Phantom (29 page)

"What squalor!" he muttered darkly. "What shameful poverty!"

I felt inclined to agree with him, but I had no desire to appear critical of the shah's personal extravagance and greed.

"Certainly," I admitted warily, "the condition of the people is to be regretted."

"The condition of the people is not at issue," he said coolly. "It is the city itself that appalls me. Have you no architects in Persia?"

"There are worse places in the world," 1 muttered.

"Not many, Daroga, not many. This is the most disgraceful example of a capital city that I have ever seen. The whole area is a stinking midden bereft of a single building worthy of my attention. And that is exactly what I shall tell the shah when I see him."

"Allah!" I breathed with feeling. "You'll be executed before dawn!"

"Yes… I daresay," he agreed.

I looked at him with despair.

"If you really intend to tell him that, you had better learn to moderate your language." Reaching inside my coat I brought out a folded sheet of paper and handed it to him. "These are some of the prescribed forms of address. I advise you to commit them to memory before your audience."

He studied the paper for a moment and then burst out laughing.

" '
Salutations, O Glory of the World!' "
he said in a wickedly mincing tone. " '
Let me be your sacrifice, O Shadow of God
!' Do you honestly expect me to mouth this nauseating garbage?"

"I know it may sound a little absurd to European ears—"

"It's worse than absurd, Daroga—it's an insult to human intelligence!"

"It's merely a court formality." I sighed. "It doesn't mean anything."

"Then if it doesn't mean anything, it won't matter if I don't say it," he retorted with infuriating logic. "I have no intention whatsoever of groveling like some ridiculous worm simply to satisfy the colossal vanity of your king. I will speak to him with common civility and nothing more."

"Oh, very well," I said irritably. "Insist on this mad infringement of etiquette if you must. But at least be sure you always call him sir."

The laughter died out of his eyes without warning and the look that replaced it turned me cold with fear.

"There is no man on this earth to whom I would ever accord that respect again!" he snapped.

I did not dare to question that abrupt statement, and we continued our journey toward the Ark on the northern side of the town in grim silence.

As soon as we entered the palace complex I lost him. One moment he was at my side as we walked through the maze of connecting rooms, and the next he was gone; it was as though he had simply vanished into the walls.

This trick was not unfamiliar to me by now. Several times during our tedious trek through Russia he had performed this singular feat, abandoning me without warning or compunction the moment his attention was caught by some unusual feature on the landscape. I had once lost him for more than a week on the Aktuba branch of the Volga, where much of the sixty-five-mile area is covered with ancient ruins. But I could not believe that he would dare to disappear now, a bare half hour before his appointed audience with the shah!

In mounting panic and fury I trailed all over the sprawling building, muttering obscenities I seldom felt obliged to use, and calling upon ever more colorful parts of God's anatomy for aid. I questioned every guard and servant that I passed, but no one, it seemed, had seen a man in a mask; if they had done so they would most certainly have remembered.

Removing my
kolah
I wiped sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.

Damn you, Erik! Damn you! When I get my hands on you I'll wring your infernal neck for this…

My frantic wanderings brought me eventually to the door of the Council Chamber. No, I thought, surely not… he wouldn't dare…

Pushing open the heavy door I checked in aghast disbelief.

Erik was sitting on the Peacock Throne, patiently prizing a diamond from the mass of gems which decorated the chair's lofty backrest. I stood and watched with horrified fascination as he reached into his pocket, withdrew a handful of cut glass, and selected a piece to replace the jewel he had just removed.

"Allah have mercy!" I gasped.

He turned to look at me without alarm or surprise.

"Oh, there you are," he remarked calmly, as though he had been expecting me. "Would you care for a diamond… a little keepsake to remind you of our happy journey together?"

I put out a hand to steady myself against the wall.

"Come down from there," I said weakly. "If you are discovered it will be the end for both of us! "

In answer he touched the mechanism at the rear of the throne and set the circular star of diamonds spinning wildly in a kaleidoscope of scintillating rays that blinded me for a second.

