'So they should be in the temple now?' Meren asked.
'Almost certainly,' Sidudu affirmed.
'Whatofthetrogs?'
'I am not sure, but I think they will be patrolling the temple grounds and the woods.'
'Are any of the priestesses kind to the girls? Are there any good women among them?'
'None!' said Sidudu bitterly. 'They are all cruel and merciless. They treat us like caged animals. They force us to submit to the men who come, and some of the priestesses use us for their own foul pleasures.'
Fenn looked across at Meren. 'What shall we do with them?'
'We kill any who get in our way.'
They drew their swords and rode down in a tight group, making no attempt to conceal their approach. The trogs were nowhere to be seen, and Sidudu led them directly to the temple, which stood detached from the main building. They raced towards it and pulled up the horses in front of the wooden doors. Meren jumped down and tried the latch, but it was barred from the inside.
'On me!' he shouted to the men who followed him, and they formed up in phalanx. At his next order they lifted their shields and charged the door, which burst open. The girls were huddled on the floor of the nave
with four black-robed priestesses standing guard. One was a tall, middle aged woman with a hard, pockmarked face. She lifted the golden talisman she held in her right hand and pointed it at Meren.'
'Beware!' Sidudu shouted. 'That is Nongai and she is a powerful sorceress. She can blast you with her magic'
Fenn already had an arrow nocked to her bow and did not hesitate.
She drew and released it in a single fluid movement. The arrow hummed down the length of the nave and struck Nongai in the centre of her chest. The talisman spun out of her hand and she crumpled on to the stone floor. The other three priestesses scattered like a flock of crows.
Fenn shot two more arrows and brought down all but the last, who reached the small door behind the altar. As she wrenched it open Sidudu shot an arrow between her shoulder-blades. The woman slid down the wall leaving a trail of blood on the stonework. Most of the temple maidens were screaming. The others had pulled their chitons over their heads and were cowering in a terrified group.
'Speak to them, Sidudu,' Meren ordered. 'Quieten them.'
Sidudu ran to the girls, and pulled some to their feet.
'It's I, Sidudu. You have nothing to fear. These are good men, and they have come to save you.' She saw Jinga among them. 'Help me, Jinga! Help me bring them to their senses!'
'Take them out to the horses, and get them mounted,' Meren told Fenn. 'We can expect an attack from the trogs at any moment.'
They dragged the girls out through the doorway. Some were still weeping and wailing and had to be thrown up bodily on to the saddles.
Meren was ruthless with them, and Fenn slapped one across the face as she shouted at her: 'Get up, you foolish creature, or we will leave you to the trogs.'
At last they were all mounted, and Meren shouted, 'Forward at the gallop!' and touched Windsmoke's flanks with his heels. He had two girls up behind him, clinging to him and each other. Nakonto and Imbali hung on Fenn's stirrup ropes and she carried them along with her. Sidudu had Jinga behind her and one of the other girls seated in front. All the other horses carried at least three girls. Heavily laden, they galloped in a tight group back across the temple lawns, heading for the hills and the road to Kitangule.
As they entered the track through the forest, the trogs were waiting for them. Five of the huge apes had climbed into the trees and they dropped out of the branches on to the horses as they passed below. At
the same time other apes came bellowing and roaring out of the undergrowth. They leapt up at the riders or snapped with their powerful jaws at the legs of the horses.
Nakonto had a short stabbing spear in his right hand and killed three of the brutes with as many quick blows. Imbali's axe hissed and hummed through the air as she cut down two more. Meren and Hilto hacked and thrust with their swords, and the troopers who followed spurred their horses into the fight. But the trogs were fearless and single-minded and the fight was ferocious. Even when they were gravely wounded or dying the apes tried to drag themselves back into the fray. Two set upon Windsmoke and tried to savage her hindquarters. The grey mare aimed two mighty kicks. The first crushed the skull of one and the second caught the other under the jaw and snapped its neck cleanly.
One of the temple maidens was dragged down from behind Hilto's saddle and her throat was ripped out by a single bite before Hilto could smash in the brute's skull. By the time Nakonto had speared the last trog many of the horses had been bitten: one had been so gravely savaged that Imbali had to despatch it with an axe stroke through the crest of its skull.
They formed up again, rode out of the valley, and when they reached the fork in the track they turned eastwards towards the mountains and the Kitangule Gap. They rode through the night, and early the next morning they saw a dustcloud rising above the plain ahead of them.
Before noon they had caught up with the tail of a long dense column of refugees. That was riding with the rearguard, and as soon as he saw them coming he galloped back to meet them. 'Well met, Colonel Cambyses!'
he shouted. 'I see you have saved our girls.'
'Those who have survived,' Meren agreed, 'but they have had a hard time of it, and are near the end of their tether.'
'We will find places for them on the wagons,' That said. 'But what of you and your party? Will you come out of Jarri with us, or are you determined to go back to find the old magus?'
