“I’m sure you will,” Kadar said. “I’ll be watching you too.”
She looked at him inquiringly.
“I’d judge you to be a dangerous woman if thwarted.”
She met his gaze. “More than you dream.”
“And that in the past you probably played on Tarik’s feelings yourself.”
“Yes, I did. I’d have used anyone to break free of the priests and that house I hated,” she admitted calmly. “But that was long ago.”
“How long?”
She glanced at Tarik. “Ah, questions. He’s been thinking as you bid him.”
“I keep my promises,” Kadar said. “You wanted me to ask questions. I’m asking them.” He turned to Tarik. “You said that at first you didn’t believe in Eshe. You do now?”
Tarik nodded.
“Why?”
“The only way to test it was to take it ourselves. One evening Layla and I had a celebration. We had honey cakes and wine and at the end of the evening we drank a toast.” He shrugged. “And the next day there was nothing different. We didn’t know what to expect, but there should have been
Layla smiled, reminiscing. “There was something. A headache from too much wine.”
“True.” Tarik returned her smile. “And the conviction that all of our work was for naught.”
“Your conviction. I still believed.”
Tarik nodded. “I wanted only to forget and go on with our lives. We made plans to run away from the city. I managed to smuggle Layla out of the city to my brother, Chion, in the country. I was going to follow the next week.”
“But you didn’t?”
“The priests had found out Layla was visiting me the night before she left the city. They decided to try to persuade me to tell them where she’d gone.”
“Persuade?”
“They tortured him,” Layla whispered. “They broke all the bones in his foot, but he told them nothing.”
“I was fortunate that was all they had time to do. The head librarian was my great friend and he had influence at court. He managed to talk Ptolemy into making the priests free me and then found a way for me to leave the city.”
“He didn’t walk for a year.” Layla’s tone was stilted. “And when he did, it was the way he does now. He was a fool. He should have told them where I was.”
“We’ve talked of this before,” Tarik said. “Stop blaming yourself. If I’d told them, they’d have killed me. I did it for myself.”
She shook her head.
“And the priests didn’t find you?”
“No,” Tarik said. “When I was well, we left Egypt and went to Greece. My brother, Chion, went with us.”
Kadar said, “The brother who went mad.”
“It wasn’t Tarik’s fault,” Layla said defensively.
“I didn’t say it was. I wouldn’t know. But I’m trying to find out. If you didn’t go mad after taking the potion, why would Chion?”
“He didn’t go mad at once. It was later.”
“How much later?”
Tarik met his gaze. “Two hundred years.”
Kadar went still. “Two hundred…”
“As Layla said, he was a gentle, simple man. He had seen too many loved ones die.”
“Two hundred years.” Kadar couldn’t get past that incredible statement. He shook his head. “It’s not possible. I thought perhaps eighty. Though that, too, stretches the imagination.”
They both looked at him, waiting.
He knew the question for which they were waiting. “How long ago did you take the potion?”
“Ptolemy the Fourteenth was in power. He died the year we left for Greece and his sister Cleopatra was given the throne by Julius Caesar. That was more than forty years before the birth of Christ.”
“Before the birth of Christ?” Kadar gazed at them in wonder. “Do you think me mad too?”
“Incredulous, not mad.”
“And how long do you claim to be able to live?”
Tarik shrugged. “I make no claims. How could I? We know nothing about this. I could die tomorrow.”
“Or live forever?”
“Dear God, I hope not.”
“And you haven’t aged?”
Tarik shook his head. “Now you see why I feel guilty enough to let you use the grail. It’s a great burden I’ve put on you.”
“It’s a great gift you’ve given him,” Layla corrected.
“You can see that Layla and I have a different viewpoint regarding Eshe. After Chion died, I couldn’t give the potion to anyone else. I didn’t have the right.”
“Who else has the right?” Layla demanded. “Were we to put it in a cave and let it be forgotten? As the years pass, surely there will come a time when it will be safe to bring it to light.”
“And that time is not now?” Kadar asked.
“Some of the herbs are rare. We could make only a small amount each year. Do you realize the uproar that would shake Christendom if everyone knew about it and we couldn’t offer it to all?”
“Oh, yes.” Kadar’s lips twisted. “And you’d be fortunate not to be burned at the stake for sorcery-or blasphemy.”
“I’ve been close to that point twice quite recently,” Layla said. “Bad judgment. This is a terrible dark time, and not everyone can accept gifts. It frightens them.”
“I wonder why?” Kadar asked dryly.
Tarik was looking at Layla. “You didn’t tell me.”
“Why should I think you’d care? You weren’t there. You were living happily at Sienbara with your Rosa.” Her lips tightened. “I’m surprised you weren’t tempted to give Eshe to her.”
“I might have been. I wasn’t given the opportunity. She died from a fall from a horse.”
Kadar barely heard them. “And, if I’m to believe you, I could live as long as you?”
“It’s possible.” Tarik glanced at Layla. “I yield to your greater experience.”
“Almost certainly,” Layla said.
Kadar felt as if he’d been bludgeoned. He’d been toying, playing with the idea on a minor scale. This was something entirely different.
“It’s enough to daze anyone. That’s why we’ve always gone slowly when telling anyone.” Tarik’s gaze was on Kadar’s face. “I was lucky. There was no shock for me. The years came and went and let me accept it gradually.”
Kadar tried to fight his way through the maze. “The manuscript…”
“I wandered a great deal after Layla and I parted. I settled for a while in Britain.” He smiled. “It amused me when I heard of de Troyes’s work. It didn’t amuse me when Nasim fastened on it with such ferocity. We had encountered each other twice. Once when Nasim was a young man and the second time nine years ago. He had grown old, I had not.”
“And he had heard rumors of your treasure.”
“Yes.” Tarik tilted his head and gazed quizzically at him. “Any other questions?”
“Just one. Selene. Did you give her the potion?”
Any hint of amusement vanished from Tarik’s expression. “No, never. She’s quite wonderful, but she wasn’t like you. You’d been seasoned by a hundred fires. I felt it might possibly be safe to give it to you. Selene has a very tempestuous nature, and I couldn’t foresee any of her responses. If you wish her to have it, you’ll have to give it to her yourself. I won’t take the responsibility.”
“When are you going to take responsibility, Tarik?” Layla asked. “You cannot narrow your choices to one man.
