by Gary Gygax
But of course the most powerful of the three had the last word on the subject. Lady Sujata hissed out, "Yes. We know all. Do as Our Glorious Maharajah says, and quick, too. Otherwise, I shall have your leman's throat cut before your eyes!" As if on cue, two guards dragged an unconscious Rachelle into view from behind the arras which had concealed them.
Guldir Maharajah Sivadji snickered, the sound almost that of a toad's croak as he said, "You see, Magister, all your magicks are useless. You must do as I command."
—— 16--
TAKE ME TO THE VAULT
Nothing in the posture or expression of the wizard-priest was readable. No sign betrayed his plan to his foes. His mind was an iron barrier. The magister's gaze was likewise hooded, revealing neither fear nor anger, acquiescence nor resistance. "This is your course, Sivadji, Maharajah of Delhi?"
The fat monarch laughed more loudly than he meant to, the bhang slipping Into his mind and making his throat release the peals of mirth from his belly. After awhile he managed to choke it off, say in a booming voice, "All that transpires here is rny course, foolish fellow! Get on with it! Produce the regalia needed for formal coronations. I believe that I'll have your tongue pulled out if you bore me with more of your silly talk."
"Don't harm, the girl," Inhetep said in a flat voice. "I know how to recover your lost jewels."
"Harm?" The toad-like maharajah laughed in another burst, obscene in its sound. "Not at all. I plan to honor your ward with my favor. She will be added to my harem, you see," and he snorted his mirth again. The burning scorn in the eyes of the pirimah was lost to him, so delighted with himself and the way things were progressing was he.
"Even if I retrieve the crown jewels? Surely our agreement would be violated if you held the sahibah against her will."
"I piss upon such things, puny man," he said in reply to the magister's mild rebuke. "We have no agreement. You are Our slave. Do as you are commanded, and you will keep your miserable life. Fail Us, and you will die—your woman too, but only after I have used her in the most original ways, given her to my guards, and thereafter to the torturer. Stop delaying and deliver!" As he concluded his tirade, the maharajah was actually foaming, his mouth sending frothy spittle spraying forth as he shouted.
Inhetep inclined his head. "I concur, Guldir Maharajah Sivadji, no compact between us exists. As to your regalia, I can tell you with absolute assurance that I know who was responsible for the disappearance and where the crown jewels are now hidden. I can retrieve them, but that is a more difficult matter. It will take time."
"How much time?" That query came from the pirimah.
"I give you no time," thundered the maharajah, ignoring Sujata. "Now, instantly, or I'll—"
"Shut up . . . Your Resplendence," the witch said in a voice which cut the obese ruler short, the honorific she appended sounding as if it were a vulgar epithet. "Allow this man such reasonable period as is required to get us the regalia."
Sivadji's huge mouth worked, and his face turned purple as his anger at his chief practitioner filled him. Bhang or no, however, he swallowed his fury when the Lady Sujata glared back at him, her eyes as dangerous as any adder's. Doing his best to retain a semblance of royal prestige, the maharajah gripped the arms of his chair, inhaled deeply. "We have considered your words, your too boldly spoken counsel, and find them wise. Thus We forgive your transgression, for it was done in an over-zealous desire to assist Us, We are sure." He paused, and the pirimah bowed her head as he stared at her. "Yes. We agree." The toad-like head swiveled to point at Inhetep. "You have one hour, no more, to deliver. First the crown jewels, then 111 know the names of the guilty ones and how they managed the theft. Now begin."
Without a word, Magister Inhetep turned his back on the maharajah and his cluster of officials. Ignoring even the amazon held by the guardsmen with ready blades to end her life at a stroke, the wizard-priest began walking towards the door. Soldiers rushed to bar his way with their spetums leveled at his chest.
"Where do you think you are going?" demanded the maharajah, too stunned by the sudden action to even think of the lese-majeste which had just occurred.
"To your royal treasury vault, of course. That is where I must go if I am to fulfill your wishes." He slowed not a whit as he spoke, and faced with the choice of impaling him or yielding, the guardsman shifted their points, and the magister passed to the exit and was gone from the audience room, unmolested.
