Late 1888. Southern Arabia.
Back In Time.
Shortly after being cast into the prison in Sanaa, Po took Penrington aside. "I should not be taken alive by the person they have coming for me," the Chinese boy whispered. "I trust you to take care of that."
Not long thereafter, as the men planned their escape, Po exhorted a promise that they not kill anyone in the attempt. Penrington, naturally, gave him a strange look.
Current Events.
The plain of Yemen was a high triangular valley pointing East, with Sanaa at its base. The Party had traveled much of the length of that triangle when they cut North across the tip and over the bordering mountains, intending to follow the mountains down to the beginning of the Hadramaut Wadi (valley) into which the point of the Yemeni plain trickled. Now caught between camel riders coming behind from the west, Yemeni horsemen coming over the hills to the immediate south, a disgruntled djinn somewhere in the desert to the immediate north, and the unknown forces further east, the fugitives huddled, discussing their options. Dr. Davis healed Miss Costorari of the serious wound gotten in the battle with the djinn.
"We can take them now," Smith insisted. Then he watched as the second entangled group of pursuers worked their way out of the steam-mage's springs, as they spread out so not to be so caught again, as they began waking the first be-spelled group of camel riders. An occasional ineffective rifle shot was aimed in the Party's direction.
Penrington was reviewing the Party's options. "North is less interesting now, because there is at least one angry djinn out there." Miss Costorari said, "I don't believe it was a random encounter." Ava noted, "It chose to attack Miss Costorari and to charge the group rather than inhabit the sleeping camel troopers." Dr. Davis nodded. The djinn must have had a good reason for not taking over an unconscious human as Nuri Wuld Ali had said was its wont.
Penrington: "Do we want to head straight across the desert to the lost city? Bypassing the king of Oman?"
The Omani Qidan advised, "We do not have enough supplies to travel the entire Rub al'Khali. But, from here, if we simply cross this corner of the desert, it will be perhaps three days to the Hadramaut.
Blake said, "Staying here, at least, is bad. They know our location.
Penrington: "The hills have another close opponent and I want to disengage. I don't suppose those," he nodded at the camel troops, "Are awed by our mighty magics."
Dr. Davis gave an unladylike snort.
Penrington: "We should use the short-term advantage given to us by horses. We should put ourselves out of sight. We do not know that the doctor heard the horns a-right. We should continue east."
Smith continued to argue for fighting a group of troopers at a time. Dr. Davis pointed out that, should there be searchers to the east as she believed, the fugitives would be facing not the 40-some camel riders and whatsoever size of group even now descending the hills, but also the eastern troop and whatever troops had been within hearing of the eastern horn. Then the Party would be truly challenged. "I would rather face djinn than be taken back to Sanaa," she said firmly.
Nonetheless, Penrington's arguments held, and the group moved east, pushing their horses to a gallop for about 15 minutes and quickly placing the outcropping hill between themselves and the camel soldiers behind them. The doctor lagged towards the back of the Party to keep an eye on the slower runners: Smith and Steele. Po, riding with Miss Costorari, attempted to use his Clairvoyance power to check the state of the enemy behind, but found that even a passenger had to work to cling to a galloping horse.
Penrington was the first to spot the Yemeni reinforcements to the east. Miss Costorari noticed that the dust cloud the soldiers made was dissipating at the base of the hills and growing towards the ridge. "They're going up!" she announced in amazement. Blake said dryly, "I can think of one reason why they'd avoid us." Penrington nodded, "There's an army of djinn coming."
Po sent his clairvoyance one-kilometer up into the air and over. "There's a group of soldiers. 25 of them. On the hill." Blake said, "Do we have any defenses that can be put up against on-coming magic?" Forester's Force Wall was mentioned, but calculations proved that it could not cover the Party, horses and all. Davis' Mental Defense was mentioned but she noted that there'd been no evidence that Yemeni magic had any mesmeric component. Suddenly Qidan spat out, "Sirocco!" Painted across the far edge of the desert was a black line. "It's a massive sandstorm," Ava said to some of the Party's questioning looks. "It would be very bad to be caught in it."
