"Be still, Salom. This senile old man, who doesn't have the grace to die andleave you to the spoils, isn't finished."
Bel-Sidek watched carefully as Edgit fought the temper for which he was wellknown. Bel-Sidek wondered, and expected Salom was wondering, if the old manwasn't trying to provoke an outburst.
The General continued, "What message was Fa'tad sending us when he killed ourmen? What else is in his mind? The Eagle soars on the high wind, aboveeveryone and everything, but he is also like the sea. He has dark deeps, andmany secrets lie hidden within them. We don't know what surprises mightsurface from them."
No one said a word, though the General let silence expand till it became arushing cold wind pouring through the nighted and frightened hollows in everyheart.
"Carza. Have you surrendered? Have we lost Qushmarrah forever? Have we come tothe day of every man for himself?"
"No sir."
"Bel-Sidek?"
"I have a leg and two arms left. Sir."
"Zenobal?"
"There is no defeat, General."
"King?"
"I am among the living."
"Yes. As am I, to the despair of some. But I will not last much longer. I donot need to last. We are close to an event that will make this the year of Qushmarrah's delivery. We in the active organization need only buy time."
For the first time since the meet's commencement the General suffered a spasm that was too much for will to control. Bel-Sidek straightened, poised to help if summoned.
But it passed.
One day it would not.
"These are my commands. No member shall extort anything-whether monies, goods, or anything else-from any citizen of Qushmarrah. None of the Living shall participate in gangsterism or hooliganism in any form. Anyone guilty will discover that while the lion is old he has a tooth or two left. That is all for tonight. Tomorrow night we will meet again. The khadifa of the Hahr will join us." Salom Edgit concealed surprise ineffectually. Bel-Sidek watched his mouth twitch with words aching to be free, that dared not be spoken. The General had asserted his primacy successfully. For the moment.
As Edgit approached the door, the General said, "Salom, I'll want your answer tomorrow night." "Answer, sir?"
"To the question 'Is Salom Edgit a thief or a soldier?'"
The old man could barely discern movement as bel-Sidek shut the door. "How did I do, Khadifa?" "Superbly, sir. But I'm concerned about the physical price you paid. We'd better get you to bed."
The body wanted nothing more. But, "The work isn't finished. Bring writing materials."
Bel-Sidek did as he was instructed, started to settle to take dictation.
"No. I will do this myself. Put the things here before me."
Bel-Sidek obliged again, retreated to the far end of the room. He understood.
The old man inscribed his message with painstaking effort, making no mistakes. He amazed himself, what with his shaking hands and aching flesh. He sanded the ink, folded the paper, inscribed a solitary character on the outside.
"Now you can put me to bed. Then take that to Muma's hostelry. Give it to Muma himself. No one else. Insist. Then go spend the night with your widowed friend." He did not have to caution bel-Sidek against prying. The khadifa would deliver the message unopened. "Should we risk having you stay here alone after so much exertion?"
"We'll risk it, Khadifa. And I won't be alone long."
That was as much as bel-Sidek needed to know.
Aaron sat there looking at Naszif, mind void of conversation. Across the roomReyha burbled in Laella's arms. Naszifs face was pallid and wooden. He hadgotten through the amenities by rote. Aaron doubted that he knew who hisguests were.
A part of Aaron insisted that Naszif deserved any misfortune Aram handed him.
Another part-the part that so loved Arif and Stafa-empathized. Zouki wasNaszifs only son. The only one he would ever have by Reyha. And under Herodianlaw he could not put her aside, nor could he take a second wife.
Under Herodian law, which would not have been in place had the Seven Towersheld a few more days.
"Thus do the Fates conspire to render justice," Aaron muttered. Naszifs eyesunglazed for a moment, but he just looked puzzled, like a man who had heard aninexplicable sound. Then he slipped away into silent torment.
Laella sped him a look of appeal. It said, Do something! Say something!
Say what? That he was glad it was Naszif who had the pain? Reyha was herfriend. He had brought her so she could do what she could do. More she had noright to ask.
For all Naszif was a traitor and a bootlicker, though, Aaron had to admit thathe cared for his wife and son. Strongly. And in that care, perhaps, the seedsof treason might have found root. Aaron recalled Naszifs growing distress asReyha's day had approached. Maybe he had convinced himself that the Herodianswould let him run to Reyha if he opened the tower before her time.
Men had done meaner things for reasons less exalted than love.
Aaron swallowed. His throat had gone dry. Through that aridity he forced,
"They found two children that were stolen. Last week. In the Hahr. Where GoatCreek runs out of that boggy ground they're always talking about filling butnever get around to doing anything about."
Naszif began to show signs of interest. Laella sped Aaron a look of gratitude.
He continued, "The kids were all right. Healthy. Well fed. Decently clothed.
They just didn't remember anything."
"Where did you hear that, Aaron? When?" Suddenly, Naszif was all attention.
"If there was news like that I think I would have heard."
"I heard it yesterday at work. From this old man they call Billygoat. He's acaulker. He lives across from where they found the kids."
Naszifs intensity disturbed Aaron. He had tossed the incident out as a crumbof hope, not because he felt it meant anything. Concerned though he was aboutArif, he had given the story no weight. In a city the size of Qushmarrahchildren would be stolen and a few would turn up again.
"How could something as important as that happen and the news not be all overthe city, Aaron?"
"Be reasonable. Because it isn't news. You and me, we got a reason to care.
Most people don't. Only reason Billygoat told me was I was fussing about Arifand he wanted to cheer me up."
"But if there were two, maybe there were more. Maybe a lot. And nobody eversaid anything."
"That's possible. Good news don't travel like bad news does." Aaron noted thatReyha had stopped sobbing and was listening, face alight with irrational hope.
Naszif said, "I'm going to look into it. I'm going to ask around. Maybethere's something going on."
Aaron wondered what he had started. All he'd wanted was to lend a little support.
Laella said, "Those Dartars that tried to get Zouki back. They seemed to thinkthe Living did it."
Aaron sighed. He had known that would come. Sooner or later. When Laella gotan idea in her head she could hang on as long as her mother.
That's absurd," Naszif said.
"How do you know?"
Aaron had not repeated bel-Sidek's assurances for Laella, though she, likeeveryone in the neighborhood, suspected that the cripple was connected withthe Living and might even be important. She did not need more ammunition to becast into the volleys of gossip flying around the neighborhood.
"I just know," Naszif said, and there was a smugness to his declaration thatset Aaron's teeth on edge, that hurled a moral dilemma into his face like abucket of lava.
Naszif among the Living? Naszif, who might have been a tool of Herod oncebefore ...
Suddenly, like lightning's strike, there were a thousand questions to bedebated between himself and the ceiling beams. It was going to be a long andsleepless night.
His abrupt withdrawal excited no interest. Naszif was preoccupied.
Laella did look at him oddly, though. She would have questions. Whether toanswer would be the first decision. If so, then he would have to decide howmuch he dared reveal ...