“Leave us.” Kalim pulled himself up straighter and released the saddle. “I must speak to the majira.”
Yusef muttered something beneath his breath before reluctantly turning and walking away.
“What happened?” Tess asked.
“Tamar. He attacked the escort in force when we were only four miles into the hills. We had no chance. They were double our strength.”
“Viane?”
“Captured. They’re all dead or captured.”
Tess inhaled sharply. “How did you get away?”
“I didn’t.” Kalim smiled bitterly. “Tamar let me go to bring a message back here to the encampment.”
“To Galen? He’s not here. He rode out this morning for Zalandan.”
“I know. Tamar also knows. He had men watching the encampment.” Kalim paused. “The message is for you.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “Tamar doesn’t want Viane. He wants you. He feels you’re the most likely weapon that can be turned against Galen.” His expression was wooden as he gazed straight ahead. “He’ll trade Viane for you. I’m to bring you to him, and he promised to release her and let me take her back to Zalandan.”
“Sweet Mary,” Tess whispered.
“If you don’t come, he’ll give Viane to his men and then kill her.” Kalim’s voice was still without expression. “He said to tell you this.”
Tess dazedly shook her head. “Where is he?”
“In the hills.”
“Perhaps you could ride to Zalandan and tell Galen where he is, and he could surprise him.”
“Tamar’s an experienced raider and no fool. He’ll move camp every night. There will be no way for Galen to find him.” He looked somewhere past her shoulder. “He said the exchange must take place by noon or not at all.”
She drew a deep, shaky breath. “You’re saying I have to go.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them they held such pain they struck her like a blow. “I’m saying Tamar will keep his word.”
“There has to be something we can do.” She distractedly ran her fingers through her hair, trying to think. Tamar had threatened he would make Galen break the alliance. Even if Galen didn’t love her, he felt a strong sense of possession, and she knew he would come after her. After persuading the El Sabir not to attack Tamar, he would invalidate his own position if he sought vengeance himself. “It’s not only me, it’s the alliance. Galen mustn’t be forced into a tribal war now.”
Kalim was silent.
“Help me,” Tess said in exasperation. “What can I do?”
“I cannot help you. You must make your own decision.”
“How can I when—”
“I cannot help you,” Kalim’s tone was fierce. “Don’t you understand? He will kill her, and it will be my fault. I failed to protect her. Tamar took her from me as if I were a sniveling old man. She will die. I won’t tell you not to go, even if it means breaking faith with the majiron.”
“No.” She felt a ripple of sympathy blend with her sense of helplessness as she stared at his tortured expression. She had not dreamed stiff, stern Kalim could feel so deeply. “You cannot tell me not to go.” She shrugged wearily. “And there is no question I will not go. Viane is no match for that slithering snake.”
“No. She—she was very frightened. She realizes what he is. She’s known Tamar since childhood.”
Tess was also frightened, but she must not let it cloud her thinking. “Then we must get her away at once.” She turned. “Come inside the tent and let me look at your wounds while I try to think of a way to—”
“No.”
She glanced back at him. “What?”
“I will not let you tend me. I have no right to your kindness.”
She gazed at him in exasperation. “Will you stand there and bleed to death, then? What help will you be to Viane dead?” She took his arm and pulled him toward the tent. Her brow wrinkled in thought, as she pushed him toward the divan, she said, “I believe the first thing to do is make sure the trade is done without trickery. We’ll take Yusef and the rest of the men to protect Viane after the exchange, and then you can escort her safely back to Zalandan to tell Galen—”
“He will not forgive me.” Kalim’s words were almost inaudible. “He’s closer to me than anyone but Viane, and I have acted without—”
“Merde, will you be silent?” She pushed him down on the cushions. “You could do nothing else. You had to save her.”
“What of you?”
“I’m not like Viane.” Tess began to untie the cloth tied about his head. “You care very much for her?”
“I would give my life for her,” he said simply. “I have already given my honor by this act.”
