by Wilbur Smith
burst of Arabic on the radio. "I think that was Nogo himself speaking
just then."
"Call him up!" von Schiller ordered Helm, leaning over the back of his
seat. "Ask him if they have secured the tomb site yet."
Helm reached across and lifted the microphone off its hook below the
instrument panel. "Rose Petal, this is Bismarck. Do you copy?"
There was a pause filled with static, and then Nogo's voice Speaking
English. "Go ahead, Bismarck,'
"Have you secured the primary objective? Over."
"Affirmative, Bismarck. All secured. All opposition suppressed. I am
sending men down the ladder to clear the workings."
Helm swivelled in his seat to look back at von Schiller.
"Nogo has men in the chasm already. We can go in and land., "Tell him
not to let any of his men into the workings before I arrive,' von
Schiller ordered sternly, but his expression was triumphant. "I must be
the first in there.
Make him understand that."
While Helm relayed his orders to Nogo, von Schiller tapped the pilot on
the shoulder. "How long to the objective?"
"About five minutes'flying time, sir."
"Circle the site when you arrive. Don't land until we are sure Nogo has
it under his control."
The pilot lifted the collective and the sound of the rotors altered as
they changed pitch. The helicopter slowed and then hovered in mid-air,
while the pilot pointed down.
"What is it?" von Schiller followed his gesture. "What do you see?"
"The dam," Helm answered. Quenton-Flarper's dam.
He did a load of work down there."
The wide body of trapped water gleamed grey and sullen under the rain
clouds, tainted with the run-off from the highlands. The water diverted
into the side canal boiled white and angrily down into the long valley.
"Deserted!" Helm commented. "All Harper's men have pulled out."
"What is that yellow object on the bank?" von Schiller wanted to know.
"That's the earth-moving machine. You remember? My informer told us
about it."
"Don't waste any more time," von Schiller ordered.
"Nothing more to see here. Let's get on!'
Helm tapped the pilot's shoulder, and gestured downstream.
apper was waiting for them to catch up at the junction of the trail,
where the diverted river was roaring down the valley in a torrent and
had washed out a long section of the original track. The porters, strung
out in a long line down the valley, each with an ammunition crate
balanced on his head, were picking their way along the higher ground
above the water.
Tessay's litter was near the rear of the column, with Royan and Nicholas
trotting on each side of it and steadying it over the rough and uneven
sections of the path.
"Where is Hansith?" Nicholas shouted at SappeT, shading his eyes to
check the men ahead of him, and trying to pick out the big monk's
distinctive form from amongst the others in the caravan.
thought he was with you," Sapper shouted back. "I haven)
t seen him since we left the chasm., Nicholas turned and stared back the
way they had come, along the footpath through the Thorn forest.
"Damn the man," he grunted. "We can't go back to look for him. He will
have to make his own way down to the monastery."
At that moment they heard the faint but familiar flutter of rotors in
the hot, humid air below the lowering cloud masses.
"The Pegasus chopper! Sounds as though von Schiller is heading directly
for Taita's pool. He must have known all along exactly where we were
working," said Nicholas bitterly. "Not wasting any time. Like a vulture
coming in to a fresh carcass."
Royan was also looking up at the sound, trying to pick out the shape of
the aircraft against the dark clouds. Her OEM NOOF AL
, the tendrils of sweat-damp face was flushed from the ru hair dangled
down her cheeks. "If those swine are allowed to enter our tomb it will
be a dreadful desecration of a sacred place," she said angrily.
Nicholas reached-across the litter and took Suddenly determined. "You
are her arm. His expression'was stem an right. Go on down to the
monastery with Tessay. I will follow you later." Before she could
protest or question him, he strode across to Sapper.
"I am putting the two women in your care, Sapper.
Look after them."
"Where are you going, Nicky?" Royan had come up behind him, and
overheard his orders to Sapper. "What are you going to do?"
"One little chore. Won't take me long."
"You aren't going back there?" She was horrified. "You will get yourself
killed or worse. You saw what Helm did to Tessay-'
"Don't fuss yourself, my love," he laughed, and before she realized what
he intended he kissed her full on the lips.
While she was still flustered and confused by this display in front of
so many men, he pushed her gently away.
"Take care of Tessay. I will meet you at the boats." Before she could
protest further, he turned and struck out up the valley at a long-legged
lope which carried him over the rough terrain so swiftly that she had no
further chance to prevent him.
"Nicky!" she screamed after him despairingly, but he pretended not to
hear and kept going, following the diverted river upstream, back towards
the dam.
he jet Ranger followed the convoluted course of the river below the dam.
At moments they could look directly down into the narrow gap between the
high cliffs, into the shaded depths of the chasm, almost dry now, with
only the occasional gleam of the shrunken and still pools.
