Murray Leinster - Gateway to Elsewhere

“Marry the Queen?” Tony shook his head. His new apprehensions hit him hard. “No! I’m not thinking of the Queen when I worry about what the gamma rays from those explosions may have done to me! Not a bit of it! I’m thinking of somebody else entirely!”

The arrival of the djinn caravan created terror in Barkut. Practically the whole djinn nation—Tony learned that he had something over a hundred thousand subjects—came steaming out of the vastness which was the desert. The whirlwind scouts were sighted from the city walls. The aircraft curtain of rocs was sighted at the same time. When the caravan deployed before the city walls, fires of sulphurous material burned on the battlements, the city’s last supply of lasf had been served out, and the people of Barkut were prepared to defend themselves to the last drop of ragweed solution.

There were the same people who only one day before had fired off cannon and danced in the streets to celebrate the defeat of a single djinn in Tony’s bedroom. Now, prepared for destruction, when they learned that the djinns came not for conquest but as a guard of honor for the returned Queen of Barkut, that the Lord Toni who had gone away with only one slave girl for company had returned as King of the Djinns, there was no possible way to express their enthusiasm.

Abdul, bustling about, supervised the instant erection of a palace for Tony’s lodging. It was simple enough, of course. He had merely to sketch the outline of a modest little overnight hut of some two hundred and forty rooms with floors of alternating gold and ivory squares, windows of sapphire and emerald and ruby, and a roof of jade and silver bearing fountains that sprayed milk, wine, honey, and diamond dust. Some three hundred djinns apportioned the structure among themselves, transformed themselves into the necessary sections and decorations, and the thing was done. It was waiting for Tony when he came back from his visit to the city of Barkut.

“Majesty!” said Abdul happily. “We were worried that you might not be adequately served in Barkut. You should at least have let a few hundred of your servants go before you with golden basins filled with jewels and the like.”

“I am,” said Tony, “a person of simple tastes. I came back mainly to give orders for tight discipline in the djinn camp tonight. I don’t want anybody sneaking into the human town. No matter how innocently, no matter how inconspicuously! Nobody is to wander in as a little centipede. Nobody is to be a little beetle or a fly or a grease spot or a moth’s egg. The human city is off-limits! Understand?”

“Yes, Majesty!” said Abdul. “And you will return—?”

“I sleep in Barkut,” said Tony firmly. “There are some negotiations to be made. I’m quite safe. Hm… have you talked to Nasim about your marriage?”

“Yes, Majesty.” Here Abdul wore the expression of a cat completely filled with cream and canaries. “We are quite agreed. Er… Majesty, you are not offended that I wore a costume and form resembling yours for—ah—courtship?”

“As long as you wear that form strictly in private,” said Tony. “For the admiration of nobody but Nasim, and as long as you keep Nasim from bothering me, it’s all right. Why don’t you get married tonight?”

“To hear is to obey, Majesty!”

“You can use the palace I won’t be sleeping in, for a honeymoon cottage,” said Tony enthusiastically. “If you like, I’ll bring the Queen and her court out for the wedding!”

“Your Majesty is too good!” protested Abdul ecstatically.

“Then it’s settled—” Tony paused apprehensively. “You’ll see that Nasim wears clothes while she’s in human form?”

“Yes, Majesty,” Abdul beamed. “May I ask about your Majesty’s plans for this evening?”

“There’s a banquet,” said Tony, frowning, “and your wedding. And—the negotiations. If the negotiations are successful, I shall be engaged to be married and my plans are none of your business.”

“It is unthinkable,” Abdul assured him, “that your Majesty’s desires should be opposed by any creature under the sky! But in such an impossible event—”

“Music—” said Tony glumly. “And in that case my plans are even less of your business! But remember, Barkut is off-limits for djinns!”

Abdul bowed to the ground.

Tony went back into the city. It was very pleasant to have all the people smile at him joyously. It was not too uncomfortable to have the men bow to him, at once respectfully and with the joy of human beings who feel a share in the feat of another human who has become King of the Djinns. It wasn’t bad having large, lustrous eyes look warmly at him over traditional Moslem women’s veils. And there was a melancholy satisfaction in going back to his old quarters in the palace—though he had occupied them only one night—to find Esir and Esim waiting for him in the most incredible excitement. They kissed him soundly.

“Indeed, lord—Your Majesty,” said Esir, laughing, “you cannot protest, because by custom any slave may kiss her master when he performs a feat so that she gives thanks to Allah that she belongs to him and no other! King of the Djinns, no less! Tell me, are the djinnees beautiful?”

“Do you think you will prefer them to us?” asked Esim anxiously. “Indeed, lord—Your Majesty, we heard the news but an hour since, and we are fearful that you will not wish to keep us!”

Tony looked at them with a gloomy satisfaction.

“Things could be worse,” he said. “For a little while I cannot tell you my plans, but whatever they turn out to be, I will bear you in mind. Oh, definitely I will bear you in mind! Nil desperandum will be my motto.”

A tentative knock came at the door. They untangled themselves reluctantly from his embrace. It was a male slave.

“Majesty, the Queen of Barkut begs your attendance in the throne room.”

“Coming up,” said Tony with a sigh. To the two girls he said in comforting dejection, “I’m afraid I’ll be right back.”

He followed the slave to the great throne room he had seen once before, with the decrepit Council of Regency in session. The black marble floor was the same, and the brass zodiacal signs sunk into it. It occurred to Tony that life would be wearing in a house of which all interior and exterior features were subject to change without notice. There would be other disadvantages, too.

The great throne was occupied, now. The Queen sat on it. Soldiers in baggy trousers, wearing slippers and carrying flintlock guns, regarded Tony with the affection of men who have expected to fight a losing battle against the djinns, and now find that they can stay comfortably at home with their families. The courtiers of Barkut regarded him with no less approval. The Queen sat composed and non-committal on her throne.

“Majesty,” said the Queen sedately, as Tony came to a stop before her, “we wish to offer you the thanks of the humans of Barkut for our liberation, and for the liberation of the nation from the fear of the djinns. We wish to express our admiration and our affection. We wish to ask if there is anything which it is in our power to do, which will add to your satisfaction or happiness.”

Tony looked uneasily around. He did not see Ghail.

“I told you today, in the letter,” he said awkwardly, “that if by any means I could secure the freedom of the slave girl Ghail, that I would wish to do that. If you will make her no longer a slave—”

The Queen nodded toward a side door. It opened. Two male slaves escorted Ghail to the dais before the throne. She was very pale. The Queen addressed her gently: