"He double-crossed you!"
"Aye," Nusrat said. "He did.
Marwan cleared his throat. Jamin turned to his prospective father-in-law, as did Nusrat. Their disagreement was not with each other, but rather one of shared frustration.
"Tizqar values safe passage through Halifian lands," Marwan said. "If the deed was not finished, it was not because it was his doing, but because the men beneath him were too cowardly to tell him they botched the job."
"Goatshit!" Jamin hissed beneath his breath. Marwan was right. Tizqar had been all too eager to help him. His enthusiasm had been too genuine to be faked.
"Which brings us to my biggest concern," Marwan said. The deep scar which ran from the corner of his mouth to his ear puckered into an expression that mirrored the concern on his real mouth. "If the winged demon is still alive, it means you have not paid Aturdokht's bride-price."
Jamin glanced back to the curtain which separated the area of Marwan's tent where the women came to cook and wait on him from the main part. Was Aturdokht listening to him make excuses? What did she think of him, a man who had proclaimed the job done, and then had the people she scorned come back and try to force her back into the tribe which had shamed her.
"I will do whatever is necessary to win her hand," Jamin said.
"Alas, son," Marwan said. "As you can see, even though you lizard friends have saved my life with their magic, they have not been able to salvage my position within the larger tribe, nor even, for that matter, within my own family. Because I can no longer fight, my own people view me as ineffective. It shall not be long before one of my own sons buries a knife into my back, and then Zahid will do as he wishes, whether or not Aturdokht wishes to comply."
"You know I shall not let that happen," Nusrat interrupted. He grasped his father's arm. "I shall bury a knife into the heart of any man who tries to betray you, even if it is my own brother."
Marwan patted Nusrat's hand and sighed.
"It is the way things have always been," Marwan said. "The old lion weakens, the young lion harasses the old lion until he is too tired to fight, and then he kills him, and then he kills the old lion's cubs so he can fill the lionesses wombs with his own cubs instead of rearing the cubs of his predecessor."
"But you are Zahid's father," Jamin said.
Marwan gave him a weary smile.
"You are sheltered, young chieftain," Marwan said. "Settled. And when you are settled, your people can be more forgiving of an old lion that has lost his teeth."
"Dirar is dead," Jamin said. "Who does Yazan wish to marry her off to now?"
"Yazan has three younger cousins," Marwan said, "each more brutish than the last. When Roshan died, he took with him Yazan's only lawful heir. He will give Aturdokht to the first man who can begat upon her a son, which he shall claim as Roshan's son. It is our way, for the nearest blood relative to begat offspring upon the widow of a great man in his name and call it his, and raise that child as if he was the lawful heir. This is the only way Yazan can ensure his own wives and daughters will not be cast out into the desert when he dies."
Jamin remembered how terrified Marwan's lesser wives had been when it had appeared the desert shaykh might succumb to his snakebite. Marwan, at least, had many heirs. Too many…
"And what of Aturdokht?" Jamin asked. "What happens to her after she has given Yazan what he needs?"
Marwan's lips turned downwards.
"Aturdokht has given them much trouble," Marwan said. "Whoever he picks to marry her off to, once she has produced a son in Roshan's name, he will give her to him to do as they wish."
"There is a reason the mercenaries have no wives," Nusrat added softly. "It is a harsh life, with no regard for a woman with an unwanted daughter. Balquis shall be dead within a few weeks, no doubt made a burnt offering to procure a favorable trade, and most women die out on the trail."
"Aturdokht will resist him," Jamin said.
"Aye, she will," Marwan said, his brown eyes lighting up with pride. His smile turned into a grim expression that let Jamin know exactly what he thought would happen to any man who tried to take his daughter against her will. Some night, they would find a knife buried in their back, and the next night, some angry brother would slit her throat in return.
"I will do what I must to pay her bride price," Jamin said.
"See that you do," Marwan said. "But I think, perhaps, you will not achieve this task unless you ally with someone more powerful even than these lizard people."
