Guardian of the Horizon - Elizabeth Peters [134]
He pulled himself up until he could get an arm round one of the columns. If he hadn’t done so he might have lost his hold out of sheer astonishment when he saw, positioned between the pillars, bolt upright and motionless, a large brindled cat.
Ramses stared. The cat stared back at him, its large eyes lambent with reflected light.
Of course, Ramses thought, I ought to have expected something of the sort; my family attracts farcical situations the way sugar draws flies. This was one of the temple cats sacred to Isis, who had acquired the attributes of other goddesses, including Bastet. It wore a woven collar and an expression of polite disinterest. Or possibly, since reading a feline countenance is problematic, utter disinterest.
He knew better than to take hold of it. The sacred cats were large, strong animals, equipped with sharp claws and sharper teeth. “Are you standing guard, or just curious?” he whispered.
The cat’s mouth opened. It was yawning, probably to indicate how completely he bored it, but for an incredulous moment he thought the answering whisper had come from its throat.
“You are mad to do this! Go quickly, before someone comes.”
It wasn’t Nefret—or the cat. “Daria?”
Her face appeared in the opening next to the one the cat filled. The lamp was on a low chest under the window; the flickering flame cast moving shadows across her features so that they seemed to grimace and twist. The effect should have been grotesque, witch-like, but it wasn’t.
“Help me with this,” he said softly. He handed her one end of the rope and swore under his breath as the cat turned and clawed at the dangling end. “Loop it around the column and pass it back to me,” he ordered. “Ignore the cat.”
Deeply offended at the removal of its toy, the cat gave Ramses a reproachful look and jumped down from the sill into the room. It stalked off, its tail twitching. Ramses adjusted the rope. As he had hoped, it was long enough to form a double strand that reached almost to the roof.
“Can you bring her to me?” he asked.
“Impossible. She lies in an inner room and the women sleep all around her, like kittens in a basket.”
“But not you?”
“They don’t care what I do so long as I am out of their sight. So I was able to light the lamp. I told them I was afraid to sleep alone in the dark. They laughed. What are you doing?”
“Sssh. I’m going to take you with me. You are small enough to slip through one of these openings.”
“Me?” she gasped.
“Quiet! Do as I say, and quickly. Feet first. I’ll catch you.”
The cat had decided to investigate a basket on the opposite side of the room. Its scratching brought another of the animals into the room; both of them attacked the basket. Ramses sent out a silent apology; the cats were good luck, after all; the sleepers were accustomed to noises in the night.
Ramses guided the girl as best he could with one hand and with low-voiced instructions. She had to turn sideways to get her hips and shoulders through the opening. When she was sitting on the outer part of the ledge, with her feet dangling, she looked down and let out a soft cry.
“You can’t go back now,” Ramses whispered. “Put your arms round my neck and hold tight. I won’t let you fall.”
A shudder ran through her body. He had never been afraid of heights, but he could imagine the terror that gripped her and the courage it required to obey him. She had to lean forward, off balance, to get her arms over his shoulders. He caught her round the waist and lifted her off the ledge into a hard, one-armed embrace. She gripped him tightly, her nails digging into the back of his neck, and hid her face against his chest.
“It’s all right, I’ve got you,” he murmured. “Hang on, we’ll be down straightaway.”
The descent was a little faster than he would have liked, since he hadn’t thought to tie knots in the rope. He hadn’t really thought at all. He didn’t dare think about what he was going to do next. But he was acutely conscious of the warm, pliant body pressed against his. She hadn’t uttered a sound since that involuntary cry of fear.
The rope slid out