"Not today. The horses are all inside. It's raining."

The boy pouted for a moment, then got interested in something else.

"Are you ready?" Yoseh asked the carpenter. V.

"Yes."

Yoseh recalled examples of his father's flowery oratory, thanked the women ofthe house for their hospitality. Nogah stared at him slack-jawed. He openedthe door, let the veydeen precede him, then told Nogah, "Thank Tamisa for thetea and let's go, big brother." He was amused. Service with Fa'tad al-Akla didnot permit many chances to practice the social graces.

The street was deserted. Mounts and gear had been removed. Fa'tad had no moreinterest in the Shu, except to leave a handful of men there to intimidate theveydeen. The exits from the labyrinth were no worry. They had been sealed withfar too many thicknesses of brick to be opened by the men trapped inside.

Yoseh asked, "Where are we headed?"

"The Residence. Fa'tad's made that his headquarters. And us guys have to keepan eye on the ferrenghi witch. She's almost ready to have a crack at gettinginto the citadel."

Yoseh frowned. The carpenter asked, "The witch Governor Sullo brought? She'shelping you now?"

Nogah said, "She doesn't care who she lets inside as long as they finish whatAla-eh-din Beyh started. I get the feeling it's personal." He sounded like hehad trouble believing the woman could be as pliable as she had proven.

They entered the Residence, shook the rain off. Yoseh wondered what they woulddo with the carpenter. Fa'tad would not want him tagging along everywhere.

Nogah said, "Go up those steps there and down the hall to the left. I'llreport in."

"Come on," Yoseh told the veydeen. "Let's see this witch. If we're going to bewatching her we're going to be right in the middle whenever whatever happens."

He was not excited about that. He had a Dartar's dread of sorcery.

The carpenter followed, gawking at their surroundings as much as he did. "Theysay the citadel is a hundred times as rich as this."

"I know," the carpenter said. He seemed too awed for thought or conversation.

They found Medjhah and the others in a large and poorly lighted room where ahomely woman leaned over a table, frowning, oblivious to their presence.

Medjhah, Mahdah, Faruk, and the others surrounded Yoseh, chattering, teasing, obviously pleased that he was unharmed.

That warmed him inside.

They were less effusive than they might have been without an audience. Theywere Dartar and veydeen, and ferrenghi were present.

The carpenter smiled uncomfortably. The woman ignored them so thoroughly theymight not have been there-till she rose suddenly, said, "I'm ready to begin myexperiments," in accented ferrenghi. Yoseh caught only the fact of herreadiness.

Medjhah fumbled out a few clumsy phrases to the effect that they had to waitfor Nogah. She was not pleased. Like the rest of them she had had no sleep andwanted to get on and get it over.

Nogah showed a minute later. He said, "Fa'tad wants to know how much longerwe're going to stall around up here." He shoved a captured knife and sword atthe carpenter, who took them but looked at them like he had been presentedwith a fistful of snakes.

Medjhah replied, "Yon beauty is waiting for you, big brother, her little heartgoing pitty-pat."

Nogah gave him an ugly look. "Then let's move out." He communicated with thewitch using signs, though Yoseh knew he could have stumbled around and madehimself clear with his crippled ferrenghi.

Azel was talking to himself, he was so tired and hurt so much. Torgo did nothelp. The eunuch was getting as nervous as an old woman.

Time was sliding by. Whatever they were going to try out there, they weregetting close to trying it.

He could not see much because of the rain but he suspected the Dartars werebusy. Damned few were watching the citadel. Al-Akla probably had every man hecould plundering. It looked like a "grab everything quick and get out beforethe Herodians send relief forces" deal.

Fa'tad had chosen his moment well, hadn't he? The camel-loving bastard. Thecoast west of Qushmarrah in chaos because of Turok raiders. The east facingthe threat of war. Beyond Caldera the legions faced Chorhkni, Saldun ofAquira, and his allies. That standoff had persisted for years. It was sure tobe tested before summer's end. Would be tested instantly if troops werewithdrawn to deal with an uprising elsewhere.

A scuffle behind him. Torgo. Again. "Azel, I think she's coming out of thedeep sleep, into normal sleep."

Azel grunted. "Good. How soon can we wake her up?"

"She should get a normal amount of regular sleep if she can. At least. As muchas we can let her have, for sure. Her weariness has gone deeper than the fleshand the mind. The soul needs time to recover, too. Or she could stumble duringthe final rite and destroy us all."

"You know how long the resurrection rite ought to take?"

"No. A while, though. It won't be like twisting a love charm. What are theydoing out there?"

"Nothing yet. Still." Azel turned back to the window. "Wait. Here comes theirwitch."

Torgo crowded up beside him. He had to work to hide his true feelings aboutthe eunuch's proximity. Torgo said, "I thought she belonged to the Herodians."

She was surrounded by Dartars who looked ready for trouble.

"Maybe they got something she can't do without." Azel regretted the remarkinstantly but its cruelty went right past Torgo. Azel shrugged, paid attentionto what was happening down there. He laughed suddenly, a near roar of tensionflooding away.

"What?" Torgo demanded. "Why are you howling like a hyena?"

"Look! We got all the time we're ever going to need. She ain't working on thePostern of Fate, she's pecking on the fake pattern Nakar put in front of themain gate. She can mess with that forever and not get anywhere because thereain't nowhere to go."

Torgo looked. He was grinning when he pulled back.

Azel went to work. This was a good time to let Torgo get a solid idea that hemight have help if he decided it would not be a good plan for Nakar to hangaround after he kicked ass on the Herodians.

Azel chuckled. Let Torgo take care of old Nakar and set it up so the Witch sawthe eunuch do it, and who did that leave to pick up the pieces and comfort thewidow and help straighten out Qushmarrah?

It was a long chance. But it sure as hell wasn't as long as it had been whenhe'd begun playing the game.

He leaned forward again. This time he spotted the father of the chosen bratwith the sorceress and Dartars. Bastard was in for some heartbreak, wasn't he?

Azel pulled back. "Why don't we go down, get us something to eat and maybe getdrunk while those idiots are pounding their heads bald on the wrong stonewall?"

Bel-Sidek eased back from the edge of the flat roof when he heard someonecoming up. He sat up in a puddle, already wetter than a fish. Zenobel andCarza appeared. Carza was still angry. Zenobel nodded wearily. He had gottenthrough at last.

Bel-Sidek said, "We're all here now," needlessly, to the other khadifas, whohad been with him for some time, without enthusiasm. "You look like you havesomething to tell us, Zenobel."

"Just the latest. They have the whole wall except around the Gate of Autumn.

They're ignoring that. They have patrols all over the city, keeping people offthe streets. They're only looting Herodian property."

"So far," King Dabdahd grumbled.

"So far," Zenobel agreed. "They don't get into the citadel pretty soon, Ithink they'll grab whatever they can get. They'll want to be long gone whenNakar comes around."

"But Nakar isn't. We're not going to let him."

"Fa'tad doesn't know that."

"Yes, he does," bel-Sidek said. He was unsure what to think about Fa'tad'sactions. The notion that he meant to loot Qush-marrah and head for his nativemountains, where he would be safe from retribution, seemed too direct andsimple. "In the sense that he knows I'll do everything I can to stop it."