The Sabaoth's Arrow Read online

She felt her brother stiffen and knew he’d recalled events from earlier in the day.

  ‘Even with the torches, there are plenty of shadows for me to hide in,’ he said. ‘Like you, I think we should at least find out if it’s possible to rescue the others.’

  Behrouz listened as Roshan repeated her brother’s answer.

  ‘All right,’ he said. ‘For a rat, the encampment is a huge place with a lot of tents to search.’ He pointed at the stars to gauge the time. ‘You have an hour, Navid. Your sister and I will return here after we’ve freed those daevas. If any of us has a problem, we retreat to the rock we arrived behind. If the situation gets bad, we return to Iram.’ One side of his mouth curved down. ‘Navid, if there’s trouble and we’re not here, get to that rock and wait there. One of us will come back for you.’

  Behrouz’s words troubled her. They were expecting Navid to put himself in the same danger he’d faced earlier. Back then, the high magus wasn’t expecting anyone.

  Her brother jumped from her hand.

  ‘Stop worrying,’ he said. ‘And can we please get on with it? The longer we stay here and talk, the more likely I’ll change my mind.’ He ran through the dome and disappeared into the shadows.

  Behrouz took Navid’s abrupt departure as his cue to stand. He held out a hand and pulled Roshan up.

  ‘Raise yourself a dome of invisibility,’ he said, ‘and make sure it won’t absorb light and cast shadows. You take the nearest tent, the one with the four daevas inside it. I’ll go first.’

  Her throat had dried, so she nodded. She wasn’t sure who she was more afraid for: her brother or herself.

  Roshan raised a dome. She felt it being tugged as Behrouz stepped away from her and disappeared. A count to thirty followed before she made her way down the corridor of tents.

  After sitting within the shadowed edge of the encampment, the torchlight hurt her eyes. The farther in she went, the brighter the torchlight and the warmer it grew. Every ten steps, she checked the intense light hadn’t penetrated her dome and cast her shadow.

  The lack of guardsmen guarding the five tents made her chew her lower lip. Roshan entered the tent closest to her. Like Navid had said, the silhouettes of four daevas lay inside it. Roshan extended her dome of invisibility to encompass the prisoners. She pulled a firestone from her pocket. Still clutching the firestone, she tugged her tunic’s sleeve until it was halfway down her forearm. She activated the firestone. Three of the four daevas squinted. Roshan held a finger to her lips and raised her forearm so they could see her bracelet.

  On one side of the tent, a woman cradled a boy no older than five. A middle-aged male lay on the other, sweating and shivering. Next to him, a white-haired man leaned over and dabbed at the sheen on the younger daeva’s forehead.

  Roshan raised a portal and gestured at the woman and child to enter.

  ‘My husband, they separated us,’ she said, her eyes bloodshot.

  Roshan tried to sound more confident than she felt.

  ‘We’ll find him,’ she said, and then waved her through the portal. Next, she turned her attention to the two male daevas. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

  The older daeva shrugged.

  ‘The high magus has Solomon’s seal,’ he said. ‘I never thought I’d set eyes on that evil thing again. The high magus isn’t like Solomon: he doesn’t know how to use it. He’s been testing it on us.’ He pointed at the prone daeva. ‘He used it on Basi, here, and tried to get him to raise a portal to Iram. Basi wouldn’t—he resisted the seal—but it left him like this.’

  Not sure what else she could do for Basi, she touched his bracelet. The shivering stopped, and the daeva’s breathing became deeper and steadier.

  ‘What did you do to Basi?’ the daeva said. He bent forward and smiled. ‘How did you do that?’

  Roshan ignored him and uttered a levitation incantation. Basi rose into the air and then through the portal.

  ‘Go,’ she said to the daeva. ‘They’ll take care of you in Baka.’

  The daeva stepped towards the portal and stopped.

  ‘You’re not a djinni and you’re not a daeva—are you?’ he said.

  Unsure what she was, she shook her head.

  Roshan watched him leave and then collapsed the portal.

  She shrank her dome of invisibility and exited the tent. Roshan used the breathing exercises Yesfir had taught her and focussed on exiting the encampment without being detected.

