The Quest

She nodded again, cautiously, then admitted candidly, 'No, I don't, Taita.'

'Do you dream when you are asleep, Fe

'Oh, yes!' she enthused. 'Wonderful dreams! They make me laugh and feel happy. Sometimes in my dreams I can fly like a bird. I visit strange and beautiful places.' Then a haunted expression replaced the smile. 'But sometimes I have dreams that frighten me or make me feel sad.'

Taita had listened to her nightmares as she lay beside him in the

night. He had never shaken her or startled her out of them but had extended his own power to calm her and bring her back gently from the dark places. 'Yes, Fe

'Can you do that, Taita?' He smiled enigmatically, and she burst out, 'It must be strange and wonderful. I should love to be able to do that.'

'One day perhaps you shall. You see, Fe

'So the witch had come to spy on us? She was really there?'

'Her spirit was. She was overlooking us.'

'I am frightened of her.'

'It is wise to be so. But we must not surrender to her. We must counter her with our own powers, you and I. We must oppose her and break her wicked spells. If we can, we will destroy her and this world will be a better place for it.'

'I will help you,' she declared stoutly, 'but, first, you must teach me how.'

'Your progress so far has been miraculous.' He looked upon her with unfeigned admiration. She was already developing the mind and spirit of the queen she had been in the other life. 'You are ready to learn more,'

he told her. 'We will start at once.'

Her instruction began each day as they mounted and rode out side by side. It continued through the long days of travel. His first concern was to instil in her the duty of a magus, which was to employ with care and responsibility the powers with which he or she had been endowed. They must never be used lightly or frivolously, or to achieve petty or selfish ends.

Once she had understood this sacred duty, and acknowledged it with a formal vow that he made her repeat, they moved on to study the simplest forms of the magical arts. At first he was careful not to tax her

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powers of concentration and to set a pace that she could maintain. But he need not have worried: she was indefatigable, and her determination unbending.

First he taught her how to protect herself: to weave spells of concealment that would shield her from the eyes of others. She practised this at the end of each day, when they were secure within the makeshift stockade. She would sit quietly beside Taita and, with his assistance, attempt to work a spell of concealment. It took many nights of diligent application but at last she succeeded. Once she had cloaked herself, Taita shouted for Meren. 'Have you seen Fe

Meren looked about, and his gaze passed over the child without pause.

'She was here but a short time ago. She must have gone out to the bushes. Shall I search for her?'

'No matter. It was not important.' Meren walked away, and Fe

Meren whirled round and started with surprise. 'There she is! Sitting beside you!' Then he gri

'Now you see how, if you lose concentration, the spell shatters like glass,' Taita chided her.

Once she had learnt to shield her physical body, he could teach her to mask her mind and aura. This was more difficult. First, he had to be certain that the witch did not have them under scrutiny: until she had fully mastered the magical techniques she would be most vulnerable to interference from any malign influence while she was attempting to do it. He had to search the ether around them before they could begin the instruction, and keep his guard high.

Her first task was to understand the aura of life that surrounded every living thing. She could not see it, and would never be able to until her I

'Do you have the I

'Yes, but so does the witch,' he replied.

'What does my aura look like?' she asked, with ingenuous female vanity.

'It is a shimmering golden light, like no other I have seen or expect to

see again. It is divine.1 Fe

She thought about that. 'You say that the witch has overlooked us.

In that case, has she not already descried my aura? Is it not too late to attempt to conceal it from her?'

'It is not possible even for a savant to perceive an aura by overlooking from afar. It can only be done by viewing a subject directly. We saw the witch in the water as a wraith, so she saw us in the same fashion.

She could perceive our physical selves and overhear our conversation she could even smell us as we did her - but she could not see your aura.'

'What of yours? Did you conceal it from her?'

'As savants, neither the witch nor I shed an aura.'

'Teach me the art of hiding mine,' she pleaded.

He inclined his head in agreement. 'I will, but we must be vigilant. I must be certain that she is not overlooking or listening to us.'

It was not an easy task. Fe

Nine days after leaving the encampment on the plateau, they reached the river. Although it was almost a league across from bank to bank, the Nile waters flowed no more strongly than those of the mountain stream beside which they had raised the dhurra crop. The thin trickle was almost lost in the wide expanse of dry sand and mudbanks. However, it was sufficient for their needs. They turned southwards and pushed on along the eastern bank, covering many leagues each day. Elephants had dug deep holes in the riverbed to reach the cleaner subterranean water.

Men and horses drank from them.

Each day they came upon large herds of these ancient grey beasts drinking from the holes, lifting huge draughts to their mouths in their trunks and squirting them down their gaping pink throats, but at the troopers' approach they charged up the bank in a herd, flapping their ears and trumpeting before rushing into the forest.

Many of the bulls carried massive shafts of ivory. It was only with an effort that Meren controlled his hunter's heart and allowed them to

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escape unmolested. Now they met other men of the Shilluk tribe grazing their herds along the riverbank. Nontu was carried away on a flood of his emotions. 'Old and revered one, these people are from my own town.