time to discover why he won’t reveal where they are.”
Kaha stumbled through the question. The boy shrugged as if he did not understand. The Medjay tried again, receiving in return another shrug. After several further attempts, Kaha flung a desperate look at Bak and tried a fresh approach. He knelt before the boy and delivered a long, painfully difficult speech, looking often at Bak. After a while, the child began to offer a word when the Medjay failed to find one. His eyes grew wide and he often glanced Bak’s way.
“If you make him fear me, Kaha, he’ll never tell you what we wish to know.”
The Medjay chuckled. “I’m telling him how brave and strong you are and how clever you are when you face an en emy, using guile as well as arms to win the battle.”
Smiling at the boy, Bak said, “You’d best tell him that I have no intention of harming his family. Or any other nomad in this barren desert unless we’re forced to protect ourselves.”
Kaha passed on the reassurance. The boy gave Bak a grave look and nodded. He said something to Kaha, a few brief words. The Medjay asked a question. A stubborn look ap peared on the child’s face and he uttered the same words he had spoken before. Kaha stared long and hard as if willing him to say more. When he failed to respond, the Medjay picked up the basket containing the four remaining grouse, spoke a few words, and handed the container to him. The boy flung a quick smile at Bak and ran up the defile to his goats.
“What did he tell you?” Bak asked.
“All he’d say was that we travel with a bad man.”
A bad man. As if Bak needed to be told that. He suspected the boy spoke of Senna, but he could just as well have meant any of the other men in User’s party-or the watching man.
One thing he knew for a fact: the child had had no reserva tions about Amonmose.
So they could reach good shade in which to rest through the heat of the day, the caravan moved on. The sun beat down on the wadi floor, drying its surface. Birds appeared from out of nowhere to drink from puddles and gazelle could be seen in the distance, drinking their fill. Minmose claimed he could see new leaves already popping out on the silla bushes.
Amonmose refused to allow the donkey he swore had saved his life-as it probably had-to be loaded, saying it needed more rest. User adopted a severe demeanor, insisting he’d spoil the beast, and flung Bak a good-natured wink. The abundance of water had lifted the spirits of everyone.
Even the drovers seemed less disheartened, but they re mained as watchful as they had been since Dedu’s body had been found. Bak had a feeling they no longer trusted anyone, not even User, the man for whom they toiled. They continued to accept Nebenkemet’s help with the donkeys and the load ing, but were much more taciturn than before. When Bak sent Kaha to sound them out, they shook their heads, pre tending not to understand.
No one had seen any sign of the watching man since leav ing the gorge where last they had seen Dedu alive. Was he still watching them from afar? Or had the guide’s death been his ultimate goal, releasing the caravan from his constant scrutiny?
Convinced they were not yet free of him, Bak sent Kaha and Rona to scout the land through which they were travel ing, telling them specifically to look for the watching man.
After they left, he walked to the head of the caravan to in quire about the day’s trek. He found Senna to be unusually informative and anxious to please.
“Minnakht was more interested in this area, sir, than in any other place.” Senna motioned toward the rugged reddish hill sides all around them. “We spent almost two weeks explor ing the mountain slopes and the wadis, never straying more than a day’s march from water: the pools where we were when Dedu died, the well to the east that you and User spurned, and the gorge where we’ll spend this night.”
“Did you always remain within the triangle formed by those three water sources?” Bak asked.
“Now and then, he’d spot a faroff landform that he thought interesting or would find a stone that had been
