Nov., 1888. Sanaa, capital city of Yemen
The land beyond the mountains was well-watered, hilly country, fertile in appearance and worthy - at least in comparison to the mountains and deserts of the main peninsula - of being thought Arabia Felix, Fortunate Arabia. Approaching Yemen's capital city, Sanaa, it could be seen to be surrounded by an irregular wall only 8-10 feet in height. The approach led to a towered gate low enough that a man on camel-back could not ride through. The gate was open. The towers were about 15 feet high. Soldiers bearing primitive rifles stood guard while encampments around the city held many more similar soldiers.
Abdul took a good look at the gate captain and murmured to Mr. Blake, "Yes, I know and trust him." The party dismounted, preparing to walk their camels through the portal. There was a shout from the gate as various rifles were leveled at the party. Soldiers emerged from nearby tents pointing their rifles. Various seeming labourers hefted miner's picks. The party slowed to a wary halt, but Abdul continued walking forward, past the rifles, and stepped behind the commander at the gate.
The commander shouted another order in Arabic; rifles continued their deadly aim at Our Adventurers. Surreptitiously, Penrington tried to unsling his rifle. Po, holding his arms wide apart (while still having his staff in one hand) in a gesture of innocence, tried to follow the prince. Po, in Mandarin, "Does anyone speak Anglish?" A rifle muzzle stopped his progress. A Yemeni soldier stepped forward towards the party.
From behind the commander, Abdul's voice said, "I believe he wants your cane, Mr. Blake, and your camera, Mr. Forester. And, Dr. Davis, your necklace." With various degrees of distaste or disbelief, the items were relinquished, along with the more obvious rifles and swords.
Po: "Is there anything of mine you require?"
Abdul: "They will take your stick, Po."
Miss Costorari managed to slight-of-hand a dagger and kept it from being confiscated. All other weapons and foci taken, the party's hands were then tied behind their backs. Po was hobbled as well. An old man in robes with faded moons and stars came forward to Mr. Steele and unscrewed the pressure port for his shotgun and grapple. Then iron chains were fastened to the mechanical man's arms and legs. The old mage's eyes gleamed as he looked at the man of steel.
Then Prince Abdul reappeared in rich robes, belted and armed with a dagger, the pommel of which gleamed with a red gem. Dr. Davis stared, appalled at the symbol of the assassin; clearly Abdul — the boy she had tried to protect — had used and now betrayed them. Unfastening a lid from a small pot, Abdul dabbed a warm red liquid about Po's face in a ritual manner. "Fresh lamb's blood," the prince said with satisfaction. "I am told by Ching Wa that this will dampen your powers until he can pick you up. You were right, Po. He did offer a large reward for you."
Then the young prince directed four large turbaned servants, "Af al areca al-hareem," gesturing towards the doctor and the gypsy. Lord Ava shouted, "No!" and leaped forward to protect the women, but was quickly pummeled to the ground. Abdul looked down at the Anglish lord, "Mr. Blake thinks you are a spy. We will soon see." A mechanical bird was then released to give the palace word of the prince's return.
The prince was escorted towards the palace. The hoods of Dr. Davis and Miss Costorari's burkas were pulled down so that their faces could clearly be seen by a populace to whom a woman's naked face was a mark of shame. Then they were towed in the prince's wake. The doctor held her head high in cold dignity; the gypsy's lovely eyes snapped in undisguised anger. The others, too, were paraded shamefully; Lord Ava, unable to walk well, was dragged along. Once through the palace gate, the women were taken into the palace proper while the men were forced in a different direction.
The palace enclosure (a sturdy 12-foot wall) held various buildings. The palace itself was 3 stories tall, with an attached 6-story tower. The captive men were taken past a smithy and some corrals to a stone prison at one end of the stables. The prison door opened onto a corridor. The facing wall showed three doors with bars, simple lengths of wood in brackets to hold the door closed. Lord Ava was taken into the right-most room. The middle door opened into a relatively small iron box into which Steele was put, having room to neither lift his arms nor sit down. The door was then double barred with reinforced iron. The intent was clear: to hold him and allow his fires to go out, rendering the mechanical man inert. The rest were shoved into the left-most room. The wood and iron door clanged into place. Through a small iron grating in the door, Our Adventurers could see a guard move into position outside. The room itself was of stone with a packed dirt floor. There were no amenities of any sort and the place showed evidence that no cleaning was done between incarcerations. The 9-foot ceiling was flat and also, apparently, of rock. The smells of horses drifted into the room, leading the prisoners to guess that their back wall was part of the stables.
