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shoved him back into the other man, backed away, jumped.
First try, his still half-numb arm betrayed him. He slipped back. He jumped
again. As he went up, the Dartar's companion buried a knife in his right calf
and tried to pull him back down. He kicked the guy in the head with his right
foot, pulled himself onto the roof. He yanked the knife out of his calf,
dragged the brat all the way onto the roof so nobody could grab a leg and pull
him back down.
Azel heard nothing stirring below. He lay there panting and hurting for a
minute, till he heard cautious voices approaching in the darkness. Then he got
himself up, picked up the brat, and started moving.
He ignored the fires in his cheek and ear, his calf and side. He told himself
he was too good to let a little pain distract him.
When the uproar broke out outside, Zenobel growled, "What the hell?" and
headed for the door.
"Hold it!" bel-Sidek snapped. "Kill the lamps. Whatever it is, we don't want
it getting interested in us."
By the time the lamps were out and bel-Sidek had gotten to the door and had
opened it a crack, the uproar was that of a battle. Bel-Sidek said, "It's a
band of Dartars slaughtering a bunch of Qushmarrahans."
Carza asked, "Why?"
"How should I know?" bel-Sidek was troubled.
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Zenobel asked, "What are Dartars doing in Char Street at this time of night?"
"Why don't you go ask?" bel-Sidek backed away so the others could take turns
peeking. Zenobel ended up being the sentinel at the crack who reported to the
rest, sitting there in darkness. "They've gotten a torch lit. Collecting up
the dead and wounded. Looks like three prisoners and seven dead. None of them
Dartars. Make that eight dead. They just brought in another one. Looks like
they're getting ready to question the survivors. Some more around a doorway
down there, talking. Funny. Nobody's come out to see what's going on."
Bel-Sidek said, "It isn't strange, here where the night belongs to the beasts
of the maze. Close it. They aren't interested in us. Let's keep it that way.
Light a lamp, King. Just one. Can't anybody think of an alternative to Hanno
bel-Kaifa?"
Salom Edgit asked, "Why don't you trust him?"
"I trust him, Salom. That's not the problem. I don't like him. The dislike is
so strong I think it would affect my ability to work with him."
Zenobel took another peek outside. He planned to sneak another in a minute. He
held the door closed with his hand instead of latching it.
It exploded inward.
The Dartars helped Aaron out of the alley. By the time they reached Char
Street he could move under his own power.
Mumbling, he invited them to bring Yoseh into his home so they would have
light to look him over.
Aaron stopped in the doorway. A Dartar with bare saber stood guard inside. The
fallen invaders had been removed. Laella, battered but apparently all right,
knelt over her mother, in front of the hearth. Across the room Mish sat
against the wall and held Stafa tight against her breast. She sobbed softly.
Laella looked up. Aaron shook his head. Her face turned to stone. She rose,
came to examine his injuries. He moved aside so the Dartars could bring Yoseh
in. They invited themselves to bring all their injured. Laella did not
protest.
She touched his face. He winced, asked, "How is she?"
"I think she's hurt inside." There was an edge of hysteria in her voice.
"Take it easy. What about you? How about Stafa and Mish?"
"We're all right." She leaned against him. "What did we ever do to those men,
Aaron? How could they do that?"
"I don't know. I'm going to find out." He pushed her away gently, went to his
toolbox, and took out a heavy, bronze-headed maul.
"What are you going to do?"
"Go break bel-Sidek's other leg, then twist on it till he tells me the truth."
And he actually meant it when he said it, though it sounded absurd a second
later.
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"Aaron ..."
"They've got Arif, Laella. Just like they've got Zouki. I can't stand still."
He started for the doorway. On his way he tapped Yoseh's two brothers. "Come
on."
Bel-Sidek was completely boggled by the apparition in the doorway. The
carpenter looked like he had been beaten half to death. He looked incredibly
ferocious with a huge hammer in his hand. "Aaron?"
"I want my son back, bel-Sidek. Your men took him, and killed his grandmother,
and if you don't get him back to me I'm going to see that whatever is left of
you when I get done hangs from a Herodian gibbet."
Bel-Sidek felt the bite of fear. He understood the threat. The carpenter knew
or suspected enough to do the movement irreparable harm. "Calm down, Aaron. I
don't know what you're talking about. I don't have your son."
"Just like you don't know anything about Naszif s son, Zouki, but you can show
him to Naszif anytime you want to make him do something."
What would the General have done in this situation?
The carpenter was getting a little nervous, his crazy anger deserting him. He
had not expected to break into a room full of hard-faced men. He did not know
what to do next.
He stepped forward, raising the hammer threateningly.
Zenobel, Carza, and Dabdahd responded. Zenobel had murder in his eye.
Bel-Sidek said, "Wait."
A Dartar stepped through the doorway, set the tip of a saber against Zenobel's
throat. Another followed, threatened King and Carza. They backed away
carefully.
The first Dartar asked, "Is the old one the man who knows, Aaron?"
"I think so. If not him, one of them."
Bel-Sidek started. The carpenter had guessed who they were. But he had not
betrayed them. Yet. "Aaron, what do you want?"
"You know: I want my son back. And I want you and yours to leave me and mine
alone. Forever."
Or he would tell the Dartars where they could scoop up the whole ruling
council of the Living.
A voice from outside said, "Nogah! Troops are coming."
The Dartar with the saber pushed Zenobel back among the others. He looked
bel-Sidek in the eye. "I see your face, old man. And I will remember it." He
raised a hand, removed his face cloth, revealed a gruesomely mutilated visage.
"You have till the fog rises this high tomorrow night. Then I come for you."
He turned, gently urged the carpenter out the door. The other Dartar backed
out behind them, closing the door.
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"Silence!" bel-Sidek snapped, before they could start. "Do any of you not
understand what just happened?"
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