by Gary Gygax
Even as the military man was nodding and about to say something about the matter of hill bandits, the magister shifted to his companion. "Good. Now, Rachelle, please pay strict attention to the general's words. I will need you to repeat later all of the salient facts he imparts, Speaking of later, I might be some time in completing my examination of the vault from which the crown jewels were taken. You needn't stay up for me."
"As you wish, Magister," was all she said as the three departed. Then she turned to General Ratha and smiled. "Please tell me about yourself before going into the boring matters regarding those rebels."
Unlike many other treasure repositories, that of the maharajah of Delhi was neither deep beneath the ground nor high in a tower strongroom. The place where the great wealth of the state was stored was in a chamber adjacent to the great throne room, directly behind the Peacock Throne, in fact. Magickal guards and wards englobed both. Sentries stood by each, of course. The sheer size of the chair of state, the exposed position and continual watch assured that it remained unmolested. On the other hand, the little chamber hidden behind it was sheathed in layers of protective metal ranging from lead and silver to iron and adamantine alloy. Its single door was barred by multiple locks, then sealed by castings.
"Without an amulet to prevent activation of heka. Sahib Magister, a person would cause alarms and other castings to be loosed as soon as he came within three cubits of the entrance," the chancellor explained.
"Noncorporeal approach is considered?"
"Certainly—as is any form of dimensional transference."
Inhetep gazed at the wall panel which had been opened to reveal the door. "What about the floor and ceiling, or the other walls, for that matter?"
Gorvan was almost smug as he replied. "They are enchanted, enspelled as is the door. Warnings will sound, death in a dozen forms will be loosed. They are also solid. Absolutely intact and untampered with, as is the entry to the vault. Its locks were closed fast."
"Does an amulet deactivate the whole of the protection?"
The chancellor shook his head vigorously. "No, never! It simply enables the individual to pass."
"Who had, or still has, amulets to deactivate the heka?"
"The maharajah and the chancellor—but the latter amulet is in two parts, and it won't operate without the court practitioner being present. Speaking in the past tense with regard to chancellor, I refer to Prince Dahasti."
The magister cocked an eyebrow as he switched his scrutiny from the vault entry to the chancellor's visage. "Eh? Of course! I recall you mentioned being recently elevated to your office. Who is or was this Prince Dahasti, and what happened to him?"
"Was is correct. He would probably have been summarily executed for allowing such a loss to occur, but that pain was spared to my liege, quite unnecessary under the circumstances. When His Resplendence was unable to locate either his practitioner or treasurer, the maharajah came directly to this very place. When he entered, he found a pile of ashes and charred bones. With it was the remains of the chancellory amulet and some jewelry which could be identified as the prince's own. It seems Dahasti was blasted by whomever was responsible for the theft. He might have actually caught them in the act."
"The Prince Dahasti was a loyal and trusted vassal?"
At that Gorvan was most positive. "He was the nephew of the maharajah!"
"And since that time, what has been done inside the treasure vault?"
"Nothing, Sahib Magister, other than to add some small amount of coins to the strongboxes therein. Both Lady Sujata and I advised against altering anything."
"In fact," the pirimah interjected at that point, "I laid a preservation casting inside as soon as I was permitted, and have maintained it in the hope that something would thus be revealed by your greater art when you came."
"I see," the magister said as he briefly considered all he had been told. "Let us then proceed inside the vault. I was fortunate, I suppose, to have selected the two very persons needed to do that without the exalted personage of the maharajah himself, eh? Please proceed."
The two brought forth small objects, fitted them into one, and then took hold of Inhetep. "By such touch you are included in the amulet's field," Lady Sujata supplied.
