“Sabit is at your mercy as I promised,” Regida said. She and Kehnan waited in an antechamber of the vizier of Bahteel. Even the heavy perfumes in the air could not banish the acrid tang of smoke from her cloak. “When will you take me to the healing temple you promised me, Kehnan?”
The warrior took a step closer to her, his intense gaze pinning her in place. Regida could feel the warmth of his skin through her linen dress. For a moment, they stood motionless, his lips barely a handspan from hers as she looked up into his face. Regida could barely breathe.
Finally, he spoke. “You mean Lord Kehnan.”
With a laugh he turned away, striding through a beaded curtain into the vizier’s chamber. After a moment to smother whatever feelings Kehnan had evoked within her, Regida followed him. The vizier’s chamber stood atop the second-tallest spire in all of Bahteel. Great silk curtains festooned with bangles of gold and silver wafted in the breeze coming from the two open arches on either side of the room. Each arch opened onto a balcony of carved marble that circled the entire tower. Lovro, the king’s vizier, lounged on the balcony, sipping a small cup of liquor-drenched snow. His rich, silk robes of office shone as red as blood in the midday sun.
Kehnan dropped to one knee before the vizier and Regida followed suit. Still wet from the morning rain, the balcony’s slick surface swiftly saturated Regida’s skirt. Lovro left them on their knees while he slurped down the last mouthful of cool, mountain snow on this stifling day. “Consuming the heart of winter under the summer sun is a boon to the blood. Heartily recommended for good health.” Handing the porcelain cup to a servant, Lovro rose. Gesturing for the others to do likewise, he said, “What good news do you have for me today, Lord Kehnan? Is my bride prepared to give herself to me?”
“Very soon, your excellency,” Kehnan replied. “Even now the spells of your sorcerers and the assault of her memories corrode the strength of her spirit. By dawn tomorrow, Sabit should be nothing more than a vessel for your desires.”
“Good, because I have many desires,” replied Lovro, turning to face the stunning vista of the city of Bahteel laid out before him. “When Sabit is my queen, I will remake this city in my image. The filth will be burned away and a new Bahteel will rise from the ashes.”
Regida gingerly stepped forward, careful to keep her eyes cast downward. “Begging your excellency’s pardon, but why would you want Sabit as your bride? She is a great warrior, but I cannot imagine her as a pleasing wife.”
Lovro spun to face the young woman. Excitement grew in Kehnan’s eyes, as if he expected the vizier to hurl Regida off the balcony for her impertinence.
Instead, Lovro spoke like a man offering the finest gift a mortal soul might receive: the sound of his own voice. “You have betrayed your lady to a far grander fate than you know. It is a far grander fate than she deserves, in fact. But such are the vagaries of the gods.
“I was meant for grander things than to advise an inbred dolt who calls himself King of Bahteel. It is foretold that we live in a time of great change. That the current dynasty is nearly at an end, and a new order will arise in its place. The scrap of ancient prophecy I have uncovered speaks of the woman of the seven-pointed star who will be the mother of a new house of rulers, built on the ruins of the current king’s grave.
“At first I had thought that the woman of the seven-pointed star was Meriama.* She and her Sisterhood of the Lioness speak of sevenfold virtues and such tripe. When I am king, my sorcerers will devour them all from the inside.
“But when Kehnan told me about Sabit, I realized that she is the true woman of prophecy. Who else could have brought down the Prioress of Ghabar?** Who else could have overthrown the Magistrate of Vert?*** I sent slave catchers after her, to no avail.**** Kehnan tried to drain her will through magic, but lost his way.***** He sent her after Meriama in a foolish bid to prove her worth to me, but Sabit escaped.
“Now, there will be no way out for Sabit. There will be no future for her but as my bride and mother to my children. It has been foretold! She even bears the mark of the seven-pointed star! Kehnan, show me Sabit’s necklace that you spoke of.”
Grinning proudly, Kehnan lifted his wrist where he had wrapped the thin silver chain after pulling it from Sabit’s throat. The sunlight fell hot upon Kehnan’s naked forearm.
The necklace was gone.
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*Sabit’s meeting with Meriama and her followers is told in Wayfarings of Sabit: Sisterhood of the Lioness (http://ipressgames.com/tag/sisterhood-of-the-lioness)
**Sabit’s past with the Prioress of Ghabar is told in Wayfarings of Sabit: Blossom of Ruin (http://ipressgames.com/tag/blossom-of-ruin/) and Wayfarings of Sabit: Road of Woe (http://ipressgames.com/tag/road-of-woe)
***Sabit’s overthrow of the Magistrate of Vert is told in Wayfarings of Sabit: Broken Justice (http://ipressgames.com/tag/broken-justice)
****Sabit’s pursuit by slave-catchers is told in Wayfarings of Sabit: Pursuit (http://ipressgames.com/tag/pursuit/)
*****Kehnan’s attempts at draining Sabit’s will are told in Wayfarings of Sabit: Bazaar of Death (http://ipressgames.com/tag/bazaar-of-death)
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Wayfarings of Sabit: Agony is copyright (c) 2018 by Michael S. Miller. All rights reserved. New chapters post every Thursday (and the occasional Monday). You can support this and other stories on Patreon: https://patreon.com/michaelsmiller Find more sword and sorcery fiction at http://ipressgames.com/fiction/.