Sabit looked from the bloody, broken body of Kehnan into the dark, beautiful eyes of Rayshabu. “This is another trick. You offer me the blood of this shadow monster in return for my name. I see your trickery, witch!” Sabit pulled her spear from Kehnan’s throat, its tip dyed red. She brought the iron point to rest on Rayshabu’s nose. “If you will not end this trickery, I will.”
The younger woman’s eyes grew wide. “No. Please. Do nut sully this place with pain and suffering. This is all I have! He has taken everything else. Do not spoil the Dream.”
Sabit scowled. “What is this ‘Dream’? How do we escape it?”
“Why do you want to escape it?” Raysabu said. “Everything you could ever wish is made real here. You don’t understand the gift you have been given!”
“I know that Heguir is not the sort of man to offer gifts,” replied Sabit. “Everything from him comes with a steep price .”
“He thinks that this place is a chain upon us but he is wrong,” said Rayshabu, swallowing as Sabit withdrew the spear tip from her nose. “This place is paradise. Come, let me show you!”
Sabit looked from side to side. Kehnan’s still-warm corpse lay upon the crimson sand at her feet. Nerit and the other bandits crowded nearby, expectant eyes wide. Although each appeared precisely like the person Sabit remembered—down to the last scar—something about their movement reminded Sabit more of swaying grain in a field than the hungry, young troops she remembered.
“Show me what you must, Rayshabu,” Sabit said. “If it is another trick, you will pay for it in blood.”
— — —
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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/.