“I didn’t know.…”
“From the time I was a wild boy down from the hills, I have loved her,” he said. “I’m not good with words. I do not have your cousin’s winning ways. I am only a soldier with—” He broke off, his hands clenching into fists. “She cannot die.”
“Of course she won’t die.” Tess examined the cut on his temple. “This doesn’t look too bad. Is the wound on your shoulder worse?”
“A mere scratch.”
“Good. Though you’re probably lying.” She moved toward the entrance of the tent. “I’ll get Yusef to bandage your wounds and give you some laudanum. I’m better with a horse’s than a human’s ailments.” She stopped at the entrance. “And I wish you’d stop looking at me as if I were going to march into a tomb. I have no intention of allowing Tamar to best Galen. I just must think of a way to prevent it. It should not be so difficult.”
Fine, bold words, she thought wearily as she left the tent, but how was she to save herself from Tamar and Galen from a tribal war? She would have difficulty escaping by herself if Tamar’s force was as large as Kalim said, so she must rely on Galen. If Tamar changed his camp each day, though, how could Galen find him?
Weapons. There must be some weapon she could wield against Tamar. Perhaps she had one advantage that could be used. It was clear that Tamar, like Hakim, regarded her as only a mindless, highborn pawn in Galen’s scheme. Maybe she would be able to—She stopped short, her eyes widening. “Sweet Mary, I wonder if I could?”
She turned and ran back into the tent to Kalim. “I think I have it!”
* * *
Tamar took one look at Tess sitting straight and proud on her horse and threw back his head and shouted with laughter. “Allah be merciful, what have we here? Did you bring all the goods of the entire encampment with you?”
“I see nothing amusing.” Tess lifted her chin haughtily as her gaze traveled from Tamar to the grinning tribesmen mounted behind him. “I could hardly travel without a few necessities. Who knows to whom you’ll decide to ransom me, or how long it will take?”
“Necessities?” Tamar’s gaze went from the band of emeralds encircling Tess’s throat to the gold cloth parasol she carried in her left hand. Her horse’s mane was braided with matching gold cloth ribbons, and the horse on lead behind her that was heavily burdened with trunks, valises, and even a beribboned wicker cage containing a bird. “A peacock. Galen’s wed a peacock!”
“He’s wed a princess of Tamrovia,” Tess said. “Which he would never have done if I’d known of the barbarism to which I’d be subjected when I came here.” She pouted. “In Belajo I would never have suffered these indignities.” She turned to Kalim and said impatiently, “Let’s get on with it. Take the girl and go, so that I can get off this abominable horse. The heat is insufferable.”
Kalim looked inquiringly at Tamar.
Tamar’s gaze was still fixed in bemusement on Tess. “You dislike our country?”
“Zalandan is pleasant enough, but the desert country is unbearable.” She wiped her brow with a perfume-drenched handkerchief and said pointedly, “You’re keeping me waiting.”
“My apologies, Your Highness.” Tamar swept her a mocking bow. He snapped his fingers, and the riders be
hind him parted to reveal a small figure toward the rear of the column. “Viane!”
Viane rode forward toward Tess. The young girl’s face was white and set, her eyes dark with pain. Tess felt a flare of anger at Tamar that she knew was reflected in her face, and deliberately turned it to Viane. “You foolish girl, you’ve caused me a great deal of trouble.”
“I’m sorry,” Viane whispered.
Tess shrugged. “Perhaps it’s for the best. If he’s sensible, this brigand and I may deal very well together. It may be fate that brought us together.”
Tamar lifted his brow. “Indeed?”
“Later.” Tess gestured haughtily to Kalim. “Take her and leave.”
“Tess.” Viane stopped her horse beside Pavda. “I’m sorry, I would not have—”
“If you’re sorry, then leave so I can get off this animal. You know I detest horses.”
Viane’s eyes widened in shock. “But, Tess, I don’t—”
“Come, Viane.” Kalim quickly took the reins of Viane’s horse and led her away.
Would Tamar let them go? Tess held her breath as she saw the sheikh’s speculative gaze follow Kalim and Viane. She had no faith he would honor the exchange if it suited him to do otherwise. Galen had said he was a man who acted on whim.