"There they are!" Helm pointed dead ahead. There was a small cluster of
men on the brink of the chasm.
"Make sure they aren't shufta!" There was fear in von Schiller's voice.
"No!" Helm reassured him loudly. "I recognize Nogo, and that tall one
beside him in the white shamnia is the monk Hansith Sherif, our
informer." He shouted above the engine beat at the pilot, "You can go in
and land. There!
Nogo is waving you in!'
The moment the skids of the helicopter touched the ground, both Nogo and
Hansith ran forward Between them they helped von Schiller down from the
passenger cabin and hustled him clear of the spinning rotors.
"My men have secured the area," Nogo assured him.
"We have driven the shufta down the valley towards the river. This man
is Hansith Sherif, who has been working beside Harper in the tomb. He
knows every inch of the tunnels."
"Does he speak English?" Von Schiller looked up at the tall monk
eagerly.
"A little bit," Hansith answered for himself.
"Good! Good!" Von Schiller beamed at him. "Show me the way. I will
follow You. Come on, Guddabi, it's about time you did some work for the
money I am paying you., Hansith led them quickly to the head of the
scaffolding, where von Schiller paused and looked down nervously into
the gloomy depths of the chasm, The bamboo framework seemed flimsy and
rickety, the drop deep and terrifying. Von Schiller was on the point Of
Protesting when Nahoot Guddabi whimpered behind him.
bolstered von Schiller immediately, and he turned on Nahoot with relish.
"It is the only access to the tomb. Follow the man down. I will be close
behind you., 1VjU,)t "Putul- YY(, When Nahoot still hesitated, Helm put
a calloused hand in the small of his back and shoved him forward.
"Get on with it. You are wasting time."
MD
Reluctantly Nahoot started down the affording after SC the monk, and von
Schiller followed him. The framework of bamboo shook and swayed under
their combined weight and the drop to the rocks below sucked at them,
but at last they reached the ledge beside Taita's pool. There they stood
in a small group, staring about them in awe and wonder. .
"Where is the tunnel?" von Schiller demanded as soon as he had regained
his breath, and Hansith beckoned to him to follow him to the wall of the
small coffer dam.
Here von Schiller paused and looked around at Helm and Nogo. "I want you
to remain on guard here. I will enter the tomb with Guddabi and this
monk. I will send for you when you are needed."
"I would feet happier to be with you, to protect you, Herr von
Schiller-' Helm began, but the old man frowned at him.
"Do as I tell you!" And with Hansith steadying him he climbed stiffly
down the wall of the coffer dam into the mouth of the tunnel. Nahoot
Guddabi followed him closely.
"The lights? Where does the power come from?" von to know.
Schiller wanted
"There is a machine," Hansith explained, and at that moment they heard
the soft burble of the generator ahead one of them spoke again as they
moved down of them. the entrance tunnel after Hansith, until they
reached the bridge over the dark waters of the sinkholes
"This is very rough construction," Nahoot muttered, his uneasiness at
last giving way to professional interest. "It tomb I have does not
remind me of any other Egyptian ever inspected. I think we may have been
misted. It is bably some native Ethiopian workings." pro
"You are making a premature judgement," von Schiller admonished him.
"Wait until we have seen the rest of what this man has to show us."
Von Schiller steadied himself with a hand on Hansith's shoulder as they
crossed the bobbing pontoons of baobab wood, and he scrambled ashore on
the far side with relief.
They started up the rising section of the tunnel and passed the
high-water mark.
As soon as the construction of the walls changed to packed and dressed
stone, Nahoot remarked on it. "Ah! I was disappointed at first. I
thought we had been duped, but now one can see the Egyptian influence."
They reached the landing outside the ruined gallery on which stood the
Honda generator. By -now both von Schiller and Nahoot were sweating with
exertion and trembling with excitement.
4Th is looks more and more promising. It may very well be a royal tomb,"
Nahoot exulted. Von Schiller pointed to the plaster seats stacked
against the -side wall where Nicholas and Royan had abandoned them.
Nahoot fell to his, knees beside them and examined them eagerly, his
voice trembling as he cried out.
The cartouche of Mamose, and the seal of the scribe Taita!" He looked up
at von Schiller with shining eyes, "There can be no doubts now. I have
led you to the tomb as I promised you I would."
For a moment von Schiller stared at him, speechless in the face of such
hare-faced arrogance. Then he snorted with disgust and stooped to peer
through the open doorway into the long gallery.
"This has been destroyed!" he cried in horror. "The tomb has been
annihilated."
"No, no!" Hansith assured him. "Come this way. There is another tunnel
beyond."
