The Quest tes-4

by Wilbur Smith

  He felt tired and depressed by the long, difficult journey up the mountain, and the strain of watching the operation. He took the sliver of red stone from the pouch on his belt, and studied it again. It appeared commonplace but he was aware that this was deceptive. The tiny red crystals sparkled and seemed to emit a warm glow that repelled him. He stood up, walked to the water's edge and drew back his arm to toss the fragment into the lake. But before he could do so there was a weighty disturbance in the depths as though a monster lurked there. He jumped back in alarm. At the same moment a cold wind fanned the back of his

  neck. He shivered and glanced round, but saw nothing alarming. The gust had passed as swiftly as it had come, and the still air was soft and warm once more.I He looked back at the water as a ring of ripples spread across the surface. Then he remembered the crocodiles they had seen earlier. He looked at the fragment of red stone in his hand. It seemed innocuous, but he had felt the cold wind and he was uneasy. He dropped the stone into his pouch and started back across the lawn.

  In the middle he paused again. With all the other distractions, this was the first opportunity he had had to study the front of the sanatorium.

  The block that contained Meren's room was at one end of the main complex. He could see five other larger blocks. Each was separated from its neighbours by a terrace over which a pergola supported vines with bunches of grapes. In this crater everything seemed fecund and fruitful.

  He felt certain that the buildings contained many extraordinary scientific marvels that had been discovered and developed here over the centuries.

  He would take the first opportunity to explore them thoroughly.

  Suddenly he was distracted by feminine voices. When he looked back he saw the three dark-skinned girls they had encountered earlier, returning along the beach. They were fully clothed and wore crowns of wild flowers in their hair. They still seemed full of high spirits. He wondered if during their picnic in the forest they had imbibed a little too deeply of the good wine of Jarri. They ignored him and went on down the beach until they were opposite the last block of buildings. Then they turned across the lawns and disappeared inside. Their unrestrained behaviour intrigued him. He wanted to speak to them: they might help him understand what was happening in this strange little world.

  However, the sun was already disappearing and the clouds were gathering. A light drizzle began to fall. It was cold on his upturned face.

  If he was to speak to the women, he must hurry. He set off after them.

  Half-way across the lawns his steps slowed, and his interest in them wavered. They are of no consequence, he thought. I should rather be with Meren. He stopped and looked up at the sky. The sun had gone behind the crater wall. It was almost dark. The thought of speaking to the women, which had seemed imperative only a short time before, slipped from his mind as though it had been erased. He turned away from the building and hurried to Meren's sickroom. Meren sat up when Taita entered and smiled wanly.

  'How do you feel?' Taita asked.

  'Perhaps you were right, Magus. These people seem to have helped

  me. There is little pain, and I am feeling stronger. Tell me what they did to me.'

  Taita opened his pouch and showed him the stone fragment. 'They removed that from inside your head. It had mortified and was the cause of your troubles.'

  Meren reached out to take the stone, then jerked his hand back.

  'So small, but so evil. That foul thing has taken my eye. I want nothing to do with it. In the name of Horus, throw it away, far away.' But Taita slipped it back into his pouch.

  A servant brought them their evening meal. The food was delicious, and they ate with appetite and enjoyment. They ended the meal JL JLwith a bowl of some hot beverage, which helped them to sleep soundly. Early the next morning, Hannah and Gibba returned. When they lifted the dressing from Meren's eye they were pleased to see that the swelling and inflammation had subsided.

  'We will be able to proceed in three day's time,' Hannah told them.

  'By then the wound will have settled but it will still be sufficiently open to accept the seeding.'

  'Seeding?' Taita asked. 'Learned sister, I do not understand the procedure you are describing. I thought you were planning to replace the missing eye with one made of glass or stone. What are the seeds you speak of now?'

  'I may not discuss the details with you, Brother Magus. Only adepts of the Guild of the Cloud Gardens are privy to this special knowledge.'

