The Amulet of Power - Mike Resnick [47]
Hassam, tears streaming down his face, ran up to the horse, placed the muzzle of the rifle in its ear, and fired again. The animal died without a sound.
“You!” bellowed Hassam, walking over to the writhing man. “You made me kill a horse, Allah’s most perfect creature! Know that after I kill you I will bury you facing away from Mecca!”
The man began crying and begging, but Hassam was deaf to his entreaties. He fired his rifle again, and a moment later he was scraping out a shallow grave.
“That was very quick thinking,” said Omar, retrieving his weapons and walking up to Lara.
“It was my own fault we were in this mess,” she replied, examining the Leopard’s Tooth and finally tossing the ruined weapon onto the sand. “From now on, the only name for any camel I ride will be Camel.”
“Don’t blame yourself. How could you have known?”
“Maybe you’re right,” she admitted. “But we’ve all got to be more careful.”
“We can start by riding back to the Nile and turning south,” said Omar. “The longer we take to reach Khartoum, the greater the likelihood that we’ll run into more Mahdists, and the more frequently we meet them, the more chance that we’ll say or do something that will give away your identity.”
She walked to her camel, had it kneel, and climbed into the saddle. Gaafar had dismounted long enough to pick up his rifle, and he and Omar were soon astride their own camels.
“I’d rather ride the horses,” he said, “but they’re too easily identified.”
“I agree,” said Lara. “Reluctantly.”
“Shall we proceed?” asked Omar.
“What about Hassam?” asked Lara.
“He is burying the horse.”
“He’s digging a grave for the horse?” she said incredulously.
“No,” said Gaafar. “But he has moved the horse and now he is covering it with sand.”
“Moved it?” she repeated, frowning. “It’s right where it fell.”
“He has turned it so that it faces Mecca,” explained Gaafar. “Hassam believes that horses as well as men have souls. All righteous Moslems wish to be buried facing Mecca. Hassam is punishing this one’s soul by facing the body away from Mecca, but he sees no reason to punish the horse as well, or to leave it out for the vultures.”
“Isn’t that carrying his love of horses a little bit too far?” asked Lara.
“Did the man try to kill you?” asked Gaafar.
“Yes.”
“Did the horse?”
“All right,” replied Lara. “You have a point.”
“He will bury the other four men and then catch up with us,” said Omar.
“Facing away from Mecca?” she asked.
“They were not honorable men,” said Omar disapprovingly. “But Hassam is a good Moslem, and he will not cause their souls to wander for eternity. He will point them toward Mecca.”
“So obviously he thinks causing him to kill a horse is a worse sin than making him kill a man?”
“The men were enemies, and they meant to kill us. The horse was not to blame.” Omar sighed. “Horses are born innocent. Only men are capable of blame.”
Hassam trudged back through the sand. Her last sight of him as they headed back to the Nile was of his facing each corpse toward Mecca before scraping out shallow graves for them with his bare hands.
“Will he be able to find us?” she asked.
“I know it seems like only our enemies can find us,” said Omar. “But Hassam will join us at nightfall.”
“It shouldn’t take him that long to dig the graves,” said Lara. “Why don’t we help him, or at least wait for him?”
“He will join us at nightfall,” repeated Omar.
“Why not now?”
“Because he is a proud man, and he does not want you to see him cry.”
“He had no choice,” said Lara. “Otherwise the man would have escaped and brought back reinforcements.”
“I know that,” said Omar. “And so does Hassam.”
“Then if it wasn’t his fault, why . . . ?”
“Because the horse is just as dead.”
She was silent for a long moment.
“What are you thinking, Lara Croft?” asked Omar at last.
“That I could have fallen in with worse companions,” she replied.
17
They reached Dongola in two