THE THIEF OF KALIMAR (Graham Diamond's Arabian Nights Adventures) Read Online Free PDF Page A

be able to find the answer. And tonight he was more puzzled than anytime he could remember.
    “What is that?” she asked, the dazzle of the scabbard holding her attention.
    He handed it to her without a word.
    Her eyes lit up like stars and she stood breathless. Never in all her twenty years had she seen anything like it. “It … It’s magnificent,” she whispered. “God above, you must have lifted it from a king.”
    The thief laughed. “I didn’t lift it at all. Vlashi did—and he claims his mark was a beggar.”
    “Don’t joke with me, thief,” she snapped.
    He held out open palms. “I’m not! It’s the truth. I paid Vlashi everything I had to get it. And even then I had to cheat him at jackals and hounds to make the price.”
    While he was speaking Mariana examined the scabbard, her heart thumping louder with every new jewel she recognized. Slumping down next to him, she spoke with amazement, mumbling softly.
    “A ransom … It must be worth a king’s ransom.”
    Ramagar took her hand and scowled. “I know that much myself. But look it over carefully.” He pointed to the strange markings near the hilt. So tiny, so intricately woven into the design that they could easily be overlooked.
    Mariana was quick to comply. Straining her eyes, she held it close to the lamp, searching for the engraver’s mark, the telltale sign of who made it and where.
    “The craftsmanship is superb,” she told him, observing everything, missing not even the slightest nick or scratch, of which there were many. “But it’s old. Very old. Ancient, perhaps. I’ve never seen a prize so fine.”
    “Was it made in the city?”
    The girl pursed her lips and shook her head. “Definitely not. Look.” She ran her finger along the edge. “I can’t understand the inscription. The writing is foreign, like nothing ever done in Kalimar.”
    The thief whistled. Kalimar was a vast land, extending between two great seas. It included many cities, including his own. But if the scimitar was indeed from somewhere foreign, then it must have traveled thousands of miles to reach its destination in the Jandari. And Ramagar could only wonder what strange adventures it must have known during its long journey.
    “I wonder who its original owner could have been.”
    The girl hardly heard. She was too busy studying the peculiar mark close to the hilt. It was a tiny circle, no larger than one of the lesser jewels, and within the circle was an X-like rune with an arrow-like letter running through the middle.
    “How much do you think we can sell it for?” he asked.
    She took a long time in answering, and when she did, she said, “I think we should try to find out more about it before we sell it. It could be rarer than either of us realizes.”
    “Not sell it?” He looked at her incredulously. “But we have to sell it! What use is there in keeping it? Imagine all the things we could do with the money.”
    “You’re impatient, Ramagar. Don’t let it slip out of your hands so easily. Not until we know all there is to know.”
    Her reasoning did make sense, he had to admit, even if he didn’t particularly like the idea of hanging onto it. After all, what he had told Vlashi was in part true; its owners would surely be seeking it back. And the man caught with it…
    He scratched at his beard. “How can we find out more about it?”
    The girl shrugged and sighed. “I suppose we’ll have to take it to Oro after all…”
    “That dog? I wouldn’t trust him with a copper!”
    She ruefully agreed. But the hunchbacked merchant was a cagey old devil. And a foreigner. For twenty years he had dealt in stolen and smuggled merchandise, and in that time learned more about such matters than any man in the Jandari.
    “I don’t trust him either,” she said. “But at least he’ll be able to tell us more than we can find out ourselves. If only we can learn where it comes from, we might get a true idea of its value. Why, if it was taken from a prince,