“I sent a coded message to my editor, told him about the A-Bomb.”
“Will he be able to get to safety?”
“Probably not. As I say, the city is surrounded.”
“Then how do we get in? How does the Britanniacome and go?”
“We manage to keep a passage-we call it Hell's Run-open through the besieging German forces to the east of the city. The most ghastly fighting occurs along its borders, but Crowley and our mediums focus their efforts there and have so far prevented the Germans from closing the route.”
A siren started to blare.
“That's the call to battle stations!”
The door opened and an Askari stepped in. “You're both ordered to the bridge,” he said. “Tabora just radioed a message that's put the wind up Aitken. We're approaching the city now.”
“What message?” Wells asked as they followed the African out of the room.
“I don't know the details, Lieutenant.”
They passed along corridors and up stairs, with men rushing around them and the siren howling continuously. The moment they entered the bridge, Aitken rounded on Burton and snapped: “Baker, did Lettow-Vorbeck tell you anything about lurchers? Have the Germans regained control of them?”
“He pointed out a crowd of the plants,” Burton replied, “and said they're most numerous up near the Blood Jungle, but control? No, quite the opposite.”
“Well, that's damned strange. Tabora reports that thousands of them are approaching the city from the north.”
Burton and Wells looked at each other. The explorer shook his head and shrugged, baffled.
“We're currently racing straight down the middle of Hell's Run, well away from German peashooters,” Aitken said. “When was the last time you were here, Baker?”
“I've never been to Tabora, sir.”
“You haven't? Well, take a peek out of the window. We're almost there.”
Burton and Wells stepped over to the glass and looked out across the African landscape. The Britanniawas travelling at a tremendous speed over flat ground. To the north and south of her, black clouds humped up into the blue sky. Lightning flickered inside them. Puffs of smoke rose from the ground beneath. There were flashes. Tiny dots could be seen flying through the air.
“Those are the edges of Hell's Run,” Wells murmured. “As you can see, the Hun weathermen are at work. The storms are more or less constant, as is the fighting beneath them. Tabora is behind the hills you see ahead of us.”
As he examined the terrain, Burton was overcome by a sense of deja vu. He struggled for breath and clutched at Wells's arm.
The Britanniashot up a slope, over the crest of a hill, sank into the valley beyond, navigated up the next slope, and reached the second summit. Burton saw a wide plain stretched out below. Much of it was obscured by a blanket of dirty steam, which was particularly dark and opaque straight ahead, where, from out of the pall, there rose a tall rock topped with green vegetation.
“Kazeh!” Burton croaked. “Tabora is Kazeh!”
“Kazeh is under siege!”
Sir Richard Francis Burton, Algernon Swinburne, and Isabel Arundell had ridden back through the night to where Trounce and the expedition were bivouacked. All three of them were coated with dust and thoroughly exhausted, but there was no time to rest.
Burton fired his rifle into the air to rouse the camp and yelled: “Hopa! Hopa! Pakia!”
Trounce responded to the announcement with: “By the Prussians? Are there that many of them?”
“There's enough! We have to get moving! If they take the town, we won't be able to resupply for the next leg of the safari.”
“But what the blazes are they up to?”
“It's the key to central East Africa, William. Whoever controls Kazeh controls the region all the way from Lake Tanganyika to Zanzibar, and up to the Mountains of the Moon. My guess is they mean to drive the Arabs out and make of it a Prussian base of operations.”
Burton ordered Said bin Salim to have the porters take up their loads. Mirambo silently appeared beside him and asked, “Will the coming day be that in which we fight?”
“Yes. I bid thee prepare thy warriors, O Mirambo.”
“We are always prepared, muzungo mbaya.It is wise to be so when devils such as thee walk the land.”
The African stalked away.
Krishnamurthy, Spencer, Isabella Mayson, Sister Raghavendra, and Sidi Bombay gathered around the king's agent. He described to them the scene he'd witnessed.
Krishnamurthy asked, “Can we get into the town from the west?”
“Yes,” Burton replied. “If we follow the hills south, remaining on this side of them, then cross when-”
“No. We can't enter the town at all,” Isabel Arundell interrupted.
They all looked at her, surprised.
“It would be suicidal. I have a hundred and twenty fighters and another ninety or so on the way. Mirambo has two hundred boys. The Prussians already greatly outnumber us and there are a thousand more fast approaching. If we're in the town when they arrive, we'll be pinned down and we'll likely never get out again.”
Burton nodded thoughtfully. “You're the expert in guerrilla tactics,” he said, “and I'll bow to your expertise. What do you recommend?”
Isabel positioned herself directly in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. “The king made you his agent, Dick, and you have your orders. What is the distance from here to the Mountains of the Moon?”
“Something under two hundred miles.”
“Then go. Forget about resupplying in the town. You and your people take two horses each and the bare essentials in supplies. No porters. Nothing but what you can carry. Travel as fast as you can. It's a race, remember? I have no doubt that John Speke is already on his way.”
“And you?” Burton asked.
“Mirambo and I will lead our forces against the Prussians.”
William Trounce interjected: “But why, Isabel? If we're going to bypass the town, why risk yourselves in battle at all?”
Isabel stepped back and pulled the keffiyehfrom her head. The sickle moon had just risen over the horizon and its pale light illuminated her long blonde hair.
“Because despite these robes, I'm British, William. If what we saw at Mzizima, and what we are witnessing here at Kazeh, are the first skirmishes in a clash of empires, then it's my duty to defend that to which I belong-besides which, if we don't keep the Prussians occupied here, they'll be able to rapidly establish outposts all the way to the Mountains of the Moon, making it almost impossible for you to get there.”
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Isabella Mayson cleared her throat. “Richard,” she said, “if you don't mind, I think I would like to stay and join the Daughters of Al-Manat.”
“And I,” added Sister Raghavendra. “Besides, you'll probably travel more quickly as a smaller group.”
The explorer looked from one woman to the other, then his gaze went past Isabel and his eyes locked with Swinburne's, and even in the dim light, the poet could see in them a great depth of despair.
“I'm afraid Isabel is right,” the poet said quietly. “We can't allow Speke to reach the Eye of Naga before us. Equally, we can't let Kazeh fall to the Prussians. The only option is to split the expedition.”
Burton leaned his head back and considered the stars. Then he closed his eyes and said, “And you, William?”
Trounce stepped forward and spoke in a low, gruff voice: “Am I supposed to run off and leave women to fight?”
Isabella Mayson whirled around to face him. “Sir! The fact that I wrote a book about cookery and household management doesn't mean I'm incapable of putting a bullet through a man's head! Have you forgotten this-” She pulled back her hair to reveal the notch in her right ear. “I fought by your side at Dut'humi. Was I any less effective than you? Did I scream? Did I faint? Did I start knitting a shawl?”
“No, of course not! You're as brave as they come. But-”