Season of the Sandstorms - Mary Pope Osborne [2]
“Baghdad,” Jack said. He showed the book to Annie. Its title was:
THE GOLDEN AGE OF BAGHDAD
“A golden age?” said Annie. “That sounds cool. Let’s go!”
“Wait, we should read our letter first,” said Jack.
“Right,” said Annie. She unfolded the paper. “Merlin’s handwriting,” she said. She read aloud:
Dear Jack and Annie of Frog Creek,
Your mission is to journey to Baghdad of long
ago and help the caliph spread wisdom to
the world. To succeed, you must be humble
and use your magic wisely. Follow these—
“Wait, what’s a caliph?” said Jack. “And what’s Merlin mean—‘spread wisdom to the world’? That’s a big responsibility.”
“I don’t know,” said Annie. “Let me finish.” She kept reading:
Follow these instructions:
Ride a ship of the desert
on a cold starry night.
Ride through the dust
and hot morning light.
Find a horse on a dome,
the one who sees all,
in the heart of the city
behind the third wall.
Beneath birds who sing
in the Room of the Tree,
greet a friend you once knew
and a new friend to be.
Remember that life
is full of surprises.
Return to the tree house
before the moon rises.
—M.
“This sounds pretty easy,” said Annie.
“No, it doesn’t,” said Jack. “All these instructions are so mysterious. We don’t know what any of them mean.”
“We’ll find out when we get there,” said Annie. “But first we have to get there. Make the wish.”
“Okay,” said Jack. He pointed to the cover of the book. “I wish we could go to the golden age of Baghdad,” he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Jack felt hot. He opened his eyes. Burning sunlight was flooding into the tree house. He and Annie were wearing long robes tied with cords. They wore white head cloths and pointy slip-on shoes. Jack’s backpack had turned into a leather shoulder bag.
“We look like characters in that book Aunt Mary gave us,” said Annie, “Tales from the Arabian Nights.”
“Yeah, like Aladdin and Ali Baba,” said Jack.
Shading their eyes from the bright sunlight, Jack and Annie squinted out the window. They had landed in the spiky crown of a palm tree. It was the tallest tree in a clump of palm trees. Thorny shrubs and sparse green grass grew under the trees. A small spring bubbled up from the ground. Surrounding the clump of trees were miles and miles of scorching sand.
“This doesn’t look like a golden age to me,” said Annie.
“Yeah, and where’s Baghdad?” asked Jack. He picked up their research book and opened it to the first page. He read aloud:
From 762 AD to 1258 AD, the Arab world had a golden age. During that time, a ruler known as a caliph (say KAY-liff) governed an empire that stretched for thousands of miles. The capital of the Arab empire was the city of Baghdad, an important center for learning and trade.
Jack looked up. “So the caliph is a ruler,” he said, “and he probably lived in Baghdad.”
“Yeah, but how do we get there?” asked Annie.
“Patience,” said Jack. “Remember on our last mission, we learned that we have to do things in order, one thing at a time.” He read the first part of Merlin’s instructions.
Ride a ship of the desert
on a cold starry night.
Ride through the dust
and hot morning light.
“I wonder what a ‘ship of the desert’ is,” said Jack, looking up.
“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll find it eventually,” Annie said slowly, as if she were trying to sound patient. “We could just sit here and keep an eye out for a big boat. Or …”
“Or what?” said Jack.
“Maybe we could use one of Teddy and Kathleen’s magic rhymes.”
“Not yet,” said Jack. “Merlin said to use our magic wisely. We just got here. We used two rhymes on our last mission. And we only have eight left to divide between three—”
“Okay, okay—” Annie broke in. “We can only use a rhyme when there’s absolutely nothing else to do, right?”
“Right,” said Jack.
“So …,” said Annie. “What do you