Perilous Seas (23 page)

They
jerked into motion, turning on their heels and starting to walk. Inos stuffed
knuckles into her mouth as she saw the nature of the sentence. Of course the
old man would be watching her, but if he expected her to have a fit of
hysterics, then she would not give him the satisfaction. So she held herself
rigid and watched, and by some occult trick she was allowed to see through the
darkness as the four boys advanced over the grass, stumbled down the little
bank, and continued across the sand. They waded into the river until the water
reached their waists, and the tall one lasted until it was halfway up his
chest. Then the current took him, as well. None of them reappeared.

Inos
released a long breath. She felt nauseated. She was still shaking. She would
have nightmares for years ... so be it!

It
had been the sheik’s justice, not hers. “Now my aunt, your
Greatness?”

“Of
course. And First Lionslayer will be here shortly.. Come, then.”

He
led the way across the meadow, walking within the moving circle of his own
radiance. The grass fire that Kade had started had died away to a few red
flickers and pale smoke drifting among the trees, so the forest was not going
to burn down. The sky was full of stars already-night came more swiftly here
than it did in Krasnegar.

Do
what is right, not what feels right. No, it had not been her father who’d
told her that. That had been one of Rap’s little homilies. Rap had been
full of such sayings. She’d often teased him about them. The whole gang
had teased Rap about his proverbs; not that teasing Rap had ever been difficult
or even very satisfying, because he’d never seemed to mind much. He’d
never lost his temper like a jotunn or screamed like an imp; he’d just
shrugged and gone his own way.

Why
should she be thinking of Rap now? Because of the chase? Because of running
from the men in terror, as shed often run from Rap in play? She could well
remember him catching her and pulling her down on the sand, and holding her
there until she let him kiss her-when they’d been smaller, of course. Not
in the last year or two. They’d only kissed once after kissing had become
a serious activity.

Or
was it because Rap had died for her, and now four more men had died because of
her’? Maybe that was it.

And
the sheik had already reached the dead horse, and Kade was clambering to her
feet, decently dressed already, like Inos herself, but looking very bewildered.

Inos
ran to her, and they hugged.

Elkarath
was throwing power around by the barrelful. The dead horse vanished, and in its
place appeared a bonfire, a pyramid of logs crackling and sparking and casting
a welcome light. Then he created a circle of rugs around it.

“We
have a little time to kill,” he said. “Let us enjoy this fine
evening.” He glanced around the clearing. “There is no danger ...
yet.”

He
sat down and crossed his legs, chuckling at the women’s exclamations of
wonder. “Be seated, ladies! Now, have you a preference in wine, Highness?”
His occult glow had faded away, and he was only a plump old man in a white robe
and white headcloth. Firelight twinkled in his rubied headband.

“Oh,
I defer to your expertise, Greatness,” Kade simpered, settling on one of
the rugs and tucking her legs around in the usual Zarkian position, with no
more than her usual stiffness. If she had sustained injuries in her fall, then
obviously the sorcerer had cured them, and her previous uneasiness had gone
completely.

How
much her emotions were being suppressed Inos could not tell. It would not be
out of character for Kade to survive even her recent ordeal without losing her
poise. She had the barest trace of a tremor in her hands and her eyes were
jumpy, but otherwise she was almost her old self. Indeed she was in much better
spirits than she had been since entering Thume that morning. Whatever fears she
had felt were apparently now dispelled by the guardian presence of the sheik.

Misted
silver flasks of wine arrived beside each of them, and a first sip convinced
Inos that the vintage was as fine as anything in Duke Angilki’s cellar,
or Azak’s. It was cold, too, and even the Palace of Palms had trouble
maintaining an adequate supply of snow for chilling the princes’ wine,
snow brought from the mountains by fast camels.

Kade
glanced around at the looming night. The treetops were dark fingers waving
against the stars. “Those ... er, ruffians?” She had been told that
they had been disposed of, and had asked no questions. “They were pixies?
Live pixies?”

