Read Online Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe - Free Book Online Page B

summoned Azibaal, Sahuset, Thotmaktef, and me. He made me read from this, all that I had written when I remembered the woman herself. Now I recall only the things I read to the others.
    Azibaal told us what the sailors had seen this morning, then what they had seen earlier, because I had mentioned it in my account. The sailors wish to turn back, Azibaal said, and to leave Qanju, Thotmaktef, and Sahuset here. I think they would like to leave my men, the women, and me behind as well; but they know Muslak would not consent to it. Soon they will want to leave Muslak, too--no one said that, but I think it.
    "Let us do the other thing," I told Qanju. "There must be many good sailors among the men of Kemet. My men and I will drive these ashore, and you can hire others."
    Muslak said, "You'll have to put me ashore too."
    "Then I will not do it," I promised him.
    "Nor will I," Qanju murmured. "These men have a legitimate complaint. It is our duty to resolve it. You have searched the ship for the woman?"
    I nodded.
    Muslak said, "So have I--I went with him."
    "Without finding her. What of the cat?"
    "It's larger than other cats," I said. "I've seen it. I believe I'm the only one here who has."
    Thotmaktef said, "We breed cats much larger than any of you foreigners have, and use them to hunt small game." He looked to Sahuset for agreement, but Sahuset did not speak.
    Muslak added, "Besides, you've forgotten it, Lewqys. You're just telling us what you wrote down."
    "No," I said. "I remember the cat." I held my hands apart to show its size.
    "Do you?" Qanju whispered.
    Muslak grinned and slapped my back. "You're getting better!"
    Sahuset smiled too.
    "What of my question, Lucius? What traces of the cat did you find?"
    "None," I said.
    "The urine of cats has a strong odor. ..."
    "I know," I said. "I did not smell it."
    "Neither did I," Muslak declared, "and I would have."
    "In that case, the cat is not on the ship, though I feel sure the woman must be."
    Thotmaktef looked puzzled. "How can you know that, Most Holy Qanju?"
    Qanju spoke to me. "You remember the cat, you said. A large cat with green eyes."
    I nodded. "Very large."
    "Do you also remember the woman, Lucius?"
    I held up my scroll. "Only what I have here. But Iremember also that it was you who insisted I write, for which I thank you."
    "In which case we may assume that the woman is here."
    Qanju turned to speak to Thotmaktef. "The cat vanished while Lucius was looking at it. He says it could not have jumped into the water, and I agree. Cats walk very quietly, but they cannot leap into water quietly. Since this cat was at the back of our vessel, some distance from the riverbank, it could not have sprung to the bank unseen. Having no other explanation, Lucius assumed that it must have gone into the hold. We know it wasn't there."
    Slowly, Thotmaktef nodded.
    "In which case ..." Qanju sighed. "Let us call it a ghost. That will make things simpler. The woman is not a ghost, however. Lucius touched her shoulder. Wishing to go to the village--or to our tents, which were near it--she walked up the path, even as we."
    "I am blessed," Thotmaktef said, "to hear such wisdom."
    "I will bless you further. Lucius forgets the places he has visited and the people he has seen in them. He even forgets Myt-ser'eu. In short, he forgets all the occurrences of common life. He does not forget the cat. Therefore, it does not belong to common life."
    Thotmaktef murmured, "Myt-ser'eu," and wrote something on the deck with his finger.
    "Interesting," Qanju murmured.
    Sahuset nodded, I noticed, although his head scarcely moved. Thotmaktef was seated at Qanju's right, Sahuset at Thotmaktef's right. Sahuset, at least, had read what Thotmaktef wrote.
    Muslak turned to Azibaal. "Which one scares them most?"
    Azibaal spat. "They both do."
    "You're saying that the woman's still in the village,"Muslak told Qanju, "but the men say they saw her come back to my ship."
    "I am saying nothing of the kind, Captain. I am