"Don't just stand there, you dolts! Go after him! Keep him in custody, and be ready to kill him at the slightest sign he disobeys," shrieked Sivadji to his viziers and guards alike.
All rushed to obey, and there was a jam at the door. General Ratha used his muscle to burst through and rushed after the receding back of the /Egyptian, trailed by a string of soldiers. "Halt!" he commanded, but his word had no effect. Inhetep walked on at the same steady pace, turning left and disappearing. Uttering the foulest of oaths, the general ran and caught up with his charge as Inhetep entered the antechamber in which the treasury's entrance was concealed. "It is fortunate for you, foreigner, that you didn't seek to escape the palace," Ratha panted iri angry, empty threat.
The magister turned at that, looking at the military man with the same expressionless gaze which had been on his face since the end of the parable told to the maharajah. "Is that a fact? Then the gods must have guided my steps here." Without another word, Inhetep stood there, his eyes now on the place where the secret way into the vault was hidden behind a wall panel. The wait was brief.
The others came boiling into the room, men-at-arms making way for Guldir Maharajah Sivadji, he followed by his own personal bodyguard, close behind the pirimah and Gorvan. Then came more soldiers and a handful of priests and men whose garb showed them to be practitioners of other sorts. "What is this?" the king finally bellowed over the commotion. He was wheezing, and ready for bloodshed.
"It is obedience to your wishes," said the magister dryly. He pointed to the chancellor and Lady Sujata. "Well, aren't you two going to use your amulets so as to open the door? You know I must get into the treasury—or don't you want me to be able to return the jewels?"
Gorvan looked at the pirimah, then at Inhetep. "Why do you need—"
"Stop dithering, you incompetent," the witch hissed at him under her breath. "I can read him, and he is telling us the truth. Somehow or other the /Egyptian has found an answer. He does have to go in there to get the regalia. I can feel the Tightness, but I can't tell how he will manage to accomplish it. Let him get on with it."
The maharajah's bhang-fired anger was growing again, spreading to include all. "Stop that whispering in Our presence! What is happening? We demand answers now!"
"A thousand apologies, Lord of Lords," Lady Sujata responded with a smoothness verging on insolence. "I, we—your chancellor and I— did not wish to reveal the precautions we plan to the foreign magician. That is all."
That made the toadish countenance of the maharajah writhe in scorn. "Precautions? What nonsense do you speak, Pirimah? You know that the vault is proof against entry and exit save through the one door. What, pray tell. Court Practitioner, is there to guard against if the /Egyptian is within the treasury? Are you and my money-minder fearful of his pocketing a few rupees? Put him inside!"
The verbal chastisement caused Gorvan to go pale, and a deadly glitter sprang into Lady Su-jata's eyes once again. Neither did more than to accept the abuse with humility, however. "Of course, Resplendency," the chancellor managed. "Your words recall to me why you are master, I your willing slave." The Lady Sujata simply said, "To hear is to obey." The two glanced at each other, drew forth their devices, and in a moment conjoined them to make a single magickal key. As Gorvan took the instrument and employed it to open the vault, the pirimah went to where a lone guardsman now held the semiconscious amazon.
"Give her to me," she snapped, and the soldier complied with haste, aversion to the witch plain in his expression. Sujata gave a low laugh at that, a sound of evil pleasure
. Then she turned to the maharajah. "With Your Majesty's, permission, I will be ready to send this woman to the blazing hells of the netherplanes at the slightest sign of trickery from the /Egyptian." Sujata spoke in a loud clear voice, which Inhetep could not fail to hear.
"Kill? I want that choice bit of stuff for My pleasure!" the thick-lipped ruler of Delhi countered. It was almost but not quite a refusal. Even the bhang was insufficient to cause him to do that.
"Of course, Resplendence. I merely wish to assure that your orders are obeyed. Are not the crown jewels more important than a woman?"
Sivadji actually considered that for a moment. This one was especially beautiful of face, shapely of form. On the other hand, there were thousands of good-looking women available. He had to have the regalia, and if in the process the amazon had to be slaughtered, too bad. It was not actually that important. Best of all, h<-might have both: hear the screams of the dying /Egyptian from the dungeon while he enjoyed his female. That was a pleasurable thought. "Very well," he said with a wave which dismissed the matter. "Just get on with it."
