Castle In The Air Part 9

"You told me you did not like it. I have discontinued it," said Abdullah. "I have now become a realist. The wish I want to make is in accordance with my new outlook."

"Ah," said the wisp of genie. "You're going to ask for the magic carpet back."

"Not at all," said Abdullah. This so surprised the genie that he rose right out of the bottle and regarded Abdullah with wide eyes, which in the dawnlight looked solid and s.h.i.+ny and almost like human eyes. "I shall explain," said Abdullah. "Thus. Fate is clearly determined to delay my search for Flower-in-the-Night. This is in spite of the fact that Fate has also decreed that I shall marry her. Any attempt I make to go against Fate causes you to make sure that my wish does no good to anyone and usually also ensures that I get pursued by persons on camels or horses. Or else the soldier causes me to waste a wish. Since I am tired both of your malice and of the 110.

soldier's; so continually getting his own way, I have decided to challenge Fate instead. I intend to waste every wish deliberately from now on.. Fate will then be forced to take a hand, or else the prophecy concerning Flower-in-the-Night will never be fulfilled."

"Yoiu're being childish," said the genie. "Or heroic. Or possibly mad."

"No>-realistic," said Abdullah. "Furthermore, I shall challenge you by vvasting the wishes in a way that might do good somewhere to sometone."

The genie looked decidedly sarcastic at this. "And what is your wish today? Homes for orphans? Sight for the blind? Or do you simply Vivant all the money in the world taken away from the rich and given to the poor?"

"I was thinking," said Abdullah, "that I might wish that those two bandits whom you transformed into toads should be restored to their own shape."

A lcook of malicious glee spread over the genie's face. "You might do worse. I could grant you that one with pleasure."

"What is the drawback to that wish?" asked Abdullah.

"Oh, not much," said the genie. "Simply that the Sultan's soldiers are camped in that oasis at the moment. The Sultan is convinced that you are still somewhere in the desert. His men are quartering the entire region for you, but I'm sure they will spare a moment for two bandits, if onlyto show the Sultan how zealous they are."

Abdlullah considered this. "And who else is in the desert who might bee in danger from the Sultan's search?"

The genie looked sideways at him. "You are anxious to waste a wish, aren't you? n.o.body much there except a few carpet weavers and a prophet or so-and Jamal and his dog, of course."

"Ah," said Abdullah. "Then I waste this wish on Jamal and his dog. I wish that Jamal and his dog both be instantly transported to a life of ease and prosperity as-let me see-yes, as palace cook and guard dog in the nearest royal palace apart from Zanzib."

"You make it very difficult," the genie said pathetically, "for that wish to go wrong."

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"Such was my aim," said Abdullah. "If I could discover how to make none of your wishes go wrong, it would be a great relief."

"There is one wish you could make to do that," said the genie.

He sounded rather wistful, from which Abdullah realized what he meant.

The genie wanted to be free of the enchantment that bound him to the bottle. It would be easy enough to waste a wish that way, Abdullah reflected, but only if he could count on the genie's being grateful enough to help him find Flower-in-the-Night afterward. With this genie, that was most unlikely. And if he freed the genie, then he would have to give up challenging Fate. "I shall think about that wish for later," he said. "My wish today is for Jamal and his dog. Are they now safe?"

"Yes," the genie said sulkily. From the look on his smoky face as it vanished inside the bottle, Abdullah had an uneasy feeling that he had somehow contrived to make this wish go wrong, too, but of course, there was no way to tell.

Abdullah turned around to find the soldier watching him. He had no idea how much the soldier had overheard, but he got ready for an argument.

But all the soldier said was "Don't quite follow your logic in all that," before suggesting that they walk on until they found a farm where they could buy breakfast.

Abdullah shouldered Midnight again, and they trudged off. All that day they wandered deep lanes again. Though there was no sign of any constables, they did not seem to be getting any nearer to Kingsbury. In fact, when the soldier inquired from a man digging a ditch how far it was to Kingsbury, he was told it was four days' walk.

Fate! thought Abdullah.

The next morning he went around to the other side of the haystack where they had slept and wished that the two toads in the oasis should now become men.

The genie was very annoyed. "You heard me say that the first person who opened my bottle would become a toad! Do you want me to undo my good work?""Yes," said Abdullah.

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"Regardless of the fact that the Sultan's men are still there and will certainly hang them?" asked the genie.

