He crossed the square and went up the opposite alley; Lakshmi had dropped them at the western gate, so as long as he headed east, he should come closer to the city’s center. As he reached the end he heard an attack—yowl and turned back to see a young woman in black veil and white under-robe seem to sprout from the pavement. A huge tomcat let out a caterwaul of dismay and sprinted for cover. Balkis allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction as she shrank back into the form of a cat.
Matt came to an actual street, not another mere alley, and followed it north until he came to another street that met it at something resembling a right angle. He turned east again and kept going. There was gossip and speculation all around him—from porters carrying loads, merchants engaged in heated discussion on street corners, women walking along chatting with one another. The topic was the battle, and that the djinna must have been a sign that it was coming closer to the city. Speculation was rife—what would the barbarians do if they lost? Would they take revenge on the citizens? Or would they ride out the eastern gate and never be seen again? The consensus was that they would barricade themselves within the city and defend it against the Caliph’s siege.
No one mentioned two small kidnapped children, or anything that would give the barbarians leverage against the djinn.
Every now and again Matt glanced back and saw the little black and white cat trotting along, weaving her way between people’s feet, ears pricked up, listening with interest. He was quite sure he had the right cat—you didn’t see too many felines with an emerald ring around one foreleg. The sight was reassuring, but Matt doubted she’d learn anything he hadn’t.
Suddenly, the cat picked up its pace, running to catch Matt’s leg with a claw. “Ouch!” he said, looking down, but Balkis ducked into an alley and looked back to meow at him. Matt took the hint and stepped after her, but the little cat ducked behind a mound of trash and began to grow. Fur became cloth, and her body stretched in some very odd ways. Matt turned his back, feeling queasy and watching the street.
“I have had a thought.”
Matt looked down at the black-veiled teenager, marveling at the way she had arranged the extra cloth in the white robe to veil her head as well as her body—probably just as well, considering that the veil was rather translucent. “I’m interested. What thought?”
“That this ring is tied to djinn.” Balkis held up her right fist. “Perhaps it can show us the path to a djinni.”
“You mean a very small djinni?” Matt felt a burst of excitement. “It’s worth a try. Got a spell handy?”
“I do not know one,” Balkis confessed.
“Let’s see what I can do.” Matt stared at the ring as he searched his memory, and came up with:
“Of course, it’s tuned to you now,” Matt explained. “Probably doesn’t do any good for me to recite it.”
“As you say.” Balkis stared at the emerald and recited the verse. When she was done, she said, “It grew warm as I spoke, but now it cools.”
Matt wondered about crystal matrices and computers. “It was absorbing the spell and adding a new … call it a sensitivity. Try it for direction. Tell it who you’re looking for. Why don’t you start with Prince Marudin? At least we know which direction he’s in.”
“It will do for a test,” Balkis said, doubt in her voice. “Ring, show me where Prince Marudin flies!” She turned slowly toward the west. The ring began to glow, brighter and brighter as it came to line up with the western gate. Then, as Balkis continued turning, the glow faded.
“It works!” An idea lodged in Matt’s mind. “Try the same thing with Lakshmi.”
“But we know she fights beside her prince!” Balkis objected.
“Yes, but in finding her, it might become sensitized to the two of them, and when you combine them …”
“Which their children have!” Balkis nodded. “I begin to understand why I was sent to you. Ring, waken your inner light when you are nearest the Princess Lakshmi!” She began to tum backward. Again the ring glowed most brightly when it pointed due west, then faded as she went on to the north.
“We can’t program it any better than that,” Matt said. “Try for the kids now.”
“Program?” Balkis looked up, alert and hungry for knowledge.
“Telling it what to do,” Matt explained. “Try.”
“Ring, glow when you discover the direction in which the children of Princess Lakshmi and Prince Marudin lie!” Balkis commanded, and held the ring out at arm’s length as she turned again. It began to glow as she neared north, glowed more and more brightly until, when she pointed it toward the northeast, it glowed so brightly that Matt marveled it didn’t burn her finger—but she seemed to feel nothing, only kept turning. The glow started to dim, and died away by the time she pointed due east.
“Northeast,” Matt said, musing. “Well, that’s what we had guessed—but it helps to have it confirmed.”
“It helps mightily to know they are still alive!” Balkis said fervently.
Matt looked down at her, surprised, and saw a very real dread there in her eyes—one she hadn’t dared recognize until she had proven it baseless.
“Yes,” Matt said slowly, “that is good to know.” Suddenly, he wished the ring were sensitive to his own kids. He had never let himself consider the possibility that they might be dead, but he knew the reputations of kidnappers. As soon as he had some time alone, he’d have to try a scry.
“What lies in the northeast?” Balkis asked.
Matt shrugged. “The Mongols’ homeland, and Arjasp.”
“Nay, there is more than that.” Balkis frowned. “There must be, for I feel it pulling at me when the ring glows brightest.”
Matt stared down at her, wondering, and was about to offer an idea when a crash sounded in the distance. They turned, staring down the broad avenue, and saw that the western gate had boomed open, spilling barbarian horsemen into the city from which they had ventured to attack the Arabs.
“They are routed!” Balkis cried. “The Caliph has won!”
“That is good,” Matt said. “But this isn’t a good time for a pretty girl to be watching, veiled or not. How about stepping back into the side street?”
“Wisely thought.” Balkis retreated behind the comer of the wall, and Matt stepped over between the street and the girl. A minute later a black-and-white cat strolled out between his ankles, tail twitching as she watched the warriors come trotting down the broad avenue. As they passed, Matt caught snatches of conversation, liberally interspersed with cursing.
“That traitorous djinni!” one warrior brayed. “How dare he turn upon us in the thick of battle!”
“It was the djinna who bewitched him!”
“Nay,” cried a third soldier, “for he turned upon us ere she came!”
“Flay the sorcerers!” bawled a fourth as his foam-flecked pony rode by Matt. “They made him tum upon us! They called the djinna to aid him!”
“Cannot our own sorcerers hold the Arab magicians at bay?” howled a fifth. “Let them practice their spells upon one another!”