Guardian of the Horizon - Elizabeth Peters [175]
I was somewhat surprised to discover that this time Sethos did have a broken leg.
“That’s the last of the whiskey,” said Emerson, dispensing it with a lavish hand. “Drink up, my dear, you deserve it. Now tell me what happened after we left you.”
The servants had returned; how many of them had been Tarek’s adherents before I did not know or care, for they were all loyalists now. The lady who had favored Daoud was even more assiduous. Watching him do justice to an entire roast goose, she spoke, for I believe the first time, but so timorously no one heard her except Nefret and me. I asked Nefret to translate.
“She said she has never seen a man so strong and large who could eat so much,” Nefret reported gravely. Daoud looked up, and Nefret went on in the same serious tone. “She wants to know if he is married.”
Daoud choked on a mouthful of goose leg. I smacked him on the back.
“Tell the lady he is married, and that his wife is also large and strong and very jealous.”
The lady went sadly away and we all laughed, except Daoud.
We talked until the lamps burned low, for each of us had a story to tell. Since I am a modest woman, I allowed Captain Moroney to narrate my activities. I will say he did me justice. When he described Ramses’s fight with Merasen, Emerson shook his head.
“My boy, my boy, I am surprised at your taking such a foolish chance. In future I beg you will consider following my example.”
“Ha!” I exclaimed. “Who was the one who climbed onto that wall unarmed and in full sight of the enemy?”
“There was no trouble at all,” said Emerson complacently. “It was over the moment I made my speech.”
“It was over the moment you pulled that arrow out of your body,” said Ramses. “I still don’t know how the hell you accomplished that.”
“It was your mother’s idea,” Emerson explained. He began un-buttoning his unspeakably dirty shirt. “Deuced uncomfortable, but in view of the fact that I meant to expose myself—er—”
He unpeeled several strips of sticking plaster and removed the cover of the camera case, which was, as I have explained, specially made. The arrow had penetrated the outer layers of leather and wood and left a dent in the steel lining.
“You might have told me,” Ramses said accusingly. “I didn’t fire soon enough. I thought you were…”
“Sorry, my boy,” said Emerson, rubbing his chest.
Before we retired I went to have a look at Sethos. I had splinted and bandaged his leg before we settled down. I found him plucking ineffectually at the cloth over his mouth, so I replaced the makeshift bandage with a smaller one that covered only the lumpy nose and one eye—and, of course, the missing ear.
“Now leave that alone,” I ordered. “I have your ear and will return it later, but I don’t want Emerson to see you without it. How do you feel?”
He muttered unintelligibly and turned his head away. I lifted it and tipped the rest of my whiskey down his throat.
“It is the last,” I said. “You don’t deserve it, but selfishness has never been one of my failings.”
My shadow fled before me as I climbed, a long, gray caricature of myself. When I pulled myself up onto the plateau, Abdullah was waiting.
“Well, you were no help at all, I must say,” I remarked. “You and your enigmatic hints! I suppose you were referring to Daria when you warned me against trusting the innocent, and you were completely wrong about her, she has done nothing to injure us.”
“Not yet,” said Abdullah, stroking his beard.
“What do you mean?”
“Remember, Sitt, that there are many different ways to harm someone. But it may not happen. The future is yet to be.”
“You won’t tell me anything more?”
He frowned and shook his head. “What would be the use? You never heed warnings. You tempt Fate and every god. One of them was with you this time, Sitt. Now go back to Luxor where you belong.”
He stalked away. I had offended him, though I wasn’t sure how. “Will you come to me again when I am in Luxor?” I called.
He stopped but did not turn round. “You did not say you were happy to see