Cave of Wonders

  His heart started beating faster at that thought. It filled him with hope, even as the sounds of battle raged on outside.

  The guards came back that evening with a second meal that consisted of the same stuff as the first meal. They dropped off the food and water, took away the empty bowls from earlier, and left.

  “I don’t think they’ll be back until morning,” Riq said. “Now is probably our best chance if we’re going to try and chip our way out of here.”

  He took out the knife and went over to the window. Dak watched as Riq ran the blade along the edges of the mud bricks and scraped at their seams. He tried to drive the knife in between them, putting all his weight behind it.

  “They’re harder than they look,” he said. “This is going to take a long time. Too long.” But he went back to it, and soon he’d worked up a sweat, even though the sun had set and the room was getting colder as it got darker.

  The third day of siege had come to an end. They were running out of time. Dak’s thoughts went to the unstoppable Mongol army, and facts started bubbling in his head. Normally, each fact just kind of popped and went away, replaced by the next, but right now, one of them was staying around.

  The Mongols did something cool with their armor. They wore silk underneath it, against their skin. When an arrow pierced their armor, the arrowhead got caught in the silk, and even if it then pierced the warrior’s skin, the silk made the arrow easy to pull out, and kept the injury cleaner and less deadly.

  Dak kept thinking and thinking about this fact. There was something about it that seemed to apply to this situation. He turned his attention from Riq’s attempts to chisel at the window and looked around the cell. He looked at the door. The lock where he’d spent several frustrated hours.

  The lock.

  That was it! Dak almost wanted to jump. “Abi!”

  Sera and Riq startled in surprise at his outburst.

  “Yes?” Abi said.

  “Can I cut off a piece of silk from your turban?” Dak asked.

  “I . . . I suppose if it is absolutely necessary.” Abi started unwinding it from his head again. “What do you plan to do?”

  “You’ll see,” Dak said.

  A few moments later, Abi tossed one end of the thin fabric across the hallway, and Dak used the knife to slice off a couple of inches. Abi pulled the rest back, while Dak took the metal pick that Sera hadn’t been able to put back in the SQuare. He went to the door, reached around, and laid the piece of silk from Abi’s turban over the keyhole. Then he took the pick, and gently packed the silk into the lock. He remembered the way the inside looked in his head, and he packed the silk all around the pins.

  “What are you doing?” Sera asked.

  “The silk is quiet,” Dak said. “And slippery. When the guards go to use their key, I think the silk will give enough to let the door unlock, but then it’ll jam up the pins, and keep it from locking again when they close the door. We’ll be able to walk right out of here.”

  “Uh, don’t you think the guards will notice the door not staying shut?” Riq asked.

  “Not if we do something to keep them from noticing,” Dak said. “And I’ve got an idea for that, too.”

  Dak explained it to them, and they were both quiet. So was Abi.

  “Dak?” Sera finally said.

  “Yes?”

  “I think this might be one of your good ideas.”

  Dak smiled with a bit of pride. “Let’s hope it works.”

  The rest of that night, they rehearsed what they would do when the guards came. Riq tossed the knife and pick to Abi, managing to land them both right through the bars, and Abi cut some silk and did the same thing with the lock on his door.

  The sun came up, and everyone waited without saying much. Then, sometime midmorning, Dak heard the guards coming. He nodded to Riq and Sera. They nodded back.

  Moments later, the guards came into view with the same bowls of nasty food. One of them pulled out his key and stuck it into the lock. Dak’s heartbeat quickened. He held his breath. The guard tried to turn the key, stopped, and looked down at the lock.

  Was it going to work?

  The guard turned harder, and the lock clicked. He pulled the key out and opened the door the same foot or so they always did to slide the bowls of food in and out.

  Dak readied himself, and hoped Riq was doing the same.

  Then, right as the guard went to close the door, Dak launched himself at it.

  “NO!” DAK screamed. “Let me out! You can’t keep me here!”

