She's worried about Percheron's security.

Correct.

I see. I hate Lazar. I hope he is dead.

I know. I know everything about you, Tariq.

Tariq uncomfortably brushed aside Maliz's assertion. Show me more.

What do you want to see now?

The harem proper. The girls.

Tsk-tsk, Vizier, Maliz admonished. Then look, he said. And Tariq was moving through the empty halls of the harem.

It's beautiful, he gushed.

Always the best is hidden, Maliz said, laughing. The girls are asleep.

Except one, Tariq replied as he spotted Odalisque Ana sitting on the bench of a window. Can you eavesdrop on her thoughts?

I have not tried. I can if you wish, but not everyone is as open to me as you have been.

No, show me the Zar instead, Tariq demanded.

He was instantly aware of Boaz, also slumped at a window in his suite. Nearby sat the dwarf.

Another person I hate is Pez.

He is no one, not worthy of your hatred, the demon reassured Tariq. They watched Pez suddenly cock his large head to one side.

Tariq gave a sound of disgust. As usual, he's not paying attention. The Zar is talking to him. This is so typical of the ingrate.

Now they watched Pez stand, his body tensed.

"Now what's wrong?" the Zar asked.

The dwarf began to leap around the furniture, singing madly.

"Pez, stop," Boaz urged. "No one isa""

Pez's sudden high-pitched squeal shocked the young Zar into silence.

"Must write, must write!" Pez began to moan.

"Write what?"

Boaz and his two invisible visitors watched the dwarf scrawl something onto a tablet of paper. Then he coughed at it, repeatedly. He sat on it and farted.

Tariq groaned. I truly despise Joreb for bringing this troll into our lives.

He's harmless but I take your point. It's a pity that the son thinks so highly of him. Maliz watched Pez suddenly rise again, lift the crumpled sheet of paper, and fling it at the astounded Zar.

"The birds are pecking me," he shrieked at Boaz. "My flesh is burning," he howled, running out the door.

I just hope he has a seizure and dies sometime soon, Tariq said caustically.

Maliz said nothing, watched Boaz read the note absently, and then, curiously, set it alight from a nearby candle. The parchment burned, the Zar watching it disintegrate to ash. Both Tariq and Maliz observed how Boaz suddenly looked angry. Striding to the door, the young Zar demanded one of his guards to enter.

"Yes, High One?" the man said, bowing and straightening with a concerned frown.

"You tell Pez that if he ever writes such obscenity to me again, I will bar him from entering my rooms. Make it clear to him, will you?"

The man nodded, stunned by the outburst. "He never takes any notice, Great One."

"Tell him anyway," Boaz ordered, flinging the door closed behind the retreating guard.

Oh, that's interesting, Tariq said. Perhaps a falling-out between our Zar and the fool. Maybe the half-wit went too far this time.

It appears so, Maliz admitted. I'd love to know what he wrote that so upset the Zar.

Finally, show me riches, Maliz, Tariq said, no longer interested in eavesdropping on the royal apartments.

As you wish. Is this our final journey?

Yes. You have convinced me of your magical power. All I need now is to see some of the treasures you've promised and we will seal our bargain.

BOAZ FOUND PEZ, as instructed, in the Golden Garden, a private courtyard to which no one but the Zar himself had access. Sometimes it was used to entertain one of his favorites or to impress a new odalisque, but mainly it was a place for peace and reflection away from the palace life.

"What was that all about?" Boaz hissed.

"Forgive me, Boaz," Pez said, sounding unusually rattled. "I had to get us away from there."

"What in Zarab's name happened?"

The dwarf shook his large head. "I don't really know, in truth, but something chilled me."

"I don't understand."

"No, neither do I. I think something or someone was with us in your chamber."

"You jest."

"Do I look like I'm trying to entertain?" Pez snarled.

"No, you look frightened. I've never seen you like this. You think someone was eavesdropping? But where? There aren't many places to hide in that particular room."

"No, I don't mean like that. I mean someone was with us in spirit."

Boaz raised his eyebrows in mock defeat. "Oh, I see. An invisible eavesdropper."

"Don't mock me, Boaz. I did what I did for our own protection. Someone was listening, I tell you. I don't know who it was or why or even how they were doing it, but my Lore skills picked it up instantly."

Boaz looked chastened. "Sorry, Pez. I don't mean to make fun. It's just so hard to believe."

"Zar Boaz, you witnessed and experienced firsthand the power of the Lore. You must trust me when I use it as protection for us."

"I do trust you."

"Then know that whoever was listening to our conversation was not friendly. There was something dark and malevolent in its presence."

"I can't believe this," Boaz said, standing from the fountain edge he'd been sitting on. "What do you expect me to do?"

"Nothing! Just don't ignore my warnings or devalue them by not taking them seriously. Someone who is not your friend visited you today, Boaz, and it was done using magic. From now on, we must be on our guard."

"Well, if I can't see or hear this person, how will I know when I must be careful?"

"You won't but I will. If I should behave as I did tonight, you'll know I am warning you."

