The Quest

From powdered bark and the seeds of a small nondescript shrub Taita compounded a laxative of such extraordinary power that Nakonto, who seemed to have rock-hard bowels, was delighted with the results. He came daily to Taita to demand his dose, and in the end Taita limited him to one every third day.

Despite her appetite Fe

'Your lovely smile would startle the horses now,' Taita told her, and she showed her once-black teeth in a wide grin. The dye had faded until her teeth were salt-white and perfect. Taita showed her how to select a green twig and chew the fibrous end into a brush to polish her new teeth and sweeten her breath. She liked the taste and never shirked the daily ritual.

Her command of the language passed from abysmal to poor, to good and, finally, to perfect. Her vocabulary burgeoned: she could choose the exact word to express her feelings or describe an object accurately. Soon she could play word games with Taita, and delighted him with her rhyming, riddling and pu

Fe

He made writing tablets from the clay of the riverbank and started her on a study of hieroglyphics. He laid out a boo board in the hard clay outside the doorway of their hut and selected coloured stones as counters.

After a few days she had picked up the elementary principles, and as she

advanced he taught her the Rule of Seven, then the Massing of Castles.

One memorable day she vanquished Meren in three out of four straight games, to his mortification and the delight of the onlookers.I With the ashes of the saltwort bush, Taita converted into soap the fat of the game that the hunters brought in. Liberal applications removed from Fe

With further applications of Taita's sovereign salve and unrelenting persecution, the last of her vermin were rooted out. Their bites faded and finally disappeared. Her skin took on a creamy unblemished texture, shaded to lucent amber where the sun touched it. Her hair grew and at last covered her ears, becoming a shining aureate crown. Her eyes, though still green and enormous, no longer dominated her other, more delicate features but complemented and enhanced them. Before Taita's doting eyes she became as beautiful as she had been in the other life.

When he gazed upon her, or listened to her soft breathing at night on the sleeping mat beside his, his pleasure was soured by dread of what the future must bring. He was acutely aware that, in a few brief years, she would become a woman and her instincts would demand something he was unable to give her. She would be driven to look elsewhere for a man who could meet those overpowering female needs. For the second time in his life he would be forced to watch her go into the arms of another, and experience the bitter sorrow of lost love.

'The future will take care of itself. I have her for this day. I must make that suffice,' he told himself, and thrust aside his fears.

Although all about her were fascinated by her burgeoning beauty, Fe

Windsmoke was just one of those who came under Fe

When Taita was preoccupied with chemistry or meditation, Fe

of small heels into her flanks, the loud exhortations and pleas to 'Hi up!'

Then, one afternoon, when Taita was napping in the shade by the door of their hut, Fe

Taita was woken by the shouts of the men: 'Run, Windsmoke, run!'

And 'Ride, Fe

He ran to the gate just in time to see the distant trio disappear over the skyline. He was uncertain on whom he should first vent his fury.

Meren chose that moment to cry, 'By the thunderous peals of Seth's farts, she rides like a trooper!' so nominating himself the target.

Taita was still haranguing him when Windsmoke tore back across the basin with Fe

He glared at her. 'You are never to do something as dangerous and foolish as that again, not in all your life.' She was crestfallen. Her shoulders drooped and her eyes swam with tears. He relented stiffly: 'But you rode well enough. I am proud of you.'

'The magus means that you rode like a trooper, but we were all afraid for your safety,' Meren explained, 'but there was no cause for us to worry.'

Fe

'Is that what you really meant, Taita?' she demanded.

'I suppose it was,' he admitted gruffly.

That evening Fe