Perilous Seas by Dave Duncan Read Free Book Online Page A

being treated as a fragile halfwit, having
cultivated the role for years at Kinvale.
    The
air was cool already, because of the altitude; the desert sky was a fiery
tessellation of stars so low that they seemed to peer over people’s
shoulders. A few clouds sailed in dark majesty on that sparkling sea.
    Fourth
delivered his charges to their tent and went off with his arm tight around his
beloved Jarthia, who had already told him about her night’s winnings,
understating them by four-fifths. Inos made no move to enter the tent. She
leaned back against a palm tree and folded her arms and said, “Ha!”
in a gloating manner.
    Kade
no longer felt sleepy at all. She felt very apprehensive. And rather foolish.
    “Can
I have an explanation now, dear?” she asked, annoyed that she could not
keep her annoyance out of her voice. There was enough wind to muffle quiet
conversation, and the rest of the encampment seemed to be asleep.
    “I’ll
try,” Inosolan said grimly. “But it’s not easy to talk
about-is it?”
    No,
it wasn’t. But Kadolan had thought it often enough. Sheik Elkarath had
gained Azak’s trust, and Azak normally trusted nobody. Sheik Elkarath had
persuaded Inosolan to embark on the mad flight from Arakkaran into the
desert-and although she was often impulsive, that had been an absurd venture
even for her. And finally, Sheik Elkarath had apparently succeeded in eluding
any pursuit by Rasha. Who but a sorcerer could outwit another?
    So
Elkarath must have occult power. Either he had stolen Inosolan away from the
sultana to play the same sort of political game she had been playing, or he was
her minion, her votary, and Rasha had used him to hide the merchandise in the
desert until her bargaining with the wardens could be completed.
    Of
course the sheik might be a votary of someone else-one of the wardens,
probably, and most likely Olybino, warlock of the east. But in that case, why
had Inosolan been allowed to continue her journey unmolested? If she had political
value, it was as queen of Krasnegar, not as a pretend wife to a pretend
lionslayer in the middle of a desert. Weeks had gone by while the caravan
traversed the desert.
    All
of which was ominously difficult to put into words. “I think I know what
you mean, dear.”
    Inos
chuckled. “He must have seen where we were, but thali would seem innocent
enough, and it’s not something you can just walk out on as soon as you
start feeling sleepy. Then he dozed off himself-he’s had a hard day, and
he’s old.”
    “I
worked out that much! What I mean is what do you hope to gain? “
    “Surely
it is obvious? Every night for months you and I have dropped off to sleep like
chimney pots falling off a roof.”
    “Camel
riding is very tiring.”
    “Some
days we had not been riding.” Inosolan paused, and for a few moments
there was only the rustle of the palm fronds in the wind, tents flopping
sleepily, and distant dog yowls from the houses. “Remember when Azak
burned you?”
    “Of
course. It still isn’t quite healed.” Azak’s hand had touched
Kadolan’s in the night and charred her skin, but she had not wakened. She
had not known of it until morning. She made sure now that his blanket was never
placed so close.
    “Well?”
Inosolan demanded. “That was not normal sleep!” For a moment she
glanced up at the dancing palms, her face a pale blur in the starlight. She
drew several deep breaths, as if enjoying an unexpected liberty. Crickets
chirped, and camels bellowed in the paddock. Their bells jangled in a sound as
familiar to Kadolan now as the boom of surf below the castle windows in
Krasnegar.
    “Yes,
it’s getting easier to talk,” Inosolan said. “Remember the
door at the top of Inisso’s tower-how hard it was to approach? Aversion,
Doctor Sagorn called it. What are you thinking now?”
    Kadolan
glanced around at the darkness. “That I should like to sit down in a
comfortable armchair. “ She was evading the question, of course,