But El Ahmid was in there someplace, and as I wheeled off to the side to get a better view of the battle I saw him, battling well against two Guardsmen, avoiding their thrusts and cutting them down with a brilliant maneuver.
I spurred my horse forward to cut across after him when I saw him turn, wave an arm at three of his lieutenants, and start to race from the scene of the battle. The Guardsmen had more than they could handle. They had no one to spare to chase after the fleeing Rifs.
I edged my way along the side of the battle, pausing to exchange rifle fire with one of the Chinese still astride his camel.
He came down at me in an awkward gait, rifle raised to his shoulder and firing. On a horse he’d have easily sent at least two shots into me but on the camel it was like firing from the deck of a pitching, tossing ship. The shots went around my ears, and I brought him down with one fast return.
El Ahmid and his three Rifs were still in sight but disappearing fast down the road.
I took after them, content to keep them in sight. I didn’t want to catch up yet.
They cut into the mountains on the other side of Taza, leaving the Taza Gap and going up along the Rif itself.
I followed suit. If they knew I was following them they gave no sign of it. I kept my distance, staying just close enough to keep them in sight from time to time as they raced up and around and through the narrow Rif passages.
It was almost dark now, and I knew we were getting back near Mount Dersa when I saw them suddenly turn off the trail and enter a single-file gorge.
I went down after them and into the narrow, high-sided path. It was long and continuously narrow, and I realized it was a deep cut through the mountain, running toward the coastline.
I couldn’t see them any longer, and I increased my speed, pausing every so often to listen for the sound of their horses up ahead.
The narrow gorge widened out finally by a clump of orange trees in what appeared to be a small mountain valley. I galloped along the road and turned a sharp corner.
A body dropped on me like the proverbial ton of bricks, and I went flying from the saddle. On the ground, the man lost his grip for a moment and I twisted away to see it was one of the Rifs.
He’d dropped back, climbed onto a ledge at the corner and waited. He pulled out his dagger and came for me.
I ducked the first slice and avoided the second one. I’d almost forgotten I carried one stuck in my belt, and I brought it out with a sweeping motion. The curved dagger was not a weapon I was used to and against an experienced fighter it could be worse than no weapon at all.
I tried a swipe with it and he deftly fended it and came around with a slashing blow that almost ended the fight. I felt the tip of the blade nick my throat as it went by. I went into a crouch and circled.
He brought his blade upward in an arc and then back and forth in two quick motions and once again I twisted away with not more than a fraction of an inch to spare.
Angry, I tossed the damn dagger to one side and faced him. I saw his broken teeth flash as he smiled in anticipation.
He rushed me, which was what I was waiting for.
I dropped low and came up inside his curved swing with a hard right to the belly.
As he grunted I grabbed his arm, applied pressure and gave him a hip-flip. He went crashing down onto the ground. Before he could gather himself, I scooped up the dagger from where I’d tossed it and brought it down in a crashing, curving blow. I watched his head separate from his body.
“That one’s for Aggie Foster,” I muttered.
My stallion had halted nearby. I retrieved my rifle and started off at a gallop.
El Ahmid and the other two would be somewhere ahead, waiting, I knew.
I rode on for a while and then took to my feet, moving silently, cautiously along the pathway. The mountain rose to the right of me in a series of rocky formations and the path curved and twisted. Suddenly I heard the neigh of a horse ahead.
I moved forward slowly, keeping to the deep shadows alongside the steep rock sides of the mountain. I saw them waiting, El Ahmid and the other two. Taking my rifle, I checked the chamber and uttered a mixed oath and expression of thanks. There was but one bullet in it. I had intended to step out and start blazing away. It would have been a very unhappy surprise for me.
“I won’t wait any longer,” I heard El Ahmid say. “Muhad would be here by now if something hadn’t gone wrong. Perhaps they are both dead.”
The other two nodded solemnly, and I watched as El Ahmid walked over to the side of the mountain and began to press his hands along the stones.
Suddenly, with a groaning, rumbling noise, one of the stones began to move slowly, opening up in door-like fashion. Shades of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, I muttered to myself. I stayed quiet as El Ahmid and the other two got on their horses and disappeared into the mountain. In a moment the stone began to move again and with a rumbling groan went back into place.
