The Tower of Fear (26 page)

She was damned stubborn. She would not talk.

*   *   *

Azel approached Government House reluctantly. He did not like having been summoned.

The mechanism had existed for years but the Herodians had not used it before. That disturbed him. Till he stepped inside Government House he thought about walking away from it.

He was especially uncomfortable with the news about the Turok pillagers. They were a random element that could destabilize an already rattled situation.

The doormen wasted no time conducting him to Colonel Bruda, who took him straight to General Cado. Cado said, “Thanks for coming. You heard about the Turok raiders at Agadar?”

“It’s all anyone’s talking about.”

“Bad news gets around fast. How are people reacting?”

“Like they think the Turoks will ride in and sack the city.”

Cado snorted. “In a moment I’ll go downstairs to thrash out a plan for dealing with them. I want you to come along in case I need an opinion on how the Qushmarrahan people will react.”

“I don’t like that. I’m a spy, not…”

“You’ll be a bodyguard again. No one there could compromise you. There’ll be myself and Bruda, senior officers from the legions, the civil governor, Fa’tad and his top men. You’re my only touchstone with the Qushmarrahan in the street.”

“Crap. You take me into a big-time meeting, one of those guys—probably that nitwit lard-ass civil governor—will spot me on the street later and tell the world, There goes that guy that hangs around with Cado pretending to be a bodyguard.’”

“There’s that risk. But indulge me, Rose. This will be tricky, balancing a response between Fa’tad, Sullo, and the Living. Have you heard what happened to Sullo?”

“I guess not.”

“He sent twenty Moretians to take over Hanno bel-Karba’s country house yesterday. Today the Living sent their heads back in a trunk.”

“Really? A little last-gasp derring-do.”

“I warned Sullo. He didn’t listen. Watch him close. I may have to ask for a special favor soon. He’s going to become an embarrassment.”

Azel grunted.

“Watch Fa’tad, too. I have trouble reading him. Have any idea what he’s up to in the Shu yet?”

Azel shrugged. “I’ve heard stories. I don’t believe any of them.”

“Tell me a few.”

“There are caverns under the Shu. That’s a fact. In some of the stories the bosses of the maze have filled those with stolen treasure and Fa’tad wants to grab that. In some other stories one of the caverns is a secret passage into the citadel, which Fa’tad plans to loot.”

“Are these fantasies?”

“I lived in the maze when I was a kid. I never saw no treasure and never heard of no secret passage. Which don’t mean they ain’t there. Nobody tells a kid nothing.”

“Fa’tad thinks he’s on to something. He has half his men on it today. You think he’s learned something from the prisoners he’s taken?”

Azel shrugged.

“I hear he’s executed most of them.”

“They ain’t model citizens.”

Cado shook a little silver bell. Colonel Bruda came in. “Sir?”

“I need Rose in a bodyguard costume. Rose, I’d be very grateful if you could find me even one of the men who did in Sullo’s Moretians.”

“They won’t go around bragging.”

“That’s why there’s still a group called the Living. But try.”

The other children did not say much but they eyed Zouki in wonder. Some came to touch him quickly, lightly, as though hoping his luck would rub off.

Of all the children taken out of the cage he was the first to be returned.

But then the big man came again and Zouki knew that this time there would be no unexpected reprieve. This time they would do whatever it was they did with children.

*   *   *

Azel was in a foul mood when he entered Cado’s meeting. He did not want to be there and he did not like holding his tongue the way he must. He thought a lot about getting out of town.

It was a nice fantasy but not one he took too seriously even though it seemed the most intelligent course to follow.

Cado nodded to the men who rose to greet him. There were fifty or sixty. They ranged to either side of a massive table six feet wide and twenty long topped by a colorful miniature of the north coast from Ocean’s shore to Aquira in the east. Two thirds of the men were Herodian. They stood on the seaward side. Opposite, Fa’tad al-Akla stood with his captains. Sullo had assumed position at the far end of the table. He had an ugly female with him. She looked like she had gotten away from childhood just last week, but seemed less intimidated by her surroundings than did Sullo.

His pet witch?

