"Even if she were a princess, like us?"

"She couldn't be like you. An infidel!"

"And very beautiful?"

"No!"

"How about a Buddhist maiden?"

"No!" "A Christian?" Rose teased.

Hasan choked. "A Christian! That's worst of all."

The two girls laughed. "Worse even than fire worship?"

Hasan suspected a trap, but they gave him no time to antic.i.p.ate it. "Didn't you say you were going to marry Bahram's daughter?"

"Not after I found out about him," he replied uncom- fortably. "Anyway, I don't think he has a daughter."

Sixth shook her head. "That man has been around. He may never have married, but he might have a daughter somewhere." This was the height of insult to the Persian.

"Well, I wouldn't marry her."

Rose studied him impishly. "She would be as fair as he is ugly, and a sorceress, of course. She could cast a spell over you and make your yard stand up, just like that." She made a magical gesture.

By this time the remaining sisters had appeared, and Hasan hastily changed the subject. "I thought you hated Bahrain, after what he called you."

"What did he call us?" Eldest demanded.

"He made us all out to be ghouls and demons and devils!" Rose cried indignantly, remembering.

Eldest reddened. "We must surely slay him!"

"What connection did you have with him?" Hasan wanted to know. "He wouldn't tell me."

The princesses grinned. "He came here the first year we moved in," Eldest said. "He must have thought the palace was still deserted. He had this handsome young Moslem with him, as fair as the moon, all tied up. We freed the young man and drove off the magician, but next morning the lad was gone. Bahram must have tricked him into going on to the Mountain of Clouds. Foolish boy."

Hasan remembered the bones, but did not comment. He had been as easily deceived.

Hasan was sitting under the trees by the side of a fountain, idly looking down into the valley while Rose babbled merrily, when motion attracted his attention.

"Look-someone is coming."

"Get out of sight, brother!" Rose said. "It might be our father's party."

Hasan, in these months of relaxation, had almost forgot- ten the inherent liability of his position. He obeyed with alacrity, diving behind the fountain.

"No-those are camels," Rose announced, relieved.

Hasan stiffened. "Camels! That's Bahram the magi- cian!" Suddenly the time he had spent in blissful company with the princesses was as nothing; the Persian was back, and revenge was a holy duty.

"I'll tell my sisters," Rose said, "and we'll arm our- selves and cut him down."

"No! I must do it myself!"

She looked at him with surprise, but did not argue.

That night they watched the magician's party camp somewhat beyond the palace. There were three camels- where did the replacement come from?-and a young man of surpa.s.sing favor. But Bahram cuffed and beat him, and the lad was in further difficulty because his hands were bound before him. He had to eat and drink by raising both hands together. His clothing, once elegant, had been soiled and torn from incessant use. Hasan saw himself, as he had been a year ago, in this handsome captive, and was hard put not to cry out in protest.

But Eldest was wiser than he. "Wait until he stops at the Mountain of Clouds," she said. "Then we may come upon them while the magician is distracted, and he will not have time to harm the boy. If he saw us coming, he would surely use the Moslem as a hostage."

"All right. But I must be the one to kill him."

"Of course. Only have patience, brother, while we make arrangements."

"It is my right," he said uncertainly, put off by her ready agreement. "Allah has granted me revenge."

Eldest smiled with understanding, and Rose led him away.

Hasan spent a restless night, and even Rose could not pacify him. He remembered the first time Bahram had occasioned such turmoil, in Ba.s.sorah, with the dream of easy gold. Then came the first night as prisoner on board the ship, smarting from the cruel beating, bound for he knew not where and terrified for his life. Then that deso- late night on the Mountain of Clouds, foully betrayed a second time by the magician and left to sojourn with the rotting bones of his predecessors.

And now the final night, precursor to revenge.

Next morning they brought out armor and fitted Hasan in a manner befitting King David. Under his tunic he wore a coat of mail, covering his body down to his waist and elbows. On his head rested an iron cap with bright feather headdress. He slung the jeweled scabbard of a sharp short-sword over his right shoulder. He rode upon an elephant.

It was noon before they were ready to ride. Sixth stayed reluctantly behind to watch the palace, and the rest rode with Hasan toward the Mountain of Clouds. They, too, were armed, and he could tell by the manner Eldest se- lected her arrows that she expected to use them. The princesses did not have quite the confidence in his prowess they professed.

