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on duty. He led his charge in through the Postern of Fate.
Torgo was waiting. He beckoned Azel to follow him. Azel frowned. The eunuch
showed none of his habitual impatience.
Torgo led him to a large room. The boy sat between two candles at the far end,
looking miserable.
Azel whispered, "I'm going to take off the hood and show you your kid. You
don't do nothing. You don't say nothing. You don't turn around. You got that?"
The man nodded.
Azel removed the sack.
The man stiffened, took in a quick breath, restrained himself otherwise. Azel
let him look as long as he wanted, till he nodded his head again to say he had
seen enough. Then he replaced the sack, backed him out of the room.
Torgo closed the door. He whispered, "I woke her up. She wants to see you.
I'll take care of him till you get back." Even in a whisper there was a hint
of gloating.
"Good. I have a word for her, too. Where?"
"The altar."
Amused, Azel left the traitor to Torgo and went to see the Witch.
He found her standing by what remained of her husband. Her face glowed with a
mad determination. It illuminated and made strange her beauty. But it did
nothing to conceal the fatigue that weighted her down.
"I'm here, lady." No need to put her on the defensive. The news about Sadat
Agmed was all the leverage he needed.
She turned, not removing her hand from the cold flesh of her husband. "Torgo
tells me your General has threatened me."
"Not my General, lady. I'm just a bridge between you and him."
"By what right does he . . . ?"
"By the right of good sense, first. Your haste has started to attract
attention. And by the more primitive right of strength. We can't operate out
there without his blessing." -~ "We shall see about that. Are you with me,
Azel? Or have you truly deserted me?"
"I'm with you always, lady. Always. But I won't screw everything up by getting
in too big a hurry."
"Damn you! You'll do what I tell you ..."
"Lady! Sadat Agmed was killed today."
She looked at him hard. The color faded from her face. "How do you know that
name?"
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"I make it my business to know things. It's how I stay alive."
She stared for a moment, becoming just a tired woman as she did. "Tell me
about it."
"He tried to take a kid in the Astan. He blew it. A mob got after him. He
couldn't outrun them. They cornered him and beat him to death. Tomorrow the
news will be all over Qushmarrah. It'll be ten times as hard to grab a kid."
The Witch sighed.
Time to drive it home. "I was in Char Street today, making arrangements about
the traitor and trying to get the General to ease up on you. When I was
leaving I was recognized by the Dartars I ran into the other day. I was
luckier than Agmed, but a lot of people got a good look at me."
The Witch sighed again. "I guess you win, Azel. If the Fates will a thing,
nothing we do will change it. Tell the General I'll do his boy next. Pick him
up tomorrow night." She patted her dead husband the way a mother patted a
colicky baby.
Azel bowed. "Thank you, lady." He backed out and returned to his charge, not
convinced that he had been granted a triumph. "Come," he said, and led the
traitor away.
He decided to take the man home through the maze. Less likely to be seen by
anybody that mattered.
He was ten steps in when he realized they were not alone in the darkness. His
nose warned him, catching a hint of camel and horse. He stopped, turned his
charge, whispered, "We just walked into an ambush. When I take the hood off,
you run like hell. Straight home. I'll hold them off." He lifted the sack and
gave the man a shove.
The traitor ran.
The Dartars began to move.
Azel squeezed his eyes shut, placed a hand over them, faced away from the
ambushers, threw a packet of flash.
They screamed.
He drew his knife and went after them.
As he stalked the last of the three he heard shouts from others approaching.
He finished it, got the hell out, and headed for Muma's.
If they got in his way one more time, some night when he wasn't exhausted he
was going to go in there and show them how to run the maze. They'd be picking
up pieces of camel jockey for a week.
* * *
The night was still and the fire was banked. The children were snoring and the
women were sound asleep. But Aaron was not. Each time he started to slip off,
something brought him back.
He was conscious of the warmth of Laella beside him. That kept his filthy mind
straying across to Mish . . . For a while he thought it was the ferocious
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guilt from thinking the unthinkable. That carried a speck of the blame, but
only a speck. The main culprit was that business in the street, that reminder
that the horror was out there still, waiting to pounce. He did not want to go
to sleep because the nightmares were waiting on the other side.
He did not at first recognize the sound for what it was, someone tapping at
the door. Then, more puzzled than frightened, he went and peeked.
"Reyha? What in the world?"
"I have to talk to Laella. I don't have anyone else."
"Come in." Aaron opened up. let her slip inside. He peered into the foggy
street. "Where's Naszif?" He could not imagine a woman-especially timid
Reyha-hazarding the Shu's night streets alone.
"Wake Laella. Please? I'll tell it all at once."
"I'm awake," Laella said, sitting up.
Aaron saw the stir had wakened Raheb, too, though she was pretending
otherwise. He said, "Sshh!" and followed Laella to the hearth. They settled
there. Aaron began stirring and feeding the coals, building up a small fire
for the comfort. Reyha seemed troubled.
She said, "I don't know how to say this. It's so new to me. And so dangerous.
But I have to talk to somebody. Promise me you won't say anything to anybody,
ever. Please? Laella? Aaron?"
Laella nodded. "Of course."
Troubled, Aaron did not respond. He liked Reyha a good deal, but ...
"Aaron?"
Laella gave him a look. "I'm sorry, Reyha. My mind wandered. Sure. Of course.
But where's Naszifr"
"The kidnappers. They took him somewhere to show him they have Zouki. To make
him do what they want."
"But . . ."
"I have to get home before they bring Naszif back. So let me tell it first.
All right?"
"Of course we will," Laella told her.
"Sometimes I suspected but I never really believed it till he told me. Naszif
is part of the Living. Very high up. They just promoted him to where he's the
third or fourth highest man in the Shu. But he's in the Herodian army, too.
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