Perilous Seas by Dave Duncan Page B

not trusting djinns. Gold and promises had worked their usual
wonders. Although she did not hear the actual words of treachery, Inos could
guess that exiled princes would readily succumb to offers of future royal
status in the court of Arakkaran--even though they had no reason to expect Azak’s
pledges to be any more reliable than their own oaths. However he did it, Azak
prevailed and Elkarath was betrayed.
    If
the villagers had guards of their own posted, then the lionslayers dealt with
them-Inos preferred not to know-but probably the foxes had not expected danger
from the chickens. Most of the men were absent, anyway.
    The
camels had been freed of their hobbles and bells, and driven from their
paddocks. By dawn they might be anywhere. The rest of the livestock-mules,
cattle, horses, even poultry-had also been chased out into the night. Some had
tried to follow the fugitives for a while, but had eventually given up. The
lionslayers had loaded their familes and taken off south, to Ullacam. When the
old sheik awoke, he was going to have much to keep him occupied-marooned and
defenseless amid a very hostile population. No one was going to be starting a
pursuit for quite some time.
    Mules
would be better than camels in the mountains, Azak had said, so it was from the
back of a mule that Inos greeted the dawn. A mule was not a smooth ride, but
the tough little beasts had climbed and climbed and climbed without protest.
Already Tall Cranes was a long way back and a long way down.
    The
night wind had gone, or else it was confined to the valley and the mule train
was now above it. A pearly glow filled the air, and she could smell dampness
for the first time in weeks. Delicious! The mules’ small hooves clopped
on a smooth stone surface.
    “A
road?” Inos said.
    Azak
and his mule loomed large and dark at her side, just foggy enough to hint that
they were not quite corporeal. His red-bearded smile was visible now, but she
had been hearing it for some time in his voice.
    “The
road to the city, certainly. We have been following it for an hour. It comes
and goes. See?” The paving vanished below a bank of sand.
    Inos
twisted around and confirmed that Kade was in view now also, although misty.
She waved and received a wave in reply. Wonderful old Kade! Inos herself sat
the lead mule of a string of four, with her aunt bringing up the rear. Azak had
kept his mount free, and rode ahead or alongside, as the terrain dictated. Even
mules did not argue with Azak ak’Azakar.
    Escape!
Freedom!
    Boulders
and a few scraggy bushes appeared out of the fog, paid their respects, and
withdrew to the rear like a procession of courtiers. The light was growing
brighter, the fog drifting. A few minutes later, the pavement was back again.
After a furlong or so, the mules reached a gully where it had been washed away,
but Azak found it again on the far side.
    He
was very pleased with himself. He had reason to be. The current confusion in
the Oasis of Tall Cranes did not bear thinking about-meaning that it was very
enjoyable to think about. Revenge!
    Weary
as she was, not having slept all night, Inos could still convince herself that
she was thinking more clearly than she had done in weeks. She said so. “I
feel as if my mind has been wrapped in a blanket! Sleazy, deceitful old man!
Everything feels sharper and clearer.”
    “Then
you agree to marry me?”
    She
parried with a jest, and won a laugh. Azak seemed to be feeling the same sense
of relief she did. He was flippant and high-spirited. He was totally unrecognizable
as the saturnine sultan who had ruled a palaceful of ferocious princes by brute
terror. He was in love.
    She
had seen the same transformation happen at Kinvale, although never on quite
such a scale. A man in love reverted to boyhood. He rediscovered fun and
frolic, and cheerfully played the fool in ways he would never otherwise have
considered. She had seen a normally lordly tribune leap into a fish pond to
recover a lady’s hat.