She had the smell. A strong one. She’d be a bad one in another twenty years.

Cado said, “You’ve heard the bad news. You’ve had time to think. I have an idea of my own but I’m open to any strokes of genius you’ve suffered. Volunteers? No?”

Azel studied Sullo and his witch, uncomfortable because Fa’tad and several of his captains were eyeing him. He pretended not to notice, mimicking the sleepy indifference of his fellow guards while trying to catch everything he could.

Cado continued, “Colonel Bruda’s people have put out markers on the map showing what we know, which is mainly that the Turoks are west of Agadar and moving our way, staying near the coast. Colonel Bruda has dispatched scouts by land and sea but we’ll have been in the field several days before we have their reports. Fa’tad, you think they’ve grown bold enough to violate Dartar territory?”

One of the Dartars translated for the old warrior though he understood Herodian perfectly. All part of the game, as was Cado’s having ignored Fa’tad’s honorifics. He barked an answer translated as, “Not if they hope to get home with their booty.”

“I thought not. I presume plunder to be the object of their exercise. They won’t want a real fight. I’m not spoiling for one, either. So we’ll march along the coast in easy stages and chase them back the way they came. Fa’tad, I’ll need fifteen hundred horsemen. I’ve already told General Lucillo he’ll be taking twenty-five hundred from the Twelfth. I want you on the road as soon as possible. As soon as naval vessels can be manned and loaded you’ll have offshore support and supply.

“Four thousand plus naval support should be strength enough to chase the Turoks without us weakening ourselves here.”

Right, Azel thought. Even left Cado a little stronger in respect to Fa’tad’s gang, just in case. But what was he up to sending out troops from the Twelfth under orders from Lucillo, who commanded the Seventh Cadadasca? What was he saving Marco for? If he was going to use the general from the Seventh, why not its men?

He grinned. Old Fa’tad was all pruned up as he tried to untangle the same questions. And that pruning was probably the whole answer. A fillip to keep the Eagle wondering.

When the meeting broke up, Dartars would start scurrying around trying to find out if they had overlooked something about Lucillo.

Azel did not lead the sort of life that saw him sitting in on many military planning sessions. He found they were not very exciting. After Cado announced who was going to send how many men, it was all pounds of food and fodder, would the temporary span in the Cherico bridge stand up to the passage of an army, could soldiers who had been in garrison too long make the march from the Sahdri Well to Quadrat in one day or should they be issued an extra canteen? Should artillery be taken? One faction insisted. Another said it would only slow them down because the ox teams could not keep up a fast pace. And so forth.

Cado settled the artillery debate by saying he would load the engines aboard ship.

To Azel it seemed calm and professional and about as adventuresome as conversation amongst greengrocers. The Dartars did not say much, speaking only in response to direct questions, which Azel supposed was the way it was supposed to be, them being the hired hands.

Fa’tad kept an eye on him all the time.

The civil governor was all business, never saying a word. Azel did not learn anything about him.

He got the impression the ugly little witch was there doing what he was, sizing up the boss’s enemies. She paid him no mind. Fa’tad made up for her indifference.

The man grew more obvious. Feeling for a reaction? Why? Had one of his gang recognized the stable boy who had busted a guy up for running off at the mouth about Qushmarrah?

Trouble with the whole thing was, Cado and Bruda were going to notice. No way to stop it, though. Just ride it out, like a ship in a storm.

Then the confab was over. Cado hadn’t consulted him once. He was pissed. That risk for nothing.

Before sunset Joab and the Dartar elite, and Lucillo and his twenty-five hundred, would be off to stalk the ferocious Turok. Tension in the city would soar as everyone waited for the Living to try something because garrison strength was at low ebb.

Azel did not expect the Living to act. But a few fanatics might, and might set off the explosion the old man had feared from the moment he had made his deal with the Witch.

Qushmarrah might throw the yoke of Herod in a sudden savage uprising but there could be no realistic hope of keeping its independence unless the flame of rebellion scorched the entire coast or the Living came up with a weapon more potent than the Herodian legions.

Nakar could be that weapon. Nakar the Abomination. Without Ala-eh-din Beyh to hold him in check.

