handcarts or carried on litters by their families or comrades.
Fathers had small children on their shoulders and some of the women had infants strapped to their backs. Most recognized Meren and called to him as he passed, 'The blessings of all the gods upon you, Meren Cambyses. You have released us from bitter durance. Our children will be free.'
The young girls they had released from the breeding pens ran beside Fenn and Sidudu, trying to touch them. Some were weeping with the strength of their emotion. 'You have saved us from the mountain of no return. We love you for your compassion and your courage. Thank you, Sidudu. The blessings of all the gods on you, Fenn.'
None recognized Taita, although the women gazed with interest at the young man with the penetrating gaze and commanding presence as he rode by. Fenn was acutely aware of their interest and moved closer to him in a proprietary fashion. With these lets and delays their ascent of
I I
THE QUEST
the hills was slow and the sun was setting before they reached the crest and stood once again in the Kitangule Gap.
That had seen them coming, from the watch-tower of the border fort.
He clambered down the ladder and strode out through the gate to meet them. He saluted Meren embraced Fenn and Sidudu, then stared at Taita. 'Who is this?' he asked. 'I do not trust him, for he is too pretty by a long way.'
'You may trust him with your life,' Meren said. 'The truth is that you already know him well. I will explain later, though it is not likely you will believe me when I do.'
'You vouch for him, Colonel Meren?'
'With all my heart,' said Meren.
'And with all of mine,' said Fenn.
'And mine,' said Sidudu.
'Mine also,' said Hilto.
That shrugged and frowned. 'I find myself in the minority, yet still I reserve my final judgement.'
'Once again I am grateful to you, Colonel That,' Taita said quietly.
'As I was at Tamafupa when you rescued us from the Basmara.'
'You were not among those I found at Tamafupa,' said That.
'Ah, you have forgotten.' Taita shook his head. 'Then surely you recall escorting Meren and me down from the Cloud Gardens after his eye surgery. That was the first time you revealed your true loyalty and your longing to return to our very Egypt. Do you recall how we discussed Eos and her powers?'
That stared at Taita, and his stern expression crumbled. 'Lord Taita!
Magus! Did you not perish on the mountain in the Cloud Gardens?
Surely this cannot be you!'
'Most surely it can and is,' Taita smiled, 'although I admit to certain changes in my appearance.'
'You have become a young man! It is a miracle that defies belief, yet your voice and eyes convince me that it is true.' He ran forward and took Taita's hand in a powerful grip. 'What has become of Eos and her oligarchs?'
'The oligarchs are dead, and Eos no longer threatens us. That is enough for now. How stand your present circumstances?'
'We surprised the Jarrian garrison here. There were only twenty men and none escaped. We threw their corpses into the gorge. See? The vultures have already found them.' That pointed up at the carrion
birds circling in the sky above. 'I have sent a hundred men to seize the boatyard at the headwaters of the Kitangule river, and to secure the vessels lying there.”
'You have done good work,' Taita commended him. 'Now you must go down to the boatyard and take command there. Assemble the vessels, and as our people arrive embark them and send them down the river, with a good pilot to guide them. The whole flotilla will muster again on the shores of Lake Nalubaale, at the place where we disembarked to hunt the beast with the nose horn.'
'I remember it well.'
'On your way down the mountain, leave a gang of twenty good axemen at the bridge over the gorge. They will cut down the bridge and let it drop into the gorge after the last of our people have passed over.'
'What will you do?'
'Meren and I will wait here at the fort with some of the men you sent with Hilto. We will delay the Jarrian pursuit until the bridge is down.'
'As you command, Lord Taita.' That hurried away, shouting for his captains.
Taita turned back to Meren. 'Send Hilto, the two Shilluk and as many men as we can spare back down the path to give assistance to our refugees. They must hurry them. Look! The main Jarrian army is not far behind us.' He pointed back down the mountain the way they had come up. In the distance, far out on the plain, they could see the dustclouds, as red as spilt blood in the setting sun, that the Jarrian chariots and the marching legions had raised.
Taita took Fenn with him to make a rapid inspection of the small fort and the defences in the throat of the Gap and he found them rudimentary, the walls low and in poor repair. However, the arsenal and the quarter-master's store were well stocked, as were the kitchen and larder.
