Anahita nodded. "You should train with me and my men one day, so that you might better defend yourself, dagger or no. For the times when a guard is not close enough to call."
Anahita's eyes met Maram's in shared pain. Both had known the violence of men, and neither wished to be a victim again.
Maram broke the silence. "So you bet the dagger, sheath and fighting lessons with your men. I will counter with an amber comb, gifted to me by the king of Kasmirus."
"Just a comb? My dagger is worth more than that," Anahita scoffed.
Maram pulled the comb from her hair and laid it on the table. "Ah, but this comb is immune to dragonfire. A dragon roasted the princess wearing it, crisping her hair to ash before it ate her, but the comb is untouched."
Anahita's eyes widened. "Did you see the dragon?"
Maram flashed an enigmatic smile. "If you want to trade for tales of foreign lands, you must increase your bet."
And so the game began.
SIX
Gwandoya led Aladdin out of the city, to where he had tethered a couple of camels. Aladdin glanced apprehensively at the large beasts with hooves as big as his head.
"Have you ever ridden a camel before, boy?" Gwandoya asked.
Aladdin shook his head, not trusting his voice. He might emit an unmanly squeak.
Gwandoya barked a command at the beasts, and they both knelt down on the sand. "Climb on here, and hang on here," Gwandoya said, pointing. He waited for Aladdin to obey before he nodded slowly. "Good." He climbed aboard his own animal, then barked another order that made the animals rise to their full height once more.
Aladdin grabbed for the hairy hump in front of him to stay on the beast. "Maybe we could walk instead?" he asked weakly.
Gwandoya laughed. "And how will we carry anything back, hmm? These camels can carry very heavy loads – more than you, I think, boy. And we will reach our destination faster with them, oh yes."
"Where is our destination?" Aladdin asked, but Gwandoya didn't seem to hear him. Instead he urged his camel into motion and Aladdin had to hang on for dear life. How could something so huge move so fast? Surely its teeth were rattling in its head, like Aladdin's own.
An eternity later, when Gwandoya slowed to a halt beside an oasis, Aladdin pried his cramped arms off the camel's hump. When the animal lowered itself to the ground, Aladdin slid off into the sand. He staggered toward the water. "Is this our destination?" he croaked.
"Of course not, silly boy. This is where we stop to drink," Gwandoya snapped, before hitching his smile back up. "Drink your fill, for we have far to go until nightfall."
Aladdin's heart sank. "On the camels?" He swallowed and nodded. "Of course, on the camels. As you said, we will get there faster."
Gwandoya eyed him. "You learn fast. Maybe you will do better than the others."
The others who had died, Aladdin thought before he could stop himself. He forced a smile. "So I will get so much gold the Sultan will give me two of his daughters as wives?"
Gwandoya seized Aladdin by the shoulders and shook him. "Not the gold. Don't touch the gold." He released Aladdin. "There are other kind of wealth, things far more valuable than gold."
Aladdin opened his mouth to ask what, but then he closed it again. Gwandoya had talked about Bugra having more gold than he could carry...and now Aladdin couldn't touch it? Did that mean gold had killed Bugra, or something else? Something that owned the gold, perhaps? Aladdin had heard tales of dragons, but he'd never seen one. He wasn't sure he wanted to, either. Not if it would be the last thing he saw.
Gwandoya took out a parcel of food and proceeded to eat his fill. Aladdin watched him with his belly growling, wishing he had the courage to ask for some from his new employer, but he didn't dare. What the man had unwrapped didn't look edible at all. If Aladdin wasn't mistaken, Gwandoya was happily crunching through a handful of large bugs. Aladdin might be hungry, but he wasn't that hungry.
"Didn't you bring food, boy? Here, have one," Gwandoya held out his hand.
A closer look only confirmed that they were indeed beetles and what looked like the most enormous crickets Aladdin had ever seen, mixed with salt and spices.
"I'm not hungry," Aladdin lied, waving the creatures away. "I am eager to start work." And finish riding this benighted camel, he thought but didn't say.
Gwandoya brightened. "Good. Then we shall go, arrive by sundown, yes?"
Aladdin swallowed. "Yes."
SEVEN
By the time Gwandoya called a halt again, Aladdin was ready to leap off the camel with the sincere wish never to ride one again. Whatever flesh he'd had on his backside had been bounced off by the crazy animal's gait between the oasis and what looked like a pile of boulders.
Aladdin would have no trouble when he tried to obey Gwandoya's order not to touch the gold, because who would leave anything of value in such a desolate place? There wasn't even any water here to justify stopping.
Gwandoya grinned, his teeth surprisingly white in the afternoon light. "We are here, yes?"
Aladdin wasn't sure how to answer, so he didn't bother.
Gwandoya led Aladdin to a rock that didn't appear any different to the others, then knelt beside an old fire pit. He took a leather flask from his belt and poured the contents over the half-charred timbers. Then Gwandoya pulled out a tinderbox and set about rekindling the fire.
Aladdin considered telling the man it was pointless to attempt such a thing with damp wood, but nothing this man did would surprise him any more, so Aladdin sat down on a nearby stone instead.
The fire flared to life faster than any Aladdin had seen before. The liquid must have been lamp oil, Aladdin realised. Gwandoya spread his arms wide and began to chant in a language Aladdin didn't recognise as he danced about the fire.
For a moment, Aladdin thought he saw wisps of smoke rising from the man's hands, but he shook his head. He must be imagining it. Except the smoke was thickening until he couldn't deny it was real. Sparks jumped between the smoke clouds, like nothing he'd ever seen before. And still Gwandoya chanted.
The man was a magician, Aladdin realised, dread clenching at his stomach. Aladdin had heard stories about dark magicians who used blood to cast spells. Was that why he needed Aladdin – to provide the blood in this unholy ritual? Is this how the other men had died?
The smoke cloud surrounding Gwandoya streamed toward the stone, taking the vague shape of a man, though a giant man. The smoky figure grabbed the stone and pushed it to the side, revealing the dark entrance to...what? The underworld?
Gwandoya didn't look surprised. He had done this many times, Aladdin guessed. But not enough to succeed in his dark purpose, which was why he needed Aladdin.
"We're going in there?" Aladdin asked.
"No, we are not."
Aladdin breathed a sigh of relief.
Gwandoya continued, "You are entering alone. You will journey through the underground city to the treasury. Touch nothing on the way. Once you reach the treasury, and this is very important, tuck your robes up around you so that not even the hem touches the gold in there, for if you touch it, you will surely die."