Scanning the hills in places that the geologists indicated, Miss Costorari spotted a cave in the side of a ravine. The group cleared the brush in front of the entrance as the line of black got bigger and the light faded. After the horses were brought inside, Forester cast his Force Wall. The storm slammed into the side of the mountain; the winds reached a piercing pitch. Qidan said, "It is unusual for sirocco to last many days, but this storm itself is unusual. It is winter; not the time for such storms. The native shrugged his blanket around him and settled down to get some sleep. Someone lit a lantern. The doctor settled to write a bit in her journal while most of the group explored the cave. It was a single room with a very high ceiling. Time passed and the storm howled unrelentingly.
Miss Costorari was checking over a spot in the back wall when she realized she was touching dirt in a curved depression. She cleaned the stone, revealing a circle with a dot in the center, another, and then a dash. Soon the Party saw an entire inscription [which, faithful reader, I clumsily reproduce]: 
Davis suggested that Steele try to analyze the notation, but the Nasmyth engine said that this was an insufficient sample. Miss Costorari awakened Qidan who said, "There are such symbols in the Valley of the Hadramaut. No one knows what they mean. Some say it is related to the bird language; some say it is older than Ad." Rather than pursuing the question of a "bird language", the Party allowed Miss Costorari to touch the inscription directly. She had a vision of male hands putting the stone into place and tapping it in. The stone writing seemed much smaller in the vision than now but there were no extra joins visible. Miss Costorari informed the group and said, "It is probably a matter of scale. But then those hands would be four times normal size!"
The group recalled the writing that Abdul had shown them; it had had three of the symbols in this inscription in a different order: 
Dr. Davis said, "Ab - the prince of Yemen claimed, 'This is the symbol for "Irem" in the language of the Ad'." Qidan frowned. "No one knows the language of Ad!" "A reincarnated ruler of Ad might," Miss Costorari retorted. Davis offered some paper and the gypsy made a rubbing of the inscription. The search continued and, although the searchers felt they knew every chip of rock, no further discoveries were made.
Po used Clairvoyance and noticed that the storm did not reach the top of the ridge of hills, but that there were watchers posted at 50-yard intervals. Each had a horn. It seemed clear that they were waiting to see if their quarry escaped. The storm howled on.
Forester asked for the tale of the trip to Timbuktu. Miss Costorari persuaded the doctor to let her tell the tale. The others, however, inserted any points the gypsy left out. As the night drew on, the others took turns keeping Forester awake, knowing that if the Force Wall failed; the storm would quickly fill this shelter with dust. Eventually Steele said, "It should be light outside." However the storm and darkness continued.
By three in the afternoon, the sound of the wind abruptly stopped. Po "looked" and saw that the ridge-watcher directly above had been joined by another; both were looking intently out, clearly prepared for the cessation of the storm. As he directed his Clairvoyance further aloft, Po spotted the metallic glint of a bird gliding through the sky. But over the desert there was no heat shimmer; the storm had cooled the air so much. The Party considered the possibilities for a very short time as the heroic Mr. Forester let his Wall drop and nodded off to sleep. Miss Costorari argued for waiting until dark, until it was pointed out that by dark, the searchers would have men moved to the foot of the hills as well as the ridge. It was noted that the horses would not last in a race across the desert, although they could put us well into it and beyond immediate capture. Much as he disliked it, Smith recognized that a horse could carry him for the necessary sprint. However, Steele's inability to keep up with a rapid escape across the desert seemed to present an obstacle until the doctor, accepting the necessary sacrifice of an animal, said, "I can - I think I can -- make one of the horses strong enough to carry Mr. Steele. Some mesmerists can make a subject impervious to pain or disturbance; I can make one stronger than he normally is although he will suffer from the exertion later."
Thus it was that twelve horses and eleven riders (one as a passenger) burst from the hills and dashed north across the afternoon desert. Once Penrington felt that sufficient distance had been gained, the fugitives dropped down to a maintainable rapid pace. Smith and Blake tied Forester to his steed so that the exhausted radiologist could not fall off as he dozed. The doctor glanced worriedly at the young man; such a jolting doze would not allow him to recover his stamina after the past 24 hours. [No long terms recovered.] But it could not be helped. The Party rode through the night, at some point turning towards the NE.
