Part 18 (2/2)

142.

'Why?' That was the male sand-demon.

'Because, little human,' she stroked his cheek and Adoon could see the revulsion on his face, 'because when I sing the right song, the beacon we are searching for will illuminate and disclose the path to the others. Of course,' she was still smiling in an insincere way, Adoon decided, 'the illumination will expend the energy of a thermonuclear warhead. I think you can guess the effect on this locality.

Fun, eh?'

Adoon's hero, Dark-Hair, was speechless. He tried to say something but could only splutter.

'You'll burst something, Dok-Ter,' said Laughing-Demon.

She turned her back to him about to address the night-demons, when Dark-Hair pointed at the was.h.i.+ng line running from the wall of the block Adoon had just come from. 'Where does that go to, my friend?'

Adoon pointed to the roadway, just out of sight from their own rooftop. 'Near the market square,' he said. Dark-Hair pulled a piece of blue and white spotted cloth from his top pocket and pulled it tight with both hands.

He then nudged the male sand-demon and pulled at imaginary sleeves. Adoon frowned, trying to work out what was going on. After a second or two, the male sand-demon nodded enthusiastically and pulled the sleeves of his garment over his hands, gripping the ends through the material. Dark-Hair then motioned towards the was.h.i.+ng line and nodded towards the street. A momentary look of alarm crossed the sand-demon's face but then he breathed deeply and jumped, swinging his arms up and over the top of the line, his hands looped over the top, gripping each other through his sleeve. Adoon now understood and as Dark-Hair used his blue rag as the connection in his loop, Adoon yanked off his own belt and looped that over the line, holding both ends. One by one they backed towards the parapet and first the sand-demon and then Dark-Hair stepped off into s.p.a.ce - and slid downwards.

With a final look towards the night-demons and Laughing Demon, Adoon followed suit. Just as the parapet rose in his 143 eyeline to blot them out, he saw Laughing-Demon turn, and heard her shout. Seconds later, he hit the ground and stumbled backwards into Dark-Hair's waiting arms.

'Well done,' he muttered. 'Which way now?'

'Where to?' Adoon asked.

The sand-demon shrugged. 'Somewhere that lot can't track us.'

Dark-Hair touched his arm. 'Not so easy, Ben. They might not be as good as dogs, but a feline's sense of smell is quite acute. And don't forget, they'll be able to see better.'

'I thought that old guff about cats seeing in the dark was rubbish?'

'Not at all. They can't see in total blackness of course, but they can still see five or six times better than humanoids.

And Cat-People, being somewhat larger than the average tabby cat, can probably see very well indeed.'

'Night is falling.' Adoon pointed at the sky. As they watched it grew noticeably darker, and Ben was amazed.

'I've seen night fall quickly from boats, especially in the West Indies, but never as quickly as this.'

'And with the Dark cometh the Cold,' said the Dok-Ter.

'A quote. From a book,' he said as Adoon scrutinized him.

Adoon had no idea what a quote was - he was not entirely sure what a book was, but people had mentioned the word to him before. Something very powerful, he imagined, because people who understood what books were tended to be wazirs, sultans or wizards. Or djinns. 'Are you a djinn?'

he asked. 'Was that silver tent your containment?'

'Well, no, not exactly . . .' began Dok-Ter, but the male sand-demon interrupted him.

'C'mon, admit it. You are the Great Genie Dok-Ter - captured by the terrible Thor-Sun and her . . . her . . .'

Night-demons,' breathed Adoon. Of course - it all made sense now. Dark-Hair, or Dok-Ter, was a djinn, captured and misused by the terrible night-demons, and this poor sand-demon was his friend. Which meant he could not really be a sand-demon, because they never helped anyone, least of all eleven-year-old boys. 'A prince! Yes - are you 144 a royal prince cast into the body of a sand-demon? Is that why you travel with the great Dok-Ter? So that when he is released from his bond, he will return you to your natural form?'

This time, before the sand-demon/royal prince could answer this, the great Dok-Ter bowed. 'You have discovered our secret, young master. Sadly both Prince Ben-Jak and myself are bereft of our powers and riches. Would you help us defeat the demons up there and return order to fair Baghdad?'

Before Adoon could nod, which he was going to enthusiastically, Ben-Jak spoke. 'Doctor, I mean DokTer, d'you mean this really is Baghdad? You know, The The Thousand and One Arabian Nights Thousand and One Arabian Nights and all that?' and all that?'

'Spot on, as Pol-Ee would say.'

Ben-Jak suddenly frowned. 'Yeah, and what about . . . the princess? She and Atimkos must be wondering what has happened to us.'

Dok-Ter shrugged. 'If Atimkos is as powerful as I suspect, I doubt Pol-Ee is in any real danger. He's using her as a conduit to hone his own powers. He'll get back to Australia with her I suspect.'

'Oz? Why there?'

'Because that's where all this began. It's where Frowline Thor-Sun would prefer to be but hasn't the power to get back. This is the best she can do - about halfway between the two points. She's not going to explode her beacon here to help the Cat-People - she's going to use it to travel back another twenty thousand years. Probably without Aysha and her five friends. Now the sooner we can get away from here, the better.'

Adoon had not understood very much over the last hour, but he had been clever enough to realize that Laughing,Demon, this Thor-Sun woman, was preparing to destroy Baghdad shortly, and he doubted even his father's friends had the power to stop that. And here was the great Djinn Dok-Ter and Prince Ben-Jak preparing to run away 145 and leave the city to its fate. He grabbed at Dok-Ter's sleeve.

'Oh, don't worry, young master,' Dok-Ter said. 'Baghdad is perfectly safe. What Thor-Sun thinks she can do and what she can actually do are miles apart. Literally.'

'How?'

'You see, young master. . . D'you have a name I may be honoured to address you by?'

'Adoon, Great Djinn.'

'Right. Adoon. Well, Adoon, Thor-Sun is searching for something she buried many thousands of years ago.'

'So, she is a vile sand-demon, an evil since the dawn of time.'

Dok-Ter nodded. 'Put like that, yes. Nice turn of phrase by the way.'

Ben-Jak sighed. 'Get on with it, Doc . . . Ter!'

'It's very simple, Ben-Jak. Thor-Sun is looking for her mystical path, her geographical ley line. Obviously she's not sensitive to it, or she could have found it centuries ago.

Likewise, Atimkos must be the same - hence his use of Pol-Ee. Thor-Sun won't find it in Baghdad because she's using a modem atlas to trace a line from c.u.mbria to Queensland.'

'Which pa.s.ses through Arabia, right?'

'Yes!' Dok-Ter clapped his hands together. 'Yes, you've got it.'

Ben-Jak smiled at Adoon. He smiled back and then stopped. The djinn still was not making sense. 'But, DokTer, we're in Arabia. Why won't this Thor-Sun find what she's looking for?'

'Ah, poor child. He doesn't understand, Ben-Jak.'

'Frankly, ”great Genie”, neither do I.'

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