  Riq rushed the door, too, ready to play his part. The guard reacted to Dak’s charge by slamming the door shut hard just as Dak crashed against it. Dak and Riq grabbed the bars at the same time, and while Dak made a show of tugging hard on them, Riq used his strength to keep the door from opening. Assuming the door would open.

  The guards stepped away from Dak’s thrashing at the door. “Back off!” one of them shouted.

  Dak stopped pulling and glared at them.

  “Back off,” the guard said again.

  Dak stepped away from the door.

  “You want to eat,” the guard said, “you won’t ever try anything like that again. Understand?”

  “I understand,” Dak said.

  The guards turned to Abi. They unlocked his cell, and as they went to close it again, he performed a variation of what Dak had done, though not quite as extreme. The guards did not look pleased.

  “You, too, traitor?” one of them said. “Just for that, no food for any of you tonight! This is all you get until tomorrow.”

  “You can’t do that!” Sera shouted.

  “No?” The guard looked at her. “I guess you’ll find out when you go to sleep hungry tonight.”

  Sera let out a little whimper that Riq would have believed completely if he didn’t know her better. Sera just wasn’t the whimpering type.

  The guards gave them all one last glare and stalked away. Everyone waited until they were long gone, the hallways completely silent, before they approached the door.

  “Moment of truth,” Riq said. He had to admit, if this worked, it would be one of Dak’s finest moments. So he decided to let the kid have it. “Why don’t you try the door?”

  Dak took a deep breath and stepped forward. He grabbed the bars and gave a gentle tug. Nothing happened. Dak closed his eyes and pulled again, harder, and the door popped open. Riq stared at it, not quite sure he could believe what he was seeing.

  “You did it!” Sera actually giggled.

  Dak smirked in that cocky way that Riq had found so annoying from day one. “Of course I did.”

  That changed Riq’s mind about the compliment he had been about to give. He turned to Abi. “Did it work for your door?”

  Abi pulled on the bars, and his door also popped open. “Yes,” the Hystorian said with a smile.

  The four of them left their cells and looked down the hallway. Riq had no idea where the guards were, but he was pretty sure he remembered how to get from their cells back to the front door.

  “Follow me,” he said. “Quietly.”

  He led them down the hallway and around a couple of turns, each time listening carefully before peering around the corner. The place was deserted. The guards weren’t anywhere to be seen.

  “Looks like nobody comes here,” Riq said. “I bet the vizier picked this place so we wouldn’t be discovered. The guards don’t even seem to stick around except to bring us our food.”

  “I hope they left the front door open,” Dak said.

  It turned out that they had. The front door didn’t even lock.

  “Okay,” Riq said. “Before we go out there, what’s the plan?”

  “In three days Hulagu will be inside the city walls,” Dak said. “I say we try to meet him there and do what we were going to do in the war camp. What we’ve been trying to do from the beginning. We convince him to spare the House of Wisdom.”

  “What about the Infinity Ring?” Sera asked.

 
Riq considered what to do. Guo Kan had said the vizier worked for him. That meant the vizier was probably going to turn the Ring over to the general the first chance he got. Once the general got ahold of it, Riq was pretty sure the Ring would disappear for good. So they had to get it back before Hulagu and Guo Kan entered the city.

  “I think we need to split up,” Riq said. “Two of us try to get to Hulagu, while the other two go after the Ring. We meet back at the House of Wisdom.”

  “Okay,” Dak said. “Who goes where?”

  “I’ll go after the Ring,” Riq said. He felt like he had to be the one to do it, to prove to himself that he was still committed to the mission, in spite of the potential cost.

  “It will be in the palace with the vizier,” Abi said. “I know my way around, so I will go with you.”

  “That means Dak and I will get into position so that we’ll be able to reach Hulagu,” Sera said. “Right. We can totally do this.”

  Riq grasped the handle on the door. “Ready?”

  Everyone nodded at him.

  He opened the door and peered outside. There wasn’t anyone around. “Coast is clear,” he said. “Good luck, everyone.”