Hasan was sick with impatience at the delays this prepa- ration had caused-but he also could not conceal from himself the fact that he was still afraid of the magician. Thus he both chafed at and welcomed the pa.s.sing hours that postponed personal decision, and fasted more because of an unsettled stomach than to obtain blessing from Allah.

As the elephant picked its way through the jungle with dextrous speed, reducing a day's journey to a matter of hours, Hasan had time to regret his insistence upon his sacred duty of revenge. True, this was in strict accord with the word of the Prophet, and he could hardly consider himself to be a man if he failed in this-but he was not a killer, however bold his fancy armor might make him appear. How could he take a human life?

Then he thought of Bahram's crimes against himself and countless other youths, and rage burned away the doubt. It was certainly no crime to slay such an idolater!

And yet again he wavered, wondering whether the Persian really did have a daughter who would thus be rendered an orphan. Was it fair to a beautiful damsel to- Eldest watched him with compa.s.sionate but narrowed eyes, and fingered her stout bow. Hasan was ashamed, but could not say why.

They came upon Bahram's encampment in mid-afternoon. Two camels grazed at a distance; the third had already been slaughtered and gutted. A fire smoldered where the magician had baked his smelly cakes. The pretty youth was still bound, his frightened eyes peering over the gag as though it were a veil.

Bahram's high voice could be heard from a distance, cursing and threatening the captive. "Get in this hide, O cowardly cur of the gallows! Did I bring you all the way here to have you balk now? I will only release you when you agree to perform the simple task I ask; then you shall be free for the rest of your life. I guarantee this! By the Fire and the Light, I will beat you senseless and throw you in the carca.s.s bound, if you will not do what I demand!"

The magician's back was to their party, and he was so transported by his simulated tantrum that he was not alert. Hasan forgot his fear, slid off the elephant, and ran up behind Bahram. "Hold your hand, O accursed!"

The Persian whirled around, amazed.

"O enemy of Allah and foe of the Moslems!" Hasan cried, almost slashing himself with the sword in his anxi- ety to draw it from its scabbard. "O dog! O traitor! O infidel of the flame. O you that walk a wicked path, worshiping the evil fire and light and swearing by the shade and the heat!"

Bahram's tone was abruptly mellow. "O my son, how did you escape? Who brought you to earth again?"

Hasan refused to be moved. "He delivered me who has now appointed me to take your life. I will torture you the way you tortured me, and all the other innocent youths. O miscreant! O atheist! You have fallen into your own trap, and your evil fire will never save you now!" He raised the sword, aware that he was talking too much instead of acting.

Bahram, surprisingly, did not draw back. He stepped forward. "By Allah, O my son, O Hasan-you are dearer to me than my own eyes. I called to you to come down off the mountain, and when you did not answer I thought you were dead. How glad I am that you are safe."

Hasan drew the sword back to strike. "Don't try to fool me with lies about your concern for my welfare. You broke the sacred bond of bread and salt!" But he was still postponing action. . . .

Bahram's eyes were wide and innocent. "O my son, how can you blame me for what you thought I did, when you yourself have done no less?"

Hasan's sword wavered. "What?"

"Look!" The magician whirled, removed his turban, drew out a package of powder and walked toward the fire.

"Stop him!" Rose cried. Hasan had forgotten the sisters standing not far behind him. "He intends sorcery!"

But still Hasan hesitated, and while he watched, Bahram threw the powder into the glowing embers.

The flame roared up. Smoke puffed out in a yellow ma.s.s, sweetly scented and forming a billowing ball. "Look, Hasan!" the magician cried, pointing.

A picture formed within the haze. Hasan recognized a house-his own house in Ba.s.sorah, but with a difference. A tomb was set up in the middle of it, and before it crouched a woman, a hag so wasted away that her skin was a mult.i.tude of yellow wrinkles and her black shawl fit her shrunken body like a tent.

It was his mother.

The image vanished. "How can you talk of bread and salt when you dwell here in luxury, while your own dear mother mourns this very moment before your tomb?"

Hasan stood bemused. How indeed could he have been so callous toward the one who loved him most? He had never even thought of her these months.

The magician was before him, reaching out a skinny hand. "Now give me your weapon, son, and we shall-"

Hasan's defensive instinct took over. "No!" he cried, bringing the blade up in an attempt to ward the man off.

