Pharaoh Read Online Free Page A

to paddle across to the island.
    ‘Closer and closer they came…The voice grew louder, and sweeter too. They pulled the boat up onto the rocks.
    ‘My master said, “Wait! We must go carefully. You wait here and—”
    ‘But the sailor had already gone. Like the others, he was mesmerised by the voice and had vanished into the gully between the hills.’
    The Trader stopped, to drink from his mug. The Translator stopped politely too, though Narmer was sure the young man could have finished the story by himself.
    The Trader cleared his throat. He looked thoughtfully at Narmer for a moment, then began again.
    ‘The others had all disappeared between the rocks. So my master crept up the hill instead, sneaked over the summit on his belly and looked down.
    ‘There was a clearing between the hills, hidden from the sea. A woman sat on one of the rocks. All my master could see was her hair, long and black and shining like a river in full flood. For a moment she seemed as beautiful as her voice.
    ‘And then she turned, so he could glimpse her face. It looked young. Her features were lovely, except for her eyes, as cold as ashes. Her mouth was black, and so were her teeth and hands.
    ‘And the black was…blood,’ said the Translator simply. ‘Dried blood. There was a blowpipe beside her, with thorns that might have been poison darts. And there, tied to stakes, were the Captain, the two sailors and my master’s grandfather, with blood draining from wounds in their necks into stone cups below.’
    Narmer felt his skin crawl, as if ants were creeping over him. ‘But…but what…’ he began.
    ‘She was an afreet,’ said the Translator in his low voice. ‘In the desert they lure a man out into the endless dry tosend him mad. At sea they lure men from their ships and then they feast on them.
    ‘But what was worse—so much worse—was that my master’s grandfather saw my master up on the cliff as the blood dripped from his veins. But he couldn’t move.
    ‘My master tried to read the expression in his eyes. Was he calling for rescue, or to be left to die so his grandson might be safe?
    ‘It didn’t matter. My master flung himself down the cliff onto the afreet. It was obvious she didn’t expect anything of the kind as his knife went into her back. She turned, her eyes wide, and my master saw that her teeth were crusted with the skin of men. Her breath smelt worse than a hundred privies, for privies do not smell of death.
    ‘“How did you resist me?” she whispered.
    ‘“My manhood was stolen from me years ago,” said my master. “But it seems that the thieves have unknowingly given me my life.”’
    ‘She smiled at that. Even though the knife was lodged in her back she could still smile.
    ‘“I have sung here for a thousand years,” she said. “An afreet cannot die of old age, not while she drinks the blood of living men. A thousand years of blood and loneliness…You have given me the gift of death. So I will give you a gift as well.”
    ‘Her voice was just a whisper now. “Continue travelling,” she said, “and this I promise. A dying promise cannot lie. One day as you travel you will find your son and daughter.”
    ‘And then she gave a gurgle, blood flowed from her mouth and she was dead.
    ‘My master ran to his grandfather. But his eyes were sightless as they stared into the sky.
    ‘So my master closed them. He buried his grandfather in the dirt of the island, and the others too. But he left the afreet for the crows.
    ‘Then he returned to the ship. And he has travelled ever since.’
    The Trader no longer looked at his audience. His gaze was fixed on the lotus pool, or perhaps somewhere very far away.
    ‘But I don’t understand,’ objected Narmer. ‘What did your master mean when he said his manhood was stolen from him? Why were the other men trapped while he escaped?’
    ‘Because my master can never be lured by the song of a woman,’ said the Translator softly.
    ‘Why not?’ cried