by Mage Quest
The Ifrit growled low in his throat. "And what are you trying to imply, little mage, about my beautiful, my pure young wife?"
"Just this," I plunged on. "In another ten years, her litheness and slenderness will begin to go. Twenty years after that, her white skin will be wrinkling and her black hair turning gray." I paused to let the Ifrit consider this. "But I can keep that from happening."
"But if I keep her with me, she will not have to die the way all you humans do," the Ifrit protested.
"No, it doesn't work like that. Even with my magic, she won't live longer than King Solomon did. And without my spells, she won't live longer than any ordinary human. But I can promise to keep her young a long, long time."
"Then you'd better do your spells right away," said the Ifrit, deeply concerned.
"No, because I don't trust you. First let us continue our explorations, and then I'll cast my spells. We aren't trying to escape, because we'll always be right here in the valley. This may take a day or two, but we'll never be far away. When we've found what we're looking for, then I shall cast the spells to give your wife long life."
"Maybe I do not trust you. If you play me false, then God shall play you false. If you don't come back and make my wife stay young and pure, then I'll crush all your friends."
If we didn't find a way to get away from the Ifrit soon, before whoever had ordered him to watch for us appeared, we'd all be dead anyway. Rapid crushing would have to be better than undergoing any more of the Ifrit's fatal "tests."
"Of course," I said as firmly as I could.
I turned on my heel and started walking without giving him a chance to change his mind. Kaz-alrhun and Dominic were right behind me. As we hurried on, the mage commented with a small smile, "It has been two centuries since I was last without access to magic. This should be a novel experience." Then he added, as though in disapproval, "That was a noble display of generosity, Daimbert. I thought even wizards of the west knew better than to prolong life wantonly."
"We do. I would never artificially lengthen the lives of anyone at the royal court of Yurt." This was for Dominic's benefit. "But I think the Ifrit's own magical abilities could have prolonged her life anyway, even though he doesn't know it."
And then I realized the mage was smiling. He had not disapproved of my proposition after all. "I did not know that woman was the Ifrit's wife," was all he said.
We seemed to move at a snail's pace across the valley floor. The noon heat surrounded us so thoroughly that it felt it must be visible. The sun's glare made it hard to see. The mage was soon wheezing, and I slowed my pace to his; he was twice my bulk as well as at least two hundred years older. Dominic would have been wheezing even worse at the beginning of our trip, though he now moved almost as easily as Ascelin.
When we finally reached the boulders that marked the head of the dry watercourse, my first thought was to sit down in their shadow. But I stood up again after a moment, while the mage was still panting, to look down into the Wadi Harhammi.
It had been our goal since the eastern kingdoms, but now that we were here it seemed almost an anticlimax. For a place of unimaginable danger, it seemed very quiet. The watercourse appeared empty, although a curve hid most of its length. I still had no idea what Dominic's father had thought was in the Wadi fifty years ago or what might be here now—or even what Kaz-alrhun thought was here.
It was time to find out. I lifted the onyx ring and said the words to reveal what was hidden.
We scrambled backwards as the ground beneath our feet started to drop away, rocks rolling and sand sliding. In a few seconds, the narrow watercourse had grown to cover most of the center of the valley.
"Greetings," said King Warin. "I knew you'd be here sooner or later."
II
Dominic and I stopped dead, but Kaz-alrhun did not seem perturbed. "I wish to inquire of you about that onyx ring you gave me for my flying horse," he said. "It was not the ring I required."
King Warin fixed us with his dead cold eyes, making me shiver in spite of the desert sun. "And your flying horse is not the help you led me to believe it would be." The enormous black horse stood, completely still, beside him.
"You should always beware when bargaining in the Thieves' Market," said the mage. "Did I make any guarantee of my automaton's power against Ifriti?"
Dominic interrupted them. "King Warin," he said formally, "I accuse you before these witnesses of treating us falsely. When we return to the western kingdoms, I intend to assemble a court of our royal brothers to judge you for the crimes of theft and attempted murder."