He should not be thinking of that in Government House. Here he should remain the perfect Herodian agent in thought as well as appearance.

The military men had begun moving out. Sullo had gone with his shadow instrument. Cado and Bruda were whispering with Lucillo and Marco while Fa’tad eagle-eyed them from across the room. Cado suddenly bobbed his head and turned away, beckoned his bodyguards, stalked out of the room. He dismissed all of them but Azel immediately. “We didn’t learn much from that, did we, Rose?”

“Found out the governor can keep his mouth shut when he wants.”

“I guess you could call that a blessing. Yes.”

“I need to get up on that balcony on the third level on the southwest corner. To see what direction somebody goes when he heads out.”

“All right.” Curious. He did not ask who or why.

Damned man trotted along with him, picking at this and that like he was maybe trying to circle in on something. Whatever it was, it had Sullo near the bull’s-eye. And it wasn’t like he was hinting that something should happen to the governor. He would come right out with that. No. It was like Cado’s level of trust had suffered …

The damned Moretians! Of course. Cado had mentioned them to him. He had mentioned them to the General. The old man had had their heads chopped off. Cado was asking himself how the Living had found out so fast and he didn’t like one of the possible answers.

He would have to give Bruda something that would ease Cado’s mind.

The Dartars did not scatter the way they should have. They paused out front, in a cluster, then moved into the streets west of Government House. The streets somebody exiting the side door would head for if he wanted to get out of sight quickly.

He could handle that. He’d just go out one of the public doors on the other side, maybe drift down and see what bel-Shaduk was up to before he went out for his look at what was left of the old man.

Meantime, Fa’tad deserved a tweak.

“One thing I did hear but didn’t have a chance to check the rumor. Fa’tad supposedly left a couple hundred men in the city last night, in the Shu maze.”

“That’s useful. You didn’t mention it before.”

“Didn’t know if it was worth it. It’s just a rumor I never got a chance to check. You want I should go ahead and figure how to set Sullo up? Or do you reckon you’re going to get along?”

That did for the moment. Cado said of course Rose should be ready if a move had to be made. Azel said he would do it and made his exit wishing Cado was not so interested in him. He’d rather deal with Bruda.

The sinkhole country looked better all the time. If there was a blowup, he was gone till the dust settled.

*   *   *

Yoseh realized he had been chattering for hours.

Actually, once she got over her initial shyness the girl did most of the talking. It was plain she did not get much chance to say what she thought at home. She offered him an ill-informed opinion on almost every subject imaginable. Yoseh found himself smiling and nodding in agreement just to keep her there.

Medjhah finally came back. He wore a look of awe. He sat down beside Nogah, shook his head, said, “You wouldn’t believe it. I don’t believe it. And I was there.”

“Fortune smiled upon you?”

“Fortune crawled all over me. If I’d wished for gold I’d be the richest man in the world.”

Nogah snorted derisively.

A pair of mason’s helpers came out for more bricks. Yoseh wondered what was happening inside the labyrinth. It had been a quiet day. He had expected excitement but they had not brought out a single prisoner yet. Medjhah thought maybe most of the villains had slipped out during the night. Nogah grumbled that it was probably because the men he had sent in were loafing. Yoseh suspected the whole maze thing had been overrated and there had not been that many people in there to begin with.

Medjhah started playing catch with Arif, using an orange somebody had stolen from one of the groves beyond the compound. The boy was very inept, mostly because he was too afraid he would get hit. Yoseh thought his parents probably protected him too much. These veydeen all sheltered their children more than did Dartar parents.

Mo’atabar came down the hill alone. Nogah went to talk to him.

Stafa tried to get into the game with his brother and Medjhah. His idea of catch was to grab the orange and scurry around among the animals laughing till somebody ran him down. Medjhah caught up, started to lift him, thought better of it, set him down, and said, “Phew! This one needs to be changed.”

Whereupon Stafa, still armed with the orange, headed for home yelling, “Mom! I’m pooped!” Like he had not known perfectly well and been too busy to be bothered.

Tamisa said, “I’d better go. Chores to do. Mother is going to be crabby enough as it is. Arif, come on.”