by Pat Esden
She still stood by the curtains, staring at the murals as if transfixed. Her lips parted, her fingers stroked the length of her flute.
“Psst,” I said to get her attention.
She jumped as if startled, took one more glance at the murals, and then hurried to us. Eyes glinting, she bit down on a smile and whispered, “Terrifying paintings, aren’t they?”
I nodded. But I recognized that look. I’d seen it before at auctions on the faces of collectors who’d spotted a rare piece. A mixture of titillation, reverence, and greed. I guess I could understand how she felt. I was an antiques dealer and an art lover. Still, Lotli looked a bit overly excited. The murals were spectacular, but they were bloody and creepy. Definitely not worth the lusty look in her eyes.
Shaking off my uneasiness, I grabbed her arm and went out onto the balcony. Instantly, the mystery of the eerie light was solved. A blazing aurora writhed across the night sky, its bands quavering from yellow to green, indigo to violet, washing everything in a macabre imitation of sunlight.
Lotli rushed across the balcony. Resting her hands on the balustrade, she stared and gasped. “We cannot see the stars.”
I jogged over to her, but my gaze was drawn downward instead of up. Way below us, other spires, annexes, and shingled rooftops shimmered. Even farther down, smaller buildings and canopied vendor stalls clustered along alleyways. Beyond them, the fortress’s outer walls held back a vast expanse of flat, glowing, red nothingness.
I clutched the balustrade and gulped a breath, struggling against a wave of vertigo. “It’s”—overwhelming was what I wanted to say. I turned toward Chase—“ just like you described.”
“Exactly the same,” he said as if disgusted by the sight. But a glisten in his eyes revealed that another emotion hovered beneath the first. Excitement, longing, I couldn’t tell what it was for sure, but it sent goose bumps running up my arms. He started back toward the archway. “While you two get your bearings, I’m going to sneak down a few floors and see where the guards are posted. If you hear anything, get out of sight.”
While Lotli gawked at the aurora and starless sky, I ventured past a bench and a life-size statue of a rearing horse to get to the other end of the balcony. From there, I had a view of the backside of the fortress: more rooftops, parapets, courtyards, a colonnade, and an enormous horseshoe-shaped terrace that jutted out over the ocean. On the horizon, a full moon was rising. Its light streaked the dark waves. It also reflected off three disk-shaped objects on the terrace, maybe flat roofs or platforms. I craned my neck, trying to get a better view. I wasn’t sure about the disks, but the shape of the terrace reminded me of the ancient open-air theater Dad and I had seen at the acropolis in Athens, only this one was tiny in comparison.
My mind went back to the basic map Chase had drawn of the fortress and a sick feeling knotted in my throat.
“Lotli,” I called in a hushed voice.
Her veils flared out around her as she whisked over. “What?”
“Do you think that’s the arena?”
Leaning out over the balustrade, she ran her fingers down her throat and sighed. “Oh, yes. The muscles, the adrenaline, the blood and sweat—we would love to see that.”
I couldn’t help but scowl at her. “What’s going on? First you’re turned on by the creepy murals and now it sounds like you’d love to watch a bunch of warriors hack each other to death.” I tried to keep my voice low, but it rose more than was wise.
Lotli’s shoulders sank. She dipped her chin. “We are sorry. We know it’s not right. Opening the veil, using the magic, sometimes it can . . . It’s embarrassing. The power makes us excitable, turned on, inappropriately.” She fidgeted with her veils and peeked up. “The feeling will pass, after a moment or two. Please, don’t tell Chase.”
The mortified look on her face told me she wasn’t lying. I cringed. “I didn’t realize magic came with aftereffects.” I lightened my tone to ease the tension and once again hushed my voice. “I bet that makes for some awkward moments, like facing the family after you’ve helped their loved one cross over into someplace other than heaven.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Yes. Very embarrassing. We usually go to the restroom for a few moments.” She smiled. “We are okay now. Really. It’s already subsiding.”