  'It is natural that I am disappointed not to learn more, for I am impressed with the skills you have demonstrated. This new discovery sounds even more exciting. I look forward at least to observing the end results of your new procedure.'

  Hannah frowned slightly as she replied, 'It is not correct to describe this as a new procedure, Brother Magus. It has required the dedicated labours of five generations of surgeons here at the Cloud Gardens to bring it so far. Even now it is not yet perfected, but each day brings us closer to our goal. However, I am certain that it will not be long before you may join our Guild and take part with us in this work. I am certain also that your contribution will be unique and invaluable. Of course, if there is anything else you wish to know that is not forbidden to those outside the Inner Circle, I will be happy to discuss it with you.'

  'Indeed, there is something that I would like to ask.' The thought of the girls he had first seen by the pool in the forest, then again as they returned along the beach to the sanatorium in the rain, had been lutking in the back of his mind. This seemed a good opportunity to learn more about them. But before the question reached his lips it started to fade.

  He made an effort to hold on to it. 'I was going to ask you . ..' He rubbed his temples as he tried to recall the question. Something about the women … He tried to grasp it, but it blew away like morning mist at the rise of the sun. He sighed with annoyance at his foolishness. 'Forgive me, I have forgotten what it was.'

  'Then it could not have been of any great importance. It will probably come back to you later,' Hannah said, as she rose to her feet. 'On a different subject, Magus, I have heard that you are a botanist and herbalist of great learning. We are proud of our gardens. If you would like to visit them, I would be delighted to act as your guide.'

  Taita passed most of the following days exploring the Cloud Gardens with Hannah. He expected to be shown much of interest, but his hopes were exceeded a hundredfold. The gardens, which extended over half the area of the crater, were filled with a vast multitude of plant species from every climatic region on earth.

  'Our gardeners have gathered them over the centuries,' Hannah explained. 'They have had all that time to develop their skills and understand the needs of every species. The waters that bubble up in the springs are laden with riches, and we have constructed special barns in which we are able to manage the climate.'

  'There must be more to it than that.' Taita was not completely satisfied. 'It does not explain how giant lobelia and tree-heaths, which are plants of the high mountains, can grow beside teak and mahogany, trees of the tropical jungles.'

  'You are perceptive, Brother,' Hannah conceded, 'and correct. There is more to it than warmth, sunlight and nutrients. When you enter the Guild you will begin to realize the magnitude of the marvels we have here in Jarri. But you must not expect instant enlightenment. We are discussing a thousand-year accumulation of knowledge and wisdom.

  Nothing so precious can be obtained in a day.' She swung round to face him. 'Do you know how long I have lived in this life, Magus?'

  'I can see that you are a Long Liver,' he replied.

  'As are you, Brother,' she replied, 'but I was already old on the day you were born, and I am still a novice to the Mysteries. I have enjoyed your company, these last few days. We often allow ourselves to become

  isolated in the rarefied intellectual climes of the Cloud Gardens, so talking to you has been a tonic as efficacious as any of our herbal preparations. However, we must go back now. I must make the final a
rrangements for tomorrow's procedure.'

  They parted at the gates to the garden. It was still early in the afternoon and Taita made his way round the lake at a leisurely pace.

  From one spot there was a particularly splendid vista across the full length of the crater. When he came to it, he sat on a fallen tree-trunk and opened his mind. Like an antelope sniffing the air for the scent of the leopard, he searched the ether for any trace of a malicious presence.

  There was none that he could discern. It was tranquil, yet he knew this might be an illusion: he must be close to the witch's lair, for all the psychic signs and auguries pointed to her presence. This hidden crater would make her a perfect stronghold. The many wonders he had already discovered here might be the product of her magic. Hannah had hinted at it less than an hour ago when she had said, 'There is more to it than warmth, sunlight and nutrients.'

