The warm caress of sunlight on her shoulder woke Sabit from slumber. The bed she lay upon was soft. No chains encircled her wrists. The A fountain burbled nearby. The scent of springtime jasmine filled the air.
Rising from her couch, Sabit took in her surroundings. She lay in a lush garden of vibrant blooms and ripe fruit. Twin paths of white, flat stones emerged from the greenery to merge in the clearing where she lay on a couch of dark wood padded with crimson satin. Sabit had seen this couch before. But it couldn’t be.
Springing from the couch, Sabit darted down the left-hand path. The stones were cool on her bare feet, exactly as she remembered them.
Turning a corner, a broad visita opened before her. The city-state of Ghabar lay spread across the hillside below.* There was the garrison where Sabit had drilled her troops in the days of her captaincy. There was the bustling marketplace where the freshest beetroots could be had, dark soil still clinging to their purple skin. There was the gate Sabit had left in disgrace, certain she would never return.
Past the gate was a different road than the one Sabit had taken. This road twisted its way to a nearby forest. But no forest grew stood the rolling plains of Ghabar. The long-leafed trees she could make out were of a type that did not grow within five hundred parasangs of the gates of the city.
Beyond the rainforest loomed a tall mountain, the upper ridges wreathed in snow. Sabit recognized the distinctive double-summit of Mount Irrent, but could not reconcile seeing it and the streets of Ghabar at once. Numberless miles of ocean separated the two.
“You must have questions,” said a voice. Beside Sabit, a woman clad in pristine white mounted the stone steps to the balcony. She walked with the grace of one who had never known cruelty. “I am here to guide you. I am Rayshabu. What is your name?”
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*-Sabit’s past in Ghabar is detailed in Wayfarings of Sabit: Blossom of Ruin and Wayfarings of Sabit: Road of Woe.
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Wayfarings of Sabit: Chains 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/.