The Bones of the Old Ones (Dabir and Asim) Read Online Free Page B

true that a woman has come to ask help of my friend, the scholar Dabir,” I said. “She may or may not be your daughter.”
    He nodded once, and his eyes were calculating. “The mystery can easily be solved. Bring her to me that we may see one another.”
    This was such a reasonable suggestion I was not sure what to do with it. I found myself stalling that I might gain more time to think. “What does your daughter look like?”
    “She is well dressed, and very beautiful, with black hair and large brown eyes. Is this the woman who came to you?”
    Instead of answering, I asked, “How did you lose her?”
    Koury’s mouth narrowed to a thin line, but he replied. “She is a girl of wild notions since her poor husband was murdered before her. She grew frightened in the marketplace and fled.”
    Surely the man looked wealthy enough to be Najya’s father, and he even had an explanation ready for Najya’s strange story—except, of course, that Najya had claimed to be the daughter of a famous, departed general.
    “If I might see her,” Koury pressed on, “we can quickly clear this matter up. I might even agree to reward a man who has given my daughter shelter. I am prepared to be very generous.”
    His words, sensible enough, were belied by a hardness of tone and manner that showed no fatherly warmth. Rather he sounded as if he viewed the woman solely as a commodity.
    “Perhaps a judge would be useful after all,” I concluded.
    Koury’s nostrils flared; one of his eyebrows twitched. Behind him both of the guards shifted their gloved left hands at the same moment.
    “Sometimes,” he said, his voice low, “men interfere in matters better left alone, through lack of understanding.”
    I merely nodded and held my place. “That is surely true.” Then, by way of dismissal, I added, “Good day to you.”
    His lips drew up in a sneer; I stepped back and closed the door, immediately dropping the locking bar into place.
    I stood a moment, listening for them. Koury said nothing more, and neither of his servants spoke to him, but I clearly heard them crunch away through the snow.
    For some reason I discovered that my heart beat rapidly, as if I’d just sparred with a lethal foe. I put my right hand to my chest to feel its speed, wondering that I should be so affected. When Najya spoke behind me I nearly jumped.
    “Are they gone?”
    I turned. “Aye.”
    “They will return,” she said darkly. “I must leave.”
    There were three doorways off the entry, and she was backing toward the one to the left.
    I held up a hand to her. “You need not fear. Even if he finds a judge to hear him today, none will act without hearing first from Dabir.”
    She shook her head quickly. “You don’t understand.”
    “You are safe here.” I spoke slowly, for emphasis.
    “No,” she said more forcefully. “Were you not listening? Did he have his men with him?”
    “Aye,” I started to say more, but she cut me off.
    Her eyes blazed. “My husband fought the both of them, striking them again and again, and doing them no harm. They would not fall. They cannot be hurt. And God help you if he also has Gazi with him, for that man fought circles around Bahir…” Here she paused, and her voice fell away. “My husband,” she finished needlessly.
    “Perhaps he did not strike deeply,” I suggested, hoping it was true, “and Koury’s guards wear armor beneath their robes.”
    “Captain!” She spoke now with great force, as though she meant to strike me with words until I took her seriously, “Bahir was skilled and daring, yet Gazi cut him to pieces.” Moisture glistened in her eyes, though her voice did not falter in the slightest. “They cannot be stopped and everyone here will die!”
    “Now there you are wrong.” Something in my manner brought her eyes firmly to me, as if she saw me clearly for the first time. “I have faced stranger things than these and come out alive. I will not let Koury take you. This I swear upon my