"What in Dutu's name is it?" asked Jadira, on her feet once more.
"A giant ape, such as live wild in the south country," Tamakh said.
"Do they eat people?"
"Not as a rule."
"Listen to it weep," Marix said.
In spite of her fright, Jadira stepped nearer the cage. The ape flung itself at the bars again, its blunt, leathery fingers flexing for her.
"Cunning devil!" she said, flinching away. Marix raised the sword again, and the beast retreated hastily.
They hurried on. Cages and pens rushed by in a blur until they reached an intersection of four paths. Tamakh hesitated.
"Well?" said Jadira.
"I'm not certain which way is best," the priest murmured.
"Depends on where you wish to go," said a voice from behind them. The three whirled to face the speaker. The voice had come from a cage on a small platform, mounted shoulder-high on brick pillars.
Seeing nothing in the darkness, Marix asked, "Who's ihere?"
"One of the sultan's exhibits. Who might you be?"
"We might be the grand vizier, the sultana, and the hierophant of Baoud," said Jadira, "but in truth we're prisoners escaping from the palace dungeons."
"Not an easy thing to do," said the voice.
"Not if we stand here gabbing all night!" said Marix.
Tamakh stepped around the younger man and walked to the platform. "You speak quite well for a wild beast."
"And you speak well for an overfed cleric."
"Ai! It has a sharp tongue," said Jadira. "Beware, holy One; it may have sharp teeth as well."
A shape stirred in the shadows of the cage. An arm, smooth as polished wood and dark as ebony, reached out t0 tweak Tamakh's bulbous nose. The priest smiled and took the black hand in his own.
"It's a woman," he said. "A black woman of Fedush."
"In a cage? That won't do," said Jadira. "Would you like to be free?"
"Of course she would," said Tamakh. "Give me the key." Marix stamped his foot impatiently.
Jadira handed Tamakh the rod. He circled the platform until he found the lock on the rear side. With some
fumbling and grunting, he got it open.
The woman sprang from the platform to the path in front of Jadira. She stood so swiftly the nomad woman drew back in surprise.
"I am the daughter of Ondakoto and Isanfaela. Uramettu is my name," the black woman said. "I am indebted to you all for my freedom." She was very tall, two paces at least, and endowed with grace and obvious strength. Her constant, unblinking gaze appraised them each in turn.
Jadira made hasty introductions. "Can you lead us out?" she asked.
Uramettu adjusted her thin, thigh-length tunic, and promptly set off on the center path. Her long, loping stride soon had Tamakh panting far behind. Marix and Jadira had to jog just to keep pace.
"Do you know—where you are—going?" puffed Marix.
"The palace wall is guarded all around. The only way out is under," said Uramettu.
"Under?" questioned Jadira.
"The garden is watered by a pool. The pool is fed by a spring, and the overflow passes under the palace wall to the city cisterns."
Sure enough, when they rounded the next bend, a sheet of silver spread out across the entire end of the garden. The pool was bordered on two sides by high walls with soldiers marching in pairs along the top.
Uramettu crouched among the bulrushes and bade her new comrades stay low beside her.
"Slip into the water and make for the wall. Just left of the center is a culvert that leads under the wall to the Al-Makhi cistern."
"A problem," said Tamakh. "I cannot swim."
"Nor can I," said Jadira, eyeing the water uncertainly.
"Then you shall go on my back," Uramettu said to her. "And the priest may come with the yellow-haired
one."
Tamakh nodded assent. Jadira looked behind once and then returned her gaze to the water. "I'm ready," she said.
Uramettu slid noiselessly into the pool. Jadira followed. She looped her arms around the black woman's neck. Uramettu pushed off from shore and swam power-Iully toward the wall. A slight splash behind them told Jadira that Marix and Tamakh were also on their way.
The water was cold. Jadira snorted when it got in her nose. When Uramettu thrust ahead with extra vigor, a small wave hit Jadira in the face. She choked and sputtered so loudly Uramettu had no choice but to dive, lest the Faziri hear them. The black water closed over Jadira's head and for a second she thought Uramettu meant to drown her. But she held her breath, and a dozen heart-beats later they surfaced in front of the culvert.
