The queen had decided to receive him in the informal atmosphere of her outdoor pavilion. Badget found her seated on a dais covered with leopard skins. A taster sipped from a silver goblet and then handed it to the queen.
Bilqis drank slowly from the goblet but kept her eyes on Badget, who had fallen prostrate on the ground before her with his head touching the ground. As she handed the goblet back to the servant, she motioned to Badget. “You may rise,” she said.
Badget scrambled to his feet and took the seat she had prepared for him on the ground before the dais. “I am at your service,” he said in his most contrite manner.
“I see that you are used to appearing before royalty.”
“I’ve had my opportunities,” he said, trying hard to keep from smiling his pleasure.
“Tell me, has this king of yours really sailed ships down the Red Sea?”
“They have made their first trip, your highness.”
“But the storms and winds of the monsoons. Is he not afraid of them?”
Badget’s eyes grew large. Here was an opportunity to brag. “Your highness, this is no problem to one such as Solomon. He controls the rains and keeps the four winds in bags under his throne.”
“Come now. He is certainly a human being and not a god.”
“Aye, he is not a god, but he knows the god’s secrets and that is even better than being a god.”
“Tell me, how does he rule his people?”
“I can’t rightly say. It’s a bit of a mystery. He doesn’t need anyone to taste his food. That I do know.” Badget nodded in the direction of the queen’s taster.
The queen was immediately interested. “How can that be? Is he not afraid of poison? Does he have some medicine that is stronger than the poison?”
“No, it is not that. Though I’m sure he could do that too if he wanted to.”
“Doesn’t he have any enemies?”
“Oh yes. He has enemies, but not the kind your highness has.”
“What do you mean?”
Badget hesitated and then explained. “I was in the palace today and saw the wealthy fellow who had moved the land marker. Solomon wouldn’t have decided it that way.”
Now Bilqis was leaning forward with real interest. “What would this perfect king have done?”
“Why, he would have decided for the boy and his mother. The ones who owned the land.”
“I don’t understand? Why would he have done that?”
“There are laws, rules, even the king has to obey them in my country.”
Bilqis laughed a hearty, ringing laugh. “The king has to obey? I don’t obey anyone.” She ran her hand over the leopard skin and tossed her head defiantly.
“Well, the difference is the law. Some things are right and some wrong and the law tells you which are which.”
Again Bilqis laughed. “How ridiculous. What I say is right. I am the queen.”
“Well, all I can say is that he has no taster. If someone gets angry at a decision he makes, they blame the law not him.”
“What a strange country and what a strange king. He is so powerful he controls the winds in bags under his throne and yet he must obey laws.”
The queen seemed to be deep in thought. Badget shifted uneasily. He was no match for the queen. She spent a few moments with her fingers drumming on the arm of the chair and then stood up. “Badget,” she said, “I believe your name is Badget, don’t return home to your country until I give my permission. I am not through with you yet.”
She left the pavilion trailing the three slaves and five Nubians in her wake. She left the Nubians at the door of her apartments and the slaves followed her to the door of the inner chamber. “Bring Najja to me,” she ordered as she went to the balcony that overlooked the lush gardens of her private grounds.
Just as she had known, Ilumquh was totally gone from the sky. “Where did he go? Why must he always desert them?” She drew her robes tighter around her, a cool breeze had come up quite suddenly. It was the dark of the moon and on just such a breeze as this that the Afreet and Jinn traveled to work their evil magic on human beings.
With a bang she closed the shuttered doors and leaned against them. Only one lamp burned beside her couch. The corners of the room were dark, but through the open door came rays of light and the soft murmuring of her women. Her hands moved to clutch the jeweled scabbard of the short sword hanging from her girdle. It was made of iron, and the Jinn could not touch her as long as she wore it.
She had ordered a double watch at the dam and the priests would offer sacrifices and pray all night. The golden bull would stand in the midst of the temple and frighten away the evil spirits. “Najja,” she called and immediately heard one of the outer doors slam.