"Did they actually put troops aboard their ships?"
"About twenty-five hundred. Including all their Herodian cavalry. Marco is incommand. They sail with the morning tide."
Good. That left him facing only one legion and some odds and ends, plus thebalance of the Dartars. 'Til move after the Dartars are back in their compoundtonight."
If the thing was to start at night, as preferred, Zenobel's first objectivewould be to seize the Gate of Autumn so the Dartars could not become a factor in the fighting.
His one question was, had the traitor been able to betray the strategy?
Unlikely. Only the khadifas were completely informed. Only Carza and Zenobelhad tactical roles so narrowly defined they had had to give their underlingssome information about what ought to happen.
"I'll need writing materials and someone to carry messages. Damn! It has tocome now, when the ruling council is in disarray and we're all on the run."
He could have Hadribel stay at the reins in the Shu and could cover thewaterfront himself. That would leave the Hahr one big piece of unknownterritory right in the middle of the city, and he could only hope theorganization there would take flame and do its part.
"You're sure you want to do this?"
"No. I don't want to. But I don't see any alternative."
Meryel went for writing materials. She seemed sad that the hour had come. Hegot himself up and together. He was sad himself, though he'd always known thatonly fire and blood would loosen Herod's chokehold on the city he loved.
Meryel was a long time coming back. He raised a questioning eyebrow. She said,
"One of my underworld contacts dropped by. I had to see him."
"And?"
"He knew of no organized child-stealing operation. But he knew the name Azel."
She shivered.
"And?"
"Azel is a professional killer. The most dreaded in Qushmar-rah. Nobody knowswho he is. Azel probably isn't his real name since Azel is the name of one ofthe seven demons who spring forth from Gorloch's navel to work his will in theworld. Azel the Destroyer."
Bel-Sidek nodded. "Like Nakar the Abomination." He knew the mythology, thoughhe had been born to a family that followed Aram. By the time of the conquestmost of the ruling class had, though they had kept the ancient names awardedthem during the primacy of Gorloch to distinguish themselves from the masses.
Meryel said, "This Azel learned his trade working for Nakar. He may havecommitted as many as a hundred murders on Nakar's behalf. He survived theconquest. A year later he seems to have gone into business for himself, butdoing only the biggest jobs. Some people think he killed most of the civil governors. But since nobody knows who he is and he seems to have no associatesto talk, nobody knows who paid him. Opinion divides up between Cado and theLiving. Except for the thing in the Hahr the other day, which may have been animitation of his style, he's been quiet for the past six months."
Bel-Sidek sat quietly, thinking, for so long she finally snapped, "Well? Don'tyou have anything to say?" "Yes. I want to go out on the balcony." He did notnotice her exasperated shrug, just followed her outside, stood above the fogstaring at the black hulk of the citadel of Nakar the Abomination. After tenminutes of silence, he said, "The murder was no imitation. The man was workingfor the General. I actually met him this morning." He related thecircumstances.
"Why are you so troubled?"
"Because now I think I see the General's great secret plan for deliveringQushmarrah. And it's a plan with both feet firmly planted in insanity. Hemeant to conjure Nakar, and restore him, so he could unleash his evil wrathupon the forces of Herod."
He saw Meryel looking at him like he was more than a little crazy himself.
"What do you know about sorcery?" he asked.
"Nothing. And I want to keep it that way."
"I'm no sorcerer. Never wanted to be one. But I've heard things here andthere." He jerked off onto a different tack. "I knew the boy who was carriedoff tonight. He was born the day Nakar was killed. His mother always mentionsthat when she talks about him. Not coincidentally, the traitor's son was bornthe same day. I'd wager most of the children taken this summer were born thatday."
Her look had not grown more understanding. "They're looking for the travelingsoul."
"The what?"
"In the agony of death the soul forgets and flees the dying flesh. After atime it seeks out flesh in the agony of birth and attaches itself to a babybeing bom. It has forgotten its past life, yet it carries within it memoriesof all previous lives forever. A skilled sorcerer can reawaken those memoriesand restore someone who has died."
Meryel shuddered. Her expression now was one of doubt.
"They're looking for the traveling soul of Nakar the Abomination up there."
"Who is?"
"His wife. The Witch. And Azel the Destroyer. They're stirring through thesouls of children, looking for Nakar. And judging from the effort they mountedtonight they think they've found him. She must have had a bitter falling outwith the General if it was enough to make her come out and kill him."
"I'll trust you, Sisu. I'll do what you think needs doing. But I don't believeall that."
"But don't you see? It's the only way it all hangs together."
"They're all dead up there, Sisu. And they have been for a long time."
"We don't know that at all. We don't know what happened that day except thatNakar and Ala-eh-din Beyh killed each other. I think the Witch survived. Ithink she's been biding her time till the moment was ripe."
"You may be right." She was going to humor him. "But you have more practicalproblems right now. You're going to war in eighteen hours. Remember?"
He remembered. He went inside and began composing messages. But his thoughtsremained on Nakar and the General's mad scheme for freeing Qushmarrah.
And as he thought, he gradually became aware that he had come face-to-facewith the great moral choice of his life.
The General had loved Qushmarrah completely, unreservedly, blindly, and noprice had been too great to pay to rid its streets of the tread of foreignsoldiers. Bel-Sidek had loved that old man as blindly, but did he love him somuch that he would allow his nightmare dream to come true?
Aaron stood at General Cado's right on a balcony high on the face ofGovernment House. Cado stared through the drizzle at the citadel. Naszif stoodat Cado's left. No one else was there. Aaron was not sure why the Herodian hadbrought them up, into the rain.
"Are you a courageous man, Mr. Habid?"
Aaron had had that question in his own mind often since the attack on hishousehold. "No. Not usually."
"Can you be brave for the sake of your son?"
"I'll do whatever I have to do." If he could, he thought. He was not sure hewould not freeze when it mattered most. Even the Seven Towers had been no true test of his mettle. He'd never had any options there.
"You don't sound sure of yourself."
"I'm a carpenter, General."
"Yes. That's right. You see that over there, Mr. Carpenter? The citadel? Yourson is in there. I have no idea how much time he has, but you can bet theywon't wait any longer than they have to. We have to do whatever we can as fastas we can. Or we all lose. I, a city. You, a son. I've already put in motionall the machinery at my command."
Aaron wished Cado would get to the point. The more the man danced around itthe more nervous he became.
"There's one avenue yet to be pursued. The Living."