The way was barred to keep in the large animals, but neither woman had any problem slipping through. In the tunnel, the water was only calf-deep and the culvert was short. They slogged to the other end and saw that the dark street beyond was empty.
Marix and Tamakh labored through the water to the culvert. Marix was complaining about the priest's weight, while Tamakh insisted the young noble had tried to shuck him off in mid-pool. Jadira, returning from the far end, stifled their bickering with a fierce glare and a finger pointing up; the sultan's soldiers were on the palace wall above them.
Marix crawled through the bars. Tamakh, going head first, got stuck halfway.
"Not again!" said Jadira in a harsh whisper.
"By Tuus, we ought to leave you there!" said Marix, pushing wet blond hair out of his eyes.
"Uncharitable wretch," Tamakh responded. He pushed mightily with his hands, trying to force his belly past the constricting bars.
"Can't you magic them?" said Jadira.
He wrapped his thick fingers around one bar and twisted. The dark green verdigris flaked off, revealing yellow metallic sheen beneath. "Bars are brass," wheezed Tamakh. "So's not to rust."
Jadira grabbed him under the arms and pulled. "I thought priests were supposed to lead lives of denial," she complained. Her grip slipped on the wet fabric of his clerical toga. She fell against Marix, who fell on Uramet-tu.
"The devotees of—ugh!—Agma follow the—oof!— god in all things."
Uramettu gently set Marix aside. "How so, Holy One?" she asked, taking firm hold of Tamakh.
"Agma is fire, and fire consumes all things."
"Oh, filth," said Marix.
"I can free you, my friend," said Uramettu. "But I can't promise in what condition. Shall I try?"
"I can't stay wedged in this drain forever," said Tamakh. "Haul away."
The black woman set her feet, and her shoulders knotted, the muscles in her arms coiling like live serpents. Tamakh let out a loud groan, then pop! he was free.
"Are you all right?" said Jadira.
"Largely," said Tamakh with unintended humor. "I feel like a cork newly pried from a wine bottle."
The water got shallower as the tunnel slanted up to street level. At the far end, which was open, a wide ditch
ran a dozen paces into a city square. The ditch ended at a squat pillar with a conical cap. This was the filling hole for the Al-Makhi cistern. Tamakh warned them to keep clear of the hole. The suction there could easily pull them into the underground reservoir.
They waded along the ditch in single file. Bundles of torches burning atop the palace wall threw giant wavering shadows on the street beside them. A dog barked nearby; everyone froze. There was the sound of smashing pottery, and the barking stopped.
Midway to the cistern, Uramettu halted and climbed silently out. She helped Jadira and Tamakh over the side of the ditch. Marix, last in line, grew impatient. He put a hand and foot on the rim and began to climb out. The white brick edging was thick with slime, and his foot slipped. The others could only watch helplessly as Marix tumbled backward into the ditch.
The loud splash brought a helmeted face to the top of the wall. The Faziri flung a torch down, and by its light saw Jadira, Uramettu, and Tamakh.
"Who goes there?" he shouted. Jadira and Tamakh ran while Uramettu yanked Marix out of t
he ditch. The soldier changed his cry to "Alarm! Alarm! Sergeant of the Guard, come quickly!"
Metal-nailed sandals rang on the battlements as troops assembled on the wall. The Faziri who had given t he alarm pointed at Marix's back as the latter pounded hard after the fleeter Uramettu.
A gong began to clang. The postern gate swung open, and a dozen imperial guards trotted forth, followed by a section of eight horsemen. The gong sounded remorselessly, calling the sultan's soldiers to action.
Uramettu flashed by Jadira. The nomad woman was astonished by Uramettu's speed and soundless tread.
Uramettu led them with uncanny insight through the narrow alleys and pitch-dark streets of Omerabad. Several times Jadira lost sight of the black woman as she stumbled along, half-dragging Tamakh. Marix, babbling in the native tongue of Dosen, ran up alongside and grabbed the priest 's free arm.