"There is no one more powerful than they," Jamin said.
"Then why are they so reluctant to take him on themselves?"
Jamin held his tongue. As much as he adored Marwan, he understood the desert shaykh might sell him out if forced to choose between his own survival and Jamin's. The lizard demon's only advantage was no one realized they were critically short on supplies.
"Shay'tan is a beneficent god," Jamin said. "He wishes to give people the choice, to choose prosperity, not simply because he is a powerful god. The lizard people are cautious in their use of power, for they see all men as a single, great nation, and not a bunch of squabbling tribes."
"Then I suggest you find someone who does not share their restraint," Marwan said. "Someone powerful enough to counteract the propaganda of the winged demon."
"Who?"
"I suggest you seek out the one who helped you cut him down in the first place," Marwan said, "and implore him to help you set another trap."
If only Lucifer hadn't abandoned him to work things out for himself! But Marwan didn't know that, nor was he aware of the complex arrangement Lucifer and the fat lizard king had negotiated on the side. Perhaps someday he would discuss the matter with the desert adder once he had married Aturdokht and a tie of blood precluded betrayal? If anybody could figure out what the hell was going on, it would be Marwan.
"And what if that benefactor has initiated a long journey across the heavens?" Jamin asked. "And will not be back for several months. What would you advise in the meantime, to seize back control of my tribe?"
"I heard you smashed down Nineveh's walls?" Marwan said.
"Aye," Jamin said.
"Then do it to all the other villages you threatened with retaliation," Marwan said. "It will undermine his support until he finds himself standing alone, for a lion that does not fend off an attack from another lion soon finds himself without a pride."
Marwan gestured for Nusrat to help him up. While the lizards had been able to save his leg, Marwan had not yet regained full use of his foot and needed assistance to get around, the reason his own people now believed him weak.
"Stay here," Marwan said. "I perceive you might be hungry."
Nusrat helped the old desert lion hop out of the tent. As soon as the pair stepped outside, the curtain which separated the main part of the tent from the woman's section slid over and out glided Aturdokht, clad from head to toe in her colorful robe with the green headscarf which brought out the green in her hazel eyes.
Jamin's pulse sped up. She was a beautiful woman. For more than a year he had rutted after Ninsianna like a boar in heat, but lately, a new dream had taken up residence inside his heart, that maybe, someday, the beautiful desert flower would forget her poor slain husband and find a little bit of love for him?
"Figs?" Aturdokht extended a small wooden platter that contained dried figs, roasted acorns, a bit of goat cheese and few slices of flat bread.
Jamin met her gaze, the veil which covered her face accentuating the beauty of her eyes.
"Any food you serve becomes a delicacy in your hands."
She poured him a cup of water, her hands shaking as she avoided his gaze. It was a far cry from the first time she had given him water, when she had dumped it onto his lap and screamed she wished he'd die. That same fierce spirit which had attracted him to her would get her killed if Yazan got his hands on her again.
"Thank you," Jamin said.
Aturdokht bowed her head, and then she turned to leave.
"Wait!" Jamin reached for her hand. "Sit with me. Please. Don't make me eat this meal alone."
Aturdokht kneeled in front of him, the plate of food held between them like a chaperone. Jamin was amazed Marwan had left his daughter with him unsupervised, although he suspected that Nusrat stood just outside the tent, ready to bury a knife into his belly if he acted inappropriately. The old desert adder was crafty, but Jamin had become just crafty enough to know what Marwan was up to. He wished to inspire him to try harder to win her hand. It was no longer a matter of simply winning water rights for his tribe. The shaykh wished to secure the future for those members of his family who would not fare well once Zahid seized control.
He need not have bothered… At this point, whether or not Lucifer ever came back with Ninsianna, he would marry Aturdokht anyways. It was the Halifian's way, to take on many wives, and it was the Sata'anic way as well. Ninsianna had lost her chance at monogamy when she had spurned his affections for someone else.