As they picked their way through the rubble and wreckage, Hansith told
them in halting, broken English AL
how the roof of the gallery had collapsed, and how he, Hansith, had
found the true entrance under the ruins.
Nahoot stopped every few paces to examine and exclaim over the scraps of
painted plaster that had survived the fall of the roof. "These must have
been magnificent.
Classical work of the highest order-'
"There is more to show you. Much more," Hansith promised them, and von
Schiller snarled at Nahoot.
"Leave these damaged sections now. Time is running out on us. We must
hurry on directly to the burial hamber."
Hansith led them up the hidden staircase into the maze of the bao, and
then through the twists and turns to the lowest level.
"How did Harper and the woman ever find their way through this?" von
Schiller marvelled. "It's a rabbit warren."
"Another concealed staircase!" Nahoot was amazed, and stuttered with
excitement as they descended into the gas trap where the ranks of
amphorae had stood undisturbed for thousands of years, and thn climbed
the last flight of stairs to the beginning of the funeral arcade.
Now both of them were stunned by the splendour of the murals and the
majesty of the great god images that guarded the length of the arcade.
They stood side by side unable to move, frozen with awe as they gazed
about them." $ "I never expected anything like this," von Schiller
whispered. "This exceeds anything that I ever hoped for."
"The rooms on each side are filled with treasures." Hansith pointed down
the arcade. "There are such things as you have never dreamed. Harper was
able to take very little with him - a few small boxes. He has left piles
of goods, stacks of chests."
"Where is the coffin? Where is the body that was in the tomb?" von
Schiller demanded.
"Harper has given the body, in its golden coffin, to the abbot. They
have taken it away to the monastery.
"Nogo will soon fetch it back for us, You need not worry about that,
Herr von Schiller," Nahoot assured him.
s though the spell that held them was shattered by this promise, they
started forward together, slowly at first, and then both of them began
to run. Von Schiller tottered into the nearest store room on his old,
stiff legs, and giggled like a child on Christmas morning as he gazed
upon the piled treasures. "Incredible!'
He dragged down one of the cedarwood chests from the nearest stack, and
ripped off the lid with trembling fingers. When he saw the contents he
was struck speechless.
He knelt over the chest and began to weep softly with emotion too
overwhelming to express in words.
/4, Nicholas was banking on the fact that Nogo's men would be driving
along the Cliff tops to reach Taita's pool, and that he would have a
free run up the course of the diverted stream to the dam site. He took
no precautions against running into them, other than to pause every few
minutes to listen and peer ahead. He knew that he had little time left
to him. He could not expect the rest of the party to wait for him at the
boats and endanger themselves for this whimsy of his.
Twice he heard automatic gunfire in the distance, coming from the
direction of the chasm, down towards the Po. Howeve
r, the chance he
took paid off, and he reached the dam site without running into a I ny
of Nogo's forces. He did not, however, push his luck too far. Before
approaching the dam openly, he climbed the hillside above it and
surveyed the area. It gave him time to recover from the hard run up the
valley, and to check that Nogo had not left men to guard the dam,
although he considered this unlikely.
He could see that the yellow front-loader tractor was still parked on
the bank high above the wall where Sapper MET &
had left it. He could also see no sign of any human presence, no armed
Ethiopian army guards. He grunted with relief and wiped the sweat out of
his eyes with his shirtsleeve.
Even with his naked eye he could see that the water was lapping the top
of the wall and squirting through the gaps and chinks between the
gabions. Yet from where he stood the wall still seemed to be holding
well, and it would need another foot rise in the level of the backed-up
river to overturn it.
"Well done, Sapper," he thought, grinning. "You did a hell of a job."
Nicholas studied the level of the river and the condition of the waters
that were being held back by the wall.
The flow down from the mountains was much stronger than when he had last
been here. The river bed was brimming from bank to bank, and some of the
trees and bushes at the edge were already partially submerged, bowing
and nodding as the swift current tugged at them. The flood was a sullen
grey colour, fast and hostile, swirling into the pond of the dam before
finding the outlet into the side channel and tearing down it, growling
like a wild animal released from its cage, brimming into spume and white
water as it felt the sharp fall into the valley.
Next he looked towards the escarpment of the gorge.
It was blotted out by banks of dark, menacing cloud that obscured the
northern horizon. At that moment a squall of wind swept over him, cold
with the threat of rain. He needed no further urging and started down
the slope towards the dam, slipping and sliding in his haste. Before he
reached the bottom, the squall of wind had turned to cold rain. It flung
needles into his face and plastered his shirt to his body.
He reached the tractor and scrambled up into the t. There was a moment
of panic when he driver's sea AL
Wor thought that Sapper might have removed the key from its
hiding-place under the seat. He srabbled for it for a few seconds until
