THREE BROTHERS ⋅ A NEW GOD ⋅ CITY OF SALT ⋅ LAKE OF DREAMS ⋅ SUSPENDED! ⋅ THE TWO STREETS ⋅ ON THE EDGE OF THE MARSHS ⋅ BLACKSUN ⋅ DEMON ⋅ GAZELLE ⋅ THE HARDRIIM ⋅ RIDER ⋅ THE FLYER ⋅ ARABIAN NIGHTS ⋅ THE EMPTY MIRROR ⋅ THE SOLDIER ⋅ THE BICYCLE ⋅ THE CROCODILE ⋅ THE THREE TRAVELERS ⋅ OCEANSONG ⋅ THE FLUTE ⋅ THE TREE ⋅ THE TOWER

A month ago we managed to encapsulate the pestilence in the yolks of chicken eggs, which were fed to a hundred dogs as night fell. We slit the dogs’ throats and carried them to the base of the hill just outside the city. We strangled the night watchman when we arrived and laid the dog carcasses on their backs at twenty-foot intervals completely encircling the wall. As we fled, the first vulture arrived; within an hour the vultures were joined by jackals and rats, the carcass bellies were ripped open by beaks and claws, and the plague swiftly entered the city on the tongues of the scavengers who drank from the same troughs as all the other inhabitants of the city. By our calculations, the entire population should have succumbed a week ago, and so at that time a flyer scout was sent out. He saw no movement in the city, only a few bodies littering the streets; the limers were dispatched immediately to disperse their fine white powder. Another week, and the city would have been safe for us to enter on foot. We work as quickly as we can; there are others who share our aims. While the lime did its work, one of the scouts spotted a band of twenty men on foot, allegiance unknown, approaching from the west. We buried our least essential supplies in the sand and sent out scouts to the north, east, and south. The scout to the south reported a small group approaching by air; we estimated their arrival would coincide with the men on foot. When they drew near, it was immediately clear that the city held no great interest for them; the men on foot, however, were another matter. We prefer to achieve our ends through others who may momentarily have interests in common with ourselves. We prefer our handiwork to be credited to others. So we waited. No sooner had the men in the air jettisoned what they hoped would incinerate the men on the ground than the wind drifted slightly north, and the dome of the very building we had intended to enter was split open with a blaze of fire. The men in the air did not turn back to finish off the men on foot. By their movements it is clear the men on foot don’t understand that what is precious within the domed building will remain untouched by the fire, and that what it is concealed within will be cooked in such a way as to poison any who enter the building. Now, again, we have only to wait. All these men will die, the wind will eventually dissipate the noxious fumes, and then we can enter the city and take what we came for. The figure now on the parapet is the only one we will have to deal with; but after what he has seen it is likely that his senses will leave him, and he will run headlong into the open desert, shortly to die of the usual consequences. -home-