The Sons of Isaac(129)

“Then it’s simple. Pick a weak man.”

Bilqis sat up and hugged the crown more tightly. “I’ve heard that even the weakest sort of man becomes a strutting cock when he’s had his way,” she said. “Anyway, I’m not one to be taken by a weak man. I must give myself, and I can only give myself to one who’s strong.”

“Then it’s impossible.” Najja drew the fine linen sheet over her and backed away.

Bilqis lay in the darkness watching the evening breeze move the curtain that encircled her bed. She could hear the steady breathing of her maidens scattered on pallets in the adjoining room and the soft night noises coming from the garden that lay just outside her latticed window.

She knew this would not be the end. Her uncle was only appeased, not convinced. The priests had backed her but only by agreeing that she didn’t have to marry her cousin right away. However, they still insisted she must marry. To escape their plots and plans would take every bit of cunning she possessed. She lay awake going over each aspect of the situation several times and finally turned over and fell into a troubled sleep.

This was not the only problem Bilqis was to face. The next morning as she sat in the council chamber with her wise men, she heard news that deeply disturbed her. “My queen,” the young councilman said, bowing to the ground.

“Speak, we’ll hear what you have to say,” Bilqis said, touching his shoulder with her mace.

“Some moons ago a trader, a Jew from Jericho called Badget, or more often Hopoe, appeared before your highness.”

“Yes, I remember the fellow well. He hadn’t paid tribute and he tried to distract us by telling some strange story about his king building a fleet of ships on the Red Sea. I remember we laughed at the idea.”

“It is no laughing matter, my queen. I sent a group of men down to the coast to spy out the situation, and I have stationed men at the city gate watching for this Jew when he comes this way again. We need to question him further.”

“You have done all this without my orders?”

“My queen, you must pardon me. No one took this man seriously. I was afraid …”

“Yes, yes, we did laugh. What did you find?”

“I found it was true. This upstart king. This one who rules from the barren heights west of the King’s Highway has indeed built a fleet of ships. He has completely bypassed us.”

There was a deadly silence, then an uproar broke out. Each one of her counselors had an opinion or a question and they all spoke at once.

“An impossible plan.”

“It can’t be true.”

“They aren’t seamen!”

“There’s the monsoon. They can’t have counted on that.”

Bilqis had her chief councilman order their silence. “I can’t imagine,” she said, “that a king who knows nothing of the sea can manage such a thing unless he knows magic and has the Jinn working for him.”

“That’s the most frightening thing about all this,” Tamrin, the queen’s trader said. “This king has somehow tricked Hiram of Phoenicia into building the ships and has gotten the magicians to tell him where the treasures are. Monsoons are nothing to him. He simply orders the Jinn and they do his bidding through their magic.”

Again questions and answers flew back and forth until the chief councilman signaled for silence; the queen had a question.

“How do we know the Jinn work their magic for this king?” she asked in a skeptical tone.

“There are more and more strange reports,” Tamrin said. “For instance, when his father died, the palace was only a warren of old buildings and their temple was covered with badgerskins. Now, in this short time, without the sound of a hammer or tool of any kind, the king has erected the most beautiful temple in the world. It floats among the clouds and the gold of its walls blinds the eyes.”

“And the palace?” Bilqis prodded.

“The palace rises like the temples of Egypt. Incense floats on the air so that one who enters the city gates finds he is greeted with the aroma of jasmine even in winter.”

“And his wives? Does this king have wives?”

“His palace is bulging with wives and children.”

“So the Jinn work their magic for this king and his wives?”

“His wives work a different magic. His queen is from Rabbath Amman. She brought him assured control of the King’s Highway going from the Red Sea up the Jordan Valley to Damascus. His other queen is the sister of Pharaoh Shishak. She brought him the coastal city of Gezer and with it the trade route that goes from Egypt to Damascus. The rest of his seven hundred wives have other talents.”