Players of the Game

Left, right, left, they darted along the narrow passages. At one point someone made a grab at Alltud, pulling him off balance. He went down in a cloud of dust, but was on his feet again in an instant, his assailant’s head gripped under his arm.

‘No time for dancing,’ called Jeniche.

Alltud left the man on the ground with a painful and bloody nose.

‘This is beginning to annoy me,’ he gasped when he caught up with Jeniche. ‘Perhaps we should just let them catch up and show them what we can do.’

‘Oh, can you imagine how far we’d get if real blood was spilled?’

‘I didn’t start it. Whatever it might be.’

‘They would surely finish it. Archers on the roof. The end.’

‘For sneaking out without paying? It all seems a bit drastic.’

‘Some people are like that.’

Once again they pulled up short. The alley was almost wide enough to be called a street, but the two men ahead blocked it quite effectively. As they stepped closer one of them drew a sword. It was a clumsy move and one look at his face told them he’d never faced an opponent before. Alltud shook his head slowly and the man, barely more than a boy, turned to face him, lifting the point of his blade.

The shing of Jeniche’s swords surprised the young man and he barely had time to change focus before his own sword lay in the dirt. His companion vanished.

‘Get home and wrap that wrist in a poultice. It’s only sprained. But a word of advice. Never draw a sword unless you mean to use it.’ She spoke kindly as she re-sheathed her blades, but the young man’s face whitened and they could hear him retching as they turned the corner.

There was only one direction left to go and that, in itself, seemed ominous. It didn’t help that it led to a large and very deserted square.

‘If you were going to choose a place…?’ Alltud asked.

Their pace slowed and faltered. In the centre they stopped. There were a number of ways in and out. The roofline was low. The ground was smooth and had been swept clean of dust.

‘This would be it,’ Jeniche replied. ‘Whichever way we try to exit we will find is blocked. There are no doubt archers up there.’

‘Would that lad have friends who knew one end of an arrow from the other?’

Several men appeared at the far end. They were different to the ones who had been chasing them. These were well rested, all wearing the same plain livery, well armed, with calm faces.

‘I don’t think it’s his friends we have to contend with.’

Behind them, others stepped out from alleys and doorways. They were surrounded.

‘Shit. Not like this. Not here.’

They drew their swords.

Chapter Four

‘Please. There is no need for that. Put up your kettle.’

Taken aback, they surveyed their opponents, not one of whom had moved closer, let alone drawn a sword. The one who had spoken stepped forward, his hands out palm upwards.

‘I am sorry for the way this has gone,’ he continued. ‘The others… failed their instructions. They became… over-excited and were lucky you were so… kind, gentle.’

Jeniche and Alltud gaped. They had expected him to speak Arbiq, the language of the area. Instead, the young man was speaking Makamban. Admittedly his accent was poor and his grasp of vocabulary left something to be desired.

‘Dhorisay,’ replied Jeniche, summoning her equally shaky Arbiq. ‘I think you meant dhorisay. That’s the Makamban for “swords”.’

‘Oh?’

‘Dhorisoh means “kettle”.’

The young man laughed. The others simply watched. Jeniche relaxed a little. Alltud let the tip of his sword rest on the ground.

‘They were simply meant to keep an eye out for you; report on where you had gone and keep me informed that I might, at the right time, approach you.’

‘For what?’ Jeniche wasn’t that relaxed. The young man smiled again. He seemed at his ease, but she had lived on the streets long enough to know how to evaluate someone. Most people were like tapestries. It was nearly all there on the surface; they were straightforward, had nothing to hide, and couldn’t do it when they tried. This one, though, was different. It seemed to be there. On the surface. But he was more like a book with a bright cover. There was plenty to see on the outside, but unless you got inside and took your time, there were many layers you would never discover.

‘Again, my apologies. Diplomacy is not really my strength. My name is Tohmarz. I represent Dahbeer who is the Qasireu of Alboran. He would very much like to meet you both.’

Jeniche accepted they could not hope to fight their way out and sheathed her swords in a single, fluid movement.

Alltud followed her example.

‘What is a qasireu,’ he asked as his blade slid home. ‘And do we have any choice?’

