Cave of Wonders

by Matthew J. Kirby

  The attention of the entire room swiveled toward them, and everyone fell silent. Sera thought maybe this was a bad idea, after all. Her stomach sank. Was this how Dak felt when one of his ideas didn’t pan out the way he’d hoped?

  “What is the meaning of this?” Another man marched toward them with a very hard and menacing gait. “Who let these children in?”

  “I don’t know, General Guo Kan,” the warrior said, bowing. “I just saw them creeping toward the great khan.”

  So this was the Time Warden. Guo Kan. When he drew near, he recognized Dak immediately. “So, you’ve come back,” he said. “I appreciate prisoners who return to their cells. I see you now have the girl with you but are missing the African. Where is he?”

  “Defeating the vizier as we speak,” Dak said.

  “I doubt that,” Guo Kan said. “But you, you have disrupted an important ceremony.” His voice fell to a deep growl. “So I will deal with you personally.”

  “Bring them here!”

  Sera, along with everyone in the room, turned toward the throne. Hulagu stood, staring at them. Waiting.

  Guo Kan clearly felt torn. He obviously didn’t want Sera and Dak anywhere near the khan, but Sera also figured he couldn’t disobey Hulagu’s order either.

  “Yes, my lord,” the general said. He grabbed Sera and Dak by the arms, one in each hand, and dragged them forward until they stood before the throne.

  Sera dropped to her knees, bowing, and Dak did the same.

  “What are you doing here?” Hulagu asked.

  “They are spies, great khan,” Guo Kan said. “Sent to assassinate you.”

  “Children?” Hulagu said. “Assassins?”

  “I think not,” came a calm voice from the side of the throne.

  Sera looked up as Tusi stepped forward, his hands clasped behind his back. She was shocked. Was he actually sticking his neck out to help them?

  Tusi cleared his throat. “My reading of the stars foretold an unexpected visit to your court, great khan. What are these children if not unexpected? I believe they may be a portent, possibly sent to you for a reason known only to your gods. How you deal with them may have lasting importance to your reign.”

  Hulagu looked at Tusi. “I see.”

  Tusi was helping them! He made eye contact with Sera, his expression unreadable. Angry? Sad? Frightened? He spoke again. “I would like to consult the stars again, great khan. I advise you take no action until I have had the opportunity to study the matter.”

  Hulagu returned to his throne. “Very well. Your reading of the heavens has guided me true until this point. I shall put my trust in you again, Tusi.”

  Tusi bowed. “I am honored, great khan. May I interview these children in private?”

  Guo Kan’s face burned red. “Great khan, I would urge —”

  “Yes,” Hulagu said. “You may interview them in private.”

  Tusi looked at the general, who released Sera and Dak as roughly as he had grabbed them.

  “With your leave, great khan,” Tusi said, “I will take them now.”

  “Yes, yes,” Hulagu said. “Go.”

  Tusi bowed. He motioned for Sera and Dak to bow, which they did, and then they left the audience hall through a little side door. Tusi led them into an adjacent room, and after he had shut the door, he spun on them with rage that seemed barely controlled.

  “Do you know what you have done?” he asked.

  Sera felt herself withering, but recovered quickly. They had done nothing wrong. In fact, they were doing the exact right thing. It was Tusi who had made the wrong choices.

  “We’re doing what we have to,” Sera said, “to save the House of Wisdom.”

  Tusi groaned. “What madness is this? Forget the House of Wisdom! There is nothing you can do! But now you’ve come here and put your lives in danger, and I foolishly stepped out to defend you, putting my life in danger as well!”

  “We didn’t mean to put your life in danger,” Sera said.

  “Yeah,” Dak said. “What’s your problem? We didn’t ask for your help.”

  “The general would have made swift work of you if I had not intervened, believe me. He was not pleased with your previous escape.”

  Dak smirked. “No?”

  “No. He executed the warriors who failed to guard you.”

  “Oh.” Dak’s smile crumbled.

  “But that is not your fault,” Tusi said. “You simply have no idea the nature of the men you deal with. Guo Kan is merciless. And Hulagu does not see the world the way you do. You cannot reason with him.”

