'I am so pleased to see you, Magus. I was about to send a messenger to Thebes to find you and tell you that Brother Nubank has worked on your request with great industry. He is ready to deliver his findings to you. But you have anticipated me.' She beamed in a motherly fashion at Taita.
'You are a thousand times welcome. The temple maidens are preparing a chamber for you in the men's quarters. You must stay with us as long as you wish. I look forward to your learned discourses.'
'You are kind and gracious, Mother. I am in company with another magus of great learning and reputation.'
'He, too, is welcome. Your retainers will be given shelter and sustenance in the grooms' quarters.'
They dismounted and, Meren supporting Demeter, entered the temple.
They paused before the image of Hathor, the goddess of joy, motherhood and love, in the main hall. She was depicted in the form of an enormous piebald cow, its horns bedecked with a golden moon. The priestess offered a prayer, then summoned a novice to lead Taita and Demeter along a cloister into the priests' area of the temple. He took them to a small stone-walled cell, where rolled sleeping mats lay against the far wall with bowls of water for them to refresh themselves.
'I will return to take you to the refectory at the dinner hour. Brother Nubank will meet you there.'
A round fifty priests were already eating when they entered the J—- refectory, but one man leapt to his feet and hurried to meet ¦A- JLthem. 'I am Nubank. You are welcome.' He was tall and lean, with cadaverous features. In these hard times there were few corpulent figures in Egypt. The meal was frugal: a bowl of pottage and a small jug of beer. The company was subdued and ate mostly in silence, with the exception of Nubank, who never stopped talking. His voice was grating and his manner pompous.
'I do not know how we will survive the morrow,' Taita said to
Demeter, when they were back in their cell and settling to sleep. 'It will be a long day, listening to good Brother Nubank.'
'But his knowledge of geography is exhaustive,' Demeter pointed Out.
'You employ the correct adjective, Magus.' Taita turned on his side.
The sun had not risen when a novice came to summon them to breakfast. Demeter seemed weaker, so Meren and Taita helped him gently to rise from his mat.
'Forgive me, Taita. I slept poorly.'
'The dreams?' Taita asked, in Tenmass.
'Yes. The witch is closing in on me. I cannot find strength much longer to resist her.'
Taita had also been plagued by dreams. In his, the python had returned. Now its feral stench lingered in his nostrils and at the back of his throat. But he concealed his misgivings, and showed Demeter a confident mien. 'We still have far to travel together, you and I.'
Breakfast was a small hard dhurra loaf and another jug of weak beer.
Brother Nubank resumed his monologue where it had been interrupted the night before. Fortunately the meal was soon consumed and, with some relief, they followed Nubank through the cavernous halls and cloisters to the temple library. It was a large, cool room, devoid of decoration or ornament other than the towering banks of stone shelves that covered every wall from the floor to the high ceiling; they were loaded with papyrus scrolls, of which there were several thousand.
Three novices and two senior initiates were waiting for Brother Nubank. They stood in a row, their hands clasped in front of them, a submissive attitude. They were Nubank's assistants. There was good reason for their trepidation: Nubank treated them in a hectoring manner and did not hesitate to voice his displeasure or contempt in the harshest, most insulting terms.
When Taita and Demeter were seated at the long, low central table, piled with papyrus scrolls, Nubank began his lecture. He proceeded to enumerate every volcano and every thermal phenomenon in the known world, whether or not it was situated near a large body of water. As he named each site, he sent a terrorized assistant to fetch the appropriate scroll from the shelves. In many cases this involved the ascent of a rickety ladder, while Nubank goaded them on with a string of abuse.
When Taita tried tactfully to truncate this tedious procedure by referring the man to his original request, Nubank nodded blandly and continued remorselessly with his prepared recitation.
One unfortunate novice was Nubank's preferred victim. He was a misshapen creature: no part of his body seemed without fault or deformation.
His shaven scalp was elongated, covered with flaking skin and a vivid rash. His brow bulged over small, close- set, pale crossed eyes. Large teeth protruded through the gap in his harelip and he dribbled when he spoke, which was not often. His chin receded so sharply that it barely existed, a large mulberry birthmark adorned his left cheek, his chest was sunken and his back mountainously hunched. His legs were thin as sticks, bowed and carried him in a sideways scuttle.
In the middle of the day a novice arrived to summon them to the refectory for the midday repast. Half starved as they were, Nubank and his assistants responded with alacrity. During the meal Taita became aware that the hunchbacked novice was making furtive attempts to catch his eye. As soon as he saw that he had Taita's attention, he stood up and hurried to the door. There, he glanced back and jerked his head to indicate that he wanted Taita to follow him.
Taita found the little fellow waiting for him on the terrace. Again the man beckoned, then vanished into the opening of a narrow passage.
Taita followed, and soon found himself in one of the small temple courtyards. The walls were covered with bas-reliefs of Hathor and there was a statue of the Pharaoh Mamose. The man cowered behind it.
'Great Magus! I have something to tell you that might be of interest to you.' He prostrated himself as Taita went to him.
'Stand up,' Taita told him kindly. 'I am not the king. What is your name?' Brother Nubank had referred to the little priest only as 'you thing'.