"He obtained the onyx ring by stealing it from you?" said Kaz-alrhun with a smile of comprehension. "God's ways are secret ways, and all of us and the ring are now here together."
"So is this," I asked the mage with a nod toward Warin, "the danger against which you didn't feel you could warn me?"
"Not at all," said the mage. "I did not expect him here, although I always knew his entry into the game at this point was possible."
"You've moved into a separate level of reality," I said to Warin with what I hoped was a wizardly scowl. All I had to oppose the king was my magic, and I wanted to make sure he respected it. "The ebony horse won't fly here."
"Do you not intend to answer my charge?" said Dominic, crossing his arms. From his manner, instead of being in a desert valley surrounded by rocks, sand, and treacherous magic, we could have been home in the west.
Warin hesitated, flicking his eyes back and forth between us. He might have no respect for the mage and me, but Dominic disturbed him. "I do not understand what you're talking about," he said brusquely. "I had nothing to do with that band of bandits."
"So you do know that we were set upon by bandits," said Dominic, as though making a point before a judge. "When the strange stories coming out of the east reached you, you learned there was a flying horse for sale in Xantium, and its price a certain ring . . ."
"The ring you tried unsuccessfully to find in Prince Dominic's tomb," I suggested.
Dominic scowled darkly. "No wonder the townspeople have become leery of the church of the Holy Twins, if its sanctuary was violated by someone who would not hesitate to practice the black arts. I shall add desecration of a grave to my charges against you."
King Warin seemed momentarily caught off balance. "I know nothing of a desecration of a grave," he said with what appeared to be sincerity. But neither Dominic nor I were ready to believe him.
"So you stole the ring you had good reason to suspect Arnulf had sent with us," I continued. "How long did it take you to realize that the ring you gave for the horse, which you hoped would carry you safely to the Wadi and away again, was the same ring that the mage wanted in order to uncover the Wadi's secrets?"
Except that it wasn't. Now I was confusing myself. I caught an amused look from the mage.
King Warin pulled his lips back from his teeth in what might have been meant for a smile. "I told you I expected you sooner or later."
"We're here now," I said, not daring to lose whatever momentum I had. "We'll let you watch while we uncover the old secrets you hoped to obtain by deviousness and evil."
I rubbed the onyx with my thumb and wondered how many layers of magical reality there might still be before us. I again spoke the words of the Hidden Language, heedless of whatever permanent damage I might be doing. If this valley was indeed an ancient volcano, leading down into the heart of the earth, maybe it had an inherent, well-grounded stability, which was why the Ifrit could apparently manipulate reality here so easily. Either that, or he and I both were disturbing the magma miles below, and molten rock was even now moving up toward us.
As the air's shimmering resolved itself again, I thought I saw a group of people in the distance, from the corner of my eyes. But fifty yards ahead of us, and much more intriguing, something glittered in the sand of the rift.
I reached it first by flying, snatching it up before King Warin's hands could seize it. It was a bronze bottle made in
the shape of a cucumber.
I hefted it cautiously. It felt empty. The mouth was closed with a lead stopper, but the stopper was loose. When I opened the bottle and shook, nothing came out.
Kaz-alrhun held out a hand, and I gave it to him. If this was the secret of the Wadi Harhammi, I was not impressed.
But the mage lifted his eyebrows steeply. "This is a bottle wherein an Ifrit was imprisoned, Daimbert," he said. "Look at the seal on the stopper."
A seal had indeed been impressed in the lead, but I shook my head, not able to identify it.
"Do you not recognize the graven signet of Solomon, son of David?"
Dominic gave a low whistle.
"This is what Prince Vlad threatened me with," I said. "He warned me I'd find something dangerous in the Wadi, but he wouldn't tell me what it was unless I promised to return to his principality. It was an imprisoned Ifrit."
"Too late now to worry about releasing him accidentally," said Dominic.
