The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 112

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his pleasure in this task too apparent. He was pleased to see that the

bruising had almost faded and there was no longer any swelling.

He palpated it gently. Her skin was velvety and the flesh beneath it

firm and warm to the touch. He looked up, and from the expression on her

face realized that she was enjoying this intimacy as much'as he was. As

he caught her eye she flushed slightly, and quickly smoothed down her

culottes.

She jumped up and said, "Tessay and I have a lot of catching up to do,'

and hurried across to join her.

I am leaving a full combat platoon to guard your stores here," Mek

explained to Nicholas as Tessay led Royan away. "We will travel in a

very small party as far as the border. I don't expect any trouble. There

is very little enemy activity this sector at the moment. Lots of

fighting in the south, but we are quiet here. That is why I chose this

rendezvous."

"How far to the Ethiopian border?"Nicholas wanted to know.

"Five hours' march," Mek told him. "We will slip through one of our

pipelines after the moon has set. The rest of my men are waiting in the

entrance to the Abbay gorge. We should rendezvous with them before dawn

tomorrow."

"And from there to the monastery?"

"Another two days' march," Mek replied. "We will be there just in time

to receive the drop from your fat friend in the fat plane."

He turned away and gave his last orders to the platoon commander who

would remain at Roseires to guard the stores. Then he assembled the

party of six men who would form their escort across the border. Mek

divided up the loads between them. The most important single item was

the radio, a modern military lightweight model which Nicholas carried

himself.

"Those bags of yours are too difficult to carry. You will have to repack

them," Mek told Nicholas and Royan. So they emptied their bags and

stuffed the contents into the two canvas haversacks that Mek had ready

for them. Two of his men slung the haversacks over their shoulders and

disappeared into the darkness.

"He is not taking thatV Mek stared aghast at the bulky legs of the

theodolite that Sapper had retrieved from one of the pallets. Sapper

spoke no Arabic, so Nicholas had to translate.

"Sapper says that it is a delicate instrument. He cannot allow it to be

dropped from the aircraft. He says that if it is damaged he will not be

able to do the work he was hired for."

"Who is going to carry it?" Mek demanded. "My men will mutiny if I try

to make them do it."

"Tell the cantankerous bugger that I will carry it myself." Sapper drew

himself up with dignity. "I wouldn't let one of his great clumsy oafs

lay a finger on it." He picked up the bundle, placed it over his

shoulder and stalked away with "a stiff back.

Mek let the advance guard have a five-minute start, and then he nodded.

"We can go now."

Thirty minutes after Big Dolly had taken off, they left the airfield and

set out across the dark and silent plain, headed into the east. Mek set

a hard pace. He and Nicholas seemed to have the eyes of a pair of cats,

Royan thought, as she followed close behind them. They could see in the

darkness, and only a whispered warning from one of them prevented her

falling into a hole or tripping over a pile of rocks in the darkness.

When she did stumble, Nicholas seemed always to be there, reaching back

to steady her with a strong, firm grip.

They marched in complete and disciplined silence. It was only every

hour, when they rested for five minutes, that Nicholas and Mek sat close

together, and from the few quiet words she picked up Royan realized that

Nicholas was explaining to him the full reasons for their return to the

Abbay gorge. She heard Nicholas repeat the names "Mamose' and "Taita'

often, and Mek's deep voice questioning him at length. Then they would

be up again and moving forward in the night.

After a while she lost all sense of the distance they had travelled.

Only the hourly rest periods orientated her to the passage of time.

Fatigue crept over her slowly, until it required an effort to lift her

foot for each pace. Despite her boast, her knee was beginning to ache.

Now and then she felt Nicholas touch her arm, guiding her over the rough

places. At other times they would stop abruptly at some whispered

warning from up front. Then they would stand quietly waiting in the

darkness, nerves tensed, until at another whisper they would move on

again at the same pressing pace. Once she smelt the cool muddy effluvium

of the river on the dry warm night air, and she knew that they must be

very close to the Nile. Without a word being spoken she sensed the

nervous tension in the men ahead of her, and was aware of the alertness

in the way they carried themselves and their weapons.

"Crossing the border now," Nicholas breathed close to her face, and the

tension was infectious. She forgot her tiredness, and heard her pulse

beating in her own ears.

This time they did not stop for the usual rest break, but continued for

another hour until slowly she felt the mood of the men changing. Someone

laughed softly, and there was a tightness in their pace as they swung on

towards the luminescence in the eastern sky. Abruptly the moon thrust

its crescent horns above the dark silhouette of faroff mountain ranges.

"All clear. We are through," Nicholas told her in his normal voice.

"Welcome back to Ethiopia. How are you feeling?"

"I' okay."

"I am tired too." He grinned at her in the moonlight.

"Pretty soon we will camp and rest. Not much further."

He was lying, of course- the march went on and on until she wanted to

weep. And then suddenly she heard the sound of the river again, the soft

rushing flow of the Nile in the dawn. Up ahead she heard Mek talking to

the men who were waiting for them, and then Nicholas guided her off the

path and made her sit while he knelt in front of her and unlaced her

boots.

"You did well. I am proud of you," he told her, as he stripped off her

socks and examined her feet for blisters.

Then he unbandaged the knee. It was slightly swollen, and he massaged it

with a skilled and tender touch.

She sighed softly, "Don't stop. That feels good."

"I'll give you a Brufen for the inflammation." He dug the pills out of

his pack and then spread his padded jacket AI for her to lie on. "Sorry,

the sleeping bags are with our other gear. Have to rough it until Jannie

makes his air drop."

He passed her the water bottle, and while she swallowed the pill he

pulled the tab on a pack of emergency rations. "Not exactly gourmet fare

He sniffed the contents.

"In the army we call them rat packs." She fell asleep with her mouth

still halffilled with tasteless meat loaf and plastic cheese.

When Nicholas woke her with a mug of hot sweet tea, she saw it was

already late afternoon. He sat beside her and sipped at his own mug,

noisily blowing away the steam between each mouthful.

"You will be pleased to know that Mek is now fully in the picture. He

has agreed to help us."

"What have you told him?"

"Just enough to keep him interested."Nicholas grinned.

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