“Ah, oui, the bones,” said Celeste. “We have seen your handiwork, my lord.”
The Abulhol glanced at the city and nodded. “Desecrating tomb raiders all.”
“A well-deserved fate, my lord.”
The Sphinx nodded, then said, “Speak of this quest, and perhaps I will let you live, mayhap even aid you.
But first I would have your names.”
“My Lord Sphinx, I am Celeste, Princesse de la Foret de Printemps, and my companion is my betrothed, Sieur Roel, Chevalier du Manoir d’Emile.” Celeste deeply curtseyed and Roel made a sweeping bow.
Clearly flattered by their courtesy, the Abulhol canted his head forward in acknowledgment and said, “Ah, royalty and chivalry. Well, then, since you have passed through the shrine to Meketaten without taking ought, and since you are a princess and a knight, no tomb raiders are you. Hence, I will let you live.” The Sphinx ONCE UPON A SPRING MORN / 277
then sheathed his great claws and said, “But before I give aid, I would have you speak of this quest.” Celeste said, “ ’Tis a tale better told by Sieur Roel.” And she stepped back while Roel stepped forward.
“It begins many seasons past, Lord Sphinx, when I was but a lad. My sister, Avelaine, was troubled by her upcoming arranged marriage to someone she didn’t love, and she and I had ridden out to the ruins of a temple, where. .”
“. . And so you see, we are not after treasure, but a gray arrow instead.”
“And you say the Fates sent you to find such?”
“Oui. Without it we will fail.”
“Hmm. .,” rumbled the Sphinx. “What you seek is the arrow that slew Achilles, for not even the gods could turn that one aside.”
“Know you where this arrow lies?” asked Roel. “I would go through Hell itself to save my sister and brothers.”
The Abulhol rumbled a laugh and said, “Just so, my boy, just so, for to reach it, you will have to go through the realm of Lord Hades.”
“Erebus? We must go through Erebus?”
“You know of Erebus?” asked the Sphinx, somewhat surprised.
“I have read a few of the Greek legends of old,” replied Roel.
“As have I,” said Celeste, “yet I knew not that Erebus is of Faery.”
“It is not,” said the Abulhol. He gestured about and added, “Just as these sands are not of Faery.” Celeste’s eyes widened in amaze. “Not of Faery? If we are not in Faery, just where are we?” The Sphinx smiled and said, “Ever since you crossed out from Faery and into these sands, you have been in a remote area of a realm called Aegypt.” 278 / DENNIS L. MCKIERNAN
Roel shrugged and said, “Regardless as to whether we are in Faery or no, where lies this gray arrow?”
“It is held in the hands of an idol in a temple on the central square of the City of the Dead.”
“And where might we find this City of the Dead?”
“Beyond the black doorway in the Hall of Heroes in the Elysian Fields.”
Celeste frowned as if trying to capture an elusive thought. Of a sudden her eyes widened in revelation.
“That’s what they mean. Roel, our map: Spx: Sphinx. El Fd: Elysian Fields. Ct Dd: City of the Dead.” But then her face fell and she said, “Oh, my love, I thought all we needed to do was follow our chart duskwise, but if we are to go to the underworld of Erebus, I know not what to do.”
The Sphinx smiled and, with a grating of stone, slowly shook its head. “Quite right, Princess; you will not reach the City of the Dead by riding duskwise.” Roel said, “My Lord Sphinx, you are the guardian of this shrine, one in which I witnessed in a dream a ship that came to bear a loved one away to the afterlife in the underworld. Can you help us find that ship? If not, then our mission will fail, for we need the gray arrow, and time grows perilously short.”
Solemnly the Abulhol nodded. “Indeed, for there is not but this day and four more ere the night of the dark of the moon. Yet it is a terrible thing you ask, for the living have seldom ridden the ferry to the underworld. Still, where you must go is not to Duat-the domain of Osiris-but to that of Hades instead, to his netherworld; hence you will not ride that ferry, but another one altogether.”
“Nevertheless, Lord Sphinx, can you aid us?” Slowly the Abulhol nodded, stone grating on stone. “I can start you on your way, yet I am bound much as are the Three Sisters: you must answer a riddle of mine ere I can give aid. And if you fail, I must slay you.” Celeste groaned, but Roel said, “Speak your conundrum, then.” ONCE UPON A SPRING MORN / 279
But Celeste held up a hand and said, “My Lord Sphinx, in all honor, I find it only fair to warn you, I know the answer to your most famous riddle.”
“The one Oedipus solved?”
“Oui.”
“Ah, that is not mine but the riddle of one of my sisters, she of the eagle’s wings and lion’s body and a beautiful woman’s face. Nay, I will not ask her riddle, but another one instead.”
Celeste sighed and signed for the Abulhol to proceed.
And from the surrounding air there sounded the song of the plucked strings of a lyre, and the Sphinx intoned:
“I go on no legs in the morning, And my no legs are my last.
I go on two legs in the noontide, I have just had a repast.
Four legs I dine in the dark nighttide, Now you must name me at last.”
Once again the great deadly claws of the Abulhol came sliding forth.
Celeste glanced at Roel, and his face was filled with distress. He turned up his hands, and she despaired: Roel has no answer, and neither do I. Think, Celeste, think! No legs? What has no legs? And how can no legs become two legs and then four legs? This Sphinx, this Abulhol, this creature of the desert, has posed an unsolvab-
She looked up and smiled and said, “My Lord Sphinx, a being of the desert you are, and so creatures of the desert are perhaps the answer.”
The Abulhol looked down at her and said, “And what would they be?”
Celeste took a deep breath and braced herself and said, “ ’Tis a dying asp in the morning whose corpse is eaten by an ibis at noon which in turn is eaten by a jackal at night; hence no legs in the morning is taken in by two legs at noon, and two legs with no legs inside is taken in by four legs in the dark nighttide.” The Sphinx nodded and said, “Very good, Princess,” and it sheathed its claws.
Tears of relief sprang into Celeste’s eyes.
Roel said, “Lady Doom was right: you are quite good at riddles. But how did you. .?”
“Oh, love, the answer is in the second line of the riddle.”
Roel frowned. “‘And my no legs are my last’? But how can that-? Ah, I see: when something is on its last legs, it is dying. And a no-legs thing on its so-called ‘last legs’ is a dying snake, an asp in this case, and it becomes carrion.”
“Oui, and what eats carrion? An ibis. You said so yourself back at the stele. And I guessed the four legs was a jackal, for one of those was on the stele as well.” Roel embraced Celeste and kissed her. “Oh, my love, if we succeed in saving my sister and brothers, it will be because of you-your wit, your courage, your prowess with a bow. I could not ask for a better companion.” Celeste took Roel’s face in her hands, and she kissed him deeply, only to be interrupted by a grinding “Harrumph!” She turned and looked up at the Sphinx, and it was smiling.
“If you two are finished with this unseemly display of affection. .”
“We are, Lord Sphinx,” said Celeste.
“Then I shall start you on your journey to the land of the dead. Yet heed, your path will be quite difficult, for, as Lady Doom said, creatures and heroes and the dead will test you along the way. Well, I am a creature, and I did put you to trial, but there are more ordeals to come.