Guardian Of The Horizon by Elizabeth Peters

Author:Elizabeth Peters
Language: eng
Format: epub

Guardian Of The Horizon

“I will leave the flattery to you,” said Emerson. “What I'll propose is a practical quid pro quo: our loyalty, publicly demonstrated, if necessary, in exchange for permission to record the reliefs in the temples and explore the tombs.”

“No man who knows the Father of Curses will believe he would be disloyal to a friend, or let his daughter be taken from him,” said Selim, who had followed the discussion with furrowed brow.

“He doesn't know me,” said Emerson, trying to look sly.

“He knows you well enough, by reputation, at least, to know you would never consent to remain here indefinitely,” I retorted. “You must ask when we will be allowed to leave. He will lie, of course. He can't afford to let us go, with or without Nefret.”

A united outcry from the others arose. “Of course we won't leave without her,” I said impatiently. “But since we cannot enforce our will, we must, for the moment, pretend to believe any lies the usurper chooses to tellÑespecially about Nefret. The High Priestess does not serve for life. Once she has chosen a successorÑ”

“Do you know what happens to the High Priestess after she gives up her position?” Ramses asked quietly.

“I can guess. That isn't the point, Ramses. I will ask the king if we may take her with us after she has appointed another in her place, and he will say yes, we may, and he will be lying, and we will pretendÑdo you hear me?Ñwe will pretend to believe it. I am only trying to gain timeÑtime enough to locate Tarek and figure out how to overthrow the usurper.”

“Where is this friend, this Tarek?” Selim asked.

“That's a good question,” Ramses said. “He must be holed up in a place which is defensible and/or well hidden, or the king would have crushed him and his followers already. One doesn't leave a pocket of rebellion to fester if one can easily clean it out. The difficulty is that we learned very little about the city and the surrounding area; we were closely guarded prisoners most of the time.”

“Do you suppose Tarek knows we are here?” I asked.

“If he doesn't, he soon will. The usurper can't make use of our prestige without announcing our presence. I wouldn't count on Tarek's being able to reach us, though. He'd be a fool to venture into the city when there's a price on his head.”

“We need more information,” I declared. “Let us send word to the king requesting another audience. We will present him with a list of our demands. First and foremost, we will insist on seeing Nefret.”

“I share your anxiety, Peabody,” said Emerson. “But I think we ought not make the first move. It is poor diplomacy, especially in a society like this one.” He sauntered toward the right-hand wall and began examining the painted reliefs.

“Emerson,” I said, “if you begin copying inscriptions or taking notes I willÑI willÑ”

“You had better do the same,” said Emerson, without turning. “We must convince

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