Yousif harumphed, stared into the distance, finally remarked, Were it not for the situation, I would consider sending him to your Rebsamen. Perhaps that can be accomplished later. After this wicked little devil is put down.

Radetic studied Yousif from the corner of his eye. There was a halo of destiny about the Wahlig at the moment, an aura, a smell, and Yousif sensed it himself. His stance said he knew the future he faced was not the one he had described.

Yousifs expedition against the usurpers of Sebil el Selib, though stronger than Fuads, suffered the fate of his brothers. Once again the loyalists came up that one fresh company short of strength enough to recover the Malachite Throne. In his determination to retain an image as strong and hard, Yousif pressed his attack far longer than was reasonable, well beyond the point when it became obvious that he would fail.

The bitter fighting brutalized both loyalist and rebel. Its outcome generated repercussions which only injured the loyalist stance. As the news swept the desert ever more opportunists gravitated to El Murids standard. Nassef sent out a call. Recruits drifted to him. He began teaching them his own devilish style of warfare.

Yousif adopted more reactionary tactics, screening the trails from Sebil el Selib, using his household warriors to pursue enemy bands moving in and out.

Spies sent disturbing reports about new fortifications.

We can abandon any hope of ever rooting them out, Radetic prophesied one day three years after the loss of the pass. Intelligence had just been received concerning the rapid growth of the fortress-palace guarding the Malachite Throne. The report also claimed that El Murid now had a full-time following of a thousand warriors, half of whom belonged to the fanatic Invincibles.

Nassef and his henchman Karim had begun slipping in and out to advise and occasionally direct the marauders plundering the desert in El Murids name.

Theyre like ghosts, Fuad murmured one day. Yousif, you should have let me kill Nassef when I had the chance. Hes everywhere and nowhere, and I cant get him to fight.

Do I detect a case of the guerrilla warfare blues? Radetic asked. Of course Nassef wont stand still. Hed get whipped if he did. Give him a target he cant resist. Have a surprise waiting.

His spies would warn him two days before we decided to do it, Yousif replied.

I know. The real hope is that you can get him or El Murid with a knife in the kidneys.

Weve tried, Fuad growled.

Keep trying. Were losing a little ground every day. Theyre wearing us down. As long as Aboud looks at it as a scuffle between Yousif and El Murid, and wont see how it spills over into the rest of the kingdom, our best bet is to hang on and pray that they do something fatally stupid before we do.