Hasan backed off and left her sleeping. Of course the cap worked!

Chapter 13. Rescue.

The cap worked. He pa.s.sed the guard at the outer gate of the palace in the late afternoon sunlight, and the man stared directly through him. Hasan accidentally scuffed a pebble, and the guard glanced at it suspiciously and rubbed his eyes.

The great entrance-hall was empty. He almost collided with a servant in a pa.s.sage as he found his way to the throne room. He had to be more careful; invisibility did not mean he was secure from detection. If the Queen suspected, she could surround him with her guards so that he could not get away, then work some devastating counter-spell.

After several false alarms he located the proper room. He had to jam his hand against his mouth to stop the cry that threatened to burst out.

Sana was there, bound to the ladder by her hair, her clothing tattered and her face swollen and b.l.o.o.d.y. She gave evidence of life only by the tears streaking her cheeks and by her pained sighs. The two children sat silently under the ladder.

Only a suggestion of the breathtaking beauty of the bird-maiden remained. Every part of Sana's body was bruised and red, and blood matted her shredded clothing in several places. Her eyes were swollen almost shut, and she was no more elegant at this moment than Shawahi.

Hasan loved her more now than he ever had in Baghdad.

The world became dark before his face and the burning tears of remorse stung his eyes. He was responsible for this! If only he had been more discreet. . . .

When he recovered himself he saw that Sana had fainted from pain. The children were playing on the floor, not understanding the terrible significance of the things that had happened.

No one was near. Hasan removed his cap.

Nasir spied him and cried out, "O our father!"

Hasan immediately became invisible again, afraid that the shout had been heard. Sana's eyes opened . . . but n.o.body was in sight except the children.

"O our father!" Nasir repeated.

Sana's face crumpled. "O Hasan, Hasan," she cried, "my heart breaks and my vitals are rent asunder for grief that ever I wronged you!" Then, to the boys: "What brings your father to mind at such time?"

They could not answer, except to point where there was nothing. Sana wept. "I wish I could see what you see! How I curse myself now for my foolishness and coldness to my husband. How happy I was in Baghdad with Hasan and his dear mother. If only I had never learned that he had saved my feather-suit!"

Hasan had been about to reveal himself, but now he paused.

Sana's tears ran down and wetted the floor. She had no hand free to wipe them away, and the flies buzzed and settled on her wherever they chose. "I thought I could not be happy unless I returned to Wak," she said. "And once I had my suit, the wind took my fancy and I forgot my husband and flew across the sea. Then my father the King burned my suit so that I could not stray again, and I could not return to my love, though I sorely wanted to. Would I had died on that day!"

Hasan could no longer contain himself. He took the cap from his head and stood before her.

Sana saw him and let out a scream that resounded throughout the palace. "Hasan! How did you come here?"

Her eyes overflowed again, and Hasan wept too, in sympathy.

"O my dear husband!" she said after a moment. "Fate has had its course and the pen has written what was ordained when Time began; so the blessing of Allah be upon you, go and hide wherever you came from, lest my sister discover you and murder us all!"

"O my lady and princess," Hasan returned. "I have undertaken many adventures to come here, and either I will deliver you from this torment and carry you and my children back to my country despite the nose of your wicked sister, or I shall die." He reached for her bonds.

Sana smiled, and a little of her splendor returned, but she shook her head in negation. "O my love, it is far from the power of any except Allah Almighty to deliver me from this. Do not touch me. Save yourself and go your way and do not cast yourself into destruction, for my sister has conquering hosts none may withstand. Even if you brought me out of here and set foot beyond the city, how could we escape from the Isles and the perils of the neighboring lands? You must have seen the wonders and dangers of the road when you came here. Not even the jinn are safe. So do not add to my care by sacrificing yourself in a futile cause; save your life and leave me to my fate."

"By your life, O light of my eyes, I will not leave this place without you!" He made again to free her, but found the cords tight.

"O foolish man! You don't know what you're saying. No one can escape from these realms against the will of the Queen, though he has control over all the tribes of the jinn!"

"O lady of fair ones! I have control over-" He stopped. He had left the rod at Shawahi's house!

"Hasan!" But her gaze was beyond him. Someone was coming!

He jammed the cap on his head and was hidden from sight as the Queen stalked in. "O wanton, what man were you talking to?"

Sana concealed her amazement at Hasan's disappear- ance. "Who is with me that I could talk to, except these children?"

Angry, Nur al-Huda raised her whip and struck. Hasan lurched forward-then realized that without the rod he was powerless. One scream from the Queen would bring death upon them all, cap or not.

