Gary Gygax - Dangerous Journeys 3 - Death in Delhi by Gary Gygax Read Free Book Online Page B

of the Hlndic lands will take us months. There isn't that much time, even if your theory about the affair is correct. Tell me how we get around that!"
    "Astute as usual," the magister said, meaning it. "We'll stay with our first band of fellow travelers for a few days so as to become acclimatized, more or less. That should be sufficient for me to get my accent right and to leam enough to avoid glaring errors in customs and the like. Once that's taken care of, we can use a little heka to jump ahead to the locale of a similar group closer to our destination."
    "What about me? I can't speak any Hlndic at all."
    "No problem. I shall be an older and wealthy merchant escorting his new young wife to the holy rivers. 1 will explain that you have taken a vow of silence until the goddesses there bless you with fertility and you bear me a son and heir."
    She made a face at him. "Typical male ego. Why on /Earth would I want to do that? Never mind. That's a fine idea. Ill happily play the silent .and adoring armpiece of the big merchant indulgently taking his useless female on pilgrimage so she can become fecund and thereafter pop forth an unending stream of his brood."
    "Excellent, my dear. I knew you'd be compliant. Now then, I'll have to make you shorter and fatter, of course, and brown of skin. You've seen the peasant women here, and we musn't attract attention. Ill have to appear less tall myself, handsome still, naturally, and shade my complexion from its noble copper hue to a somewhat woodier color." The hard pillow she threw just missed him. Setne grinned and continued with growing verve. "You'll have to carry all the baggage, walk several paces behind me, and keep your eyes downcast at all times. And speaking of caste, I propose that I be a Vaisya, proper for a merchant. You, on the other hand, will be a lower caste Sudra so as to avoid any desire on the part of most others to want to know more about you. ..."
    That was sufficient for Rachelle. She launched herself upon him, and Inhetep collapsed in helpless laughter under her assault. "Ill show you who's what around here, you effete bookworm!" Her pummeling was only in mock outrage, for she was merely asserting her general equality while letting him know that she understood he was lying the whole time. "Now, then, do you yield to your superior?" He managed to stutter agreement, so she climbed off his chest and returned to the bed.
    "I get the general picture, Setne. I suppose that means we can't do any sightseeing in Bombay."
    He got up from the floor and came over to stretch his six-foot-six-inch frame slantwise across the bed. It creaked and shimmied, but didn't break into flinders. "Whew," he breathed In relief, partially from the cessation of that which had elicited his laughter, partly in relief that the bed hadn't collapsed under him. "That's right. We don't want anyone seeing us while we look at the marvels of this metropolis. Too bad, for there are all manner of temples and the like worthy of inspection. Perhaps on the way back."
    "Yes. Ill have a lot of cash to spend then, too. Oh, by the way, will we go from near here to near the place we need to be?"
    Inhetep said no. "There are the little disagreements on the borders to worry about. We'll skip ahead to the first such crossing, then as soon as possible do it again to place us near the second frontier." He was now as careful as she not to mention Delhi. "Only then can we jump a third time to come as close to our final destination as possible."
    "Hmmm. Three weeks sailing, then about a week of walking, and we arrive. A month isn't actually much of a delay considering the distances involved, is it? That is, as long as you are sure you can pick up such a cold trail."
    "Those calculations are on target." He patted her head approvingly, then ran his fingers through her long ringlets. "Ill hate to straighten out those beautiful locks even for a short time, Rachelle."
    She rolled onto her side and looked into his green eyes.