"There are rubies and emeralds, of course, if you prefer," he continued imperturbably, "but they would be harder to replace. It would be very much more convenient to me if you simply settled for a diamond."

"Are you out of your mind?" 1 almost screamed. "For pity's sake come down and let us leave this room before it is too late."

"Oh, Daroga"—he sighed—"what a truly boring little fart you are at times!"

He came slowly down the two steps, which were decorated with salamanders, and paused to examine one of the seven jeweled legs which supported the platform.

"This is a very great work of art," he remarked conversationally. "I shall have to come back later and have a better look at it."

I was outraged by his brazen impudence.

"If you ever come back here again, I shall have you
arrested
!" I snapped.

He came to stand beside me thoughtfully.

"I don't think that would be very wise, my friend. You really might find one or two things rather difficult to explain."

As he spoke I became aware of something hard and cold nestling in my ear, and from that orifice I duly removed the diamond I had seen in his hand only moments earlier. The meaning was very clear. If I dared to speak of what I knew outside this room, he would simply plant that diamond upon my person again without a single scruple and name me as his accomplice.

When he saw that I was speechless with fury, he went to the door and glanced out into the deserted corridor beyond.

"What remarkably lax security," he said pleasantly. "I find Persian complacency quite beyond belief."

"Does that justify theft?" I demanded.

"Stealing from a thief is no theft," he replied mildly.

From his sleeve I saw him draw
my
watch upon its familiar pocket chain and glance at it briefly.

"We're late!" he said severely, for all the world as though it were my fault. And tossing the watch at me with a careless gesture, he walked out of the room.

I followed him with the uneasy demeanor of a fainthearted criminal, not daring to contemplate how many more diamonds might be missing from that throne.

If I had been a Catholic, I suppose I would have crossed myself…

The shah had agreed to receive us in the Gulistan, that vast garden court which Europeans called the Rose Garden. Its winding paved avenues were lined with pines, cypress, and poplar trees to create shade from the merciless sun, and all the flower beds, tanks, and lakes were separated from each other by neat gravel paths. Water ran perpetually down the innumerable little iron bridges lined with blue tiles, and Erik seemed as delighted as a child by the sight of the teeming fish, the elegant swans, and the noisy waterfowl.

"Swans are ugly when they hatch," he said enviously, "and yet they grow to be the most beautiful and majestic of birds. That is one of life's pretty little miracles, is it not? Like the snake, which sheds its skin, and the caterpillar, which turns into a butterfly.
Metamorphosis
. …" His voice grew soft and distant as he continued, "Yes… that is the true magic in this world… but it's a secret that has never been revealed—not even to the tenth graduate of the College of Sorcery. Would you like to be turned into a swan, Daroga?"

I must have looked vaguely alarmed at the prospect, for he suddenly laughed.

"Don't worry," he said rather sadly. "If such physical alchemy really lay within my power, I certainly wouldn't waste it on you."

"Come," I said, plucking at his sleeve and glancing over my shoulder uncomfortably. "You must not keep the shah waiting any longer."

Ahead of us a beautiful kiosk could just be seen nestling among the trees and it was here that we found the Glory of the World, surrounded by a collection of his feline favorites.

Toward me the pampered creatures displayed their customary response to intruders, a spectrum of behavior ranging from supreme indifference to overt hostility. But slowly, one by one, they left their embroidered cushions to rub their heads against Erik's legs. They behaved like dogs greeting the return of a beloved master, fawning upon him and competing with each other jealously for his caress. I was astonished by this unprecedented display, and so, I could see, was the shah. Without waiting for the correct obeisances to be made, the young man got up from his chair and came forward with undisguised curiosity.