A permanent magickal illumination existed inside the treasure repository, so that it was bright with a glow which equalled that of the noon sun on a summer day. That light made the black mark on the floor starkly evident. It was shaped vaguely like a body. Along one wall, open cabinets revealed empty interiors where a crown, scepter, orb, collar, girdle, and ring had once been nestled in velvet. There were shut ones too, in which were stored certain other great treasures of state— magickal ones, according to the chancellor. Arrayed on two of the other walls were precious art objects. Cases held rare books and tablets, even ancient scrolls. Stands ranked round the room displayed incredible armor of precious metals and weapons encrusted with precious stones. On either side of the entry were small steel boxes, some stacked nearly as high as the ceiling.
"What are those?" queried the wizard-priest.
Gorvan shrugged. "Merely the tax coffers, Sahib Magister—chuckrums in this stack, rupees here, annas . . . each sort of coin," he said with an expression that might have added, "I assumed a practitioner of your repute would know that."
Ignoring that look, Inhetep passed his hand over his smooth pate in a characteristic gesture. He asked, "What did you make of this, lady practitioner, when you initially examined the vault?"
"I was called in the day after it happened, Magister," Sujata told him. "Perhaps if I had been here immediately after the loss was discovered, but I wasn't," she confided to him. "I could find no clue, none at all. The auras remaining were totally diffused. Random heka was present, but type and source was untraceable—due to the blast of energy which incinerated the poor prince, I assume."
Inhetep nodded. "Speaking of the ex-treasurer, I see that the remains have been considerably disturbed; gone, in fact, save for these few bits." As he made that observation, Setne stooped and quickly scooped up a bit of dusty stuff in a square of paper he had drawn from the inner fold of his garment. "No matter, this should suffice."
Gorvan was concerned. "Is that sufficient? We had to take the ashes and remaining artifacts in order to make positive identification of the prince and the amulet."
"If I need that or anything else you can furnish, Lord Chancellor, I will not hesitate to call upon you. As of now, however, I believe this will be all I need. And I have seen enough here, too. Will you excuse us, Gorvan? I need to get some rest, but I have a few private questions of the pirimah. With the chancellor's leave, lady, I ask that we walk alone together. Your chambers are near my own, are they not? The few words I need from you regarding magickal matters can be taken care of thus, and that way we can all retire in short order after this trying day."
With a quick look of appraisal shot to the court practitioner, Gorvan assented. "But of course, Sahib Magister. I have other duties to which I must attend before retiring, and I appreciate the opportunity to do so now."
The three left the vault, then Gorvan and Lady Sujata returned to secure the door. The chancellor worked his several keys, and they separated the amulet. With all thus in order, Gorvan hurried off in one direction, Inhetep and the court practitioner strolling arm-in-arm together in the opposite.
—— 10 ——
POLITICS OF MURDER
As they walked slowly towards her suite, Setne queried her about something which he thought most odd. "Has no one raised an inquiry about the amulet?"
"Only insofar as to determine if it was truly the real key. Because of the circumstances, I could be no more than ninety-nine percent certain. But, physical and magickal proofs aside, I feel absolutely sure that all was as it seems. The prince and his amulet were incinerated there on the floor of the treasury."
He raised both brows at that. "You have no questions about how that occurred when he possessed only his portion of the two-par
t amulet?"
Lady Sujata gave a tinkling little laugh. "Oh, I forgot! You do not know, of course. I too have just recently become the court practitioner. He who was practitioner before me is . . . gone."
"I confess mystification, dear lady!" Inhetep stopped walking, forcing Sujata to likewise halt. He freed his arm and looked at her intently. "Please do not withhold information. It is vital that I know everything possible. Otherwise I cannot prevail, and ..." He allowed the rest to remain unsaid.
The dark eyes of the pirimah searched his green ones. "No, I wouldn't want you to fail— and for more reasons than displeasing His Majesty the maharajah," she assured the magister. Her dark eyes were filled with something which might be read as desire. "The court practitioner before me was a Brahman called Pur-shiva Yogi Rishi. He was but a middle-aged fool, despite his priestly status and great learning. I will not go into the great differences, political and moral, which existed between him and the maharajah. Suffice that they were intense, and the Purshiva Yogi Rishi's continual preaching and opposition would soon have led to his . . . replacement had not it occurred first."