The men set to work to untie each others' bonds and determine what could be done about their situation.
After a quiet consultation, Mr. Penrington said to Mr. Blake, "Do you have any of your powers?"
Mr. Blake raised an eyebrow. His use of his cane had been prominent in the group's adventures. "No."
Suddenly a man's scream echoed down the corridor. The prisoners looked at each other. Lord Ava was being tortured.
Meanwhile the women were dragged to the 2nd floor of the palace past scattered guards and servants. They were placed in an undistinguished room with four eunuchs who proceeded to take knives to their clothing. Both women struggled mightily during the process, taking injury from the weapons and, in the doctor's case, her own corset. Then the two bruised and bleeding women were tossed - along with a bundle of strange clothing - into a much more elegant room where a knot of women in burkas huddled against the far wall. As soon as the doors clanged shut again, the local denizens hurried over to Our Lady Adventurers, shedding burkas and asking, in French, "Are you alright?" Voronika looked up, "Do you speak Anglish?" One of them giggled archly, "Anglish? Like Richard Burton?" Then she stepped forward, "I am Diamond. Please let us help you." She brought forth a salve which healed some [one point] of the women's wounds and stopped any bleeding.
The harem women were introduced. Ruby, Pearl, Fair Wind, Opal - who was clearly well along in pregnancy, and Camel Nose. The last, whose name was certainly a cruel mistranslation, was a sad-looking Caucasian woman with a nasty scar running across her face. She, Diamond said, spoke only French but understood Arabic. Dr. Davis and Miss Costorari introduced themselves by those names, which turned out to be difficult for the mainly Arabic/French speakers to pronounce. "What? They haven't given you your new names yet?"
Ruby gave orders in Arabic, seeming to be chief woman of the harem. All the women were missing hair down the center of their scalps, like an extremely wide part.
The rooms of the harem were well lit, perfumed, and pleasantly furnished in the Arabic manner with rugs, large cushions, low tables and chests. Opening off the main chamber were sleeping chambers and chambers for bathing and other hygienic purposes. All windows, however, were barred with heavy filigree, more substantial than first appearance might indicate. Through the windows they could see they were at the back of the palace, facing over a courtyard and, across that, the Palace wall. Two eunuchs stood guard outside the main door of the harem.
As the women started dressing the newcomers in translucent trousers and silken veils, Voronika began questioning them. "Are any of you here willingly?"
Diamond chiefly answered. She looked slightly puzzled or astonished at the question. "Yes, of course. I am a wife of the king. This is much better than being wife to someone else. In a common household, one wife serves all the brothers."
Madeline looked very pale and clutched a burka close around her.
The friendly Diamond said, "Oh, we have forgotten. Would you like jewelry?" The gypsy and the doctor looked at each other and, for different reasons perhaps, answered in unison, "Yes!" A small treasure chest was brought forth.
Madeline's eye was immediately drawn to a golden pendant that seemed finer than anything else. With a glance at her hostess, she drew the necklace out and put it on. "What does this mean?"
Diamond: "That medallion is Saba, goddess of the moon."
Voronika started putting on all sorts of ornaments, loading herself like a common jade. Some of her choices (and the amount of it) made Diamond ask, "Do you dance?"
"No."
The native woman smiled, "You will soon learn."
Voronika muttered quietly, trying not to offend their hostess, "Not if I can help it." Bits that were too jangly she put back, and she kept her own earrings.
Madeline said, "Please tell us what will happen. What is the routine of this place?"
"Four guards come for us. We will all go down to dinner where there will be entertainment. Because the prince is back there will be great celebration. Afterwards, the prince and the king will make their choices. Then the rest of us will return here."
Voronika, with vengeance in her eye: "I think the prince rather liked me. I would try to catch his eye so that he will choose me and, when we are alone, I will kill him."
