This was Eos's boudoir. The walls and roof were covered with tiles of ivory, each carved with beautifully executed designs that had been painted with jewel-like colours. The effect was gay and enchanting. Four oil lamps were suspended from the ceiling on bronze chains. The light they threw was mellowy. Against the far wall a silk-covered couch was piled with cushions and a low ebony table stood in the centre of the floor. On it were set bowls of fruit, honey cakes and other sweetmeats, with a small crystal jug of red wine, its stopper in the shape of a golden dolphin. On another table lay a pile of papyrus scrolls and an astrological model of the heavens, depicting the tracks of the sun, the moon and the planets, fashioned in fine gold. The floor was covered with multiple layers of silk carpets.

He went directly to the central table and selected a bunch of grapes from a bowl. He had eaten nothing since he had left the witch's warren, and now he had the appetite of a young man. Once he had devoured half of the bowl's contents, he crossed to a second door in the wall beside the couch. It was screened by another richly decorated leather curtain, the twin to the one through which he had entered. He listened beside it but heard nothing, then slipped through the division in the curtains into a smaller anteroom. Here, a stool was set beside the far wall in which a peep-hole had been drilled. Taita went to it and stooped to peer through.

He found that he was looking into the Supreme Council chamber of the oligarchs. This was the spy-hole Eos used whenever she came down from the high mountain to preside over and direct the Council's proceedings. The chamber was the one in which Taita had first met Aquer, Ek-Tang and Caithor. Now it was deserted and in semi-darkness.

The high window at the back framed a square of the night sky, which included part of the constellation of Centaurus. From its angle to the horizon he made a rough estimate of the time. It was past midnight, and the palace was quiet. He returned to Eos's boudoir and ate the rest of the

fruit. Then he stretched out upon the couch, spun a web of concealment to protect him while he slept, closed his eyes and was almost immediately asleep.

He was awoken by voices coming from the Supreme Council chamber. The intervening walls should have muffled them, but his hearing was so enhanced that he could recognize Lord Aquer's.

Taita rose quickly from the couch and went to Eos's spy-hole. He looked through it. Eight warriors in full battledress were kneeling before the dais in attitudes of subservience and respect. The two oligarchs faced them. Lord Aquer was on his feet haranguing the men who knelt before him.

'What do you mean, they have escaped? I ordered you to capture them and bring them to me. Now you say that they have eluded you. Explain yourself.'

'We have two thousand men in the field. They will not be at liberty much longer.' The speaker was Captain Onka. He was cringing on his knees before Aquer's wrath.

'Two thousand?' Aquer demanded. 'Where are the rest of our troops?

I commanded you to call up the entire army to deal with this insurrection.

I will take the field at the head of the force. I will find the traitor That Ankut and all his fellow conspirators. All of them, do you hear? Especially the newcomer Meren Cambyses and the strangers he has brought with him to Jarri. I will personally oversee their torture and execution. I will make an example of them that will never be forgotten!'

He glared at his officers but none dared speak or even look at him.

'When I have dealt with the ringleaders, I will unleash my vengeance on every incomer in Jarri,' Aquer ranted. 'They are traitors. By order of this Council their property is confiscated by the goddess and the state.

The men will be sent to the mines - we are short of slaves. I want older women, and children over the age of twelve years, placed in the slave pens. The younger children without exception are to be put to the sword.

Any desirable girls will go to the farms for the breeding programme. How long will it take you to muster the remainder of our regiments, Colonel Onka?'

Taita realized that Onka must have been promoted to command the regiment that had formerly been Tinat's.

'We will be ready to ride before noon today, great lord,' Onka replied.

Taita listened in consternation. Everything in Jarri had changed during his sojourn in the mountains. Now his first concern was for Fenri and Meren. Perhaps they were already in Onka's hands. He must make contact with Fenn immediately to reassure himself of her safety, but it was vitally important, too, that he make the most of this opportunity to eavesdrop on Aquer's plans.

He stayed at the peep-hole while Aquer continued to issue orders.

He was an experienced commander and it seemed that his tactics would be effective. However, Taita could make his own plans to counteract them. At last Aquer dismissed his colonels, and the two oligarchs were left alone in the hall. Aquer threw himself angrily on his stool.

'We are surrounded by fools and poltroons,' he complained. 'How was this insurrection allowed to flourish under our very noses?'

'I smell the odour of the putative magus, Taita of Gallala, in this,'

Ek-Tang answered. 'I have no doubt that he has instigated this outrage. He comes directly from Egypt and Nefer Seti. No sooner do we welcome him into Jarri than the country is plunged into the first rebellion in two hundred years.'

'Two hundred and twelve years,' Aquer corrected him.

'Two hundred and twelve,' Ek-Tang agreed, his voice crackling with irritation, 'but such pedantry serves no good purpose. What is to be done about the rabble-rouser?'

'You know that Taita was the special guest of the goddess and that he has gone to meet her on the mountains. Those who are summoned by Eos never return. We need spare no further thought for him. You will never see him again. Those he brought with him to Jarri will soon be arraigned—' Aquer broke off and his angry expression cleared. He smiled with anticipation. 'His ward, the girl he called Fenn, will receive my special concern.' Taita saw his aura throw off sparks of lust.

'Is she old enough?' Ek-Tang asked.

'For me, they are always old enough.' Aquer made an expressive gesture.

'Each of us has his own tastes,' Ek-Tang conceded. 'It is as well that we do not all enjoy the same amusements.' The two oligarchs rose and, arm in arm, left the hall. Taita returned to the witch's boudoir and barred the door before he made the first cast for Fenn. Almost immediately her sign appeared in his mind's eye, and he heard her sweet voice ring in his head: 'I am here.'

'I cast for you earlier. Are you in danger?'

I

THE QUEST

'We are all in danger,' she replied, 'but for the moment we are safe.

The land is in turmoil. Where are you, Taita?'

'I have escaped from the mountain and I am hidden near the Supreme Council chamber.'

Even over the ether her surprise was clear. 'Oh, Taita, you never fail to amaze and delight me.'

'When we meet I will have much more for your delight,' he promised.

'Are you or Meren able to come to me or must I find you?'

'We are hidden too, but only five or six leagues from where you are,'

Fenn replied. 'Tell us where we must meet you.'

'To the north of the citadel a narrow valley is carved into the foothills.

It is not far from the mountain road, about three leagues from the palace.

The entrance is marked by a distinctive grove of acacia trees on the hillside above it. Seen from far off, it is shaped like the head of a horse.

This is the place,' he told her, and transmitted an image of the grove to her across the ether.

'I see it clearly,' she replied. 'Sidudu will recognize it. If she does not I will cast for you again. Go to the valley quickly, Taita. We have but little time left to flee this wicked place and the wrath of the Jarrians.'