Whispers in the Sand (52 page)

Ptah, of course, was the husband of Sekhmet…

Anna stopped. The words floating out of the darkness towards her had come, she realised, from the group of people standing near the statues.

Sekhmet.

She felt her stomach turn over with sudden fear. Would Hatsek come here? Would he recognise this temple, rebuilt and swarming with unbelievers from a different age though it was?

Almost as the thought crossed her mind, she knew that he would, that between one second and the next, as though summoned by the processes of her mind, he was there. She stepped sideways into the corner of the sanctuary, staring round.

“Andy?” She didn’t realise she had called out loud until one of the group around the statue turned and stared at her.

Andy wasn’t there. The visitors who shuffled out, still gazing around them in awe, one or two of them glancing at her as they passed, were strangers. Two other people were in the chamber, examining the seated statues. Near them, the air shimmered for a moment and grew cold.

Anna tried to turn back, but her feet were rooted to the spot. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. The sanctuary was growing darker, and in the strange chill that surrounded her, she could hear voices somewhere in the distance, chanting.

Light flickered to one side of the statues. It came from a lamp, she realised, set in a niche in the wall. In the foreground, on what she had thought was an altar, she could see the dark shape of a model boat.

And then she saw him, a tall man, very dark of complexion, his face drawn into harsh lines, his bare arms corded with muscle. He was naked but for a short skirt around his hips and the tawny pelt of a desert lion hung around his shoulders. On his feet, she could see gilded sandals, and in his hand was a long staff. At its top there was a carving—the formal, angry, snarling head of a lioness.

He was staring past her, not seeming to see her as, slowly, he turned towards the entrance to the sanctuary. The chanting was growing louder. She was aware of the pentatonic cadences of the tune, of the rising and falling of the sound as though it were coming from an inestimable distance, carried on the desert wind. She could smell the strange, sweet, spicy smell of incense. He was standing in front of the statue of Ptah, bowing, placing something before it, bowing in turn to the other statues.

Frozen with fear, Anna became aware of someone standing beside her in the doorway. The figure advanced past her and moved towards the centre of the sanctuary. She could see shadows moving across the chamber; two people were talking softly. The two scenes, two eras, seemed for a moment to coexist within the same place. They seemed not to see the priest standing near them. They gave no sign of hearing anything untoward. It was they who seemed transparent; wraiths out of time. It was the priest of Sekhmet about his sacred ritual who was real in this strange, reconstructed place which still had the power to call back ancient echoes.

“Are you all right?” It was the touch on her arm which shocked Anna back to the present. She recognised one of the women from their boat—her husband was the retired vicar, she seemed to remember, and they had ten grandchildren who had clubbed together to send them on this, the holiday of a lifetime.

Anna staggered slightly, her hand to her head, and the woman moved closer, putting a supportive arm round her shoulders. “Shall I help you outside, my dear?” she said. “It’s close in here, isn’t it, and that strange smell doesn’t help.”

“Smell?” Anna stared at her, still dizzy and confused.

“It’s like the inside of an Italian cathedral. Incense.” The woman smiled. Celia Greyshot. That was her name. It came to Anna suddenly.

“Incense? How can there be incense in here?” The statue of Ptah was alone again. No offerings about its feet. There was no priest.

“Well, no.” Celia looked puzzled. She sniffed loudly. “You’re right. It’s gone. It must have been someone’s perfume. Or perhaps I imagined it.” She shivered. “This is such a powerful, weird place, isn’t it?”

Anna did her best to smile. “I think I would like to go outside. I am feeling a bit odd.” She glanced at her watch, squinting in the dim light at her wrist. It was already past the time she and Serena and Toby had agreed to meet.

Serena was sitting on a bench outside. She jumped up in consternation as Anna and her companion appeared. “Anna, what is it? What’s wrong?”

Anna shook her head. “Too much heat and no sleep, I think. Celia was kind enough to look after me.” She flopped onto the bench. “No sign of Andy? Or of Toby or Ben?”