Diamond, with some sadness: "She," gesturing towards Camel Nose, "once thought so too. They have ways of making you behave. You don't want to do that. Besides, Fair Wind is the prince's favourite. It would be thought very strange if he did not take her tonight."
Further private discussion with the various ladies revealed :
The women felt safe in the seraglio. No djinn could get in. "We're told that we're safe - even from 'efrit." Voronika muttered to Madeline, "That means there's magic here."
Madeline murmured, "I can try to see if magic use here is observed." Going into a private room with her friend, the doctor focussed on her new medallion and proved that she could heal their remaining knife wounds. No one seemed to notice. Voronika exhibited her dagger.
Madeline said, "They are not going to use me!"
Voronika smiled wryly, "That is in part why I kept the dagger. But I intend to take some of them with me!"
Madeline, slightly discouraged: "You would die, but I might become like her," nodding back at Camel Nose.
The two settled down to work out what could be done between them, with Madeline's mesmeric powers and Voronika's stealth and dagger.
A little poor food and water was provided for the group of imprisoned men. They continued their planning. Penrington tried to convince the others that rescuing Lord Ava was the lowest item of priority for them. Mr. Blake insisted that such an attitude was ungentlemanly. "What gave you the idea that I was a gentleman?" Penrington grated.
Po explained that the blood used on him had defiled him. More than that, it was making him feel physically quite ill. However, he opined, if the discussion went on long enough, surely they would all be rescued by the women.
Within the palace, the harem made ready for dinner. Four guards opened the door and proceeded to call the residents by name. Madeline and Voronika looked at each other askance. Their plan - Madeline had refused to countenance any plan that meant the gypsy would not have a chance to escape - had involved the mesmerist losing herself amongst the other women and going invisible on the way down to dinner and then creating a distraction whereby Voronika could slip away. The women hadn't mentioned that they'd be called by name; it was, apparently, an additional precaution. As the two stood alone in the chamber, a fifth and sixth eunuch appeared. Voronika and Madeline were each taken in hand by the two guards.
As dinner progressed, both women watched the room carefully. The guards held stations against the wall, a couple of paces away from the women's section. All the harem wore burkas. The vizier sat near the prince and king. Voronika watched him warily. Madeline noted that, while male servants brought in the heavy dishes, wine and water were served by burka-clad servant girls. Glancing at Voronika, she saw the gypsy's eyes had also noted that fact. Taking a deep breath and feeling the medallion under her burka, the mesmerist began a silent spell. Suddenly, Camel Nose shot to her feet in a clatter of tableware and began singing the Marseillaise. Consternation shot through the assembly. The mind-controlled Frenchwoman than charged into the center, exhorting all the armies of France to arms. Unnoticed, Madeline became unseen, stepped into the line of amazed servants, and then headed towards the kitchen. Voronika seized the moment and a pitcher from a nearby servant girl. Physically placing the startled girl where she had been, the gypsy concealed herself amongst the on-lookers and, too, headed towards the kitchen.
Madeline comforted her uneasy conscience with the reminder that she had commanded the forlorn Frenchwoman to collapse weeping if it appeared that the guards would harm her for her performance. Perhaps the king of Yemen was not quite so unfeeling as his ungrateful son.
Having discovered that Smith's strength - which had never been revealed in Abdul's presence - was sufficient to loosen the bars in their prison window, the men began their plan for release and rearming. The radiologists used the filth at hand, the poor water, and the remnants of the shine on their boots to concoct a skin-darkening salve. Po, however, exhorted from his companions a promise that the guards not be killed in the escape attempt.
Mr. Forester, in broken Arabic, tried to make the guard outside understand that Po was sick. The guard opened the door and came over to peer down at the Chinese boy, as the rest stood well back, hands raised, clearly not a threat. Utilizing his martial art from his prone position, Po knocked the guard unconscious. The others stripped the guard's clothes, tied and gagged him, and pulled him into one of the corners not visible from the door grate. Penrington donned the guard's clothing and took up his scimitar. An application of the salve gave the dark-haired hunter the appearance of a native.
