But as a priest I need to bring God’s word to humanity, and therefore I cannot afford to be distracted by worldly concerns. It is not just the pleasures of the body I have given up, but the companionship of a wife and the joys of children.”
“But in the East priests
“This is an oft-stated concern,” the chaplain said gravely. “In the first centuries of Christianity, its priests did frequently marry. Even in more recent years, some of the northern bishoprics have been rumored to allow married priests. But by far the majority of bishops favor a celibate priesthood.”
“Here our priests are also our judges and our teachers,” she said, looking both thoughtful and interested. “And we don’t have women priests.”
“I do not know about the priests of the Prophet, but Christianity has always had men as priests. After all, the priesthood established by Aaron was male, and Jesus and his first apostles were all men.”
Of all the ways I had desperately tried to imagine to get us out of this, I had to admit that I had not considered discussing church governance and theology with the Ifrit’s wife.
“So is it true,” she asked, “that all of you in the west really do follow the Nazarene prophet rather than
It had been night for several hours, though a half moon cast a thin blue light, and the fire had burned down to dull coals when the Ifrit’s snores changed abruptly to a series of snorts. The woman jumped up from where she and Joachim were still talking and ran to reclip the silver chain to her necklace.
The Ifrit opened his eyes, squinted in the moonlight, and felt his ear. “Aha,” he said, unwinding the end of the chain. “So you are still safe and pure, my dear.”
“As pure as I’ve ever been,” she agreed, planting a kiss on his stubbly chin.
“Then, little mage,” said the Ifrit to me, “I think you’ll be interesting enough for the rest of my tests. Are you sure you don’t want to show me a magic trick first? No, that’s right, I’m not supposed to let you.”
I was afraid I knew who might-or might not-order the Ifrit to “let” someone practice magic. But I didn’t dare ask about that. “Will your tests involve the rest of my friends?” I asked instead.
“They might, they might,” said the Ifrit in a rumble. “I know you humans can’t see in the dark very well, so you like to sleep at night. I think I’ll leave you all here now, while I go find some more sheep. I believe we ate the last this evening. Maybe I’ll get some melons as well. I’ll be back in the very early morning, before it’s light enough for your human eyes to see properly. I know my wife will be safe with you now that you’ve passed my test, especially since I can see all and know all when I’m awake.”
Leaving us alone with her, if we had actually lusted for her, seemed quite different to me than the Ifrit falling asleep while she was-supposedly-chained to his ear. I rather doubted the Ifrit saw and knew quite as much as he thought. But I did not say so.
“In the morning, little mage,” he continued, “while you try some of my tests, perhaps this other man can stay here and keep my wife company. She’s been complaining there are too few people in the valley. Would you like that, my dear?”
“Yes,” she said, as though surprised at her own answer. “We’ll be able to talk. I would like that very much.”
“Then sleep now, humans, and take your rest for tomorrow’s adventures.”
“Just as I was waking up last evening,” said the Ifrit. “I heard you-or was it your friend? — talking about the role of sacrifice in your heretical western religion. I’ve heard you westerners have tried to alter the religion of Solomon, may God preserve his memory.”
I again clung to his hair and ear as we flew across the valley floor, far faster than I could ever have flown myself.
“So perhaps one of the tests I should set you and your friends is to see how willing you are to sacrifice yourselves for each other.”
After a night of exhausted and dreamless sleep, I had wakened feeling, quite irrationally, more hopeful about our chances of living beyond the next day. But the Ifrit’s comment made my heart sink again.
“I’ll test you alone first, however,” he continued, “before I try to find the rest of your friends-I think I remember where I left them.”
I didn’t like the implications of “find” any better. Were they all buried beneath the sand?
“You claim to be a mage,” said the Ifrit, “so we’ll see how you deal with a magical situation I learned about not long ago!”
He began to fly even faster, and I held on desperately, my eyes shut against the rushing wind. If he was going to give me a magical test, then he had to allow me access to magic again, but when I tried to reach out to the forces I found an impermeable wall confining my mind. The words of the Hidden Language were as thoroughly gone as if I had never known them, and how one moved through magic’s four dimensions was but the faintest of memories.
When I dared open my eyes again I saw white spires and an arm of the ocean. Had we come back to the emir’s city? Or were those spires some other city on the same estuary? If so, I wondered how I would ever find my way, on foot and without magic or even a map, back to the Wadi Harhammi.
As we dipped lower, I could see that the spires below were certainly not those of Bahdroc. It did indeed look like a city, but a city which had sunk abruptly into the bay. As the Ifrit flew over it, I could look down through clear water to city streets, to courtyards and fountains, to a market place and a princely palace. But all was silent, deep beneath the water. Only the tallest towers emerged, and a walled garden on a hill behind the palace.
The Ifrit set me down at the edge of the bay. “See what you can make of this ensorcelled city, little wizard!” he said with his deep chuckle and drew back, folding his arms and watching me with a grin.
Without magic I couldn’t even check to see if the city really was under a spell or had sunk due to an earthquake. But I had no alternative than to try. I took off my shoes, went to the edge of the water, and waded in.
The water was scarcely cooler than blood. Fish swam around my feet, the same brilliant blue, red, and gold I had seen in the fish pond in the emir’s palace. I had certainly never seen fish like these in the west. The scales glittered, and their protruding eyes were fixed on me, but I did not think they were automatons.
They seemed almost tame, swimming close to my feet, barely moving out of the way as I waded deeper. The red fish greatly outnumbered the other colors. I plunged in my hands and grabbed one.
I expected it to wiggle wildly as I drew it up for a closer look. Instead the eyes opened even farther, and the fish mouth gaped until it was as wide as a human mouth. “Beware, oh man, beware!”
I was so surprised that I dropped it, and it swam peacefully away. I bent down to the surface of the water for a better look, and it again seemed to have an ordinary fish mouth.
The Ifrit sat a hundred yards back, grinning at me. I tried to ignore him and reached for a gold fish.
Again, as soon as I had it out of water it spoke with a human voice, “Beware, oh man, beware!” This time I managed to put it back in the water carefully, without dropping it. The blue fish was just the same.
“Ensorcelled city,” I said to myself, wading back out. It was thoughtful of the fish to try to warn me, but I wished I knew what they were warning me against. Without magic I felt blind. Someone or something-perhaps the Ifrit himself-had turned the inhabitants of this city into fish. Apparently my test was to find out how, or why, and maybe even to turn them back into humans.
In that case, the Ifrit was quite unlikely to answer questions. A question might even be the sign I had failed the test. I turned instead toward the walled garden I had spotted, which stood on what had once been a high hill behind the sunken palace but was now on the shore of the bay. A staircase had descended from the garden to the back of the palace, but its steps now led down only into water.
The garden itself however was flourishing. Enormous bushes with purple blooms bent over half-concealed benches, and paths led between arbors and fruit trees. I came in by a side gate and wandered for several minutes along the paths, among sweet-smelling flowers and highly decorative brick work. I saw no blue roses, or roses of any color, though I looked. I found myself constantly trying to probe with magic to find whatever malignant force might lurk behind the next bush, but all I could draw on was ordinary human senses.