But Bahram was already leaping forward, the sympa- thetic mask discarded. The point of the rising sword pushed into his throat, and so desperate was his leap that the magician impaled himself upon it and severed the tendons of his own neck. Blood spurted over hand and blade.

"Magnificent, brother!" Eldest cried, hauling him out of the way as the corpse fell toward him. "Never have I seen a neater stroke! He didn't even have a chance to curse you before he died."

Hasan looked upon what he had wrought and felt the bile of his stomach distending his cheek. Eldest closed immediately and slapped him sharply across the mouth, concealing her action in a grandiose embrace. Hasan swal- lowed involuntarily. "You're a hero; act like one!" she barked into his ear.

Then they were all about him, congratulating him on his valor and prowess and marveling at his composure in the face of danger.

"O Hasan," Rose cried, "you have done a magnificent deed and avenged our honor and satisfied the thirst for vengeance that pleases the King of the Omnipotent!"

"I have?" But in the face of their unanimous acclaim and evident disregard for the horror of the slaughter, Hasan could do no less than act the part. He strode over to the youth and untied him. "Everything here is yours," he said, while the young man gaped. "You may come with us or take the camels, whichever you wish."

Hasan opened the magician's pack, took out the kettle- drum, and beat it with the strap. The two remaining camels came up immediately. "Do you know how to control these beasts?" he asked the youth. "Can you find your way back to the ship? You own it now, for the idolator's soul has returned to the fire. Pay off the crew and sell the mer- chandise you find aboard and you'll be a wealthy man."

The youth mounted a camel and left without a word. "I can't blame him for being afraid of us," Hasan remarked, watching him go. "After being tortured by the magician, and seeing the vision in the fire-"

"What vision, brother?" Rose inquired.

"Why, the house with my mother in mourning, and the tomb in the middle. Didn't you see it?"

Rose shook her head, looking at him with concern. "I saw nothing but a nasty cloud of smoke, all ugly and yellow. It's a good thing it didn't get in your eyes and blind you, so that Bahrain could escape."

Hasan glanced at the others, the forgotten kettledrum dangling from his hand. None had seen the vision.

"Let's dump this corpse in the camel-carca.s.s," he said. "This time the roc will have a meal, if it can chew it!"

Chapter 5. Bird Maiden.

Hasan soon forgot the vision in the excitement of the palace celebration. After all, it had been a conjuration of an evil magician, a sight no one else had seen, and was probably only a false trick to stay his vengeance. But the ploy had failed. Now he felt like a man! But a second trial of his strength was soon to follow. A cloud of dust rose from the plain beyond the palace.

"That's our father's host!" Rose said. "O Hasan, run to your room and conceal yourself-or if you prefer, go down into the gardens and hide among the trees and vines, for it is death if they find you here."

Hasan wasted no time. He went to his chamber and locked himself in.

He lurked behind the parapet adjoining his room and watched the cloud rise up until it darkened the welkin. Before long it opened, and beneath it was a conquering host like a surging sea, marching troops advancing on the palace.

For three days he suffered through the perpetual clamor of foreign troops being entertained, mad with jealousy because they ate at the banquet tables while he devoured sc.r.a.ps smuggled up by Rose; because their coa.r.s.e voices laughed in the company of the seven princesses, while he had only stolen moments with one. It had seemed his own palace for so long that he suffered when reminded so blatantly that it was not; he didn't like being an imposter who had to hide lest his life be instantly forfeit. He who had killed the magician!

On the fourth morning Rose came to him with worse news. "We have to leave you, brother, for a while," she said.

"Leave! Why?"

"One of the kings is getting married, and we are ex- pected to attend the festival. So daddy has summoned us home, so we can enjoy it all."

Hasan groaned. "How long will you be gone?"

"It may be two months."

"Two months!"

"But we'll be back just as soon as we can make it, Hasan. And you can stay right here in the palace, and no one will bother you, and everything will be all right. I'll give you all the keys."

"Keys!" he muttered, but there was nothing he could do.

She produced a ma.s.sive chain of them. "But Hasan-"

"Yes?"

"You can go anywhere you want in the palace, except one door. I beseech you, for myself and for my sisters- your sisters-don't open that door. There is nothing there you need, and I'm afraid there will be a great calamity if-"

Hasan smiled. "Don't worry. I'll behave!"

She kissed him. "Keep your eyes cool, brother. Farewell."

She left, and within hours everyone was gone. Hasan watched dolefully as the great party marched across the plain, leaving nothing but drifting dust.