The Ring of Solomon

upon the Ring …’ The vizier smiled grimly. ‘I do not know the truth of that, but this I do know. From the time he picked up that Ring, fate has favoured him more than any living man.’
    Asmira gave a little maidenly sigh. ‘How I wish to speak with him!’
    ‘No doubt. Unfortunately you are not alone. Other supplicants have arrived in Jerusalem on missions similar to yours. Here! This is the viewing gallery above the Magicians’ Hall. Take a look, if you wish, before we go down.’
    In the side of the corridor, a stone alcove; in the centre of the alcove, an opening. Beyond was a vast space, shimmering with light. From it rose a swell of sound.
    Asmira went to the alcove, set her hands upon cold marble, leaned out a little way.
    Her heart caught in her throat.
    She looked down upon a hall of immense size, lit with floating orbs. The roof was made of dark, rich wood, each beam a tree’s length. The walls, inset with columns inscribed with magic signs, had been coated in plaster and painted with wondrous scenes of dancing animals and spirits. All along the hall were rows of trestle tables, at which sat a vast company of men and women, eating and drinking from plates of gold. Broad platters of every kind of food were piled before them. White-winged djinn, wearing the bodies of youths with golden hair, drifted above the tables, carrying jugs of wine. As hands were raised and orders given, the youths flitted down, pouring glittering red streams of wine into the waiting cups.
    The people at the tables were of even greater variety than Asmira had seen in Eilat. Some were very new to her: strange pale-skinned men with reddish beards and uncouth fur-lined clothes, or dainty women in dresses formed of woven flakes of jade. The whole great multitude sat and ate, and drank, and talked together, while high above, in the centre of the plaster wall, between the cavorting djinn, a painted king watched over all. He was drawn sitting upon a throne. His eyes were dark, his face beautiful and strong; faint beams of light radiated from his person. He stared straight out in calm and solemn majesty, and on his finger he wore a ring.
    ‘All these delegations,’ the vizier said drily at her shoulder, ‘are here to seek aid from Solomon, just as you are. All, like you, have matters of the utmost importance to discuss. So you will see that it is a ticklish business to please everyone. Still, we try to keep everyone fed and watered while they wait their turn. Most are satisfied; some even forget the business that brought them here.’ He chuckled. ‘Come then, you shall join their number. We have a place set ready for you.’
    He turned away. Hot-eyed, dry-mouthed, Asmira followed him.

22
    T he food, at least, was good, and for a time Asmira thought of nothing but roasted meat and grapes and honeyed cakes and dark red wine. The noise of the hall engulfed her; she felt cocooned by it, swaddled in its splendour. At last, with pains in her belly and a warm haze in her brain, she sat back and looked around. The vizier was right. In such a place it would be easy for anyone to get detached from the purpose that had brought them here. She glanced up with narrowed eyes at the great throned figure painted on the wall: perhaps, indeed, this was what Solomon intended.
    ‘New, are you?’ the man beside her said. With his knife he speared a small glazed piece of meat from a selection on his plate. ‘Welcome! Try a jerboa!’ He spoke Arabic, though with a strange inflection.
    ‘Thank you,’ Asmira said. ‘I am already full. Are you here to speak with Solomon?’
    ‘I am. Need a dam built above our village. There’s water enough in the spring, but it all runs past. In the summer there’s drought. One touch of the Ring should sort it. Just need a few afrits, or a marid or two.’ He took a bite and went on chewing. ‘You?’
    ‘Something similar.’
    ‘We need terraces dug in our valley.’ This was the person opposite, a woman with bright, almost fevered eyes. ‘It’s too steep, you see. But his slaves could do it easily. Not hard for him, is it?’
    ‘I see,’ Asmira said. ‘How long have you waited?’
    ‘Five weeks, but my time is almost up! I shall be one of the lucky few next council!’
    ‘That’s what they told me two weeks ago,’ another man said dourly.
    ‘A month for me – no, two!’ the man beside her said, between chews. ‘Still, when there is such bounty to enjoy, who am I to complain?’
    ‘It’s all