The Djinn Garden

  ***

  By sunset they had all reunited in the central hall of the copper castle. El–Hadar and Verethran had roamed much of the island together, but had found little more than untamed jungle and gained little more than insect bites. The four who’d wandered the garden and the grounds also could report nothing but disappointment. Though they all knew there was some deep mystery here, some dark secrets yet unfathomed, they could not pass the curtain of courtesy that shielded bin Abou and his unseen master.

  “El–Hadar gets madder by the moment,” the sea captain said. “Never has he been lied to with such sweet words and polite smiles. Bin Abou gives us anything but information, and his master is generous with everything but truth.”

  “Had we time, I could wear him down,” Prince Ahmad said. “I’ve been trained in the arts of diplomacy, and I know how to smile patiently and look for little clues that will tell us our host’s mind. But such skills take weeks or months to use effectively, and Time is now our most precious commodity. We cannot afford to squander it here.”

  “If I thought it might do us some good,” Leila said, “I might try some of my charms on the truly undesirable bin Abou.”

  “Leila!” Jafar exclaimed, suddenly shocked—and then, just as suddenly, shocked that he would be shocked. He who knew scores of stories about the wiles of women should not be surprised when one suggested them in practice.

  “Don’t worry, my love, only my burning desire to free our trapped Cari would compel me to such actions—and I would not waste my virtue for such puny reward. I suspect fear of his master is the only emotion that drives bin Abou.”

  “That leaves force and deception,” El–Hadar said. “While we certainly outnumber bin Abou, we know nothing of his master and any other servants who attend him. The master must be a formidable yatu—and while we’re sure that our comrade al–Sharif is ultimately more powerful, it would be best not to attack him without more knowledge.”

  “That leaves deceit,” Jafar said slowly, trying to take his mind off his uncharacteristice reaction to Leila’s blunt remarks. “We must borrow some tricks from Rimahn to serve the cause of Oromasd.”

  “We know that nothing happens in the castle during the day,” the sea captain said. “But El–Hadar wonders what happens at night, when the gracious bin Abou so politely locks us into our plush prison suite.”

  “It’s hard to tell when we can’t even find the doorway to get out,” Prince Ahmad said. “We could leave through the windows—but just because Leila tells us those monstrous scorpions are not real doesn’t mean there aren’t other more substantial dangers to face in the jungle darkness.”

  “Besides,” Leila added, “I have the strong suspicion that the answer lies within the castle grounds. We won’t have to leave to find it.”

  “But how can we get out to look when we can’t even find the door?” Selima asked.

  “There is a trick El–Hadar used when he was visiting the sorceress on the isle of Creta,” the captain said. “Perhaps it might be just as useful here….”