'They bought black goats and black fowls from us. They were very particular about the colour. They had to be pure black. They took them into the temple. I heard singing, and afterwards I saw smoke and smelt burnt flesh.'
'What else?' Taita insisted.
Kalulu thought for a moment. 'One of the priests died. I do not know why. The other eight carried his body to the lakeside. They laid it naked on the sand. Then they retreated up the slope of the bluff. From there they watched as the crocodiles came out of the lake and dragged it under the waters.' The dwarf made a gesture of finality. 'Within weeks another priest arrived at the temple.'
'Coming from the west again?' Taita hazarded.
'I know not, for I did not see him arrive. One evening there were eight, the next morning there were nine once more.'
'So the number of priests was significant. Nine. The cipher of the Lie.'
Taita mused for a while then asked, 'What happened after that?'
'For more than two years the routine of the priests was maintained.
Then 1 was aware that something of consequence was about to take place. They lit five beacon fires around the temple and kept them burning day and night for many months.'
'Five fires,' Taita said. 'At what positions did they set them?'
I
'.
'There are five stele built into the outer wall. Did you remark them?'
Kalulu asked.
'Yes. They form the points of a great pentagram, the mystical design over which the temple stands.'
'I have never been inside the temple. I know nothing of any pentagram.
I know only that the fires were placed at the five points around the outer wall,' Kalulu told them.
'Was that all that occurred which was untoward?'
'Then another person joined the brotherhood.'
'Another priest?'
'I think not. This person was clad in black, not red. An airy black veil covered the features, so I was unable to tell with any certainty if it was male or female. However, from the shape of the figure beneath the robes and the grace of its movement I thought it might be a woman. She emerged from the temple each morning at sunrise. She prayed before each of the five fires, then returned to the temple precincts.'
'Did you ever see her face?'
'She was always veiled. She moved with an ethereal, haunting grace.
The other priests treated her with the greatest reverence, prostrating themselves before her. She must have been the high priestess of their sect.'
'Did you observe any significant signs in the heavens or in nature while she inhabited the temple?'
'Indeed, Magus, there were many strange celestial signs. On the day I first saw her pray at the temple fires, the evening star reversed its track through the skies. Shortly thereafter another insignificant and unnamed star swelled up into monstrous proportion and was consumed by flames.
During all her tenure in the temple strange lights of many colours danced in the northern night sky. All these omens flew in the face of nature.'
'Do you believe they were the works of the veiled woman?'
'I say only that they occurred when she arrived. It may have been mere happenstance, I do not know.'
'Was that all?' Taita asked.
Kalulu shook his head firmly. 'There was more. Nature seemed plunged into turmoil. Our crops in the field turned yellow and withered. The cattle aborted their calves. The paramount chief of our tribe was bitten by a snake and died almost at once. His senior wife gave birth to a son with two heads.'
'Dire omens.' Taita looked grave.
'There was worse to follow. The weather was disturbed. A mighty
wind blew through our town on the hill, and ripped off the roofs.1 A fire destroyed the tribal totem hut and consumed the relics and jujus of our ancestors. Hyenas dug up the corpse of the paramount chief and devoured it.'
'This was a direct onslaught on your people, your ancestors and your religion,' Taita murmured.
'Then the earth moved and shook itself like a living beast under our feet. The waters of the lake leapt into the air, boiling white and furious.
The fish shoals disappeared. The lake birds flew away towards the west. The waves crushed our canoes where they lay upon the beaches.
They ripped out our fishing nets. The people begged me to intercede with the angry gods of our tribe.'
'What could you do in the face of the elements?' Taita wondered.
'They had set you a daunting task.'
