Sinbad and The Eye of the Tiger by John Ryder Hall Read Free Book Online

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    Sinbad came to Zenobia’s litter and bowed, but kept his eyes upon her. She smiled graciously and Sinbad could see into the darkness of her hood. She was an imperious beauty still, with good bones and commanding eyes. Sinbad saw why the old Caliph had chosen her for a concubine.
    “O Queen,” Sinbad said politely, “may Allah’s blessings be upon thee.”
    “We meet at last, Captain,” she said in a low, almost husky voice. “What brings you to our shores?”
    Sinbad stood straight and looked down at her. “To deliver my cargo . . . and to visit my friend, Kassim.” He looked at her knowingly, smiling with a confidence he did not entirely feel. The intense and demonic power of the woman was strongly felt by this man who had sailed many dark seas and visited strange and exotic ports.
    “And his sister?” Zenobia asked.
    Sinbad smiled and made a half-bow. “My heart is bound in love to both of them. I intend to ask Caliph Kassim for the hand of the Princess Farah in marriage.”
    Zenobia’s voice was like a sheathed knife—steel beneath the smooth exterior. “There is no Caliph to consent to your marriage.” She made a small, negligent gesture with a beringed hand. “Kassim has not yet been crowned. Nor is he likely to be.”
    Sinbad’s face grew as hard as her own. “I’ve been told of what has happened. I shall help if I can.”
    Zenobia rose up from the soft cushions of her shaded litter, and her voice rose in anger. “Do not be blinded by love, Sinbad. Kassim is beyond help!” Her fiery eyes flicked toward the ship, then back to the tall sailor. “And Balsora must be made to understand once and for all—no one can help! And I shall tell him!”
    She swung her feet out of the litter and Sinbad stepped aside as she dropped down to the stones of the quay. He followed as she strode angrily to the gangplank, pursued by a desperate eunuch with an umbrella, who was trying to shade her.
    Balsora blanched and tried to hide his superstitious fear as he whispered to Farah. “She is coming aboard! Farah, I beg you not to provoke her.” Farah gave her uncle a dark look but said nothing as the hooded Zenobia strode onto the ship.
    The queenly figure gave no one a glance, except Balsora, not even when Aboo-seer came down a rope from the mast. Sinbad stepped back onto his ship and watched with Hassan as Zenobia advanced upon Balsora with a determined look.
    “Foolish old man!” she sneered. “Why do you interfere?” Her head came up and she smiled a most wicked smile. “You can do nothing for Kassim!”
    Farah took a step forward and spoke defiantly. “Captain Sinbad will help us!”
    Balsora touched her arm. “I implore you, Farah, be silent,” he said in a low growl.
    Zenobia turned to Sinbad and pinned him with her fierce eyes. Involuntarily, the sailor’s hand went to his sword hilt, but she ignored his gesture contemptuously. “What can you do when they have consulted all the wise men, the doctors, the priests, and astrologers . . .” She waved a long-nailed hand to dismiss them all.
    Sinbad, spoke quietly, carefully. He saw Bahadin the Helmsman grip his dagger, and shook his head almost imperceptively. “There may be another . . .”
    Zenobia snorted, cutting him off. “No one! Abandon this false hope. Kassim is doomed forever.”
    Farah stepped forward, shaking off Balsora’s restraining hand. She blurted out her accusation loudly as Zenobia swung angrily toward her. “You lie! You want him doomed! You!”
    As Zenobia began to smile Farah looked around, almost in hysteria. Her hand snaked out and plucked Hassan’s knife from his belt and she lunged at Zenobia with the blade held high, coming down in a glittering arc toward the hooded figure’s breast. But Sinbad was too quick for her. He caught her wrist and restrained her as she struggled to attack Zenobia.
    Zenobia laughed, a gleeful, triumphant sneer. “If Kassim is not crowned within seven moons he will lose his right to be