"I am sorry," Jamin said. He took her hand and turned it over, pushing up her sleeve to expose the scars from the day her father had tied her up and she'd taunted him by screaming she'd only marry the man who brought her the winged demon's heart. Aturdokht trembled as he ran his thumb over the imperfections.
She pulled her arm away…
"I feel like no matter what I do," Aturdokht's voice trembled, "that I betray Roshan. I betray my husband because he would want me to return to Yazan's tent-group and give him an heir. But it would not really be Roshan's son! And it would not be him who begat it upon me! It makes me cringe, and it makes me want to run away."
Her eyes filled with tears, making them appear all the greener.
Jamin put a finger underneath her chin.
"So you do not wish to marry me after all?"
"I do not wish to marry anyone," Aturdokht said. She looked away, and then she sighed. "But at least with you, we would have an understanding."
"An understanding?"
"That in my heart, my one true love would always be my husband, and that if the shaman's daughter was to ever to return once the winged demon's spell has been lifted from her eyes, that all I ask is for my own tent; to not be cast out into the desert or Roshan's daughter killed."
Her eyes were beautiful, and green, and filled with longing for a man who was not him…
Emotion clenched Jamin's chest, though whether it was because Aturdokht feared what would happen if she married back into Yazan's tribe, or that she feared she would never love him, he could not be certain. The latter, he was certain.
He remembered a story his mother used to tell him each time she encouraged him to put a momento into the treasure box.
"My mother used to tell me a story," Jamin said. "She said, if I was lucky, that someday I would find somebody who loved me more than life itself; that when you love somebody that much, they will wait for you on the threshold of the next world." He swallowed, his cheek twitching as he asked the dreaded question. "Tell me, Aturdokht. Can you honestly say that is the way you felt about your poor, slain husband?"
Aturdokht's eyes crinkled up in a sad smile. Tears slid down her cheeks, tears of grief.
"Yes," she whispered. "All I dream of is him."
An odd sensation crushed Jamin's heart, dashing his hopes, even as he was grateful to her for being forthright. His own father had never remarried after his mother had died, nor had he, to anyone's knowledge, ever lain down with a concubine.
Jamin slipped his fingers beneath the corner of the veil which hid her face and tugged it so it came undone, exposing her perfect, beautiful face with its speckling of freckles which danced across her nose.
"I will carve out the heart of the winged demon that broke your heart," Jamin said. "And then I shall marry you, and I shall love Roshan's daughter as my own, and when you are ready, perhaps someday you will give me a son or daughter? It is all I ask of you, to give me beautiful, green-eyed children who are just as smart as you."
Aturdokht nodded and wiped her cheek with her sleeve. She would perform her marital duties, whether or not she was ever able to give him her heart. It was what was expected of her.
He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. It was a cool kiss, marred by a sob as she broke away from his grasp. It left a curious, empty feeling. Aturdokht rose to her feet before he could grab her.
"Perhaps you might do better to forget me?" Aturdokht said.
Before he could think of a suitable retort, she disappeared back behind the curtain.
Jamin stared at the delicacies she had brought for him, no longer tempting. Would she ever grow to love him? Would anyone? He glanced up, expecting to find Shahla standing there, laughing at his misfortune.
He grabbed the figs, a bribe for Private Rushd who was addicted to the delicacy, and then rose to his feet, glancing at the curtain where Aturdokht had disappeared. He considered going after her, kissing her soundly until their natural attraction overrode her longing for her husband, but he suspected now was not the right time, not with her former father-in-law standing outside the tent, trying to force her father to stop insisting his daughter had a right to choose her own bride price.
His distraction almost caused him to walk right into Zahid, flanked by Yazan and a three rough-looking men who were no doubt these 'suitors' who wished to curry favor with their uncle by beating into submission Yazan's wayward daughter-in-law.
"Yazan," Jamin said cautiously.
"Because of you," Yazan hissed, "my brother is dead."
