by Gary Gygax
"I am neither a Babylonian magus nor a spell-worker!" Pyronos shouted.
Tuhorus interrupted him with an equally loud voice. "Now I have you, man! You know alchemy, and I have intelligence which places you high in the magickal council of your kingdom. Deny that!"
Lord Pyronos collapsed into a chair, appearing tired and defeated. "Very well. I am of the line of the Magus Pyronostus, and I have some small skills in the arcane arts, especially with respect to the element of fire. Despite all that, I had no part in killing Prince Ram-f-amsu, and you'll never prove otherwise."
"I'll arrest you on that charge nonetheless, Pyronos," the chief inspector growled. "We'll see about proving things in due time."
"Don't be too hasty, Tuhorus," Magister Inhetep interjected softly. "Perhaps some lesser charge might be better advised. How about arson? Does that sound correct, my lord?"
"I had no choice—-I had to conjure up that efreet and have it burn the palace," Pyronos wailed despairingly.
Magister Inhetep walked over to where the man sat slumped. "Otherwise, your part in the plot to truncate ./Egypt, to establish a separate kingdom formed of Lower .-Egypt and Phillistia, would have been revealed to authorities here and in your own land, right?
"Right, Inhetep," the man confessed in a weak voice.
That admission was far beyond anything Inspector Tuhorus had anticipated. "Failure would bring war between Cyprus and /Egypt, success an unthinkable condition, Lord Pyronos. This is something which is darker than can be imagined!"
"I know, Chief Inspector Tuhorus. When I learned of the true aim of Ram-f-amsu, I did my best to talk him out of it. When I failed to turn him from his purpose, I did my utmost to foil his plot."
Inhetep nodded vigorously. "I think you speak true there, my lord. But tell us, who threatened you with exposure if you didn't have your elemental monster consume the governor's palace?"
"I agreed to conjure up the efreet because I had no way of telling who threatened my exposure. The blackmailer is unknown to me—I swear it by Poseidon! If I could have sent the elemental to that one. .. ."
"You would have gotten away freely," the magister finished for him. "But how were your instructions conveyed to you, Pyronos?"
The Cypriot nobleman shrugged and spread his hands. "There was but a single communication. A man wearing the robes of a desert nomad called upon me. He handed me a sheet of Papyrus, and on it was scribed the gist of the whole affair. I was commanded to obey on pain of having copies of that revelation sent to authorities here and in Nicosea. The man who delivered the message said nothing, and he was shielded by magick against any probing from castings at my disposal. When I'd read the whole of it and thought of actively questioning him, he was gone."
Magister Inhetep turned to the policeman. "I think that's all we'll get which is of use to us, Inspector Tuhorus. I suggest that you have Lord
Pyronos locked up. He'll have to answer to charges of conspiracy and arson, although I suspect Pharaoh will agree to eventual extradition, for King Nikos will surely want him to stand trial at home for his actions."
"Stand up, Lord Pyronos," the policeman said as he opened the door and called for a pair of his men. "Take him to a maximum security cell, one proof against heka. Lord Pyronos is under arrest." Then Tuhorus looked at the magister. "He is guilty of much, Utchat-neb, but not of assassinating the prince?"
"Pyronos had motives aplenty, Chief Inspector, but neither the opportunity nor the means. We'll get to the heart of that soon enough. The next step is to ask Shaik Yasik in here...."
MORE CRIMES STILL
I he Yarhan chief was full of bluster when he was brought into Tuhorus' office. "This is an outrage which the Al-Heshaz will avenge!" he snarled at them. "I demand to be set free at once. When I return home, there will be a blood debt owing."
"Do you know who this lady is, Shaik Yasik ibn Okhdar?"
"I have never seen her before, Magister Inhetep."
The ur-kheri-heb chuckled at that. "Of course not, my dear fellow, but that isn't at all what I asked. Have you any knowledge of Lady Xonaapi of Sarai—this very beautiful girl here in the room with us."
"I know her not, nor have I aught to tell you about her."
"Again you attempt to evade my question, Yar-ban! If you don't now cease this tactic, you are at your peril, I assure you of that!" the wizard-priest said harshly, his deep green eyes flashing. "Have you ever heard of this person, Lady Xonaapi, before I mentioned her name just now?"
"No."
Tuhorus stood up and pointed at Yasik. "Even I can sense his lie, Magister. It is a bald-faced prevarication."