  Back and sitting on the edge of the encampment, surrounded by her dome and shadows, Roshan wondered how she could put a stop to Sassan and this madness.

  She closed her eyes to calm herself. Roshan saw a pile of charcoal. She remembered the exercise Manah had set her and how she’d failed at preventing an individual piece from scorching the others. Roshan opened her eyes.

  One of them had to return to Iram and warn the king an invasion could be sooner than later.

  Behrouz would be back soon. Not finding her here would worry him. Best she waited—but not for too long.

  22

  Emad entered the audience chamber to find Fiqitush and Yesfir seated in front of a destination window pointed at the encampment outside Arshak. The thought of Roshan and Navid wandering around a camp filled with three thousand soldiers and only Behrouz to protect them made him sweat.

  As he drew closer, he saw them viewing what looked to be a well-lit part of the camp. Towards the edge of the destination window, the other areas of the encampment weren’t so well lit.

  ‘How’s it going?’ he asked.

  Fiqitush looked over his shoulder.

  ‘They’ve sent nine of the prisoners through to Baka.’ His brow creased. ‘Isn’t that where you’re supposed to be?’

  Emad had spent the past three hours developing a plan and accompanying work rotas for Baka’s restoration. Now, however, didn’t seem a good time to say so. With over thirty daevas held captive, what about the others they were supposed to have rescued? Emad saw how Yesfir hadn’t moved since his arrival, her attention fixed on the centre of the destination window.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ Emad said.

  ‘Your Majesty, Your Majesty.’

  The call came from the hallway outside. Sandals slapped against tiles. Whoever it was, he ran towards the chamber.

  Shephatiah burst in.

  ‘Your Majesty,’ he said, then took a deep breath to control his panting. ‘Empire soldiers are in Iram.’

  As if one, Yesfir and Fiqitush rose. Yesfir clung to her father’s shoulder.

  ‘How many?’ Emad said.

  Shephatiah resembled a child about to be told off.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘They set off several of the pavement alarms in the city’s unoccupied half. When those on watch reached the triggered alarms, they saw a magus raise a dome of invisibility over a group of armed soldiers. There wasn’t time to count them.’

  Fiqitush pursed his lips, his eyes fixed on the dais at the front of the chamber. The muscles around Emad’s stomach tightened. His brother, however, looked as if an incursion were an everyday occurrence.

  He patted his daughter’s hand.

  ‘Yesfir,’ he said, ‘I need you to keep an eye on your husband and the twins. I’ll leave someone behind to guard you. If you encounter any problems, raise a portal to Baka. Understand?’

  Yesfir’s hand slipped from his shoulder.

  ‘Should we abort the mission?’ she said.

  Fiqitush shook his head.

  ‘The high magus tortured a daeva to get the coordinates for Iram. I don’t want to think about what he’s done to raise a portal here. Those daevas are our people—we have to rescue them. And we need to save them before the high magus finds more ways to use our people against us.’

  Yesfir kissed her father’s cheek. She sat down and continued her vigil in front of the destination window.

  Fiqitush raised a portal.

  ‘Emad, Shephatiah, come with me.’

  The portal opened inside the seco
nd tier of the ziggurat in the unoccupied half of the city. Two other djinn had arrived earlier. They both acknowledged the king with a nod.

  The tier and the windows in all four of its walls gave Emad a sweeping view of the city below. Like the others, he kept his distance from the arched windows to avoid being caught by the moonlight streaming through the cavern’s ceiling.

  Thanks to the magus’s dome of invisibility, the city below appeared uninhabited. There was no telling how many soldiers and magi had sneaked into Iram.

  ‘Can you see anything?’ Fiqitush whispered.

  Emad shook his head.

  ‘We need to expose them,’ Emad replied. ‘Until we know how many there are, we don’t know what we’re dealing with.’

  Fiqitush waved over Shephatiah.

  ‘I want all the children moved to the ziggurat opposite this one,’ he said. ‘Keep everyone under domes of invisibility and silence. If there’s any sign of trouble, if it looks as if other soldiers might storm the occupied half, stop work on packing the library’s tablets and papyri. I want all the remaining djinn to leave for Baka.’ He checked Shephatiah understood, and then said, ‘Go.’

