All the Sweet Tomorrows

if this is someone who knows that Niall is dead, and is using his name?'

'To what end, Robbie? Why would someone use Niall's name?'

'To gain the opportunity of ransom, lass!'

'It is rare a captive can be ransomed, Captain Small,' Osman said quietly.

'Perhaps he didn't know that,' Robbie said, grasping for any reasonable explanation.

'I considered the possibility that you might need proof of some sort,' Osman said, 'and so I asked Hamal to obtain it for me. The man who calls himself Niall Burke stands several inches over six feet in height. He has dark hair and silver eyes. He is lean and hard of body, according to Hamal, obviously a man who has kept himself in shape; and he bears the scars of a severe wound in the region of his belly.'

'It is Niall!' Skye cried, and her face was suffused with pure joy. 'He is alive, Robbie! He is alive!'

'All right,' Robbie muttered, defeated. 'I would have said it could be anyone until Osman mentioned the wound. It's Niall, all right, but he'll not be overly happy to find out that you've put yourself into the harem of some lusty Arab in order to reach Fez. And what happens when you do reach Fez? How in hell are you going to rescue a man penned in a harem when you're penned in a harem, too? Answer me that, Skye lass!'

Skye looked to Osman. 'Does your plan go beyond getting me to Fez, my old friend?'

“The key is Hamal,' Osman said. 'Although he is the property of Princess Turkhan, she is so fond of him that he is allowed his freedom as if he were not a slave. As her favorite, he is not without influence. He comes and he goes as he pleases. He has the run of her home- and the run of his brother's home. This will allow him to help you, my daughter.'

'What is the quickest escape route, Osman?' Skye asked.

“The river that runs through Fez empties into the Atlantic Ocean, my daughter, but it is not a navigable river. You will have to return the way you came, back here to Algiers. Hamal believes he knows a way, but it all depends on you making yourself indispensable to Kedar.'

'How do you and Hamal communicate, Osman?' Skye was curious, for she knew it was close to six hundred miles between Fez and Algiers.

“The pigeons, my daughter,' was the smiling reply. The birds are our messengers, and we use a code that I taught Hamal when he was a little boy. It amused him then, and it now amuses us that we may communicate without anyone knowing what we speak of, Skye. I was in Fez several months ago to teach briefly at the university. Hamal and I discussed much of this then, but I could not seek you until I had returned to Algiers. Had Jamil not departed for Istanbul, I should have come to you myself in Beaumont de Jaspre.'

'Did you arrange for Jamil's departure?' Skye looked closely at her old friend.

Osman chuckled, and his dark eyes twinkled with glee. 'It is strange,' he said, admitting nothing, 'that word of a cure for Jamil's impotence should come at this time.'

Skye grew serious once more.

'Did you ever see Niall, Osman?' she asked.

'No,' he answered, sorry to disappoint her. 'The princess does not know me, and it would not have been possible under the circumstances for me to enter her house. Hamal visited me at his brother's home, or at my quarters at the university.'

'You're determined to do this?' Robbie said, and Skye could hear the worried concern in his voice. ''Tis total madness, y’know.'

'Niall is alive,' Skye answered him. 'My husband, the father of my babies, is alive! Oh, Robbie, you of all people know what we have both been through over the years. I love him! I have always loved him and he has always loved me! When I learned that Darragh had killed him I was sick with anger and outrage that after all we had endured he should be taken from me again. I must free him from this bondage he is enmeshed in, just as he would free me. I will not be beaten, Robbie! Not in this!'

Robert Small bowed his head in a private agony. He had no argument to offer, and as difficult as the situation was he knew that she was right. If they attempted to go through official channels it could take forever. More than likely the spoiled and determined Princess Turkhan would hide Niall, and they would be forced to accept defeat in the end. The Moroccan sultan was not about to offend the wealthy and powerful daughter of his overlord, the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul. They would not jeopardize themselves over an infidel nobleman. “I’ll support you in any way that I can, Skye lass,' Robbie said quietly, and he hugged her where she sat, tears running down his face.

Skye's own beautiful blue eyes were wet with tears as she said huskily, 'Thank you, Robbie! Thank you!'

'It is decided, then?' Osman asked.

'Yes,' came the reply. 'When your nephew arrives you will present him with a new slave girl named Muna. I wonder though, Osman. Am I not too old for this? I am not the girl I was ten years ago.'

'You look it,' Osman said. 'Does she not yet look a girl, Captain Small? Your face is youthful, and I suspect that, despite all your children, your body remains youthful also.'

Skye chuckled. 'I have had four children since we last met, my old friend Osman. Although I am in better condition than many women my age, I am still not a girl of nineteen.'

'Fear not, my daughter. We will tell Kedar that you have had children. It will only serve to increase your value in his eyes. A Fasi is very much a family man.'

'What in the name of all that is holy is a Fasi?' Robbie demanded.

'A Fasi is a native-born citizen of Fez, my friend. I am a Fasi although I have lived here in Algiers for more years than I ever lived in Fez.'

'How old do you intend to tell your nephew I am?' Skye asked.

'How old are you now, my daughter?'

'I am twenty-nine,' she answered.

'Ye're thirty,' Robbie contradicted her bluntly.

'Robbie!' Her face wore an outraged look. 'A woman is always permitted to lie about her age.'

'Not when she's dealing with Osman, and taking her life in her hands,' he snapped. 'If I know my old friend he'll be wanting to plot your own chart now that you remember your past life.'

Osman's face broadened in a smile. 'You are correct, Captain. When Skye was with us those ten years ago, and without her memory, I could only plot her chart to a certain degree, and by using my other powers. It was never totally accurate. Now I can do a complete horoscope, and I shall if she will but give me her birth-date.'

'I was born December 5th, 1540,' Skye said, 'and I shall not be thirty officially until December, Robbie!' She smiled smugly at him.

Osman frowned. 'I believed you born under the sign of the Ram,' he said, and then his face relaxed. 'Of course! Now I see it! You were conceived beneath the sign of the Ram! You are born under the sign of the Archer. Both are fire signs, my daughter. You are powerfully protected. Do you know the hour of your birth?'

'I was born at nine minutes after nine o'clock in the evening,' Skye answered.

'I will work on your chart tonight,' Osman said. 'I must have all the knowledge I need before I send you forth to Fez.' He turned to Robbie. 'I will ask you to say your good-byes now, Captain. If Skye is to prepare for her role she will need time, and there is little time before Kedar arrives.'

'How will I know when to expert Skye and Niall?' Robbie asked.

'Hamal will get a message to you. Remember that it will be almost two months before Skye reaches Fez. Then she will need time to make contact with Hamal, which will not be easy. It will be between three and four months, possibly more, before they can art, and return to Algiers. You will need to cultivate great patience, my friend.'

'Go back to Beaumont de Jaspre,' Skye said. 'Tell Nicolas that I will not be returning. Then see that the children are sent home immediately. There is no need to torture my poor Nicolas any further, and if all evidence of my residence in Villerose is wiped away, then perhaps he will seriously consider choosing a new bride. The children will go overland to the channel coast, for I have promised them a visit to Paris. Bran is to take them from France to England. I had intended that my Burke children be sent directly to Ireland, but I think that it is better that Bran meet with you when he has gotten them all safely to England. In case anything should happen to one of you, better I have the both of you as guardians. The Burke infants can stay with your sister at Wren Court, Robbie. They will be