Page 38 of The Golden Princess

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I waited for Ali to appear around the cave entrance, but he didn’t come. Instead Kasim peered at a paper in his hand before uttering the words to close the cave entrance behind him. He must have convinced Ali to tell him the location of the cave and give him the instructions for opening it. I was at least glad Ali wasn’t in the middle of this dangerous situation.

Of course, Kasim alone might be enough to wreck everything. How far away were the thieves? And what would they do if they arrived and found Kasim loading gold into his baskets? He’d broughttendonkeys and no one to help load them. He obviously didn’t intend to trust anyone with details of the cave.

I muttered some strongly worded insults under my breath. There could there be no worse time for Kasim’s mix of greed and foolishness to come to the fore. He hadn’t even waited for it to be light to rush over here.

I half-expected Rek to appear from hiding and order Kasim away. But the cave stayed silent except for Kasim’s exclamations of disbelief. I wasn’t certain where the others were concealed and how many of them could even see Kasim. They might think it was one of the thieves who had arrived.

He leaped on a nearby bag of jewels, heaving it into one of the baskets of the closest donkey. Next he reached for a small chest, panting and puffing as he hefted it up. He nearly tipped over backward trying to lift it high enough to ease over the edge of the basket.

I groaned. It was going to take an agonizingly long time for him to fill all the baskets. And the thieves could arrive at any moment.

Again I waited for Rek, or perhaps Samuel to appear. There was a good chance Adara and Navid lacked a clear view of what was happening, so they wouldn’t risk emerging while there was someone else in the cave. But surely Rek had chosen a position that gave him a clear view of the entrance. And he would be even more concerned than I was about Kasim ruining our whole plan.

Of course, he might not recognize who Kasim was, but he would surely be able to tell he wasn’t one of the gang. The man’s reaction to the cave had made that clear. Still, Rek might not want to risk giving away our presence, and even knowing Kasim’s identity, I couldn’t blame him. The merchant definitely couldn’t be trusted to keep silent about anything that didn’t directly benefit him. He would certainly be unmoved by thoughts of the good of the kingdom.

Rek had thought we had a solid window of time before the thieves appeared. Perhaps the best plan was to do nothing. Kasim might well finish loading up and leave the cave before the thieves ever arrived.

We would still have the aftereffects of his presence to contend with, though, since he was making no effort to hide his pilfering. When the thieves did arrive, they’d be sure to notice someone else had been in here.

Then again, if they believed the person was gone, it might actually work to our advantage, provoking more interesting conversation than they might have unprompted. Of course, if they got nervous and searched the cave in case the intruder still lingered…

I shook my head. Surely they wouldn’t suspect someone of robbing them and then hiding away in the back of the cave. From their perspective, the theft could have happened any time between their last visit and now.

If only Kasim would load the donkeys faster…

It seemed to take half the night, but at last Kasim filled the final basket. The poor donkeys were braying and flicking their tails, more than sick of the dark cave, but Kasim ignored them. He had been muttering happily to himself for some time, and he now stood back and rubbed his hands together. I could almost see him plotting to come back as soon as possible. Was there no end to the man’s greed?

Finally, finally, he turned the lead donkey back toward the entrance, and the lights of the donkey string disappeared around the corner. But no grinding sound came. I waited and waited some more. Still it didn’t come.

What was Kasim playing at?

Hurried footfalls sounded, and the merchant appeared. All his earlier pleasure was gone, his expression strained, and his face lined in the light of the lantern he carried.

He strode up and down, peering at the ground as if searching for something small as he retraced his steps.

“Over here. It must be over here,” he muttered as he moved closer to my position. “I had it in my pocket, I’m sure of it. Perhaps when I bent down to…”

He bent again, peering behind a nearby chest. It would be terrible luck if he stumbled on one of us in his search. What could he be looking for?

“Think, Kasim, think.” He straightened and pressed his hand to his forehead. “You wrote it down yourself, you must remember the words. Open Barley? No, you already tried that one. But it was some sort of grain, I’m sure of it. Open Wheat?”

Unbelievable! He’d forgotten the words to open the cave entrance again. And lost the piece of paper he had written them on. How could anyone forget something both so short and so nonsensically silly?

But as he spun briefly toward me, I caught the gleam of desperation in his eye—so like the earlier gleam of avarice. Ali had spoken of being gold-struck on sight of the cave, and obviously his brother had been even more greatly affected.

After a long moment of stillness, Kasim turned back to the tunnel and disappeared from sight again, still muttering. If he tried every grain he could think of, would he eventually stumble on the correct words?

Reluctantly I admitted to myself that we couldn’t afford to wait for however long that might take. Kasim had trapped himself in a fatal situation entirely through his own actions, but I couldn’t leave him to his fate—both for his sake and for ours. As much as I disliked the man, I couldn’t sit back and watch him killed when I had the means to assist him.

I shifted onto my knees, my muscles and joints protesting the long period of immobility. But just as I began to move aside one of the carpets to make room for me to crawl out, the cave filled with the sound of moving rock.

I sighed with relief and pulled the carpet back into position. Kasim had finally remembered the correct phase.

The rock stopped moving, and I waited anxiously to hear it close again. Within minutes Kasim would be gone from the delicate situation. But instead of the distant braying and hoofbeats of donkeys, a muted scream of terror reached my ears.

I straightened, my breath catching as I peered from my hiding place. Running steps sounded, and Kasim burst back around the bend in the tunnel, his face desperate. He looked one way and then another before taking several steps forward, only to freeze again. He looked as if he were trying to choose a hiding place and failing.

Cold rushed through me. I had assumed the rock opened because Kasim had stumbled on the correct phrase. Instead, something far more terrible had happened. The cave had been opened from the outside.


Tags: Melanie Cellier Fantasy