lake, a vast expanse of blue water that reflected
the images of the clouds in the sky above. They had an uninterrupted view of the dam and the tiny temple of Eos on the bluff above it.
On the third morning Taita said, 'Fenn, we are prepared. We have mustered our forces. Now we must wait for the full moon.'
'That is four days hence,' she said.
'There is one more sally we can make against the witch before then.'
'I am ready for whatever you decide, Magus.'
'Eos has thrown an astral barricade around herself.'
'That was why we could not contact each other while you were in her lair.'
'I intend to test her defences for the last time. It will be dangerous, of course, but you and I must combine our powers and make another attempt to pierce her shield and overlook her in her stronghold.' They went down to the lakeshore again. They washed their clothing, then bathed in the limpid waters. It was a ritual cleansing: evil flourishes in dirt and foul matter. While their naked bodies dried in the sunlight, Taita combed her hair and plaited the wet tresses. She attended to his crisp new beard. They scrubbed their teeth with green twigs, then picked bunches of aromatic leaves which they took back up the hills to the encampment. When they reached their shelter Fenn built up the smouldering embers of their fire and Taita sprinkled the leaves into the flames. Then they sat cross-legged, hand in hand, to inhale the cleansing, stimulating smoke.
It was the first time they had attempted astral travel together, but this transfer into the astral plane went smoothly. Linked in spirit, they rose high above the lake and glided westward over the forests.
They found the land of Jarri covered with thick cloud: only the peaks of the Mountains of the Moon rose out of it and the snows upon them shone with an austere radiance. The hidden crater of the Cloud Gardens nestled in their icy embrace. They sank down towards the witch's stronghold, but as they drew closer the ether became turbid and oppressive, as though they swam through a cesspit. Its weight and density resisted their passage. Linked as one they strove forward against its debilitating influence. At last, after immense spiritual exertion, they had forced their way down to the green chamber in the witch's lair.
Eos's massive cocoon lay where Taita had last seen it, but now the protective carapace was fully formed, green and lustrous, shining with an adamantine glitter. Taita had achieved his purpose: he had brought Fenn to look upon the veritable form of Eos, not merely one of her shadowy
manifestations. Now, when the time came, they would be able to combine all their force and concentrate it upon her.
They drew back from the Cloud Gardens, over the mountains, the forests and the lake, back into their physical bodies. Taita was still holding her hands. As she came alive again, he looked at her through his Inner Eye. Her aura smouldered like molten metal pouring from the furnace, heated by her fear and anger.
'That thing!' She clung to him. 'Oh, Taita, it was horrible beyond my wildest imagining. That carapace seems to contain all the evil and malice of the universe.' Her face was ashen and her skin cold.
'You have looked upon the enemy. Now you must steel yourself, my love,' he told her. 'You must call upon all your courage and strength.'
He held her to him. 'I need you with me. I cannot prevail against her without you.'
Fenn's face hardened with determination. 'I will not fail you, Taita.'
“I have never thought for a moment that you might.' Over the next few days he employed all of his esoteric art to bolster in her the spiritual powers that the sight of Eos had shaken.
'Tomorrow night the moon will be full, the most propitious phase of its cycle. We are ready and the time is ripe.' But Taita was awakened at dawn by Fenn's sobs and moans. He stroked her face and whispered in her ear, 'Wake up, my darling. It is only a dream. I am here beside you.'
'Hold me, Taita. I had such a terrible dream. I dreamt that Eos struck at me with her magic. She drove her dagger into my belly. The blade was glowing hot.' She groaned again. 'Oh, I can still feel the pain. It was not a dream. It is true. I am wounded and the pain is bitter.'
Taita's heart leapt with alarm. 'Let me feel your stomach.' He pushed her down gently, drew the kaross as far as her knees and laid his hand upon her flat white belly.
'The pain is not all, Taita,' she whispered. 'I am bleeding from the wound she has inflicted.'
'Bleeding? Where is the wound?'
'Here!' She spread her thighs and pushed his hand lower. 'The blood is pouring through the cleft between my legs.'
'Has this not happened to you before - at your age?'
'Never,' she replied. 'This is the very first time.'
'Oh, my sweetest heart.' He took her tenderly in his arms. 'It is not what you think. That comes not from Eos. It is a gift and blessing from the gods of the Truth. I wonder that Imbali did not mention it. You have become a full woman.'
'I do not understand, Taita.' She was still afraid.
'This is your moon blood, the proud emblem of your womanhood.'
Taita realized that the rigours of the journey, the deprivation and hardship she had suffered, must have delayed her natural development.
'But why the pain?'
'Pain is the lot of woman. In pain she is born and in pain she gives forth life. It was ever so.'
'Why now? Why am I struck down at the very time you need me so?'
