Oracles of Delphi Keep (50 page)

With one more anxious look around, Ian turned, then ran with Theo to catch up to Perry and the professor. They wove through the maze of tents and the fighting warriors, who seemed to be closing in on them. In fact, they barely managed to escape the blows of two fighting tribesmen as they rounded one tent. There was no easy way out of the mess of battle, and finally Perry steered the professor into the cover of a tent, with Ian and Theo ducking in after them.

The interior was dimly lit by a small lantern in the corner, and Ian looked nervously at Perry and the professor. “What do we do?” he asked, breathing heavily.

“We need to get to Raajhi!” said Perry as he searched the tent.

“I believe he’s a little preoccupied at the moment,” said the professor, bent over at the waist, huffing and puffing with effort. The old man took a few moments to catch his breath, then added, “For now we’ll need to stay down and keep quiet until the Jstor defeat the Jichmach.”

“But what if they don’t?” said Theo, tears of fear in her eyes. “What if it’s the Jichmach who win?”

Ian looked at her and noticed that Theo was gripping the crystal at her neck. “We’ll need to escape,” he said firmly. “Somehow we need to get out of here.”

Suddenly, the flap door of their tent was ripped aside and everyone jumped. Ian saw Perry lurch at something on the ground and, to Ian’s amazement, come up with Najib’s scimitar. The schoolmaster raised the heavy sword with both hands above his head, but just before he was to bring it down on the intruder, up through the flap popped Jaaved.
“Bonjour!”
he said happily. Then he saw Perry with the scimitar and quickly hopped over to stand next to Theo.

“Jaaved!” Theo gasped, throwing her arms around their guide. “Oh, I thought you were lost!”

Jaaved smiled uncomfortably and raised his finger to his lips. “Shhh,” he whispered.
“Il faut attendre encore un peu avant de pouvoir nous échapper.”

“He says we must wait here quietly for a bit before we
can escape,” the professor translated. He and the boy spoke between themselves; then the professor turned to the others and explained, “Jaaved says that if we can make it to the hills, there is a group of caves that he knows well. Though we should wait for the fighting outside to die down before we attempt it.”

But the chaos outside wasn’t dying down. The war cries and screams and the metallic sound of scimitar on scimitar echoed horribly through the camp until the front flap of their tent was flipped up again and in the doorway was a bloody Najib, looking crazed and terrible and still holding the borrowed scimitar. Theo screamed and Ian pulled her behind him while Perry, still clasping Najib’s own sword, rose from his crouched position to meet the tribesman.

“On guard!” Perry yelled, holding the scimitar out in front of him and taking up a defensive fencing stance.

Najib growled and charged at Perry while Ian scooted himself and Theo as far out of the way as he could. Perry swung the scimitar with amazing skill and the schoolmaster managed to fend off Najib’s downward thrusts, but the larger man beat him back into the rear of the tent with the force of his blows.

Worried that Perry was outmatched, Ian looked around him for anything that might help his schoolmaster, but the only thing he could find was the holster that the tribesman carried his sword in. Ian hauled up the buckle and whipped it at Najib, striking the man in the head. It was all the advantage Perry needed, and he wasted no time thrusting his sword forward into Najib’s chest before yanking it back out.

The tribal leader howled once, then crumbled to the ground, gripping his bloody wound even as his eyes glazed over and he slumped lifeless and still.

Panting heavily, Perry stepped over Najib’s body.

Ian rushed to his schoolmaster’s side. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing,” Perry said as he examined a long and nasty gash on his sword arm.

“But, sir!” Ian said, wincing when he saw the wound. “You’re cut!”

“Leave it for now, Ian,” said Perry, still breathing heavily. Then he turned to Jaaved and with a wave of the sword, he said, “We need to go, Jaaved,
now
!”

Though Perry had spoken in English, Jaaved must have understood the man’s urgency, because with a nod he motioned them all to the front of the tent. Ian braced himself and gripped Theo’s hand tightly again, ready to dash out into the melee still raging outside. But just as he sensed that Jaaved was about to bolt, another figure halted at the opening, one that sent dread straight through Ian’s heart.

“Good evening,” said Magus, bowing low and stepping through the entrance. “I’m so glad to find two of my purchases together in one place.”

Perry stepped in front of Ian and Theo. Again, he took up his fencing stance and announced, “These children are subjects of His Majesty the King of England! They are not commodities to be bought and sold by the likes of you!”