"What do you mean, it?"
"The theft of the crown jewels, and his disappearance."
That took Setne aback, at least a little. "And there's no search for Purshiva Yogi Rishi? No suspicion that he was involved? This is more than passing strange."
"Only at first glance, Magister. I had much assistance in the magickal examination of the scene of the crime. The former court practitioner's presence outside the vault on the night of the robbexy was clearly recorded and lound in vibratory readings of the material there. The reading revealed that he and several others were there as well. Purshiva Yogi Rishi never entered the vault. Aural reading proved unquestionably that he was enchanted, bound and silenced by castings at the time. There was, in fact, a pool of his blood there. I personally used heka to positively identify it as that of the yogi. It was cleaned away, for attention must not be drawn to the anteroom in which the entrance to the treasure is concealed, of course."
"Of course. So you think that he too met with foul play at the hands of the thieves."
She turned away, taking his arm firmly once again, and resumed her progress toward her chambers. "That is so. By even my most potent means—and I have some great ones, sir—I find no trace of Purshiva Yogi Rishi on this sphere, no print indicating he is concealed on some other. No, Magister, he is dead. Probably blasted to ash somewhere, as was his former fellow. If it weren't for the loss of the crown jewels, I would say good riddance to both," Sujata added in a cold voice. But her tone was sultry when she next spoke. "At last we are here!" With that exclamation, Sujata opened the door to her chambers. "I heard you make excuses to your bodyguard, so we have all night to spend here, mighty one of /Egypt."
Inhetep placed a long finger to her lips. "Hush, lady," he said in a near whisper. "I have detected an invisible presence of the sort which enables spying!" As he said that, he held forth in his left hand a slender ankh carved from pure turquoise in whose loop there showed a ghostly eye. Startled, the pirimah drew back, gesturing with her own right hand at the object before her, uttering a string of harsh syllables as she made the sign. A second after Sujata did that, the wizard-priest passed his free hand over the ankh. When he completed his pass, the vision of the eye had vanished.
"What was that?" the woman demanded in a voice no longer syrupy and charming.
"Some foreign sending which meant no good to you, Pirimah! Perhaps I can find something specific when I am determining more about the ashy remains of the former chancellor. All that can wait until later, of course. For now let us go inside your suite, lady, and—"
"Give me that turquoise charm of yours," she demanded before he could say more.
"That is impossible, dear lady. It is a symbol of my gods, and it must not be touched by any not faithful to them." It was not exactly a lie. "The sending is gone, wiped away. Forget it. There are more important things of the flesh to think about."
With a hard expression making her face cruel, the Lady Sujata refused. "No. That is now impossible. Go. Leave me. Find out who dared to spy on me—us, and tell me as soon as you know."
"As you wish, lady," Inhetep murmured with a slightly deflated tone as he left her and went along the short way to where his own door was. "On the morrow?"
The pirimah made no reply but simply disappeared inside her chambers. The door closed rather loudly behind her.
Once within his own rooms, Setne sighed deeply. He then spoke a hasty enchantment of privacy. Finally he said a happy, "Whew! That was a near thing!"
Rachelle, sitting quietly and observing the whole procedure, was provoked sufficiently to inquire, "Just what was a near thing, Magister Setne Inhetep?"
"Being out there alone with the predatoiy court practitioner, my dear. I fear that Pirimah Sujata is no lady—" and he laughed at his play on words. Then he described the trick he had played with a special ankh to escape her harpylike clutches and laughed again.
"Laugh all you want, Setne. Sujata isn't just 'no lady,' that woman is a witch"
The magister struck his palm with a fist. "You have done it again, Rachelle! Thoth bless you," he added as he grabbed her, and gave her a hug and a smack on her forehead.
"Done what?" she demanded with less crossness than she had previously evidenced.
"Why, struck the mark dead center. No wonder I could not read her by my power; even with a surreptitious casting I found only bland, general auras. It was if she were a nonentity, so to speak. But the reason for that is her own enchantments and devices, Rachelle. Sujata is undoubtedly an artisan with great skills in many other areas of heka practice, but first and foremost, that woman is a true witch—a follower and worker of vilest Evil!"
