'Who are they?'
'Kashyap is our revered abbot, Samana our reverend mother. As you are, so are they both eminent magi.'
Samana was waiting for him in an arbour in the temple gardens. She was a handsome woman of indeterminate age, wearing a saffron robe.
There were wings of silver in the dense hair above her ears, and her eyes were infinitely wise. After she had embraced him, she bade Taita sit beside her on the marble bench. She asked him about the journey he had made to reach the temple, and they talked for a while before she said, 'We are so glad that you have arrived in time to meet the Abbot Kashyap. He will not be with us for much longer. It was he who sent for you.'
'I knew I had been summoned to this place, but I did not know by whom.' Taita nodded. 'Why did he bring me here?'
'He will tell you himself,' Samana said. 'We will go to him now.' She stood and took his hand. They left Tansid, and Samana led him through many passages and cloisters, then up a spiral staircase that seemed endless.
At last they came out in a small circular room at the top of the highest temple minaret. It was open all round with a view over the green jungles to the far parapets of snow-topped mountain ranges in the north. In the middle of the floor a soft mattress was piled with cushions, on which sat a man.
'Place yourself in front of him,' Samana whispered. 'He is almost completely deaf, and must be able to see your lips when you speak.' Taita did as she had said, then Kashyap and he regarded each other in silence for a while.
Kashyap was ancient. His eyes were pale and faded, his gums toothless.
His skin was as dry and foxed as old parchment, his hair, beard and eyebrows were as pale and transparent as glass. His hands and head shook with uncontrollable tremors.
'Why have you sent for me, Magus?' Taita asked.
'Because you are of good mind.' Kashyap's voice was a whisper.
'How do you know of me?' Taita asked.
'With your esoteric power and presence, you leave a disturbance on the ether that is discernible from afar,' Kashyap explained.
'What do you want of me?'
'Nothing and everything, perhaps even your life.'
'Explain.'
'Alas! I have left it too late. The dark tiger of death is stalking me. I will be gone before the setting of the sun.'
'Is the task you have set me of moment?'
'Of the direst moment.'
'What must I do?' Taita asked.
'I had purposed to arm you for the struggle that lies ahead of you, but now I have learned from the apsaras that you are a eunuch. This I did not know before you came here. I cannot pass on my knowledge to you in the manner I had in mind.'
'What manner was that?' Taita asked.
'By carnal exchange.'
'Again I do not understand.'
'It would have involved sexual congress between us. Because of your injuries, that is not possible.' Taita was silent. Kashyap reached out to lay a withered, clawlike hand upon his arm. His voice was gentle when he said, 'I see by your aura that in speaking of your injuries I have offended you. For this I am sorry, but I have little time left and I must be blunt.'
Taita remained silent, so Kashyap went on: 'I have resolved to make the exchange with Samana. She is also of good mind. Once I am gone she will impart to you that which she has garnered from me. I am sorry I have upset you.'
'The truth may be painful, but you have not been. I will do whatever you need of me.'
'Then stay with us while I pass everything I possess, the learning and wisdom of all my long life, to Samana. Later she will share it with you, and you will be armed for the sacred endeavour that is your destiny.'
Taita bowed his head in acquiescence.
Samana clapped her hands sharply and two strange apsaras came up the stairs, both young and lovely, one brunette, the other honey blonde.
They followed Samana to the small brazier against the far wall and assisted her in brewing a bowl of sharply scented herbs over the coals.
When the potion was prepared, they brought it to Kashyap. While one
7
steadied his shaking head, the other held the bowl to his lips. He drank the potion noisily, a little dribbling down his chin, then sagged back wearily upon the mattress.
The two apsaras undressed him tenderly and respectfully, then poured aromatic balm from an alabaster bottle over his groin. They massaged his withered manroot gently but persistently. Kashyap groaned, muttered and rolled his head from side to side, but in the skilful hands of the apsaras, and under the influence of the drug, his sex swelled and engorged.
