Soldier of Sidon

"Would I object, dear?"

Sahuset did not answer.

Sabra took my hand; hers felt soft and sticky. "Most often," she whispered, "the magicians make crocodiles. I myself was such a crocodile once. Magicians have many enemies."

I nodded and said I understood.

"Or they shape serpents to work their will. There is a serpent here, though it is not of that kind."

I said that I would kill it if she would show it to me.

"I would rather you did not. It rids the hold of rats, so it is dear-"

Sahuset interrupted her. "I did not give you life tonight. Who did? Tell me!"

"Why, this handsome soldier, of course. Did you think he had no talents?"

"He has many." Sahuset's words were shaped to hide his anger. "He's a fine swordsman."

"As if you could judge. I wake whenever he is near. He has noticed it, though he's forgotten my lingering glances." She touched me again. "Latro darling, you say Myt-ser'eu is your wife. She's a drunken wanton, as you must know. Suppose-only suppose, Latro darling-that she said she wanted no more to do with you and wished to leave. What would you do?"

"Bid her farewell," I said, "and see that she took nothing that did not belong to her when she left."

"Well spoken! You are a man indeed. May I have another supposition, darling?"

I nodded. "If you wish it."

"Then suppose that she had a certain box, a box given her by you, but a box that both you and she had called hers the whole time she was with you. Would you permit her to take it when she left?"

"Certainly," I said.

Sabra's laugh was music, soft and sweet. "One more. I may have another, I hope? Myt-ser'eu, who has been with you as your wife for all the time I have known you, is a woman of no family. Let us suppose you were minded to take a second wife, as a replacement for her or in addition to her. Which one doesn't matter. Let us further suppose that this second wife, too, was of no family. Would you reject her on that account?"

"No," I said, "not if I loved her."

Uraeus asked, "Do you love Myt-ser'eu, master?" and I assured him that I did.

"He is your slave," Sabra told me. "I will be more than a slave to you. I will anticipate your wishes and leap to obey. I will do everything you ask, no matter how distasteful. You may retain your first wife, and lie with her whenever the desire seizes you. No lightest word nor glance of mine shall reproach you, and should you wish me to fan you both, or do any other such service, I will do it gladly. I ask but one very small service in return, something you can do for me tonight and be done with."

I was curious and asked what it was.

"Cut the cord that holds her amulet, and cast the amulet into the river."

Sahuset sighed. "Shall I explain?"

I said I wished someone would.

"These images must be fed. One feeds them by anointing them with the blood of the thing they represent."

"She sleeps," Sabra hissed. "I swear no harm-"

"Latro?" It was Myt-ser'eu, with Uraeus at her side. "Have you been talking about me?"

I said that Sahuset and I wished to protect her, and had been telling Sabra that she must not harm her.

Myt-ser'eu was asking who Sabra was when a new voice, rich and soft and of the night, interrupted her.

21

THE SPEAKING PANTHER interrupted Myt-ser'eu, as I have said. I myself was interrupted in writing of it by the scribe of my commander. We were to wait upon the sagan. I went, but brought with me the leather case in which I carry this scroll and my writing materials. Now we sit in the forecourt of his house: Qanju, Thotmaktef, Sahuset, my friend the captain, and I. I have opportunity to write. We may wait all day, the captain says, and frets, because of it. I do not fret, because I have things of importance to set down. When I have done it, I will read this.

"Great Seth speaks," Beteshu told us. His voice, which is otherwise deep but soft, stung like a whip when he said it. "Lucius the Roman has his favor. Sahuset of Miam has his favor. They are to come to his temple and remain until dawn. Hear the words of the Red God."

Sahuset bowed to the deck. "We hear, and will obey."

Bolder than I would have thought her, Myt-ser'eu whispered, "Latro loves me. What about me?"

"The Red God has not spoken concerning you," Beteshu the Panther told her. His words were black velvet, like his coat. "He saved you. Have you forgotten so soon?"

Sabra said, "He will not have to protect her from me again, Beteshu. You have my word." It was thus that I learned the speaking panther's name.

Beteshu said, "Wax is readily shaped. Shall I remain with you, Holy One?"

"If you will come at my call, that is all I ask," Sahuset told him.

"Then call when you will," Beteshu told him. Rushing waters flow no swifter than he. He sprang from our bow toward the pier. Here occurred a thing so strange that this pen of ragged reed stammers in trying to describe it. I saw him spring for the pier, a great black cat. But at the apex of his leap there was only empty moonlight.

He is an evil thing, Uraeus says. I am less sure, and know that Myt-ser'eu thinks Uraeus evil and Beteshu lovely. "To stroke him would be like stroking you," she said, and kissed me.

Must I describe him? I have no doubt he can change his shape as Sahuset has said. He is not so large as a lion but much larger than a cat. His color is the darkest black. His eyes are burning gold.

Here is all Sahuset said. "I had a familiar, Latro, who took the form of a cat. Qanju leagued with priests of this land to drive him away. I implored the Red God to send another. He did as I had asked and sent Beteshu with him. Beteshu has been a servant of Apep's. The Red God won him and gave him to me. Apep is chief of the bad xu, a terrible enemy and a dangerous friend. Beteshu is very wise, but slow to share his wisdom. At times he appears to be a man, black and taller even than I. His eyes are not changed-that is so for all shape changers, so our sacred knowledge teaches. Man or cat, he is swift to slay."

I said, "Then why do you not order him to kill this Qanju for you?"

"Because I do not wish him to die," Sahuset said, and left me. MYT-SER'EU AND I are ashore in Abu. We ate in this i

The sagan was a man of Parsa with a scarred face. Qanju gave him the letter of a prince. He will give Qanju a letter from the governor to the Nubian king, and send a man with us. The man has not come, nor is the letter prepared; thus we must wait in this city.

Earlier I wrote that the panther called me Lucius the Roman. This is of great importance if it is true. I must ask Sahuset and Muslak. I asked Myt-ser'eu when we returned to the ship. She says that the river we sail empties into the Great Sea, and that Muslak sailed on that sea to bring me to her land. This land is Kemet. I asked whether all the nations of the world were named for colors, as hers is. She says there are only two, and an island named for the rose. She once knew a man from this island. I asked what other land was named for its color. It is the desert, the Red Land. The Red God, she says, is god of that land. She is afraid of him, and she should be. There is no water in the desert and nothing grows there. It is a land of dust and stones, of sun and wind. I do not know when I was there, yet feel I have been there-and suffered there as well.