They were escorted through Alboran at a leisurely pace. The streets and alleys were relatively empty; few people were about that early in the morning. The Qasireu’s men seemed to be spread out casually enough, but both Alltud and Jeniche knew how tight the formation really was. Some ahead, others behind, no one far from the flank and always someone at the entrance of an alley as they passed. There was no coercion; there was no escape.

They were moving into a more prosperous area of Alboran when Tohmarz spoke again, this time in his native Arbiq. ‘The Qasireu is… he’s responsible to the Caleph of Alboran for the keeping of law and order in the city. I believe in Makamba that was the responsibility of a group of the wealthiest merchants.’

Jeniche nodded. She knew all about law and order in Makamba. Perhaps not in the way this Tohmarz or the Qasireu he worked for did. On the other hand… She gave up trying to speculate, concentrated instead on learning from the things she did know about. That the Qasireu could afford well-trained and well-equipped men; that he kept his well-trained men in reserve for the things they were needed for and employed others as appropriate for the tasks in hand. Organized, then, and thinking ahead. Powerful. Wealthy. Which meant he was probably well entrenched in Alboran society. And that raised a very interesting question in her mind: what did someone like that want with the likes of us?

She looked at Alltud who had clearly been following a similar train of thought because he shrugged and said, ‘I don’t suppose we’ll have to wait long to find out.’

As the light grew and the city began to move from stupefied early morning stumbling into full wakefulness, they found themselves on wider, well-maintained streets lined with houses behind high walls. Tall palms grew that doubtless offered shade when the sky was not filled with dust.

The further west they went, the more opulent it became. Well-tended public garden squares, people sweeping the paved roads, servants moving in that well-practised way that made them look busy even if they were doing nothing, a slight and cooling breeze taking the edge off the perpetual heat. It was toward the western edge of the city that they finally arrived at the residence of the Qasireu.

A lot of words sprang to mind. Palatial was the one that stuck, especially when Tohmarz announced: ‘The Palace.’

He led them to the main entrance where guards let them in. As the high gates closed behind them with the sound you would expect of heavy, well-maintained defences, Jeniche realized they had lost their escort. She also realized that ‘fortress’ would have been a better description.

Tohmarz led them across an outer courtyard toward a second set of gates. The yard was well maintained but bare. Not something you could cross unseen or without resistance from the narrow windows in the imposing building that faced them. The only concession to any other use was the line of benches set against the outer wall. Perhaps a place for supplicants, those awaiting an audience, or where those awaiting justice could sit before being admitted. Alltud and Jeniche were led straight through.

Beyond the stern façade and the reinforced inner doors, the wealth of the place became apparent. Cooling breezes blew, channelled by the architecture into the interior. Fountains could be heard splashing in verdant courtyards glimpsed through doorways along the main corridor. Water ran in a narrow channel along the centre of the floor with its dazzling mosaic of intricate patterns. Staff walked at a sedate pace on their errands. One of them caught Alltud’s eye as he passed by an open window. The man seemed vaguely familiar, although Alltud could not think why.

Within an arched way through a wing of the palace, Tohmarz stopped them and knocked lightly on a door. After a few seconds it opened, an elderly woman looking them up and down.

‘Good morning, Laila. Please see the Qasireu’s guests to a room where they can freshen themselves.’ She nodded. To Jeniche and Alltud he said: ‘I will return in an hour. If there’s anything you need in the meantime, please ask Laila.’

‘The way out?’ muttered Alltud when Tohmarz had gone and they were following Laila along a corridor to a room.

She held open a door. ‘There is water and fresh clothing in the suite. When you are ready, go on through to the garden where you will find food.’

They stood in the room as the door closed behind them, silent out of habit, listening to see if it was locked. After a few minutes, Jeniche tried it. It was open. The corridor was deserted although she could hear domestic sounds from nearby, people talking quietly, water pouring. Further away, someone laughed.

Back in the room, she took stock. Four doors led off the small space. One to the corridor. A second that was open and clearly led out into a garden. Standing in a third doorway was Alltud, shaking his head with a smile. He pointed across to the final door. ‘You’ve got your own room through there.’

