Chapter Eight—Little Quests

Ali sighed. “This inn is not fit for dogs. Why could we not have gone to the Gakorifa?”

“We are trying to lay low,” Shiro said, though he didn’t much care for this establishment either. The beds were dirty and there was dirt in the corners of the room. The servants had dark circles under their eyes and they looked hungry.

Shiro signed.

“We need to scout and find our bearings and decide what it is we will do next,” Debaku said.

Ali looked at him. “I haven’t heard you say so much in a single breath since I laid eyes on you, Mar’a Thulian.”

Debaku said nothing.

Ali motioned jerkily with his hand. “What? Now you are silent?”

“Enough,” Shiro said as he walked between Ali and Debaku. “Let’s not start an argument. Debaku is right.”

“Fine.”

Getting back into Darshuun had been relatively easy. With their newly acquired horses, divested of the colors of the guard, they were good animals that carried them back to the city where the main roads were being watched by the sultan’s army.

Now their faces were covered whenever they were out where they could be seen. Though now, in this establishment, they had no need to conceal themselves unless the servants knocked on the doors.

“We should see if my manor has had any visitors,” Ali said. “I would much prefer to be there while we scheme and plot.”

“Should we not wait for a time?” Shiro asked.

“Well, yes, but…”

“You want to see your wife?”

“No,” Ali said. “I sent her away. And besides”—he laughed—“I don’t want to hear her nagging about how she was right.”

Shiro almost chuckled, but held himself back. “Do you have any money we can use?”

“Of course,” Ali said. “I have coin hidden away all over the place.”

“I have coin as well,” Debaku said. “Except I can still withdraw mine from the banks.”

“Shiro nodded.”

“So what is our plan of action?”

Debaku was silent.

“The lamp,” Shiro said.

“So, you want to break into the royal palace—just the three of us and steal back the lamp? How do we even know it’s in the palace?”

Shiro shrugged. “How can we find out?”

Feeling an overwhelming sense of the missing member, Shiro wanted more than anything to find the lamp and discover what was wrong with Jessamine, but he had no idea about how to go about that.

He was a samurai, not a spy or a statesman or a general. “Maybe we can bribe some of the servants,” he suggested.

“A good way to be discovered,” Bebaku said. “Abassir are known for killing disloyal servants.”

Shiro nodded. “Let us keep it as an option,” he said. “Ali and I are pretty good at climbing and sneaking around. We could enter the palace?”

Ali gave him a look and let out a lot of air. “Sneaking into a disgraced vizier’s manor on the edge of the river is one thing, Shiro, eh? But the palace—that is a whole other matter.”

“Are you saying that you won’t do it?”

“Well, no, but—“

“It’s another option,” Debaku said. “I am also very skilled in these matters.”

“First,” Ali said, raising a finger, “we should discover whether or not I remain a fugitive. We can use help. I don’t know about my slaves. They may have all been killed.”

“Is that something we should hope for?” Debaku asked.

Knowing the Black Cobra of Mar’a Thul was once a slave, Shiro moved in to defuse the situation before it started. “Of course not,” he said. “But we should still discover these things. Perhaps you can go to a vizier and find out?”

“Yes!” Ali said. “Shai’na can help us.”

“Are you sure?”

“She did before, no?”

Shiro nodded. “She may not want to assist us any more if she finds out the sultan wants your head.”

Ali shrugged. “You are right about that. So, I can visit her, see how she reacts. I’ve never considered her to be a particularly good actress. I will know. And besides. I’ve heard some things about her which might put her in a position to want to help us.”

“Really?” Shiro asked.

“Indeed,” Ali said with a nod. “I think one of her family members was killed by the sultan when he took power. I don’t know. It is a rumor at least. Now I am going to go.”

“All right,” Shiro said. “But make sure you are not seen without your face covering.”

“And what will you do while I am gone?”

“I am too easily recognized,” he said. “I should not leave this room unless it is night.”

“All right.”

“And you, Debaku?”

“You want the lamp back, do you not?”

Shiro nodded stoically.

“I will scout the palace.”

“Wait! Wait!” Ali said. “Are you sure you want to be doing that? What if you are caught?”

“I am the Black Cobra. I do not—“

“Ah, yes, yes! All right, all right. Say no more, my friend.”

“Are we friends, Abassir?” Debaku stared at Ali, and Ali froze like an animal caught in a hunter’s sights.

“Ah,” he said with a nervous laugh. “If you are Shiro’s friend, then you are my friend as well, Black Cobra.”

“Very well. Then you must call me by my name. It is Debaku.”

Ali nodded and put out his hand. The two men shook. Shiro was surprised that Debaku was as friendly as he was. But then he didn’t know the man well.

“All right,” Ali said. “We all have our little quests. You, Debaku, scout the palace. I will visit Shai’na, and you Shiro, you will brood in silence while you wait for us.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes at the Abassir.

“Haha! No, no. I am only joking, my friend. Come on!” He waved his hands about. “Lighten the mood, yes? You two are killing me with your dour expressions!”