“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,
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.”