‘I tried not to, Ben. I swear to you.’‘
‘It’s all right, Sally.’
‘I couldn’t help it, truly. I tried so hard to fight it. I didn’t want it to happen.’ She was crying now, silently, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said, and went to her. I took her gently to her room and put her on the bed. In the light I saw how her lips were swollen and kiss-inflamed.
‘Oh, Ben, I would have given anything for it to be different.’
‘I know, Sally.’
‘I tried so hard, but it was too much for me. He had me in some kind of spell, from the very first moment I saw him.’
‘That evening at the airport?’ I could not help but ask the question, remembering how she had watched Louren that first time she met him and how later she had ranted against him.
‘That’s why - later, with me - that’s why we—’ I did not want to hear her answer, and yet I must know if she had first come to me inflamed with thoughts of another man.
‘No, Ben.’ She tried to deny it, but she saw my eyes, and turned her face away. ‘Oh, Ben, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you.’
‘Yes,’ I nodded.
‘I truly didn’t want to hurt you. You are so good, so gentle, so different from him.’ There were dark shadows of sleeplessness beneath her eyes, and the peach-coloured velvet of her cheeks was rubbed pink by Louren’s unshaven skin.
‘Yes,’ I said with my heart breaking.
‘Oh, Ben, what shall I do?’ she cried in distress. ‘I am caught in this thing. I cannot escape.’
‘Does Lo - has he said what he is going to do? Has he, told you he, well, that he will leave Hilary, and marry you?’
‘No.’ She shook her head.
‘Has he given you reason—’
‘No! No!’ She caught my hand. ‘Oh, Ben. It’s just fun for him. It’s just a little adventure.’
I said nothing, watching her lovely tortured face, glad at least that she knew about Louren. Realized that he was a hunter and she the quarry. There had been many Sallys in Louren’s life, and there would be many more. The lion must kill regularly.
‘Is there anything I can do, Sally?’ I asked at last.
‘No, Ben. I don’t think so.’
‘If there is, tell me,’ I said and moved towards the door.
‘Ben,’ she stopped me, and sat up, ‘Ben, do you still love me?’
I nodded without hesitation. ‘Yes,
‘Thank you, Ben,’ she sighed softly. ‘I don’t think I could have taken it if you had turned away from me.’
‘I’ll never do that, Sally,’ I said, and walked out into the lemon and rose glow of dawn.
Louren and I descended the staircase beyond the sun image. We went first to the treasure vault. While Louren gloated over the stacks of golden fingers, I watched his face. I was lightheaded from lack of sleep, and I could taste the spirits I had drunk in the back of my throat. Watching Louren, I tried to find hatred for him in my heart, I searched diligently without success. When he looked up and smiled at me, I could not but answer him with a smile.
‘This will keep, Ben,’ he said, ‘Let’s go and have a look at the rest of it.
I had guessed what we would find beyond the junction of the tunnels, and once we had descended the last spiralling stairs and come into another short level passage I had my last doubts dispelled.
The passage ended against another solid stone wall. Here, however, there was no attempt at concealment, for carved into the stone was an inscription. We stood before it, and Louren held the arc-lamp full upon it.
‘What does it say?’ he asked.
I read it through slowly. Even with all my practice I read slowly, for in Punic there are no symbols for the vowels and each must be guessed from the context of the word.
‘Come on,’ Louren muttered impatiently.
‘“You who come here to interrupt the sleep of the kings of Opet, and to despoil their tomb, do so at your peril, and may the curse of Astarte and great Baal hound you to your own graves.”’
‘Read it again,’ Louren commanded, and I did. He nodded.
‘Yes,’ he said, and stepped to the stone door. He began to seek the pivot point which we knew would trigger the mechanism. Here we were not so fortunate as we had been at the threshold of the sun door. After two hours, our way was still barred by that solid slab of uncompromising stone.
‘I’m going to blow the bloody thing open,’ Louren warned, but I knew he would not commit such an atrocity in this sacred place. We rested and discussed the problem, before returning to the door. It had to be another simple leverage system, but the trick was to find the pressure point and the angle of movement.
When we found it at last, I cursed my own stupidity. It should have been my first attempt. The symbol for the name of the sun-god Baal was once more the pressure point.
