“It would be nice,” Tony submitted, “if you could be persuaded.”
She turned her back on him and started for the door. Tony said: “By the way—when do I start for the djinn king’s court? And you said the safe-conduct includes my attendants. Do I tell Esir and Esim to pack up for a trip?”
“You do not!” Ghail said shortly. “You will have but one attendant. You will start before nightfall. The djinn will provide mounts and accommodation for you and one other only!”
“I suppose—”
“You will go,” Ghail said shortly, “because the djinn king invited you. I go as your pretended slave, but actually to take necessities to our captive Queen.”
Tony looked at her. He raised his eyebrows.
“The journey,” said Ghail haughtily, “will be made on the camels of the djinn, which are actually djinn in the form of camels. They travel like the wind. What would be four days’ journey by human travel will be accomplished in no more than three hours.”
“I was sure,” said Tony in some regret, “that somehow you would manage to make it unsatisfactory. All right! Thank you.”
* * *
He watched gloomily as she went out the door. Life, he reflected, had been a great deal more simple when he was a prisoner in a dungeon with a courtyard, instead of a general of armies he hadn’t seen yet and a prince who had to make journeys to the courts of nonhuman entities he hadn’t believed in before yesterday morning. At least, while he was a prisoner, Ghail had been around a lot, in a costume of limited area, and she’d been interested in him, if scornful. Now she seemed scornful of him and not interested. She rather resembled his conscience.