Regida charged out into the torchlit courtyard. In a shadowed alcove, she caught sight of Kehnan’s long black hair falling across his pale blue tunic, half-shadowed in the early evening gloom. His massive body was slumped in the corner of the alcove–its posture far from natural. Hurrying to his side, Regida called out, “Kehnan! My … Read more
The palace of Bahteel had stood for more than eight hundred years. In that time it had grown from farmhouse to caravansary to fortress to palace of three dynasties. Each new master reshaped the house, adding walls, expanding wings, using the once-grand apartments of their predecessors as chambers for their servants or places to shelter … Read more
“You disgraced me in front of the vizier, foolish woman!” roared Kehnan. Regida shrank back from his towering form until the stone wall of the stairway cut off her escape. “And for a petty silver bauble, too! Are you too blind to see that when the vizier’s plan bears fruit, I will be able to … Read more
Sabit quenched the still-smoldering end of her spear in the hot blood of the guard. Barely two handspans of wooden spear shaft remained intact beneath the iron spear tip that had been Sabit’s only inheritance from her father. Dragging the guard’s body into the room where red curls of smoke still lingered in the corners, … Read more
Lamine stood contentedly outside the prisoner’s cell. He had served the King of Bahteel since he could hold a sword, thirteen years now. His father had been a soldier who died in the last war with Junjai, when Lamine was just a baby. His father’s name had secured him a post as a a soldier’s … Read more
Sabit’s left foot was cold. Amidst the broiling heat of the chamber and the suffocating red smoke that had displaced ever breath of air, Sabit’s left foot felt cool and dry. Her body flushed in the heat and her chest ached from the acrid burn of sobbing smoke for hours, and her throat burned raw–having … Read more
The fine silver necklace lay in the dust, just off the path that led from the dungeons to the vizier’s tower—unworn and unnoticed. I was not the first time in the hundreds of years since its creation that the necklace’s constellation of seven-pointed stars had rested on the unforgiving ground, specks of grime working their … Read more
“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 … Read more
Holding her breath, Sabit strained against the chains that held her tight. The bronze cuffs dug into the flesh of her strong warrior’s hands, but would not yield to her desperate flailing. Sabit could feel the greasy curls of smoke oozing across her skin. The smoke mixed with her own sweat, forming a sticky red … Read more
Sabit’s eyes locked onto the needle-sharp point of her spear as Kehnan brandished it before her face. “Torture my body if it feeds your cruel heart, but my spirit will never submit to you!” Kehnan smiled. “You are right, Mongoose. Your spirit is as strong as it ever has been in all the years I … Read more