The
sheik nodded, sipping his wine. Snow-bearded, cheeks rouged by desert life, he
seemed like everyone’s ideal grandpappy. His voice was slow and placid as
a glacier. His eyes would twinkle under the heavy white brows once in a while;
but to catch a real look at those eyes was almost impossible. Inos wondered
whether his benevolent air was genuine, or if he was again projecting an occult
glamour to fog her mind. Perhaps he did so automatically, without thinking, as
a shopkeeper used politeness. “It would appear that there are still
pixies living in Theme,” he agreed. ,

“Then
there may be more of them around?” Again Kade eyed the darkness beyond
the firelight.

“I
strongly suspect that there must be women somewhere, as the race continues to
thrive. “ He chuckled. “And other males. And yes, they may seek
vengeance.” He sipped his wine to heighten suspense. “There is a
band approaching. They are coming upriver, but they are still a long way off.
They may not know about us at all. If they bring a sorcerer against me, of
course, then we are lost, but at the moment I detect no one within a league of
us-other than a rather footsore young djinn snaking slow progress in the dark.
I have kept him heading in the right direction,” he assured Inos, “and
he can see the fire now.” _

Inos
shivered. Elkarath was human; he needed sleep and he could be deceived, as she
had proved at Tall Cranes. How strong a defense could he maintain against the
dangers of Thume? “But when these others arrive ... how many?”

“I
don’t know. Many.”

Why
didn’t he know? “But even if you ... if you deal with those, a
whole army of pixies may creep up on us before dawn? “ The old man shook
his head, studying the condensation on his goblet. “We must be gone by
dawn.”

Apparently
he was not about to explain, and Inos felt a twinge of uneasiness.

Elkarath
beamed, though, smiling toward each of his companions in turn, but indirectly. “Shall
we dine, ladies?” Three silver dishes appeared, sparkling in the
firelight, heaped with fragrant curry, vegetables, and snowy rice.

Inos
knew that she was hungry, but her insides were still very quivery.
Nevertheless, she had rejected Elkarath’s occult soothing, so she must
keep up a pretense of calm. She reached for the food and promptly scalded her
fingers. For a few minutes, silence : . .

“The
... ruffians ... did you no harm, Aunt?” she inquired between mouthfuls.

“No,
dear. They shouted a lot of questions at me, but I could only understand about
one word in four. So they gave up on me. “ Even in the flickering
firelight, Kade’s blush showed. “I’m afraid a fat old woman
was of no interest to them. You were what they wanted. “ She looked
anxiously at her niece. Inos had assured her that there had been no lasting
harm done, but even so ...

“You
were fortunate that they did not cut your throat at once, Highness,”
Elkarath remarked placidly. “But I congratulate you on your diversionary
exploit with the horse. I was near enough to observe, but not yet close enough
to exert any influence. That was a rare display of courage, and of
horsemanship.”

Kade
blushed more deeply. “One does what one can,” she murmured.

“And
I congratulate you on your skill at thali, also!”

“Oh,
dear! “ Kade turned redder than Inos had ever seen her and avoided her
niece’s eye.

The
sheik chuckled deeply. “Her Majesty the Sultana warned me to look out for
you. I admit I had grown careless. “ Curious! The sheik thought Kade had
planned that little deception? For a moment Inos was tempted to claim the
credit, and then decided to be discreet, for once. Odd, though! Why had Rasha
been wary of Kade?

The
conversation had strayed onto dangerous ground. For a while all three attended
to their meal in a silence broken only by the busy crackling of the fire.
Flame-tinged smoke drifted away in the wind, and sparks soared up to join the
stars. Inos was still trembling from her experience with the pixies. The
thought of a band of many others arriving was unnerving, but she was not going
to start jumping at shadows, and if the old man was hoping to rattle her, then
she would disappoint him. She told herself sternly that an encounter with the
mythical pixies was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and this firelit picnic in
a haunted forest was at least a memorable one. She did not need occult
swaddling to let her enjoy herself, even if her mouth did seem drier than usual
and swallowing harder.

“This
curry is superb, Greatness,” she said.

“Thank
you. My dear mother made it like this, you see.”

