"So that you will know that you do not have to marry Kazimain merely to obtain your freedom. Tell me the truth and I will let you walk free. Do you agree?"
"Very well," I acceded, "I agree. What do you wish to know?"
"The truth-are you a spy?"
"Yes, I am."
"I knew it!" The amir's fist struck the brass tray, upsetting the cups and spilling the drink. "I knew it!" he cried-as much in relief as vindication.
"I am a spy," I confessed again, "but perhaps not in the way you think."
"I must know the truth," Sadiq insisted. "It is of utmost importance, believe me. Who is your master? What is his purpose?"
"Everything I have told you is the truth. I was indeed a slave to Harald Bull-Roar when he came to raid Constantinople. It so happened that while we were there I was able to perform a small service for the emperor-"
"So he freed you, and took you into his service," suggested Sadiq.
"No, lord, he did not. He might have, but that is not his way. Instead, he made the Danish king part of his mercenary force and sent the Sea Wolves to guard the eparch and the merchant ships on their voyage to Trebizond. He said that if I performed a certain task for him, we would discuss my freedom when I returned."
"What was this task?"
"To watch and listen to all that was said and done in Trebizond during the peace mediations and to bring him word if I should discover anything suspicious regarding the eparch."
"The eparch!" wondered Sadiq, plainly surprised. "Did he doubt the eparch's loyalty?"
"He did not tell me why, but he seemed to me a man deeply concerned with trust and loyalty. I think he mistrusted the eparch-unnecessarily, in all events."
"He should have mistrusted this Nikos," mused the amir. Glancing at me, he said, "So, you were to watch the eparch. That was all? Nothing else?"
"Nothing else."
"You were not to watch the Arabs, perhaps? Even a little?"
"In all truth, he said nothing to me regarding the Arabs. He had no reason to believe that I would ever be in a position to be privvy to intelligence from that quarter, amir. He did not anticipate my present situation. You must know that the emperor is as anxious for the peace as is the khalifa. Byzantium needs it as much as Samarra, if not more."
"Why is this?"
"Emperor Basil seeks the increase in trade and commerce if he is to pay for his new palaces and public buildings. The imperial city has been neglected for decades; renovation on such a massive scale requires an unending supply of wealth."
"Ya'allah!" Sadiq nodded in rueful agreement at this. "If only the rulers of this world had smaller appetites."
"Now you know the truth," I told him. "I watched and listened to what was said and done in Trebizond-for all the good that came of it. The eparch is dead, and the traitor remains free to continue his treacheries. The warring and raiding will resume, and-"
"No," said the amir earnestly, "the fighting will not resume. This is what Abu Ahmad has determined. We will abide the peace we have sought and won." He paused. "This is why I was forced to test you, my friend. I had to know what manner of man I had entrusted with the future of our people."
I did not know what he meant, but it sounded far-reaching and vaguely ominous in my ears. "Your future, amir?"
Sadiq clucked his tongue over my bewilderment. "Ah, indeed you are a sorry spy," he replied lightly. "You held the fate of the Arab people in your hands, for you knew our weakness-a thing even the notorious Nikos does not suspect."
"The rebellion?" I said. "I learned about that long ago. Had I been the sort of spy you imagined, I would have run to the emperor as soon as you left the palace."
"Obviously."
"But I stayed."
"Yes, you stayed."
"Even so, you thought me a traitor. You threatened to kill me-"
"I would certainly have killed you," Sadiq maintained firmly, "if you had lied to me." He spread his hands and placed them flat on the table as if to push the unpleasantness from him. "Please, understand; with so much at hazard, there could be no mistake."
"And Kazimain-did she know? Was she watching me?"
The amir glanced away. "Kazimain…" he began, and hesitated, "She knew, yes."
"I see." I nodded absently. The heatflash of anger flared quick and hot, then swiftly abated; in its place settled a sour humiliation. I had been made a fool. It came to me that I had felt exactly this same way before: upon discovering Gunnar had waited in the forest all day to see if I would run away from him; the Watching-Trial, he called it. Well, I had unwittingly undergone a second watching-trial, and found it no more to my liking than the first.
Sadiq righted the cups and poured more drink; he placed a cup before me, poured one for himself, drank, and began speaking again, his voice taking on a tone of urgency, but I was thinking: Why must my loyalty be always put to the test? Am I so unreliable, so inconstant that those above me cannot trust me otherwise? What is it about me that fills everyone with such doubt?
