N-Space Part 59

"By Allah, it really is him, and I am not mad!" Shahryar exclaimed. "Was she slant-eyed, with yellow-"

"She was me! Do you know how many mirrors there are in this palace? I've been avoiding them ever since, but I can't avoid him. him. He has my image, my He has my image, my self!" self!"

"I think I see," said Scheherezade. "Calm down, Dunyazad. Have some coffee. Try to think of it as a tale."

"They took their pleasure in every position Zaman and I have ever tried, and one that I don't think any human shapes could take. Nauseating. They didn't stop till morning. The woman grinned at me and said that they would . . . perform, she said. Perform in my harem, and then in the palace itself, and then in the public square, until all the land knew that Dunyazad is a wh.o.r.e. Or the. . . the male might take his pleasure with me for one night."

"He lied, of course," Scheherezade said.

"Of course he lied. Every night for eight nights now. I-" She stopped. Suddenly her fingernails were digging runnels down her cheeks. Scheherezade quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed her hands away, and held them.

"Why do they do this?" Shahryar wondered. "My love, in all the tales about Jinni, have they ever gotten a woman with child?"

She thought. "No. Never."

"Good." He might be thinking that at least the succession was safe. "It's not for that, then. But why?"

"Power. Dunyazad, my sister, how does it feel?"

Dunyazad looked at the king.

"No secrets now!" Scheherezade snapped. "We need to know everything, to fight this thing-"

"We can't fight Jinni!"

"The fisherman did. Aladdin had to fight too. So. How does it feel?"

"He makes me-He makes my body-" She couldn't go on.

"Better than a human lover?"

She nodded.

"He makes your body betray you. My husband, he drove you and your brother to a madness never seen before. Do you remember the tales of Caliph Haroun al-Rashid? The woman in the trunk?"

"Yes. The Caliph found a man who had strangled his wife, then chopped her to pieces. She was innocent, but he believed the words of a malicious slave he had never seen before or since. The Caliph freed the man, and found him a wife from among his own courtiers! That bothered me, Scheherezade. I would never have done that. And he freed the slave, and two women who tried to murder their sister and killed her betrothed-"

"He did it to be admired for his mercy, to feel his power of life and death. So it is with the Jinni. He feels his power over all of us. Even women play games of power in their harems."

"What can we do?"

"We must learn as much as we can. Dunyazad, what do the sheep in the garden have to do with the Jinni?"

"What? Nothing. They're Persian lambs. A trader brought them as a gift. Four of them. One disappeared night before last. The Jinni ate it, hooves and wool and bones and all."

"He's getting bored," Scheherezade said. "He gave you one more thing you'll have to lie about. We'll have to do something soon."

Dunyazad poured more coffee. Her hands shook but nothing spilled. "Magic rings, lamps, bottles. Sister, have you ever seen one? Are you carrying one?"

"Not I. But Jinni can be made drunk, and slain while drunk. Can you procure wine?"

"Wine!" Dunyazad laughed. "No, there's no wine in this palace. Once Zaman allowed wine to be brought for foreign visitors. Once in four years, and after the Sheik departed we poured the rest of it out. Sister, it's hopeless!"

"It's not. The Afrits don't know that I I know what they are. Perhaps we can tell them a tale." know what they are. Perhaps we can tell them a tale."

"What?"

"Tell them a story. What else have I to fight with? Dunyazad, you must show me through every part of the harem. My husband, you may not come. We shall return in a few hours."

The harem was small by the standards of the day. Zaman's peers might have mocked if they knew how empty it was.

They met a dozen servants, women and eunuchs, including a lean eunuch doctor named Saburin. There were two concubines, virgins, kept ready for visitors. "Zaman had a bad time of it," Dunyazad said. "He still doesn't trust any woman except me and possibly you. It means I must do all the supervising myself."

"Shahryar's the same way."

She found a large room, windowless, with only one doorway, and a curtain to cover it. There were benches and tables and a small bed. Scheherezade nodded. "What is it used for?"

"If one of the women becomes ill, we put her here. The night air can be blocked off. One can 1111 it with poppy fumes or whatever smokes Saburin calls for. It's apart from the other quarters, in case she has something contagious."

"Good! Perfect. Now, does the Afrit spend all of his time in the tree?"

"In daylight I see no sign of him, and the guards saw nothing when the lamb disappeared. I must come to him after dark."

"How soon after dark? Always at the same time?"

Dunyazad sighed. "I wait until I feel safe. But I've been careless, my sister. It isn't only his threats. It's . . . I'm coming to like it."

"Ah ."

"He knows me inside and out! How can I-"

"Concentrate, sister. He doesn't know when you will come? Have you ever come as early as sunset?"

"No, never that early. Only after pitch dark. These last two days I came early, to get it over over with!" with!"

"Or as late as morning?"

"No. Wait. The second night I couldn't make myself move. I came very late. We were still together when I saw colors in my robe. I ran."

"Well, we must take a risk. Now, quickly, get me workmen and paint and a brazier and a great pot of wax, and wood to make a door! He's never been in the harem itself?"

"No, never."

"I need the bedclothes from your chamber. Unwashed, I hope. Curtains hung here and here. And I need something else, but I'll see to that myself."

"I've thought of something else."

Scheherezade listened, then nodded. "You have a gift. See to it they they don't use too much perfume or too little poppy smoke!"

