“He said he wanted a ring from Yurt only in order to mislead you,” said Dominic. “It’s my ruby ring he’s after, and he must have seen it on my hand today. That wizard in the eastern kingdoms certainly wanted it. Somehow the story got out that the spell to reveal the, the-whatever my father had found in the Wadi-was hidden in his snake ring. That’s why someone had opened his tomb.”
“But neither the mage nor Arnulf himself made any attempt to get your ring away from you,” I said. “Maybe Arnulf had gotten hold of a different magic ring, with different properties, to swap to Kaz-alrhun for the ebony horse, yet for some reason it’s important for it to be from Yurt.”
“I still don’t understand,” said Joachim, “even if my brother did send a magic ring with us, why he could possibly want a flying horse. I would not believe it even now if his agents had not been so sure. He does not even employ a wizard. My father and grandfather never had wizards either-I wouldn’t have thought anyone in our family was interested in magic.”
“It’s not the horse itself,” I said suddenly. “He wants the horse for transportation. Since he thinks King Solomon’s Pearl has been located, he wants some way to get very quickly to where it’s hidden, and then to get away safely just as fast.”
Hugo and Ascelin both shot me unexpected smiles, and Hugo said, “That’s it! Especially if it’s guarded by an Ifrit, he can’t possibly get to it by normal transportation.”
“I hope for Arnulf’s sake,” said Ascelin, “that this ring he supposedly sent with us isn’t also supposed to reveal the Black Pearl. Otherwise he and the mage could have a very unpleasant meeting at the Pearl’s hiding-place, he with the horse and the mage with the ring.”
“If by some chance, Joachim,” I said, “your brother ever does buy that magic horse, tell him not to worry about staying on. Instead, tell him to be sure to look for the second pin to help guide it.”
IV
I found my way through the narrow streets to the Church of the Holy Wisdom at noon, as a wailing from the minarets again called the faithful People of the Prophet to prayer. I did not expect to see Maffi, or, if so, assumed I would find him ready with some woeful story why he couldn’t find the ring I wanted. It was because I doubted he would even be there that I had refused Ascelin’s offer to accompany me. But the way Maffi leaned against the door frame of the great church, waiting, exuded confidence.
“You found it?” I asked in amazement.
But he just gave me a mysterious smile. “Maybe. Come and look for yourself.”
As I hurried after him, I wondered how many powerful magic rings were circulating through the east, in search of how many significant magic objects. There was Dominic’s ruby ring for starters, then the ring Arnulf had sent with us, the ebony flying horse, then the Black Pearl, whatever Dominic’s father had found in the Wadi Harhammi, and now whatever Kaz-alrhun hoped to discover with the ring from Arnulf.
I looked at the boy darting down the street in front of me, sandals slapping on the paving, and felt foolish to have pitied him. Whether he had a family or not he did not need anyone to look after him. He seemed without any difficulty to have found a ring I had not been completely sure even existed.
I was beginning to recognize the narrow streets that led down the far side of Xantium’s hill toward the Thieves’ Market, but the sounds and smells of the Market struck me afresh as we came out among the striped awnings. “Over this way,” said Maffi confidently. He slipped easily around booths, under tables, through knots of men who looked at me impassively from under folded headdress that hid most of their faces. I caught up with the boy in the far corner of the Market.
It was slightly quieter here. I felt a prickle of unease. An ebony chess piece, a rook, was lying on the ground, and it looked strangely familiar. “Wait,” I said, “before we go any further. Who is this person who has the ring? Did he tell you how he obtained it, or how much he wants for it?”
“It’s the right ring, all right,” said Maffi with a grin. “He’ll tell you how much he wants himself.” He gestured toward a booth whose striped awning was drawn shut, though a sandaled foot showed beneath it. “Go ahead!”
I still hesitated, but he turned at once and disappeared into the crowd. Oh well, I thought. If he didn’t even wait to be paid, it wasn’t my fault. I could always find my own way back to the inn by flying high enough to see the harbor and then locating it from there. I stepped resolutely up to the booth.
I expected the awning to be pulled back, but instead the foot disappeared. I pushed the fabric aside myself and looked into shadows so dark that it was impossible to make out any detail, although I thought I saw a pair of shining dark eyes.
“Hello? I heard you have a ring for sale?”
“Come in, come further in,” said a muffled voice. “I have it here at the back.”
I entered slowly, letting the awning drop behind me. “I can’t see anything,” I protested. “If you’ve really got a ring I’d be interested in, let’s look at it in daylight.”
The air crackled, giving me half a second’s warning: not nearly enough to resist the binding spell that abruptly held me tight. I toppled over with a painful thump.
“Push back the awning,” said the muffled voice. “Let us see what he has brought.”
I lay, paralyzed from the collar bone down, on the filthy paving stones of the Market with several men bent over me. Someone let in a little daylight, and in a moment my eyes grew accustomed enough to the dim light so that I could make them out. As I should have expected, one of them was the enormous black shape of Kaz-alrhun.
“Let him keep that eagle ring,” he said, “but see what else he has.”
Hands reached into my pockets. They pulled the knife from my belt and the piece of parchment from inside my jacket.
“A piece of paper with an eggplant recipe, a smooth stone, and what looks like a buckle off a harness,” said one of the other men, examining what had come from my pockets.
But Kaz-alrhun was looking at the piece of parchment, reading Prince Dominic’s letter to his family, and his black eyes grew round. “Well, Daimbert, I knew you had brought more with you to Xantium than you cared to say. Your party is dressed as pilgrims, but I see that your goal lies far beyond the Holy Land. If you had told me you had this at once, all this trouble might have been unnecessary! Tell me, where did you obtain the parchment?”
“It was magically concealed inside a ring,” I said in resignation.
“Well, since you cooperated at the last, Daimbert,” Kaz-alrhun said with a chuckle, “even if not entirely voluntarily!” he paused for another laugh, “I have a mind to let you live. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a fine idea,” I said cautiously. Even though I could not move, I could feel all sorts of damp things soaking through my clothes, and my shoulders were sore and stiff. I tried a spell to lift myself off the ground and found that this binding spell not only held me physically, but also blocked my access to all but a few words of the Hidden Language. The only bright spot was imagining turning Maffi into a frog the next time I saw him, preferably a frog about to be eaten by a water-snake.
“But you attempted to mock me, Daimbert,” the mage said, “coming to the Thieves’ Market with the ruby ring and then trying to buy my horse with a different ring entirely.” His laughter was gone now. “I do not like to be mocked.”
It sounded as though he thought I knew far more than I in fact did. I wondered resignedly what it was.
“And I do not wish you to cause me any more problems at once,” Kaz-alrhun added thoughtfully. “I think you will just leave town, immediately. Perhaps in a few days you shall have determined, even with your western magic, how to break my binding spell!”
“What do you mean, leave town?” I said, trying to keep panic out of my voice.
“On a trade caravan, of course. Laugh at your fate, Daimbert! No man can in dread change the day of his death, but he can with laughter chase dire dread away.”