It wasn’t large, but there was a chair in the corner with a neat pile of fresh clothes on the rushwork seat, a bed frame, a bench with ewer and bowl, soap, a sponge, and some towels. In the corner, behind a low dividing wall, a large shallow tray was set in the floor with a small hand pump to one side. The water was clear and cool, running away in a small drain. No wonder Alltud had been grinning. What a luxury. She wedged the door with the chair and began to undress.

Alltud was already sitting at the table in the garden, helping himself to the food that had been set out. Clean shaven and in fresh clothes, he almost looked like a respectable merchant. Almost. His wary eyes and the hilt of his sword within easy reach spoke of a different role.

‘That’s something I could get used to,’ said Jeniche as she crossed to the table.

‘Washing? Well, it does suit you. But I doubt it will figure highly in whatever they have planned for us.’

‘As long as we get to eat this.’

She saw his eyes flicker to the hilts of her own swords where they jutted in their familiar position above each shoulder.

‘I see you have as much confidence in their hospitality as me,’ he said in an undertone as he leaned forward for more bread.

Settling opposite him, she began to load a platter with food, surveying her surroundings as casually as she could. It was a quiet meal after that. They both had the feeling, communicated through looks, that they were being watched, but neither of them could spot from where.

As if in deliberate confirmation of their suspicions, the moment they pushed their plates away, Laila appeared and cleared the table. And the moment she had disappeared back inside, Tohmarz approached through an arched entrance, followed by a small elderly man in a simple white robe who might easily have been mistaken for a clerk or dockside tallyman were it not for the deference with which a chair was placed for him in the shade of a jasmine-laden bower.

‘Will you join me?’ he asked as he sat.

Alltud and Jeniche had stood when he appeared. As they crossed the garden, Tohmarz set out two more chairs at a small table and Laila re-appeared with a tray of drinks.

‘I am Dahbeer.’ He lifted a delicate jug and poured a pale liquid into three glasses as they pulled back the chairs and settled themselves. ‘Lemonade. Always useful to have a drink to hand to cover those awkward silences between strangers.’ He smiled. ‘And you are Jeniche and Alltud,’ he added, nodding to each in turn.

There was an awkward silence and all three lifted their glasses, sipping the sharp and refreshing drink.

‘It would seem that we are to be blessed with some proper sunshine this morning. Shadows on the ground for the first time in a week.’ Alltud and Jeniche exchanged a quick glance, both of them wondering where this was leading. ‘It has not been good for trade, especially in these difficult times. A city full of refugees from the south. Rumours of war. Travellers stuck. Employment difficult to find, particularly for strangers; especially those down on their luck.’

‘Or,’ said Alltud, remembering where he had seen that member of the Qasireu’s staff before, ‘those whose luck was lifted along with their purse.’

‘Tohmarz,’ called Dahbeer, raising his voice for the first time.

Tohmarz appeared.

‘Please bring our guest’s “lost” property.’

A few moments later, Tohmarz re-appeared and placed Alltud’s purse on the small table. Alltud left it where it was.

‘It is all there,’ said Dahbeer. ‘With a bonus for the inconvenience.’

‘You could have just asked,’ said Jeniche. ‘Sent Tohmarz with an offer of work. I assume that’s what is happening here.’

‘Do you play chess?’ Dahbeer asked.

They both shook their heads.

‘I have been known to win the odd game of Fidchell,’ said Alltud.

‘Ah. Yes. I have read about it.’ An indolent wave of the hand was perhaps meant to indicate an extensive library somewhere within the palace. ‘A similar game. Strategy is important. Keeping your overall plan to yourself whilst testing your opponent, finding their strengths and weaknesses, protecting your king.’

‘And how is your game going?’ asked Jeniche.

‘Please, do not be annoyed. Consider it part of the interview process. Consider it evidence of how anxious I have been to persuade you here.’

‘For what?’

‘That is an interesting pair of swords you carry, young woman.’

The Qasireu reached forward as if he intended to take one of them. Jeniche sat back and Alltud drew his own sword a few inches.

‘You would die if you unsheathed it,’ said Dahbeer calmly.

‘Then we would make that journey together,’ replied Alltud as calmly.

Dahbeer was silent a moment, shrewd eyes assessing first Alltud and then Jeniche, the positions in which they had placed their chairs. He nodded slowly. ‘Just as I had been told. Fearless. Loyal.’

