02 King of Kings by Imogen Robertson Wilbur Smith

Author:Imogen Robertson Wilbur Smith [Wilbur Smith, Imogen Robertson]
Language: deu
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

When Ryder woke in the morning and began to prepare the mules with Geriel and Maki, he noticed that Tadesse’s face was ashen with fatigue. The boy tried to speak to him, but Ryder turned his back on him, telling him curtly to go and sit by the fire.

As they breakfasted, two of Alula’s advisers arrived with gifts from their host and his good wishes. He sent brightly woven cloth for Saffron and Amber, and local brandy for Ryder. They were thoughtful presents and Ryder was grateful to him.

Once breakfast was over, Alula himself arrived with half a dozen of his men. On seeing that Ryder had no horse, he sent his own back to be stabled. Alula would never ride while his guest walked, and so they left Axum side by side, past the monuments of other ages, and the ancient wild fig tree next to the cathedral where, so tradition said, the Ark of the Covenant itself lay hidden from human eyes and protected by the priests of Axum.

Ryder and Alula avoided any further talk of politics, and instead swapped stories of the hunt on the first steep ascent and descent of the track.

Both men were strong and even at this altitude and climbing such paths, they did not need to pause in the flow of their talk. As they reached the bottom of a narrow gorge, however, they let the pack mules drink in the icy stream and enjoyed the cool shade offered by a stand of sweet-smelling juniper trees growing beside the water for an hour before setting off again.

The track would take them south along the shady gorge for some two or three miles, then would climb again steeply to take them further east. Ryder glanced over his shoulder and noticed Maki, who led one of the pack mules, stiffen and frown up into the heights ahead. Even as he caught Maki’s look of surprise, he saw something on the eastern wall of the gorge behind them. A puff of dust, and a small trickle of loose pebbles from a high ledge he never would have noticed had he not been looking directly at the spot. He felt an animal twitch of disquiet in his gut. Calmly he gave a word of excuse to Alula and slowed his pace. The rest of the party began to overtake him and soon he was walking by Maki’s side.

“What did you see?” he asked him.

“I’m not sure, Mr. Ryder. It was there and gone again almost immediately, merely a faint movement in the thorn bushes. Fifty yards ahead, three quarters of the way up the slope.” He spoke quietly and did not point at the place.

Ryder looked casually up and down the twisting valley. The precipitous sides of the gorge were covered in patches of low scrub that had found a hold on the narrow sandstone ledges. The path alongside the stream was wide enough for two men to walk abreast, and the river itself was some twenty feet wide and shallow.

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