Serena shook her head. “None.” They watched as Celia, with a pleasant word and a wave, disappeared into the crowds in search of her husband.

“I saw Hatsek! In the temple.” Anna turned to Serena as soon as her companion was out of earshot. “He was beside the statue of Ptah in the sanctuary. Someone said that Ptah was Sekhmet’s husband!”

Serena thought for a moment. “Did you feel your energy depleted?”

Anna shrugged. “I suppose so. I nearly fainted; that’s why Celia helped me. But it was fear, Serena. Cold, hard, total fear!”

Serena nodded again. “I’ve made a decision while I’ve been here, Anna. I want to try and call up the priests again. But on my terms. I think I can do it this time, and I’m sure it is the right thing to do. We’ll try it if you like at Philae, this evening as I suggested. And it’ll be all right, I promise.” She gripped Anna’s hands. “So, do we go on looking for Andy?”

Anna closed her eyes wearily. “Toby and I have driven about a hundred and fifty miles through the night to save Andy! We’ll have to look for him. We have to. Supposing he is bitten by the snake?”

“You are positive the snake will try and kill him?”

“That’s why Carstairs called it up: to kill Hassan.”

“And did it kill him?”

Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t read that far yet. I don’t think so.”

“Did you bring the diary with you?”

Anna nodded. “I’m not letting it out of my sight again!”

“Then can I suggest we find somewhere shady and have a drink and look at it? It may be that Louisa found a way of dealing with it. This whole panic might be without any foundation.”

Anna nodded slowly. “I suppose that does make sense.”

“It does, Anna. And then, if he hasn’t already turned up with Toby or Ben or someone, we’ll have another shot at finding Andy. Come on.” Serena stood up and held out her hand. “Let’s get out of the sun.”

“I hid it under the planking.” Hassan showed Louisa a loose panel on the side of the cabin superstructure. “You see? Here.” He glanced round to make sure that they weren’t being observed, then he pulled out the small package and handed it to her. “What do we do with it?” The bruise on his head had subsided, and the wound had nearly healed.

That morning, the
Ibis
had anchored amongst several other boats off the shore opposite the temple of Abu Simbel. Amongst their neighbours, she had recognised Carstairs’s
Scarab
.

After the rescue party had brought Hassan back to the
Ibis
from the kiosk at Kartassi, Louisa, alone and shaking with anger, had demanded that one of their crew row her over to Carstairs’s boat, but when she got there, she found he had gone. His
reis
shrugged when she asked for him. “He say he go for three, maybe four days. No say where.” The black Nubian face was full of concern. “May I help the Sitt?”

Louisa shook her head. “Thank you, no. I’m sure I shall see him soon.”

She instructed the boatman to take her next to the
Lotus
, on which she could see David Fielding and his two ladies with their parasols. Venetia greeted her with a scowl. Neither David nor his wife moved.

“Katherine is resting. I don’t believe she has the strength for visitors,” Venetia called down frostily.

Louisa inclined her head slightly. It was hard to remain dignified, floating in the small dinghy looking up at the other woman above her head. “Then I shan’t incommode her. It was you or your brother I wanted to speak to. Do you know where Roger Carstairs has gone?”

Venetia’s face reddened perceptibly. “I have no idea. You are the one I had thought privy to all his movements.”

“As I think you know by now, he attacked my dragoman, Hassan, and beat him fearfully.” Louisa stared up into the other woman’s face, her words echoing across the water and, presumably, clearly audible to David and his wife. “If you see him, I want you to emphasise that he is no longer welcome for any reason aboard the
Ibis
. I never wish to see him again, and Sir John has forbidden him to set foot on the boat.” She smiled coldly. “I have no doubt you find such news pleasing, as it leaves the field clear for you, Venetia, but do beware. The man is a fiend.”

As they rowed back towards the
Ibis
, Louisa could feel the other woman’s eyes on her back for every stroke of her boatman’s oars. When she climbed back on board, Venetia was still standing at the rail looking after her.