  “But you can!” Sera said. “You could do something!”

  Tusi made a fist and pressed it against his forehead. “I cannot. It is not my responsibility.”

  “You’re only thinking of yourself,” Sera said. “What about your responsibility to science? To knowledge? Those matter to the entire world! Don’t you care about that?”

  Tusi brought his hand down. “Of course I do.” His voice softened. “Since you came to me at the war camp, I have not had a single restful night. My doubts keep me awake. I have spent many hours wondering how I could convince the khan to keep his men out of the libraries, to spare them. But there is nothing I can say that will convince him.”

  “I can think of something,” Dak said.

  Sera turned toward him. So did Tusi.

  “Hulagu obviously puts a lot of trust in the stars, right? So what do you need to study the stars?”

  “Celestial globes,” Tusi said. “Charts, tables.”

  “Right,” Dak said. “But what you really need is an observatory. And what does an observatory need?”

  Sera saw where Dak was going. And it was brilliant.

  Tusi saw it, too. Sera could tell because a smile broke unevenly across his face. “A library,” he whispered.

  “Right,” Dak said. “You just need some books. And I happen to know a place where you can find lots of them.”

  DAK WAS on a roll. First he’d busted them all out of that prison, and now he’d managed to convince Tusi to help them, and even given him the way to do it. Now Dak and Sera just had to sit back and let Tusi do his thing and convince Hulagu to build him an observatory, stocked with books from Baghdad.

  “We’ll wait until the morning to approach the throne,” Tusi said. “I will . . . consult the stars. But I already have a fairly good idea of what they will tell me.”

  “I bet that’s usually the way you work,” Dak said.

  Tusi shrugged. “I am far more interested in predicting the motion of the stars than predicting events from those motions. The former is science, while the latter is nothing more than seeing what we want to see. Now you should both get some rest.”

  Dak had to admit he was pretty tired. So he and Sera nestled down on some cushions Tusi had a servant bring into the room. These Baghdad beds were growing on him. Who needed a mattress?

  Dak closed his eyes, and before long, he nodded off.

  Shouting startled him awake. He jumped up, only to feel someone grab him from behind in a bear hug, pinning his arms at his sides.

  “Let me go!” he roared, squirming, but it was no use. He was trapped.

  Dak looked to his side, and saw that another man had Sera. General Guo Kan stood nearby.

  Tusi shook his fist at him. “You dare disobey the great khan!”

  “I’ve had enough of your meddling, Tusi,” Guo Kan said. “You may have Hulagu deceived by your superstitious pandering, but you and I both know you’re a far more intelligent man than that. But you’re also a survivor, and I actually respect that.”

  “Your respect means nothing to me,” Tusi said. “And you know something of superstition yourself, don’t you, Divine Man?” Dak heard sarcasm all over the way Tusi said the name.

  “We both play our parts,” Guo Kan said. “Go back to playing yours, as you do so well, and you might manage to survive once more. Leave the children to me.”

  “I can’t do that,” Tusi said. “
They’re children.”

  “And they are more dangerous than you realize.” Guo Kan fixed Dak with that same cold stare. “You were right in that, Tusi, even though you don’t understand why.”

  “You will release them now,” Tusi said. “And we will take this matter up before the khan.”

  “Why?” Guo Kan said. “So you can feed him one of your celestial readings?”

  Dak tried once more to break free, but the Mongol who had him was strong. It didn’t even work to kick or stomp the guy’s feet. How was it that just hours ago, they’d seemed so close to victory, but now they perched at the edge of losing it all?

  Dak looked at Sera. She was crying, and he knew why. Losing it all meant something more to her. He had to do something. For her.

  Guo Kan was trying to get away with something without Hulagu’s knowledge. So Dak had to get the khan’s attention. He only hoped the warlord was close by.

  Dak sucked in a deep breath. “GREAT HULAGU KHAN!” His shout echoed in the small room, as loud as he could make it. “GREAT HULAGU KHAN!”

  “Silence him!” Guo Kan hissed.

