IV
We flew back that night to the circular valley. Joachim and the Ifrit’s wife seemed to be getting along very well. “The Ifrit’s still testing me,” I told him. “Today I managed to trick a witch into turning some fish she had ensorcelled back into people,” but I said no more. The Ifrit still refused to tell us anything about the others.
But at dawn he snatched Joachim and me up and out of sleep, setting each of us on a shoulder, and flew straight upwards while we were still halfway between dream and a waking that seemed more desperately unreal than any dream.
“I think I remember now where I put your friends,” he said in a low rumble and reached out his arm. I had just gotten my eyes properly open when the dawn sky around us snapped, flared, and turned over.
I clung wildly to the Ifrit’s hair, my eyes clamped shut. Every angle felt upside down. But in a moment the world straightened out again. As we had flown straight up, we now descended, until we hovered a short distance above the valley floor. Directly below us and immediately on the defensive was the rest of our party from Yurt.
“Put down your swords,” Joachim called. “This Ifrit will not harm us.”
I doubted this myself, but knew that the most Hugo could have accomplished by sticking his sword into the Ifrit’s foot would have been all of our immediate deaths.
They were camped at a small date-palm oasis which I could have sworn was not in the valley a few minutes ago. Even the horses were there, except for Whirlwind.
“Where have you been?” I gasped to Ascelin, and he to us, as the Ifrit set the chaplain and me down. They all looked weary but unharmed.
“Here in the valley,” we all answered together. I glanced up at the Ifrit, who stood watching and smiling, his arms crossed. I knew perfectly well the others had not been here. But then there was now no sign of the Ifrit’s wife, though we could not have flown a quarter mile of horizontal distance since we left her. It was as though the Ifrit’s magic allowed more than one reality to exist simultaneously within this valley.
There was no time to explore the implications of this, to wonder if the Wadi Harhammi was here too somewhere, hidden by the Ifrit’s magic. “The Ifrit’s taken my magical abilities from me,” I said. “I can’t even tell what’s real anymore.”
“No magic?” said Dominic. “This is going to make it harder.” He turned his ruby ring thoughtfully on his finger. It still pulsed slowly with light. “There’s been no sign of the boy and my stallion. We hadn’t even seen the Ifrit again since he first appeared and we were whirled through the air to this oasis. But we hoped that if we stayed here in the valley you’d be able to locate us again if you were still alive.”
“Do you think your friends are ready for their tests, little wizard?” called the Ifrit to me.
“I’m ready to ask you if you know what happened to my father!” Hugo shouted back.
“He’s probably dead, whoever he was,” said the Ifrit with a shrug. “Most humans are dead, sooner or later.”
Hugo whipped out his sword again. I could have stopped him if I still had my magic, but ordinary human reflexes were too slow. Before I could reach him he lunged forward and drove his sword into the spot where the Ifrit’s leg had been a second before.
“None of that!” cried the Ifrit angrily, putting his foot back down and picking Hugo up by the back of the neck. “I may be immortal, but I bleed the same as any of God’s creation!”
Hugo kicked and struggled and tried to swing around to stab at the hand that held him. The Ifrit frowned. “You seem to want to fight. Maybe that should be your test. But who should I have you fight? Not me, because I’d crush you at once, and that would only be amusing for a few seconds.”
This stopped Hugo’s struggles for the moment.
“I know!” said the Ifrit happily. “You can fight another human. How about- Hmmm. How about this one?” He seized Ascelin with the other hand.
The prince hung, dignified, from the Ifrit’s grip on the back of his shirt. “We could give a demonstration of sword work for your amusement if you like.”
“No,” said the Ifrit, peering at him with a frown. “That would not be amusing enough. I know! I’ll have you fight to the death.”
He set Hugo and Ascelin down, and they stood uncertainly, their hands on their hilts. “Go ahead!” said the Ifrit impatiently. “This will be your chance to entertain me. I want to see what humans do when they are fighting for their lives.”
They glanced questioningly at King Haimeric and at me. “Go ahead and fence,” I said slowly, hoping desperately that a good sword fight would satisfy the Ifrit, that he was not serious about making them fight to the death.
They took off their goat’s-hair robes and slid their shields onto their arms. Hugo removed his earring, and they both tied back their hair before strapping on their helmets. Only their eyes showed as they exchanged the ritual taps of the sword that begin a tournament duel. They took a few moments to get the feel of the sandy surface, circling each other slowly, then Hugo suddenly lashed out and landed a blow on Ascelin’s shield.
I had often seen Hugo practicing his sword work, but could never remember having seen Ascelin in the tournament ring. He was extremely good. He had all the moves, the sudden thrusts, the ability to catch a sword either on his own sword or his shield, the quick turn to avoid a blow. When they had fought for ten minutes he was still not even breathing hard. Hugo didn’t have anything like Ascelin’s height or experience, but he was twenty years younger and even quicker.
I’d never been trained in sword work myself, yet I could still appreciate how they managed to rain an impressive number of blows on each other, and with sharp swords at that, without ever hurting the other. Their shields rang again and again, and their armor flashed in the sun. Even tournament sword fighting was intended to make the other fighter drop his blade and yield, but these two could have been engaged in a dance, ready to keep on indefinitely.
“Stop!” shouted the Ifrit and thrust a fist into the sand between them. They stopped.
“You aren’t really fighting,” he said.
Hugo pulled off his helmet and mopped his brow. “I’ll fight harder if you’ll help me find my father, and if he’s still alive.”
The Ifrit dismissed this. “I’m not interested in whatever relatives of yours might or might not be alive at the moment. I already said I want you to fight to the death.”
“And what do you offer in return?” I called up to him, though I was afraid I already knew the answer.
“I don’t ‘offer’ anything,” said the Ifrit angrily. “I don’t know why you humans always seem to feel that Ifriti exist to grant your foolish wishes. Maybe I want you to grant
Joachim tried to say something, but it was no use. The Ifrit snatched up the four of us who were not fighting, two in each hand. “Say you’ll fight properly, or I’ll crush these friends of yours now.”
Ascelin’s eyes grew dark. “Of course I’ll face death for them.”
The Ifrit smiled and set us down, on the far side of his foot from Hugo and Ascelin. The king coughed and clung to Dominic for support.
“So you are ready to sacrifice yourself,” said the Ifrit to Ascelin, sounding pleased. “But it won’t be amusing if you just stand there and let this hot-headed little man kill you. You,” to the king. “Order one to kill the other, and the other to defend himself.”
King Haimeric bent his head. “I cannot order either one to do that. You can do what you like to me.”
I had a nightmare feeling of paralysis, facing events moving far too fast, but if this was a nightmare I should have waked up long ago.
“I’m not going to kill you before you’ve had your turn to amuse me,” said the Ifrit irritably to the king. “You two warriors! I want one of you to kill the other one, now! I don’t care which one. But I do know how to make it more interesting. I’ll give the winner the chance to live a little longer.”
“And then?” said Hugo cautiously.
“And then I will kill him as punishment,” said the Ifrit with satisfaction. “Slowly, maybe over a week or two. I