"You heard, Inhetep Magister?" Gorvan had the door open now. The tall wizard-priest was before it, ready to enter the vault. "If anything goes wrong, I will blast your little Rachelle, send her spirit into the darkness of the abyssal pits." The pirimah saw his face and was surprised. His eyes could not hide his thoughts for a split second. The man was actually sneering at her words because he didn't care what happened to her hostage. Inhetep disdained her threat because he would sacrifice Rachelle's life to save himself. That sent Sujata's mind into a frenzied consideration of what he might do. Did this foreign heka-bender have some means of thwarting them? Could he escape? Not likely, but . . .
"I hear you," Inhetep said as she stared at him. "I will be as brief as possible." The magister entered the strongroom, ducking beneath the low lintel, beginning to close the door behind him.
"STOP!" the pirimah shouted in a voice possible only for a priestess and witch. The sound was terrible. Inhetep stopped, peering out from the vault at Lady Sujata with no little uncertainly.
"If I am to obey your liege lord, witch, I must be in here. I need privacy to assure my castings work properly."
"Why do you delay him, Pirimah? The vault is a safer cell than any in my deepest dungeons, a place from which there is no escape," Sivadji barked at her after hearing the /Egyptian's words.
"Something is wrong," she said rapidly, omitting any honorifics. Then she turned away from the fat monarch and dragged her hostage towards the vault entrance. "Hold, Inhetep Magister. Do not close that door. Your leman and I will accompany you."
Of course, General Ratha and Gorvan then chimed in their demand to do likewise. After them came the voices of the assembled under-clerics and magicians, sounding as if a chorus, demanding entry as well. "No! Never. It will make what I must do totally impossible. Kill me now, Maharajah of Delhi, for with such a pack of dogs as that in here with me, I cannot succeed in regaining the relics of state which were stolen from this vault," Inhetep said in disgust, dismissing the lot with a sweep of his arm. He started to come out of the treasure room.
"You will recover them for Us when you are in there?" The maharajah was incredulous. "This is the first I've heard of it," and he began to titter. That laughter died an instant later when he saw phantom shapes spring into being within the vault. To his utter amazement, he saw what appeared to be the shades of both his former chancellor and chief practitioner there inside the strongroom. The two were standing with the missing jewels in hand. Prince Dahasti with his arms loaded, Purshiva Yogi Rishi, who had supposedly not gone inside the vault at all, holding the royal crown in his left hand as he moved his right above it in magickal passes. The maharajah couldn't believe his eyes—or could he?
"is that so?" queried the magister, and with a wave of his ankh the translucent images vanished. "Perhaps your pirimah needs lessons in heka use, Majesty. I repeat, 1 must be alone."
Seeing that he was about to consent, Lady Sujata spoke. "Only a portion of his words are so, Most Resplendent Majesty. Heed him not, or else I cannot be responsible for what occurs. Perhaps he is unable to perform his castings with a crowd of onlookers there with him in the treasury. Yet 1 will not disrupt any enchantments, for I too am an able practitioner with great heka to command. Neither will bis woman's presence there cause any trouble. After all, she has been his constant companion for many years according to his own words. She and I must be inside to assure all goes as he claims it will."
"I object, Your Ma—"
"Be silent!" the maharajah shouted at the /Egyptian, cutting off his protest. Sivadji Guldir looked at the witch. "You guarantee all will go as it should if you are inside? You will stake your life on it?"
"Of course," Lady Sujata shot back. "With the girl hostage with me, of course," she added, just to make sure the stupid fool didn't think he could keep Rachelle outside and fondle her while he awaited the return of the crown jewels. "My life is as always yours to use or dispose of. Resplendent Majesty." That lie came easily from her lips. "I beg to accompany the Egyptian only to assure he obeys you fully and without trickery."
"So be it, Lady Sujata," the maharajah said to her. Then he called loudly to the magister: "The pirimah with the Sahibah Rachelle as surety of your actions will enter and observe, /Egyptian." He saw the magister raise a hand, open his mouth. "No argument, or your ward dies this instant, you slowly thereafter."
