the two Shilluk jumped out of the bushes behind them. Imbali ran at Ek-Tang and swung her axe. With that single stroke she severed the oligarch's left leg above the knee. Ek-Tang shouted and tried to urg'e his mount forward, but with one leg gone he lost his balance and fell sideways, clutching at the horse's mane to save himself. Bright arterial blood pumped from the stump of his leg. Imbali ran after him and swung again. Ek-Tang's head jumped off his shoulder and rolled on to the rocky pathway. His nerveless fingers clung to the horse's mane for a few moments longer, then fell open. He flopped sideways to the ground.
With a yell the trooper who was following Ek'Tang rode down on Imbali. Nakonto flung his spear. It struck the trooper in the middle of his back and transfixed him. The spearhead stood out an arm's length from his chest. He dropped his sword and tumbled out of the saddle.
Meren ran up beside the last trooper in the line. The man saw him coming and tried to free his sword from the scabbard, but before he could get the blade clear Meren had leapt up and thrust him through the ribs.
He hit the ground with his shoulders and the back of his head. Before he could rise Meren finished him off with another thrust in the throat, then turned in pursuit of Aquer. The oligarch saw him coming, dug his spurs into his mount and tore away up the defile, with Meren and Imbali running after him, but they could not gain on him.
From above Taita saw Aquer break away. He turned off the path and ran along the edge of the cliff above him, stopped and poised on the lip of the cliff. As Aquer's horse raced below him, he dropped on to the oligarch's back, so heavily that Aquer lost the reins and was almost thrown from the saddle. Taita whipped one arm around his neck and began to throttle him. Aquer fumbled his dagger from the sheath and tried to stab back over his shoulder into Taita's face. With his free hand, Taita seized his wrist and they wrestled for the advantage.
Thrown off balance by the shifting weight on its back, the horse crashed into the wall of the defile and reared on its hind legs. Locked together, Taita and Aquer were thrown back over its hindquarters. Aquer was on top as they hit the ground, and his full weight slammed into Taita. The shock broke his grip on Aquer's throat and dagger hand.
Before he could recover, Aquer had twisted round and thrust for Taita's throat with the dagger. Taita grabbed his wrist again and held him off. Aquer put his full weight behind the dagger but could make no impression. Taita now had the abundant strength of a young man and Aquer was long past his physical prime. Aquer's arm began to tremble
with the strain and his expression turned to dismay. Taita smiled up at him. 'Eos is no more,' he said. Aquer flinched. His arm gave way and Taita rolled over on top of him.
'You lie,' Aquer cried. 'She is the goddess, the only true goddess.'
'Then call upon your only true goddess now, Lord Aquer. Tell her that Taita of Gallala is about to kill you.'
Aquer's eyes flew wide with consternation. 'You lie again,' he gasped.
'You are not Taita. Taita was an old man, but by now he is dead.'
'You are mistaken. It is Eos who is dead, and you who will be soon.'
Still smiling, Taita tightened his grip on Aquer's wrists until he felt the bone begin to give. Aquer squealed and the dagger fell from his fingers.
Taita sat up and twisted him round, pinning him so that he was helpless.
At that moment Meren ran up. 'Shall I finish him?'
'No.' Taita stopped him. 'Where is Sidudu? She is the one he has most sinned against.' He saw the two girls racing down the pathway from the top of the cliff. They came up to where Taita was holding Aquer.
'Taita, we must fly! Onka has rallied his men and they are coming back across the ford in force!' Fenn cried. 'Finish this swine and let us ride.'
Taita looked past her at Sidudu. 'This is the man who gave you to Onka,' he told her. 'He is the one who sent your friends up the mountain.
Vengeance is yours.'
Sidudu hesitated.
'Take this dagger.' Meren picked up Aquer's fallen weapon and handed it to her.
Fenn ran forward and ripped Aquer's helmet from his head. She seized a double handful of his hair and dragged his head backwards, exposing his throat. 'For yourself and for all the other girls he sent to the mountain,'
she said. 'Cut his throat, Sidudu.'
Sidudu's expression hardened with determination.
Aquer saw death in her eyes and he struggled and whimpered, 'No!
Please, listen to me. You are only a child. Such a heinous deed will scar your mind for ever.' His voice was broken and almost incoherent. 'You don't understand, I am anointed by the goddess. I had to do what she commanded. You cannot do this to me.'
'I do understand,' Sidudu answered him, 'and I can do it.' She stepped up to him, and Aquer began to squeal. She laid the blade against the stretched skin of his neck just under his ear and drew it down in a long, deep stroke. The flesh opened and the great artery in the depths of the
wound erupted. The breath whistled from his severed windpipe. His legs kicked spasmodically. His eyes rolled back in their sockets. His tongue protruded and he blubbered strings of blood and spittle.I Taita pushed him away and he rolled over to lie, like a slaughtered pig, face down in the spreading puddle of his own blood. Sidudu dropped the dagger and jumped back, staring down at the dying oligarch.
Meren stepped up behind her and placed an arm round her shoulders.
'It is done, and it was well done,' he said softly. 'Waste no pity on him.
Now we must go.'
As they ran to their horses they heard the shouts of Onka's men at the ford behind them. They mounted and