‘More of your interview?’ asked Jeniche, who drew one of her swords and laid it on the table before the old man had time to react.

‘And much quicker than my own people.’

‘You placed them in an awkward position. The archer on the roof behind us has the light in his eyes and, since Alltud moved his chair, runs the risk of putting an arrow straight through his intended target and into you.’ She sipped some lemonade. ‘Strategy,’ she added.

With exaggerated care, Dahbeer picked up the Tunduri sword and spent some time admiring its workmanship. ‘A matched pair?’ he asked, returning it. ‘You have been to Tundur?’

‘Why are we here?’ asked Alltud.

Dahbeer sighed and then smiled. ‘I have an extremely valuable item that must be moved to… a destination in the south.’

‘You seem to have an able household,’ said Jeniche. ‘The men we saw with Tohmarz looked capable of guarding something.’

‘Oh, they are. But everyone knows them to be my men. Besides, they have another task.’

‘A diversion?’ asked Alltud.

‘Exactly.’ He looked pleased. ‘I don’t want the people guarding my treasure to be too obviously of my household. That is why I have been recruiting—’

‘Mercenaries.’

‘Some people are uncomfortable with that term.’

‘And what is the going rate for a mercenary in your employ?’

Dahbeer clapped his hands and Tohmarz appeared. He placed two heavy purses on the small table.

‘That,’ said Dahbeer, gesturing to the purses, ‘is half. The other half will be given to you when the item is delivered. All food and equipment will be supplied.’ He became brisk now, as if bored with the game.

‘And if we refuse?’ asked Jeniche.

‘You are free to do so.’

She looked at Alltud. They both knew it was no answer. Alltud shrugged. He still wanted to go home, but he knew it would be easier if they weren’t being chased by Dahbeer’s men through the city streets, if they could choose a time of their own to slip away, so he picked up one of the new purses along with his own. He opened it and counted out a sum which he placed beside his glass.

‘What is that for?’ asked Dahbeer.

‘To pay the owner of the lodging house for our room there.’

As Alltud answered, Jeniche counted out a sum from her purse.

‘And that?’

‘For the damage I caused in the laundry.’

‘But that has all been taken care of.’

Jeniche and Alltud stood and returned to their rooms. They left the money on the table.

Chapter Five

‘Who in their right mind tells his plans to strangers and then hires them to protect his treasure on a long journey?’

Alltud shook his head slowly as he crossed the room to the main door. Satisfied the corridor was empty, he said: ‘No one. The whole thing stinks worse than a fish market at the end of a long, hot day. Unless…’

‘What?’

‘Pointless speculating, I suppose, but I was wondering if we were going to be part of the decoy.’

‘That’s a bit too complex for me.’

‘He did seem to go on about game playing. He clearly fancies himself as a strategist. In this case, you have two sets of guards. One obviously his own and sent out to draw interest while a covert group slips quietly away.’

‘Except, of course, that is a bit obvious. So anyone interested in the treasure, whatever it is, will be expecting such a strategy and keep a watch for the covert group. If they see one, they’ll go for that.’ She shook her head.

‘Might work.’

‘I don’t doubt it, and you are probably right. Dahbeer seemed to know a lot about us. A great deal more than he let on. In which case, he knows what I used to be. So he wouldn’t hire a thief to watch his most valued possession. Unless he’s trying to bluff us as well.’

‘I doubt that. He wouldn’t bother hiring you at all, unless he thought we were in the running.’

‘How so?’

‘Valuable object. Thief.’

‘So he hires me and put me in the decoy group to ensure I can’t get my hands on his valuables. I wonder if the rest of this party is made up of the light-fingered and morally challenged.’

‘Oh. That will be fun.’

Jeniche went to the open doorway that looked out onto the garden. ‘I don’t buy it. Why go to all this trouble? He must know who all the likely candidates are. Which we weren’t, until now. We’d never heard of his treasure until he told us about it. Besides, why not just arrest all the likely thieves and throw them in jail for the duration? Why go to the bother of stealing our money and making us run, then recruiting us and paying us? What if we hadn’t run?’

‘He’s a game player. Perhaps it’s second nature.’

