The Stone Lions Read Online Free PDF

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translator. Look how he sulks because that Sufi woman is here.
Tahirah is a famous scholar, and Abd al-Rahmid’s a bitter, jealous
man.” Several women murmured in agreement.
    Dananir spoke over them, “Suleiman is the
palace tutor because the sultan needed one he could trust to teach
his children. Anyone can translate a message.”
    Never easily derailed from her subject, Rabab
plunged on again. “And then there was the fuss over Maryam—don’t
you remember, Fatima? The wazir petitioned the sultan for her in
marriage.”
    There was a gasp from Maryam, and Layla
looked at Ara in surprise.
    “You remember, dear?” Rabab added. “You
practically begged the sultan not to betroth you to him. It was
fortunate as you were wed instead to the sultan’s brother. Abn
al-Humam has been a wonderful husband to you, has he not?” There
was a stunned silence before Rabab continued, lowering her voice.
“Besides, I heard the wazir dabbled in the dark mathemagics.”
    Zoriah sent her a sharp glance. “We will not
bring up past hurts, and we will not speak evil of anyone. Not
Tahirah, who is an honored guest of the sultan, and not Abd
al-Rahmid, who is the sultan’s appointed wazir and, as you know, a
trusted advisor. The sultan does not take kindly to the slander of
his people.
    “Unless you have proof of wrongdoing, we will
speak of this no more. As it is said,” Zoriah went on, “‘the Ways
to God are as numerous as the breaths of humankind.’ In the harem,
it matters not what the wazir thinks—this is our place. Allah,
blessed be His name, and our sultan wish women to learn. And we
shall obey their wishes,” Zoriah finished decisively, her position
as the sultan’s head wife clear in her tone.
    Ara and Layla sat stunned until the women
left. “I didn’t know the wazir offered for my mother or that he was
sent home disgraced,” Layla whispered.
    “I didn’t either,” Ara whispered back, once
more thinking of the dead frog. “What I want to know is, what are
the dark mathemagics?”

 
    Chapter 7
    “I’m sure that I took it off here,” Layla
said as she circled the area for the tenth time, her eyes moist
with welling tears. Suleiman stood talking to two servants on the
far side of the large room. He turned his head toward them
frequently, unwilling to be a target for Su’ah’s sharp tongue
again.
    The two girls had retraced Layla’s steps
again and again. She is so careful , fretted
Ara. It’s my fault she forgot her ring. I know how
much she worries. I shouldn’t have told her I was going outside the
palace walls. Ara moved to her pet stone lion and wrapped
her arms around his neck while Layla sat down to think.
    “What if it fell into the channels of water?”
Layla leaned forward onto her elbows scanning a channel. “It would
be lost forever.”
    Ara hesitated for a moment, thinking of the
narrow channels that led away from the fountain. “Well, the water
could push a ring downstream. Maybe the water moved it to a
different room, or perhaps it was swept outside into the
drains.”
    “But where? The Palace of the Lions is huge,
and the channels lead to many places. If it went outside, we would
never find it.” Layla rubbed her eyes, trying hard not to cry.
    “I bet we could follow the water’s flow and
see where the ring might have gone if we put some dye in the
water,” Ara suggested.
    “Oh, no.” Layla sat up. “No good would come
from this. Remember what happened with the soap. You had to scrub
floors for a week before anyone would speak to you.”
    “That was long ago. I was only eight,” Ara
said. “I’m sure it would work. I’d just use the least little bit of
dye. It would be gone before anyone noticed. It’s springtime—no one
is inside much. They’re either in the Palace of the Myrtles or
outside in the gardens telling stories and reading poems. By the
time they come inside, the dye will have floated out of the palace
and we will have found your ring.” Her favorite of