Godwin rolled over, opened an eye, and smacked his lips. He always
awoke hungry. He scrabbled in the sand beside him until he found his
bag of dates, popped one into his mouth, and got up. He pushed a bare
toe against the backside of El Sareuk, who erupted with a startled
curse. Yellow-eyes woke at that and screamed, and Ramizail sat up.
"Time to ride, old wolf," said Godwin. He went to the spring and drank
deep. Then he walked past it toward the horses.
The horses were not there. He scowled, went through the palm trees, and
made as if to set foot on the desert sands beyond.
The desert sands were not there.
He fell to his knees. His eyes snapped wide. Two inches before him the
oasis came to an abrupt halt. There was nothing there but vacant space.
The desert was gone. Everything was gone.
"What in the name of--"
He bent over the edge of the oasis. A thousand feet below him the
desert shimmered coldly in the light of the stars. He could see their
horses, the three saddle beasts and the two pack animals, standing in
a knot with the Arabian camel they kept for emergencies. The creatures
looked like insects, so far below him they were. He drew back with a
gasp.
"El Sareuk! Ramizail!" he shouted. "Take care! The oasis has floated
off its moorings!"
They came running to his side. Ramizail gave a little cry. "Godwin,
darling! What's happened to us?"
"Lord knows. We're marooned up here, it seems." He lay down at full
length and peered over the edge again. The oasis had indeed been torn
from its base, and the roots of the palms dangled below the round disc
of it, waving their filaments in the air. "By the rood," said Godwin,
"if this doesn't strain the imagination! Does it happen often, old one?"
"Never to my knowledge before this night," said El Sareuk, running
a hand through his grizzled beard. "Now by Allah! The sorcerers of
Mufaddal have done this thing!"
"The ring, Godwin," snapped Ramizail. She was all business, and no man
would have denied her anything in this sudden gust of her serious
intent, for when she put by her humor and her playfulness, she was a
force to be reckoned with. "We'll have to call up Mihrjan. None of your
vaunted swashbuckling will cope with this ensorcelment."
"Yes, I suppose one must fight witchery with witchery, though it goes
against my knightly grain." He made as if to take the ring from his
finger. "Oh, I forgot. I hid it from you."
"Stupid ox! Give it here."
He groped in his silk and samite robes, then among the crevices of his
gold-washed steel mesh Cairo armor. At last he stared sheepishly at
her. "I forget what I did with it."
"Oh, you bumbling Englishman!" She leaped to him and ran swift questing
fingers over his body. "It's big enough, it ought to make quite a lump.
Ninety-nine names of the true One! It isn't here. Did you hide it in
the sand?"
"No," said Godwin, blushing with shame. "I put it where I'd always have
it near by. But I can't seem to recollect just where."
She put her hands to her head. "You--you--"
"Never mind," said Godwin. "I have an idea. If it doesn't work, you'll
have to pick me up with a spoon, but I think it will."
He squared his broad shoulders and walked straight over the edge of the
high-floating oasis.