Po stealthily scouted the corridor, suspecting guards outside the main door. He was correct. Unfortunately, the bars on Steele's door were easily visible through the grate on the main door and could not be removed silently. Penrington, moving as a bored guard might, continued down the hallway and looked through the grate into the torture room. Lord Ava was hanging from his arms, head sagging downwards, suspended from chains. He seemed unconscious which accounted for there being no further screams. Two guards seemed to be taking a break near a brazier with glowing coals.
Returning to their room, Penrington directed Po, Blake and Forester down the hall, ducking under the grate in the outside door and keeping silent. The two radiologists had short window bars to use as iron knuckles. Penrington walked into the torture room and up to one of the guards he'd seen. Po followed him and saw (and ignored) a third guard in the corner sitting on the personal waste bucket, out of view of the door grate; the door hid the others from that guard's view. The eyes of the brazier guard not being confronted by the hunter widened in surprise as he saw Po and company in the corridor. Po used his martial arts to smack that one, cracking his ribs and stunning him. Blake ran in, wheeled and hit at "Bucket Man" who fell over his own pants and rolled aside, unharmed. Forester darted in and crowded Penrington, hitting his opponent in the knee, stunning and impairing him.
Po then headed towards Blake, swung and missed at the guard rolling on the ground. Penrington made a placed-shot-chest against his stunned opponent, felling him with the borrowed sword. Blake -- screaming as if in pain -- swung again, injuring Bucket Man's arm; his noise covered the attempt made by his prone opponent to call for reinforcements. Po hit the same arm, breaking bones and sending the guard into unconsciousness. Forester and Penrington finished off their last stunned opponent.
Mr. Forester unshackled Ava and laid him on the ground. [The dirt no doubt did the poor man's flayed back little good.] Mr. Blake attempted to paramedic but was unable to help. In the torture room, they found tongs, a bullwhip, and branding irons, but no more swords. Charcoal for the brazier was nearby; a welcome sight to men who suspected that Steele had not been fed dinner. While the others went to rescue the machine man, Blake stayed to tend to the young lord. Luckily the water in the torture room was cleaner and more plentiful than that given for the prisoners' dinners.
Penrington in his guise as guard stood with his back to the grate of the main door. Smith took down the bars to Steele's prison while Blake screamed to cover any noise. As Steele himself moved out of his dungeon, one of the outside guards must have heard something and spoke in Arabic. Penrington, having been coached by Forester, grunted, "Khalas/ It's finished" with great authority. The guard said in his native language, "Well, so was he a spy?" Forester, understanding, called out in Arabic, "Yes!" The guard seemed satisfied. Steele quietly walked down the hall into Ava's room. The charcoal became a light snack.
Unable to rouse Ava, the men decide that availing themselves of the stable's horses would be their best move. Penrington, still in his disguise, moved out and replaced the various bars blocking the doors, then took up the normal guard position outside the left-most room. Po stayed on guard in the hall. Steele and Smith began to dismantle the back wall of the torture room, soon gaining an opening large enough for everyone but the two of them.
Suddenly, the main door opened; a soldier and two peasants with a body bag entered. The soldier stared at Po. Penrington rapidly moved to engage, swung and missed the soldier. Po slipped out the door and clocked the other outside guard. One of the peasants pulled a knife and slit the soldier's throat. He then put a hand over the other peasant's mouth and, while Po and Penrington pulled the outside body into the hall, asked, "Is Mr. Forester with you?" in Anglish. The two stared at the speaker in astonishment. Then all retired to the torture room.
The peasant revealed himself to be Mr. Foster, former teacher at Smithee School. He looked at his fellow schoolmaster. "Mr. Forester, I'm terribly sorry you got involved in this."
Forester told Foster about the Party's quest for the statues and the prince of Yemen's perfidy.
Foster: "After he stole the one from us, we knew he was trying for them all."
Having assured himself of Foster's good intentions, Penrington volunteered to stand guard outside the main door.
Forester continued discussing the situation with Foster. "The women were taken to the harem."
Foster, with grim regret: "There is no way we can get to them there."
