"We don't need to. I can manufacture evidence."
"What are you thinking?"
"Suppose we have Rose send Sullo away in imitation of a Living execution, thenthe story of a deal with a khadifa of the Living, who reneged, gets out?"
Cado laughed. He got up and joined Bruda at the window. Bruda watched biddersof water slide down its outer face.
"You're more devious than I suspected."
"We'd be rid of Sullo, with the onus on the Living. They'd be discredited andchasing each other around trying to catch the villain."
"A double kill. I like it." Cado chuckled. "Give me a day to think about itand see what develops. You look for holes in it."
In the Dartar compound, with security verging on the absurd, Fa'tad al-Aklacloseted himself with his ten most trusted captains, all of them men who hadridden with him twenty years or more. He had digested the day's reports fromthe Shu maze and was confident both that the myths he was feeding weregroundless and that the denizens of the labyrinth were compressed just shortof the point where desperation would overcome terror and they would fightback.
The Eagle told them what he intended.
They were appalled. They were aghast at his daring. They enthused. Theirresponse delighted him. He was a mischievous old devil.
One of Joab's brothers, Bega, sometimes a too-practical sort, said, "I'm nomason. Will the mortar set up properly in this weather?" The rains were lightbut steady now.
Fa'tad did not know. It did not seem a critical question. All but a few exitsfrom the maze had been sealed already. Tomorrow the masons would close theexits to the roofs. And that would be that, except for the final, criticalfew.
In the Shu, Yoseh retreated from the mouth of Tosh Alley, found Nogah. "You'dbetter come look," he whispered. "Something is getting ready to happen outthere."
In the citadel, Zouki wakened for the first time since his encounter with theWitch. He was confused and frightened though he did not remember much. Thememories he did have seemed half alien. Dreams awake. Places and events he never saw. Everything too elusive to grasp. Something worming around insidehis brain. Someone else. Terror.
Thunder crashed outside.
Merciful sleep took him again a moment later.
In his quarters, Torgo paced. He was worried. He was frightened. Somethingunusual had happened. He did not understand. He needed the Witch to tell himwhat to do. And she could not be wakened.
Azel had not yet come for the boy. He was late. Way late. And it was almosttime for Ishabal to show. Should he carry out his orders?
In his home in the Shu, Sisu bel-Sidek asked his khadifas to put forward thenames of men they considered worthy of becoming their equals.
In Char Street, Ishabal bel-Shaduk gave his henchmen the agreed signal.
The boys were over the excitement and asleep. The women were not. Aarondoubted he could fall asleep easily, either. But it was time. He had to worktomorrow. Weather permitting.
One more day. Then his day off. By the time he went back, he hoped, theHerodian managers would have worked out their political differences andeverybody could get back to building ships.
He reached out to snuff the candle.
Someone knocked on the door.
He cursed softly. Then thought the hell with them. Then realized that theknock was much firmer than those of Reyha or bel-Sidek. He felt a little twirlof fright.
The knock came again. Laella, her mother, and Mish all sat up and looked athim.
There had not been a major crime in Char Street since the Dartars had becomeinterested in the maze. Nobody would be dumb enough to try something with adozen of them watching from Tosh Alley.
He went to the door, glancing bemusedly at the carving knife. He had forgottento remove it. The women were not about to touch it. They were going to pretendhe was lord and master for a day or two.
He slipped the latch, drew a breath to speak as he started to pull the doorinward.
It slammed into him, knocking his breath out and hurling him back to land onhis seat. Two men charged inside. One tripped over his outstretched leg andplunged headlong into the opposite wall. Two more charged in behind the firsttwo. One stopped, held a knife at Aaron's throat. He gaped up at the man, lost.
The women started screaming.
A man in the doorway snapped, "Hurry up and grab him, damn it!"
One inside said, "Where the hell is he? Ho. There."
Laella shrieked, "Arif! No!"
Mish came flying across the room, landed on the back of the man threatening Aaron. Aaron staggered to his feet while he was distracted. He tried to slamthe door. It smacked into the man standing in the doorway.
Old Raheb smashed a heavy crock down on the head of the man who had chargedinto the wall.
Aaron grabbed the carving knife and stuck it into the man who had threatenedhim. He did not remember anything they had taught him in the army. There wereno thoughts in his head, just rage and terror. He stuck the knife in and itlodged between ribs.
One of the two still standing flung Laella across the room. The remaining mangrabbed Arif, turned, kicked Raheb in the stomach, headed for the door whilehis companion tried to lift the man the old woman had crowned.
Aaron grabbed at the knife dropped by the man he had stuck. The man carryingArif saw him blocking the way and in his eyes Aaron saw the dawning fear thathe was not going to get out of this place.
The edge of the door slammed into Aaron's back. The man carrying Arif struckhim in the side of the neck with a clumsy blow and bulled past. Outside, somebody yelled, "Ish! Trouble!"
The last man dumped his burden and charged. He kneed Aaron in the face, viciously, before going out.
After a moment, Aaron recovered himself, seized the knife. Bleeding from mouthand nose, he stumbled into the street, chasing the screams of a boy crying forhis dad.
Yoseh and Nogah were near the mouth of the alley when the screaming started.
They stepped out, looked down the street, saw what was happening. Nogahwhirled and yelled, "Come on!" into the alley, then headed for the action.
A man popped out of shadow, yelled, "Ish! Trouble!" and tried to head themoff.
Nogah cut him down with his saber.
Yoseh carried a javelin. He flung it a moment later, at a man who came intothe street carrying Arif. He threw without worrying about the boy, a perfectcast that struck the man square in the center of the chest.
Another man grabbed the struggling child. Another came out the doorway. Morecharged out of the darkness downhill. Dartars poured out of the alley behindYoseh.
The man with the child went to his belt in exactly the way that man in thealley had the other day. Yoseh threw his forearm across his eyes and tried toshout a warning to the others.
Intense light. Screams. Yoseh flung his arm down and ran forward. The man withthe boy dropped his own arm, was astounded to find he was being rushed by aDartar with a knife.
His hand went back to his belt.
Yoseh covered up again. The din rose to a ferocious level as Dartars from thealley, come out too late to be blinded, attacked anyone not wearing black. Menscreamed. The child-stealers did not have weapons to fight swords andjavelins. Nogah yelled, "Don't kill them all! Take some prisoners!"
There was no second blinding flash. Instead, Yoseh took a blow to the bellylike the kick of a mule. He went down, gagging, unable to draw a breath. Hisstomach emptied. Even after there was nothing more to throw up the heavescontinued.
He was vaguely aware of the villain moving away, of Medjhah arriving just intime to keep Kosuth from skewering Arif s father, of a quick passage at armsin which Medjhah and Kosuth murdered another of the child-takers, then he wason his feet again with the help of the boy's father.
The man who had Arif ducked into the first alley downhill, on the north sideof Char Street. Yoseh yanked his javelin out of the man he had hit earlier. Heand the boy's father took up the chase, stumble-running like a couple ofdrunks in the direction of Arif s screams.