The clunk of fast footsteps echoed out from somewhere inside the spire. Too loud to be one person. Not Chase. I mentally calculated how many genies it could be. Three. Four. Headed this way. Oh God. They’d heard us talking.
I grabbed Lotli’s arm, yanking her down into a shadowy spot at the base of the horse statue. I hunched over her, my brown robe covering her lighter-colored veils, my gloved hand clenching my dagger. Where was Chase? My breath pushed heavily out of my chest. If they’d caught him, we were all screwed. Especially him.
The measured footsteps marched onto the balcony, heavy and self-assured. I lifted my face and peered out from between the horse’s legs.
Two burly men in matching midnight-black leather tunics with ornate silver bracers on their forearms swaggered across the balcony to the balustrade. Their scarves were looped around their necks instead of over their faces. Clearly, they weren’t worried about being affected by the salt air. In other words, they weren’t expecting to need to fight, like airport security on a zero alert day.
Both of them appeared to be about Chase’s age. One guard had a shaven head, a narrow strip of dark beard, and the hulking muscles of a professional wrestler. The other was taller and wiry, with tons of scars and gold piercings. His black hair was pulled up high into a sleek ponytail. Tattoos decorated both of their arms. “One permanent one to commemorate each fight is allowed, but only after a warrior reaches maturity. Before that, temporary marks are applied and only for fights,” that’s what Chase had told me. That also meant that—unlike Chase—these guys were mature and used to fighting.
The ponytail guy fiddled with the front of his billowy trousers, like he was readying to take a piss. “You bet on Samiel? Ouzel is ifrit, he’ll beat the snot out of him,” he said, as the smell of urine drifted my way.
The hulking guy snorted. “Satan’s balls, are you a complete imbecile? Samiel’s half lealaps. He’ll bite Ouzel’s throat out before he can draw his sword.”
I recalled right away that Malphic was an ifrit, one of the most powerful kinds of genies. At the bonfire, Chase had said lealaps were the genie version of a werewolf. If nothing else, it sounded like it was going to be one bloody fight.
“I’ll bet my hunting knife that you’re wrong.” Ponytail let out a satisfied grunt and started to readjust his clothes, but froze. “Do you smell something?”
I gulped. Beneath the tent of my body, Lotli went rigid. Chase had the senses of a bloodhound. No doubt these guys did too. But it couldn’t be the Methuselah oil he’d smelled, not after all the work Kate had put into removing its scent.
He turned toward Lotli and me, nostrils widening.
I ducked my head deep into my hood, no longer able to see them, only able to wait. My deodorant, was he smelling that? Lotli’s shampoo? Even I could smell its peppermint scent.
I curled my fingers around the dagger’s handle, every muscle in my body tightening, ready to spring.
The Hulk scoffed. “The only thing I smell is your piss—and the roasting pits. It rots, being stuck up here. Missing the roast lambs—and the wine.”
The scuff of their boots moved toward the archway, and Ponytail added, “How many more guests are arriving anyway?”
“I’m not sure—maybe two or three.”
“If you cover for me, I’ll go steal us a couple racks of sheep ribs and a bottle.”
“Make it two bottles and you’ve got a deal.”
Their voices faded back inside and down the stairs, and I let out my breath.
“That was close,” I whispered, standing back up.
Lotli hugged herself. “Shouldn’t we get going? If they are not expecting many more guests, doesn’t that mean all the perfor
mers will be at the arena? It will look strange for us to be wandering around here.”
A slow, deep drumbeat drifted up from far below and I glanced to see where it was coming from. The arena was bright with torches now, people moving around up on the stage and in the ringside seating area.
“I told you to stay out of sight,” Chase’s voice growled right next to me.
I jumped and whirled toward him. “Shit, Chase. You scared me.”
His eyes narrowed. A faint spark of aura crackled up his flexed biceps before vanishing. “That’s the problem. You need to stay sharp. I could have been one of Malphic’s guards.”
“They already were here—and they didn’t see us,” I snapped back.
His tone remained tough. “What if I’d been them, coming back? I don’t want to have to kill someone because you think this is fun and games.”
My cheeks burned. “I know it’s not.”
