'I was his fifth opponent, or maybe it was sixth. I lasted fractionally longer than the fourth or fifth.' He tied off the horses, apportioned more grain. 'It was clear from the first time he danced that he would likely win.'
'So, I take it everyone lost money when I defeated him.'
He grinned. 'I would assume so.'
'Too bad.' I glanced around for something behind which I might shield my morning donation, finally settled on the palm tree just beyond the horses. 'Did you?' I called.
'What, lose money? Hoolies, I didn't bother wagering.'
'At all?'
'No. It would have been disloyal.'
'Ah hah! Even you would have bet against me.'
Alric was rolling up his blanket as I came back around the horses. 'I didn't know where you'd been or what you'd been up to since the last time I'd seen you. I did mention to the others I thought they were giving you short shrift, but once Rafiq spouted off about the missing fingers and your bout with the sandtiger, no one wanted to listen.'
I started packing up my own belongings. 'You could have put coin on me for old times' sake.'
'Lena expressly forbade me to wager.'
I nodded sagely. 'And you, of course, do everything Lena tells you. Or, in this case, don't do everything Lena tells you not to do.'
'We would not be having this conversation if Del were here.'
'Sure we would. She'd just be giving us the benefit of her own opinion.'
'You've been together how long?'
I thought about it. 'Almost four years.'
'Ah. Then you're still a work in progress. Lena has had more than ten years to remake me.'
'Del knows better than to try to remake me.'
Whereupon Alric collapsed in paroxysms of laughter, drowning out even the screaming baby.
Eventually I noted, 'I meant that as a joke.'
The Northerner got up again and finished packing, but it was punctuated by occasional chuckles. After a while I ignored him and hauled pouches and saddle to the gelding, who peered at me out of watery blue eyes.
'What happened to the stud?' Alric asked.
I slipped into my harness and buckled it, reseating the sword I'd bought in Haziz. It would be another day ending in sunburn, since I still lacked a burnous. Fortunately I'm tanned enough that the burn is only mild. 'He ran off when the sandtiger attacked. If I'm lucky, he wandered back after Rafiq and his friends hauled me away to Umir's. Otherwise, he might still be out there wandering around.' Or more likely dead. But I didn't want to think about that any more than about the possibility of Del being dead. 'He's a tough old son. He's likely bedded down in a good Julah livery about now.' And Del, I hoped, was bedded down on a healer's cot.
'Are you sure you don't want company?'
'Go home to your wife, Alric. Tell bedtime stories of me to your little girls.'
He grinned, reached out an arm. We clasped briefly. 'Bring Del to Rusali when you have a chance. Lena and the girls would like to see her.'
The gelding was saddled and packed. I mounted, settled my aching body. Whatever Meteiera may have done to me, it hadn't made life painless. 'I will.'
Alric's expression was serious. 'Tiger—I mean it.'
I nodded. 'I know. I will.'
His smile was of brief duration, as if something nagged at him. 'May the sun shine on your head.'
'And yours,' I returned, then headed the gelding south, away from crying babies.
SIXTEEN
I WENT THROUGH the cantina doorway bellowing for Fouad. It was late afternoon, and only a couple of men had yet wandered in for drinks. By sundown the place would begin to fill up. As I strode across the hard- packed floor to the plank bar, shouting for their host, they watched in mild curiosity. In Julah, in cantinas, pretty much anything was commonplace.
Fouad appeared from the hindmost regions of the cantina smoothing the front of his yellow burnous, as I dumped saddle-pouches on the bar. His eyebrows ran up into graying hair. 'You're back.'
'Where's Del?'
He blinked. 'Isn't she with you?'
'Isn't she with you ?'
'No.'
I felt a stab of disquiet. 'That kid came here, he said.'
'Who, Nayyib?' Fouad nodded. 'He did. He wanted the name of a good healer. He planned to take the healer to where you and the bascha were.' His dark eyes widened. 'Didn't he do it?'
Oh, hoolies. 'He showed up,' I said, 'but there was no healer with him. Only three buffoons hired by Umir the Ruthless.' I tapped impatiently on the plank, understanding now that Rafiq and his friends had never allowed Nayyib to find the healer, just made him lead them to me. 'I figured he'd bring her here afterwards.'
Fouad shook his head. 'I haven't seen the bascha since she left with you, and I haven't seen the kid since he left with the sword-dancers.'
I was thinking furiously. 'Maybe he took her to the healer you recommended. How do I find him?'
'No, Oshet stopped by earlier today for ale. He said he has no new patients.' He eyed me, clearly reluctant. 'Forgive me, but if she was that badly injured, it's possible—'
I cut him off. 'She's not dead.' Then I swore feelingly, wondering if Nayyib had brought her back to Julah but avoided Fouad's, since his last visit had ended badly. Or maybe Del was sick enough that he'd felt it best to remain at the lean-to and not risk moving her. But it made no sense that he wouldn't take her to the healer Fouad recommended. I had a hunt ahead of me.
'She might be elsewhere in town,' he suggested, following my thought. 'Maybe with another healer. Do you want me to ask around?'
'If Nayyib's avoiding you, you won't find him.'
Fouad scoffed. 'This is my town.'
'He doesn't strike me as stupid.'
'It's difficult to hide with a sick Northern woman.'
Very true; unless she was dead, and he was on his own.
I dismissed the thought instantly, annoyed I'd succumbed to it. 'Ask around,' I said. 'The sooner there's an answer the happier I'll be. I'll spend the night at the inn just up the street. If I don't hear anything by morning, I'll head out.'
'Stay here,' Fouad offered.
'In a cantina?'
He laughed. 'You used to stay here all the time.'
'Not in an empty bed.' I hadn't stayed in a cantina since hooking up with Del. Before then, such places had been frequent lodgings.
'That could be remedied,' Fouad asserted. But his humor died away. 'One of my girls left to marry, and there is an extra room.
It's small, but it claims a bed, a tiny table. You do own one-third of the place, now.'
'Fine. Can you have one of your boys take my horse to the livery? I've got all my belongings off him.'
Fouad looked dubious. 'No one likes handling the stud.'
'I don't have the stud. It's the white gelding tied outdoors.' I sighed, running a hand impatiently through hair that was just beginning to regain some of its wave. 'Food and drink would be welcome. And a burnous.'
