Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe Page A

exorcisms just make things worse. I was taught that in the House of Life, too; I'd almost forgotten it."
    He paused to clear his throat. "Where did you get Uraeus, Latro?"
    "My friend Sesostris gave him to me," I said.
    "I--see. I don't like quizzing you like this, Latro. We've always been friends, and I'd like to stay friends. Do you happen to recall my name?"
    Uraeus whispered it behind me, and I said, "You are Holy Thotmaktef."
    "Right. I'm sorry to have troubled you." He spoke to my slave. "Uraeus, were you a slave in the temple of Sesostris up to the time we tied up there?"
    Uraeus whispered, "Should I answer, master? I do not advise it."
    "Yes," I said, "this time."
    "I was not," he told the scribe.
    "Where were you?"
    Uraeus shook his head. There is something eerie about that, as I wrote earlier.
    The scribe rose, wiping his palms on his thighs. "Lucius, will you order your slave to answer my questions?"
    "No," I said. "Ask them of me, and I'll ask them of him if I choose."
    "All right. There may not be many, and I'll ask this one of you. Will you please, as a favor to me, ask him to go over there under the hatch, where the light's better?"
    I did.
    "Now will you, as another favor, have him raise his chin?"
    "Lift your chin," I told Uraeus. "There can be no harm in letting us see your neck."
    He did. When I saw how wrinkled his neck was I knew he was older than I had thought.
    "I was looking for a scar." The scribe seemed much more relaxed. "There isn't any."
    I agreed.
    "You said he'd been down here earlier alone, didn't you? Would you ask him whether he saw the cat--a huge black cat--or the woman down here then?"
    I turned to Uraeus. "Did you?"
    "No, master."
    "Neither one?"
    "No, master."
    "Thank you," the scribe said. "I thank you both. A loyal slave who will hold his tongue is worth a great deal, Lucius. I congratulate you."
    We watched the scribe climb the ladder to the deck, and I motioned for Uraeus to sit again. When we were both seated I said, "You understand that a great deal better than I do, I think. Probably better than Myt-ser'eu does, too. Explain it to me."
    "No, master. Less than anyone, I fear. I had not heard of the cat until Thotmaktef mentioned it to us."
    "But you had heard of the woman."
    "Because I did not say I had not, master? No, no one had spoken of her to me. Do you wish to see her?"
    "If you can show her to me."
    "Then come, master." He led me to a bundle as long as I am high, a box wrapped in canvas and tied with rope. "She is in here, Master."
    "Perhaps we shouldn't untie that," I said. "It doesn't belong to us, and there can't be a woman inside."
    "I will not untie it, master." Uraeus looked up at me. I doubt that he ever smiles, but there was amusement in his slitted eyes. "Watch. I will show you this woman."
    He lifted the lid without difficulty. The wax figure of a beautiful woman lay in the box. "I found this while hunting rats, master. I have an instinct for such things."
    I was examining the wax figure. I lifted it, finding that my fingers thought it a real woman of blood and flesh, and laid it back in its box.
    "Would you like to hear it speak?"
    I shook my head. "I can easily believe that people have been deceived into thinking this wax woman real. Is that what you mean?"
    "It is real, master. A real woman shaped of wax. If you change your mind and wish to hear it speak and see it walk, you and I might force the warlock to animate it, I think."

12

I WAS AFRAID

    " ARE YOU TALKING about our commander, Uraeus?" I returned to the boxes on which we had been sitting. "That little old man from Parsa?"
    "No, master." Uraeus joined me, bringing the lid of the wax woman's box. "Qanju is a Magi. Holy Sahuset is the warlock. He is a man of my own nation."
    "The healer."
    "Sahuset may heal at times, master. I do not know."
    "He can make that figure walk and talk? That's the woman the scribe was talking about?"
    "Yes, master. Even by day, perhaps, although those who saw her in Ra's golden