Helplessly he stood and watched the Queen beat Sana senseless again.

"Take her to a small cell," Nur al-Huda rapped. "I don't want to listen to her stupid self-pity any more." She strode out.

The servant-girls loosed Sana's bonds and worked her hair free of the ladder. Now that the Queen was out of sight, they were quite gentle.

"It's a shame to have this happen," one said. "She shouldn't have married a commoner, but still-"

"The Queen is jealous of her beauty and favor with the King," the other said in a conspiratorial tone.

"And that she should bear two fine sons by a handsome man, while the Queen is still a maid!"

They carried Sana to another chamber and set her down, binding her hands and feet but not putting her on the ladder again. One of them led Nasir and Mansur over, while Hasan followed quietly.

Sana revived and gazed about her blankly. "I thought I saw-" Then she remembered, and said no more. The servants, seeing her awake, made her as comfortable as they dared and departed.

Hasan removed his cap. Sana smiled, relieved that he had not been a figment of her delirium. "O my husband, none of this would have happened if I had not rebelled against you and left home without your permission. A woman never knows a man's worth until she loses him!"

"You weren't at fault," Hasan said, but he felt a warm glow. "I shouldn't have neglected you so carelessly. But now Allah has granted me the power to rescue you. Tell me-do you want to return to your father's home, in the hope he will have mercy upon you, or will you come with me to Baghdad again?"

"I have done evil, O my love-but if Allah reunites us, I will never again leave you or disagree with you. No, never!" But as soon as she said it, she was weeping again. "Go away, Hasan. You don't know the perils of this land. You can't help me now!"

The palace girls heard her and came to the chamber, but Hasan was not in sight.

"d.a.m.n the Queen!" one exclaimed. "She shouldn't torture her own sister this way."

"There's nothing we can do," her companion replied. "If we even give her a drink of water, our heads will roll in the morning. We'll just have to leave her here for the night."

Night! Hasan's heart leapt as the girls went out. Soon it would be dark. Then he could lead his family out safely.

He sat beside her and told Sana of his adventures, while the shadows intensified. When the palace was dark and quiet he untied her hands and feet and kissed her between the eyes and embraced her . . . very gently.

"How long we have longed for reunion," he said, stroking her hair while she sobbed in relief. "Are we asleep or awake?" Then he set her on her feet and cau- tioned her to silence. He put on his cap-it seemed to make no difference, in the dark-and picked up Nasir while she carried Mansur.

The throne room was empty. They moved through it in silence, still afraid of discovery, though the entire palace seemed to be unattended. A single guard stood in the entrance hall, leaning against a stone column, and that was all.

Hasan whispered another word of caution and squared his cap. One guard was sufficient to ruin everything, if he could not be efficiently subdued. Hasan had no weapon, but did have a length of the cord used to bind Sana. A loop of that around the guard's neck- A lamp flickered in the alcove beside the sentry. Hasan was pleased to observe no shadow behind himself. He was still invisible. He approached the guard, raised the cord between his two hands- The guard emitted a great snort. Hasan backed off, afraid the man had discovered him. He waited, poised. The guard snorted again, but did not move. His head rested against the column and his hands fell slackly. Hasan studied him with suspicion.

A minute pa.s.sed.

The guard was asleep! Fully armed and standing-but snorting fitfully against the wall! Hasan hastened back to Sana and gave instructions. Then, while he stood alertly beside the unalert guard, glad that no violence was neces- sary after all, she and the boys tiptoed past.

No guard stood at the front gate. The one a.s.signed to this post had retired, apparently, and locked up for the night.

Hasan came up short. "There is no majesty and there is no might except in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" he swore. He beat one hand against the other in frustration. "O dispeller of hopes! I thought of everything but this! now none of us can escape the palace!"

Sana wept with disappointment. "Now there is nothing we can do but kill ourselves and thus escape this awful trap. Otherwise we will all be terribly tortured tomorrow."

But as they stood before the gate exclaiming in distress, a voice called from the other side.

"Hasan of Ba.s.sorah!"

Amazed, he did not dare to answer. Had the Queen discovered them already?

"I will not open to you or your wife unless you promise to obey my command!" the voice continued.

Sana clutched him, speechless with terror, and Hasan himself was tempted to run back into the palace. Someone or something certainly had found them out.

"What's the matter with you?" the voice persisted quer- ulously. "Do you lack the courtesy to answer a poor old woman?"

"Shawahi!" Hasan cried, weak with relief. "O mistress of Calamities, we promise to do whatever you bid. Only hurry and open the door before the guard wakes and comes upon us."

