Got to play it right, he thought, as he threw the most perplexed and cautious expression he could manage across his features.
“Ghassan? He’s here?”
“After a fashion…”
“Asima?”
More tears now. It really was quite impressive how she did that.
“He’s dead, Samir!”
There was a momentary hoarse catch in her throat and then she threw her hands up to her face and began to sob. Samir blinked in shock and stood suddenly, clambering wildly round the desk to grab her by the shoulders. Gritting his teeth, he shook her a little so that her head jolted back.
“What are you talking about?”
She burbled and wiped her eyes.
“I went to your mother’s house to see if it still stood. It was empty and quiet, so I went in to have a look, and there he was… oh, Samir. It’s horrible.”
Samir frowned. She was good. How could he resist this?
“What happened, Asima?” he barked, his voice on the edge of feigned panic.
“He… oh, Samir. He’s been attacked… beaten… knifed.”
Samir smiled inwardly. It was perfect, but now he had to play his part in the drama with equal skill. Settling his features into a grim determination, Samir addressed her through clenched teeth.
“Take me there!”
In which plans are laid and undone
Samir followed Asima through the crowded dock. He wondered for a moment whether he should have suggested taking a few sailors with him. It would be inconvenient, though a natural thing to do, but in the end he decided to forgo that and head out with her alone, trusting she would put any lack of caution down to shock or the necessity of speed.
They passed through the dock at a fast walk; a run would attract far too much attention for either of them and, at the far side, Samir almost walked into Asima’s back as she slowed near the port gate. What was she up to?
Surreptitiously, while keeping his head lowered, Samir scanned the area and almost smiled as he noticed the gate guards. The military were not noted for their subtlety and these two were no exception. One kept his eyes averted from the pair of them while the other gave a barely perceptible nod to Asima. Samir’s eyes strayed a little and noted that the man’s grip on his spear tightened, the knuckles whitening.
That was it then. She’d not needed to go to the governor because she’d already sold them out to the town guard. It was a dangerous play, given the likelihood that the guard might just be eager enough to capture him that they’d go ahead and ruin whatever plans she had.
He frowned as they passed the guards and entered the street leading up the hill, repeating their earlier journey precisely. The soldiers weren’t trying to take him at the gate, so she must have told them to come to the house. It would have been easier to capture him here, so they must be intending to take Ghassan at the same time. But why? Separately would have been so much easier for them.
Quickly, they hurried up the street toward the turning that led toward the west gate and their house. Samir worked through every conceivable angle and motive as he rushed along behind her. They were trying to get both brothers together and that meant that some extra evidence was afforded by them being in the same place.
He almost slapped his head as he realised.
Ghassan could very easily be accused of complicity in the whole affair. From a legal standpoint it was not unrealistic to assume that the naval officer had delivered both Asima and his ship to his brother for a cut of the profit, through some familial obligation, or myriad other possibilities. To find Ghassan in apparent collusion with Samir would likely damn them both and leave Asima with a cloak of innocence.
Once more, Samir considered just how dangerous Asima could be if she managed to get her hands on real power. She was more trouble than a thousand Pelasian invaders.
Casually, he turned his head and cast his gaze behind them down the street. Sure enough, pairs of guards were filtering through the crowd, converging slowly and subtly. Likewise, up the hill ahead of them, he could see the uniforms of other soldiers scattered among the people, moving down the hill. There would likely be more guards moving in from the other end of the street upon which the house stood.
No time to worry about that now, though. Both he and Ghassan had spent their life getting out of trouble in one situation or another and the pirate captain was sure they would be able to do so again. Escape was not the highest priority right now. Top of the list was to meet Ghassan, to make it clear to him what a lying, deceitful woman Asima was, and to get him on the same side.
They turned the corner into the narrower street and hurried along. Samir glanced back to see that the pursuing guards had slowed as they converged at the end of the road. They were having trouble, now in larger groups, remaining inconspicuous and had wisely chosen to hang back.
He bit his lip as they approached the old neighbourhood. He couldn’t act to try and recruit Ghassan until Asima had revealed her treachery. He could only hope that she wasn’t going to similarly wait on them, but then she couldn’t do really. As soon as Samir officially discovered that Ghassan was alive and well, she would have to act.
With a smile, he realised that without even concentrating on it, his ever frantic mind had already planned out his escape. Good thing, really, since they were approaching the door and there would be very little time to pull this off. With a last glance up and down the street, he could see the guards at both ends now, tightening the net. In a minute they could be on him.
Here goes.
As Asima approached the door, she stopped, covered her face with a hand and turned to him.
“I… I just can’t. Not again, Samir.”
He had to stifle an inward laugh. Well played, Asima.
“That’s alright Asima,” he said, his face straight and grim. “You wait here.”
Turning his back on her, he pulled on the handle and entered the house, allowing the door to swing almost closed behind him. The common room was very much how he remembered it, though dirty and dusty. The furniture was mostly gone or broken, but the small low table in the centre remained, a reminder of family meals long ago. Though he knew the layout of the building intimately, his mind had already checked out and catalogued the exits regardless: doorway to kitchen with climbable window to steps out back; doorway to corridor that led to latrine… no exit that way; stairs to rooms above… mother’s room with window onto street or their old room with the only clear exit. Samir smiled.
Ghassan stepped out from the kitchen into the doorway.
“Samir.”
The pirate captain smiled at his tall brother.
“Ghassan. I’d like to say you look well. Better than Asima tells me, anyway?”
The taller brother laughed darkly.
“I had a feeling you’d be less gullible than she believed. I’m rather sorry that I have to do this, Samir. Even though it pains me to aid Asima over you, I just have to try and rebuild my life. I am sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am, and not as sorry as you will be in a few minutes.”
Ghassan frowned and tilted his head.
“Explain?”
Samir sighed.
“I really wanted to provide you with the evidence before I explained all this, but here goes…”
He took a deep breath.
“Asima is outside with several dozen of the town guard. She doesn’t need you at all, Ghassan. She knows that turning over a notorious pirate captain would likely garner her the governor’s support, but not as much as she