Navigating the kitchen -- as many of the denizens of which crowded towards the events in the palace interior, the gypsy and her invisible companion exited the back door into a courtyard with a well. Trying to appear normal, Voronika walked over to the well. Quietly, the two women decided that they had not enough information to locate the missing statues or to take out the wizard's tower, on the other side of the palace. There were clearly too many guards in the compound. Too, the hunt for them would soon be starting. Having already learned as much of the palace and compound layout as they could from the harem women, they decided to check out the stable-prison.
Skirting the smithy, across from a barracks building, Voronika spotted a familiar figure - her grandfather - sitting, whittling. Taking great care, she crossed the distance, followed by her invisible companion. "Your timing is good," the gypsy's grandfather told her, "In here." The building was locked with a crude padlock; Voronika first reached for an earring but, on second look at the lock, used her dagger to open it. Entering the building, the two women found a disorganized storeroom. Inside were the swords and knives taken from the party, their straight style undesired by the locals. The gypsy gleefully scooped up her own and watched as several others lifted and disappeared into the air. Making a reasonable search, Voronika discovered a cane, a camera, a large hammer, a bag of Smith's. But most of the supplies and treasures of the party - including Dr. Davis' medicines and expedition notes, and of course the statuettes - were missing. The invisible doctor took as much as she could carry, leaving Voronika to hide what she could with one hand under her burka. [Not noted during the run-the fragment of Wheel Voronika was carrying was among the junk in the shed and was recovered.]
Moving around the stable, Voronika noticed a guard that hadn't been at the doors before. To avoid him, the two women moved around to the other side of the stable but spotted various guards and servants around the nearby corral, despite the darkness of night. Madeline whispered in Voronika's ear, "One is easier than many," and they made their way back, ready to strike. As she moved carefully towards the prison door, the gypsy suddenly realized that she recognized the guard's stance: Penrington. With hasty whispers, identification was made and the women allowed into the prison hallway. Penrington, glancing after, noticed that there were suddenly two shapes, the doctor's blond hair clearly visible from behind, her burka hood having falling awry.
Carrying as much as she was, Dr. Davis was unable to keep the burka properly closed and the men of the party were treated to the sight of a pale Anglishwoman in fairy-fine garments more suited to the French stage or a hasheesh fantasy. At their stares, Dr. Davis blushed deeply and looked away. Mr. Forester blushed even deeper. She placed her burdens down and turned to where Mr. Forester held the still-unconscious Lord Ava. "Doctor?" the young tutor swallowed hoarsely. Seeing her duty, Dr. Davis knelt down beside the patient, revealing yet more appealing views, and started her spell. Although his wounds were many and individually minor, the first massive influx of Healing restored the young lord to consciousness. Groggily he looked up at the blond houri and asked weakly, "Is this heaven?" Unable to contain himself, Mr. Blake laughed. Hot blood rushed to the doctor's cheeks and she could not meet anyone's eyes, but, as she busied herself preparing the next heal, she whispered to Lord Ava, "Your injuries should tell you that you are not dead. Please rest and let me heal you."
A little more discussion ensued whereby the party acknowledged that further attempts to recover their missing possessions posed greater risk than reward. Foster urged, "Speed is of the essence." So, the strong men having finalized the entrance into the stables, horses were commandeered and the party rode forth into the night, Steele and Smith running alongside. Extra horses were led for later and for those not yet skillful enough to manage a solo headlong flight on horseback. Foster and Penrington took the lead to give a moment of verisimilitude to the cavalcade. At the gate, the two radiologists Flashed the palace gate guards who yelled, in Arabic, "Djinn! 'Efrit! Run!" Smith put on a burst of speed, steam venting from his shoes, arrived at the gate as soldiers scattered, lifted the bar and opened one of the gates. The party thundered through. Foster knew Sanaa and, at the city wall, had the party wait. He dismounted and paid a guard whose eyes widened as the entire group filed on past. Anyone looking back would have then seen that guard, realizing he was in serious trouble if anyone figured out what he had done, industriously sweeping the way clear of all tracks.
Having escaped Sanaa, at some distance in the depths of the night, the riders rested for a space. There a fuller story was asked of the serendipitous Foster. His real name was Qidan Fahresta, a light skinned Omani for whom "if the King of Oman had a secret service, then that would be my role." Some time ago the duplicitous prince of Yemen had come to Oman and stolen one of the seven statues. Knowing he would try to steal more, Qidan had been sent to Anglia where another statue was known to the Omani to be. There it had been easiest to take the name Foster.