  The guard holding Dak tried to cover his mouth, but Dak just bit his hand and got one more shout off.

  “GREAT HULAGU KHAN!”

  And then Sera took up the cry, too, screaming in her higher-pitched voice. “HULAGU! GREAT HULAGU KHAN!”

  Guo Kan’s face twisted up with rage, and he pulled his sword free of its scabbard. Dak gulped. He didn’t think the general would actually kill them right here. But then again, he might.

  Tusi took a step backward and laughed out loud. Then he, too, shouted. “MY KHAN! YOUR PEOPLE NEED YOU, GREAT KHAN!”

  Guo Kan spun on him. “Now you’ve gone too far!” He raised his sword.

  “NO!” Sera cried.

  Tusi lifted his head high. “I see now I have not gone far enough.”

  “So be it.” Guo Kan brought the blade down.

  “HALT!”

  The walls seemed to reverberate with the force of the command. Hulagu stood in the doorway. Dak’s eyes leapt from the warlord back to Tusi and Guo Kan. The general’s sword hung poised in the air, mid-strike, inches from Tusi’s neck.

  “Sheathe that sword,” Hulagu said.

  Guo Kan lowered his blade and drove it hard into its scabbard.

  “What goes on here?” Hulagu asked.

  “Tusi and these children conspire against you, great khan,” the general said. “I came to stop them.”

  “That is not true,” Tusi said. “Great khan, it is your general who has betrayed your trust. He intended harm to these children, even though you had placed them under your protection.”

  “Only as I awaited your reading,” Hulagu said.

  Tusi bowed his head. “Yes, of course.”

  “Have you completed your reading of the stars?” Hulagu asked.

  “I have,” Tusi said. “They tell me —”

  “Do not trust him, great khan!” the general said. “He means to bend your will to his.”

  “That is not true!” Tusi shouted.

  “Silence!” Hulagu held up both hands. Then he turned to Dak and Sera. “Perhaps it is time I allow these unexpected visitors to speak to me themselves.” He looked up at the guy holding Dak. “Release them.”

  The warrior let Dak out of his grip. The Mongol standing next to Dak released Sera at the same time.

  “Thank you, great khan,” Dak said.

  “I have little patience, boy,” Hulagu said. “Why have you come here? How is it you found your way so close to my throne without my permission?”

  “How we came here is a very long story,” Sera said. “But why we have come is very, very important, great khan.”

  “Then tell me.” Hulagu folded his arms. “Quickly. My patience comes to an end.”

  Sera looked at Dak. The moment had arrived, the very thing they’d decided they needed to do from the beginning. Hulagu had to be convinced. And Dak thought he knew how. It came back to a question Riq had raised on the road to Baghdad.

  Why did Dak like history so much?

  “Great khan,” Dak said, “this world is a pretty uncertain place. Most events are completely unpredictable. Sometimes it’s confusing, and it’s hard to know what’s going on. I don’t like not knowing what’s going on. I like to understand things. I use history to help me do that. It’s written. It’s settled. It happened and that’s that. It can help me make sense of things in the present.”

  Hulagu looked a bit confused, but he said, “Go on.”

  “You look to the stars for that, right? The heavens are fixed up there. They move across the sky in the same paths, night after night, year after year. You look up to help you know what to do. To help you figure things out. Right?”

  Hulagu looked at Tusi. “With the aid of learned men, yes.”

  “Well,” Dak said, “we’ve come from a distant land with a message for you.”

  “Who sent you?” Hulagu asked.

  “Learned men,” Sera said.

  “And the message?” Hulagu asked.

  “You need to build an observatory,” Dak said. “A place where your . . . learned men can study the stars. And give you the best advice.”

  Hulagu turned to Tusi. “Well? What do you make of this?”

  “I am in agreement, great khan. I would be a much better adviser to you if I had a place dedicated to observing the heavens. A true observatory.”

  “And where would this observatory be located?” Hulagu asked.

  “A favorable site would need to be found, but I believe the mountains of Maragheh would be ideal.”

  “I see,” Hulagu said.

