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She looked at him and wondered at the source of his fortitude. 'Why?'
'Because,' he told her, 'they are trusting in us.'
He moved away; as she made to follow, Halhuli called to her from across the camp. He was standing
before Prince Hasan's tent wearing an expression she had not seen before. She hurried to him. 'What is
wrong, Halhuli?'
'The prince is not well,' he replied. 'When he did not rise this morning, I went in to wake him. I roused
him with the greatest difficulty, and gave him a drink. I thought he would get up, but I went in just now to
find he has fallen asleep again.'
Cait frowned. 'That is worrying.' She stooped to the entrance of the low, round tent. 'Fetch Lord
Rognvald.'
The overseer hurried away, and Cait pulled back the tent flap, tied it, and stepped in. The prince was
lying on his back with his head on a cushion, one arm across his chest, the other outflung. He was
dressed in a loose robe, and his turban lay to one side, a small heap of winding cloth. His mouth was
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open, his breathing rapid and shallow.
She knelt beside him and touched her hand to his forehead - the skin was hot with fever. She took him
by the shoulder and shook him gently. There was no response. She shook him again, harder this time,
and called his name. The prince slept on.
She was shaking him a third time, and calling his name, when Rognvald arrived. He ducked in, regarded
the sleeping prince, and said, 'Here, let us carry him outside where we can look at him properly.'
'A moment, my lord,' suggested Halhuli. He gestured to the two servants standing with him. Taking the
lower edge of the tent, they unfastened the stays from the pegs and peeled back the heavy fabric, rolling
it up and over the hoops. When they had finished, he ordered them to make up the fire so the prince
would not grow cold.
'Open his robe,' said Cait.
Rognvald knelt beside Cait and parted the prince's robe to reveal a small red puncture in the fleshy part
of the upper chest. The skin was raised and discoloured around the cut. 'He was struck by an arrow,' she
said. 'I saw him brush it off.'
Rognvald pressed his fingers lightly to the wound and examined it closely. 'There was little issue of
blood,' he said, sitting back on his heels. 'I have seen men endure much more and fight all the harder the
next day.'
'Do you think the arrow was poisoned?' said Yngvar. He and the other knights had gathered around the
stricken prince.
'Do they do such things?' wondered Cait.
'We have seen it at Bosra,' Svein assured her. 'In Horns they did this also.'
'The dogs,' spat Dag.
'Alas,' confirmed Halhuli, 'it has been known.' He placed a hand on the prince's chest. 'The skin is hot
and inflamed. I think we must suspect poison.'
'The wound is not so deep,' Rognvald pointed out. 'Perhaps the poison is not of sufficient strength to kill.
Could we get him back to the palace, do you think?'
Halhuli, worried, his face ashen, gazed at his lord. 'It is as Allah wills. If he is to die, then it will be. If he
is to recover, then that, also, will be. Allah, the Merciful, bends all purposes to his own.'
'What do you want to do, Halhuli?' asked Cait. 'Do you want us to take him home?'
He nodded. 'I should like to try.'
'We can make a litter for him,' volunteered Yngvar.
'And drag the poor man over mountain and valley?' said Svein, outraged at the idea.
'It might be carried between two horses,' suggested Dag, 'but a sling would be better.'
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'Aye,' said Svein, 'a sling would be better.' He turned up his nose at Yngvar. 'A litter! Teh!'
'Cut two stout branches,' Rognvald ordered, 'and lash them to the cantles of the saddles. We will fashion
a sling.'
The knights attended to this, and the others set about striking camp. In the midst of their activity, Prince
Hasan awoke. Cait turned her back on him for a moment, and when she turned around he was sitting up,
taking in the bustle around him with a slightly bewildered expression. 'Are we attacked?' he asked.
'No,' replied Cait. 'You have been asleep. We could not wake you, so we are preparing to return to
Al-Jelal.'
'There is no need,' replied Hasan. 'I am perfectly able to ride. We must not abandon the search on my
account.'
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