The Yarban looked from Inhetep to the police inspector. "Perhaps I once heard someone mention her name—possibly it was Lord Pyronos who spoke it."
"That much is true, but there is more, isn't there, Shaik Yasik?" The magister sat back and half closed his eyes. "Let me propose this scenario to you. After completing your meetings with Prince Ram-f-amsu, you were planning to return home to /Liana. You have accommodations for tomorrow, I believe, on a fast galley which sails the Nylle-Goshen Canal to Koizum. From that port, you will return by dhow to your own tribal lands."
"What of that? I have a right to leave here as I wish. There is nothing sinister in taking ship for my own lands!"
"Ah, but you had arranged to carry with you a female slave, Yasik. None other than Xonaapi here, I submit. You see, I am aware that you were planning to take her, as well as a considerable number of chests filled with precious metals and gems, as bribes."
The man shook his head. "Ridiculous. I take no bribes."
"You give them, Shaik Yasik, not accept them. I'll wager that the girl and the bulk of the wealth were meant to bring the king of Nejd around to your way of thinking, so to speak."
"What, all-wise one, is that mindset, pray tell?" asked the Yarban sarcastically.
Inhetep shot a knowing glance at Inspector Tuhorus before saying, "You planned to raise the whole of western Yarbay against /Egypt—or at least so as to raid and harass the Middle and Upper Kingdoms of the land. With the river's delta in the grasp of the rebels and the Mare Rubine sealed by raiders and pirates, Pharaoh would be in an impossible situation."
"A very imaginative speculation, Magister. However, the enmity between the tribes of my land is too well-known to need commenting on here—except to point out that they would never cooperate with each other as you suggest, even to discomfit /Egypt!"
The priest-wizard was undaunted. "Did I mention cooperation? Well, such is hardly necessary, Shaik Yasik. While the Al-Heshaz send commerce and supplies to Lower Egypt, let's just say that Nejd and Ophir mount independent expeditions against the /Egyptian coast along the Mare Rubine and attack commerce there—even make alliance with, for instance, Axxum to raid into Nubia as well. Plunder and territorial gain need not be made through mutual cooperation."
"That's a very grim picture," Tuhorus murmured as if he were almost echoing the Yarban's words. "How do we prove this?"
"Seize Shaik Yasik's belongings and check for goods stored at the docks or aboard the barge itself, You're sure to come up with a fortune in coins and other wealth,"
"You daren't confiscate my property—I'm an—"
"There you are, Chief Inspector. He's just confirmed what I said. Send a squad at once." Tuhorus called in a junior and issued curt instructions while Yasik sat rigidly and scowled. Had he the power to lay casting by eyebite, both /Egyptians would have fallen dead. "You can forget it all, Shaik Yasik ibn Okhdar. There is no longer any chance of you getting free of here with the swag, as pirates say. Tell me though, were you planning to settle down in Babylon? Or was there some city further eastward which attracted you?"
"Sexually diseased ox," the Yarban spat. "You have been spying on me."
"Hardly necessary for a man of your sort, I assure you." Inhetep laughed. "You are highly predictable, Yasik. I'm surprised that the governor ever involved you in the first place."
"Everyone knows that Yar
ban is synonymous with turncoat, right, Inspector?" Xonaapi sneered as she looked at Yasik in disgust.
"You lie! It was only after the stinking Phonecians and Shamish became involved did I decide to withdraw from the scheme."
"Without giving Prince Ram-f-amsu the benefit of your thinking, of course," jibed the ur-kheri-heb. "You dislike Barogesh so much?"
"The Phoneeians are worse than swine, and the Shamash seek territorial gains in places which belong historically to Yarbay," Yasik growled. "Had the alliance been tendered to the Babylonians as originally promised, all of my people would have rejoiced. Then I would have been made overlord of all the land, and with tribute from Ram-f-amsu, we might have swept over the whole of our peninsula and taken all the western coast of Azir from Phillistia to Byzantium. By bringing in those mongrel peoples, the governor thought to prevent that, but I understood Ms move. All he did by his stupid scheming was to lose the friendship of the Al-Heshaz!"
"Do you admit to murdering Ram-f-amsu?" demanded the policeman, unable to remain a mere bystander during all this.
Yasik shook his head violently. "No! Not. that any true man of the desert would not have, mind you! How I would have relished cutting out his lying tongue, slitting his soft neck! Yet I was a helpless spectator at his death—-a much-deserved killing which some other worked with true masterfulness.''