Morning came and the desert began to shimmer. At mid-day, the travelers stopped to rest. Mr. Steele's horse was the first to die; then Miss Costorari's. The gypsy and Chinese boy moved to one of the packhorses. Mr. Steele started walking as did Smith. Dr. Davis gave a small sigh, too tired from maintaining the horse's strength to mourn its passing. As the day wore on, Blake's and Penrington's horses fell by the way. By night, the Party was down to five horses. The moon rose silver above the desert. Blake and Davis momentarily thought they spotted something bird-like fly across that gleaming disk. "Could the Yemeni army have mobilized already?" the doctor asked. Blake answered grimly, "If they had advance notice from the prince, yes." Qidan demurred, "To be ahead of us, they would have had to come down the end of the Yemeni Valley into the Hadramaut and then back up. To be here, Yemen would have to have already invaded the Hadramaut."
The sun rose again. One horse refused to die during the night. Standing on a dune ridge, the Party could see a rocky peak in the distance. Exactly how far away it might be, Qidan could not say; he had never been this far north. Po tried his Clairvoyance and thought he spotted a patch of green. Again, sleep was required in the middle of the day, during which time the last horse died. As the group readied to move on, Po clairvoyed behind. "We have, perhaps, a 10 mile lead still; perhaps a bit more," he said quietly.
As the full moon rose, sand merged into rocky gravel underfoot, and the wayfarers slithered down the hillside into a valley of rock and dry bushes and grasses. Miss Costorari headed for denser growth. Steele, using his IR vision, discovered some healthy plants, and the Party dug to find some bits of moisture. At midnight, the Party reached a rocky hill, pockmarked with caves. Blake's geological experience located a pitiful but flowing spring. It took an hour for the water skins to refill. Qidan advised, "If we can come to a town where I have friends, we can change our appearance and escape the watching bird. But, tomorrow - the Hadrami. We should not face them tired."
Miss Costorari located a cave of reasonable size. In the dirt outside was a depression, suspiciously like a sandal print but four times normal size. The print was more than a day old. Moving to the same spot at the back of the cave as that where she'd found the inscription 3 nights previous, she found - an identical inscription. Complete with the same vision, albeit the hands might have been different. Explaining her finds to the Party, she was chagrined to hear Qidan say, "There are legends of giants. But one must be careful what one believes of the Hadrami. Some Hadrami use the bird language to communicate. I learned a few words of it as a youth." Steele said that the inscription might be numbers for syllables, somewhat in the manner that had been encountered on the sorcerer's mountain. "Nine, three, six would be the numbers for 'Irem'." Dr. Davis said, "There are only ten symbols making up the inscription: [circle], [circle-with-center-dot], [right parenthesis], [ / ], [dash], [ | ], [backwards N], [table-with-backwards-N], [table-with-N], [ Y ]."
Qidan spoke with Blake. "There is something of the geology of the Valley that you should know. You know that the smoke from your fire should not be allowed to be seen at a distance. Break these rocks and heat them; they provide flame without smoke." The Party's radiologists, amazed at the complex hydrocarbon content of the rocks, realized that the natives made a crude distillation mechanism and were burning the gases from within the shale. This could provide an alternate food supply for the mechanical man for whom the supply of wood was dangerously low.
At dawn, the Party headed SE down the Hadramaut, tracing the trickle of water from Blake's spring. Po talked with Qidan about the native's origin. Qidan had grown up on the Hadrami coast in an area contested by both Yemen and Oman. "The Yemeni came in and killed the adults in my village. So I became Omani."
At the first village, Qidan hid the unusual members of the group and took Penrington, Blake and Ava to check for contacts. Finding a cousin of a good friend of a relative of Qidan's, arrangements were made, larger blankets for concealment were found, and the entire Party was gotten undercover and into a small house where fresh food and water were provided. The local custom apparently allowed a hostess to unveil in her own home, even before visitors, so Miss Costorari and Dr. Davis followed suit. The natives were somewhat startled by the doctor's complexion which even the burka had not kept from sunburn. Qidan advised Miss Costorari on the proper piece of jewelry with which to compensate their hosts, and small cups of thick coffee went all 'round.
One of the elder sons of the house offered to show the tourists the True Tomb of Hud. He was pleased to tell the legend. "In the days of our ancestors, the great hero Hud united all the tribes to drive out the great evil Ad. All of the tribes and all of the God versus the Old Ones." Lord Ava looked astonished, hearing the singular term "god". The storyteller was continuing, "He destroyed the city with a great shout and caused the earth to swallow it up. All the inhabitants were destroyed, cast into darkness, turned into animals. There was a Rain of Yellow Stone and a Rain of Fire...." The story became more and more elaborate. "After the wickedness was wiped out, Hud wandered the lands and, eventually, came here to die. His tomb is in a place the passage to which is so narrow that only the thinnest and most honest of men can enter."
