The Bride Box by Michael Pearce

soft blue shadow in the more remote crevices. Where the mountain fell back a long vista of desert was revealed.
    As Owen approached, by a raised fragmented causeway which linked the temple with some paint down by the river, he found himself in a kind of derelict area, with low half-opened mounds, broken bits of sculptural capitals and mutilated statues buried in tall clumps of rank grass: but also little damaged buildings which might once have been workshops and a vast number of semi-subterranean tanks with black tarry patches inside them which showed that once they had contained nitre.
    Egypt is the land of nitre. The Nile mud is impregnated with it. It lies in talc-like flakes upon the rocks, upon the fallen statues. The nitre has been worked for centuries. It is washed and crystallized in the tanks and made workable. In the days of the Ottomans it began to be used for gunpowder.
    He stood for a moment in front of the temple, looking up at the great, heavy bulk of stonework. And then he had a moment of shock, for it appeared to be moving! He looked again and saw that it was a swarm of bees, flooding out from crevices in the stonework.
    He went into the temple. In the half-light he saw great columns stretching away into the distance. He was in a huge hall, with a line of columns on either side. As his eyes grew used to the darkness he saw that their tops were carved into images of birds: hawks, ibises, bird-faced humans, the traditional figures of the old gods. Here and there was a representation of a cow with horns.
    Between the columns, on the roof, were paintings. The paintings were of the holy scarab beetle and some curious winged globes. Looking at them more closely he saw that they were in patterns. Gradually he realized that the patterns were astronomical. He was looking at the famous signs of the Zodiac: Leila’s ‘marks of the giants’.
    â€˜So this is where you came with Soraya,’ he said to Selim, whom he had brought with him.
    Selim shrugged. ‘It was a place to go, where we would not be seen,’ he said.
    â€˜And Leila came, too?’
    â€˜She stood outside to warn us if anyone should be coming. She wouldn’t go in. She said it was a bad place and smelt of the dead. However, she agreed to keep watch for us.’
    â€˜And did anyone come?’
    â€˜Once, as I told you. One day the slaver came.’
    â€˜How did you know he was the slaver?’
    Selim shrugged. ‘They had spoken of him in the village. I knew he was the man.’
    â€˜What sort of man was he?’
    â€˜A Sudani.’
    â€˜You are sure?’
    â€˜I am sure. I heard him speak.’
    â€˜This was at the temple?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜You heard them speaking together?’
    â€˜Yes, we were hiding behind the pillars. They had come suddenly and Leila had had no time to warn us.’
    â€˜So you heard what they were saying?’
    â€˜A little, yes. We dared not go too close.’
    â€˜What were they talking about?’
    â€˜There was talk of deliveries.’
    â€˜Slaves?’
    â€˜I do not think so. For they spoke of a consignment and where it could be stored. The slaver said that the temple was a good place because it was big and had many rooms, in some of which, deep inside, things could be stowed and no one would find them. People were afraid of the temple and did not like to go in. The white man said that it sounded ideal, and the slaver said that he would show him a place. Then they both went off deeper into the temple and Soraya said we should go now that there was the chance. Particularly as Leila was sure she had been seen.’
    â€˜So you went and did not see the place they had gone to?’
    â€˜No, but later I went back on my own, when there was no one there. I did not like going; I was afraid I would lose my way and never get out. Still, I went.’
    â€˜And did you find the place?’
    â€˜Yes, I am almost sure. It was in a room at the