Tuhorus wasn't convinced. "The Al-Heshaz are ruled by warrior-shamans. You, Yasik, being their great sfaaik, are certainly able to use some considerable amount of casting."
"You forget that we could find no trace of heka at the scene of either Ram-f-amsu's death or in Matiseth Chemres' apartments, my dear Inspector," Inhetep interjected. "We must look for some other means than magick. I think we also must be satisfied with lesser charges against this man—not that those won't condemn him as surely."
It was a brief matter to have Shaik Yasik taken off to another special cell, and the Yarban properly charged with a long list of crimes against Pharaoh and the state.
Thereafter, the policeman looked at Inhetep and asked, "Shamish? Is there any Shamite in the group?"
"Let's have Barogesh and the one who identified himself as a mere traveler and explorer brought in. What was that fellow's name, Tuhorus?"
The inspector looked pleased. "He called himself Vert. Both he and the Phonecian investor are in custody. I'll have them here in a jiffy."
"I'm awfully tired," Xonaapi said at that moment. "How much longer will this take?"
Inhetep and Tuhorus exchanged glances. "I think it might be a few hours yet, my dear girl," Magister Inhetep said with a smile. "You have done wonderfully, and I don't see any need for you to remain now that the only two conspirators involved in your particular aspect of this affair have been dealt with, do you, Inspector?"
"No," Tuhorus agreed. "May I have one of my patrolmen see you back to the Reedfields? Perhaps you can then get sufficient rest to enable you to make a real day of it tomorrow—you do need to buy some additional things, I recall."
That made the tall wizard-priest flinch, but Xonaapi didn't seem to notice. "That's very kind, Chief Inspector Tuhorus. I do need my beauty sleep. Is it all right with you if I leave now, Setne? I'll be in our suite when you're finished here. . . ."
"By all means, Lady Xonaapi, by all means. Don't wait up for me, though," the magister almost begged. "You must get your rest. If I don't see you before, I shall have breakfast with you in the morning." Inhetep stood, bowed, and the girl departed. "You, Tuhorus, are a fiend in the mold of the worst denizens of Re-stau," he said, referring to those abysmal regions of the Duat, I he Egyptian underworld, which was populated by serpents, demons, and the like.
That made the homely policeman grin. "You have the girl, you pay the price, Magister."
"But I assure you, Tuhorus, I do not have Xonaapi—-not in the sense you make of it! Never mind, for I can see it is useless to be drawn into this any further through your japing and baiting. Where are the next two of that bad lot?"
"Being brought in now," the inspector said. "Some tea while we are waiting?"
"That would be most refreshing," the magister told Mm. "We have a long night ahead of us yet, 1 fear."
There was only a five-minute break before Vert and the Phonecian financier were ushered into Tuhorus' office, but even the badly brewed drink supplied to them helped the two detectives to face what was before them. Each of the men greeted the two officials politely, then took seats apart from each other. Barogesh accepted a proffered glass of tea from Tuhorus, but the nondescript Vert declined. Inhetep inquired if there was anything at all he would like, but the fellow replied stiffly that he needed nothing. "Very well, then," the magister told Vert. "Let's get right down to business."
"Do you think I should be here, then?" asked the Phonecian politely.
"Quite all right," the priest-wizard said to that. "After all, since when won't the chief spy of Hasur listen to what the Shamish might reveal?"
The man claiming to be named Vert jumped up and reached for a nonexistent dagger. Barogesh reacted, too, his hands flashing toward an ornate medallion he wore as a necklace. Chief Inspector Tuhorus had a small sword out, drawing it in an instant from under his desk, the thin point directed squarely at the so-called explorer's throat. It took him a second. "Be seated, please," the police official said to Vert in a cold, level tone. At the same time, Tuhorus was keeping an eye on what the ur-kheri-heb was doing with respect to the Phonecian's sudden move, but he needn't have been concerned.
As Barogesh tried to do something with the elaborately sculpted disc he wore, Magister Inhetep reached out, producing an ankh of unusual sort from somewhere inside his garments. The side projections of it were so fashioned as to resemble the head and bill of an ibis, the bird of I hoth. The silvery metal of it sparked as Inhetep brought it into contact with the medallion. "Oh! I think there was some form of reaction there, Barogesh. Do you suppose that it might have spoiled something stored in that talisman of yours?" he asked with a concerned voice.
