Infinity Ring 05 - Cave of Wonders (18 page)

D
AK WAS
on a roll. First he’d busted them all out of that prison, and now he’d managed to convince Tusi to help them, and even given him the way to do it. Now Dak and Sera just had to sit back and let Tusi do his thing and convince Hulagu to build him an observatory, stocked with books from Baghdad.

“We’ll wait until the morning to approach the throne,” Tusi said. “I will . . . consult the stars. But I already have a fairly good idea of what they will tell me.”

“I bet that’s usually the way you work,” Dak said.

Tusi shrugged. “I am far more interested in predicting the motion of the stars than predicting events from those motions. The former is science, while the latter is nothing more than seeing what we want to see. Now you should both get some rest.”

Dak had to admit he was pretty tired. So he and Sera nestled down on some cushions Tusi had a servant bring into the room. These Baghdad beds were growing on him. Who needed a mattress?

Dak closed his eyes, and before long, he nodded off.

Shouting startled him awake. He jumped up, only to feel someone grab him from behind in a bear hug, pinning his arms at his sides.

“Let me go!” he roared, squirming, but it was no use. He was trapped.

Dak looked to his side, and saw that another man had Sera. General Guo Kan stood nearby.

Tusi shook his fist at him. “You dare disobey the great khan!”

“I’ve had enough of your meddling, Tusi,” Guo Kan said. “You may have Hulagu deceived by your superstitious pandering, but you and I both know you’re a far more intelligent man than that. But you’re also a survivor, and I actually respect that.”

“Your respect means nothing to me,” Tusi said. “And you know something of superstition yourself, don’t you, Divine Man?” Dak heard sarcasm all over the way Tusi said the name.

“We both play our parts,” Guo Kan said. “Go back to playing yours, as you do so well, and you might manage to survive once more. Leave the children to me.”

“I can’t do that,” Tusi said. “They’re children.”

“And they are more dangerous than you realize.” Guo Kan fixed Dak with that same cold stare. “You were right in that, Tusi, even though you don’t understand why.”

“You will release them now,” Tusi said. “And we will take this matter up before the khan.”

“Why?” Guo Kan said. “So you can feed him one of your celestial readings?”

Dak tried once more to break free, but the Mongol who had him was strong. It didn’t even work to kick or stomp the guy’s feet. How was it that just hours ago, they’d seemed so close to victory, but now they perched at the edge of losing it all?

Dak looked at Sera. She was crying, and he knew why. Losing it all meant something more to her. He had to do something. For her.

Guo Kan was trying to get away with something without Hulagu’s knowledge. So Dak had to get the khan’s attention. He only hoped the warlord was close by.

Dak sucked in a deep breath. “GREAT HULAGU KHAN!” His shout echoed in the small room, as loud as he could make it. “GREAT HULAGU KHAN!”

“Silence him!” Guo Kan hissed.

The guard holding Dak tried to cover his mouth, but Dak just bit his hand and got one more shout off.

“GREAT HULAGU KHAN!”

And then Sera took up the cry, too, screaming in her higher-pitched voice. “HULAGU! GREAT HULAGU KHAN!”

Guo Kan’s face twisted up with rage, and he pulled his sword free of its scabbard. Dak gulped. He didn’t think the general would actually kill them right here. But then again, he might.

Tusi took a step backward and laughed out loud. Then he, too, shouted. “MY KHAN! YOUR PEOPLE NEED YOU, GREAT KHAN!”

Guo Kan spun on him. “Now you’ve gone too far!” He raised his sword.

“NO!” Sera cried.

Tusi lifted his head high. “I see now I have not gone far enough.”

“So be it.” Guo Kan brought the blade down.

“HALT!”

The walls seemed to reverberate with the force of the command. Hulagu stood in the doorway. Dak’s eyes leapt from the warlord back to Tusi and Guo Kan. The general’s sword hung poised in the air, mid-strike, inches from Tusi’s neck.

“Sheathe that sword,” Hulagu said.

Guo Kan lowered his blade and drove it hard into its scabbard.

“What goes on here?” Hulagu asked.

“Tusi and these children conspire against you, great khan,” the general said. “I came to stop them.”

“That is not true,” Tusi said. “Great khan, it is your general who has betrayed your trust. He intended harm to these children, even though you had placed them under your protection.”

“Only as I awaited your reading,” Hulagu said.

Tusi bowed his head. “Yes, of course.”

“Have you completed your reading of the stars?” Hulagu asked.

“I have,” Tusi said. “They tell me —”

“Do not trust him, great khan!” the general said. “He means to bend your will to his.”

“That is not true!” Tusi shouted.

“Silence!” Hulagu held up both hands. Then he turned to Dak and Sera. “Perhaps it is time I allow these unexpected visitors to speak to me themselves.” He looked up at the guy holding Dak. “Release them.”

The warrior let Dak out of his grip. The Mongol standing next to Dak released Sera at the same time.

“Thank you, great khan,” Dak said.

“I have little patience, boy,” Hulagu said. “Why have you come here? How is it you found your way so close to my throne without my permission?”

“How we came here is a very long story,” Sera said. “But why we have come is very, very important, great khan.”

“Then tell me.” Hulagu folded his arms. “Quickly. My patience comes to an end.”

Sera looked at Dak. The moment had arrived, the very thing they’d decided they needed to do from the beginning. Hulagu had to be convinced. And Dak thought he knew how. It came back to a question Riq had raised on the road to Baghdad.

Why did Dak like history so much?

