Guardian of the Horizon - Elizabeth Peters [160]
“He is babbling about his childhood,” I said, sponging the dried blood away and splashing the cuts with alcohol. “I can’t get a sensible word out of him, Merasen, not while he is in this condition. You must bring him back to our house so that I can take care of him properly.”
I didn’t expect he would be fool enough to go along with that idea, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, as I always say. He refused, using several English bad words he must have picked up from Emerson, and I said in German, “I have this as much as possible prolonged, but he will soonest me remove. I have a plan to rescue her—you know of whom I speak. Then we will a way of delivering you discover.”
“Stop,” Merasen said. He caught me roughly by the arm. I saw Ramses’s eyes flash before he closed them again. “Der andere Engländer,” he muttered. “Vorsicht. Er ist—”
“I know,” I replied in English. There wasn’t time to ask how he had found out, though I was burning with curiosity. Merasen kept tugging at me. “Just give me time to pack my medical supplies,” I said with a sob. “Dein Vater knows not,” I added, stroking Ramses’s cheek as if bidding him a loving farewell. “Tell him not.”
“Ja, Mutter,” said Ramses.
Between Emerson’s relief at seeing me safely back and his concern for his son, he was somewhat less than coherent at first. Daoud and Selim kept peppering me with questions too. After I had got them all to be quiet I told them what had happened.
“Are you sure he is only pretending to be seriously injured?” Emerson asked anxiously.
“My dear, I have seen him in worse condition—worse and often! I don’t doubt he was on his feet as soon as the door closed.”
“We will go to that place and take him out of it,” said Daoud fiercely.
Emerson snorted and rolled his eyes, but I said, “That is one of the possibilities. However, I have another idea.”
“You have too damned many ideas,” said my loving husband. “Good Gad, Peabody, you have come up with a dozen different schemes. Isn’t it time we settled on one?”
“We must remain flexible, Emerson. What do you think of Ramses’s arrangement with Tarek?”
“I am perfectly willing—in fact, I would be delighted—to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war on old Zekare, and,” Emerson went on modestly, “I might be able to carry it off. But I am not noble enough to risk Ramses’s life for a noble cause. Merasen would murder him out of sheer spite if we won. And what about Nefret?”
“I have a few ideas,” I began. “Now, Emerson, don’t lose your temper. You are right, we need to settle on a plan. As a last resort, and in the—in my opinion—unlikely possibility that we are not able to free either or both beforehand, we will refuse to take part in the ceremony unless Ramses and Nefret are present. Merasen will have to produce Ramses, at least.”
“With a knife at his throat,” Emerson growled.
“We will have knives at people’s throats ourselves, my dear. And Daoud’s guns. Before that, we have a few details to attend to. Ramses promised Tarek he would bring back our answer within two days. Since he can’t, we must do so. If Tarek doesn’t hear from us, and if he learns of Ramses’s capture, he may do something rash.”
Emerson nodded grudgingly. “Right as usual, Peabody. The lady in the village?”
“If we can do it without endangering her. I will write a message. She will know who it’s for and pass it on. The rekkit must also be warned of the change in plan. Under no circumstances are they to take up arms.”
Emerson fingered the cleft in his chin. “I suppose you didn’t get a chance to look for the guns while you were at Merasen’s place.”
“He hustled me in and out before I could. I’ll try again later.”
“What makes you suppose Merasen will let you come again?”
“He will have to let me if Ramses continues to fade away. Of course it is possible that Ramses will free himself and Captain Moroney before that.”
“How, in God’s name?” Emerson demanded. “He is locked up and unarmed.”
“Not exactly, Emerson. I left him a weapon.”
Thirteen
My optimism received a hard blow when we entered our sitting room and found a delegation waiting.