He picked up his staff, made certain the Periapt of Lostris was hanging on its gold chain at his throat and set off briskly for the upper gates of the garden. He retraced his steps to the imp's grotto. The closer he came to it, the more intense his feelings of eager anticipation became. They were so unwarranted that he knew he was still being led by outside influences. He was mildly surprised to reach the grotto again so readily.
In this garden of surprises he had expected to find it hidden from him, but all was as he had last seen it.
He settled down on the grassy bank and waited for he knew not what.
All seemed peaceful and natural. He heard the chittering of a golden sunbird and looked up to see it hovering before a scarlet blossom and delicately probing its long, curved bill into the trumpet of petals to suck out the nectar. Then it darted away like a flash of sunlight. Taita waited, composing himself and marshalling his resources to meet whatever was coming his way.
He heard a regular tapping sound that was familiar, although he could not place it immediately. It came from the pathway behind him. He turned in that direction. The tapping ceased but after a short while it began again.
A tall, stooped figure came down the pathway carrying a long staff.
The sound of it on the stony path was what Taita had heard. The man had a long silver beard, but although he was stooped and ancient, he moved with the alacrity of a much younger man. He seemed not to notice Taita sitting quietly at the edge of the pool but followed the bank round in the opposite direction. When he reached the far side he sat down. Only then did he lift his head and look directly at Taita, who stared at him silently. He felt the blood drain from his face and grasped
the Periapt in his clenched fist, struck dumb with astonishment. The two looked deep into each other's eyes, and each saw his identical twin stare back at him.'
'Who are you?' Taita whispered at last.
'I am you,' said the stranger, in a voice Taita recognized as his own.
'No,' Taita burst out. 'I am one, and you are legion. You bear the black mark of the cat's paw. I am touched with the white mark of the Truth.
You are the fantasy created by Eos of the Dawn. I am the reality.'
'You confound us both with your obstinacy, for we are one and the same,' said the old man across the pool. 'What you deny me you deny yourself. I come to show you the treasure that could be ours.'
'I will not look,' Taita said, 'for I have already seen the poisonous images you create.'
'You dare not say no, for in doing so you deny your very self,' said his reflection. 'What I will show you has never before been looked upon by mortal man. Gaze into the pool, you who are myself.'
Taita stared down into the dark water. 'There is nothing there,' he said.
'Everything is there,' said the other Taita. 'Everything we have ever truly wanted, you and I. Open our Inner Eye and let us gaze upon it together.' Taita did so, and a shadowy vista appeared before him. It was as though he looked across a wide desert of barren dunes.
'That desert is our existence without knowledge of the Truth,' said the other Taita. 'Without the Truth all is sterile and monotonous. But look beyond the desert, my hungry soul.'
Taita obeyed. On the horizon he saw a mighty beacon, a divine light, a mountain cut from a single pure diamond.
'That is the mountain that all the seers and magi strive towards. They do so in vain. No mortal man can attain the divine light. It is the mountain of all knowledge and wisdom.'
'It is beautiful,' whispered Taita.
'We look upon it at a great distance. Mortal mind cannot imagine the beauty when you stand upon the summit.' Taita saw that the old man was weeping with joy and reverence. 'We can stand upon that pinnacle together, my other self. We can have what no man has ever had before.
There is no greater prize.'
Taita stood up and walked slowly to the edge of the pool. He gazed down upon the vision and felt a longing that surpassed any he had ever known. It was no shameful craving, no base physical desire. It was something as clean, noble and pure as the diamond mountain.
'I know your feelings,' said his double, 'for they are mine exactly.'
He stood up. 'Look upon the frail and ancient body that encases and imprisons us. Compare it to the perfect form that was once ours, and can be ours again. Look down into the water and behold what none has seen before us, nor will see again. All this is being offered to us. Is it not sacrilege to refuse such gifts?' He pointed at the vision of the diamond mountain. 'See how it fades. Will we ever look upon it again? The choice is ours, yours and mine.' The vision of the shining mountain dissolved into the dark water, leaving Taita bereft and empty.
His mirror image stood up and came round the pool towards him. He opened his arms to embrace Taita, who felt a shiver of revulsion. Despite himself he lifted his arms to return the fraternal gesture. Before they touched a blue spark crackled between them, and Taita felt a shock, like a discharge of static electricity, as his other self vanished into him, and they became one.
The glory of the diamond mountain he had looked upon remained with him long after he had left the magical pool and gone down through the gardens.
Meren was waiting for him at the lower gates. 'I have been searching for you these last few hours,' he rushed to meet Taita, 'but there is aught very strange about this place. There are a thousand paths but they all lead back to this spot.'
'Why did you come to look for me?' It was fruitless to try to explain to Meren the complexities of the witch's garden.
'Colonel That Ankut arrived at the clinic a short while ago. No sign of Captain Onka, I am pleased to say. I had no chance to talk to the good colonel, not that I would have achieved a great deal by doing so.
