'I want her,' von Schiller said. 'Bring her here. Helm will speak to
-her. I am sure he will be able to make her AN, see reason.'
is an important person. er family has muc influence.' Nogo thought
about it for a moment. 'But on the other hand, she has been consorting
with a notorious bandit. That is all the reason I need for bringing her
in.
I will send a detachment of my men, under one of my most trusted
officers, to arrest her immediately.' He hesitated. 'If the woman is
questioned severely, it would be as well that she were not allowed to
return to her friends in Addis. They could make trouble for all of us.
Even for you, Herr von Schiller.'
'What do you propose?' von, Schiller wanted to know.
'When she has answered your questions, there will have to be a little
accident,'Nogo suggested.
'Do what is necessary,' von Schiller ordered. I will leave the details
to you, but make sure that if it is necessary to dispose of the woman it
is done property. I have had enough bungling.' As he spoke these words
he looked across at Nahoot Guddabi, who lowered his gaze and flushed
angrily.
They had spent almost two full days at the shrine of Osiris in the long
gallery. No ancient worshipper had ever studied the texts upon those
walls more avidly than Nicholas and Royan, or examined the flamboyant
murals of the great god with more minute attention They took it in turn
to recite aloud the extracts from the stele of Tanus that Royan had
picked out and recorded in her notebooks, repeating them until they knew
each station by heart. While one read aloud, the other quo concentrated
his or her full attention upon the walls, trying to discover some
connecting link.
''My love is a flask of cold water in the desert. My love is a banner
unfurling in the breeze. My love is the first shout of the newborn
infant,'' Nic as rea Royan looked up at him from where she squatted
attentively before the shrine, and smiled. 'At times Taita was really
rather cute, wasn't he?' she said. 'Such a romantic.'
'Concentrate, for heaven's sake. This isn't a poetry appreciation class.
We are doing serious business here.'
'Barbarian!' she muttered under her breath, but turned back to the wall
of inscriptions.
'Try this one again,' Nicholas ordered, and read out, ''We he in the
vale of a thousand joinings, of infant to mother, of man to woman, of
friend to friend, of teacher to pupil, of sex to sex.''
'That's the third time you have picked out that particular quotation
this morning. What is there about it that appeals to you so strongly?'
She did not look up at him, but the back of her neck turned a ruddier
shade of red.
Sorry! Thought you might find that one as romantic as the other,' he
mumbled. 'Let's try this one then. 'I have suffered and loved. I have
withstood the wind and the storm.
The arrow pierced my flesh but did not harm me. I have eschewed the
false path that lies straight before me. I have taken the hidden
