The Song That Moves the Sun by Anna Bright

Author:Anna Bright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

1287

THE VISITOR HAD come to issue an invitation.

The man was perhaps in his early twenties, light-brown-skinned and brown-eyed, dressed in loose black trousers, a black tunic embroidered with jet beads, and a black turban. Those who had come from Suvd Uls at once recognized the court on Jupiter as the provenance of his language and clothing.

When he spoke, Beatrice, who had studied some Arabic along with her Greek and Latin, did not look to Marco for translation.

This time, it was she who understood.

“Sabah al-khair,” the man greeted them. Good morning, it meant, though Beatrice was not at all sure it was morning.

“Sabah al-nur.” A morning of light, she replied, as was proper, with a wry glance at the endless blaze around them.

The man smiled. “My name is Syed. I have come from the court of my king, two spheres hence, where I serve as minister.” Beatrice introduced herself and a few members of their party, and he nodded courteously.

“My king has watched your progress and is most impressed by the strength you have displayed here. He is pleased to issue you all an invitation to al-Mushtari, to consult with us, if you will. If nothing else,” he added with another smile, “perhaps you would like to rest somewhere comfortable. You have traveled far.”

Beatrice returned his warm expression. At her side, though, Dante felt a frisson of fear at the prospect of being watched.

She thanked him very much for his king’s invitation and for his trouble in coming, and Syed did not wait for them to discuss their answer. “Ma’a as-salama,” he said, and was gone.

They left Helios later that day, making for the settlement the Khaan’s explorers had established in a deep canyon on Mars. The planet they called Ulaan Garig—red planet—and so Beatrice and the others began to refer to the camp.

Human travelers and their horses alike seemed to breathe easier in Mars’s sphere, relieved at last to be again surrounded by a balance of light and shadow. Relentless illumination was exhilarating, but the thrill had left them raw and weary—Beatrice most of all, as she alone had sustained the charms that had protected them.

But though they slept for the first time in three days on Mars, their rest on the planet did not make them dreamy as Luna or Venus had. Their thoughts were steady, tactical, only slightly defensive or combative.

Among themselves, they debated the invitation issued by the king from al-Mushtari. “I don’t like the idea of being watched,” Dante said when Beatrice raised the subject, voicing his earlier fear.

“Well, of course he’s been watching us,” one of the travelers from Suvd Uls said evenly. “He’d be a fool not to.”

“And watching us doesn’t indicate ill intent. Only caution,” Polo added. A few others nodded. They all thought in silence for a moment.

“I should like to learn what they know, especially about what lies beyond,” Beatrice finally said. She was thinking, always, of the pale blue planet that lay beyond Saturn. “I do not mistrust Syed or

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