Ferrenghi spies? Probably. Cado's men hanging around the edges to see whatthey could dig out of the shadows.

Then came the messengers, moving grimly down toward the harbor, and later allthe captains heading uphill, faces blank, without a word to the men.

He heard it from the veydeen first. Overheard it as the news spread likeflashfire. Turok raiders were pillaging the territories between Agadar andQushmarrah. The Agadar garrison had been cut to pieces. The survivors wereholed up in the city.

There were a few Dartar auxiliaries at Agadar. How had they fared?

The veydeen looked like they wanted to work themselves into a panic. Like theyfelt defenseless. He was willing to bet that they had not gotten this excitedwhen they had heard that Herod's armies were approaching.

Then he began to get a glimmer. They feared chaos. They feared Cado wouldmarch out and leave the city open to destructive insurrection. An uprising bythe few would bring reprisals down upon the many, sure as sundown.

He looked down the street at that door. Still nothing. Were they all dead inthere? He glanced skyward. A few tall clouds lumbered toward the gulf. Wouldit ever rain again?

Even here on the coast it did not rain as much as once it had. And Qushmarrahneeded a good rain, to sluice out the accumulated filth and stench.

The spies, or whatever, disappeared. The woman who interested Medjhahreturned, flaunting herself again. The veydeen were blind, so preoccupied werethey with gossip about Turoks.

"Watch this little pigeon fly away," Medjhah said, laughing. He strolledtoward the tall woman, who did look alarmed and did hurry. Medjhah kept onwalking after her.

For a while Yoseh amused himself by trying to kill a fly that had developed adetermination to nest inside his nose. Once he had won that contest he did manage to doze.

"Hey! Yoseh! Wake up! Look what we got for you."

He jerked awake. The boy Arif stood before him, smiling shyly. His littlebrother was with him, holding his hand, which he dropped when Yoseh opened hiseyes. The little one headed for the nearest camel.

The girl Tamisa was behind the boys, carrying something. Behind her, in thedoorway, wearing a ferocious scowl, was the old woman. The other daughter, theolder sister and mother of the boys, elbowed past her and carried a pot to thecenter of the street. She dumped it through a stone grate into the seweragechannel that ran there, went back into the house. She never looked at theDartars at all.

"Good morning, Arif." Agan Yoseh worked hard on his dialect. He only glancedat the girl but his cheeks got hot. He was intensely aware of Nogah watchingthrough scantly cracked eyelids. "How are you today?"

"Mish brought you dinner. She made it herself. Dad said it was all right." Theboy plopped down beside him.

The girl stood there blushing. Yoseh wanted to tell her to do something butdid not know what. He made an uncertain gesture. She took it as an invitation, settled onto a bundle at a very correct distance, sat formally upright witheyes on what she held in her lap.

The boy bubbled, "Did you hear about the Turoks, Yoseh? Are you going to gofight them?"

"Yes, I heard, Arif. I don't know if I'll have to go. I suppose someone will."

The girl said, "Mother thought you'd go. That's why she said I could bringthis out now." She offered, so he had to take the bundle. "Are you all right?

After the way they knocked you around yesterday ..."

"I'm fine. Just a few bruises."

"That's good."

Yoseh glanced at the old woman. She had taken her place outside the door withher mending, daring traffic to trample her. All along Char Street the regularswere out, refusing to let the Dartar presence disturb ancient routine. Heopened the bundle, saw nothing really familiar. He tried a few nibbles, foundeverything mouth-watering. "This is great. But there's way too much here forme. Mind if I share with my brother?"

"No. That's all right. Go ahead."

"Nogah. Come help me with this."

As Nogah approached, the girl realized he was not Medjhah. "How many brothersdo you have?"

"Three. Medjhah and Nogah right here and Amar, who is a troop leader inQuadideh's company."

Nogah settled, went to tasting, nodded pleasantly. "This is excellent. What isyour friend's name, Yoseh?"

"Tamisa."

"You're a very good cook, Tamisa."

She blushed. "I got a lot of help from Laella and my mother."

"Even so, yours was the hand in control." With nothing at risk Nogah couldassume the burden of conversation. Yoseh mostly listened. So did Arif, withbig, serious eyes, while the little one, Stafa, clambered all over asurprisingly patient camel. Yoseh saved him from a fall and set him on hisfeet. He marveled that these children of Qushmarrah were so well fed.

Dartar children, even now, were little more than bags of bones living on theedge of starvation.

Nogah got the girl to relax. Once she did, she turned into a chatterer. Someof her preoccupations seemed pretty shallow, though.

Arif grew bored. Looking disappointed in his new friend, he began wanderingaround looking at animals^ weapons, and supplies.

Nogah asked Tamisa, "Who was the woman who came to your door during the night?

I've never seen a woman so beautiful."

"Reyha? Beautiful?" Tamisa laughed. "She's an old hag. She must be at leastthirty." Then her eyes grew big. She looked worried. She had said somethingshe should not have.

"Maybe we're talking about different women. Come to think of it. The one I sawjust stood outside your door for a few minutes."

Yoseh asked, "Is Reyha the one whose son was taken here?"

Tamisa nodded. "She and my sister have been friends all their lives. They evenhad Arif and Zouki the same day. She came because she was having trouble withher husband."

Yoseh said, "I've seen this Reyha, Nogah. If it's her you fell in love withlast night you'd better worry about how fast you're going to go blind."

Nogah chuckled. "It doesn't matter who she was. She was that kind of woman youonly see once, for a moment, and never again, but remember all your life."

"Ach! You're starting to sound like Father."

"I'm his son and heir. You two go ahead and talk." He got up and went and gothis horse onto her feet. He hoisted the veydeen boys onto her back. Arifbecame frightened and wanted down. Stafa was as happy as a child his age couldbe.

Tamisa asked, "How does your brother know somebody came to our house lastnight, Yoseh?"

He reflected. It wasn't exactly a secret around here, was it? "He spent thenight in the alley so nobody could get in or out of the maze."

"Oh."

"More of us are going to stay tonight. I know I am."

"Oh. Oh." Flustered. "I think I'd better get back to my chores. Before mymother ... Arif. Stafa. Come on. It's time to go."

Yoseh sat there wondering if he'd said something wrong.

Aaron had been distracted all morning. Not enough to make mistakes but enoughto slow him down. Cullo had commented, not unkindly, expressing a genuineconcern. Aaron had not been able to shake it.

Billygoat sat down beside him as he started on his lunch. "Think it'll rain?

Looks like we got some clouds coming in."

Aaron grunted. It did not look like rain. Just clouds.

"City could use a good washdown."

Aaron grunted again.

"You ever notice the difference between men and dogs, Aaron? A dog comes toyou begging, you give him the sorriest scrap, he's properly grateful. A mancomes to you desperate, you try to give him a hand, four times out of five heturns on you. Makes the whole damned thing your fault. On the whole, I think Ilike dogs better than I like men."

His piece spoken, Billygoat got up to go.

"Wait," Aaron said. "Sit down. You're right. I'm sorry. I apologize."

Billygoat harumphed. "I reckon that means you got another problem to hit mewith and be ungrateful about later."