Lauren Haney - Path of Shadows

Bak felt exceedingly uncomfortable. The paintings of ordi nary men, noble though they may have been, on the walls. The heavy scent of incense. The oddly shaped altars. The very fact that he stood so near the deity’s dwelling place. All seemed too much of a compromise with a world he did not know.

He swung away from the sanctuary and, motioning Teti to follow, hurried through the building, not stopping until he reached the open court with its bright sunshine and air free of the cloying scent.

Sitting on the edge of a stone libation tank, he asked,

“Where do you store the turquoise you mine?”

“In the goddess’s mansion, where the stones will be safe.”

Teti sat on a large block of sandstone, shaped for placement in a wall of Maatkare Hatshepsut’s new chamber. “We send them down the mountain each time the supply caravan re turns to the port.”

Bak nodded his understanding. The fewer the number of stones kept on the mountain, the less tempting they would be.

“Have you seen what you came to see?” Teti asked.

“I’ve seen everything and more. You’ve outdone yourself in showing us this place. I thank you.”

Teti failed to hide how pleased he was. “I resented your in trusion, I freely admit, but Ani and Nebenkemet made the day a pleasure.” He laughed. “I couldn’t resist the jeweler’s enthusiasm, and as for the other… I assume you saw him point out the direction he believed a vein to go.”

“Do you think his guess right?”

Teti gave him a sharp look. “He knows mines and mining,

Lieutenant. He never said?”

“He came across the Eastern Desert with Amonmose, who has a fishing camp on the sea. He claimed to be a carpenter, planning to build a fishing boat and huts in which the men will dwell.”

“What a waste. I’d wager a chunk of turquoise the size of a goose egg that he knows as much as I about taking minerals and stones from the depths of the earth.”

This man’s approval, Bak thought, was praise indeed. He vowed to speak with Nebenkemet, to press for the truth. “Tell me of Minnakht’s visit. What was his mission when he came?”

A harsh yell drew Teti’s eyes to the wall and the prisoners building Maatkare Hatshepsut’s new chamber. The ramp was finished and they were pulling, with difficulty, the heavily laden sledge up the slope. “He wished to learn about the way we mine turquoise. I answered his questions and he had more. I finally sent him to a man from Retenu, one with many more years’ experience than I.”

“Did that miner by chance return this year? I’d like to speak with him.”

“He bade me goodbye when he left, saying he’d never come back-and he didn’t.” Teti spotted a waterbag someone had left on the wall and went to get it. “This new season has barely begun and I miss him already. He could accomplish twice in a day what these younger men barely manage to do in two days’ time.”

“Do you have any idea what he told Minnakht?”

“We were closing down the mines, so I hadn’t much time to speak with him before he departed.” Teti took a deep drink and handed the waterbag to Bak. “According to what he told me, I made a wise choice in sending Minnakht to him.

Through the years, he’d dug in the earth for minerals as well as stones at many different sites. From what he said, Min nakht questioned him about the mining at each of them.”

Bak sipped from the bag, thinking of the man rumored to have found gold, the man who denied that he had. “Tell me of

Minnakht’s appearance.”

“You’ve never met him?”

“His father asked me to find him long after he vanished.”

“Let me think.” Teti took the waterbag, plugged it, and laid it on the stone beside him. “He was tall and slender, his face and body as well formed as the statue of a god. He walked stiff and straight and he had a way of raising his chin as if he thought himself better than any other man. I believe that the pride he took in himself, not a display of superiority.”

The description was similar to others Bak had heard but unadulterated by admiration. “He had no marks on his body?

No special way of talking?”

Teti shook his head. “Other than his good humor and a readiness to speak of his adventures, I can think of nothing more.”

Later, as they trod an easy trail across the top of the plateau to the place where they would descend the mountain, Bak had the leisure to think of all he had learned. He was a long way from discovering the truth, he knew, but at last he felt as if a ray of light had penetrated the darkness within his heart.

“I see why you wished to descend before dark.” Bak stood at the top of what looked to be a high and steeply stepped wa terfall-except he doubted any water had flowed down for many generations.

Sergeant Suemnut eyed the ragged line of men standing on the narrow trail behind them. “I pray to the lord Sopdu that none who came with you has a fear of high places.”

Bak followed his glance. His Medjays, who carried their weapons and waterbags, led the procession. Next came four soldiers, two armed with spears and shields and each of the other two carrying a leather bag of turquoise. After them came User and his party. Standing between a steep red slope on one side and the rough face of a low cliff on the other, they could see nothing from their vantage point except the gap where the path dropped away. Farther back, the soldiers who had delivered the supplies to the mines straggled across the plateau, walking easily, carrying yokes from which nothing was suspended. The remaining soldiers, having no prisoners to guard, mingled with their fellows, no longer fearful of raiders. Suemnut had explained that past experience had proven the supplies to be of more value to plundering no mads than the turquoise.

Bak looked again into the deep wadi down whose side they must climb. The dry waterfall seemed to fall away forever. An elongated black peak rose on the far side. Because of the complicated folds of land, he could not see the bottom, but he suspected for the sake of the fearful among them that ignorance was preferable to knowing what lay ahead. The climb down would be long and difficult.

“Should one of them be afraid, could he not return to the lower camp by way of the path we ascended this morning?”

“This late in the day, the shadows hide details on that side of the mountain. It’s easy to get lost or take a wrong step.

He’d have to stay overnight with the miners and come down tomorrow.”

“I’ll talk to them.” Bak walked back and gathered the men around him. He described the path and the alternative of re maining on the mountaintop. “I suggest you stand with

Sergeant Suemnut and look down. If you think you can’t de scend, tell us. A soldier will take you back across the plateau to the mines.”

Standing close by, he watched the men as one after an other peered over the edge. None of the Medjays were trou bled by what they saw, nor were User, Amonmose, or

Nebenkemet.

Ani looked down, sucked in his breath, and took a quick step back. He offered Bak and the sergeant a timid smile and hesitantly stepped closer to the edge to look down a second time. “I’m terrified, but I can do it.” He glanced back at

Psuro, added, “If you’ll help me, Sergeant.”

The Medjay studied the small plump man, weighing fear versus determination. At last he nodded. “I’ll stay with you.”

Wensu moved closer and looked down. His face paled, but he remained at the drop-off, staring at the steep incline. “I, too, am afraid and may need help.”

Such an admission from such a headstrong young man was astonishing. With a hint of a smile, Nebre volunteered his aid.