"All rightaare we safe here now?"

"If I'm discovereda""

"What would it matter, in truth, to anyone in the palace?" Boaz asked quietly but not aggressively. "What could anyone do if it was revealed that you have your wits about you, that this has been a trick you've pulled for years?"

"It's not the people of the palace I worry about, my Zar," Pez replied cryptically. "Come, the feeling of being observed is gone. You can return to your chambers to sleep."

Boaz sighed. "I won't be doing much sleeping until I hear about Lazar." But he followed Pez anyway as the dwarf crawled out of the Golden Garden braying like a donkey.

"ALL RIGHT, HOW?" Tariq demanded, his mind still reeling from the riches he had seen. Maliz had shown him the hidden treasure of the legendary Zar Fasha, who had insisted on his corpse being entombed in the desert along with his fabulous wealth and entire harem. The people of the harem, unlike their Zar, had been very much alive when entombed; their twisted skeletons, jaws open in agony, were testimony to the desperate way in which they'd perished, screaming to be let free of their deep prison beneath the sands. Tariq had barely noticed the people, howevera"all he could focus on was the treasure itself, imagining the decadent way he would soon be living. "Although I've never understood how it is that you mean to share my body," he added carefully.

Maliz was back in his wizened guise of the near-toothless man. "I have explained everything. You want what I can give you. Now either you take what I'm offering or you leave and never come back. I can find another."

Another what? Tariq wondered, his mind racing. Another fool?

Another host, came the deep-voiced reply in his mind. Let me be your guest, he offered, more gently now. And I will teach you and show you all that you have desired these years gone. I will keep my promise.

Have you always used another?

Yes. When I am dormant I deliberately seek old, unremarkable bodies to live within. They don't require much effort from me and they can move around without drawing too much attention to themselves. This one is my favorite so far. The demon laughed nastily.

"What do you mean, dormant?"

Maliz gave a despairing sigh and spoke in the old man's voice again. "Must I explain everything? Surely you know your history. I rise when Iridor does."

"Iridor?" Tariq asked, clearly baffled.

"The Messenger."

"Whose Messenger?"

"Hers! The GoddessaLyana!"

Tariq couldn't stop the nervous laugh that escaped. "Lyana? Are you mad? I know Maliz was a great sorcerer oncea"legend says he made some terrible bargain with Zaraba"but Lyana is just someone the priestesses of old fabricated to win favor."

"You are the one fooled. Lyana is as real as I am! I sense her coming and I know Iridor has returned. He is cunning; he can hide himself better than she can. I must find them and destroy them."

"Is that your bargain with Zarab? Everlasting life?"

The old man nodded, his vile grin wide on the ravaged face. "Life everlasting has its advantages, Vizier. You can be part of it."

"What do you mean?"

A weak groan issued from the darkness of the building. Both Vizier and demon ignored it. "Youth. I can provide you with it along with all the other promises I've made."

"You mean my body can actually become younger as well as looking younger?" Tariq asked, astonished.

"You can be anything I want you to be. You just have to tell me," Maliz answered, his tone seductive. "We are a partnership. You lend me your bodya"for a while. I bring all your dreams to life. I am not interested in your pursuits, Tariq. I have my own mission and the two don't have to conflict. We just help each other achieve our desires."

"As simple as that," Tariq said flatly.

"It need not be any more complicated."

"And then you will leave my bodyawhen you have achieved your dreams?"

"Of course," Maliz assured him. "I have no need of it beyond such time."

Tariq hesitated, tempted but still wary. "Why don't you just enter a young man's body, then?"

Maliz's patience was running out. "You can only make a bargain with someone who wants what you're offering. You were an easy choice. I need someone with intelligence, with some wisdom of years, and with a desire to help me as much as I can help him." Tariq nodded, close to giving in now. "I find the young too selfish, self-absorbed. They don't aim high enough these days. They want everything given to them. They are lazy. Not like you, Vizier. You've worked hard to make something of yourself and it's fitting that your efforts be recognized. You are everything I have searched for. Will you not invite me in, brother?"

"All right, Maliz. I give you permission." Tariq capitulated, hardly daring to breathe now that he'd uttered the words.

The demon was silent a moment, then said, triumph in his voice, "You must say this: Maliz, come into me. Take my soul."

Had Tariq thought through the careful phrasing, he might have sensed the trap, but his thoughts were swollen with notions of power and grandeur. Without thinking, he repeated the phrase dutifully.

And felt the spine-tingling entry of Maliz into his being and heard the cold, malevolent laugh of the demon as he gleefully betrayed Tariq. In the end, the person who had been the Vizier didn't even have the strength to make a fight of it. It was probably the shock of discovering Maliz's treachery, and all the lies that had been spun simply to have the Vizier's body for his own, that left him unable to do anything but capitulate to the mighty force that was the demon Maliz. He gave a sad scream of impotent rage as his soul was shredded and spat out through his own mouth in a red mist of surrender.

Maliz smiled, Tariq's mouth stretching wide. The demon had risen.

22.