"I think," said Abdullah, remembering his experiences as a toad, "that they would rather be men even so."

"Oh, very well then!" the genie said angrily. "You realize my revenge is in ruins, don't you? But what do you care? I'm just a daily wish in a bottle to you!"

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Which tells how the magic carpet reappeared Once again Abdullah turned around to find the soldier watching him, but this time the soldier said nothing at all. Abdullah was fairly sure he was simply biding his time.

That day, as they trudged onward, the ground climbed. The lush green lanes gave way to sandy tracks bordered with bushes that were dry and spiny. The soldier remarked cheerfully that they seemed to be getting somewhere different at last. Abdullah only grunted. He was determined not to give the soldier an opening.

By nightfall they were high on an open heath, looking over a new stretch of the plain. A faint pimple on the horizon was, the soldier said, still very cheerful, certainly Kingsbury. As they settled down to camp, he invited Abdullah, even more cheerfully, to see how charmingly Whippersnapper was playing with the buckles on his pack.

"Doubtless," said Abdullah. "It charms me even less than a lump on the skyline that may be Kingsbury."

There was another huge red sunset. While they ate supper, the soldier pointed it out to Abdullah and drew his attention to a large red castle-shaped cloud. "Isn't that beautiful?" he said.

"It is only a cloud," said Abdullah. "It has no artistic merit."

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"Friend," said the soldier, "I think you are letting that genie get to you."

"How so?" said Abdullah.

The soldier pointed with his spoon to the distant dark hummock against the sunset. "See there?" he said. "Kingsbury. Now, I have a hunch, and I think you do, too, that things are going to start moving when we get there. But we don't seem to get there. Don't think I can't see your point of view: You're a young fellow, disappointed in love, impatient; naturally you think Fate's against you. Take it from me, Fate doesn't care either way most of the time. The genie's not on anyone's side any more than Fate is.""How do you make that out?" asked Abdullah.

"Because he hates everyone," said the soldier. "Maybe it's his nature-though I daresay being shut in a bottle doesn't help any. But don't forget that whatever his feelings, he's always got to grant you a wish. Why make it hard for yourself just to spite the genie? Why not make the most useful wish you can, get what you want out of it, and put up with whatever he does to send it wrong? I've been thinking this through, and it seems to me that whatever that genie does to send it wrong, your best wish is still to ask for that magic carpet back."

While the soldier was speaking, Midnight-to Abdullah's great surprise-climbed to Abdullah's knees and rubbed herself against his face, purring. Abdullah had to admit he was flattered. He had been letting Midnight get to him as well as the genie and the soldier-not to speak of Fate. "If I wish for the carpet," he said, "I am prepared to bet that the misfortunes the genie sends with it will far outweigh its usefulness."

"You bet, do you?" said the soldier. "I never resist a bet. Bet you a gold piece the carpet will be more use than trouble."

"Done," said Abdullah. "And now you have your own way again. It perplexes me, my friend, that you never rose to command that army of yours."

"Me, too," said the soldier. "I'd have made a good general."

Next morning they woke into a thick mist. Everywhere was white and wet, and it was impossible to see beyond the nearest 115.

bushes. Midnight coiled against Abdullah, s.h.i.+vering. The genie's bottle, when Abdullah put it down in front of them, had a distinctly sulky look.

"Come out," said Abdullah. "I need to make a wish."

"I can grant it quite as well from in here," the genie retorted hollowly. "I don't like this damp."

"Very well," said Abdullah. "I wish for my magic carpet back again."

"Done," said the genie. "And let that teach you to make silly bets!"

For a while Abdullah looked up and around expectantly, but nothing seemed to happen. Then Midnight sprang to her feet. Whippersnapper's face came out of the soldier's pack, ears c.o.c.ked sideways to the south.

When Abdullah gazed that way, he thought he could just hear a slight whispering, which could have been the wind or something moving through the mist. Shortly the mist swirled-and swirled harder. The gray oblong of the carpet slid into sight overhead and glided to the ground beside Abdullah.

It had a pa.s.senger. Curled up on the carpet, peacefully asleep, was a villainous man with a large mustache. His beak of a nose was pressed into the carpet, but Abdullah could just see the gold ring in it, half hidden by the mustache and a dirty drape of headcloth. One of the man's hands clutched a silver-mounted pistol. There was no question that thiswas Kabul Aqba again.

"I think I win the bet," Abdullah murmured.

