Gene Wolfe - Soldier of Sidon

Her murmured blessing was spoken too quickly for me to understand it, and was perhaps in a tongue I do not have. Yet it filled me with warmth and light.

"Look behind you," she said, "and you will see a big man in a dirty tunic, prostrate on my floor. You must return to him."

I was leaving the holiest place when her voice stopped me. "I found no blood guilt in you," she called after me. "You have murdered no one."

When I reclaimed my spear, my shield, and my "lost temple" club, I spoke of Falcata with the priest. He had never seen such a sword. The swords of this land are long and straight, two-edged. I saw such swords in the market.

Now I sit upon a floating pier to write, wetting my pen in the river. I WAS A slave once in this temple. The priest Kashta tells me this. "You were our watchman," he said, "and we haven't had such a good watchman since. Directed by the god, we gave you and your wife to a king from the south."

I said that I would make an offering to the god-he is the God of the south-if he would help me remember.

Holy Kashta shook his head. "We were blessed with rich gifts for you. I won't tax that burse you wear. Your means must be slender."

I protested, but he interrupted me. "You served Seth faithfully while you were here. If he will not oblige you for your service, he will not oblige you for a coin. Come in and make your petition."

He let me keep my weapons. When I had offered my prayer, he asked where I would sleep that night.

"I haven't found a place yet," I said, "but there must be those in this city who'll rent a bed to an honest man."

"You will be robbed. Sleep here. We will make a bed for you in the alcove. Six laymen are coming to guard the temple tonight. I'll tell them about you, and suggest they wake you if they need another man."

I write in this temple by the last light of the declining sun. THIS MORNING I talked to the leader of the men who guarded the temple. "No trouble," he said. "None at all. They know we're here. Did the woman wake you?"

No one had awakened me and I said so.

"She was looking for her husband. In a temple! At night! Drunk, if you ask me, and she must beat that little maid of hers unmercifully. But the thing is, a dog ran in when I opened the door for her. The priests won't like that, so we've got to find him and give him the boot before they get here. Will you help us?"

I said I would, but when we found him, he was hiding under a big table on which royal gifts were displayed. One man crawled under it to lay hold of him, but he came out quickly to beg a rag for his bleeding hand.

"We'll have to kill him," the one who had spoken to me said. "It'll be a mess."

Already, street vendors were crying their wares outside the temple. I told him he knew nothing of dogs, cautioned him to wait, and for one copper got ground meat of who knows what kind rolled in a broad green leaf. By offering it to the dog and speaking kindly to him, I had him in less time than it has taken me to write of it.

My difficulty is that this dog followed me when I left Set's temple, swam after the boat I hired, and followed me again when I left the temple of the sun.

He is with me still. He obeys at times, but will not obey when I order him to leave. Am I to stone a dog who loves me? This afternoon I was able to spear fish enough to feed us both, but what am I to do with a dog? CAUTUS'S BARKING WOKE me. The women wish me to read this when day returns; but I will write now as the baboon directs, though I know the beautiful one waits for my embrace. There is but a small strip of papyrus left to fill.

"They said you were on the ship, all of them, even Neht-nefret. But you weren't! You weren't! Qanju didn't want us to go, but Mtoto and I stole away the next night and went back to Naqa to find you. I'm your wife, Latro. You're my husband. I've been asking about your sword wherever it was safe to talk to people. I didn't find it, but I'll help you look for it for as long as you want to search. Only… Only you must never leave me again."

Tomorrow we two (we four) will go in search of Falcata-the scarred child, Cautus, the beautiful woman, and I.

I think her dishonest, but she is young and willing, and who is not? [THESE ARE THE final words on the scroll from Lake Nasser.]

THE PRINCIPAL PROPER names in the third scroll are identified here. A few whose identity should be obvious have been omitted. I have ventured to translate a few names that the reader is unlikely to translate for himself; all such translations are merely tentative. A few other terms that may pose difficulties are defined.

Aahmes. The leader of the Egyptian soldiers aboard the Gades.

Abu. At the time of this scroll, the southernmost city in Egypt.

Achaemenes. The satrap of Egypt. His Persian name was Hakhdmanish "Friend."

Agathocles. "Of Good Fame." A trader from Athens.

Ahura Mazda. In ancient Persia, the god of good.

Alala. Thotmaktef's wife.

Amamu. One of the Egyptian soldiers on the Gades.

Ammut. The Eater of the Dead.

Angra Manyu. In ancient Persia, the god of evil. ankh. A cross with a loop top, the hieroglyph for life. Gods are often shown holding an ankh, their fingers through the loop. The crux ansata.

Anubis. The jackal-headed god of death.

Apedemak. The lion-headed war god of Nubia.

Ap-uat. The wolf-headed war god of Egypt, often difficult to distinguish from Anubis in art. (When "Anubis" holds a weapon, Ap-uat is intended.) Also called Wepwawet "Opener of the Way."

Arensnuphis. Called Onuris in Egypt. He was the god of hunting and a protector of travelers.

Asyut. A city roughly midway between the sea and the first cataract.

Ater. The stallion given the narrator by the Medjay.

Azibaal. The first mate of the Gades.

Baginu. Probably "Fortunate." The leader of the Persian soldiers aboard the Gades.

Beteshu. A demon.

Binti. "Daughter." The girl the narrator inherits when his carelessness results in her father's death. Cheche's daughter.

Bittusilma. "House of Perfection." Seven Lions' queen, a Babylonian.

Black Land. The fertile land of the Nile Valley, Egypt.

Byblos. A Phoenician city, the home port of the Gades.

Cautus. "Watchful." A stray dog. This name may be a pun on canis, "dog."

Charthi. A wealthy and aristocratic Egyptian, the father of Kames.

Cheche. "Small One." A woman of Nysa who becomes a new wife of the narrator's.

Crimson Men. Phoenicians, from the color of their clothing. daric. A gold coin of ancient Persia, on which King Darius appeared bow in hand. This coin was vulgarly called an archer.

Dis. The Roman King of the Dead. As lord of the underground realm he was immensely rich, since all unmined metals and gems were his. He symbolized the benevolent aspect of death, as opposed to Orcus, the demon-god of violent death.

Egypt. At the time of the scroll, a province of the Persian Empire. Visualize a flower with one leaf (the Faiyum) and a long, straggling stem. The blossom is the delta, and the stem is the Nile Valley. The stem ends at the first cataract.

Falcata. The narrator's sword. Much used in the ancient world, falcatas varied in size between hunting knives and full-fledged swords. Blades were wide and slightly curved, sharp on the concave side. They may have originated in Iberia.

Field of Reeds. The dwelling-place of the blessed dead. Paradise. firman. A letter or document entitling the bearer to protection or stated privileges.

Gades. The Phoenician trading vessel that brought the narrator to Egypt.

Great King. We know him as Xerxes. His name was actually Khshayarsha, "King."

Great River. The Nile; it stretches more than four thousand miles from Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, is the longest river on earth, and is the only major river to flow north.