“But you have pulverized mine,” Lakshmi said, face darkening, “shattered my walls and stolen my children! Where are they, rapacious one? Tell, or we shall measure the power of the djinn ‘gainst those of Chance!”
“No, not Chance.” Fortune shook her head with certainty. “You would not want to meet him; he lives in a cavern nearby, and has the teeth of a shark and the tentacles of an octopus; even I cannot stand against him, and you? Or any creature of the waking world? No, no, poor lass! Do not so much as think of it!”
Lakshmi’s head snapped back in shock; then her eyes brimmed with tears. “Where are they, then? If ‘tis you who have sundered them from me, then ‘tis you who can tell me where they are! Do, I pray thee, or I shall have to confront this Chance of whom you speak.”
“Not Chance, never Chance, never.” Fortune came fluttering toward her, arms out to embrace. “Poor dear, poor bereaved lass!” She folded the unwilling djinna into her arms. “Courage, though, for you have regained the husband who was stolen from you already. Ah, if I could tell you where your babes are, I would, but even I know only that Arjasp has spirited them away to Central Asia, and there hidden them—but where I cannot say, for ‘twas done with Shrewdness and Care, whose cloaks shield all from even my eyes!”
She released Lakshmi, plucking a handkerchief from her bosom and offering it. Lakshmi took it and dabbed at her eyes, pleading, “Tell me, then, since you can see what is to be—will my babes still be in that same hiding place when I find Arjasp?”
“You will not find him—he will find you, for he summons you through your little ones,” Fortune said regretfully. “As to seeing the future, no, I cannot. I have some role in making it, but I cannot see it, for I throw my darts blindly and know not where they will land until I hear them bite into my targets—and it will be some time yet ere I throw the darts for the balance of your quest. I cannot even yet say whether you will come to Arjasp’s court with your companions.” At the concluding word, her gaze drifted and her eyes filled; she took another handkerchief from her bosom and pressed it to her nose as she sniffled. “Companions! Ah, would I could have some! ‘Tis a lonely life, you know, being Fortune.”
“Surely there must be some among those whom you have blessed who would be delighted to visit with you, at least!” Lakshmi protested.
“Few.” The tears were running freely now. “Those whom I have most favored believe in me least—and even those who do, have not the magic to come to me. You, now, you have the magic, but I may not favor you, for my wheels spin and the darts land where they will, so in a few weeks time you, too, may hate me!”
“Surely you could take better aim,” Lakshmi argued.
“I can take aim, yes.” Fortune nodded. “Sometimes that aim holds true. But there are sudden gusts through my cave, from the cavern next to mine—the Winds of Chance—and no matter how carefully I choose, Chance may deflect my darts whenever he wishes.”
“Try, at least,” Matt urged. “If we aren’t too sunk in gloom at the end of our quest—” He let the sentence hang while he gave Lakshmi a questioning glance; she nodded. Matt turned back to Fortune and finished the sentence. “—we’ll stop and visit on our way back, if we’re not too glum to be good company.”
“You will? Oh, bless you, my friends!” The tears dried on the instant, and Fortune seized a throw rug from its place between two stalactites. She gave it a shake, letting it float to the ground. “Come, let us share a bite and a sip before we part!”
The rug landed in place, revealing a silver service laid out for tea, with small trays of tempting biscuits and sandwiches—cucumber, cheese and tomato, and chicken salad. Fortune glanced up at them and misinterpreted their amazement. She clapped her hand over her mouth, then took it away to say, “Oh, my! I had forgotten! Arabian, not English!” She seized the rug, gave it a shake. It snapped in a wave, and when it settled, the service had changed to a small brass pot with a wooden handle protruding from its side, brazen demitasses, and a collection of small brass plates holding little squares of Turkish Delight and baba-au-rhum.
Lakshmi gave a glad cry, and Matt closed his eyes as he inhaled the fragrance—but Balkis shied away, eyeing the service warily.
“Do you not like it?” Fortune asked anxiously. “Love it!” Matt dropped down cross-legged next to the rug. “You just got yourself a guest!”
Fortune smiled with relief and sat gracefully across from him—and Matt realized that she must have lost twenty pounds at least, her gown seemed to have stabilized along classical Greek lines, and her frowzy curls had settled into a neat coiffure. She poured, asking, “What do you think of the weather over the Hindu Kush?”
“Over it is fine,” Matt said. “On it is another matter. The southern slopes seem to be getting a lot of rain, which is fine for India, but the Afghans could probably use a bit more moisture on the northern side.”
“Ah, the poor Afghans!” Fortune sighed, handing a cup to Lakshmi. “Try as I may to hurl my dart toward rain for them, Chance always blows it aside!”
“They survive, though,” Matt said. “A very hardy people. And how has the weather been in Baluchistan this year?”
So it went, a very pleasant half hour, but when they were done and Fortune was lifting the rug to shake the service away, Matt asked, somewhat tentatively, “I don’t suppose you could tell me if my children are with Lakshmi’s?”
CHAPTER 24
“You did not know?” Fortune looked up in surprise. “I had thought that was why you traveled with her! Yes, most certainly all four children are together! After all, both pair were stolen at Arjasp’s behest.”
Lakshmi stared a moment, then turned to Matt. “So it would seem that the Lady Jimena was right, wizard, and our two quests are one.”
“It would seem so, yes.” Matt almost sagged with relief. “Thank Heaven! At least we know where they are now—and, uh, thank you, too, Dame Fortune.” Matt had always trusted his mother’s insights.
“But I thought you knew.” Lakshmi still frowned at him, puzzled. “You said that they were hostages to Fortune.”
“Oh, not to me!” Fortune protested. “To Arjasp, yes, but never to me!” Abruptly, though, she reconsidered, turning away, brow puckered in thought. “Well, yes, I suppose you might say that if you have not built your castle of Security high enough or strong enough, I could knock it over quite easily with a throw of a dart—and since it takes a much bigger castle for a family than for a single person, it is that much harder to build it strong enough to resist me. Therefore those who are married and who are parents must do as Fortune dictates, for their castles are too weak to resist me … Yes, I see. In that sense, your babies are hostages to me—but they will be all your life! For now, the only one who holds them hostage is Arjasp.”
“What do we have to do to get them back?” Matt asked. “Arjasp only required that Alisande leave the Caliph, and she’s done that. Me, I’m trying to track them down, but is that enough?”
“It will be now, yes!” Fortune nodded vigorously. “You have made friends with Fortune, wizard, so you need only keep working, keep striving, and sooner or later some of my darts will favor you.”
“Maybe we could speed that up a little,” Matt said with a slow smile. “How about a game of darts?”
But Fortune only smiled on him with fond pity. “Poor lad, you challenged me to that game the day you were born!”