taking a wife, so his manly needs were met by the unmarried women of the tribe. He reviewed the potential candidates in a mixture of cataloguing and lewd daydream, trying to figure out which of the twenty-two available women best blended the virtues of beauty, athleticism, creativity, naivete and experience he desired. He was engaged in mentally sodomising Olloroa, daughter of Mainamoa, unconsciously rubbing himself through his sarong, when a shadow fell across him.
Nemasolai opened one eye and squinted at the silhouetted figure standing over him. He recognised Manamosalai, the shaman of the Kallalo. The young chieftain held his ceremonial stave over his right shoulder, his other hand with thumb hooked into his belt of woven beads.
'Piss off,' said Nemasolai, trying to retain the image of Olloroa bent willingly before him. 'Can't you see I'm busy?'
In reply, Manamosalai stretched out his arm, pointing his stave towards the setting sun. Nemasolai saw that the red disc was almost touching the horizon. The pale crescent of the moon was visible in the clear sky.
'Shit,' Nemasolai said, scrambling to his feet, all erotic thoughts dispelled.
'The others are gathering,' said Manamosalai. 'I have a boat waiting.'
'Thank you.' Nemasolai slapped a hand to his companion's arm. 'Wouldn't want to miss this, would we?'
The shaman's gaze moved past Manamosalai, out across the lake to the far shore on the edge of visibility. That side of the great lake was bare of trees and tents; not even grass pushed through the arid earth. A single structure stood a short way back from the shore; an arch of white stone five times the height of Nemasolai, yet no wider than his outstretched arms. In the dying light of dusk, the desert beyond could be seen through the arch, yet distorted as if by a heat haze, despite the cool air around the lake.
'You're very lucky, you know,' Nemasolai told his fellow shaman as they walked quickly down to the shoreline. 'To be brought to a Calling happens less than once in a lifetime. To witness one at such a young age is very fortunate. I have lost count of my years, and this is my first.'
'I have spoken with many of the other chieftains, and none is old enough to remember the last Calling,' said Manamosalai. 'We are privileged.'
Nemasolai was not so sure of that. The previous incumbent of his position, Katokalai, claimed to have been to a Calling but refused to speak of what had happened, always turning away with a shudder whenever the young shaman-to-be had questioned him on it.
Holding the bow of a shallow reed canoe, Manamosalai gestured for his older companion to get into the boat first. When both of them were sat inside, they took up the rough paddles and headed out across the lake, parting the layer of devotional flora behind them.
Neither of them spoke. Not one shaman at the Calling could guess why they had been brought together, and idle speculation was not encouraged in Mekhani culture. Each wise man had received the dream of the lake and the arch thirty-five days ago, and knew instinctively what it meant. All hostilities between the tribes had been called to a halt and the shamans and their tribes' favoured families had packed up camp and moved here, marching across the hot desert without question.
The tales of the tribes described that forbidding arch as a gateway, though to what place was much in debate. Through discussions with the leaders of other tribes, Nemasolai had learnt that some shamanic tradition believed the arch led to Oogaro, the world-oasis that had spawned the Mekhani. To others, including Nemasolai, it led directly to Samonao, the everlasting fire beneath the desert that stole the water and burned the souls of the Mekhani when they were dead. A few shamans even believed that a man who passed through the arch would find himself on the moon or the sun, but they were generally ridiculed if they openly offered this view.
Glancing over his shoulder, Nemasolai saw that they still had time to cross the lake before the sun would be extinguished by the waters of Oogaro. When that happened, when the light of the new moon alone touched the arch, the shaman knew something would take place. What that something might be, he had not the faintest idea.
They drew up their boat amongst several dozen others. Clambering to the sand, Nemasolai joined the other shamans hanging around the arch. Some he knew, some he knew of, but most were completely unknown to him.
Nobody seemed sure what was meant to happen next. The casual conversation died away as the last glow of the sun disappeared. All eyes turned towards the archway. The white stone glittered, far too bright for the little moonlight reflecting from the lake.
'Where are the stars?'
Nemasolai did not know who asked the question, but immediately everybody's gaze was directed upwards. Utter blackness stretched across the sky. The air was still. The sound of the distant camps had been silenced. Not even the lapping of the water disturbed the strange night. Glancing at the lake, Nemasolai saw that everything was still, the ripples in the water unmoving. His skin prickled with cold and his breath frosted in the air.
The shamans exchanged dread-filled glances, but none spoke, frightened of breaking the frozen tableau.
'Kneel.'
Two figures stood in front of the arch and had spoken in unison. Unthinkingly, Nemasolai obeyed the command; he fell to the sand and prostrated himself along with the others. He dared not look up, filled with terror by the men he had glimpsed; their rune-carved bodies unsettling, their gold-flecked eyes seared into his mind. He shivered, head pressed into the cold ground, fingers clawing into the sand.
'Long you have suffered.' The voice was like the scuttling of a scorpion over a dune. 'The desert sands swallowed your cities. The hot winds scoured your history from time. None of you remember that age of glory. We do.'
'You were once the chosen people, and you have been chosen again.' The second voice reminded Nemasolai of wind sighing across the desert, the quiet whisper of shifting grains. 'A thousand years before the Askhan upstarts took your lands, you ruled over more than dust and sand. The greatest city of the world was not Askh, which even today is but a shadow of the glories found in Akkamaro. Behold, your city lives again!'
Hesitantly, Nemasolai raised his eyes from the ground. He saw first the archway, still glimmering in false moonlight. Now the arch was part of a building, an opening into the bottom tier of a mighty ziggurat that stretched into the dark sky on five levels. Flanking the arch were two sets of steps, leading up to the highest point of the building, where something bright could be seen. Looking closer, Nemasolai saw that it was an immense throne from which a man could look out over the city. Glancing to his left and right, the shaman found himself in a massive plaza, the sand beneath him now just a thin layer scattered across thousands of flagstones. Columned buildings appeared around the square out of the gloom, with high-peaked roofs of black slate and red tiles. Frescoes were painted on the white walls, showing long caravans trekking between bountiful oases and mighty armies in red cloth purging savages from verdant forests.
The gasps of the others proved to Nemasolai that this was no mirage; or if it was, one that was shared equally with his fellow shamans.
Movement and sound returned. Stars twinkled against the black velvet of the night sky. The wind keened from the buildings. Light glowed from windows, glossily lacquered shutters thrown back to reveal intricate, multi- coloured panes of glass that cast rainbows dappling on the ivory-coloured stones of the square. Lanterns hung from the broad eaves, glimmering.
And there was the sound of water; not the sluggish lapping of the great lake, but the tinkle of fountains. Sitting up to his haunches, Nemasolai looked over his shoulder at where the great lake had been. It had become a vast cistern lined with blue and white tiles, artificial islands of red wood tethered upon its surface. Water flowed down channels from this immense well, disappearing down wide streets that led into other parts of the sprawling city that now surrounded them.
Tears welled up in Nemasolai's eyes. He was filled with an overwhelming sense of fulfilment and accomplishment. More than that, he felt as one might after coming upon a familiar sight after many years of starved wandering. Every fibre of his being told him that he was home.
Nemasolai heard distant shouts of surprise and fear; the tribespeople could see the city too.
'Akkamaro, your capital, birthright of the Mekhani.'
At the sound of the first voice speaking again, Nemasolai directed his attention back to the archway. The two figures had not moved, but in the warm glow of the city they appeared less dreadful. The runes upon their flesh still disturbed Nemasolai's thoughts, but their demeanour was as stern fathers not sinister oppressors.
Some of the shamans were getting to their feet, gazing in wonder at their new surrounds. A few laughed
