After a few minutes’ walk they came to the cave entrance. This was merely a ragged hole at the base of the left-hand wall, only a couple of cubits high and three times that in breadth. It would be wide enough for two people to enter side by side, but they’d have to crawl on hands and knees into the darkness beyond the opening.
“I must wait for you here,” Cari told her companions. “If I go with you any further, it could set off the spells the Jinn has placed around his cave.”
Prince Ahmad stood silently for a moment, contemplating the cave opening and the perils that lay in the darkness beyond. Then, steeling his resolve, he thanked the Jann for leading him this far, walked to the edge of the cave mouth, and got down on hands and knees. Beside him, Selima was doing the same.
Cari stood i
