Lakshmi eyed him narrowly, then nodded. “You are. For once, you are right.”
Saul bridled. “Whaddaya mean, ‘for once’? Why, I’ll have you know that—” He broke off, eyes widening.
Lakshmi watched him, amused.
“You’re right,” Saul admitted. “You not only cured the poison, you cured the cure.”
“Not difficult, with a man of such vanity,” Lakshmi assured him.
“Vanity? Who, me? The original blue-jean-and-chambray kid? Well, maybe not original,” Saul qualified, “but—”
“But that is not the quality of which you are vain,” Lakshmi finished for him.
Saul gave her a glare, but the habit of introspection was too strong in him. “Well, maybe,” he grumbled. Then he turned to Jimena, the quarrel instantly forgotten. “Are you all right, Lady Mantrell?”
“Perfectly, I assure you, Saul.” Jimena summoned the energy for a smile. “Only very tired.”
“No wonder, the kind of effort that spell-breaking must have taken!”
“You have spent some, too, it would seem,” Jimena said. “What happened? Here, I mean.”
“Here?” Saul shrugged. “You chanted a verse, and a blue glow sprang up around the little slipper. Then your eyes went vacant, and I knew your spirit had gone off to untie the blocking spell. But that winged monstrosity came diving out of the sky, and I had to fight it off.”
“It was surely a tool of the sorcerer who set the spell-block,” Lakshmi said, “come to weaken you by attacking your body. If it could have slain you, your spirit would have wandered wherever it had gone forever.”
Jimena shuddered. “I thank you most surely for protecting me!”
“It was my honor to do so,” Lakshmi said.
“Mine, too,” Saul agreed. “I thought the fight would end when the little slipper’s blue aura blew up. That was when you fell, and I was too busy fighting the bat-wing to catch you. Lakshmi had started growing, but she shrank down fast enough to keep you from hitting the ground hard. Then she cried out and reached for the smoking slipper, but she yanked her hands away and blew on her fingers.”
Lakshmi nodded. “It was so hot! How can it still be whole?”
“The heat was of magic resolved,” Jimena said. “Two spells strained against each other until both broke.”
“But if your spell did break …”
“That was its purpose,” Jimena explained to the djinna. “Now we can renew our tracking—and this time the trail of magic should lead us toward the children.”
“You sure you’re up to it?” Saul asked with concern. “Maybe you ought to rest.”
“For all we know, the babies are being taken farther and farther away from us as we speak.” Jimena came to her feet with an effort, then staggered and reached out for support. “Though perhaps, Saul, it should be you who casts the spell this time.”
“Yeah, sure.” Saul transferred her arm to Lakshmi and took the little slipper. He held it in both hands as she had, frowning, concentrating, then recited,
“Children we seek, and need to view.
We know them well, as family tend to do.
Show of this slipper’s foot a guiding trace—
From us to them, a path that we may face.”
His eyes widened as a line of glowing golden dots appeared, starting at the slipper, running down the outside seam of his jeans, and spearing out toward the northeast, more dots appearing, more and more, until they were lost in the distance. “Well, how about that!”
“About what, Saul?” Jimena frowned, following the direction of his gaze.
“What indeed?” Lakshmi asked, puzzled, also looking where Saul looked.
“Follow the dotted line!”
“What dotted line?”
Saul stared from one to the other. “You mean you don’t see it?”
“We see nothing,” Lakshmi said.
Jimena nodded. “What is it?”
“A line of golden dots, heading off toward the northeast until it disappears.”
“But only he can see it?” Lakshmi asked, turning to Jimena.
“It would seem so,” Jimena said. “After all, he is viewing something magical, something that is not there as an object everyone can see and feel. Since he is the one who cast the spell, he is the only one who sees it.”
“A strange effect.” Lakshmi looked off toward the northeast. “It did not happen thus when we tracked your babes from the castle.”
“True,” said Jimena, “but in that case, we were merely bringing out actual footprints that were physically there. Saul has conjured up a trail that is magical only, made by the slipper at one end and the child who wore it at the other.” She bit her lip in anxiety. “Pray Heaven the trail that leads to your children will lead to ours also!”
“I shall pray,” Lakshmi assured her, “though to Allah, not to your Heaven.”
“We can use any help we can get,” Saul said, “which reminds me—let’s check out Damascus and see how the Caliph is doing. Better to know the political climate before we find ourselves in the middle of it.”
“There is sense in that,” Jimena admitted, but her impatience at the delay showed clearly in her face.
Saul turned to Lakshmi. “I hate to impose, Princess, but could we hitch another ride? I don’t really think we should take the time to walk.”
CHAPTER 19
They saw the spires of Damascus on the horizon, but they saw the army marching toward them first.
Saul stared. “Armor and Percherons? That’s our people! They’re going the wrong way!”
“We must discover the reason,” Jimena called above the wind. “Princess, can you set us down behind a hill, so that we not afright their horses?”
“Or their infantry,” Saul muttered.
“Is this delay necessary?” Lakshmi demanded.
“I fear it is,” Jimena replied. “Alisande would not be returning if Arjasp and his wizards had not wrought some new deviousness. We must learn what.”