  He opened the door wider and stepped out into the sunlight, the sounds of the Mongol assault much louder now than they had been in their cell. The crash and boom of the artillery echoed across the city. So did the battle shrieks of their warriors.

  Riq and Abi turned toward the palace, while Dak and Sera turned the other direction to head into the city. Riq glanced back at them as they set off, heading toward the danger and destruction.

  Just outside the palace, Abi stopped. “I do not know what we will face inside. The caliph may still deny the danger, or he may have surrounded himself with his guards.”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Riq said.

  Together, they entered the garden they had seen on their first trip to the palace. The beauty and tranquility of the place felt really weird now when Riq thought about the destruction taking place not too far away. It was like the caliph lived in his own little bubble. He could look at his flowers and pretend that everything was okay.

  After that, they passed into the menagerie. But something wasn’t quite right. Many of the animals were gone. Or at least, not in their cages. And some of the cages were open.

  “It looks as though the animal keepers have fled,” Abi whispered.

  “So where are the animals?” Riq asked.

  “Probably wherever they would feel safer than in a cage.” Abi looked around them. At the trees. At the bushes. The tall grass.

  Riq imagined eyes peering at him from all directions, and felt a tingling sensation crawl up his neck. He shook his head. He had to be imagining it. And yet . . .

  They proceeded slowly, eyes on the vegetation. There had been tigers in here. Lions. As they reached the far side of the menagerie, they heard a blowing sound ahead of them. Something shook the bushes. Riq and Abi stopped in the path, and both held perfectly still as a black bear lumbered into view.

  It looked at them, lifting its nose into the air, nostrils flaring. Then its ears went back flat against its head, and the blowing sound it made got louder. Its teeth clacked together as it swung its head low, back and forth.

  “What do we do?” Riq whispered without taking his eyes off it.

  “I don’t know,” Abi said. “It is blocking our exit.”

  Riq let his gaze leave the bear a moment to look for another way out. He noticed a second-story balcony running the length of one of the menagerie’s walls. If they could somehow get up there, they could escape. Riq looked closer, and noticed a tree growing up against the wall that appeared to come within reach of the balcony.

  “Abi,” he whispered. “What if we climb that tree?”

  Abi’s eyes widened. “I have never in my life climbed a tree.”

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Riq said. “I think I remember somewhere that you’re not supposed to turn your back on a bear.”

  “Rather like the caliph,” Abi said, managing a smile.

  “Right. So let’s back away from the caliph’s bear toward that tree.”

  “Lead the way,” Abi said.

  Riq slid one foot backward, then the other, inching away from the bear. Abi followed. The bear watched them without moving, still blowing and clacking. As the distance grew between the animal and them, Riq took larger and larger steps, gaining confidence. But that feeling was short-lived as the bear decided to lope toward them a few paces.

  “Stay calm,” Abi said. “It is not charging us.”

  “Don’t make eye contact.” That was something else Riq remembered from somewhere. Probably a nature show he’d watched with his grandma. “They perceive it as a challenge.”

  “Also like the caliph,” Abi said, but without the smile.

  A few steps later, Riq reached the tree. He didn’t know what kind it was, but it had branches low enough to reach, and that was all that mattered.

  “Abi,” he said. “You go up first.”

  “No,” he said. “You go. I may need you to pull me up.”

  Riq hesitated, but decided that if this was Abi’s first time climbing a tree, it would be easier to pull him than push him. He reached up to the nearest branch, still facing the bear as fully as he could. The bark felt smooth in his hands.

  “Here I go.” In one smooth motion, Riq turned, kicked against the trunk, and pulled himself up onto the branch. He swung one of his legs over it and sat upright, feet dangling to either side. Then he lifted his knees, one at a time, and got his feet under him. He braced himself against the trunk. “Okay, Abi. I can help you now.”

  Abi darted a look up at him. Then the Hystorian stretched his hands toward the branch, only barely managing to reach it. Through the leaves, Riq watched the bear getting closer, ears still back, head still swinging.