"Someone did release him," I said slowly. "In fact, although the Ifrit's story seems a little unclear, he may have been released two separate times. He said at least one of the people who released him was a mage. What mage has already been here, and what has he found?" I tried glaring at Kaz-alrhun, but he just smiled.
"This is all that is here," said King Warin darkly. "The secret of the Wadi was an imprisoned Ifrit, from whom your friend Arnulf hoped to obtain wishes."
Dominic and I looked at each other in dismay. But I recovered quickly. "No, because the rumors concerning Yurt are much more recent than five years old, and we know the Ifrit's been out at least that long. So the Ifrit himself can't be the whole secret." I frowned at King Warin in an attempt to match his own icy stare. "Why are you trying to mislead us?"
I looked at him from under my eyebrows, thinking rapidly. He didn't answer my question, but he didn't need to. He was trying to mislead us because he still hoped to find the Wadi's secret without us. But if King Warin had become trapped here in the valley, then he could not be behind all the strange events, and someone else, with powerful magic, was still at large and might arrive very soon.
I felt a sudden, completely irrational conviction that the mage who had freed the Ifrit, five years or more before, was not an eastern mage at all but a western wizard, King Warin's former royal wizard Elerius.
Warin interrupted my thoughts by turning his eyes on me and giving a completely unconvincing smile. These were real eyes, not the pebbles through which Prince Vlad could see in darkness, but they still were hard as stone. I tried to reassure myself that he knew no magic himself—unless he was working with a demon, whose supernatural powers could mask his abilities from someone like me who used only natural magic.
"Well, perhaps you're right after all, Wizard," he said. "I know what is in the Wadi, and you do not. You will be able to deal with its dangers much more easily if you know what to expect. I'll be happy to tell you."
I broke my glance away from his. While he looked at me it felt as though we were linked by a bar of cold iron. "And in return?"
"You'll give it to me."
I managed a barking laugh. "I don't like your bargain. It's a good bargain only for you. I'm the only person here with functioning magical abilities." If he had had access to supernatural magic, I told myself, he wouldn't need me. But I surreptitiously checked my knowledge of the Hidden Language to make sure it hadn't evaporated in the last few minutes—so far, so good. "Of course it's always better to be forewarned, but I'm not afraid."
King Warin actually believed this patent lie. "Perhaps I misspoke. We shall share, although in light of my superior position I should have ultimate control . . ." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision.
"You'll like this proposal, Wizard. It's been a year since Elerius left, and that school of yours hasn't been able to come up with anyone competent. How would you like to become my new Royal Wizard?"
I must have stared at him unbelievingly, because he made another of his unconvincing attempts at a smile. "Elerius knew you at the school and always spoke very approvingly of your abilities."
I ignored this highly unlikely statement. "I'm Royal Wizard of Yurt."
I caught a glimpse of Kaz-alrhun rolling his black eyes at me, either in amusement at a western wizard feeling he needed an employer, or else in warning. At the same time, Dominic cleared his throat at my shoulder.
"We would very much miss you, Wizard," he said gravely. "But when we decided to hire a school-trained wizard we always knew there would be the possibility he would want to leave us for a bigger or wealthier kingdom. Warin's kingdom will have opportunities for you Yurt could never offer."
"You're quite right," said Warin in apparent good fellowship. "There is still wild magic in the mountains east of my royal castle, Wizard, and while most of the other lords in the kingdom keep their own magic-workers, all of them need the firm hand of a senior wizard over them. You'll have the authority and respect you never had in Yurt. And you've seen my castle; I know Haimeric can offer you nothing so luxurious."
"I've been very happy in Yurt."
"And so you should." His eyes glinted at me in the desert sun. "I'm sure it has served you well as a first post. Isn't that what an ambitious young wizard does, take a first post at a small kingdom to carry him through until his abilities have matured and been demonstrated?"