“Great khan,” Dak said, “this world is a pretty uncertain place. Most events are completely unpredictable. Sometimes it’s confusing, and it’s hard to know what’s going on. I don’t like not knowing what’s going on. I like to understand things. I use history to help me do that. It’s written. It’s settled. It happened and that’s that. It can help me make sense of things in the present.”

Hulagu looked a bit confused, but he said, “Go on.”

“You look to the stars for that, right? The heavens are fixed up there. They move across the sky in the same paths, night after night, year after year. You look up to help you know what to do. To help you figure things out. Right?”

Hulagu looked at Tusi. “With the aid of learned men, yes.”

“Well,” Dak said, “we’ve come from a distant land with a message for you.”

“Who sent you?” Hulagu asked.

“Learned men,” Sera said.

“And the message?” Hulagu asked.

“You need to build an observatory,” Dak said. “A place where your . . . learned men can study the stars. And give you the best advice.”

Hulagu turned to Tusi. “Well? What do you make of this?”

“I am in agreement, great khan. I would be a much better adviser to you if I had a place dedicated to observing the heavens. A true observatory.”

“And where would this observatory be located?” Hulagu asked.

“A favorable site would need to be found, but I believe the mountains of Maragheh would be ideal.”

“I see,” Hulagu said.

“I offer myself, great khan,” Tusi said. “I will direct this observatory to your greater glory, to your long life, and to the legacy of your empire.”

Dak watched Tusi and had to agree with what Guo Kan had said. The man was a survivor. Tusi would probably come out of this just fine. And it looked like Hulagu was coming around to the idea.

“This proposal appeals to me,” Hulagu said.

“The construction will be costly,” Tusi said. “To offset the expense to you, might I offer an additional thought?”

“You may,” Hulagu said.

“Now that Baghdad has fallen,” Tusi said, “the fruits of its many libraries belong to you, and are ripe for plucking. And an observatory under your patronage, the greatest the world has known, should also have a library of great renown.”

Dak waited. This was the moment. Right here. History was about to be rewritten. Suddenly, that thought struck Dak in a way it never had before, and he felt like he’d been tipped on his side. Everything was off-kilter. He’d finally realized what history meant to him, and now, that was being taken away from him. History wasn’t settled. Not at all. And Dak was unsettling it.

But without history, what else could he rely on?

Hulagu turned to Guo Kan. “What do you have to say?”

Guo Kan quivered with rage. “Your men have fought valiantly for a share of the riches of Baghdad.”

“Books?” Hulagu snorted. “My men do not expect books.”

Guo Kan’s mouth snapped shut.

“Can you see any objection to this observatory?” Hulagu asked the general.

Guo Kan was in a very dangerous spot, Dak could see that. Hulagu looked to have made up his mind. If the general raised no objection, he failed the SQ, and the Break would be fixed. But if he objected, he risked the khan’s wrath. Dak waited anxiously to see what the Time Warden would do, and where his true loyalties lay.

“I do not think this is a wise course,” Guo Kan said.

Hulagu scowled. “Then you are not in harmony with me. And you raised your sword against my adviser. For this, you will be imprisoned for a time until I decide what judgment best falls upon you.” Hulagu then ordered the two warriors to take Guo Kan into custody.

The general didn’t look so divine anymore. He’d finally been defeated. He surrendered his sword and went with the warriors without putting up a fight, and without making eye contact with anyone in the room.

After he was gone, Hulagu said, “My general does make one good point. My men are restless. They hunger for destruction.”

“I only need a few days,” Tusi said.

“Once the caliph has surrendered,” Hulagu said, “I can hold my men back for three days. That is all the time you have to pick your fruit.”

R
IQ WAITED
at the House of Wisdom with Abi for days, with no word or sign from Dak and Sera. Many, many times he wanted to go after them, but Abi wouldn’t allow it. He said Riq had to safeguard the Infinity Ring, and that meant he couldn’t take it anywhere near Guo Kan. Riq thought he could just leave it behind at the House of Wisdom, but Abi insisted that was too risky. In the end, Riq reluctantly agreed with that reasoning.

But he was going pretty crazy wondering what was going on, and feeling pretty helpless. He paced a lot. And he knew a big part of his fear was about what would happen once they finished this Break. He spent hours holding the Infinity Ring. Just staring at it. This device had the power to erase him.

On the seventh day of the siege, the sounds of battle ceased, and Riq walked to a secluded room and sat down, the Infinity Ring in his lap. He tried really hard to believe that Sera and Dak were safe. That they would come soon.

“I’m certain they are well.”

Riq looked up. Abi had come into the room.

“I know,” Riq said.

“But that is not the only thing troubling you, is it?”

“No,” Riq said.

“What else?” Abi asked.

It felt easier to think of telling Abi about it than it did Sera and Dak. “I messed with my own timeline. I’m not sure I exist anymore.”

“Of course you exist,” Abi said. “You affirm that just by asking the question.”

“No,” Riq said. “I exist here because we’re still in a kind of warp. Dak and Sera and I are slipping through time, and we’re not affected yet by what we’re doing. But the world we left behind is being affected by everything we do. And when I go back there, I don’t know what will happen. I could disappear, like I’d never even been there.”

Abi was silent. “That is a heavy burden.”

Riq had to laugh. “Yeah. Pretty heavy.”

“What will you do?”

“I don’t know.” Riq rolled the Infinity Ring over. “I’ve thought about just staying in the past somewhere. I almost did that recently.” The image of Kisa came into his mind. How happy he’d been with her. The way she’d felt to him like she filled a Remnant.