Sabit stalked back down the hall, the rising pulse of fury washing the fatigue from her limbs. The fog in her head from last night’s indulgence gave way to a crimson haze of rage. Bursting into Qaansoole’s open cell, Sabit found the archer strapping a sandal to her foot, having donned a tunic in the interim.
With the speed of a panther, Sabit seized Qaansoole by the throat. “When I kill you, they will have no further need of your hostage,” Sabit snarled. “Your death will free Allamu.”
Quaansoole fought for breath, her eyes round in desperation. “My life … will free … them all.”
Keeping her hold on the archer—but relaxing her crushing grip on Qaansoole’s throat—Sabit said, “How can you free them all?”
The archer gulped down the sweet air. “Allamu said he’d spoken to you. This was part of his plan to free all the champions and their hostages.”
“Freeing the hostages by becoming one of them?” Sabit asked incredulously.
“Yes,” Qaansoole replied. “Everyone knows where the adult hostages are held and made to labor as slaves. But the Magistrate had kept secret the location of the children too young to work. Many of us would never dare rise up because we had no chance of saving our children from the sword. Allamu has learned that the children are being held in an inner courtyard of the Magistrate’s own house. He will ready the adult hostages to rise up at the same time we do.”
Sabit considered the archer’s words. Qaansoole seemed earnest, but in her travels, Sabit had met many a liar bold and skillful enough to put forth such an outlandish tale to hide their guilt. Sabit had had such vivid dreams last night of Allamu’s voice, his smell. Why had he not come to her himself?
“Are you with us?” Qaansoole asked, Sabit’s hand still cupping her throat.
The spear woman turned and walked out of the cell, without a word.
—–
Wayfarings of Sabit: Broken Justice is copyright (c) 2016 by Michael S. Miller. All rights reserved. New chapters post every weekday. You can support this and other stories on Patreon: https://patreon.com/michaelsmiller or http://ipressgames.com/fiction/