“We don’t think you have to be worried about killing guards,” Lotli said, her voice soft.
I glanced at her and swallowed hard. Her figure wasn’t cocooned by veils anymore, far from it. In fact, she’d rearranged them into something closer to the belly dancer I’d originally expected—only sexier.
She touched her tongue to her lip ring. “We did wear specific clothing for a reason, correct?”
My teeth clenched, but the truth of what she was saying weighed inside me, real and undeniable. She was supposed to look like a performer, someone sent here to put on a show. Chase had said we’d find my mother in the harem or the nearby baths. It was likely the women there would be similarly dressed. In truth, I hadn’t given Lotli the credit she deserved. She’d purposely tamed down her outfit at the house to avoid being misconstrued, like I definitely would have done. Here her motive for looking sexy was obvious. It was the right thing to do.
“You look perfect,” I said, smiling approvingly.
Chase gave her a lingering once-over. “That outfit would take my mind off pretty much anything.”
“You are too sweet to us,” she said, without a hint of flirtatiousness.
I slipped my hands into the robe’s hidden pockets, letting my fingers slide over my flashlight and the salt. It was time to get down to business. Lotli had assumed her sexy role. It was time for me to step into my eunuch persona.
CHAPTER 24
It was not the beauty of his dark eyes, his prowess with weapons or his skill at the negotiation table, nor wit or strut. It was how he held my gaze, powerful, confident. He would not bow to anyone—nor expect any less of me.
—On finding an agreeable suitor:
Sovereign Mistress Vephra
My adrenaline kicked in big-time as I bowed my head like a humble eunuch and trailed Chase and Lotli back inside. According to Chase, it was traditional for the performer to lead the way, then the bodyguard, and lastly the eunuch.
We started down the stairs, our boots shushing against the narrow stone treads, the aurora’s shifting radiance giving way to the flash of torchlight. On either side of us, murals glistened and stalactites twisted down the walls like motionless black vipers. One thing was for sure, if we had to get back to the veil in a hurry, running up these stairs wouldn’t be easy. They were steep enough to wind an Olympic athlete and seemed to go on forever.
Eventually, we reached the next landing. It was much larger than the first, with an ornate balustrade and a dozen or more carpets hanging on its walls.
An echo of raucous laughter flooded up from below us and the smoky-masculine incense smell grew denser and stronger, now layered with the faint oily aroma of jasmine and oranges. Chase had warned us that Malphic’s fortress wasn’t a sparkly
One Thousand and One Nights fantasy, but I hadn’t pictured it as quite so ominous.
Lotli stopped in her tracks. “Are you sure this is the best way?”
“We need to go down one more floor,” Chase whispered. “Go on. I’m right behind you.”
The stairs became wider and less steep. Voices joined the laughter, but the distance still made it impossible to judge where they were coming from or make out what they were saying. I gripped the oval handle of my dagger, wondering if Lotli’s and Chase’s heartbeats were slamming as loud as mine.
“You there. Stop!” A voice bellowed up from the landing a few steps below us. The Hulk’s voice, I was certain of it.
“Yes? Whatever you want,” Lotli twittered sweetly, but a note of fear quivered in her voice.
The Hulk’s voice rumbled, “What were you doing up there?”
I sucked in a breath, willing my heartbeat to go from panic to determined and ready. I lifted my head a fraction. Chase’s stance was wide, a knife waited in his hand.
“We—we were looking for you,” Lotli said, going down another step. “We thought you were upstairs. But you weren’t. We—we are lost.” She reached the landing and sashayed up to him, hips swaying. “We could use your help. We fear we are terribly late.”
“Your first time here?” he asked, his voice perking up.
I didn’t dare look at him for more than a second at a time, but I could have sworn the tattoos on his arms briefly emitted a lusty glow.
Lotli’s voice went breathy. “If we’d been here before, we’re certain we would have remembered you.” If I hadn’t been totally convinced she was over the aftereffects of the magic, her tone would have worried me.
The Hulk chuckled. “You’re supposed to go to the harem baths first—for your cleansing. But there’s enough time for me to show you just how memorable I can be.”
