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easily to strangers anywhere, he reminded himself.
Then there was the matter of ibn-Tariq and Baiju. The fact that they both had
been on the caravan was now somewhat explained by the fact that there seemed
to be some kind of political business between them with this matter of the
Mongols of the Golden Horde coming down from the north into Lebanon and the
attitude toward this of either the Mamelukes, or the Egyptian caliphate-or
perhaps the last two were one, and ibn-Tariq represented them both.
It could be that both ibn-Tariq and Baiju might have prices of their own to
demand for the freedom of Sir Geoffrey. Baiju had not simply supplied them
with camels and brought them from the Assassins fortress to this city with
such speed because he was a generous soul.
Nor, in spite of his repetition of the word  friends, was ibn-Tariq simply a
fountain of generosity. Moreover, ibn-Tariq was entirely too well connected,
and in exactly the right place at the right time too often, for Jim s present
peace of mind. Could it be possible that ibn-Tariq had somehow already known
they were searching for Sir Geoffrey?
But if so, how? And, if so, had he planned to lead them to Geronde s father,
so that he could set some price on his assistance in getting Sir Geoffrey into
their hands?
It was not beyond the bounds of possibility that ibn-Tariq, who seemed the
most polished of politicians and possibly one of the most clever individuals
that Jim had met here in the fourteenth century, had gotten word from Cyprus
of an English knight searching for Geoffrey. But why should that interest the
Egyptian?
But if he had such an interest, having learned this much, ibn-Tariq could
then have joined the caravan and tried to pump Jim for further information.
Failing in this, he might then have somehow arranged with Hasan ad-Dimri to
have Brian and Jim kidnapped and brought into the White Palace.
But could he have foreseen their escape from there?
Baiju, according to what the Mongol had said, had learned from abu al-Qusayr
where to wait for Jim and Brian and on what day and at what time. That
suggested something very strongly. Which was that abu al-Qusayr had known
ahead of time they would be taken to the White Palace, but then escape by the
tunnel. If he had somehow known this-he was a senior legal magician, after
all-though he pointedly mentioned scrying would not show the future-he might
have told Baiju to provide some help for Jim. That was the sort of thing
Carolinus might do...
Jim s head began to spin. I ll stop thinking about it, he told himself, and
come back to it later.
In his wanderings around the room, Jim had half-unconsciously drifted into
examining the walls that surrounded them. With the exception of the entrance,
the walls showed no openings. There were not even windows to be seen, and the
only light came from several torches burning around the room, although these
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shed a remarkable amount of light for their size and the activity of their
flames. Jim found himself running his hands along the walls as he passed,
absently feeling for any difference.
He had seen both the wall in the first room where he had met Baiju and
ibn-Tariq in this house, and the wall behind Murad of the Heavy Purse, open
and reveal a space through which a servant could enter the room. It was not
beyond possibility that this room had something like that. And if it did...
His mind was only absently considering this possibility when he felt under
his fingers a slight vertical edge, the almost invisible upper side of a joint
between two of the carefully fitted stones of the wall. He stopped and ran his
fingers up and down it-finding it continuous, stone to stone, from floor level
to just above his head.
Now that he knew what he was looking for, he could see that the joint also
ran crosswise from its highest point, over to another line that descended
again to the floor. The outline of a possible secret door was made less
obvious by the fact that this wall, like all the others he had seen in the
rooms where he and Brian had talked with ibn-Tariq and Murad, was faced with
square slabs of polished marble; and the lines where they joined, both
vertically and horizontally, helped hide the joint his fingers had discovered.
But finding the doorway was one thing. To open it could be a more difficult
matter. He tried pressing and pushing at the slab which faced the door, and
running his hand up and down just inside the joint on either side.
He was not sure exactly when he touched the place that opened it, but
suddenly the stone facing before him moved back some six inches and then
without a sound supped sideways. Unthinkingly he stepped into darkness, and
then hastily on out to the daylight two steps farther on.
He had expected to find only some sort of secret passage, hidden in the
thickness of the wall between this room and whatever was next to it. Instead,
he now came out into another room, this one with one side plainly open to
fresh air, or whatever else was beyond being hidden by several layers of filmy
curtain.
Excited, he went across and tried to part the curtain just enough so he could
see through it. By gathering almost a full armful of sheer cloth, he managed
it finally; and what he saw beyond was a sort of interior courtyard with a
fountain in the center, and trees growing around it.
The trees were not very tall, but were heavily laden with what seemed to be
oranges and lemons, some half-ripe, and some clearly ready for picking.
Over-topping these trees and beyond them, Jim could see what apparently was an
exterior wall, protecting this garden spot-and he thought as he peered through
the tree trunks that he could see a green door at ground level in the wall
that might lead to freedom.
His happiness over this discovery suddenly tripped and dropped into a cold
sensation more like despair.
Even if they did escape, how could they take a valuable slave from Murad of
the Heavy Purse and hope to hide with him? Particularly in this city where
Murad evidently had so much power, and undoubtedly many people to search and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]