"Where? Who?"
"I'll let you know if it comes out sure. Meantime, I got a suggestion. Burnthe old boy. Don't bury him."
"Immolation is a rite of Gorloch, not of Aram."
"How many people going to be involved in this, eh? All of them mourning thebeloved General. What chance you figure there is all of them will keep theirmouths shut about who, what, and where? Cado gets the word, he's going to havethe old boy dug up and paraded around."
"I'll think about it."
Dumb shit. He was asking for it. "You put some time in on the new governor andhis witch, too. There's something more there than meets the eye. Talk to youmore when we get together. I got something else I got to do right now."
He turned and headed west.
There was a lot of traffic on the road. Too much. How much had to do with the funeral? He checked faces. A few were familiar. He remembered them all. It was a habit he had, one he followed unconsciously sometimes even when he was awareof no need. Thus he noticed two particular faces among the inevitable beggarsand loafers inside the Gate of Autumn.
He had seen one for the first time not far from where Ishabal bel-Shaduk lived. He'd last seen the other in the halls of Government House.
So.
He did not lead them an interesting chase. He went to Muma's, where he spentthe afternoon and early evening eating, thinking, and carefully, laboriouslycomposing a long letter to General Cado. He entrusted that to Muma's youngest, a quickwitted urchin, and relaxed with some black-market beer before he wentout for the night's work.
Meryel guided bel-Sidek to a mound of cushions. "You look awful tonight. Ifyou'll pardon me saying so."
"I can pardon you anything if you can pardon me."
She looked at him curiously but did not pursue it while her servants came andwent with the courses of their meal. Then she asked. He told her about his day.
"Murdered? You're sure?" She did not seem interested in his conduct while questioning the traitor's wife.
"It seems more likely all the time. The trouble is, I can't see who would havegained by getting him out of the way."
"One of the fanatics, getting impatient?"
"No. They honored him too much. Besides, getting him out of the way just putsme in the way. Tonight I intend to name another moderate as my successor sothere's nothing to gain getting rid of me, either."
"Could it be the governor's witch getting even for what happened to hisguards?"
"Not unless she's one hell of a diviner. I think he died before they did.
Herodians would have taken him alive, anyway. Sullo laying hands on themastermind of the Living so soon after getting here would have been apolitical deathblow for Cado. There are people in Herod who want his head. Hesurvives because he's competent, he has several very powerful friends, and hehas the indulgence of the Living."
"Hubris?"
"Fact. We could cause trouble enough to get him taken out. If a Herodian mustrule here, we'd prefer General Cado. None of the likely replacements would beso kind to Qushmarrah. I'd better go. We have a lot to argue out."
Meryel rose with him. She said, "I have a few contacts among those who operateoutside anybody's law. I'll ask them if they've heard anything that might havesomething to do with the old man's death."
Bel-Sidek paused at the door. "All right. Also find out what they know about achild-stealing ring. And about a man named Azel." He slipped out, not at alleager to face what lay ahead. But they did have to decide who should take over in the Shu and who should takeover most of his own duties on the waterfront.
Too, he hoped to discover if there had been some dark side to the old manthat, in his love, he had been unable to see.
The Witch moaned, twitched uncontrollably. Her flesh was beyond her command.
All her will was bent upon the child, that stubborn brat.
Three times she had tried to breach the barrier of trauma. Three times she had been repelled. Never had she encountered such resistance. The previous lifemust have ended terribly.
She gathered her remaining reserves, feeble after half a day in trance. Onelast effort ... No matter. This could not be the one she sought. Azel couldhave him and welcome.
Her thoughts were not that clear. They constituted more an instinctual flowthan actual reasoning.
Once more she advanced upon the child's defenses. And this time found a tinycrack. She focused upon it, struck with all the remnants of her strength ...
And screamed. And screamed.
Terror squeezed her heart.
The soul on the other side was that of Ala-eh-din Beyh. It was not lost. Itwas not bewildered. It had been lying in ambush.
Torgo did not think. Instinct drove him. He plunged inside the tent, fistsflying. He knew what had happened without having to think it out.
He struck child and woman with powerful blows to the head. The shock broke thelink. The devil in the child tumbled back into the abyss. But it did notvanish completely. Torgo felt the power there.
The Witch's screams waned. She lapsed into a deep sleep, maybe a coma. Torgodestroyed the tent, killed the fire in the braziers, fanned fumes away. Tearsstained his cheeks.
Had he been fast enough?
She should have foreseen this. She should have trained him for this. In his ignorance all he could do now was watch and wait and hope that Gorloch wouldbe merciful and permit her return from that far darkness into which she hadfallen.
Power streamed from the child.
Outside, clouds began to gather.
Aaron entered the house and found the females all prickly and sullen. "Nowwhat?" He was not in the mood for it. Things had not gone well at work thatafternoon. The Herodians were sorting themselves out to line up behind thecivil or military governors and were trying to frustrate one another by givingconflicting orders to their Qushmarrahan employees.
Arif said, "Nana's mad at Mish because she took Yoseh some food."
Mish said, "You told me to do it."
"A damn fool idea, Aaron," Raheb said. "And you didn't have to behave like a trull, Tamisa." Laella snapped, "She did nothing of the sort, Mother. Tamisa, you shouldn't have spent all that time talking to him. It didn't look right."
"Maybe I just wanted to hear somebody talk who could say a whole sentence without cutting me down or bellyaching about something."
Point to Mish, Aaron thought.
Stafa said, "I ride horsy, Dad."
"You did? Arif, come here. Tell me what you and Stafa did today while Mom and Mish finish getting supper ready."
The women got the message.
It was not a world where women dared long exasperate even a man as gentle as Aaron.
He took Stafa into his lap and Arif under his right arm and they talked about camels and such till it was time to eat. The boys were exceptionally quietduring the meal. The women said nothing. He supposed he must be looking veryfierce. Maybe they were all waiting for some giving of the law. Let them stew.
He could use the quiet. It did not last, of course. But the women were not the instrument of its death.
There was, to his dismay, a tapping at the door. He was more dismayed when heopened it to find Reyha and Naszif outside. He stepped out of their way. Theycame in without saying anything. Both looked awful. Laella rose slowly, facepallid, as though some horror had come through the doorway with them. Laellaheld Reyha for a moment, then helped her sit down. Naszif settled beside her,, opposite Aaron. They looked one another in the eye, each knowing what theother knew. Mish moved the boys away.
Naszif said, "Reyha told you some things she would have been wiser to havekept to herself, as she learned today. She had a visit from the Living. Nowyou're in it, too, like it or not. The Living will be watching."
Reyha stared at her folded hands.
"She came to see you last night. This morning they came to see her. They knewshe'd come into Char Street but not where she'd gone. They wanted to knowthat, and who she'd seen, and what she talked about. They were insistent. Avery important man of theirs was murdered last night, here in Char Street, about the time she was out, and they think they have reason to believe a womanwas responsible."