Head held high, Chase strode forward. “We don’t have time for this. Take us to the harem.”
The Hulk’s eyes hardened. “Fuck you. I’m talking to the mistress.”
“Show us to the baths—right now,” Chase demanded.
“Or what?” I heard the scrape of the Hulk’s sword leaving its scabbard.
My jaw clenched. Screw the humble eunuch thing. Eunuchs were supposed to guard the performer’s virtue too, right? I deepened my voice to the most guy-like tone I could manage, probably pretty realistic for a eunuch, and snarled, “Or I’ll cut your sacks off!”
“What?” The Hulk’s head snapped toward me. His voice veered higher. “What did the fucking eunuch say?”
Lotli sighed dramatically. “He said he’d cut your sacks off. Personally, we find swordplay exhilarating, especially when there’s a possibility of a sweaty threesome afterward. But we’re afraid my other attendant is all business. If he says he’ll remove your balls, then that’s what he’ll do. Then he’ll tell our master that we were willing to give our gifts to you, when they were intended for the warlord.”
“Malphic? You’re not just a performer. You’re a—” He stepped back as if someone had just labeled her with a skull and crossbones. “Yes, of course. I’ll take you to the harem baths myself. Right away.”
He started to turn away, but Lotli slithered her fingers around his wrist. She swayed up close to him, until her hips massaged his leg. “It would have been wonderful—for both of us.”
Chase balled his fingers into fists. Personally, I wanted to gag.
The Hulk blinked and stuttered. “Ah—yes. The—the harem. That’s where you need to go.”
We followed him down another story and onto yet another landing, the heat growing more oppressive and the incense smell stronger with each step. We went into a hallway. The light dimmed. Tendrils of smoke enshrouded the torches’ glow. Persian-style carpets hung everywhere. Voices and laughter echoed out from the shadows. A screech. An erotic moan. The carpet-decorated walls gave way to a diamond-like mosaic of orange and blue tiles, studded with strange black symbols. The haze thickened. No doubt Chase didn’t like this hulking guard. But I was glad to have an armed escort taking us straight to where we needed to go. After all, the route could have changed since Chase was last here.
Something white and tiny flew past me, fluttering against my sleeve. A moth. A second later, another one brushed my shoulder and I felt
the snap of static electricity, followed by a crackle of energy as another fluttered into my hood. There was a whole swarm of moths now, thousands of them bursting out from the haze and streaming by us on all sides.
“Flying maggots,” the Hulk sputtered.
Lotli and Chase ducked to avoid the thickest of the mass. I waved my hand to fend them off and turned my head to one side. That’s when I spotted a dark, human-shaped shadow creeping along behind us.
Crushing fear launched my heart into my throat. But I swallowed the urge to scream and calmly turned forward, cold dread sinking into my bones. A shadow-genie. Only steps behind us. What the hell was he doing? Had he figured out who we were?
For a long moment, I walked on, muscles tense, fear blistering inside me. Finally, I pushed past it and lengthened my strides enough to catch up with Chase. I nudged him in the back. He glanced over his shoulder. I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head to indicate behind us. He nodded to say he knew the shadow was there.
The march of approaching footsteps came from ahead of us. Chase swiveled back around. And, an instant later, a half dozen guards strode into sight.
The Hulk stopped and dipped his head in respect.
“Why are you away from your post?” a guard in a black turban demanded.
Chase’s hand went to his waistline. And, at the same time, the creepy sensation of something looming behind me clawed up my spine. It was like in the gallery, except this time I didn’t dare throw salt at the shadow. I had to act unbothered.
Petrified, I listened as the Hulk explained that Lotli was a special guest and he was escorting us to the baths—that the guard with the ponytail was in the spire. A big lie, but I couldn’t have cared less. I could smell a disgusting mix of foul breath and bleach emanating from inches behind me. Feel the moist heat coming from its mouth.
Fuck this.
I whirled around. A shadow equally big and wide-shouldered as the one in the gallery glowered down at me.