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would this perfect king have done?”
    “Why, he would have decided for the boy and his mother. The ones who owned the land.”
    “I don’t understand? Why would he have done that?”
    “There are laws, rules, even the king has to obey them in my country.”
    Bilqis laughed a hearty, ringing laugh. “The king has to obey? I don’t obey anyone.” She ran her hand over the leopard skin and tossed her head defiantly.
    “Well, the difference is the law. Some things are right and some wrong and the law tells you which are which.”
    Again Bilqis laughed. “How ridiculous. What I say is right. I am the queen.”
    “Well, all I can say is that he has no taster. If someone gets angry at a decision he makes, they blame the law not him.”
    “What a strange country and what a strange king. He is so powerful he controls the winds in bags under his throne and yet he must obey laws.”
    The queen seemed to be deep in thought. Badget shifted uneasily. He was no match for the queen. She spent a few moments with her fingers drumming on the arm of the chair and then stood up. “Badget,” she said, “I believe your name is Badget, don’t return home to your country until I give my permission. I am not through with you yet.”
    She left the pavilion trailing the three slaves and five Nubians in her wake. She left the Nubians at the door of her apartments and the slaves followed her to the door of the inner chamber. “Bring Najja to me,” she ordered as she went to the balcony that overlooked the lush gardens of her private grounds.
    Just as she had known, Ilumquh was totally gone from the sky. “Where did he go? Why must he always desert them?” She drew her robes tighter around her, a cool breeze had come up quite suddenly. It was the dark of the moon and on just such a breeze as this that the Afreet and Jinntraveled to work their evil magic on human beings.
    With a bang she closed the shuttered doors and leaned against them. Only one lamp burned beside her couch. The corners of the room were dark, but through the open door came rays of light and the soft murmuring of her women. Her hands moved to clutch the jeweled scabbard of the short sword hanging from her girdle. It was made of iron, and the Jinn could not touch her as long as she wore it.
    She had ordered a double watch at the dam and the priests would offer sacrifices and pray all night. The golden bull would stand in the midst of the temple and frighten away the evil spirits. “Najja,” she called and immediately heard one of the outer doors slam.
    “Tomorrow the high priest will come for his answer,” she thought. “He wouldn’t press me so if it weren’t important. I must decide. There’s no one who can help me. I must decide what I’ll do. Surely it is only the Jinn and Afreet that would harm me, and Ilumquh can protect me from both.”

B ilqis slept poorly that night. She had experienced two frightening nightmares in which the great dam that supplied all the water for her city had burst. Dreams were often prophetic, and she could not afford to ignore a dream that could spell such disaster to her whole kingdom. Long before morning, she was up getting ready to ride out and inspect it for herself.
    The High Priest and her tribesmen would all expect her to be at the temple to chant and fast, encouraging the moon to rise again by their sacrifice and prayers. However, that was just where she didn’t want to be.
    The High Priest had said he would expect an answer today in regard to her marriage, and she hadn’t decided yet just what she would do. She felt cornered, trapped. There were no choices she could accept and yet she knew the pressure would mount until she made some decision. She needed to get away, escape, if only for an hour.
    The ride to the dam was out across the fertile valley and far enough to require riding in the regal howdah on the back of a camel. She liked that. In the howdah she was alone and could think without interruption.
    Once on the