Sunbird (83 page)

^{Tanith stared at them, white-faced and afraid. She did not want to die. She wanted to cry out, 'Spare me. I am too young. I want just a little more happiness, just a little more love before I die.'}

^{The Divine Council filed from the chamber, leaving her alone. Now at last the tears flooded her eyes, and she cried out aloud, 'Huy, come to me! Please, come to me.'}

^{Huy struggled up through the glutinous dark swamp of exhausted sleep with the nightmare cry still echoing in his ears. It took him a while to remember where he was and to realize that he had dreamed the horror that had woken him.}

^{He lay in the sparse shade of the wild fig, and through the branches he saw the altitude of the sun and knew that they had slept for only an hour. His legs still felt leaden, his body torpid and completely enervated by two days of hard travel.}

^{He should sleep again for another three or four hours at the least, but the nightmare stayed with him, denying him rest.}

^{He pulled himself up on an elbow, surprised at the effort it required, but then remembering that he had run over two hundred Roman miles in two days. He looked at the remains of his escort, three of them, haggard-faced and finely drawn from their exertions, sleeping like dead men in the attitudes in which they had fallen. The other twelve had dropped along the way, unable to match the blistering pace which Huy had set.}

^{Huy heaved himself to his feet. He could not sleep, could not rest, while dread haunted him and the safety of his king and his land was in jeopardy.}

^{He limped stiffly down to the bed of the small stream, and knelt in the sugary white sand. He splashed his face and body with the clear water, soaking his tunic and beard, then he climbed the bank and looked at his sleeping men. He felt pity for them, pity that did not prevent him calling out, 'Up! On your feet! We march for Opet.'}

^{One of them could not wake, though Huy kicked his ribs and slapped his cheeks with an open hand. They left him lying, whimpering in his sleep.}

^{The other two dragged themselves up, groaning, moving with stiff sore legs, and the glazed expressions of fatigue.}

^{Huy walked the first half mile to loosen aching muscles, with the escort staggering after him.}

^{Then he went up onto his toes, changed the vulture axe from one shoulder to the other, and went away at a run, bouncing long-legged on a springy stride that covered the ground like the trot of an eland bull.}

^{One of the legionaries cried out as his leg collapsed under him and he went down sprawling in the dust. He was finished, and he lay there groaning with mortification and the pain of cramped and torn muscles.}

^{The other followed Huy, his steps firming as his legs loosened and charged with new blood.}

^{They ran the sun to its zenith, spurning the pitiless heat of the noonday, and they ran on into the afternoon.}

^{Ahead of them, low on the horizon, stood the perpetual bank of cloud which marked the Lake of Opet, a beacon of hope, and Huy ran with his face lifted to it, instinct guiding his feet and his will feeding his exhausted body, allowing him to run on when all physical strength was burned up.}

^{In the last low rays of the sun the walls and towers of Opet glowed with a warm rose colour and the surface of the lake was flaming gold that pained the eye.}

^{Huy plunged on down the caravan road, racing past other dusty travellers who pulled to the side of the track, calling after him as they recognized him.}

^{'Pray for us, Holy Father.'}

^{'Baal's blessing on you, Holiness.'}

^{Halfway down the pass of the cliffs that led to the lake shore and the city, the legionary who followed Huy shouted in a clear strong voice, 'Forgive me, Holy Father, I can go no farther.' And his knees buckled under him, he lost direction, blundering to the side of the track; his face contorted at the agony of his bursting heart, he went down face first and lay without movement, dead before he struck the ground.}

^{Huy Ben-Amon ran on alone, and the guard upon the palace gate of Opet saw him afar off, and they swung the gates open to welcome him.}

^{Tanith woke with gentle hands shaking her. There was a lamp burning beside her couch, and Aina leaned over her. Tanith saw that the old face was screwed up into a toothless grin, the monkey eyes twinkling in their web of ancient wrinkles.}

^{'Child, are you awake?'}

^{'What is it, Aina?' Tanith sat up quickly, her spirits leaping upwards like sparks from the bonfire of hope when she saw Aina's smile.}

^{'He is come! ' Aina told her jubilantly.}

^'Huy?'

^{'Yes, the Holy Father has come.'}

^{'Are you sure?' Tanith demanded.}

^{'I have heard it shouted in the streets. The whole city is agog. They say he ran from Zanat to Opet in three days, they say he killed fifteen men who tried to run with him. He broke their hearts and left them lying on the road,'}

^{'Oh, Aina.' Tanith embraced the old priestess, hugging her to her breast. 'If he came so fast, it must be because he knows.'}

^{'Yes, child. Of course he knows. Why else would he come with such speed? One of the ensigns would have reached him with my message. He knows all right,' Aina drooled and nodded her conviction. 'He knows!'}

^{'Where is he now?' Tanith was laughing with her excitement, 'Do you know where he is?'}

^{'With the king. He went straight to the palace.'}

^{'Oh, praise the goddess and all the gods,' breathed Tanith. 'He has gone to use his influence with the Gry-Lion. Do you think he will succeed, Aina? Will the king change his mind?'}