Indeed, the prince's handlers in Anglia had succeeded in stealing the Saudi's statuette. An Omani agent, Crazy-eye Hakim had intercepted and killed them, stealing the statue back. Unfortunately, however, Hakim had never met Qidan / Foster and so delivered the statuette instead to Forester. Learning of Hakim's assassination from Forester and suspecting that nisnasis had been involved, Qidan knew the prince was on his tail. So he had come to Yemen to see if the statues could be recovered here. However, when he saw Forester being paraded ignominiously through the streets of Sanaa, he felt guilt at the Anglish tutor's involvement and set out to rescue him. [And, given that the prince was back in seeming triumph, it was time to go warn Oman anyway.]
The party discussed their next steps. Qidan indicated that he had contacts in the Hadramaut and, with luck, could guide them through. Once in Oman, of course, he could send messages and the country could arrange proper defenses against a Yemeni army. As it was, it would take the prince some time to sort things out and assemble said army. New horses or camels for venturing into the Empty Quarter could be obtained in Dhofar, but Qidan highly recommended first making contact with the King of Oman both to gain official sanction for the party's ventures in that country and to learn answers to those questions Qidan could not answer. Miss Costorari proudly displayed her jewelry, offering it as a source of funds to replace that taken by the Yemeni. Her forethought won praise from her companions.
Penrington asked, "Who is the prince?"
Qidan: "The rulers of Yemen are descendants of the wicked people of Ad. The prince claims to be over 500 years old and has reincarnated many times as a ruler of Yemen."
Miss Costorari: "What is the importance of the statues."
Qidan: "The royal family of Oman knows; I do not."
He did know about the legends of Yemen and Ad Irem. The evil people of Ad belonged to the city of Ad Irem. It had been destroyed by the Omani, other tribes, and the gods who could no longer abide its wickedness. That destruction turned the green land of Fortunate Arabia to barren desert sand. The prince, as a descendant of those people, could well know the location of lost Ad Irem. After all, the prince had exhibited command over djinn and nisnasis. "The nisnasis," Qidan informed the party, "are the intelligent ones and some of the troglodytes answer to them. They are almost certainly also descendants of the inhabitants of Ad Irem; its people were cursed in many ways. The 'abandoners' became the ruling class of Yemen."
Discussing the situation, the group decided that the prince had not been made privy to the information that Miss Costorari had gotten from the statues, but that no one knew what information the Yemeni magi could obtain.
Penrington: "What did Lord Ava tell them under torture."
Ava: "I will speak of the torture only out of the ladies' hearing." When the men moved away he continued. "They wanted to know if I was a spy and what I had learned. As I am not, I could tell them nothing." He answered other questions about the crude torture.
Mr. Blake attempted to apologize to Ava for getting him tortured when, in fact, "by that time, I had already decided that you were not a spy. But I had not made that known."
Ava, with typical Anglish stoicism: "Quite alright. Don't worry about it."
Dr. Davis, who had a fair idea from her healings of his lordship just what sort of tortures he had endured, huddled in her burka, feeling sick and shaken.
Someone asked, "Was the prince present when you were tortured?"
Ava added, "No. But I had been suspicious of the young man and so, while you were up the mountain, I tied his hand to mine while we slept so that he could not act without my knowledge. The young man no doubt resented me for that."
Mr. Forester tried also to apologize, explaining that his having told the guard that Ava was a spy would, of course, damage Ava's reputation amongst the Yemeni.
Ava waved it off, "I never want to return to Yemen; everything I'd ever heard about it was correct."
As a king's man, Qidan could only reiterate the need to reach the King of Oman. Although it seemed likely that the party could now easily make it to Ad Irem in advance of the prince of Yemen, the extra time necessary to go first to the King of Oman and back might not make the race impossible. Dr. Davis whispered to herself, "Even against a man who commands djinn?"
[Note: Next run will be January 8, 2004.]
Next Run: Getting Out of Yemen
Recovered items :
Uncertainties:
I know the following were not recovered:
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II
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