The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 50

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It was after dark when he and Tamre got back to camp.

As soon as Nicholas stepped into the circle of firelight, Royan came to

meet him.

"What happened?" she asked. "Did you see the dik-dik again?"

"Don't ask me. Ask your accomplice. He scared it off.

It is probably still running."

"Tamre,'you are a fine young man, and I am very proud of you," she told

him. The boy wriggled like a puppy, giggling and hugging himself with

the joy of her approval as he scurried away down the path to the

monastery.

Royan was so pleased with the outcome of the hunt that she poured

Nicholas a whisky with her own hand and brought it to him as he sagged

wearily by the fire.

He tasted it and shuddered, "Never let a teetotaller pour for you. With

a heavy hand like that you should take UP tossing the caber or

blacksmithing." Despite the complaint, he took another tentative sip.

She sat close to him, fidgeting with excitement, but it was a while

before he became aware of her agitation.

"What is it? Something is eating you alive."

She threw a cautionary glance in the direction of where Boris sat on the

opposite side of the fire, and then dropped her voice, leaned close to

him and spoke in Arabic.

"Tessay and I went down to the monastery this afternoon to see Mek

Nimmur. Tessay asked me to go with her, just in case Boris - well, you

know what I mean."

"I have a vague idea. You were playing chaperone." Nicholas took another

sip of the whisky and gasped. He exhaled sharply and his voice was

husky. "Go on," he invited her.

"At one stage, before I left them alone together, we were discussing the

festival of Timkat. On the fifth day the abbot takes the tabot down to

the Abbay. Mek tells us there is a path down the cLiff to the water's

edge."

"Yes, we know that."

"This is the interesting part - this you didn't know.

Everybody joins the procession down to the river. Everybody. The abbot,

all the priests, the acolytes, every true believer, even Mek and all his

men, they all go down to the river and stay there overnight. For one

whole day and night the monastery is deserted. Empty. Nobody there at

all."

He stared at her over the rim of his glass, and then slowly he began to

smile, "Now that is very interesting indeed," he admitted.

"Don't forget, I am coming with you," she told him severely. "Don't you

dare to even think of leaving me behind."

Nicholas went to her hut again that evening after dinner. This was the

only place in camp where they could be sure of privacy, and where they

were safe from eavesdropping. However, this time he did not make the

mistake of sitting on her bed.

While she perched on the end of it, he took the stool opposite her.

"Before we start planning this thing, let me ask you one question. Have

you considered the possible consequences?"

"You mean, what happens if the monks catch us at it?" Royan asked.

"At the very least we can expect them to run us out of the valley. The

abbot has a tremendous amount of power.

At the worst we can be physically attacked," Nicholas told her. "This is

one of the most sacred sites in their religion, and don't underestimate

that fact. There is a great deal of danger involved. It could go as far

as a knife between the ribs, or something nasty in our food."

"We would also alienate Tessay. She is a deeply religious woman,'Royan

added.

"Even more importantly, we would probably outrage Mek Nimmur as well."

Nicholas looked distressed at the thought. "I don't know what he would

do, but I don't think our friendship would stand the test."

They were both quiet for a while, considering the cost that they might

have to pay. Nicholas broke the silence.

"Then again, have you considered your own position?

After all, it is your own Church that we will be desecrating.

You are a committed Christian. Can you justify this to yourself?"

"I have thought about it, she admitted. "And I am not altogether happy

about it, but it isn't really my Church. It's a different branch of the

Coptic Church."

"Splitting hairs, aren't we?"

"The Egyptian Church does not deny anyone access to even the most sacred

precincts of its church building. I do not feel myself bound by the

abbot's prohibition. I feel that as a believing Christian I have the

right to enter any part of the cathedral that I wish."

He whistled softly, "And you are the one who once said that I should

have been a lawyer."

"Please don't, Nicky. It's not something you should joke about. All I

know is that, no matter what, I have to go in there. Even if I die to do

it."

"You could let me do it for you," he suggested. "After all, I am an old

heathen. It would not spoil my chances of salvation. I don't have any."

"No." She shook her head firmly. "If there is an inscription or

something of that nature, I need to see it.

You read hieroglyphics quite well, but not as well as I do, and you

don't know the hieratic script. I am the expert you are just a gifted

amateur. You need me. I am going in there with you."

"All right. That is settled, then," he said with finality.

"Let's start planning. We had better draw up a list of equipment that we

may need. Flashlight, knife, Polaroid camera, spare film-'

"Art paper and soft pencils to lift an impression of any inscriptions,'

she added to the list.

"Hell!" He snapped his fingers with chagrin. "I didn't think to bring

any."

"See what I mean? Amateur. I did."

They talked on until late, and at last Nicholas glanced at his

wrist-watch and stood up.

"Long after midnight. I am scheduled to turn into a pumpkin at any

moment. Goodnight."

"There are still two days of the festival before the tabot is taken down

to the river. Nothing we can do until then.

What are your plans

"Tomorrow I am going back after that damned little Bambi. It has made a

fool of me twice already."

"I am coming with you," she said firmly, and that simple declaration

gave him a disproportionate amount of pleasure.

"Just as long as you leave Tamre at home," he warned her as he stooped

out through the door.

The tiny antelope stepped out from the deep shadow of the thorn thicket,

and the early morning sunlight gleamed on the silky pelt, It kept

walking steadily across the narrow clearing.

Nicholas's breathing quickened with excitement as he followed it with

the telescopic sight. It was ridiculous that he should feel so wrought

up with the hunting of such a humble little animal, but his previous

failures had sharpened his anticipation. Added to that was the peculiar

passion that drives the true collector. Since he had lost Rosalind and

the girls, he had thrown all his energy into the building up of the

collection at Quenton Park. Now, suddenly, procuring this specimen for

it had become a matter of supreme importance to him.

His forefinger rested lightly on the side of the trigger guard. He would

not fire until the dik-dik came to a standstill. Even that walking pace

would make the shot uncertain. He had to place his bullet precisely, to

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