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creature of evil, but I knew <strong>the</strong>n that <strong>the</strong> head was only a mask. He<br />
removed it.<br />
“It is merely a man in a costume,” I said.<br />
“Yes.”<br />
“Did you already know that?”<br />
“I knew that it was not an efreet,” Dabir said. “Efreet are<br />
notoriously difficult to control, <strong>and</strong> not given to subtlety. An efreet<br />
would not patiently leave messages, or steal monkeys. At best it<br />
would have dismembered half <strong>the</strong> household as a warning.”<br />
Dabir rolled <strong>the</strong> costumed man over <strong>and</strong> we stared down at a<br />
pock-marked face with a shabby black <strong>and</strong> gray beard.<br />
“Who is he?” I asked.<br />
“A lackey, I think. Sometimes I wish you were less lethal, Asim.”<br />
Frequently I wished he was more forthcoming with his thoughts,<br />
but I said nothing.<br />
He seemed to know my feelings, for he said: “right now I am<br />
thinking that our mastermind still awaits this one’s return. I do not<br />
plan to disappoint him.”<br />
The wooden ladder inside <strong>the</strong> pillar was old, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> rungs<br />
creaked as I climbed down. A lantern sat on <strong>the</strong> old stone at its foot,<br />
near a coil of rope <strong>and</strong> some rotted timber.<br />
I picked up <strong>the</strong> lantern <strong>and</strong> shined it into <strong>the</strong> gloom while Dabir<br />
descended, still clutching <strong>the</strong> efreet head. Moisture saturated <strong>the</strong> air.<br />
We stood in a small stone chamber, <strong>and</strong> stone stairs stretched fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
down, out under <strong>the</strong> wall <strong>and</strong> toward <strong>the</strong> Euphrates. From somewhere<br />
in <strong>the</strong> darkness ahead came <strong>the</strong> steady plunk of dripping water.<br />
Dabir put his h<strong>and</strong> on an rusted iron wheel set in <strong>the</strong> wall beside<br />
<strong>the</strong> ladder. “This must turn <strong>the</strong> fountain on <strong>and</strong> off.”<br />
“How did you know,” I whispered, “that <strong>the</strong> efreet would come<br />
from <strong>the</strong> fountain?”<br />
“I saw <strong>the</strong> pattern of <strong>the</strong> door in its side,” Dabir said, as though it<br />
were obvious.<br />
I did not wish to be distracted by ano<strong>the</strong>r of his “looking but not<br />
seeing” discussions, so said nothing.<br />
We descended some twenty broad steps <strong>and</strong> found ourselves in a<br />
square tunnel, supported by sagging, rotting timbers. Moisture beaded<br />
on <strong>the</strong> walls, <strong>and</strong> here <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>re water dripped from <strong>the</strong> ceiling into<br />
pools of water that had formed in <strong>the</strong> pitted stone floor.<br />
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