Narriman went to the tent flap, surveyed the unfriendly hills. "Go see him. I'm afraid to go back where people might cry shame, but I'm more scared of the shaghun."
"I'd hoped you'd feel that way."
She had begun to relax. The night had passed without incident. Mowfik should be back by noon. If she could stay too busy to worry... .
It was almost noon when Misr called, "Mama, Grandpa coming." She sighed, put her mending aside, and went to meet him.
"Oh, no. Karkur defend us." Misr could not be blamed for his mistake. He'd seldom seen anyone but Mowfik on horseback.
The shaghun was far down the valley, coming toward her. He seemed larger than life, like a far city seen through the shimmer
over the great erg. He came at an unhurried walk. The rise and fall of his animal's legs was hypnotic. He did not seem to draw
any closer.
"Go into the tent, Misr."
"Mama?"
"Do it. And don't come out till I tell you. No matter what."
"Mama, what's wrong?"
"Misr! Go!"
"Mama, you're scaring me."
She gave him her fiercest look. He scooted inside. "And close the flap." She turned. The rider looked twice as big but no nearer. His pace was no faster. The shame in her heart grew with the heat in her loins. She knew he would take her, and her evil side called to him eagerly.
He came closer. She thought of running into the hills. But what good that? He would hunt her down. And Misr would be left alone.
She snatched the bow Mowfik used for hunting, sped an arrow toward the rider. She missed.
She was good with that weapon. Better than her father, who remained perpetually amazed that a woman could do anything better than a man. She should not have missed. She sped a second and third arrow.
Each missed. The fourth plucked at his djellaba, but only because he was so close. There was no fifth. She had seen his eyes.
The bow fell from her hand. He dismounted and walked toward her, reaching.
Only one moment from the next hour stuck with her. Misr came outside, saw the rider thrusting into her, ran over and bit him on the buttocks. That would remain with her forever, in that mixture of amusement and pain such a thing could recall.
Afterward he stared into her eyes. His will beat against her. She dwindled into sleep.
Cursing wakened her. It was the violent cursing of savagery and hatred. She felt too lazy to open her eyes.
She recalled the inexorable approach of the man in black coming up the valley on a line as straight as the arrow of time. She recalled his touch, her fevered response. She felt the sun on her naked shame. She flew up, wrapped herself in discarded clothing.
Mowfik belabored a fallen tree with his axe, cursing steadily.
He blasphemed both Karkur and the Lord of the Disciple. She scrambled into her clothing, frightened.
Exhaustion stopped Mowfik. He settled on the tree trunk and wept. Narriman went to comfort him.
"It's all right, Father. He didn't hurt me. He shamed me again, but he didn't hurt me." She put her arms around him. "It'll be all right, Father."
"Little Fox, he took Misr. It wasn't you this time."
IX
Narriman changed, hardened, saddened. The Narriman of Wadi al Hamamah would not have recognized her. That Narriman would have been terrified by her.
Mowfik took her to see Al Jahez. The captain was properly outraged. He set his men to scouring the country. He sent an alarm across the kingdom. He appealed to the Most Holy Mrazkim Shrines for a Writ of Anathema, and for prayers for the Lord's intervention.
"And that is all I can do. And it's pointless. He won't be seen. Those who serve the Masters come and go as they please."
"Can't somebody do something?" Narriman demanded. "How long has this been going on? How many women have had to suffer this?"
"It's gone on forever," Al Jahez said. "It went on throughout the age of Empire. It went on before the Empire was bom. It'll go on tomorrow, too."
"Why isn't it stopped?"
"Because no one can stop it. One of the Emperors tried. He sent an .army into the Jebal. Not one man returned."
She was venting frustration. She knew the futility of battling the Masters. No, this was personal. This was between herself and one shaghun. The Masters were but shadows beyond the horizon, too nebulous to factor into the emotional equation.
"That man took my son. My son. I don't recognize his claim. He did nothing but force me onto my back."
"Narriman?" Mowfik said, baffled.
"I want my son back."
"We can't do anything about that," Al Jahez said. "The shaghun is who he is, and we're who we are."
"No."
"Narriman?" Again Mowfik was puzzled.
"I thought about this all day, Father. I'm going after Misr."
Al Jahez said, "But you're a child. And a woman."
"I've grown up the past few years. I'm small, but I'm no child. As to my sex, say what you will. It won't change my mind."
"Narriman!"
"Father, will you stop saying that? You stood by me when I begged you not to. You drowned me in love I did not deserve. Stand by me now. Give me what I need to get Misr back. Teach me what I need to know."
Al Jahez shook his head. "Mowfik, you were right. She is remarkable."
"Little Fox. ... It would take so long. And I'm not rich. I can't afford weapons and mounts and. ..."
"We have a horse. We have a sword. You were a soldier. I can survive in the wilderness. I was of the al Muburak."
Mowfik sighed. "The sword is too heavy, girl."
Narriman glanced at Al Jahez. The captain tried to disappear among his cushions.
"Little Fox, I don't want to lose you too. I couldn't bear that." Mowfik's voice cracked. Narriman glimpsed a tear in the corner of one eye. This would cost him dearly from his beggared emotional purse.
He did not want to see her ride away. His heart said he would not see her again.
That dark rider had stolen her from him as surely as he had stolen Misr. She threw her arms around Mowfik. "Father, I have to do this. Wouldn't you come after me?"
"Yes. Yes, I would. I understand that."
Al Jahez said, "This isn't wise. The impossibility of dealing with the shaghun and the Jebal aside, what would happen to a young woman alone? Even honest men would consider her fair for a moment's sport. Not to mention slavers and bandits. The Disciple instituted a rule of law, little one, but the Evil One, as ever, rules most of the land."
"Those are problems to face when they arise." What he said was true. She could not deny that. Women had no legal status or protection. When the shaghun forced her onto her back he injured her father, not her. An unattached woman was not a person.
Her resolve was not shaken. Damned be the problems, and anyone who stood in her way.