'I welcome you,' Taita responded. He saw at once that Kalulu was not a savant, but he threw a powerful, intense aura. From it, Taita could tell that he was an adept and a follower of the Truth. 'Let us go where we can speak in comfort and privacy.'
Kalulu swung himself into a handstand, the stubs of his severed legs pointing to the sky, and hopped down from the litter. He walked on his hands as though they were feet, twisting his head to one side so that he could talk up into Taita's face. 'I have been expecting you, Magus. Your approach has created a sharp disturbance on the ether. I have felt your presence grow stronger as you made your way up the river.' The women came after him, carrying the empty litter.
'This way, Kalulu,' Taita invited. When they reached his quarters, the women set down the litter, then backed away until they were out of earshot. Kalulu hopped back on to it and resumed his normal head-high position, squatting on his stumps. He looked around brightly at the camp, but when Fenn knelt before him to offer him a bowl of honey mead, he concentrated his attention on her.
'Who are you, child? I saw you in the firelight,' he said in the Tenmass.
She pretended not to understand and glanced at Taita.
'You may reply,' he told her. 'He is of the Truth.'
'I am Fenn, a novice to the magus.'
He looked at Taita. 'Do you vouch for her?'
'I do,' Taita replied, and the little man nodded.
'Sit beside me, Fenn, for you are beautiful.' She sat on the litter trustingly. Kalulu looked at Taita with piercing black eyes. 'Why did you call for me, Magus? What is the service you require from me?'
'I need you to take me to the place where the Nile is born.'
Kalulu showed no surprise. 'You are the one who I saw in my dreams.
You are the one I have waited for. I will take you to the Red Stones.
We will leave tonight when the wind drops and the waters are still. How many are in your party?'
'Thirty-eight, with Fenn and me, but we have much baggage.'
'Five more large canoes will follow me. They will be here before nightfall.'
'I have many horses,' Taita added.
'Yes.' The little dwarf nodded. 'They will swim behind the canoes. I have brought bladders of animal stomachs to support them.'
In the brief African twilight, as the last gusts of the wind died away, some of the troopers led the horses down to the shore and> in the shallow water, strapped an inflated bladder to each side of their girth ropes. While this was going on, the others loaded their equipment into the canoes. Kalulu's female bodyguards carried him on his litter to the largest canoe and placed him aboard. As the waters of the lake settled into a slick calm, they pushed out from the shore and headed into the darkness towards the great cross of stars that hung in the southern skies.
Ten horses were roped behind each canoe. Fenn sat in the stern, where she could call encouragement to Windsmoke and Whirlwind as they swam behind. The ranks of rowers plied their oars and the long, narrow hulls knifed silently through the dark waters.
Taita sat beside the litter on which Kalulu lay and they conversed quietly for a while. 'What is the name of this lake?'
'Semliki Nianzu. It is one of many.'
'How is it fed?'
'Previously two great rivers ran into it, one at the western end called Semliki, the other our Nile. Both come from the south, the Semliki from the mountains, the Nile from the great waters. That is where I am taking you.'
'Is it another lake?'
'No man knows if it is truly a lake or if it is the beginning of the great void.'
'This is where our Mother Nile is born?'
'Even so,' Kalulu agreed.
'What do you call this great water?'
'We call it Nalubaale.'
'Explain our route to me, Kalulu.'
'When we reach the far shore of Semliki Nianzu we will find the southerly limb of the Nile.'
'The picture I have in my mind is that the southerly limb of the Nile is where it flows into Semliki Nianzu. The northerly limb leaves this lake and flows north towards the great swamps. This is the branch of the Nile that has brought us thus far.'
'Yes, Taita. That is the wide picture. Of course, there are other minor rivers, tributaries and lesser lakes, for this is the land of many waters, but they all flow into the Nile and run to the north.'
'But the Nile is dying,' Taita said softly.
Kalulu was silent for a while, and when he nodded a single tear ran
down his wizened cheek, sparkling in the moonlight. 'Yes,' he agreed.
'The rivers that feed her have all been stoppered. Our mother is dying.'