‘A game player who cheats.’

‘We can do that as well. We’re being fed and paid, provided with horses I would assume. And once we’re well away from this place, we can cut out and head off north. There are bound to be other ports along the coast to the west. More likely to find something there that’s heading up the coast of Iber and on to Brocel.’

With something resembling a plan, they relaxed a little, but were given no time to enjoy themselves. Tohmarz appeared and asked them to collect their gear and follow him. Jeniche hoped the washing facilities would be as good. And as private.

They were led through a maze of small rooms and passageways at the rear of the palace, emerging from the cool shadow where breezes blew onto a large sun-baked yard surrounded by stables and barracks. No fountains and bowers of jasmine here, just pumps and troughs with benches in the shade of the long roof that overhung the stable doors.

Jeniche cast a seasoned eye over the horses’ accommodation. Grilles and shutters meant it was well ventilated and cool inside for the animals. She could hear them as she and Alltud crossed the yard, jostling and fidgeting, the quiet voices of grooms working in there with them.

Those men that were outside sat on the benches, working on harnesses, sharpening swords, taking what rest they could in their duties. Only Tohmarz was dressed in the livery of the Qasireu’s household.

He showed them to a small storeroom in one corner, half filled with bales of hay.

‘You can put your things here, sleep overnight. Hadar,’ he pointed to an open doorway at the far end of the range from which hammering emerged, ‘will check your boots and any harness or belts you want repaired.’

Alltud put their things in the dusty, stuffy hay store and began to improvise places to sleep. Jeniche stood in the doorway watching Tohmarz as he made his way back across the yard toward the palace.

‘Why do these things always start so early?’

Alltud continued to grumble to himself, still half asleep in the relative cool of the dark. Jeniche was used to it. He was not a morning person, always took his time waking. She smiled, walking in torchlight to the nearest pump. There she doused her head in cold water, shaking it from her cropped hair.

All around her, the yard was filling with men and horses; order emerging by fits and starts from the chaos. Whilst Alltud woke himself properly at the pump, Jeniche pulled on her boots, strapped her swords on over her coat, and checked everything was neatly settled in her pack. By the time Alltud was likewise dressed and ready, their mounts were being led across to them by a large, smiling ostler. Jeniche could not help but think of her old friend Trag, lost all those years ago beneath the desert. He had worked with horses in the stables in Makamba, had sheltered Jeniche there and watched over her. One of many dear friends lost for ever. She hoped it wasn’t an omen.

Alltud took the smaller horse intended for Jeniche. ‘That one leered at me,’ he said, pointing at the horse he had left for her.

‘Can’t bite you if you’re on its back,’ she said.

Once they had made their first overtures to their beasts, checked the food in their saddle bags and the straps on the bedrolls, they climbed into their saddles and watched the rest of the company mounting up. No one was wearing Dahbeer’s livery, not even Tohmarz. In well-worn riding clothes, he had lost something of the effete look he had cultivated before. Jeniche wasn’t altogether surprised. She had already realized there was more to him than she had so far seen and wondered what games, if any, he played.

As the troop formed up, Alltud edged his horse close to Jeniche. ‘Lot of riders,’ he said quietly.

He stood in the stirrups to count those ranked in front of them while Jeniche twisted to count those behind.

‘At least twenty up front,’ he said.

‘Thirty or so behind. Others still mounting.’

Alltud raised an eyebrow. ‘Big escort. And no sign of any treasure. Not so much as a pretty young daughter in disguise. No wagons, no boxes, not even any extra saddle bags as far as I can see.’

‘No uniforms either.’

‘Hmm. Decoy.’

‘Maybe. Maybe not. Look at their swords.’

Alltud gave the once-over to all the swords he could see from his limited vantage point. ‘Now that is interesting.’

They were all the same.

Pale stars still littered the western sky as they rode out through the rear gates of the palace and down the main western thoroughfare of Alboran. Hoofs clattering, harnesses ringing, men coughing; a troop of sixty or so horses makes a lot of noise in a confined space and there was no way they could sneak out of the city. They didn’t even try. Shutters and doors opened and sleepy eyes watched as they passed. The city guard had the gates open before they arrived and doubtless had them closed again as soon as the last rider had gone through.