"The gods know I instinctively disliked her— intuitively, if you wish Setne," Rachelle added, seeing that the wizard-priest was going to interrupt her when she attributed her feelings to a non-magickal source. Not wanting to lose her train of thought, she hurried on. "In fact, I despised that bitch the moment I clapped eyes on her! Is she really a witch, Setne? Can you be absolutely certain? After all, she is the mahara-jah's chief enchantress, or whatever title they give in this country. To accuse her of such is dangerous to her and to us."
"Accuse? I hadn't that in mind, not at all." Inhetep thought a moment and stepped back so that Rachelle could see him plainly. "You tell me. Be the disinterested judge." Then the magister imitated Sujata's gesture, the motion and sign followed by a close approximation of her words, including pitch, tone, and inflec-t ion. When he completed the mimicry he asked,
"Well?"
"That was the Black Craeft, no question, Setne!" Her voice was assured, for Rachelle was positive after seeing what he had done. Being bright and capable, the young amazon was by no means content to be a mere guard to the magister. Sword wielding was fine, but she saw herself in other roles too. Amongst her many pursuits of scholarly sort, Rachelle included several which required the utilization of heka power, including witchcraft. That subject both fascinated and repelled Rachelle. It had done so ever since she had first heard of it as a child. In school, she had been allowed only a cursory look at the subject. When she had left the halls of formal education in favor of assisting Inhetep in his adventures aimed at thwarting evil, uncovering crime and criminals, Rachelle began to delve into witchcraft by reading every work on it she could lay her hands on. Between the magister's extensive library and what she found on her own, the amazon had over the past half dozen years amassed considerable knowledge about the malign practice. Of course, this learning was theoretical, not applied. Nevertheless, she was an authority of sorts. Her enthusiasm was possibly spurred on by the fact that Inhetep was virtually ignorant of the subject. Here roles were reversed: she the master, he the student.
"You must let me get close to her, Setne," Rachelle said earnestly. "Ill find out what motivates the Lady Sujata. You can bet that the pirimah has some machinations in mind—as the court
practitioner she must have had a part in the theft, but there must be a larger and more evil plot brewing here." She stopped her urging and looked up at the magister with her most appealing gaze.
"She is dangerous—very dangerous, Rachelle. I'n not sure about her involvement in the disappearance of the maharajah's regalia, either." The dark eyes were looking into his green ones as he spoke, and it was beginning to effect him. "Still, I understand your desire, and we do need to know everything, including everything about our enemies. There can be no question of that. Sujata will happily see us both dead, although we probably aren't disposable until after recovering the crown jewels."
That gave Rachelle pause. "What makes you say that? She probably stole them herself, so the pirimah will want us out of the way, permanently and quickly!"
"Most doubtful. I am now reasonably sure that whomever absconded with the items in question is not among the court any longer." Telling her that, the magister then launched into a rapid-fire account of what he had learned while she had been with the military chief of Delhi. As he concluded his narrative, Inhetep asked, "And you? What did the general have to
say?"
"After I convinced him that I really didn't want his hands all over me, let alone to bed him, Ratha was fairly open. Perhaps he thought he might impress me into agreeing to some fast fornicating. Typical man—no offense, Setne.
"The so-called hill bandits came off sounding like a rather well-organized rebel force to me. General Ratha admitted as much in so many words. It seems as if it is a popular movement which includes actual outlaws, peasants, free folk, and even some of the rustic aristocracy. They claim to be led by a half-brother of the maharajah."
The magister broke in at that point. "How widespread is the unrest? Do these rebels have any following outside the areas they control by force of arms?"
"Ill say they do. Ratha let that slip when he complained about not being able to take the field and root the rebels out of their highland encampments. It seems that too many of his men must remain in city and town garrisons, being kept on a short tether to patrol the main roads."