Distraction. She swiftly nudged Pavda forward, blocking Tamar’s view of Kalim and Viane. “Now, I have a proposition for you.”
His gaze shifted back to her. “A proposition?”
She nodded. “Why else would I have consented to this exchange? It was my opportunity to leave this dreadful country. If you wish to hold me ransom, why not ransom me to my father in Tamrovia?” She wiped her brow again and said peevishly, “Why do you keep me here in this heat? Is there no shade anywhere in this country? Come, we will go back to your encampment.”
“Oh, will we?” Tamar’s lips twisted. “I think not, Your Highness. We’ve broken camp, and we’ll have a long ride before we stop.” He glanced at Kalim and Viane, who were almost out of sight, hesitated, and then turned back to Tess. “And I will decide when you will be permitted to rest. You’ll find I’m not Galen Ben Raschid. He was always soft where women were concerned. It was that bitch of a mother who ruined him for the pleas—” His eyes suddenly widened, and he started to laugh again. “Damn!” He slapped his thigh. “Of course, why not?” He turned his horse. “Come along, Your Royal Haughtiness, I’ve just had a wonderful thought. Let’s get on our way.”
“My proposition,” Tess protested, shooting a sidewise glance at the curve of the road. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized Kalim and Viane had rounded the curve and joined Yusef and the waiting escort.
“Be sure I’ll listen.” Tamar laughed. “You’re proving to be more amusing than I thought. I’ll let you speak all you wish as long as you continue to amuse me. After all”—he shot her a malicious glance—“we must have something to do … between.”
Tess kept her expression pettish. “You’re as crude as my husband. I will not tolerate this treatment any longer. I’ll be glad to be home in a civilized country again, where gentlemen speak sweetly and courteously.”
Tamar gazed at her in astonishment as if she were some startling new animal he had discovered. “Don’t you understand what I’m going to do to—” He stopped and began to laugh again. “Impossible!” He was still laughing as he put spurs to his horse. “I could almost pity Galen. What he must have suffered, dragging you from tribe to tribe these last two months. He should reward me, for I’m truly saving him from himself.”
“Dear God, you left her with him?” Galen had the odd feeling he was breaking apart inside. “You gave her to him?”
Kalim flinched. “It was wrong, but I didn’t know what else to do. Viane was—”
Sacha stepped forward. “How is Viane? Did he hurt her?”
“No, she’s just weary and frightened. She scarcely spoke to me on the road back to Zalandan,” Kalim said hoarsely. “As soon as she reached the palace, she went to her chamber, and I came here.”
Galen moved across the chamber toward the door. “Where did the exchange take place?”
“In the hills above the carobel encampment.”
“Gather the men. We leave at once.”
“He’s wounded, Galen,” Sacha reminded him quietly.
Galen whirled to face them. He could feel the anger, raging, flaming, devouring him. “Do you think I care? If he can ride, he goes. Everyone goes. He’s fortunate I don’t strangle him. We’re going to get her back.”
Sacha shook his head. “We can’t ride out blindly. You know Tamar. He’s like a shadow. We could be searching those hills for days.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“No,” Kalim said.
“No?” Galen said silkily, his glance a barbed sword as he turned on Kalim. “Perhaps you wish to leave her with Tamar? You certainly gave her into his tender care with great alacrity.”
Kalim turned pale. “I could not—” He swallowed. “I deserve your anger, but it was the majira who said you were to wait here.”
“Wait! She doesn’t know what Tamar—”
“She knows,” Kalim interrupted. “She said she will get word to you where she is.”
“And how will she do that?”
“Alexander. She took him with her. She said she would send you word where she was. She also had a plan to render Tamar and his men helpless.”
Galen stared at him in astonishment and then felt a leap of hope. He didn’t see how Tess, a lone woman, could possibly hope to defeat Tamar’s band, but the pigeon might prove her salvation. “How long since you left her?”
“Noon.”