Magus showed his jagged, fanglike teeth and whispered harshly, “Oh, but we are not in England, young man. We are in the badlands of Morocco, and when in Rome …” His voice trailed off ominously.

Quick as a flash, Perry whirled around and sliced through the side of the tent with the scimitar, creating a large tear. “Jaaved!” Perry commanded.
“Allez!”
Glancing at Ian, he said, “Go with Jaaved. The professor and I will join you later!”

Ian didn’t hesitate. He dashed with Theo and Jaaved through the hole in the tent.

Outside, all around them, were screams from both man and horse and the clanging of metal. Ian felt dizzy with all the chaos, but he grabbed Theo’s hand and tore after Jaaved, who was running away, ducking low and keeping to the cover of the surrounding tents.

They wound their way through the camp and the hordes of fighting men. And it was clear to Ian that most of the dead were Jstor. It seemed the Jichmach were too much for them, and Ian winced as he watched Jaaved run between the bodies of his brethren.

After a few more close calls with scimitars, horses, and warriors, the trio reached the edge of the encampment, shaken and distraught. With one last worried glance over his shoulder, Jaaved led them quickly away and into the darkness beyond.

I
an, Theo, and Jaaved ran for their lives, hiding when they could behind outcroppings of boulders, getting ever closer to the foothills. Finally, they made one final dash and reached the relative safety of the caves.

Ian could see as they approached that there were several dozen openings along a large expanse of rock that shot straight up. He followed Jaaved as he ducked into one, and pulled Theo along inside after the Moroccan boy.

Ian collapsed on the ground, panting like a dog on all fours, and Theo dropped to her knees beside him, holding her side. Ian’s feet throbbed so painfully from the running and the rocky terrain they’d just covered, he wondered if they would ever return to normal.

He gasped, “We should move as far into this cave as possible. I don’t want that Magus character or one of those Jichmach tribesmen finding us.” Jaaved looked at him quizzically, and Ian pointed to the back of the cave.

As they made their way deeper into the cavern, the light from the moon outside became dimmer and dimmer and the
group had to feel their way along, whispering so as not to lose track of one another.

Finally, when they had crept well away from the opening and were deeply nestled in the blackness of the back of the cave, Ian announced, “We should be safe here,” and he gave Theo a small tug on her blouse. She dropped to the cold stone floor and Jaaved took her cue and sat beside Theo. Ian also dropped and leaned his head back against the cave wall, straining to hear any sounds. He could no longer hear the commotion from the camp, and he felt that the quiet was somehow eeriest of all.

As time passed Ian became aware of first Theo’s and then Jaaved’s heavy breathing and he knew that exhaustion had won out against them. But try as he might, and as tired as he was, Ian could not doze off. In his whole life he had never, ever felt so exhausted, yet his mind was full of the nightmare from that evening. He had no idea what had happened to Carl and Thatcher or to Perry and the professor in the face of the powerful Druid sorcerer.

Eventually, however, in the wee hours of the morning, his mind finally allowed him the briefest moment of silence, and he was mercifully able to close his eyes and fall into a troubled slumber.

Ian awoke soon after dawn. He blinked blearily as the sun’s rays reached him all the way in the back of the cave, and he stared numbly about. In the dimness he could just make out Theo’s head leaning on his shoulder and Jaaved next to her, curled up on the cave floor.

Ian yawned and rubbed his eyes. He was still sore and
tired, but now he was thirsty and hungry too. Carefully, he laid Theo gently on the ground, giving her his shirt for a pillow. He shivered in the coolness of the cave and moved carefully toward the mouth, keeping in the shadows lest someone had made his way into the cave while they were sleeping.

No one was about, so he continued forward until he was at the opening and could clearly see across the hills. Smoke billowed from their campsite, and in the dirt he could just discern the figures of the dead lying on the ground. A wave of emotion swept over him; the professor, Perry, Thatcher, and Carl might well be among the casualties. He turned away miserably and walked back to Theo and Jaaved, then sat down heavily. He hadn’t ever felt so sad before, and he struggled to hold back the anguish that wanted to pour out of him.

Wordlessly, Jaaved got up and walked past him. Ian didn’t try to stop him. Jaaved had family at the camp, and Ian couldn’t blame him for wanting to see for himself if any of his fellow tribesmen had survived.

