stairway to the seat of the gods.''
Royan rocked back on her heels and glanced down the long gallery.
'Something there perhaps. 'The false path that lies straight before me.
The hidden stairway'?'
'We are straining a bit now. Snapping at gnats like a hungry trout.'
She stood up and pushed the tendrils of sweaty hair off her forehead.
'Oh, Nicky. It's so discouraging. We don't even know where to begin.'
'Courage, lassie.' He feigned the cheerfulness he did not feel. 'We
begin at the beginning like your friend Taita said we must. Let me try
you with this one again.' He laced his hand over his heart like a
Victorian actor and emoted, ''The vulture rises on mighty pinions to
greet the sun'-'
She laughed softly at his clowning, and then her eyes wandered from his
face and passed over his shoulder.
Suddenly she started.
'The vulture!' she blurted, and pointed at the wall behind him.
He spun around and stared in the direction she was indicating.
There was the vulture, a magnificent image of the bird, the fierce eyes
glaring and the yellow beak hooked and spread wide, with each feather
ointed. Its wings were outlined in jewel-like colours. It stood as tall
as Nicholas, but its wing-spread covered half the wall. They stared at
it together, and then Royan lifted her eyes to the ceiliAg high above
where they stood. She touched his arm and motioned him to do the same.
'The sun!' she whispered. The golden sun disc of Ra was painted in the
highest portion of the roof. Its warmth seemed to illuminate the
shadows. Its rays spread out Mi every direction, but one of these beams
followed the curve of the wall and descended to envelop the vulture
image in its spreading luminosity.
''The vulture rises to greet the sun',' she repeated. 'Does Taita mean
it literally?'
He moved closer to the mural and examined it minutely, running his hands
over the wings and down its belly to the cruel curved talons. Beneath
the paint the plastered wall was smooth. There was no Projection or any
irregularity.
The head, Nicky. Look at the head of the bird!' She jumped up and tried
to reach it, but her fingers fell short and she turned to him with a
desperate edge to her voice.
'You do it - you are much taller than I am,' Only then did he see the
slight shadow down one side of the bird's head where the floodlamp
caught it, and as he touched it he realized that the head was in relief,
standing slightly above the level of the surrounding wall. He ran his
fingers over the raised head and found that the beak was part of the
relief.
'Can you feel any joint in the plaster?' Royan demanded.
He shook his head. 'No. It's smooth. It all seems to be part of the main
wall.'
''The vulture rises to greet the sun',, she insisted. 'Can't you detect
any movement? Try pushing the head upwards towards the sun painting.'
He placed the heel of his hand under the bulge of the head and pushed
upwards. 'Nothing!' he grunted.