"Where's Uramettu?" he gasped. In answer, the woman from Fedush reappeared, sweeping one long arm to her left. She turned and sprinted ahead down the twisting lane, springing with ease over raised cobbles, piles of rubbish, and other obstacles. Faziri horsemen clattered past the turn, but the last man in the section spotted the fleeing prisoners and called his fellows back.
Marix heard them coming. Letting go of Tamakh, he turned to face them. His hand went to the hilt of the stolen scimitar. No; he could not stop them that way. The horsemen would simply ride him down. What to do? He spied a pair of man-sized jars flanking the doorway of a large house. They held rainwater and street filth, gathered for pick-up by the imperial street sweepers. Marix dumped the jars out, sending a wave of sludge rushing down the street toward the Faziris. The first horse galloped into the muck and slipped. The horse recovered but the rider did not. The splendidly armored Faziri vaulted over his horse's head and landed on his white cloak in the filth. The trailing cavalry piled up in the street, and Marix ran on after his companions, grinning at the sound of neighing horses and cursing men.
His joy was short-lived. As he crossed an intersecting street, Marix saw a troop of foot soldiers trotting in formation toward him. The captain yelled a sharp command at the sight of Marix and gestured with his halberd.
"Marix! Come on!" Jadira's voice came from the rising street. He looked ahead and saw Jadira waving furiously. "Come on!"
He joined her and followed the breathless priest into .111 alley so narrow the houses closed together overhead. Uramettu moved like a phantom out of the darkness and ■iid, "This way."
She led them past a row of vacant doorways. By the time Jadira and Tamakh arrived five steps later, a man had emerged from the last door. There was no time to dodge. Jadira, Tamakh, and the stranger collided and went down in a tangle.
"Get off! Let me up!" bawled the man in proper outrage. Jadira felt a hand go around her waist, feeling for a purse she wasn't carrying. Tamakh likewise felt fingers delve into the folds of his robe.
"Cutpurse!" said Jadira. "Pickpocket!"
"Shut up," the man growled in a much lower and stronger voice. Jadira caught a glimpse of metal, probably a knife blade. There was no point in getting stabbed lor money she didn't have, so she closed her mouth and worked herself free of the man's grasp. Tamakh staggered to his feet and started running again. Marix had long since passed them.
Jadira got to her feet as the thief did. "I wouldn't go that way," she said, indicating the way they had come. The thief spat and ran, ignoring her warning. Jadira fled in the opposite direction, after her companions. A phalanx of imperial soldiers arrived at the foot of the alley just as Jadira reached the head. The thief frantically skidded to a stop only a few paces from the soldiers.
"There's one!" said one of the soldiers. "After him!"
The thief spun and took off like a hare. Jadira was fleet, but the thief breezed by her. "Told you so," she panted as he passed. He caught up to Marix and
Tamakh, too, and was soon matching stride with the much taller Uramettu.
The street forked. Uramettu went left, the thief right. "Go with the thief!" said Tamakh, reasoning that the man would know a good way to lose pursuers. The others followed him and Uramettu doubled back.
One soldier paused long enough to heave his halberd at the fleeing prisoners. It hit the paving ahead of Jadira, and she leaped high to clear the flailing shaft.
The cut purse turned right again, entering a gap barely wide enough for a man to pass sideways. He glanced back once, scowled, uttered frightful profanities, and vanished.
The houses were so close on either side Jadira could smell the cook-fires and incense. The stench was so bad they could hardly draw breath. Half the soldiers started into the cramped passage, bumping and banging the clay walls with their armor and weapons. The rest of the troop double-timed around the block to seal off the other end.
Jadira stumbled into Marix. "Why have you stopped?"
"We've lost the cutpurse," said Tamakh.
"Is there a door?" Marix asked.
Jadira touched the wall. "There must be."
"Wait," said Uramettu. She put an ear to the wall facing her. "He's gone up. He's climbing the wall."
"Is the man a lizard?" said Marix. Uramettu ran her hands over the pale gray clay until she found what she was seeking. The thief had used this alley before; handholds had been chopped in the wall.
Without a word, Uramettu began to climb the wall. Tamakh went next. He discovered the alley was narrow, he could rest his weight against the rear wall as he climbed.
