I heard Abram suck in his breath, a derisive sound, and was reminded how he had teased Protis for his belief in the Minotaur.
‘Walo may be right,’ I intervened. ‘Maybe the hyenas do know what will happen. The Book of Beasts says that in the eye of a hyena there’s a stone. If a man puts that stone beneath his tongue, he will be able to see into the future.’
‘Can’t be a pleasant taste, I’m sure,’ said Abram with a yawn. ‘I’m going to turn in.’
He got to his feet and went off to the tent he shared with his three Radhanite assistants. Walo, Osric and I stayed by the fire a little while longer, and when Walo left to make a final check on the ice bears, Osric and I retired to our small tent.
As Osric was taking off his heavy sandals, he suddenly turned to me. ‘If the Oneirokritikon can help us interpret our dreams, maybe the stone from a hyena’s eye really can help man look into the future.’
I was too tired to think of a sensible reply and, for the first time since we entered the desert, I found that I could shut out the noises of the wild beasts, and fell asleep almost at once.
*
‘The aurochs has escaped!’ The blunt announcement brought me sharply awake. I sat up, reaching for the cloak I had been using as a blanket. There was just enough light to make out Abram’s head and shoulders thrust in through the tent flap. I guessed it was just before sunrise, that quiet, still hour when the world seems to be waiting silently for the dawn of the new day. In the background I could hear the bubbling and groaning of the camels. But there were no lion roars.
‘When did it happen?’ I croaked. My lips were cracked and dry.
Abram dropped his voice, now that he had roused me. ‘Less than ten minutes ago. My man guarding the water tank heard the creature jump down from the cage. He came straight to me and raised the alarm.’
‘Where’s the aurochs now?’ I asked, rolling off my sleeping mat and hurriedly pulling on my boots. I did not even pause to give them a shake in case some crawling creature had occupied them during the night.
‘He says it ran off into the desert.’
‘Thank God it didn’t decide to go into the camp,’ I said. I didn’t want to imagine the havoc had the beast attacked the camels or gored the men.
I crawled out of the tent and together Abram and I headed at a fast walk towards the three waggons, dimly outlined against the sky where a sliver of moon hung close to the horizon. The bonfires were still alight, but had been allowed to die down. Firewood was scarce.
‘My man guarding the water tank thinks he saw someone near the cages, about an hour ago, but he couldn’t be sure,’ said the dragoman.
‘What about the caravan watchmen?’
‘I haven’t asked them. I wanted to report to you first.’
We reached the aurochs’ cage. The door was hanging half open. There was enough moonlight to cast faint shadows in the marks made in the sand by the animal’s great hooves as it jumped down from the waggon. I clambered up and checked the hinges of the gate. They were undamaged. Normally the door was held shut by two heavy wooden bars, thicker than my wrist. They fitted into deep slots on either side of the frame. Both bars had been removed and placed to one side. I ducked inside the cage itself. There was a half-full fodder net, a bucket of water, and several piles of pungent aurochs dung. The aurochs had not broken out. It had been set free deliberately.
Abram’s assistants were standing beside the waggon as I jumped back down to the ground. ‘Are the ice bears safe in their cage?’ I asked them.
‘They were, just a moment ago,’ answered one of the men. ‘I woke Walo and he’s gone to make sure that no one has interfered with the gyrfalcons.’
‘The dogs?’
‘All present and unharmed.’
So it seemed that only the aurochs had been targeted by the mysterious attacker. A figure loomed up. It was Walo.
‘Everything all right with the gyrfalcons?’ I asked him.
He nodded.
I became aware of an increase of noise from the hobbled camels, a hacking cough as someone cleared his throat, then spat, a stirring among the shapes of camel drivers sleeping on ground bundled in their cloaks. The camp was waking.
‘We must track down the aurochs as soon as there’s enough daylight. It should be easy enough to follow.’
‘And when we find it, how do we recapture it?’ asked Abram.
‘I don’t know,’ I said, suddenly despondent. After my first, active response to the crisis I was beginning to succumb to an overpowering weariness as I grasped the extent of the setback. ‘We’ll think of something. Right now we must pack our gear as usual and be ready to move. The caravan can’t linger or Modi and Madi will melt.’