Even that murmur-or maybe the chilliness of the mist-set the bandit stirring and muttering fretfully. The soldier put his finger to his lips and shook his head. Abdullah nodded. If he had been on his own, he would have been wondering what on earth to do now, but with the soldier there he felt almost equal to Kabul Aqba. As quietly as he could, he made a gentle snoring noise and whispered to the carpet, "Come out from underneath that man and hover in front of me."

Ripples ran down the edge of the carpet. Abdullah could see it was trying to obey. It gave a strong wriggle, but Kabul Aqba's weight was evidently just too much to allow it to slide out from 116.

under him. So it tried another way. It rose an inch into the air, and before Abdullah realized what it intended to do, it had darted out from under the sleeping bandit.

"No!" said Abdullah, but he said it too late. Kabul Aqba thumped down on to the ground and woke. He sat up, waving his pistol and howling in a strange language.

In an alert, leisurely sort of way, the soldier picked up the hovering carpet and wrapped it around Kabul Aqba's head. "Get his pistol," he said, holding the struggling bandit in both brawny arms.

Abdullah plunged to one knee and grasped the strong hand waving the pistol. It was a very strong hand. Abdullah could do nothing about taking the pistol away. He could only hang on and go cras.h.i.+ng to and fro as the hand tried to shake him off. Beside him the soldier was also cras.h.i.+ng to and fro. Kabul Aqba seemed quite amazingly strong. Abdullah, as he was battered about, tried to take hold of one of the bandit's fingers and uncurl it from around the pistol. But at this Kabul Aqba roared and rose upward, and Abdullah was flung off backward with the carpet somehow wrapped around him instead of around Kabul Aqba. The soldier hung on. He hung on even though Kabul Aqba went on rising upward, roaring now like the sky falling, and the soldier from gripping him around the arms went to gripping him around the waist and then around the top of the legs. Kabul Aqba shouted as if his voice were the thunder itself and rose up bigger yet, until both his legs were too big to hold at once, and the soldier slid down until he was grimly clutching one of them, just below its vast knee. That leg tried to kick the soldier loose and failed. Whereupon Kabul Aqba spread enormous leathery wings and tried to fly away. But the soldier, though he slid downward again, hung on still.

Abdullah saw all this while he was struggling out from under the carpet.

He also caught a glimpse of Midnight standing protectively over Whippersnapper, larger even than she had been when she faced the constables. But not large enough. What stood there now was one of the mightiest of mighty djinns. Half of him was lost upward in the mist, which he was beating into swirling smoke with 117.

his wings, unable to fly because the soldier was anchoring one of hisenormous taloned feet to the ground.

"Explain yourself, mightiest of mighty ones!" Abdullah shouted up into the mist. "By the Seven Great Seals, I conjure you to cease your struggling and explain!"

The djinn stopped roaring and halted the violent fanning of his wings.

"You conjure me, do you, mortal?" the great sullen voice came down.

"I do indeed," said Abdullah. "Say what you were doing with my carpet and in the form of that most ign.o.ble of nomads. You have wronged me at least twice!"

"Very well," said the djinn. He began ponderously to kneel down.

"You can let go now," Abdullah said to the soldier, who, not knowing the laws that governed djinns, was still hanging on to the vast foot. "He has to stay and answer me now."

Warily the soldier let go and mopped sweat from his face. He did not seem rea.s.sured when the djinn simply folded his wings and knelt. This was not surprising, because the djinn was high as a house even kneeling, and the face coming into view through the mist was hideous. Abdullah had another glimpse of Midnight, now normal size again, scurrying for the bushes with Whippersnapper dangling from her mouth. But the face of the djinn took up most of his attention. He had seen that blank brown glare and the gold ring through that hooked nose-albeit briefly-before, when Flower-intheNight was carried off from the garden.

"Correction," Abdullah said. "You have wronged me three times."

"Oh, more than that," the djinn rumbled blandly. "So many times that I have lost count."

At this Abdullah found himself angrily folding his arms. "Explain."

"Willingly," said the djinn. "I was indeed hoping to be asked by someone, although I had supposed the questions most likely to come from the Duke of Farqtan or the three rival princes of Thayack, 118.

rather than frrom you. But none of the rest has proved determined enough-which surprises me somewhat, because you were certainly never my maim irons in the fire, either of you. Know then that I am one of the grreatest of the host of Good Djinns, and my name is Hasruel."

"I didn't know there were any good djinns," said the soldier.