“And
you have taught me that the protection of a sorcerer should not be discarded so
lightly. “

“Ah!”
He sighed. “I am no sorcerer, ma’am. I dearly wish I was, at the
moment. You would not have escaped from a sorcerer so readily. “

“Then
... Not a sorcerer?” Inos looked at Kade and saw a reflection of her own
astonishment.

“I
am but a mage,” Elkarath said. “Like my grandfather before me, and
his, also.”

“A
votary of Sultana Rasha’s, though?”

He
nodded-sadly, she thought. “That is so. She detected me before I knew of
her existence. But I am content to serve her. “

Given
that lead and the old man’s benevolent mood, Inos sensed a chance to
satisfy her longstanding curiosity about magic. Was he seeking to distract her,
though? “We are ignorant in such matters, Greatness. Will you explain the
distinction? “

He
chuckled as if he had expected the question. “A mage, knowing but three
words, can perform only magic, not full sorcery.”

“What
isthe difference?”

“Sorcery
is permanent, magic only temporary. It variespeople are more easily influenced
than inanimate objects. Healing the lionslayer and your aunt was relatively
simple. I put a sleep spell on you every evening. That happens to be one of the
easier magics, and it lasted until morning without reinforcement. But the
euphoria spell I used on you by day tended to weaken unless I remembered to
restore it at frequent intervals.” He sipped his wine thoughtfully. “A
sorcerer would have called you back out of the hills easily. And of course, I
had to delay my pursuit until I had sorted out the tangle you had created. I
tell you true, Tall Cranes was in considerable uproar.”

Inos
gulped.

Kade
glanced at her warningly. “You are gracious not to bear us ill will,
Greatness,” she murmured.

“I
was a trifle irked, that first morning,” the mage said, “but at my
age, one sees the humor in such situations. It was well done. “

Relieved,
Inos began to frame more questions in her mind, but then Azak came stalking in
from the dark.

The
front of his kibr was black with dried blood, and the expression on his face
was blacker yet. About to leap up and welcome him, Inos abruptly changed her
mind.

Oh,
poor Azak! To be defeated by sorcery was a permissible defeat for a
mundane-hard as that admission would be for himbut to be bushwacked by a band
of ragtag youths was abysmal incompetence.

Perhaps
never in his life before had he known real humiliation. His reputation for
infallibility was shattered. He had failed his chosen. He had been rescued from
his own folly by hateful magic, and that might be hurting worst of all. His
mood was obviously murderous as he folded his anus and glared across the fire
at the sheik.

Never
in Arakkaran had Inos thought she could ever feel sorry for Azak ak’Azakar,
but she felt sorry for him now. And to offer sympathy would be to rub salt in
the wound with a stonemason’s brush.

“Welcome,
Lionslayer,” Elkarath said mildly. A very large dish of food appeared on
the rug at Azak’s feet.

The
big man ignored it. “I am no lionslayer!”

The
old man frowned warningly. “Be seated, ak’Azakar.” Azak
ground his teeth. “You are a votary of that unspeakable slut, Rasha!”

Inos
felt her heart sink lower still. Azak did not know how to be humble, how to
handle humiliation. He was not familiar with failure as ordinary mortals
were-how he must be suffering! She kept her eyes on her dish, but the food had
turned to sawdust in her mouth. Poor Azak!

“I
offer you hospitality,” Elkarath said quietly. “I refuse it. “

Azak’s
legs seemed to collapse beneath him, and he tumbled to the ground. Inos choked
back a protest, and Kade gestured warningly to her. This was not fair! He
struggled to sit up, supporting himself with his arms, and livid with fury.

“Yes,”
the sheik remarked, to no one in particular, “I do serve her Majesty. Why
she did not bind you all to her service likewise, I do not know. “ He
glanced a brief smile in the direction of Inos. “I suspect that in your
case it may be something to do with the warlocks and your destiny as queen of
Krasnegar-great sorcerers may be able to tell what spells have been cast on a
person in the past. I don’t know that, but such may be the case. Anyway,
my instructions were to use deceit as long as possible. It was an amusing
sport. “

He
chuckled, and a sound of grinding teeth came from Azak’s direction.

But
he had mentioned Inos’s homeland. “Then Krasnegar is still ... The
matter has not been settled?”