  In the eye of his mind he saw Eos sitting patiently at the centre of her web like a monstrous black spider, waiting for the faintest quiver on the gossamer strands before she sprang at her prey. He knew that those invisible meshes were spread for him, that he was already trapped among them.

  Until now he had been testing the ether passively and quietly. He had been tempted to make a cast for Fenn, but he knew that if he did so he might invite the witch in her place. He could not put Fenn in such danger, and he was about to close his mind, when he was struck by a tidal wave of psychic turmoil that made him cry out and clutch his temples. He reeled and almost lost his seat on the log.

  Somewhere close to where he sat a tragedy was being played out. It was difficult for his mind to accept such sorrow and suffering, such utter evil, as rushed across the ether to him almost overwhelming him. He struggled against it, like a drowning swimmer fighting a riptide in the open ocean. He thought he was going under, but then the turmoil abated. He was left with a dark sadness that such a terrible event had touched him and he had been helpless to intervene.

  It was a long time before he recovered sufficiently to stand up and set off along the path towards the clinic. As he came out on to the beach he saw another disturbance taking place near the middle of the lake.

  This time he could be certain that it was physical reality he was witnessing. He saw the scaly backs of a pack of crocodiles breaking the

  surface, their tails slashing in the air. They seemed to be feeding on carrion, fighting over it in a frenzy of greed. He stopped to watch them, and saw a bull crocodile breach clear out of the water. With a shake of its head, it tossed a chunk of raw meat high into the air. As it fell back, the beast seized it once more and, with a swirl, disappeared below the surface.

  Taita watched until it was almost dark then, deeply troubled, walked back across the lawns.

  Meren woke as soon as he entered the room. He seemed refreshed and unaffected by Taita's sombre mood. As they shared the evening meal, he joked with morbid humour about the operation Hannah was planning for the following day. He referred to himself as 'the cyclops, about to be given an eye of glass'.

  Hannah and Gibba came to their room early the next morning with their team of assistants. After they had examined Meren's eye socket, they pronounced him ready to take the next step.

  Gibba prepared a draught of the herbal opiate while Hannah laid out her tray of instruments, then came to sit on the mat beside Meren. From time to time she drew up the lid of his good eye and studied the dilation of the pupil. At last she was satisfied that the drug had taken effect and he was resting peacefully. She nodded to Gibba.

  He rose and left the room, to return a short while later with a tiny alabaster pot. He carried it as though it were the holiest of relics. He waited until the four attendants had restrained Meren by his ankles and wrists, then set down the pot close to Hannah's right hand. Once again he took Meren's head between his knees, opened the lids of his missing eye and set the silver dilators in place.

  'Thank you, Dr Gibba,' Hannah said, and began to rock lightly and rhythmically on her haunches. In time to her movements, she and Gibba began a chanted incantation. Taita recognized a few words, which seemed to have the same root as some verbs in the Tenmass. He guessed that it might be a higher, more evolved form of the language.

  When they reached the end, Hannah took up a scalpel from her tray, passed the blade through the flame of the oil lamp, then made a quick hatching of shallow parallel incisions in the inner lining of the eye cavity. Taita was reminded of a plasterer preparing the surface of a wall to receive an application of wet clay. There was a weeping of blood from

  the light cuts but she sprinkled on a few drops, from a phial, which stopped it at once. Gibba swabbed away the clotted blood.

  'Not only does this salve staunch the bleeding, but it provides a bonding glue for the seeding,' Hannah explained.

  With the same deferential care as Gibba had shown earlier, Hannah lifted the lid off the alabaster pot. Craning for a better view, Taita saw that the pot contained a minute amount of pale yellow translucent jelly, hardly enough to cover his little fingernail. With a small silver spoon Hannah scooped it up and, with infinite care, applied it to the incisions in Meren's eye socket.

