‘Which land?’
‘Any land,’ said Wahir proudly. ‘He is the greatest to have ever lived.’
‘Thank you,’ said Benzamir. ‘I know how it works, but embarrassing me doesn’t do either of us any good.’
‘Oh,’ said Wahir.
‘Besides, I’m much more interested in why Alessandra was following us.’
‘She was?’ Wahir sat down quickly and gazed intently at the Ewer woman. ‘Why would she do that? Will we have to kill her?’
‘I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about killing her, as I’d only just saved her. It’d seem rather a waste. What do you think, Alessandra?’
She looked at Wahir, then at Benzamir, then down the hill to where Said was kneeling, his forehead touching the ground, hoping that the world would stop spinning. Then she looked further out, to the empty desert, the bright blue sky and the fierce, burning sun.
‘Can I talk my way out of this?’
‘Quite likely. I’m always willing to trade knowledge.’
‘The book I told you about, the one sold by a Kenyan . . . It was stolen from the emperor himself. The word went out that he wanted it back, but by then it had disappeared into the back streets of Misr. Now there’s a stack of Kenyan gold to the man – or woman – who can find it.’
‘And you thought that I was after the book and the reward. So where do the Ethiopians come in?’
‘When you headed off in a different direction to everyone else, I didn’t know what to think. I chased after you, but that stupid horse dumped me on my head. And thank you for rescuing me.’
‘You’re welcome.’
‘The Ethiopians give tribute to the empire. I can only assume the emperor has run out of patience and that they’re here with orders to find the book. The obvious place to start looking for it is at the diggers’ market.’
Benzamir leaned forward and started drawing in the dust with his fingertip. ‘What’s tribute?’
‘You’d know if your people ever had to pay it. Rather than having your country invaded, your population enslaved, your cities sacked, you pay. You pay and pay and pay, and maybe they’ll leave you alone. To be fair, the emperor used to protect us from the Caliphate; they raided us from the sea all the time and made our lives a misery, but they suddenly stopped five years ago. All we do now is pay and get nothing in return.’
‘We have other words for it,’ said Benzamir, ‘but I understand now. This book that the emperor is so desperate to get – had you ever seen anything like it before?’
‘No,’ said Alessandra, ‘never. I brokered one of the deals, but it couldn’t be over fast enough for me. User machines are just things, but this was alive in a way that scared me. It was sold, I took my fee, and the buyer sold it on the next day for a fat profit. That was the last I saw of it, though I heard of it moving through the diggers and booksellers, back and forth, selling each time for ever-increasing amounts of money. A king’s ransom by the end. Then it went quiet.’ She turned slightly and took another look at Benzamir. ‘Are you really a magician?’
‘Really? No. Does anyone believe me when I deny it? No. It’s easier to answer yes.’ He looked at Wahir’s expectant face, then took off the metal skullcap, which was becoming uncomfortably warm. He rolled it around in his hands and continued almost at a whisper. ‘If I wanted to, I could destroy the emperor, reduce his palace to dust and scatter his armies to the four winds. But it’s always been easier to destroy than to build.’
‘You could do all that?’ asked Wahir.
‘Yes.’ Benzamir got up and walked away, and stared out into the eastern desert, towards the invisible mountains he might have called home.
Hesitantly Alessandra joined him. ‘You don’t look like that kind of man.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Are you boasting?’
‘No,’ said Benzamir. ‘We need to find some shade, or we’re all going to fry to a crisp, godlike powers or not. We need to clean your head up too. Come on, let’s get back to the carpet.’
As he stalked away back to where Wahir was waiting, Alessandra called after him. ‘I’ve made you angry. I’m sorry.’
‘No,’ he said without turning, ‘not angry. Sad. Every time someone finds out who I am and what I can do, they stop being my friend and start being my follower. I just didn’t expect that.’
They found shade in the shadow of a cliff wall after a short flight over the desert, past the point where the surface was merely stony and into the endless sand sea. There was a spring that trickled water down the rock and collected in a cool, dark chasm before it vanished in the blinding heat of the day.
Benzamir summoned another bright cylinder, but this time he pointed up into the sky to show where it came from. They followed where his finger led, and high up in the deep blue zenith a line of light was being drawn. Where the light faded, a tail of smoke appeared before being blown ragged by the wind. Then even the light went out.
The object plummeted to the ground a decent distance away, smacking into the ground in a high-thrown shower of sand. Benzamir went out to collect its contents.
After he’d brought back a single slim case, he said to Alessandra: ‘You’ll need to come out into the light where I can see what I’m doing.’
‘What are you going to do to me?’ she asked.
‘Stop you from dying. For today at least.’
She sat on a ledge of sandstone and looked fearfully at the case Benzamir opened. ‘What is that symbol? The red diamond?’
‘Traditional to my people. It means medicine.’ He was building a machine out of separate parts, twisting and pushing them until they clicked. ‘Tilt your head over away from me.’
She complied, trembling. He pressed the machine to her neck and she felt a sharp scratch.
Firstly, ‘Ah! What was that?’ Then, ‘I feel strange.’ Finally, ‘I . . . Benzamir?’
Alessandra leaned back, and her eyelids fluttered closed.
Benzamir put the gas gun back on the lid of the case, picked up a pair of long-handled scissors and started cutting the hair away from her wound. He worked quickly, cleaning the blood off in thin red rivers that stained the surrounding stone and applying a thin square of wet material straight from a sealed can. Then he reloaded the gas gun and shot her again in the neck. He moved her back into the shade and left her to sleep off the anaesthetic.
‘Master?’ asked Said. ‘What are you going to do with her now?’
‘I don’t know. What did you have in mind?’ Benzamir filled his water skin from the spring and upturned it over his head.
‘She knows of your powers. What’s to stop her from talking?’
‘Nothing, I suppose. Gratitude?’
‘Everyone has their price, master,’ said Said. ‘She used to be a slave. She knows that money will keep her free.’
Benzamir was silent in thought. When he looked up again, he asked, ‘Where’s Wahir?’
‘Exploring. The king who sent you wants you to find your enemies. Already some of the Ethiopian soldiers have seen your flying carpet, and your – you know . . .’ He pointed his finger, except that when Said did it, nothing blew up. ‘There have been two of your wondrous deliveries from the Heavens. Now you’ve healed this Ewer woman with your magic, and master, it’s dangerous.’
Benzamir put his hands to his face and slid them slowly down to his chin. ‘I know. It’s all very different to what I imagined. I thought I’d wander around, pick up clues, find the traitors and take them back. It’s a lot more complicated than that, Said.’
‘It’s like ripples, master.’
‘Ripples?’
‘Yes, a stone in a pool. The movement spreads outwards until all the surface is disturbed.’
After a while Benzamir said: ‘You know, you can be quite wise at times.’
‘Thank you, master. You have two choices. Stop making waves, or—’