“Sitt Louisa?” Hassan, bandaged and much restored, had been waiting on deck. “You should not have gone to see him.” He was looking furiously angry.

Louisa shrugged. “You expect me to leave it at that? He tried to kill you! He is a dangerous man…” She shook her head slowly. “Anyway, he wasn’t there. He won’t be back for several days. No one knows where he has gone.” She reached over and touched his arm. “We do not need to think about him for a while. We can be happy.” She smiled at him pleadingly. “We are going to stay here for a few days so I can paint the Sun Temple, and then we can go for lots more painting trips as we sail up towards the second cataract. I hope we never see him again.”

He nodded. “Of course, my Louisa. We will do whatever you want.”

It was then he had shown her the hiding place of the bottle, and now he was staring at her, holding it in his hand. “What shall we do with it?”

Louisa shrugged. “Is there nowhere safe?” She took it from him. “While Carstairs is away, I shall keep it with my painting things.” She sighed. “So precious a gift, my love, and so dangerous. I intend to treasure this for the rest of my life. He will not have it.”

“For the rest of your life?” Hassan repeated quietly. He glanced at her. “You will take it back to England with you, then?”

Louisa bit her lip. The future was something she did not want to contemplate, but she knew soon there would be no escape from it.

He went on with a shake of his head, as though he, too, could not countenance the content of the words he was making himself speak. “Soon it will be too hot to stay in Upper Egypt. Sir John will follow all the other visitors and turn north again. What will you do when you return to Cairo and Alexandria?”

Louisa turned away from him. She walked to the end of the deck, then she turned back. “I have to go back to England, Hassan.” She hesitated. “To my children. But how can I leave you? I don’t know what to do!” Her voice suddenly trembled. “I have never felt such love for any man before.” She closed her eyes, aware of the treachery of her words, aware that she was near to tears.

There was a movement behind her, and she realised suddenly that Augusta had appeared at the door of the saloon. Desperately she tried to compose herself as Hassan moved a discreet pace or two away from her.

“My Louisa, you must not cry,” he murmured. “You and I will be together in our hearts, if it is God’s will. This afternoon I shall take you to the great Sun Temple over there. We can walk in the hills behind it.” He smiled sadly. “We will be happy while we can. I can stay with you all the way to Alexandria if it is your wish and if Sir John permits it. Then next year you will come again to Egypt and your Hassan will be waiting for you.”

She was staring out across the river and the desert. “
Inshallah!
” she whispered.

“Louisa, my dear. You cannot stay out here without shade!” Augusta’s voice boomed out as her hostess sailed towards her. In her hand she carried Louisa’s fringed parasol. Hassan bowed and moved away as Louisa hastily dabbed at the traces of her tears.

“I saw you coming back from the Fielding boat earlier. You didn’t say you were visiting them. I would have come with you, had I known.”

Louisa managed a tired smile. “I had a message to deliver to Lord Carstairs. I hadn’t realised he had gone.”

“Gone?” Augusta frowned. “How could he have gone? Where has he gone?”

“I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. I had the boy row me over to the Fieldings’ to see if they knew, but Venetia said not.”

Something in the set of her lips made Augusta raise an eyebrow. “She is not too happy about Lord Carstairs’s interest in you. I’m afraid she still hopes for him herself.”

“Does she indeed? Well, she is welcome to him.”

“You are still implacable, my dear? He would be such a catch. Title. Money. And such a handsome man.”

“And a loathsome one.”

Augusta sighed. She glanced towards the stern of the boat, where Hassan had settled with the
reis
in conversation over a hookah in the shade of the sail.

“Once you are back in England, you will feel differently about things, my dear,” she said gently. “And it will be time to return very soon.” She was fanning her face as she spoke. “Sir John has decided not to go any further south. The heat is becoming unbearable, and David Fielding tells us he has made the same decision. He is anxious to reach Alexandria before Katherine’s confinement. She too is finding the heat intolerable. Whatever Roger is going to do, our two boats will travel together and make as good speed as we can. We are to start back north this very afternoon.”