  'We are ready to close the eye, Dr Gibba,' she said softly. Gibba withdrew the dilators, then pinched the lids shut between thumb and forefinger. Hannah took up a thin silver needle threaded with a fine strand prepared from a sheep's intestine. With deft fingers she placed three stitches in the lids. While Gibba held Meren's head she bandaged it with the same intricate pattern of intertwined linen strips that was used by the embalmers at the Egyptian funereal temples. She left openings for Meren's nostrils and mouth. Then she sat back on her haunches with an air of satisfaction. 'Thank you, Dr Gibba. As usual your assistance has been invaluable.'

  'Is that all?' Taita asked. 'Is the operation complete?'

  'If there is no mortification or other complication, I will remove the stitches in twelve days' time,' Hannah replied. 'Our main concern until then will be to protect the eye from light and interference by the patient.

  He will experience a great deal of discomfort during this period. There will be sensations of burning and itching so intense that they cannot be readily alleviated by sedatives. Although he might control himself while he is awake, in his sleep he will try to rub the eye. He must be watched day and night by trained attendants, and his hands will be bound. He must be moved to a windowless, dark cell to avoid light aggravating the pain and preventing the seeding from germinating. It will be a difficult time for your protege and he will need your help to come through it.'

  'Why is it necessary to close both his eyes, even the one that is unharmed?'

  'If he moves the healthy eye to focus on objects it perceives, the new one will respond in sympathy. We must keep it as quiescent as possible.'

  Despite Hannah's warning, Meren experienced little discomfort for the first three days after the seeding of his eye. His greatest hardship was being deprived of sight, and the subsequent boredom.

  Taita tried to entertain him with reminiscences of the many adventures they had shared over the years, the places they had visited and the men and women they had known. They discussed what effect the drought of the Nile was having on their homeland, the suffering inflicted on the people and how Nefer Seti and the queen were dealing with the calamity. They spoke about their home at Gallala and what they might find there when they returned from their odyssey. These were all subjects they had covered many times before, but the sound of Taita's voice soothed Meren.

  He was woken on the fourth day by sharp pains lancing through the socket. They were as regular as the beat of his heart and so painful that he gasped with each stab and reached instinctively to his eye with both hands. Taita sent the attendant to find Hannah. She came at once and unwound the bandage, 'No mortification,' she said immediately, and began to replace the old bandage with a fresh one. 'This is the result we hoped for. The seeding has grafted and is beginning to take root.'

  'You use the same terms as a gardener,' Tai
ta said.

  'That is what we are: gardeners of men,' she replied.

  Meren did not sleep for the next three days. As the pain intensified he moaned and tossed on his mattress. He would not eat, and was able to drink only a few bowlfuls of water each day. When at last sleep overcame him he lay on his back, arms strapped to his sides with strips of leather, and snored through the mouth hole in his bandages. He slept for a night and a day.

  When he awoke the itching began. 'It feels as though fire ants are crawling in my eye.' He groaned and tried to rub his face against the rough stone wall of the cell. The attendant had to call two of his colleagues to restrain him, for Meren was a powerful man. With lack of food and sleep, though, the flesh seemed to melt from his body. His ribs showed clearly through the skin of his chest, and his belly shrank until it seemed to rest against his backbone.

  Over the years he and Taita had become so close that Taita suffered with him. The only time he could escape from the cell was when Meren fell into short and restless bouts of sleep. Then he could leave him in the care of an attendant and wander in the botanical gardens.

  282 I

  Taita found a peculiar quality of peace in these gardens that drew him back time after time. They were not laid out in any particular order: rather, they were a maze of avenues and pathways, some of which were heavily overgrown. Each twist or turning led to fresh vistas of delight. In the warm sweet airs, the mingled scents of the blooms were heady and intoxicating. The grounds were so extensive that he encountered only a few of the gardeners who tended this paradise. At his appearance they slipped away, more like wraiths than humans. On each visit he discovered delightful new arbours and shaded walks that he had overlooked before, but when he tried to find his way back to them on his next visit they had disappeared and been replaced with others no less lovely and enticing. It was a garden of exquisite surprises.