Part 18 (2/2)
”And the-the devil?” whispered the
”Safely back in its cell Harken, Shubba; it is ti the She her speedily here If you return within the ht in silver If you fail, I will hang your head from that palm tree”
Shubba prostrated hi, he hurried froain toward the Outer City The fires seeun to emit an ominous monotone A sudden clamor of furious yells welled up to the stars
”They have heard that A shudder shook his frame
3 Tananda Rides
Dawn lit the skies above Meree with crih the lanced from the copper-sheathed domes and spires of the stone-walled Inner City Soon the people of Meroe were astir In the Outer City, statuesque black woourds and baskets on their heads, while young girls chattered and laughed on their way to the wells Naked children fought and played in the dust or chased each other through the narrow streets Giant blackat their trades, or lolled on the ground in the shade
In the s, displaying pots and other etables and other produce, on the littered paveained with endless talk over plaintains, banana beer, and hammered brass ornaments S out iron hoes, knives, and spearheads The hot sun blazed down on all-the sweat, or of the black people of Kush
Suddenly there cae in the pattern, a new note in the tiroup of horseate of the Inner City There were half a dozen roup
Her skin was a dusky brown; her hair, a thick, black olden fillet Besides the sandals on her feet and the jewel-crusted golden plates that partly covered her full breasts, her only garirdled at the waist Her features were straight; her bold, scintillant eyes, full of challenge and sureness She handled the slim Kushi+te horse with ease and certitude by ilt-worked reins of scarlet leather Her sandaled feet stood in wide silver stirrups, and a gazelle lay across her saddle bow A pair of slender coursing hounds trotted close behind her horse
As the worew sullen; the murky eyes burned redly The blacks turned their heads to whisper in one another's ears, and the whispers grew to an audible, sinister murmur
The youth who rode at the wo the winding street Estiates, not yet in vieeen the huts, he whispered, ”The people grow ugly, Highness It was folly to ride through the Outer City today”
”All the black dogs in Kush shall not keep !” replied the woman ”If any threaten, ride them down”
”Easier said than done,””They are co the street-look there!”
They entered a wide, ragged square, where the black folk swarmed On one side of this square stood a house of dried hbors, with a cluster of skulls above the doorway
This was the te caste contemptuously called the devil-devil house The black folk worshi+ped Jullah in opposition to Set, the serpent-God of their rulers and of their Stygian ancestors
The black folk thronged in this square, sullenly staring at the horsemen There was an air of menace in their attitude Tananda, for the first tiht nervousness, failed to notice another rider, approaching the square along another street This rider would ordinarily have attracted attention, for he was neither brown nor black He was a white ure in chain s meanhis curved sword The other guardsmen-black men like the folk around them-drew closer about her but did not draw their blades The low, sullen h no h theave back sullenly before her advance
Then, suddenly, froure
It was old Ageera, the witch-s at Tananda, he yelled: ”There she rides, she whose hands are dipped in blood! She who murdered Amboola!”
His shout was the spark that set off the explosion A vast roar arose fro, ”Death to Tananda!”
In an instant, a hundred black hands were clawing at the legs of the riders The youth reined between Tananda and the uards, were torn from their steeds and beaten, stamped, and stabbed to death
Tananda, beset at last by terror, screaures, men and women, clawed at her