Ian sat and waited patiently for Jaaved to return. Just as he was beginning to get concerned, Jaaved appeared again in the cave’s entrance. And to the lifting of Ian’s spirits, he carried with him the two backpacks that had been taken from them at Jifaar’s house, along with two canteens of water and a satchel of food. The Moroccan boy, however, was wearing a look of such deep sorrow that Ian couldn’t help feeling bad for him.

“You went to the camp,” he said as Jaaved set the back-packs down.

Jaaved didn’t respond, and Ian hadn’t expected him to. Instead, Jaaved handed Ian one of the canteens and made a motion to drink. Just as Ian took the canteen from him, he saw a horrible burn on the bottom of Jaaved’s palm. “Blimey!” said Ian loudly.

“What’s the matter?” asked Theo, startled out of her sleep.

“Jaaved’s hurt,” Ian said as he took the boy’s hand in his and turned it gently up to inspect. Then he took the canteen and poured a bit of water on Jaaved’s wound.

“Let me see,” said Theo as she got up and came over to look at it. “Oh, heavens!” she exclaimed.

“I know,” said Ian, looking in sympathy at Jaaved. “That must have hurt,” he added, making an expression like he was in pain so that Jaaved knew he felt bad for him. “You must have picked up something hot?”

But Jaaved didn’t understand and he cocked his head at Ian.

Ian mimed touching his finger to something that burned, and Jaaved nodded. The Moroccan then pantomimed holding a sword out in front of him before opening his hands wide and shaking the one he’d injured as if he’d touched something hot. Ian nodded as he grasped what Jaaved was showing him.

“What do you think happened?” Theo asked, puzzled by their game of charades.

“I think he was trying to pick up a sword that had been burned in one of the fires and it was hotter than he thought,” said Ian.

Theo reached for Jaaved’s hand to inspect his wound
again, then gasped. “Ian!” she exclaimed. “Look at the wound closely!”

Ian peered down at Jaaved’s burn and immediately noticed that the horrible bumpy blister marring Jaaved’s palm had a distinct shape to it. As Ian squinted closer, he realized that it was in the form of a diamond, just like the one on the hilt of Raajhi’s scimitar. “The mark from your premonition!” he said, gazing at Theo in amazement.

Theo was pumping her head up and down, but Jaaved was eyeing the pair of them as if they were ridiculous to be so happy about his wound. He roughly yanked his hand away from Ian and started to turn his back on them. But Theo moved quickly to Jaaved’s side and took his hand in hers. She pantomimed wrapping it in a bandage, then turned to Ian and said, “Can you help me tear off a bit of cloth from my blouse to wrap his hand?”

Ian looked from her dirty but otherwise unmarred shirt to his own shirt, which was in tatters, still lying crumpled on the floor where he’d set it for Theo’s pillow. With a smirk, Ian picked up his shirt and tore off a length, then handed it to her so that she could wrap it around Jaaved’s hand carefully.

Ian then put his tattered shirt back on and turned back toward the opening of the cave.

“He went to the Jichmach’s camp to bring us back some supplies,” Ian explained to Theo when he saw her gaze fall on the backpacks.

Theo’s eyes lit up. “Did he find the professor? Or Thatcher and Perry? Carl?”

Ian looked at Jaaved. He was aware that their guide knew their companions by name, and when the Moroccan faced them again, Ian’s heart sank at Jaaved’s grief-stricken face. He felt like he’d just been kicked in the stomach. He watched Jaaved dully as their guide turned away from them and began busying himself by digging around in the back-packs. After a few moments he pulled out Ian’s pocket torch and compass amd handed them to him, but Ian felt little joy at the return of his possessions. Next Jaaved dug into his own small sack and produced three portions of smoked meat, offering one each to Theo and Ian.

Theo took hers without looking at it and Ian saw small tears trickling down her cheeks.

Jaaved looked at Theo when she began crying, and it seemed to undo him. He moved to the back of the cave, sat down, then leaned his back against the wall and pulled his knees up close before he hid his chin in his chest and was lost in his emotion. Theo crept close to him and the two cried together.

As Ian watched them, he found that he was breathing hard and had a very difficult time swallowing. He knew he should go over and at least try to comfort Theo, but his own grief was suddenly so heavy that he couldn’t do it. He wasn’t able to sit there and be strong in the face of the loss he felt, but he also realized that it wouldn’t do to break down in front of the others. So wordlessly he walked past the pair, deeper into the rock enclosure.