Blake: "Did Hud carve some great secret in the backs of caves before he came to die?"
Storyteller: "Ah, once a man was able to squeeze through the passage to a place where, on a stone block, lay an old man asleep. The old man sat up and began to prophesy, "I am Hud. I am the Keeper of the Secrets of the God." But the man grew fearful and ran away before he could learn more.
The Party hired the storyteller to guide them to the alleged tomb. As they climbed, Miss Costorari asked the lad about giants. "Oh, yes," he said, "when you see one you know. Their heads touch the sky and they can reach out and take a star. They are great metal workers. Older than Ad." The gypsy asked, "Are they kindly towards men?" The youth answered, "I have never seen one, but they must be terrible in battle. They do not harm the Hadrami."
Up a cliff face they found a rock with a quarter-inch crack in it. The guide said, "The crack has grown smaller since my father's father's father's time. Searching revealed no mechanism or inscription. Much as she respected him, Dr. Davis thought the radiologist was joking when Mr. Blake said, "Perhaps I can open it. I am most thin since our ordeal and I may be the most honest man here." And he stuck his finger into the crack. Of course nothing happened. Miss Costorari persuaded Po to Clairvoy through the crack, but, as the Chinese boy expected, it was too dark to see anything.
Penrington had Miss Costorari show their guide her inscription rubbing. For another bit of jewelry, he led the group to a stack of 3 flat stones near which was another rock with symbols, mostly weathered away. Only the first two could be made out: a circle-with-center-dot and a right-parenthesis. Qidan shrugged and said that he had often used such stacked rock formations as a place to make his smokeless fire.
Qidan shuffled the group from town to town, exchanging guards at places of safety. On the second day of travel, another host offered a look at the "True Tomb of Hud". This proved to be but two boulders cradled together. That guide knew nothing of the inscription symbols. In 10 days of travel, the Party was told of a total of five such "True Tombs." At one point, Dr. Davis talked with an old man who did recognize the symbols of the inscription as "the language of Ad."
Gradually, under the more pleasant influence of food, shelter, and Qidan's contacts, the damage due to exposure healed. The Party traveled Wadi Hadramaut a total of 12 days, with Qidan becoming more and more cautious as time went on. "There are more friends, yes. And more potential Yemeni spies."
As the travelers came in sight of the first Omani city, Al Ghaitan, Qidan slowed in a unique state of perplexity. Ava exclaimed, "What's that?" Rows of tents were encamped in the pleasant hills to one side of the city. As it happened, the sultan of Oman had chosen to visit Al Ghaitan, a regular trip in the summer but highly unusual in the winter. Po turned to Mr. Blake, "You have a decision to make." The radiologist paused for a long moment and then responded, "In the end, we must trust him."
Qidan approached a guard station and spoke softly to a man on duty. The Party waited. It was evident that the guards had no rifles, but their swords and bows and arrows seemed well kept. Another guard showed up, looking at the strangers with suspicion, especially at the big men. Eventually, the Party and Qidan were led into a tent and offered water and dates. The Party waited. An escort came and took Qidan away. After an hour, a guard came back with attendants -- including a woman who wore what was apparently local dress, with her arms free, a tight cowl and a translucent face veil worn on the outside. "At the request of his loyal servant Qidan, the Sultan will meet with the men of Anglia. The women of Anglia will meet with the sultana." The Party was required to leave their guns in the tent. Penrington insisted that his was a gift for the sultan, and a bearer showed up to walk behind with the rifle on a cushion.
In the grand and colourful tent of the sultan, fan-wavers kept the air moving, and perfume covered the odors generated by men and camels. First presented to other functionaries, the men were ushered into an inner area where the sultan reclined surrounded by sour-faced advisors. Qidan sat to one side and indicated, "You should take the cushions there." Blake tried to imitate the native seating position, as all complied. The sultan ritually washed his hands in welcome, dipping his fingertips in water and wiping them. The strangers followed suit. Penrington made a formal presentation of the rifle. Polite nothings eventually wound down to "Why are you here?"
Penrington took the lead, "We seek permission to prevent the Yemeni from recreating Ad. As well, we bring greetings from Anglia."
