"Go to your room," said Father. "Or better still, to the toilet. And then come out and set an example of silent obedience. Not to me-to Elya. He knows how to pack for this kind of trip."
"Yes, Father," said Nafai.
At once he moved briskly from Father's room, through the library and public room, and out into the courtyard. Elemak's and Mebbekew's doors were still closed. Nafai headed for the latrine, with its two walls leaving it open to the courtyard. He was only just there when he heard Father knocking on Mebbekew's door. "Wake up, but quietly," said Father. Then again, on Elemak's. "Come out into the courtyard."
He heard them all come out-Issib, too, though no one called him directly.
"Where's Nyeft" asked Issib.
"Using the latrine," said Father.
"Now that's an idea," said Meb.
"You can wait a moment," said Father.
Nafai came out of the stall, letting the toilet wash itself automatically behind him. At least Father hadn't made them live in a completely primitive way.
"Sorry," said Nafai. "Didn't mean to keep you waiting." Meb glowered at him, but too sleepily for Nafai to take it as a threat of a fight to come.
"We're leaving," Father said. "Out into the desert."
"All of us?" asked Issib.
"I'm sorry, yes," said Father. "You'll be in your chair. It's not the same as your floats, I know, but it's something."
"Why?" asked Elemak.
"I was warned by the Oversoul in a dream," said Father.
Meb made a contemptuous noise and started back for his room.
"You will stand and listen," said Father, "because if.you stay, it will not be as my son."
Meb stood and listened, though his back was still toward Father.
"There's a plot to kill me," said Father. "This morning.
I was to go to a meeting with Gaballufix and Roptat, and there I was going to die."
"Gabya gave me his word," said Elemak. "No harm to anyone."
So Elemak called Gaballufix by his boy-name now, did he?
"The Oversoul knows his heart better than his own mouth does," said Father. "If I go, I'll die. And even if I don't, it will be only a matter of time. Now that Gaballufix has determined to kill me, my life is worthless here. I would stay in the city if I thought some purpose would be served by my dying here-I'm not afraid of it. But the Oversoul has told me to leave."
"In a dream," said Elemak.
"I don't need a dream to tell me that Gaballufix is dangerous when he's crossed," said Father, "and neither do you. When I don't shdw up at the coolhouse this morning, there's no telling what Gaballufix will do. I must already be out on the desert when he discovers it. We'll take Redstone Path."
"The camels can't do it," said Elemak.
"They can because they must," said Father. "We'll take enough to live for a year."
"This is monstrous, " said Mebbekew. "I won't do it."
"What do we do after a year?" asked Elemak.
"The Oversoul will show me something by then," said Father.
"Maybe things will have calmed down in Basilica enough to return," suggested Issib.
"If we go now," said Elemak, "Gaby^ will think you betrayed him, Father."
"Will he?" said Father. "And if I stay, he'll betray me?
"Said a dream."
"Said my dream," said Father. "I need you. Stay if you want, but not as my son."
"I did fine not as your son," said Mebbekew.
"No," said Elemak. "You did fine pretending not to be his son. But everyone knew."
"I lived from my talent."
"You lived from theatre people's hope of getting your father to invest in their shows-or you, in the future, out of your inheritance."
Mebbekew looked like he had been slapped. "You too, is that it, Elya?"
"I'll talk to you later," said Elemak. "If Father says we're going then we're going-and we have no time to lose." He turned to Father. "Not because you threatened to disinherit me, old man. But because you're my father, and I won't have you going out into the desert with nothing but these to help you stay alive."
"I taught you everything you know, Elya," said Father.
"When you were younger," said Elemak. "And we always had servants. I assume we're leaving them all behind."
"Dismissing the household servants," said Father. "While you ready the animals and the supplies, Elya, I'll leave instructions for Rashgallivak."
For the next hour Nafai worked with more hurry than he had ever thought possible. Everyone, even Issib, had tasks to perform, and Nafai admired Elemak all over again for his great skill at this sort of thing. He always knew exactly what needed to be done, and who should do it, and how long it should take; he also knew how to make Nafai feel like an idiot for not learning his tasks more quickly, even though he was sure that he was doing at least as well as anyone could expect, considering that it was his first time.
At last they were ready-a true desert caravan, with nothing but camels, though they were the most temperamental of the pack animals, and the least comfortable to ride. Issib's chair was strapped to one side of a camel, bundles of powdered water on the other. The water would be for emergencies later; on the first part of their journey Father and Elemak knew all the watering places, and besides, an autumn occasional rain fell on the desert, and there would be ample water. Next summer, though, it would be drier, and then it would be too late to come back to Basilica for the precious powder. And what if they were followed, chased into untracked sections of the desert? Then they might need to pour some of the powder into a pan, light it, and watch it burn itself into water, taking oxygen from the air to accomplish it. Nafai had tasted it once-foul stuff, tinny and nasty with the chemicals used to bind the hydrogen into powdered form. But they'd be glad of it if they ever needed it.
It was Issib's chair that would bring the least gladness. Nafai knew that this journey would be hardest on Issya, deprived of his floats, and bound into the chair. The floats made him feel as though his own body were light and strong; in the chair, he felt gravity pressing him down, and it took all his strength to operate the controls. At the end of a day in the chair Issya was always wan and exhausted. How would it be for day after day, week after week, month after month? Maybe he would grow stronger. Maybe he would grow weaker. Maybe he would die. Maybe the Oversold would sustain him.
Maybe angels would come and carry them to the moon.
It was still a good hour before dawn when they set out. They had been quiet enough that none of the servants had been wakened-or perhaps they had^ but since nobody asked them to help and they weren't interested in volunteering for whatever mad task was going on at this hour of the night, they discreetly rolled over and went back to sleep.
Redstone Path was murderously treacherous, but the moonlight and Elemak's instructions made it possible. Nafai was again filled with admiration for his eldest brother. Was there nothing Elya couldn't do? Was there any hope of Nafai ever becoming so strong and competent?
At last they crossed Twisting Path, right at the crest of the highest ridge; below them stretched the desert. The first light of dawn was already strong in the east, but they had made good enough time. It was downhill now, still difficult, but not long until they reached the great plateau of the western desert. No one would follow them easily here-no one from the city, anyway. Elemak passed out pulses to all of them and made them practice aiming the tightbeam light at rocks he pointed out. Issib was pretty useless-he couldn't hold the pulse steady enough-but Nafai was proud of the fact that he held his aim better than Father.
Whether he could actually kill a robber with it was another matter. Surely he wouldn't have to. They were on the Oversoul's errand here in the desert, weren't they? The Oversoul would steer the robbers away from them. Just as the Oversoul would lead them to water and food, when they ran out of their traveling supplies.