"Remarkable," he muttered to himself. "I have never before observed such a phenomenon… never. Daroga!" A quick jerk of his wrist indicated my dismissal. "You may leave us. Come, my friend," he continued, turning to address Erik pleasantly, "walk with me in the gardens and let me hear of these extraordinary gifts for which it seems you may be quite justly famous…"

I lingered in the gardens for a couple of hours, and at length I saw Erik returning alone down the wide path which led to the lake. Once more he paused to admire the swans. As I drew near, he began to scatter little cakes of
gaz
on the water, and the birds dipped their long necks greedily to devour the mixture of manna, honey, and pistachios. The
gaz
was succeeded by
arjil
, then fondants and Turkish delight, and I was interested by the implication of this sideplay. If the shah had honored him with sweetmeats at their first audience, then his favor was most certainly assured…

"Who on earth is that funereal creature in the mask?" demanded a hearty voice in my ear.

Turning hastily I found the grand vazir standing beside me and just beyond him his little party of sycophants, the usual obsequious toadies who always manage to attach themselves to a prominent man. Mirza Taqui Khan was married to the shah's sister and in consequence demanded automatic deference from anyone at court who was not already his sworn enemy. He was one of the most noble and incorruptible men in Persia, too innately honest and opinionated, I often thought, to last for long in a court where groveling servility, subterfuge, and blatant bribery were the prerequisites for survival. He was loud in his condemnation of the age-old traditions of corruption, and his fierce determination to drag Persia into the modern world had already caused him to tread on many toes. Petty princelings such as myself had found our pensions reduced in accordance with the grand vazir's sweeping economies. He was in the course of founding a college where the best of European scientific knowledge might be put to good military use, and he did not seem to mind whom he offended in his ceaseless quest for the funding of this precious brainchild. Remaining in cheerful ignorance of an increasing number of ill-wishers, he continued to speak his mind, in season and out, confident that royal status would always be his protection. I was not surprised that he had taken no trouble to lower his voice now as he looked with contempt at Erik.

"That is the new magician, Excellency," I said quietly, hoping he would take a hint from the softness of my voice. I knew that Erik possessed the ears as well as the eyes of a cat and was apt to hear what was inaudible to the average human.

"Magician?" frowned the prime minister. "Ah, yes. I seem to remember some moonshine a while back about a miracle worker. Sent off to find him, were you not, Nadir? —another absurd extravagance for the treasury to foot, 1 suppose! Never tell me he was worth the cost of that ridiculous journey!"

"He has some remarkable powers, Excellency," I said warily.

"Indeed? Well, I'm perfectly delighted to hear it. It's time the khanum had a new toy to keep her occupied and take her mind away from the young fellow's affairs. No good ever comes of permitting a woman to interfere in politics, you know. I trust that odd bag of bones will be capable of amusing her long enough for me to get on with the serious business of the realm. I'm sure he's an utter charlatan like all the rest, but for now he might have his uses. Extraordinary hands he has—they quite give me gooseflesh! One rather hopes he knows how to keep them to himself. We really have quite enough pederasts at court, do we not, my friends?"

Laughter came on cue from his attendants, and as the brightly colored party moved off again across the gardens, in pursuit of the shah, Erik came to join me in an ominous silence that dispelled any last lingering hope I might have entertained of his ignorance. I knew as soon as I looked at him that he had heard every word.

"Perhaps you would care to see the aviary," I said uncomfortably.

"I have heard sufficient squawking peacocks for one afternoon," he muttered. "Who was that?"

"The grand vazir," I admitted unhappily, "Mirza Taqui Khan."

"Thank you. That is a name I shall take great pleasure in remembering. I assume he has influence?"

"He is the shah's brother by marriage, and his voice is respected by many."

"But not by the khanum," Erik suggested shrewdly, "or —dare one say it—
the young fellow
?"

"There have been on occasion certain differences of opinion."

"How interesting! It may amuse me to follow this family friction more closely—from the Council Chamber, perhaps."

"Erik—"

"It would be pleasant to bathe and change one's funereal garments," he interrupted coldly. "Perhaps you would be good enough to conduct me to my apartment now." glanced at him uneasily as we made our way back to the palace; I suspected he would prove a hard and pitiless enemy and I could not commend the grand vazir's wisdom in winning him as such so early in the game.