  “I offer myself, great khan,” Tusi said. “I will direct this observatory to your greater glory, to your long life, and to the legacy of your empire.”

  Dak watched Tusi and had to agree with what Guo Kan had said. The man was a survivor. Tusi would probably come out of this just fine. And it looked like Hulagu was coming around to the idea.

  “This proposal appeals to me,” Hulagu said.

  “The construction will be costly,” Tusi said. “To offset the expense to you, might I offer an additional thought?”

  “You may,” Hulagu said.

  “Now that Baghdad has fallen,” Tusi said, “the fruits of its many libraries belong to you, and are ripe for plucking. And an observatory under your patronage, the greatest the world has known, should also have a library of great renown.”

  Dak waited. This was the moment. Right here. History was about to be rewritten. Suddenly, that thought struck Dak in a way it never had before, and he felt like he’d been tipped on his side. Everything was off-kilter. He’d finally realized what history meant to him, and now, that was being taken away from him. History wasn’t settled. Not at all. And Dak was unsettling it.

  But without history, what else could he rely on?

  Hulagu turned to Guo Kan. “What do you have to say?”

  Guo Kan quivered with rage. “Your men have fought valiantly for a share of the riches of Baghdad.”

  “Books?” Hulagu snorted. “My men do not expect books.”

  Guo Kan’s mouth snapped shut.

  “Can you see any objection to this observatory?” Hulagu asked the general.

  Guo Kan was in a very dangerous spot, Dak could see that. Hulagu looked to have made up his mind. If the general raised no objection, he failed the SQ, and the Break would be fixed. But if he objected, he risked the khan’s wrath. Dak waited anxiously to see what the Time Warden would do, and where his true loyalties lay.

  “I do not think this is a wise course,” Guo Kan said.

  Hulagu scowled. “Then you are not in harmony with me. And you raised your sword against my adviser. For this, you will be imprisoned for a time until I decide what judgment best falls upon you.” Hulagu then ordered the two warriors to take Guo Kan into custody.

  The general didn’t look so divine anymore. He’d finally been defeated. He surrendered his sword and
went with the warriors without putting up a fight, and without making eye contact with anyone in the room.

  After he was gone, Hulagu said, “My general does make one good point. My men are restless. They hunger for destruction.”

  “I only need a few days,” Tusi said.

  “Once the caliph has surrendered,” Hulagu said, “I can hold my men back for three days. That is all the time you have to pick your fruit.”

  RIQ WAITED at the House of Wisdom with Abi for days, with no word or sign from Dak and Sera. Many, many times he wanted to go after them, but Abi wouldn’t allow it. He said Riq had to safeguard the Infinity Ring, and that meant he couldn’t take it anywhere near Guo Kan. Riq thought he could just leave it behind at the House of Wisdom, but Abi insisted that was too risky. In the end, Riq reluctantly agreed with that reasoning.

  But he was going pretty crazy wondering what was going on, and feeling pretty helpless. He paced a lot. And he knew a big part of his fear was about what would happen once they finished this Break. He spent hours holding the Infinity Ring. Just staring at it. This device had the power to erase him.

  On the seventh day of the siege, the sounds of battle ceased, and Riq walked to a secluded room and sat down, the Infinity Ring in his lap. He tried really hard to believe that Sera and Dak were safe. That they would come soon.

  “I’m certain they are well.”

  Riq looked up. Abi had come into the room.

  “I know,” Riq said.

  “But that is not the only thing troubling you, is it?”

  “No,” Riq said.

  “What else?” Abi asked.

  It felt easier to think of telling Abi about it than it did Sera and Dak. “I messed with my own timeline. I’m not sure I exist anymore.”

  “Of course you exist,” Abi said. “You affirm that just by asking the question.”

  “No,” Riq said. “I exist here because we’re still in a kind of warp. Dak and Sera and I are slipping through time, and we’re not affected yet by what we’re doing. But the world we left behind is being affected by everything we do. And when I go back there, I don’t know what will happen. I could disappear, like I’d never even been there.”

  Abi was silent. “That is a heavy burden.”