"Very well," Inhetep said tonelessly from his position by the vault door. "I accept."
"Accept this, too," the maharajah said as the two women were about to go through the opening. "Whatever happens to Our pirimah, or your companion for that matter, when you are inside there is of no consequence to Us. When you come forth, as exit you must, Our other priests, heka-benders, and guardsmen with bow and spear will be ready and waiting. If you bear the crown jewels, then We will reward you and set you free. If you come out empty-handed, then you die, /Egyptian!"
Green eyes fixed on his own made the maharajah glad he was some distance from the wizard-priest. Inhetep seemed resigned, though, for he said, "When I open this door, Maharajah of Delhi,, you can be assured that I will have your precious royal regalia." With that he closed the massive portal, and the fat lord of the land was grateful at not having to deal further with the magister. He orders his pipe, in fact, determined to enjoy more bhang while he waited. It could not be long. . . .
Inside the now-sealed vault, Inhetep strode to the empty cases where the crown jewels had been kept. "The jewels never were taken from this room, only removed to a dimensional pocket, you see," he said offhandedly as if speaking to no one in particular.
"That is impossible!" the pirimah said as if stung. "I personally examined those cases seeking for just such a ruse." She shoved Rachelle in the direction of the wizard-priest so as to get closer and see exactly what he was doing.
Inhetep laughed at her words. "Admit it, witch. You aren't as skilled as you think. You were deceived by the readings outside and in here, so you didn't give these cases a thorough going over as 1 did. Why should you? Didn't you see the jewels being carried outside?"
"Yes, my castings evoked those true past images, but—"
"Always buts," the magister interjected. "Pathetic. Those were false images, not true, you incompetent twit. See here?" He made a pass with his golden ankh, spoke words of hekau as he did so, and there was a shimmering in the cabinets. Suddenly that scintillation coalesced into solidity, a glittering of gems and gold, not magickal energy. "There are your 'stolen' crown jewels, right where they have always been, displaced into Inconceivability by a casting too advanced for your petty abilities to detect." He reached inside, took the royal orb from its velvet depression, turned, and tossed it to Sujata. "Catch!"
The pirimah had no choice. All of her plans rested with the precious regalia of state. All of it. If one small part were missing or inoperable, then her scheme would be for naught, all of her years of planning and work to reach
her goal made useless. At this moment, when she saw fruition but a few days' distant, she could not allow the orb to fall and be damaged, even though it meant she must release her grip on Rachelle. With a small cry of anxiety, she loosed the amazon and reached to pluck the descending sphere of gem-encrusted gold from its arcing descent towards the stone floor of the vault.
But even with that distraction to absorb her, Sujata the witch, priestess of Kali, was not wholly concentrating on the physical act of preventing the orb from falling. As she did that, the pirimah called to mind a terrible curse. As her hand closed on the globe-like object, her other joining the first to assure the hold, Sujata's eyes sent forth a blast of heka, and her mouth spoke foul words of witchery aimed at slaying the /Egyptian.
Inhetep had expected such an attack. As he let the orb loose, he began uttering his own protective casting, so that the deadly eyebite sent at him by the pirimah flashed into nothingness without striking him. It was a stalemate for the moment, but only for that time. Already the witch was invoking the power of the globe she held, using it to link to the other objects which the /Egyptian had brought back to their places. Powers which she could employ but which were untappable by the foreigner. Once linked together, the energy and powers contained in the regalia were more than sufficient to overwhelm even the heka of the wizard-priest.
"I'll take that!" It was Rachelle who spoke, and as she did so she suited her actions to her words. As she plucked the globe from the witch's grasp with one strong hand, she used the other to slap Sujata across the face. The open-handed blow was sufficient to send the pirimah reeling aside. She fell to the floor, stunned.
"Well done, my dear Rachelle!" Inhetep cried. "I was hoping you'd be able to do something like that!"
"Thank you, Setne, for making that dirty bitch release her hold on me," the amazon said with a smile. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time." She laughed, looking over to where the Hindi witch lay sprawled in a most humiliating posture, her left cheek darkening where Rachelle's hard palm and fingers had struck.