Against my will, I found myself weighing the proposal seriously. I would never be able to explain to anyone at the school why I refused it. Elerius had gotten the post in Warin's kingdom right out of school as a reward for his supremely good abilities. The three young wizards Warin had sent back to the City in disgrace had also doubtless been near the top of their classes. I on the other hand had at several points been in danger of not even graduating, and had developed whatever skills I now possessed through a remarkable number of errors. For me to step into Elerius's former kingdom would be a tremendous honor. It was also, I hated to admit, exactly what I needed to overcome the ennui I had felt last winter.
For a second I tried to imagine myself constantly surrounded by liveried knights, who rose whenever I rose and arranged themselves around me whenever I was seated. I just couldn't see it. Maybe I could substitute some of the emir's dancing girls.
I could feel King Warin's eyes on me, though I assiduously did not meet them. After all, what reason was there not to take the position Warin was offering? Only the fact that I loved Yurt, and did not want to be in the employ of someone who had sold his soul to the powers of darkness.
But that needn't mean my own soul was in danger, a voice in the back of my mind pointed out. King Warin was not the devil, only a human king, even if he did give every appearance of wanting super natural knowledge not meant for humans. Elerius, after all, had served there for years without plunging into black magic. Maybe I could even function as a force for good within the kingdom.
And Elerius had left, and I was no priest.
"You're wasting your time," I told King Warin. "If you don't want to tell me what you know about the Wadi—assuming you know anything—that's fine, but you must realize it would be a lot easier if we all worked together. I'd prefer in fact to be here without you, even if you did have some little piece of information we could use. I certainly have no intention of spending the rest of my life in your kingdom."
Dominic startled me by breaking into a broad smile and clapping me on the shoulder. It had never occurred to me he might miss me.
"If that is settled," said Kaz-alrhun, "let us see what else is in this watercourse."
But before we had walked more than a dozen yards I caught distant voices, brought faintly by the wind. I rose up from the rift in the earth to be able to see. The rest of the party from Yurt, Maffi with them, was coming across the valley on foot.
I flew to meet them. All of them were scratched and dusty. Ascelin looked exhausted, the king disoriented, and Hugo strangely pleased.
"It was the emir's men," said Ascelin, dropping to
the ground as I reached them and wiping his forehead. "They must have been in hiding somewhere among the rocks and gullies, because they appeared almost as soon as you'd left."
And the mage had distracted me from probing for soldiers with his talk of unimaginable dangers. "But you all got away—" I said, looking from one to the other. Joachim tried to smile, but I noticed he was absently rubbing his scar with one thumb.
"Just barely. I had to carry Haimeric down the slope, while the chaplain and the boy managed on their own. Hugo held off the vanguard of the troops until we were all safely on our way. If the descent hadn't been so steep I'm sure they would have followed us at once."
I glanced toward Hugo. For one moment he managed a triumphant grin. "Saying I ‘held them off’ may go a little far," he said with quite unconvincing modesty. "I put my shield and sword arm between Ascelin and the troops, and with a few lucky strokes I intimidated them just long enough—then when they rushed me I went down the valley wall on my belly!"
I looked up toward the edge of the valley with a far-seeing spell and could see the white turbans and glittering curved swords of the emir's soldiers. It was a large troop, at least a hundred men, and their swarthy faces looked angry and frustrated. Apparently sharing salt with us only meant that the emir would not kill us inside his palace—either that or he planned to capture us alive, which didn't sound much better.
But if they didn't want to come cascading down the nearly vertical descent after us, we were safe for the moment. As I watched they settled themselves, apparently intending to wait us out. "What about the horses?"
Ascelin shook his head. He flicked his eyes toward the king, then back toward the sand. "At this point," he said in a low voice, "it would take the Ifrit to get them back. And all our supplies and food are gone with them. Even if we elude the emir's men and get out of this valley alive, I don't know how we'll ever get home."
I didn't answer. If we somehow escaped from the Ifrit and the emir, there were still hundreds of empty miles between us and Xantium, much less Yurt. Sir Hugo's party might have been in the same situation, and they had never come home either.