The Phonecian glowered as fiercely as the Yar-han, Yasik, had. "I object most strongly to such invasion of my rights. I have immunity as an emissary of Hasur," he snapped. "Release me at once."
"I too have status of diplomatic sort. I failed to reveal my actual name because of that fact, hut you must know now that I am Bal-Eloi Jossur of Shamish. You thus have no right to detain me here."
Inspector Tuhorus seemed a little taken aback at the double-thrusts from the pair, but Inhetep remained almost stolid as he told both, "I have been aware of your claimed immunity for some time, my lords. Neither case extends to such an extraordinary situation as this." He held up a hand as if to silence protests from the two, then ticked off on his fingers the possible charges. "Murder of a royal governor does not allow diplomatic immunity in Egypt, nor does the killing of an ecclesiastic head—and Matiseth Chemres was hem-neter-tepi of Set for the sepat of On." Inhetep counted off two of the upraised digits as he spoke. "Conspiracy against Pharaoh is a third offense which disallows any exclusion from arrest and prosecution. Bribery of royal officials is likewise a crime which negates any claim to immunity, and it is demonstrable that both you, Lord Barogesh, and you, Bal-Eloi Jossur, contributed large sums of money to Ram-f-amsu; so there are four potential counts for which we might have you indicted, and each and every one disallows your contentions of diplomatic privilege. Lastly, there is the matter of arson—the intentional burning of the governor's palace of the city of On. That too is an offense of the same sort."
"Five, counts, my lords, is a very serious number, for any one is sufficient to bring execution to the convicted offender."
"Perhaps there is some way to clear this up without going so far, Magister Inhetep, Inspector Tuhorus," the Phonecian said calmly. "I believe that I might have information which will prove useful, if in return my status is recognized. . . ."
"I too am willing to cooperate fully, sirs," Jossur said firmly. "Perhaps information more detailed than my Hasurite counterpa
rt, for we Shamish are well-known for finding information and keeping accurate records of all that we learn."
The blocky little policeman was growing steadily more irate at this bargaining. "To withhold information is also a crime," he said threateningly.
"Does a condemned man fear death twice?" the Phonecian agent rejoined with a hard smile.
"As to the claims of my second-rate counterpart, Hal-Eloi Jossur, you may rest assured that anything I know has been documented to the fullest extent possible, for Hasur, as all Phonecian states, is meticulous in its record keeping, even of clandestine operations, shall we say."
Both of the accused spies looked from Tuhorus to the tall wizard-priest, for they knew all too well that Inhetep was there in his capacity as an Utchatu operative and had been a high-ranking operative in the secret service of Pharaoh. The magister inclined his head slightly. "I appreciate your uncoerced assistance, my lords. It is apparent to me that both of you were brought into this plot at a rather late date, at a time when the scheme was well-advanced. Please recount for chief Inspector Tuhorus and me all that you know. If we are satisfied that you were connected with nothing other than the financing of the prince-governor's treachery and had no hand in the rest, I believe you might be allowed to go free—forfeiting all of your money and possessions here, of course, and barred from ever setting foot on /Egyptian soil again, naturally."
"The whole of the money I brought for—" the Shamish agent began angrily, but then he cut himself off as he considered the alternative. If Barogesh had meant to object—for he too had brought millions and purportedly owned estates and goods in /Egypt, wealth which would be lost to him and Hasur—the sudden silence from his counterpart and the expression on the inspector's face kept him silent save for a very subdued, "I acquiesce."
"The two murders?" Tuhorus demanded through tight jaws.
Both men claimed to be absolutely mystified by the deaths of Governor Ram-f-amsu and the high priest. Each admitted to a smattering of magickal knowledge and the ability to utilize it operationally in their professional calling. Yet neither had any idea of what had slain Ram-f-amsu, and both were elsewhere and in company when Matiseth Chemres was killed. "It was almost as if the assassination were performed by the antithesis of dweomer," said Bal-Eloi Jossur. "My own protection showed not the slightest flow of heka." At that, the Phonecian spy concurred strongly, and it was evident to Tuhorus and the magister that truth was spoken by the two. Inhetep then queried them regarding the fire, and the result was the same. Neither the Shamish agent nor Barogesh had any knowledge of who set it or why it was done, although both suspected it was to destroy incriminating evidence. "The priest of Set was a weak link in Ram-f-amsu's chain," the Phonecian said, summing up his and Jossur's thoughts regarding Matiseth Chemres.
