'I shall begin again,' Taita told him. 'You are Soe?'
'Yes,' he grated, through clenched teeth. His aura burned steadily.
Truth, Taita confirmed silently.
'You are an Egyptian?'
Soe kept his mouth closed and stared at him sullenly.
Taita nodded at Shabako. 'The other leg.'
'I am,' Soe answered quickly. His aura remained unchanged. Truth.
'You preached to Queen Mintaka?'
'Yes.' The truth again.
'You have promised her that you will bring her dead children back to life?'
'No.' Soe's aura was suddenly shot through with greenish light.
The sign of a lie, Taita thought. He had the yardstick against which to measure Soe's next replies.
'Forgive my lack of hospitality, Soe. Are you thirsty?'
Soe licked his dry, cracked lips. 'Yes!' he whispered. Clearly the truth.
'Where are your manners, Colonel Meren? Bring our honoured guest some water.'
Meren grinned and went to the waterskin. He filled a wooden drinking bowl, and came back to kneel beside Soe. He held the brimming bowl to the parched lips, and Soe gulped huge mouthfuls. Coughing, gasping and panting in his eagerness, he drained the bowl. Taita gave him a few moments to regain his breath.
'So, are you scurrying back to your mistress?'
'No,' mumbled Soe. The green tinge to his aura marked the lie.
'Is her name Eos?'
'Yes.' Truth.
'Do you believe she is a goddess?'
'The only goddess. The one supreme deity.' The truth again, very much so.
'Have you come face to face with her?'
'No!' Lie.
'Has she allowed you to gqima her yet?' Deliberately Taita used the coarse soldier's word to provoke the man. The original meaning had been 'to run', which was what a soldier in a victorious army had to do to catch the womenfolk of the defeated enemy.
'No!' It was shouted with fury. Truth.
'Has she promised to gijima you when you have obeyed all her commands, and secured Egypt for her?'
'No.' It was said softly. Lie. Eos had offered him a reward for his loyalty.
'Do you know where she has her lair?'
'No.' Lie.
'Does she live near a volcano?'I 'No.' Lie.,!
'Does she live beside a great lake in the south beyond the swamps?'
'No.' Lie.
'Is she a cannibal?'
'I do not know.' Lie.
'Does she devour human infants?'
“I do not know.' Lie again.
'Does she lure wise and powerful men into her lair, then strip them of all their knowledge and powers before she destroys them?'
'I know nothing of this.' A great and veritable lie.
'How many men has she copulated with, this whore of all the worlds?
A thousand? Ten thousand?'
'Your questions are blasphemous. You will be punished for them.'
'As she punished Demeter, the magus and savant? On her behalf, did you send the toads to attack him?'
'Yes! He was an apostate, a traitor. It was a judgement he richly deserved. I will listen no longer to your filth. Kill me, if you like, but I will say no more.' Soe struggled against the ropes that held him. His breathing was hoarse and his eyes were wild. The eyes of a fanatic.
'Meren, our guest is overwrought. Let him rest awhile. Then peg him out where the morning sun can warm him. Take him outside the camp, but not so far that we cannot hear him sing when he is ready to converse once more, or when the hyenas find him.'