“I suppose we must,” the djinna grumbled, and sank downward toward a brush-covered hill. Just before its top cut off sight, Saul could make out men pointing toward them and horses rearing.
His boots touched earth; he took a shaky step or two, caught his balance, and breathed a sigh of relief. “This may take a little longer than we thought, Princess. They saw you, and some of them panicked.”
Lakshmi instantly shrank down to human size. “Will not Matthew reassure them?”
“Yes, but it takes a while to reassure a skittish horse.” Saul didn’t mention the horsemen.
They strolled out from behind the hill to the road and waited. In ten minutes they saw the cloud of dust; in fifteen they could see lances and pennons rising before it. Fifteen minutes after that, Alisande saw them and reined in, raising her hand to stop her troops. Sergeants bawled orders and the army came to a halt.
By that time Alisande was down from her horse and embracing Jimena, with Matt grinning only a step behind. “Milady! How wonderful to see you! But how came you hither?”
“By Djinna Air.” Saul nodded toward Lakshmi. Thinking how to break the bad news gently, he went on, “You and Princess Lakshmi have something in common, Your Majesty.”
But before he could continue, Matt said, “A messenger told us about Kaprin and Alice.”
“My dears, I am so sorry,” said Jimena, tears welling in her eyes, “and I can only beg your forgiveness for my lack of vigilance.”
“Lack of superpowers!” Saul snorted. “They were kidnapped while we were fighting off an attack on the castle, Your Majesty.”
“How’d it happen?” Matt demanded, face grim.
“An inside job,” Saul told him. “The real kidnapper bribed the youngest and most frustrated of the noble nurses to bring the kids to the postern gate during the battle.” His mouth tightened with self-disgust. “Sorry, man. We should have seen it was a diversion.”
“Why?” Matt asked. “I wouldn’t have.”
> But Alisande picked up on what Saul had said. “In common?” She turned to Lakshmi. “Is your husband missing?”
“He, too,” Lakshmi said, “but at least I know where he is.”
“How often have I wished I knew as much about Matthew!” Alisande said with as much sympathy as she could muster.
Matt tried a sheepish grin.
“My dear,” Jimena said gently, “the problem is greater than a wayward husband.”
Matt jumped to the conclusion faster than Alisande; after all, he’d had more practice. “Her children, too?” He turned to Lakshmi. “You didn’t send us a birth announcement!”
Lakshmi looked disconcerted. “I had not thought … our lives had diverged …”
“Well, they just joined again!”
Alisande turned to them with a stony visage carved into lines of incipient mayhem. “How may we find where they have gone?”
“We’re on the trail now,” Saul said.
“The nurse’s tracks led to a man robed in dark blue who took the children and rode into the night,” Jimena said.
“Then we traced my children magically, through my son’s slipper,” Lakshmi said. “Their trail led Saul and your mother to fight a magus in a land of mist between worlds.”
“Magus?” Matt jumped on it. “Any connection to Arjasp?”
“One of his junior priests,” Saul confirmed, “attended by an acolyte. We seem to be dealing with a home-grown brand of demon worship here. Arljasp made the whole thing up.”
“But the demon may be nonetheless real for all of that,” Lakshmi said.
“Yeah, I know.” Matt forced himself to the question he dreaded. “Why the kidnapping? Any other ransom demands yet?”
Saul frowned. “That’s why you’re riding west, is it? It was a ransom demand.”
“We’re complying, for the time being,” Matt said.
Lakshmi stared in horror. “You will not imperil the children!”
“I won’t, but Arjasp will. At best, after this war is over, he’ll keep them hostages all their lives.”
“And at worst?” Lakshmi asked with foreboding.
“I think we all know that.”
The little group was silent awhile, looking at one another helplessly.
Matt spoke first. “After all, the messenger didn’t say I couldn’t try to find the kids.”
“Sure,” Saul said with a mirthless grin. “Easiest way to set a trap for you.”
“I might return the favor. After all, did your magus and his helper say anything about my not trying to track down Arjasp?”
“Nothing,” Jimena confirmed. “But did not the Caliph take offense at your leaving?”
“He understood our dilemma instantly,” Matt said, “and was all sympathy—nervous at the thought of facing the horde without our help, but since we had hung around long enough for Tafas to catch up, he wasn’t exactly left in the lurch.”
“Therefore we left the city together,” Alisande said, “but did not plan to remain so.”
“We hadn’t planned to split up quite so soon,” Matt said, “but since you folk are here, we might as well.”
Alisande nodded. “I shall ride west with my army.”
“But nobody said she had to hurry,” Matt pointed out. “Armies march notoriously slowly, and here in strange territory, European soldiers might come down with all sorts of minor ailments that wouldn’t do them any real harm but would force them to go at a snail’s pace.”
That coaxed a tiny smile from Alisande. “Verily, it is so. Why, even a knight might be prey to such illnesses. I would not be surprised if, in a week’s time, a quarter of my force had to be hauled in horse-drawn wagons.”
“Ox-drawn,” Matt offered. “Oxen go more slowly. Gee, and it’ll take forever to find wagons and teams to buy when you’re already on the road.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t play games with these guys,” Saul said nervously.