  Emad understood his brother’s prudence. But it didn’t help them with figuring out what they were dealing with and whether to either defend the city long enough to move what remained of the djinn’s history to Baka or evacuate Iram. He stared up at the moonlight filtering through the sand above them. The silvery light gave the djinn an advantage, if they could—

  ‘I’ve got an idea,’ Emad said. He pulled his brother closer and pointed at the cavern’s ceiling. ‘The sand, the fine stuff, we make some of it—a small amount—fall onto both halves of the city.’

  Fiqitush raised an eyebrow and chewed his lower lip.

  ‘We could,’ he said. His eyes brightened as Emad’s idea took shape. ‘Are you thinking the sand sticks to the dome, or they leave behind a trail of footsteps?’

  Emad shrugged.

  ‘Any or all,’ he said. ‘We can’t just sit here and watch. We have to do something.’

  Fiqitush approached a window and muttered an incantation. A silver cloud of sand particles wafted down towards the city.

  ‘San, Toma,’ Fiqitush said, addressing the two djinn still on the second tier, ‘send word to the lookouts on both sides of the city and let them know what we’re doing.’

  The djinn raised portals and disappeared into them.

  ‘Apart from the alarms and the lookouts,’ Emad said, ‘what else have you prepared for our unwanted visitors?’

  Fiqitush groaned.

  ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘There hasn’t been time. I assumed the high magus would try to snatch a djinni, but I never imagined he’d try so soon.’

  Emad cringed. He hadn’t meant to discourage his brother.

  ‘If anyone can handle this, it’s you,’ he said.

  Emad felt his bracelet pulse. His brother touched his own and must have received the same alert. Emad raised a dome of invisibility and silence around the two of them and signalled for his brother to follow him. A thought had accompanied the pulse. Rather than words, the thought contained a compulsion. Standing before the window facing the waterfall at the back of the cavern, both brothers looked to their right and in the palace’s direction.

  The fine sand stuck to a single dome’s surface glistened in the moonlight. One moment spherical and the next oval, the dome accommodated the width of the streets it passed through.

  ‘They’re heading for the palace,’ Fiqitush said. ‘And from its size, I doubt there’s more than a dozen men beneath that dome.’

  The muscles around Emad’s stomach uncoiled a little. This wasn’t an invasion. But then he shook his head.

  They’re here for the king. What good would killing him do? The djinn wouldn’t just disappear because they killed Fiqitush.

  ‘But Iram would.’

  ‘What was that?’ Fiqitush said.

  Unsure of how his brother would react, Emad spoke plainly.

  ‘Those soldiers aren’t just here for a djinni. The high magus sent them here to kill you. I don’t know how, but he knows that if you die, Iram dies with you.’

  His brother’s calmness only added to Emad’s distress.

  ‘Then we evacuate Iram,’ Fiqitush said. ‘Let the soldiers find the city empty.’

  Emad glanced to his left.

  ‘Yesfir’s still inside the palace,’ he said. ‘We need to get her out of there.’

  Fiqitush nodded. He held his hands behind his back as if he were about to take a stroll.

  ‘Go get her and leave.’

  About to raise a portal, Emad hesitated.

  ‘If everyone leaves, you’re coming too—aren’t you?’

  Fiqitush frowned.

  ‘I told you before, Iram and I are bound. I can’t leave.’

  Emad shook his head. So, Fiqitush and the city were bound. That didn’t mean his brother couldn’t leave. If the djinn and their king relocated, Iram collapsing in Fiqitush’s absence wasn’t a problem.

  Emad felt his bracelet pulse again. This time, the message, the sensation it conveyed, was for them to look down the main road and away from the palace.

  Together they turned.

  Halfway up the main road, a single figure marched towards the palace. Humanoid, its surface, however, matched the colour of the surrounding rock and stone brickwork.

  Emad’s legs trembled. He’d only ever heard of them and had never seen one. The magic used to animate them had belonged to the nation Solomon had ruled. No one knew how the empire had obtained such magic, but the figure heading towards the palace was proof it had. At the other end of the road, behind the golem, Emad guessed there had to be at least two magi who’d constructed the creature from the surrounding rock and controlled it.

