but lighter, and somehow fresher.
Then, more in imitation than expectation, she touched her lip to the golden rim and tilted the cup. A warm fluid met her tongue.
She gave a squeak of surprise and jumped back, almost dropping the cup. She steadied her hand and looked into the bowl which was now filled with a darkly gleaming crimson liquid.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Trembling, Cait closed her eyes and brought the cup to her lips. The dark liquid seemed to flow of itself over the rim of the cup and into her mouth. It bathed her tongue with a heavy sweetness like that of honeyed wine.
The taste so surprised her that she jerked the cup away. What was it the nuns had prayed, she wondered. The words came at once to her lips and she spoke them out:
'I believe, O God of all gods,
that Thou art the eternal Father of All Creation.
O Great King, aid Thou my soul,
with the aiding of Thy mercy,
with the aiding of Thy love,
with the aiding of Thy compassion;
Cover Thou my soul with Thy Swift Sure Hand.'
Raising the cup, she drank deep of the sweet, dark liquid. A quick warmth spread from her throat; it coursed through her body, flowing through her limbs to the tips of her fingers and toes. Her heart beat faster.
Cait looked again into the cup to see that it now contained more of the liquid than it had when she had first drunk. Her breath came faster and her temples throbbed. A strange distress crept over her; unseen needles pricked her throat and breast. What have I done? she thought.
Her breath came now in quick bursts and gasps. Fearing she might drop the sacred vessel, she carefully replaced the cup on the altar, and made to step away. Remembering the candle, she reached for it, and saw that her hand was marked by a delicate tracery of tiny lines that seemed to glow from beneath her skin-as if instead of blood her veins now pulsed with living light.
Thrusting her hand behind her, as if hiding it from sight would conceal what she had done, she closed her eyes, but-wonder of wonders!-she could now see through her eyelids. The world was vastly altered: for instead of a mountain cavern and rough stone altar, she stood alone in the centre of a low-ceilinged room. A single large window opened on to an early twilight sky where a solitary star was shining.
The objects in the room, and the room itself, possessed the distinctive clarity of a dream. All the same, she did not feel as if she was asleep; all her senses were keen and sharp-never had she been so aware, so alert, so alive.
The room in which she stood was large, and before her a low table was prepared for a meal. It was surrounded by rugs and cushions in the Eastern manner, and spread with a fine blue cloth; there were bowls of various sizes, and jars of several shapes and kinds, but there was no food.
Through the open window a soft breeze was blowing, and she could hear the dull clinking of a cattle bell outside. The soft evening air held the scent of the East, of sun-baked earth, of sandalwood and jasmine.
Stepping around the table, she moved to the window and peered out. The room overlooked the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, some of which had small palm trees in pots, or booths of striped cloth stretched over wooden frames. She heard the bell again and looked down into the narrow street below, where a shepherd in a ragged cloak herded a small flock of sheep led by a shaggy, long-necked goat.
From further up the street came the sound of laughter. A group of men entered the street-six or eight of them together-dark-haired, bearded, all dressed in loose, belted robes, and each carrying a cloak of light material rolled upon his shoulder. They walked with the easy familiarity of brothers, or soldiers; full of bluster and confidence, jostling one another good-naturedly; one or two had their arms around the shoulders of their fellows. They were happy, laughing, talking loudly, luxuriating in the exuberance of their companionship.
Cait envied their enthusiasm-so light, so effusive. Men and sheep met in the middle of the street, and there was a momentary impasse, before one of the men gave out a shout and stamped his feet, which sent the sheep leaping over one another in a frantic effort to get by. The shepherd cried out in alarm, and shaking his staff at the raucous youths he ran after his flock. The men bleated like sheep, and continued on up the street, arriving beneath Cait's window, where they stopped.
Not wishing to be seen, she backed away, and a moment later heard voices in the house in the room below her. Then she heard feet on wooden steps and the voices grew louder. They were coming up!
She spun around, searching for a place to hide, and saw, at the far end of the room, one of two wooden pillars which supported the central roof beam; beside one of the pillars stood a large woven reed basket containing rolled-up rugs. Moving to the pillar, she slipped behind it, as the company trooped into the room, talking all the while in a language Cait could not understand.
They were dark-skinned young men, most with short dark beards and long hair, which some of them wore neatly plaited with curled sidelocks at either temple, and others loose in a shaggy mane. Some of them, she saw, carried cloth bags which they proceeded to empty on to the table: bread in large, flat rounds, dried fish, and grapes. More voices sounded from the street. One of the men leaned out of the window and shouted down to those below as feet pounded on the stairs, and more men burst happily into the room to be welcomed by their fellows.
Sacks of food were produced, and jars of oil in carriers of knotted grass. Cait became aware of the smell of roasting meat, and two men appeared, carrying a whole spitted lamb on an enormous wooden platter. They had no sooner set down the roast lamb when three more men came in bearing a huge open jug of wine, into which the jars on the table were immediately plunged. Several women arrived, dressed in similar fashion to the men; the cloth of their garments was finer stuff, however, and more brightly coloured, and they wore flowers in their long, black hair. Some brought bowls heaped high with blue-black olives, and others bowls of dates stuffed with almonds.
The room was soon full of people, and still more were crowding in. With everyone talking at once the sound was a noisy babble, but the commotion served to lessen Cait's fear of discovery. Plucking up her courage, she moved to stand beside the pillar as the festivities commenced. Everywhere men and women were talking, quickly, excitedly, eyes and teeth glinting with laughter. Suddenly one of the young men approached Cait's pillar and pulled a rolled-up rug from the basket. She made to step behind the pillar once more, but the fellow merely smiled at her and hurried away.
The talking and laughter continued unabated, but Cait sensed a change in the room. Like an eddy in a swift- running stream, the happy commotion suddenly swirled with new intensity and depth, and the room suddenly seemed brighter. She felt a shiver of excitement course through the gathering-as when the king arrives in a Yuletide hall, or the bride appears at a wedding party.
She searched for the source of the commotion, and saw that more celebrants had entered and were clustered in a tight knot by the door. She strained for a glimpse of who it might be; then the crowd parted and he stepped into the room.
He wore a simple belted mantle, the sleeves of which were rolled up to the elbows. Like the other young men, his cloak was folded on his shoulder, but where the others favoured the brighter colours, his was the pale, unassuming grey of day-labourers and the poor. His beard was dark and curly, his brow even, his swarthy skin darkened by long days in the sun. His eyes were large and deep-set, his glance quick and keen.
'Master! Yeshua!' called one of the young men. 'How do you like the room we have found for you?'
'You have done well, Nathanael,' replied the master.
It was just as you said it would be.'
'Yeshua…' Cait whispered the name under her breath.