A dry laugh. "Who do you think cast the spell of sleep over that guard and all the servants too?"

The gate clanked and swung open. Shawahi was there, riding astride an enormous jar of red crockery with a rope of palm-fiber about its neck. It was suspended in mid-air and quivered like a colt.

Shawahi cackled at their astonishment. "O my children, I know forty modes of magic, by the least of which I could make this city into a dashing sea, swollen with clashing billows, and ensorcel each damsel within to a fish and each man to a crab, and all before dawn!"

"But why didn't you do that before?" Hasan asked her.

The old woman looked abashed. "The Queen has counterspells, and I'm long out of practice."

Hasan did not pursue the issue. He realized that few illusions were permitted the aged. Perhaps Shawahi had been a potent sorceress in the flush of her youth-but only minor spells were available to her today.

"What is the promise you demanded for opening the gate?" he inquired, closing it carefully behind them.

"You must swear to take me with you, and not leave me to the vengeance of that whorish harlot the Queen. Whatever happens to you shall happen to me; if you do not escape, I shall perish with you. I would never survive the torments of that abominable woman, that tribadist, that-"

Sana embraced her. "O yes, my mother. You shall come with us. We know how wonderful you are."

"Follow me!" Shawahi shouted, giving her magical steed a slap with the rein.

The jar bucked and dropped to the ground, depositing her in a heap. She cursed and kicked at it, but her mount was lifeless.

"That spell was guaranteed for a full day's normal use!" she complained.

Hasan suppressed a smile and helped her to her feet. "It may have spoiled, in all the years you stored it," he said. "Let me get my rod and we'll have all the magic we need."

Shawahi scrambled to the jar and reached inside. "Why do you think I came after you?" She drew out the rod. "Take off that cap so I can give it to you!"

He kept forgetting that he was invisible. He rectified the matter and accepted the rod. "Let's remove ourselves a s.p.a.ce before we experiment."

In the morning, weary but far from the city, they camped at the foot of a mighty chasm. Sheer rock rose vertically two hundred feet or more, and the walls curved in and out so that it was impossible to sight along the length of the path.

"The Queen won't find us here!" Shawahi announced with satisfaction.

"Bring out your rod, Hasan."

He obliged, wishing she had phrased that request a little differently. He held it in his hands for a moment, studying the intricate workmanship and the seven complex patterns engraved along its length. Now that the time had come, he was distinctly nervous. What were the words he was sup- posed to say?

"Come on, lad. We have very little time."

Shamed by Shawahi's rebuke, Hasan lifted the rod and struck it against the earth. "Ho, you servants of these names, appear to me and acquaint me with your conditions!"

The earth shook and cracked open, and sulphurous bil- lows of smoke roiled up. Had he said the proper words?

The air cleared. Seven enormous ifrits stood before him, their feet as big as Shawahi's jar and their heads reaching high into the air. As one, they dropped to their knees and kissed the ground. "Here we are at your service, O our lord and ruler. What is your command? One word from you, and we will dry up the seas and remove mountains from their places!"

Hasan clutched the rod tightly and somehow held his ground. "Who are you and what are your races and tribes and clans?"

They kissed the earth again and spoke with one voice, so that the echoes reverberated throughout the canyon. "We are seven kings, each ruling over seven tribes of the jinn of all types, and numerous lesser orders, flyers, and divers, dwellers in mountains and wastes and valleys and haunters of the seas. So bid us do whatever you will, for we are your servants and slaves, and whoever possesses this rod has dominion over all our necks, and we owe him obedience."

Much of this pa.s.sed Hasan by, though he got its import, largely because the rolling echoes confused the multiple sound of their speech and left him struggling for the meaning.

"How about showing me your tribes and hosts?"

"O our lord, if we did that, we would be afraid for your safety, for the name of our hosts is legion and they come in divers forms and fashions and figures. Some are without heads and others without bodies, while still others are in the likeness of ravening beasts. There is no room here for them all, and-"

They spoke in septuple unison, and he still could hardly understand them. He had a bright idea. "Do any of you have in your tribe a firedrake named Dahnash?"

"Be he ifrit, jinn or demon?"

"Ifrit. A flying one."

They consulted reverberantly. "O master, we have seven hundred and fifteen flying firedrakes named Dahnash."

"Seven hun-!" Hasan tried again. "The one I want did service for the Shaykh Abu al-Ruwaysh several months ago."

They consulted again. "Master, only six flying ifrits named Dahnash have done service for the Black Shaykh in the past year."

"This one has an abominable sense of humor-"