There was no sign of Nusrat, or Lubaid who might be well-favored towards him since he'd given him such a magnificent gift. He suspected Yazan had arranged for them to be sent on a fool's errand, or more likely, Marwan had not expected Aturdokht, given her desperation, to be so brutally honest and flee his affections.
"Dirar knew what he was up against when he chose to go after the winged demon," Jamin said. "As did every other man who tried to collect the bounty. All along I warned you he was a demon."
Yazan leaned forward, his eyes almost bloodshot with hatred.
"You knew the bastard was immortal," Yazan hissed like a cobra. "And you did not warn us we tried to kill a god?"
Jamin rose to his full height, which even before Lucifer had given him the combat boots was taller than the man by a good palms-breadth.
"It was a slender girl who cut him down," Jamin said. He gestured towards the entrance of Marwan's tent. "And as you saw with your own eyes, the sky people possess a wondrous ability to heal many wounds, but they can also die, for we had to bury five good lizard men. It is the same with Mikhail."
While Zahid merely stood with a hostile, cold expression, not quite ready to directly disobey his father, the three men who stood behind Yazan drew their knives. Jamin's heart beat faster. Time slowed down as every ounce of training he'd received first as an elite warrior of the village, and then as a soldier in Shay'tan's armies, whispered that this was the moment he had feared.
"Don't do this," Jamin warned.
The first man rushed towards him, blade held straight out. Jamin shoved the man's arm out of the way and stepped aside, causing the man to go stumbling right into the entrance of Marwan's tent. The second man was on him in a second, but Jamin kicked him in the stomach, the added leverage of his combat boots enabling him to deliver a far more powerful kick. Jamin slammed down a double-fisted hammer punch onto the back of the man's head and immediately whirled towards his third attacker, Lucifer's knife was already out of its holster as he sliced the man's cheek and kicked him to the ground.
"Katlego!" he shouted into the microphone embedded in his collar.
"Yeah, buddy!"
Yazan rushed at him. Jamin dodged the blade.
"I need that demonstration of power we talked about!" Jamin shouted. "Now!"
He sliced down into Yazan's wrist, the one which held his blade. Yazan screamed. Jamin kicked the back of his knee to knock him off-balance and then pushed him to the ground, forcing himself to
rein in his temper and not do something as stupid as kill the man.
A 'pfoompt' sound from the ridge.
Jamin grabbed Yazan by the beard and twisted his head to face his tent.
"Behold the power of Shay'tan!"
Whatever Katlego had lobbed at them, it flew down with a whistle and, the moment it hit the tent, exploded into a conflagration of fire.
The Halifians screamed.
Jamin laughed. He had not yet seen whatever tek-no-lo-gee this particular weapon was, but he liked it. He liked it very much.
"I am not responsible for your brother's death, fool!" Jamin kicked the man. "But if you pull a stunt like that again, I can guarantee I will be responsible for your death, along with every member of your tribe!"
He whirled and faced Zahid.
"And you should have more respect for your father!" he jabbed his finger at Marwan's upstart heir.
He straightened his trench coat. Katelego's voice came into the tiny speaker in his ear.
"You alright buddy?" Katlego asked. "Or do you need another demonstration of power."
"I'm good," Jamin answered.
Ignoring the wails of the women, Jamin stormed out of the encampment, pausing only long enough to pick up the control box for the magic carpet. He leaped onto the slender platform and jammed forward the tiny knob, almost dumping himself unceremoniously back onto the ground. He did not fall off, however, but held onto his seat as he rode the magic carpet back up the hill to where Katlego stood waiting for him with a pair of binoculars.
"Guess you showed them, huh?" Katlego said.
"Guess I did," Jamin sighed.
As soon as the shuttle leveled off to cruise back to the Sata'anic base, he shut his eyes and imagined the little treasure box which sat on the tiny table next to his bed. In his dreams he kept searching for something his mother had told him was hidden inside the box, but he could not find it. It was as empty as his heart…
~ * ~ * ~
Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) Page 78