"Oh, theire are, innocent northerner," Abdullah told him. "I have heard thus one's name spoken in terms that place him nearly as high as the angels."

The djinni frowned-an unpleasant sight. "Misinformed merchant," he rurmbled. "I am higher than some angels. Know that some two hundred angels of the lesser air are mine to command. They serve as guards to the entrance of my castle."

Abdullah kept his arms folded and tapped with his foot. "This being the case;," he said, "explain why you have seen fit to behave toward me in amanner so far from angelic."

"The blame is not mine, mortal," said the djinn. "Need spurred me on.

Understand all, and forgive. Know that my mother, the Great Spirit Dazrah, in an moment of oversight allowed herself to be ravished by a djinn of the Host of Evil some twenty years ago. She then gave birtlh to my brother Dalzel, who-since Good and Evil do not breed welU together-proved weak and white and undersized. My mother could not tolerate Dalzel and gave him to me to bring up. I lavished every care upon him as he grew. So you can imagine my horror and sorrow when he proved to inherit the nature of his Evil sire. His fiirst act, when he came of age, was to steal my life and hide it, thereby making me his slave."

"Come again?" said the soldier. "You mean you're dead?"

"Not at alll," said Hasruel. "We djinns are not as you mortals, ignorant man.. We can die only if one small portion of us is destroyed. For this reason all djinns prudently remove that small part from our persons and hide it. As I did. But when I instructed Dalzel how to hide hiis own life, I lovingly and rashly told him where my life was hiddem. And he instantly took my life into his power, forcing me to do This bidding or die."

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"Now we come to it," said Abdullah. "His bidding was to steal Flower-in-the-Night. "

"Correction," said Hasruel. "My brother inherits a grandeur of mind from his mother, great Dazrah. He ordered me to steal every princess in the world. A moment's thought will show you the sense in this. My brother is of an age to marry, but he is of a birth so mixed that no female among djinns will countenance him. He is forced to resort to mortal women. But since he is a djinn, naturally only those females of the highest blood will serve."

"My heart bleeds for your brother," remarked Abdullah. "Could he not be satisfied with less than all?"

"Why should he be?" asked Hasruel. "He commands my power now. He gave the matter careful thought. And seeing clearly that his princesses would not be able to walk on air as we djinns do, he first ordered me to steal a certain moving castle belonging to a wizard in this land of Ingary in which to house his brides, and then he ordered me to commence stealing princesses. This I am now engaged in doing. But naturally at the same time I am laying plans of my own. For each princess that I take, I arrange to leave behind at least one injured lover or disappointed prince, who might be persuaded to attempt to rescue her. In order to do this, the lover will have to challenge my brother and wrest from him the secret hiding place of my life."

"And is this where I come in, mighty machinator?" Abdullah asked coldly.

"I am part of your plans to regain your life, am I?"

"Just barely," answered the djinn. "My hopes were more upon the heirs of Alberia or the Prince of Peichstan, but both these young men have thrown themselves into hunting instead. Indeed, all of them have shown remarkable lack of spirit, including the King of High Norland, who is merely attempting to catalog his books on his own, without hisdaughter's help, and even he was a likelier chance than you. You were, you might say, an outside bet of mine. The prophecy at your birth was highly ambiguous, after all. I confess to selling you that magic carpet almost purely out of amus.e.m.e.nt-"

"You did!" Abdullah exclaimed.

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"Yes-amus.e.m.e.nt at the number and nature of the daydreams proceeding from your booth," said Hasruel. Abdullah, despite the cold of the mist, found his face was heating up. "Then," continued Hasruel, "when you surprised me by escaping from the Sultan of Zanzib, it amused me to take on your character of Kabul Aqba and to force you to live out some of your daydreams. I usually try to make appropriate adventures befall each suitor."

Despite his embarra.s.sment, Abdullah could have sworn that the djinn's great gold-brown eyes slanted toward the soldier here. "And how many disappointed princes have you so far put in motion, O subtle and jesting djinn?" he asked.

"Very nearly thirty," Hasruel said, "but as I said, most of them are not in motion at all. This strikes me as strange, for their birth and qualifications are all far better than yours. However, I console myself with the thought that there are still one hundred and thirty- two princesses left to steal."

"I think you might have to be satisfied with me," Abdullah said. "Low as my birth is, Fate seems to want it so. I am in a position to a.s.sure you of this, since I have recently challenged Fate on this very point."