Galen glanced at the sky. “It’s nearing sunset. They’ll be stopping at dusk to camp.” He turned and strode toward the door. “Have the horses saddled and the men ready to ride, Sacha. Kalim, come with me and tell me about this plan. I’m going to Viane’s chamber and wait for Alexander.”
Terror clutched at him, turning him sick and cold. Such a slim hope. Yet it was the only hope he had to free her.
Dear God, Tess had said the blasted pigeon wasn’t even overbright. Even if she got a chance to release him, what if the pigeon failed to come back to Zalandan?
Dear Heaven, let him not go to Said Ababa again.
Tess watched Alexander’s wings lift as he wheeled away from the tower and flew toward the west. Said Ababa?
As she heard a step on the spiral stone staircase, she hurriedly turned away from the window, kicked Alexander’s empty cage into the shadows, and was walking toward her open trunk across the room when Tamar flung open the door and strode into the chamber.
“I can’t find my jewel box,” she complained. “I knew those louts would misplace it.”
“On the contrary, they placed it exactly where I told them.” He grinned. “It’s in my saddlebag.”
“You cannot steal my jewels.” Tess glared at him. “What else have I gotten from this marriage? Sand, heat, quarrels, and insults … and … and freckles.” She glanced around her. “And now you bring me to this filthy tower. Why are we here?”
“I came here once a long time ago with Galen.” Tamar’s gaze went to the curtained bed across the chamber. “It was convenient, and I thought it fitting.”
Tamar killed one of the whores in a drunken rage.
Tess hid a shiver as she remembered Galen’s words about that horrible night that had changed his life.
Tamar was still staring at the bed. “Besides, Galen would not think of coming here. His memories of the tower are not as pleasant as mine.”
“My proposition,” Tess started. “I wish to—”
“Not now,” Tamar said abstractedly, his eyes glittering in his bearded face. “Do not bother me, It’s good to relive the past at times.”
The air was suddenly heavy, thick with malevolence.
“I’m hungry. Don’t vou intend to feed me?” Tess demanded.
His gaze shifted from the bed to her face. “Dear God,
what a persistent shrew.”
“And where is that trunk of bottles of wine I was carrying with me? It was a very good vintage.” She scowled. “Surprising that such uncivilized people as the El Zalan could produce such a fine wine.”
“My men told me it was quite a brew. Though they probably don’t have the palate to enjoy it fully.” He grinned. “However, I have more discerning tastes, and I shall tell you whether I agree with them.”
“Those bottles are mine! That trunk of wine would have lasted me years after I reached Belajo.”
“I’ll see if I can wrest one bottle from them for you. Or perhaps not. I want you alert and vigorous for the joust.” He smiled mockingly. “Will you give me your favor, Princess?”
“I don’t know what you mean, and I’m sure it’s disgusting.” She frowned. “But now I’m hungry, and you must feed me.”
He turned away. “I’ll send someone with a bowl of stew.”
“In my own silver bowl,” she said quickly.
He gazed at her over his shoulder. “You’re lucky I even feed you.”
“My bowl.”
He threw back his head and laughed again. “Your bowl.”
He slammed the door behind him, and she heard him laughing still as he ran down the steps.
She felt weak with relief as tension flowed out of her. Sweet Mary, she was frightened. Tamar’s expression as he had looked at the bed had made her almost ill. How could Galen have thought they were even a little bit alike? Tamar was a monster.
She turned and went back over to the window. She could only pray the wine she had deliberately ordered packed would keep Tamar and his men occupied for a time before he demanded further amusement. She hadn’t realized she would be this afraid. She was not sure how long she could keep up this idiotic pretense when her knees were shaking with terror whenever he came near.
She glanced at the sky, but there was no sign of Alexander. Had he wheeled away from the west and gone east instead?
“Not Said Ababa,” she whispered. “Please, Alexander. Not Said Ababa. Zalandan.”
Over the last two hours the shouting and laughter in the guardroom had gradually lessened and then stopped entirely.
The Golden Barbarian Page 22