Sultan: "How does finding an ancient city keep the Yemeni at bay?"
Forester: "If we name it first, we control it."
Sultan: "What does this mean?"
Blake: "It seems that the city has come and gone. A shadow of it has some other existence. But in this land, name and nature are closely tied together. If the city can be found and named, it will have - presence again. We would prevent the Yemeni from naming it themselves. We would interfere with whatever their plans are concerning it. But - I do not understand the nature of names."
Sultan: "Then how do you know what to name it?"
Blake: "As we believe that it is located within the borders of your lands, we should be asking you what you would like it named."
Sultan, with some disinterest: "With an army advancing upon our borders, it will be some time before anyone can be spared to deal with this problem."
Blake: "We are willing to do it for you. There are many names that could be used. Omanum Emporium..." Quidan could not translate that, so Blake rephrased, "The great market of Oman. Ubar... Whatever would be good for Oman."
Po interrupted, "Is it your belief that Yemen is assembling an army to attack you?"
Sultan, coldly, "Oman is strong and will resist all invaders." Ava looked daggers at the Chinese boy; it was clear offense had been given.
Po persisted, "If Yemeni name the city, there will be more djinn to come to their call."
Sultan: "Yemen will not enter our borders. Oman will resist!"
Steele: "But if a few Yemeni slip through and make it to the city..."
Sultan, yet more determined, "We will defend ourselves. Oman is strong!"
Penrington: "At least allow us to travel to the city to make sure all is secure."
Sultan: "That is what Qidan has suggested for you. We will take it under consideration."
It was clear the audience was over.
Meanwhile, Miss Costorari and the doctor were led to a tent where they could discard the burkas. Having washed their faces and hands and been redressed in the Omani style, the two were led to the sultana's sanctum. She was a striking Arabic beauty in her mid-to-late 30s. She smiled and said, "Welcome" in Anglish. Dr. Davis and the gypsy stared in momentary astonishment. "Thank you for your kindness, your highness," Voronika managed.
"I am Pleasure," the sultana introduced herself.
"My name is Madeline," answered Doctor Davis.
"Ah, like the cookie? Pleased to meet you, Cookie!"
"I am honoured," the doctor gulped.
"And I am Voronika."
"Voronika? What does that mean, Voronika?"
"It is Romani. It means a soft couch."
"Ah, the soft bed of happiness. Pleased to meet you, Happiness." Madeline blushed but Sultana Pleasure went on, "I have been so anxious to meet you both. I have many questions. Questions about this." The sultana proceeded to pull out a large folio entitled The Proceedings of the Society of Geographic and Foreign Studies: the Finding of Timbuktu. Thence proceeded a discussion about the earlier expedition. Then Voronika exhibited the Ad inscription and apologized for the Party's part in aiding the Yemeni in acquiring all seven of the statuettes. Both foreigners were then again astonished as the sultana said, "But at least he does not have the eighth. The one before Wisdom. Luck. Gad. It has been in the sultan's keeping."
Having told the story of the current expedition, Voronika, in turn, flabbergasted the sultana by claiming to know how to open the gate to Irem, that she had sampled the memory of an earlier woman who visited the city. Sultana Pleasure recognized the memory, "It was Sirina, it is said, a traveler from the Court of Ashoka in India. Back when the Spice Road was still traveled." The sultana said, "It is known that the city can appear under a certain configuration of stars. It is time to try again. The configuration will be in alignment next month."
A discussion of the current political situation. "We have been always in balance, Oman and Yemen. Our men against theirs, our viziers against theirs. It is the foreign weapons that have tipped that balance." Voronika promised that Smith would make and improve guns for the Omani and that Blake would make ammunition, but that it was important that Smith be allowed access to a smithy so that Steele could be repaired.
The sultana warned that little aid could be expected for the Expedition, but that she would ask her husband for smithy access and for the needed permission to enter the desert and find Irem. It would take a few days.
When there was a moment, Madeline turned to the sultana and asked, "Your highness, you said that Gad -- Luck came before Wisdom. Is there a traditional ordering to the gods?"
Pleasure shook her head, producing a melodious sound from her earrings. "No, the gods are so different from one another that no one is more important than another. None would stand before the others. But it is a common saying that Luck goes before Wisdom. You cannot be wise if you are not lucky as well."
Next Run: A Sultan's Decision
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II
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