Somebody threw a spear, but awkwardly, so that the point gave the animal a slight wound on the shoulder. It opened its wide mouth, showing fangs like those of a lion, and screamed again.
The man nearest to the monster was Merqetek, armed only with a short sword. Amid general yells of terror, the Dankala stumbled back, fumbling for his weapon. The next closest was Myron.
"Get out of the way! Give me a shot!" roared Bessas..
The demon dropped to all fours and loped forward with appalling speed, fangs bared. A swing of a long arm knocked Merqetek flying. Then it bore down upon Myron. At the last minute it reared up on its hindlegs again, spreading its arms.
Myron belatedly remembered what he had been taught in Miletos, many years ago, about the way for infantry to receive a charge of cavalry. Gripping his spear, he dropped to one knee and braced the butt of his weapon against an outcrop of rock. As the monster swooped upon him, the point entered its belly.
The demon screamed again but, instead of backing off, it hurled itself forward, still striving to reach its victim. The point of the spear came out the thing's back as it forced itself down the seven-foot shaft towards its foe. A long arm lashed out, and black nails gashed Myron's forearm. He had to slide his hands down almost to the butt to keep his wrist from being seized; still he held his spear firm.
The beast gave another heave and reached for Myron again. Now it was easily close enough to grasp him. But Bessas' bow twanged, and a feathered shaft sank into the monster's chest. An instant later, Bessas and Ajang drove spears into its trunk, pushing with all their might until the creature suddenly toppled backward, flopping, gasping, and snapping its great jaws. The other men gathered their courage to attack, and soon a spear thrust in the heart ended the monster's agony.
Merqetek picked himself up, bruised but not broken. Bessas said:
"So that is what King Takarta turned himself into! It may not be a true demon, since material weapons slay it. But then what in the Land of Silence is it?"
"Let's ask the Pygmies," said Myron, wiping the blood from his arm with his shirt tail. He stepped to the entrance and called.
The Pygmies came up timidly, Dzaka hopping on one leg and holding Adimoku about the neck. When they saw the monster, however, they burst into shrill laughter.
"That is no demon," said Dzaka. "That is but a nyani mkubwa—a great ape. Over yonder"—he pointed westward, towards the far forested shore of the great lake—"are many. We Tikki-Tikki leave them alone, and they likewise do not bother us. But now—el—we shall feast!"
"Eat that?" said Bessas. "I should feel like a cannibal."
"And who," said Myron, "castigated us for being squeamish about eating man, when we were guests of the Akulangba?"
"True, little man. But now our next task faces us: to find the treasure of Takarta. Search, lads, and to him who finds it I will give a piece out of it. Well, what is it, girls?" he said with an air of mild annoyance as Salimat and Phyllis rushed through the gateway.
"You live!" they screamed and seized him in a double strangle hold, covering his face with kisses. "We heard the shouting," they babbled, "and we feared to come look, lest the demon had slain you all ... And at last we could wait no longer ... So here we are ... And you are a wicked man not to let your poor wives know ..."
"Yes, yes," he said with affectionate gruffness, "but now lend a hand with our search."
With a dozen persons searching and burrowing, not over half an hour passed before Abras called: "Is this not it, father of arrows?"
The Arab had found the corner of a bronzen chest, green with age, sticking out of a pile of fallen stone, which many eager hands soon cleared away. The chest proved somewhat over a cubit long and closed by a sliding bolt. A stout bronze handle projected from each end. Abras grasped the handles and tugged, grunting, but the box did not move.
Bessas picked up tire box, his muscles bulging. "It must weigh over a talent," said he, setting it down.
The bolt had corroded fast in place and had to be hammered open with the back of an ax head. The hinges were likewise stuck. A sword blade, inserted into the crack between lid and box, broke the seal of corrosion. With a groan and a creak the lid was raised at last.
"By the claws of Apizemek!" breathed Merqetek.
Before them lay a gleaming mass of gold and jewels, undimmed by time. Rings, necklaces, bracelets, coins, and small bricks of bullion were heaped indiscriminately.
Kothar pushed forward. "Let me see! Where is the True Anthrax?"
"Stand back," said Bessas. "You found it, Abras, so see if this armlet will fit one of your skinny arms." The Arab gave a yelp of delight.
Squatting before the chest, Bessas began picking among the pieces. Presently he held up a ruby the size of a duck's egg, to which a thin golden chain was attached.
"Is this your True Anthrax?"
Kothar cupped his hands to receive the jewel, in a gingerly manner, as if he feared it might shatter or vanish. Myron thought that a weird light gleamed in the Syrian's eyes.
"The True Anthrax!" he murmured. "One of the world's most famous magical gems, lost to the sight of man for three hundred years, since the days of the Assyrian Empire, when the Kushites overran Khem and a feathered black barbarian sat on the throne of the Pharaohs ..."
Bessas held out a hand, but Kothar seemed entranced, gazing into the flaming depths of the gem. At last Bessas snapped his fingers sharply.
"Give!"
Kothar shook his head as if coming out of a dream and handed the gem back.
"This Anthrax belongs to General Puerma," said Bessas, piling the treasure back into the casket. "Ajang, you shall be warden of the chest. If you find anybody but me trying to open it, slay him." He glowered round the circle of faces. "I know you are all more or less good men, but the sight of great wealth saps the virtue of even the strongest nature."
Bessas closed the chest and slid back the bolt. He struck the bolt a sharp blow with the back of the ax.
"Now," he said, "The bolt is jammed, so that it will take doing to get it open again. Let us find a place where we can sit and take counsel. I do not enjoy the sight of that dead demon."
They found a place at the base of the point. Bessas, speaking slowly and pausing for translation, reviewed their adventures to date.
"We have now accomplished two thirds of our task. We have obtained the ear of a king." Bessas opened his wallet, glanced in, and resumed: "Still there, thank Mithra. We have also recovered the treasure of Takarta, as we promised Puerma.
"We have not, however, obtained our dragon. Does every one of you swear, by all his gods, that he knows nought of such a creature?"
All swore. Kothar said: "We cannot yet rule out the dragon's existence. You were told to seek at the headwaters of the Nile. But, if you take that command literally, you would have to explore the sources of all the many rivers that feed into the lakes of this region."
"That were a lifetime's work. O Myron, how much of the year and a quarter, which Xerxes granted unto us, has passed?"
Myron thought. "It is now about the end of Kislimu. That means that almost nine of our fifteen months have passed, or three fifths of the time."
"That's more than half, is it not?" said Bessas. "You see, my friends, we must scurry homeward forthwith, if I am to save my mother's life."
Umayya said: "Lord Bessas, you are our shaykh. Why do you not stop quietly at the Fifty-League Oasis and not return to Persepolis at all? The Great King were hard put to find you in a kaffiyya, speaking Arabic and bearing an Arab name."
"Because the Great King holds my mother hostage."
Dzaka spoke up: "Do I understand aright that, if you go back to your Great King without your beast, he will slay you?"