“Oh, I think we have some leeway.” Jimena smiled, amused. “After all, our enemies will rejoice in our ill fortune, will they not?”
Matt was sure they would—which left him wondering why Arjasp hadn’t demanded that he stop tracking him, especially since the renegade magus had already tried to trap him twice, and failed. Was Arjasp really that sure of the next snare?
They made the arrangements quickly and prepared to set off again.
“I appreciate your staying with Alisande,” Matt told his mother as he helped Saul into his own doublet. “Thank you, too, Saul, for wearing my outfit.”
“Nobody said I couldn’t,” Saul returned, “any more than they said your going home was part of the ransom. So what if I decide to wear your dress-up clothes for a while? It’s not as though I were carrying your shield with your coat of arms.”
“And if Arjasp and his boys have the mistaken impression that I’m with Alisande for the next week, is that our fault?”
“Definitely not!” Saul said. “Of course, the trick won’t work any longer than the first magical probe, or scrying by a spy who knows your face.”
“Sure, but why should they take that close a look?” Matt countered. “They’ll probably scry the whole army, maybe zoom in for a close-up of the head of the column, but when they see a woman with long blond hair under her crown, and someone my size and build in a doublet and hose beside her, why should they check the details?”
“I suppose a brief glance might make Arjasp and his boys overconfident,” Saul allowed, “maybe enough so they won’t check to make sure it’s really you riding at her right hand.”
“Can’t hurt to try.” But Matt felt his stomach sink and tried not to think what Arjasp might do in a rage. He consoled himself with the idea that the sorcerer would try to parley first, send a message telling him to turn back. “At any rate, it might buy us some time.”
“Even an hour or two would help at this point.” But Saul eyed Matt doubtfully. “You sure you know what you’re getting into, man?”
“As much as I ever did.”
“That’s what I meant.”
“Hey, there shouldn’t be more than a few thousand guards left behind to protect Arjasp,” Matt told him. “I’ve got that much going for me.”
“Sure, what’s a thousand or three against one?” Saul said airily, and shuddered. “Did I ever talk to you about your sense of proportion?”
“Only during that art history class. After all, the vast majority of the horde will be out conquering. They’ll probably have left the walking wounded as home guard.”
“Hey, man, from what they say about these people, I’m not even sure I’d want to tangle with an octogenarian.”
“Yeah, but these don’t have tentacles.”
“Look,” Saul said, “I know you want to make sure Alisande is safe, but she feels the same way about you. Couldn’t you maybe take one of us with you just as a sort of good-luck charm?”
“Or a chaperone.” Jimena eyed Lakshmi with misgiving.
“There is certainly no need for your concern,” the djinna said huffily. “He is nothing compared to my Marudin.”
“Your husband is a most handsome male,” Jimena agreed. “Not as handsome as my Ramon, of course …”
Lakshmi started to argue, but Matt said quickly, “Isn’t that the way every spouse should think about a mate? Besides, folks, I’m scarcely going without protection.”
“Sure, a djinna who’s distracted about her children and her husband,” Saul said with skepticism, “and a little white cat. That’s real great odds against a few thousand bloodthirsty nomads, yeah.”
“But they’re octogenarians,” Matt reminded, “and my little cat is fairly bursting with the enthusiasm of youth.”
“Hidden talents, huh?” Saul shook his head, but gave a sigh and slapped Matt on the shoulder. “Good luck, man.” He cocked an eye at Lakshmi. “Don’t drop him, okay, Highness?”
“Drop you!” Lakshmi seethed. “What sort of fumble-fingered nanny does he think I am?”
“Saul j
ust worries too much.” Matt gave an uneasy glance at the landscape far below, so far below that it seemed to be moving slowly. Balkis watched it wide-eyed, peering out from the collar of Matt’s shirt—even more secure than a seat belt, and secure she seemed indeed, without a worry in the world. In fact, she even closed her eyes and, purring, dropped off to sleep.
Matt envied the cat’s nonchalance—one flight, and she took it as routine. Not that he had anything to worry about, being snuggled tightly against a firm and beautifully curved bosom. Once again he wondered why it stirred not the slightest trace of desire in him—possibly because it was bigger than he was. “By the way, Highness, where are we heading? In particular, I mean, not just east.”
“To Baghdad,” Lakshmi answered. “If the gossip of the Muslim army is true, the horde still holds that city. Surely they will have my Marudin at the front of battle!”
“And you‘re hoping I can free him from their compulsion-spell.”
“At the very least, you should be able to shield me from falling victim to the same spell myself,” Lakshmi replied. “I could not venture so close as to aid him before, but with a mortal wizard to ward me, I can chance it. Besides, you can free him, can you not?”
“Unless they’ve come up with a spell that’s completely different from anything I’ve ever dealt with, yes,” Matt said slowly. “But surely they know that!”
Lakshmi frowned, and her huge voice echoed about him. “You think they will not have him at the front, then?”
“I wouldn’t,” Matt said, “especially since they’re planning several different fronts. It would make more sense to station Marudin’s current master at the frontier of China or India, where they’ve never even heard of djinn.”
The Crusading Wizard Page 27