D & D - Red Sands Read Online Free Page B

arm. The hand let go, and the beast scurried to a back corner of its cage. It blubbered with almost human anguish.
    "What in Dutu's name is it?" asked Jadira, on her feet once more.
    "A giant ape, such as live wild in the south country," Tamakh said.
    "Do they eat people?"
    "Not as a rule."
    "Listen to it weep," Marix said.
    In spite of her fright, Jadira stepped nearer the cage. The ape flung itself at the bars again, its blunt, leathery fingers flexing for her.
    "Cunning devil!" she said, flinching away. Marix raised the sword again, and the beast retreated hastily.
    They hurried on. Cages and pens rushed by in a blur until they reached an intersection of four paths. Tamakh hesitated.
    "Well?" said Jadira.
    "I'm not certain which way is best," the priest murmured.
    "Depends on where you wish to go," said a voice from behind them. The three whirled to face the speaker. The voice had come from a cage on a small platform, mounted shoulder-high on brick pillars.
    Seeing nothing in the darkness, Marix asked, "Who's ihere?"
    "One of the sultan's exhibits. Who might you be?"
    "We might be the grand vizier, the sultana, and the hierophant of Baoud," said Jadira, "but in truth we're prisoners escaping from the palace dungeons."
    "Not an easy thing to do," said the voice.
    "Not if we stand here gabbing all night!" said Marix.
    Tamakh stepped around the younger man and walked to the platform. "You speak quite well for a wild beast."
    "And you speak well for an overfed cleric."
    "Ai! It has a sharp tongue," said Jadira. "Beware, holy One; it may have sharp teeth as well."
    A shape stirred in the shadows of the cage. An arm, smooth as polished wood and dark as ebony, reached out t0 tweak Tamakh's bulbous nose. The priest smiled and took the black hand in his own.
    "It's a woman," he said. "A black woman of Fedush."
    "In a cage? That won't do," said Jadira. "Would you like to be free?"
    "Of course she would," said Tamakh. "Give me the key." Marix stamped his foot impatiently.
    Jadira handed Tamakh the rod. He circled the platform until he found the lock on the rear side. With some
    fumbling and grunting, he got it open.
    The woman sprang from the platform to the path in front of Jadira. She stood so swiftly the nomad woman drew back in surprise.
    "I am the daughter of Ondakoto and Isanfaela. Uramettu is my name," the black woman said. "I am indebted to you all for my freedom." She was very tall, two paces at least, and endowed with grace and obvious strength. Her constant, unblinking gaze appraised them each in turn.
    Jadira made hasty introductions. "Can you lead us out?" she asked.
    Uramettu adjusted her thin, thigh-length tunic, and promptly set off on the center path. Her long, loping stride soon had Tamakh panting far behind. Marix and Jadira had to jog just to keep pace.
    "Do you know—where you are—going?" puffed Marix.
    "The palace wall is guarded all around. The only way out is under," said Uramettu.
    "Under?" questioned Jadira.
    "The garden is watered by a pool. The pool is fed by a spring, and the overflow passes under the palace wall to the city cisterns."
    Sure enough, when they rounded the next bend, a sheet of silver spread out across the entire end of the garden. The pool was bordered on two sides by high walls with soldiers marching in pairs along the top.
    Uramettu crouched among the bulrushes and bade her new comrades stay low beside her.
    "Slip into the water and make for the wall. Just left of the center is a culvert that leads under the wall to the Al-Makhi cistern."
    "A problem," said Tamakh. "I cannot swim."
    "Nor can I," said Jadira, eyeing the water uncertainly.
    "Then you shall go on my back," Uramettu said to her. "And the priest may come with the yellow-haired
    one."
    Tamakh nodded assent. Jadira looked behind once and then returned her gaze to the water. "I'm ready," she said.
    Uramettu slid noiselessly into the pool. Jadira followed. She looped her arms around the black woman's neck. Uramettu pushed off