came to hand so that I might be included with you. The Devil placed the chance in my hand and I seized it.' Dugal gazed forlornly at me with damp eyes. 'God save me, I did the deed without thinking twice.'

'You pushed Libir on the path,' I said, remembering our leave-taking, and the slippery rocks leading down to the little ship.

The change in Dugal's demeanor was wonderful to behold. The pain in his eyes passed through bewilderment and arrived at amazement. 'You knew?'

'Dugal! I have always known!'

'You knew,' he said again. 'Yet, you never breathed a word.'

'Of course, I knew. Listen to me now: Libir was old; he could not have endured the journey-he would have died in the shipwreck, and if not then, he certainly would have been killed any number of times after. Most likely, you saved his life.'

Dugal stared, not willing to believe what I was saying.

'Did you really think God would curse us to ruin because you took an old man's place in a boat?' I demanded.

'But I hurt him,' he replied dully. 'I hurt him, Aidan. Our misfortunes came upon us through my prideful sin.'

'Put that out of your mind,' I told him. 'Whatever happens in this world happens. That is all. The only misfortune is thinking God cares. Hear me, Dugal: He does not care. Still less does He intervene in our affairs one way or another.'

My words stung him; I could see it in his eyes. He did not expect such venom from me, and was shocked by what I said. After a moment, he said, 'I would feel better if I confessed.'

'You have already confessed,' I pointed out, my anger subsiding.

'Would you hear my confession, Aidan?'

'No,' I told him. 'But confess by all means, if it will make you feel better; get Brynach to shrive you. I want no part of it.'

Dugal nodded glumly and climbed to his feet. I watched as he approached Brynach; the two talked, whereupon the elder monk led Dugal a little apart, and the two knelt together to pray. God help me, I could not bear to see them, so turned my back, pulled my robe around my shoulders, lay down and tried to sleep. The cool desert air was still and soft, the sky bright, and my mind kept circling, circling endlessly, unable to alight and unwilling to rest.

In the end, I gave up and simply stared at the stars. Even that was no good. For, though I watched the glowing opalescent sky, I saw only the black chain of deceit stretching back and back-to Byzantium. I thought of Nikos and his treachery, but instead of allowing myself to renew my rage and hatred-which is what I always did whenever his memory crossed my mind-this time I considered him dispassionately: a riddle to be solved, rather than a serpent to be killed.

Strangely, my mind ceased flitting restlessly from thought to thought, and a profound calm eased into my spirit. I began to see the difficulty in a cool, clear light. It came to me that both Eparch Nicephorus and Bishop Cadoc had been betrayed by Nikos. Why? Neither man, so far as I knew, had ever so much as heard of the other, and yet Nikos went out of his way to destroy them. What was it that united the two men as objects of Nikos's treachery?

Well, there was only one answer: both men knew Governor Honorius. Indeed, both had been going to see him, and both had been attacked. Honorius, then, lay at the centre of this mystery.

So then, what was it about the governor that Nikos feared? Whatever the answer, I reasoned, it must be terrible in its import: hundreds of people had died to keep it hidden-and those were just the ones I knew. How many more had been sacrificed, and why?

Try as I might, I could not get beyond the why?

Gazing up at the glowing sky-vault above me, my mind turned again to my vision of the afternoon: Amet standing in the centre of the marketplace, hailing me, calling me. Come to Sebastea, he had said. Sebastea…

I was on my feet before I knew it, and stumbling through the sleeping camp. Kneeling over the sleeping Brynach, I took him by the shoulder. He came awake at my touch.

'How did you know the governor was in Sebastea?' I said, my voice shaking with excitement.

'Peace, brother,' he said, and made to rise.

'Answer me! How did you know?' I demanded, already guessing what he would say.

'Nikos told us,' Brynach replied. 'He said the governor always spent the summer there.'

A thin, icy chill trickled along my ribs. Oh, Nikos was cunning as a viper and just as poisonous. He knew, even before setting foot in Trebizond that the governor would not be joining us there. He had sent the monks, not to Honorius's home in Trebizond, but to Sebastea where he knew the governor could be found; and, when the eparch had concluded the treaty, then Nikos diverted us to Sebastea, too.

Nikos was, it seemed, always sending people to Sebastea, but none of them ever arrived. Why?

My quick-kindled excitement died. I had thought myself close to solving the riddle. But the more I probed, the more the mystery deepened, and now I was no nearer a solution than before. I returned to my sleeping place, dispirited and disgusted, to wrestle with thoughts that would not yield.

A pale white dawn found me awake still, unrested and aching in head and heart. Slowly, the camp began to stir; I lay listening to the idle talk of the amir's warriors as they built up the fires once more. Thus, I was already alert when I heard Kazimain approach, her footfall soft in the dust.

'Aidan,' she said tentatively. Her voice quivered.

'My love,' I replied, rolling over to look at her. She appeared to have slept no better than I; her hair was unbound, and the corners of her eyes were red. 'Kazimain?'

'It is Lord Sadiq.' Her hand was shaking, so I grasped it; her fingers were cold. 'I cannot wake him.'

I was beside the amir in an instant. In swift steps I entered the tent, knelt over him and pressed my hand to the side of his neck, much as Farouk had done to me countless times. The amir's skin was warm to the touch, and I could feel the rapid flutter of a strong pulse beneath my fingertips; his breath was quick and shallow. He seemed to sleep, but it was a false repose. There was a faint mist of sweat on his brow.

Touching his shoulder, I jostled him gently, but firmly. 'Lord Sadiq,' I said, 'wake you now.' I repeated this three times, but the amir made no sound, neither did he move.

'You see how he is,' Kazimain said, peering over my shoulder.

'Where is Faysal?'

'He did not eat anything last night,' she replied. 'He said he was not hungry…It is not like the amir to sleep so long…'

'Kazimain,' I said sharply, drawing her back. 'Where is Faysal?'

'Out there-' She gestured vaguely behind her. 'I did not-' She looked at me, frightened now. 'I woke you instead.'

'Wake him now and tell him to bring some water.'

She nodded and backed from the tent. Straightening the amir's head, I began to gently remove his turban. So far as I knew, he had not changed it since the incident at the gate. As the long strip of cloth unwound, I held my breath, fearing what I would find.

As the last length came away, I put the cloth aside and examined the amir's head. To my relief there was no injury that I could see; so I began to search, lightly lifting his matted dark hair to see the scalp beneath. By the time Kazimain returned, I had completed my examination, finding nothing unusual.

Kazimain knelt beside me, worried still, but better composed. Faysal appeared a moment later, with a jar of water. He poured from the jar into a small bowl, and brought it to the amir's lips. I placed my hand behind the amir's head and raised it to receive the water. As I lifted, the amir moaned, as if in pain, but he did not wake.

'Wait,' I told Faysal. 'There is something here.' To Kazimain I said, 'Let us turn him over.'

Half-lifting, half-rolling, we placed the amir on his side, and I quickly found the place my fingers had touched.

The wound was little more than a deep-coloured bruise at the base of his skull. But when I probed with my fingers, rather than solid bone beneath the skin, I felt pulpy flesh. 'Here,' I said, guiding Kazimain's fingers to the place. 'But gently, gently.'

The amir moaned again as Kazimain touched the wound; she pulled back her hand as if she had burned her

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