She found her husband pacing their quarters. He smelled of exertion. "I practiced swordplay with one of the men who instruct Zaman's sons. He had children by three of his concubines, you know, before the curse fell on us. But time pa.s.sed and you were still gone-"

"Yes. I have a plan." She talked rapidly.

He listened, and mulled it after she had finished, and presently said, "There are two two Jinni. You plan to attack two Jinni, without me?" Jinni. You plan to attack two Jinni, without me?"

"You can't enter a king's harem, my lord."

"And if everything goes exactly right, you might trap one?" one?"

"We'll ransom him. The female will have to agree. All we want is to be left alone, after all."

"They're known liars, Scheherezade!"

"Then you think of something!"

It was as if he held his rage wriggling in both fists. "Allah has not made me clever enough!"

"Then help! I need a seal of Solomon, with certain inscriptions. I've drawn a picture. I hope I remembered it right. Find a jeweler. Find the best! Have it for me by sunset."

"You don't understand money. I'll send servants to hire six six jewelers. We'll use the best seal." jewelers. We'll use the best seal."

"I will be very glad when this is over."

The garden wasn't large, but it was a wonderful place, full of color and fragrances, the colors dimming with the dusk. Sounds of traffic came over the high wall: the last merchants going home. Eunuchs moved about lighting torches, while Dunyazad showed her sister around.

The lambs were curious and friendly. "In Persia they use the wool from the lambs, not the sheep. Hazad treats them like pets." She named them. She was trying to seem bright and cheerful, but her voice was brittle.

She seemed to be avoiding the big tree in the center.

Scheherezade led her to it nonetheless. It was huge and strong; it dominated the enclosure. When Scheherezade peered up into it she saw only textured darkness.

And when she turned to her sister, Dunyazad was gaping, her hands at her throat. She wasn't breathing.

"Sister?"

Dunyazad crumpled gracefully.

"Guards! Help!"

The two eunuchs came running. There was foam at the corners of Dunyazad's mouth, and her eyes were rolled up nearly out of sight. Scheherezade wrung her hands. "Is there a place for the sick? Well inside, away from the night air?"

"Yes, O queen."

"Take her there. Then get me cold perfumed water and the doctor." Doctor Saburin was already running toward them. "Maybe she only needs rest. Oh, she's looked so tired lately!"

She kept Saburin until midnight, then repeated her final instructions and sent him to his bed.

The shape under the bedclothes was quite covered up, with only black hair showing. The covers moved shallowly and rapidly; the occupant was panting.

Scheherezade sipped a sugar sherbet. Presently she set the empty goblet down and went to sit on the bed. Her hand beneath the blanket felt the heat of neck and shoulder. She said, "I haven't been so frightened in four years."

There was only the panting, and a twitch of the quilts.

"Dunyazad is seen to be taken ill. She is carried inside. Guards describe the room. One who finds the room will find Scheherezade nursing the poor creature. I wish you could understand. Never tell a story when you can show it!"

The curtains moved back. A eunuch guard stood in the doorway. She'd seen him before: a pudgy fellow, not too bright. Scheherezade snapped, "What do you want?"

The guard grinned. Leered. "Both of you."

"What? Oh, Allah preserve me!" He was changing shape.

He was taller, leaner. His clothing distorted itself to fit. His skin darkened, his lips and nose filled out. "Your sister is mine already," he said. "I want you too."

Scheherezade's knife was in her fist, the point at her heart. "You may have me dead."

"You know what I am?"

"A Jinni. Of course. Did you cause my sister's sickness?"

"We'll let her rest." He brushed past her. "We'll move her from the bed and-"

"Leave her alone!"

"You do not give me orders, Queen Scheherezade. Let me tell you what will happen if you use that knife. First, your corpse will disappear into the desert. But none will know that, because you will be seen to leave this room. Then you will be seen to do dreadful things."

"Nonsense." Scorn and disbelief.

The Jinni was still changing. Now it was like looking into a mirror, even to the clothing. "You slight the Jinni if you doubt me," said Scheherezade's voice. "Your husband will find his wife taking her pleasure with some slave in the market at high noon."

"No slave would dare."

"The slave would be my companion."

It was one of the skills of the storyteller: Scheherezade's face showed withering contempt. "Companion! You're really not very convincing. Did you cozen my poor sister with this tale?"

"I can make my threats real, but let us have done with threats." Scheherezade moved close; she put her hands on Scheherezade's arms. Scheherezade screamed at once, and Scheherezade released her with a frown of distaste. "Don't be foolish. I've put them all to sleep." But she glanced down and saw blood on the tip of Scheherezade's knife.

Scheherezade had known the risk.

"I can be of any shape you like," the Jinni said. "Man, woman, old or young, human or slightly different or wildly different. Only name your desire."

"To see you gone. Companion? The Jinni don't have companions. How could even you tolerate the company of a Jinni?" Her a.n.u.s were getting tired; she still held the knife poised above her heart.

"You are a highly opinionated fool." The woman considered. "Very well. Wait here."

The Jinni had been gone for more than a minute before Scheherezade gave vent to a shuddering sigh. And drew breath as if there were no air anywhere. And hiccoughed painfully when the curtain was thrown back.

Two Scheherezades entered, identical in every respect. "Show, don't tell. Isn't that what you were saying, storyteller? So, this is what the whole city will see tomorrow unless you grant my will," one said. "But you shall be first."