  He saw how Fiqitush had already raised a portal, the palace reflected in its destination window.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Emad said. ‘Are you mad, Fiqitush?’

  Instead of answering, his brother pointed at the portal with his chin and then stepped through it. Emad joined him.

  With both of them standing in front of the palace, Fiqitush collapsed the portal. He began an incantation Emad recognised.

  He’s erecting a dome of protection around the palace.

  ‘We need to collect Yesfir and leave, Fiqitush.’

  His brother wasn’t listening. His gaze kept wandering between the dust-coated dome of invisibility and the golem marching towards them.

  Emad’s voice quavered. ‘Fiqitush, please don’t do anything stupid.’

  His brother faced him and smiled.

  ‘If they kill me here,’ he pointed at the cavern’s roof, ‘they’ll bring down Iram.’ His smile lacked any humour.

  Emad felt sick.

  Fiqitush closed his eyes and touched his bracelet.

  He’s telling everyone to get ready to leave.

  ‘I’ll draw the soldiers towards me,’ Fiqitush said. ‘Get Yesfir. I’ll drop the dome and let you through.’

  If Fiqitush thought he could hand the mantle to him and give up, he was wrong. Emad pursed his lips.

  ‘I lost Aeshma three days ago. I won’t let you sacrifice yourself like this. There has to be another way.’

  His brother eyed the dome and then the approaching golem.

  ‘There isn’t time for a debate. If you’ve a plan that avoids us both getting killed, I’m all ears. Otherwise, go get Yesfir and leave.’

  The rush of the waterfall made it hard to think.

  Emad rolled his eyes and groaned. The answer was right behind them.

  ‘Get everyone onto a rooftop—the higher the better,’ Emad said. ‘We’re going to divert water into the unoccupied half of Iram.’

  23

  Navid guessed he’d been travelling east for the past half hour, following the northern edge of the encampment. He’d found nothing, not even a clue to suggest where they’d hidden the daevas. Compared to the area in which he’d found t
he five tents, this part of the camp was poorly lit.

  Navid stopped to think.

  They had walked into a trap. He, Roshan and Behrouz had agreed on that much. Whoever had set the lure would want to make it easy for them to find the other prisoners.

  Navid turned right and headed deeper into the encampment, keeping to the edges of tents and avoiding exposed areas of sand. Every twenty paces, he stopped, looked up to see if he could locate a section of the camp filled with more torches than others. After several stops, he spotted a shaft of golden light that cut through the darkness. Navid took another right turn.

  Farther up, he slowed and then stopped when he saw a movement in the shadows cast by a tent. As he edged closer, Navid’s heartbeat quickened. So intent on the tent and whatever lay hiding within its shadow, Navid missed colliding with the sole of a boot. With caution, he backed away.

  Pairs of guardsmen hid behind tents lining a space cleared of others except for two. Navid smelled the iron they carried, but it was too dark to tell whether they carried weapons, manacles or both.

  Navid moved closer and between the tents, freezing whenever anyone looked his way. His heart beat so fast, it felt as if it thrummed inside his chest. More torches burned the closer he got. The light banished shadows and made it impossible to approach the pair of tents without being seen.

  He kept close to the ground and sniffed the air, hoping to detect a faint odour coming from inside them. The smoke from the torches masked everything.

  Navid doubled back. Once he’d cleared the tents and the hidden guardsmen, he took a sharp left and made his careful way back to the encampment’s perimeter. On reaching its edge, he turned left again and kept to the shadows as he made his way over to the spot where Roshan and Behrouz agreed to wait for him.

  There was no way the tents being watched could contain all the remaining prisoners. With seven daevas might crammed into each tent, the rest had to be hidden somewhere else in the camp, somewhere not so well lit.

  Regardless of the guardsmen lying in wait, he knew his sister would want to attempt a rescue. As a novice, she’d always volunteered and tried to be helpful. Now was no exception, especially with Roshan believing the daevas’ capture was her fault. She’d want to attempt a rescue, and even if they were successful, how would she react when she discovered she hadn’t transported all the daevas to Baka?