I think they want you to have a clean chance at him. I think he has amessage."
Bel-Sidek felt queasy. A message? From Cado? "Send some people to round himup. Drag him up here."
"Hold your horses, Mr. Khadifa. I'm a sympathizer, not a soldier. My peopledon't give a damn one way or the other about the Living. They'll do somethings for me but they have their limits. And I have mine."
Maybe he should have gone to ground somewhere else.
"Besides," she said, "Char Street is full of Dartars again. You said Dartarsbacked him up last night. You try the usual heavy-handed Living move andthey'll eat you up. Right?"
"I suppose. Forget it, then. Let Cado go whistle."
"You've become a living exasperation, you know that? I'm beginning to wonderif the General didn't pick the wrong man to take over. You don't want to bebothered thinking, or even with doing much of anything. But you've givenorders that will start a war in about twelve hours. You need to know what's going on. You for Aram's sake need to set up a command headquarters and getlines of communication opened to your khadifas. Or your great rebellion isn'tgoing to be much more than a glorified riot."
He glared at her, unaccustomed to take that from anyone but Herodianfunctionaries on the waterfront. Taking it there was part of the holy mission.
"I'll go myself, then."
"No. You don't think those Dartars will recognize you in the daylight? I'llgo. You're going to the Hahr with a couple of my men. I own some emptybuildings there. Some of the weapons are hidden there. They'll do you for ahideout and headquarters. My men will run a few messages for you so you can get started. Then they're out of it.
Bel-Sidek sighed and rose. He wasn't going to win a point.
Meryel said, "You have to stop nursing hurt feelings because the old manpulled a fast one on you. Get up on your hind legs and let's go."
Yoseh was restless. His injuries ached mercilessly but he could not remainstill. That doorway down there ...
They had managed a few whispered words before Cado had run the Dartarcontingent out of Government House, Fa'tad and all. He never said a word abouttheir having been in the city after curfew. Nor had he asked a question aboutwhat they were up to in the Shu. Fa'tad seemed disappointed.
The Eagle walked them back to their post in Char Street. Yoseh figured he'dhad something to discuss but he'd never said a word. He'd just prowled aroundin the fog, taking in the site of the excitement, then he had gone off up thehill, still leading the mount he had ridden into the city, like an old man hadnothing to fear from the night in this nest of killers and thieves.
Maybe, if you were Fa'tad and favored of the gods, you did have nothing tofear.
Now the old man was back. He was in the alley with Nogah and some of his oldcronies, including Mo'atabar. Doing what, Yoseh did not know.
"You're going to wear your boots out, little brother," Medjhah said. "Whydon't you plant yourself and take a nap?"
He couldn't. Despite the night. He shook his head.
"You'll be sorry you didn't."
"Why? What's up?"
"I don't know. That's just the voice of experience. You skip a chance tosnooze you're always sorry."
Yoseh grunted. "I'm going up to see what's up there on top." He had not yetseen anything of the upbuild or the underneath of the Shu. The upbuild wassupposed to be a wonder if you saw it from the sea or some eminence where youcould view it as a whole. From the cobblestones of Char Street you could notsee anything more interesting looking south than you could by looking north.
He lined up behind several mason's helpers waiting to carry materials up anarrow stair built into what once had be.en a breezeway between buildings.
Traffic headed up was waiting for several helpers who were coming down. Oncehe did get up top all he saw was what looked like more of the same.
The buildings fronting on Char Street were mostly one level high, their roofsa hardened and painted whitish stucco material just like their fronts, slightly sloped and rounded so water would run off. Foot traffic mostly keptto a four-foot-wide pathway of planking. Pathways meandered here and there andmore stairways climbed in front of or between places set back about as far asthe cross alleyway in which Yoseh had met the child-stealer. Only a very fewresidents were out in the weather, watching Dartars and masonry people trudge back and forth.
Yoseh went up to the next level. It was much like the one before, except thathere and there, there were narrow ways like streets two storeys above theoriginal streets, leading not only to doorways but to some ladders andstairways going down. Some of those were being blocked by the masons, workingunder tents that kept the rain off. Most legitimate stairs and ladders wereinside, where many generations might live in the same vertical stack.
Back in the heart of the quarter there were places accessible only bydescending as many as five flights.
The third level was the highest with any access to the maze.
Yoseh had trouble imagining what it must be like when all the people weremoving around up there. Be like a swarm of bees pouring out of their hives.
Higher up there were places rounded in shape that did resemble big hives.
Other than at the center of the quarter most of the fourth-level places stoodfree.
He wondered what the quarter might have become in another hundred years if theHerodians had not forbidden this endless piling on. Six or seven levels, socomplicated nobody from outside could find his way around?
Though the sprinkle was not heavy he came across several low places whereaccumulated drainage ran in tiny brooks, into catch basins and on. At eachpool there were women filling jars. Not a lot of the water would go to waste.
One of the runoffs, though, ran into a ladder well. He imagined it must getpretty damp down in the maze when there was a lot of rain.
At the highest levels even the wooden pathways were painted white. White andwhite and white, and he the only body moving. The misty drizzle made itdifficult to see far. He felt lost in some strangely weathered desert.
He turned back, his nervous energy not diminished. But he was soggy now andgetting miserable.
What the hell was going on in Qushmarrah? Everyone seemed to be up tosomething. He could not understand his place in the middle of it all. Hewished he had stayed in the mountains- except when he thought of Tamisa.
An impossible dream, of course, but his heart quickened, anyway. Maybe theimpossibility was half the attraction.
He was thinking about asking Nogah to let him go inside the maze to explorebut there was something going on when he got back, Fa'tad digging men out ofthe alleyway and hurrying them off. Yoseh was astonished. Some had exchangedtheir Dartar black for Qushmarrahan-style clothing. Wrapped in cloaks againstthe wet, keeping their heads down, they did not give themselves away.
"What's happening?" he asked Medjhah.
"Someone came to see your girlfriend's brother-in-law. Fa'tad wants to knowwhere they go."
Naszif shook his shoulder. Aaron grumbled, "What?"
"Somebody at the door. I think this is it."
A thrill of fear. Aaron tried to bounce up but he was too sore. He had stiffened up terribly while he slept.
He put the peephole to its first use.
He closed it, whispered, "A woman. Alone. Ugly."
An almost smile from Naszif. "Let her in." He stepped over where he would be out of sight behind the door when it opened.
Aaron opened up. "May I help you?" He did not look at the woman, glancing up and down the street instead. He saw nothing but Dartars and normal traffic. No one appeared interested.
The woman said, "I'm the one you're waiting for." She sounded amused.
"Come inside." He stepped aside. "You woke me up. What do you mean, you're the one I'm waiting for?" "You have a message from one General for another, don't you?" she asked as she pushed past.