  “Use the trunk like I did,” Riq said.

  Abi adjusted his grip on the branch, and then kicked at the trunk, but his shoes just scraped it, and he ended up doing a little bicycle pedal in the air, hanging from the branch. The bear circled around the tree, watching him.

  “Try again,” Riq said. “Kick higher.”

  Abi made another leap, and this time it worked. He managed to get his chest up onto the branch, his elbows hanging over it, the rest of him dangling. His face was red, his cheeks puffing with his heavy breathing.

  Riq bent down and grabbed his robes. “Don’t let go. Try to lift your leg up so I can grab it.”

  Abi grunted and swung his leg. Riq bent down and snatched for it, but couldn’t reach it.

  “Higher,” he said. The bear came closer. “Higher, Abi.”

  The Hystorian let out a low rumble that turned to a growl, then a roar as he closed his eyes and heaved his leg up. Riq managed to snag Abi’s pants, and after that it was easy enough to pull his leg up over the branch and help him stand up.

  They both looked down at the bear. It circled around the base of the tree, sniffing, and then it stood up on its hind legs, front claws raking the trunk.

  “Oh,” Riq said with a sinking feeling. “That’s right. Bears climb trees.”

  RIQ PERCHED on the branch, which was now bouncing and creaking under his and Abi’s combined weight. The black bear below them had dug its claws into the bark of the tree, and had started climbing after them.

  “You are right,” Abi said. “They do climb trees.”

  “Let’s go!” Riq reached for the next branch and climbed higher.

  It was easier now, because they could use the other branches like steps on a ladder. Abi was able to keep up on his own, but he was already out of breath. The bear, on the other hand, did not seem to be slowing down at all.

  Riq made it to the branch closest to the balcony’s wooden railing. He reached out with one of his hands while holding on to the tree with the other, and grabbed it. Then he pushed off of the tree and pulled himself across the space between them, his toes landing right on
the ledge. After that, it was easy to climb over the railing. He just didn’t know if it would be easy for Abi.

  He turned back to the Hystorian and reached out his hand. “Hurry! The bear is —”

  “Thank you.” Abi’s knuckles were white as he inched along the branch toward Riq. “But I am trying very hard not to think about what the bear is doing or wants to do.”

  “Right,” Riq said. “Sorry.” But the bear was getting really close. And those claws looked long and mean.

  “All right,” Abi said. “I think I am ready.”

  “I’m here.” Riq reached out farther.

  Abi stretched and grasped Riq’s hand like they were about to arm wrestle. It was a bit sweaty, and Riq hoped he could hold on.

  “On your count,” Riq said.

  The bear was only one branch below Abi now.

  Abi nodded and exhaled. “All right. On three. One. Two. THREE!”

  Abi jumped toward the balcony. Riq yanked on his arm, and the Hystorian crossed the gap, landing on the ledge. But a second later, his toes slipped.

  “Abi!” Riq still held on to him, and it felt like something tore in his shoulder as the Hystorian’s weight almost pulled him over the railing. Riq cried out as searing pain shot up and down his arm. But he refused to let go. He would not let go.

  “Come on.” Riq spoke through gritted teeth. “You gotta help me here.”

  The Hystorian dangled as the bear reached the tree branch where they had just been. It beat the branch with its paw, sending little chips of wood flying. Could it make the jump?

  Riq’s grip began to fail. “Abi, come on, man.”

  “I . . . am trying,” the Hystorian said. “I just . . . need to . . . grab the railing.”

  Riq braced himself for the pain, propped one foot against the railing, and pushed backward, lifting Abi a little bit higher. The pain in his shoulder got so bad he worried he might black out.

  “There!” Abi got his other hand on to the railing. With Riq still pulling, he heaved himself over the railing, bent at the waist. From there, he simply tumbled onto the balcony, and Riq went down with him. He fell onto his back, and lay there for a moment. The pain had eased up in his shoulder a bit, but it flared again as soon as he tried to move it.