The Ring of Solomon

have Bartimaeus too. He lives.’
    Asmira moved her head a little, saw the handsome youth hanging limp beside her, suspended like a clutch of rags in a great grey fist. Yellow steam rose from many wounds upon his body. The sight gave her a sudden pang.
    ‘Not dead? All the better.’ Khaba shuffled towards them, holding his right hand close against his chest. ‘We have our first occupant for the new essence-cages, Ammet. But first – this girl …’
    He came to a halt in front of Asmira and stood regarding her. His face was racked with pain; his teeth champed silently against his upper lip. Still he did not put the Ring on.
    ‘How did you do it?’ he demanded. ‘What level magician are you?’
    Asmira shrugged. She shook her head.
    ‘Do you want Ammet to tear you in two?’ Khaba said. ‘He itches to do so. Speak!’
    ‘It was easy enough.’
    ‘What of Solomon’s defences?’
    ‘I avoided them.’
    ‘The Ring: how did you get it off his finger? While he slept?’
    ‘No. He was awake.’
    ‘Then how in the name of Ra—?’ Khaba broke off, staring at his rigid, clutching hand. A wave of pain passed over him; he seemed to lose his train of thought. ‘Well, you shall tell me the details later at my leisure, whether you wish to or not. But one thing now: how did Solomon die?’
    Asmira thought of the frail king sitting in his chair. She wondered what he would be doing now. Summoning his guards, perhaps, or fleeing the tower. She found she hoped he’d had time to do so. ‘Bartimaeus strangled him,’ she said.
    ‘Ah. Good, good. It’s no more than he deserved. Now, Cyrine – but of course, that’s not really your name, is it? I wonder what …’ Khaba gave her a twisted grin. ‘Well, we’ll find out, won’t we, in time. Whoever you are,’ he went on, ‘I’m greatly obliged to you. I have been eager to carry out such an act myself for years. So have the rest of the Seventeen – we have spoken about it often. Ah, but we were fearful! We dared not act! The terror of the Ring was upon us. Yet you, in the company of this … this very ordinary djinni, have managed it!’ Khaba shook his head in wonder. ‘It is truly quite remarkable. I assume it was you who caused the kerfuffle around the treasury?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘That was a good tactic. Most of my colleagues are still engaged down there. If it was left to them, you’d have got away.’
    ‘How did you find us?’ Asmira said. ‘How did that green demon—?’
    ‘Gezeri, Ammet and I have been looking for you half the night, ever since you robbed me. Gezeri has the sharpest eyes. He saw a glimmer high up on the balcony. He came to investigate. I kept watch on him with this.’ The magician held up a polished stone that hung about his neck. ‘Imagine my surprise when we discovered it was you .’
    At that moment there was a moan behind them. A small, bedraggled cloud rose fitfully from the gulf, proceeding in sorry jerks and starts. On the cloud sprawled the small green foliot, in a state of great discomposure, with a bump the size of a stork’s egg on its head. ‘Ohhh, me essence,’ it groaned. ‘That Bartimaeus! Got me with a Petrifaction before chucking me off the edge!’
    Khaba scowled. ‘Be still, Gezeri! I have an important task to do.’
    ‘I’m numb all over. Go on, give my tail a tweak. I won’t feel it.’
    ‘You won’t have a tail much longer if you don’t stay quiet and keep watch.’
    ‘ Aren’t we tetchy?’ the foliot said. ‘But you’d better be careful too, chum. The explosions up here haven’t gone unnoticed, nor that horrid aura spilling from your hand. Better look sharp. There’s company coming.’
    It pointed: far off to the south, many points of light were fast approaching, and with them slim silhouettes, dark, rectangular, like silent doorways to the stars. Khaba grimaced. ‘My friends and colleagues, come to check on Solomon. Little do they guess who holds the Ring now!’
    ‘All very fine,’ Asmira said suddenly, ‘but I notice you’ve not yet put it on.’
    She cried out; the demon had squeezed her waist vindictively. Khaba said: ‘It is slightly … harder to endure than I would have expected. Who would have thought that Solomon had such strength of will? But do not think to criticize me, girl. I am a man of power. You are nothing, a nameless thief.’
    Asmira gritted her teeth; rage filled her. ‘ Wrong ,’ she said. ‘My name is Asmira, and my mother was First Guard of the Queen of