Marix mounted the wall. Jadira fretted as she waited her turn. She could hear the soldiers quite plainly. They liad lost their torches while running, but they couldn't fail to catch her if she didn't start climbing soon.
Marix's suede boots vanished. Jadira dug her fingers into the ragged holes and started upward. She was scarcely three paces up when the Faziris met beneath her. She sighed silent thanks to Mitaali that they didn't think to look up.
The house at Jadira's back ended three stories off the ground. Several pairs of hands plucked her from the wall and pulled her onto the roof. Marix and Tamakh had her.
"Where are we?" she whispered.
"Ask the cutpurse," said Marix. Not far away, Uramettu was sitting on the prostrate thief.
"Let me up, you savage," he growled.
"Tut, tut, that's no way to speak to a lady," said Marix.
"What do you want of me?" asked the thief, fear creeping into his voice. "I took nothing from you. By the Thirty Gods, you had nothing to take!"
"There's little need for money in the dungeons of the sultan," said Tamakh.
The thief groaned. "Prisoners! I should have known, with half the imperial guard after you. Now, I am doomed!"
"We are not so fell as that," Marix said.
"I've been seen with you! The soldiers will be looking for me now, too. I'm ruined, ruined!" he moaned.
"Be still and listen to me," said Jadira. "We must be gone from Omerabad before the sun rises. If you can show us a safe way out, we'll take you with us and share everything we have with you." "And what could you possibly have to share that I might value?"
"Freedom," said Uramettu.
The cutpurse groaned melodramatically. "Where will you go? Fazir is wide, and the eyes of the sultan see far."
"A good question," said Tamakh. "Where can we go?"
Marix and Jadira exchanged a private look. "Tantuffa was my original destination," Marix said. "Lord Hurgold would grant us sanctuary from the sultan's wrath."
"Tantuffa by the sea? That's a hundred leagues from here," objected Tamakh.
"What choice do we have?" Jadira said. "To the north lies cold Nangol, where the men wear skins and eat horseflesh. East, and we'd face the mountains upon which the vault of heaven rests. South are the slave dealers of the Crimson Sea—"
"Who I know well enough," said Uramettu. "West to Tantuffa seems the only route. At least from there I can buy passage on a ship bound for Fedush."
"You're all mad," said the thief. "As soon as day breaks on the road to Rehaj
id, the Invincibles will trample you into bloody dust!"
"Who are these Invincibles?" asked Marix.
"The sultan's own," Jadira said bitterly. "The same murderous devils who attacked my people and killed my family."
"So we won't follow the road," said Uramettu.
"Is there another way?" queried Tamakh.
Jadira entwined her battered fingers and considered. There was another way, a way hardly less deadly than the royal road.
"We can cross the Red Sands," she said.
"The desert?" exclaimed the astonished thief.
"Yes, through the desert to the Shammat Mountains, then over the plains of Kaipur to the sea and Tantuffa."
"It is certain death!" declared the thief. "Let me go. I want no part of this madness!"
Uramettu stood, and the thief sighed with relief. "Is that the only word you know?" she said scornfully.
"Have you a better scheme?"
"The city is large," the thief said. "I can hide from the sultan's men. They will—-"
"—offer gold to every citizen of Omerabad," finished Jadira. "You would be betrayed in the first hour."
"I could throw myself on the mercy of the grand vizier."
"The same Lord Azrel who crops the ears of gossips and beheads short-changers in the market?" asked lamakh. The thief covered his face with his hands.
"I won't deceive you," said Jadira. "The desert will be a hard trial; burning hot by day and cold as death by night. But it can be crossed, for I know it as Marix knows i he forests of Dosen or Tamakh knows the precincts of his temple."
"And the Faziri will think thrice about pursuing us into the Red Sands," added Tamakh.
"But even if I survive, what will I do? Where will I go?" moaned the thief. "This is my home."
'"Vbu will be alive," said Uramettu. "With life, there is always hope." The thief continued to mutter about the dire fate that awaited them.
"Will you help us?" Jadira asked him. "Will you guide us out of the city?"
The cutpurse sat up, rubbing the small of his back. "If I must, I must." He hopped to his feet. "But I curse the ill-fated hour that brought us together."
D & D - Red Sands Page 3