^{'Of course, child. Do you doubt it? If Huy Ben-Amon set his mind to it, he would make Baal himself change his mind.'}

^{'Oh, I am so happy, old mother.' Tanith clung to Aina, and they comforted each other in the night. Until at last Tanith drew away.}

^{'Go to him, Aina. Wait for him outside the palace. Tell him everything, and come back to me with his message.'}

^{As Aina was about to leave the chamber Tanith called after her, 'Tell him I love him. Tell him I love him better than life and all the gods.'}

^{'Hush,' said Aina, 'hush, child. Someone may hear you.'}

^{Alone, Tanith lay back on her couch and smiled.}

^{'I don't care,' she whispered 'Huy is here, and nothing else matters.'}

^{Lannon listened to Huy in rising consternation. His first thought when Huy had arrived unheralded and unexpected in the night was that he had somehow learned of the sacrifice at tomorrow's ceremony. He had considered refusing Huy an audience, considered all manner of evasion, but while he was considering it Huy had barged his way into Lannon's bedchamber past the startled and protesting guards.}

^{Lannon had risen naked from the side of his youngest wife, angry words shrivelled on his lips when he saw the state to which Huy was reduced.}

^{'Forgive me, Majesty. I carry dreadful tidings.}

^{Lannon stared at him, saw the filthy and dusty tunic, the unkempt hair and beard, the skull-like face from which the flesh had wasted, and the wild eyes in their bruised and sunken sockets.}

^{'What is it, Huy?' He went quickly to the priest, and steadied him with a brotherly arm.}

^{The Council of Nine, all the noble families of Opet, met in night session and they heard the report of Huy Ben-Amon in horrified silence. Only when he had croaked out the last of it and slumped wearily on his stool did the babble of fault-finding, and blame-laying, and self-pity and doubt begin.}

^{'We were told he was destroyed at Sett!'}

^{Huy said, 'You were told only that I slew 30,000 at Sett. I did not name them.'}

^{'How could such an army be recruited without our knowledge? Who is to blame?'}

^{Huy answered, 'It was recruited beyond our borders. No one is to blame.'}

^{'What of the mines - we must protect them.'}

^{Huy smiled wearily, 'That is what we intend.'}

^{'Why is there only one legion on the border?'}

^{Huy answered them grimly, 'Because you refused to vote the money for more.'}

^{They turned on him then, their words hammering through the fog of weariness.}

^{'How did you pass unscathed through the enemy lines?'}

^{'Was not this Timon once your protege?'}

^{'You know him well, you taught him, did you not?' And Huy looked at Lannon.}

^{'Enough!' Lannon's voice cut through the tirade. 'His Holiness has called the nation to war. He has shown me copies of the scrolls, and I am about to sign them in ratification.'}

^{'Should we not wait a while?' That was Philo, naturally, 'Are we not being too hasty?'}

^{'What will you wait for?' Huy demanded. 'Until they open your bowels with a spear-blade and cut off your testicles?'}

^{Lannon signed the war orders a little before dawn, and he dismissed the Council of Nine with the words:}

^{'We will meet again at noon, after the final ceremony of the Fruitful Earth. See to your arms and take leave of your families.'}

^{To Huy he spoke kindly when they were alone. 'Sleep here. There is nothing more you can do now.'}

^{He was too late. Huy was already asleep, slumped forward on the table with his head on his arms. Lannon picked him up from his stool, and carried him like a sleeping child to a guest chamber.}

^{He placed a sentry at the door.}

^{'No one must wake the Holy Father,' he instructed. 'No one! Do you understand?'}

^{It was almost dawn. The sacrifice would take place in a very few hours, and he knew that Huy was in a kind of death sleep that might last for many days. He left him, and went to bathe and dress for the procession.}

^{Aina lifted the hood of her cloak over her head, covering her face. She thrust her bony old hands into the wide sleeves, and leaned forward to blow out the lamp.}

^{She stood in the darkness, considering what she must do. She would not wait for the High Priest to leave the palace. Aina had access to the palace kitchens. The majordomo there was the grandson of her youngest sister, and she often went to eat there as a change from the temple fare. All the palace slaves knew her. It would be a simple matter to find out from one of them whereabouts in the rambling mud-walled building the High Priest was, an even simpler matter to get word to him.}

^{Quietly she drew the curtains of her cell aside, and peered out. There was a single torch guttering in its bracket at the end of the passage, but it threw only a feeble light and Aina did not see the dark figure waiting for her in a shadowy angle of the corridor until it came gliding towards her.}

^{'Not yet asleep, old woman?' a deep, almost masculine voice asked softly, and a strong hand closed on Aina's wrist.}

^{'Are you going visiting so late at night? Is it that you have heard of Huy Ben-Amon's return to Opet?'}

^{'No,' whimpered Aina. 'I swear it.' And she struggled feebly. With her free hand Sister Haka pushed the old priestess's hood back from her face and peered into her eyes.}