“What happened to you?” Allamu asked, rising from the dusty ground at the foot of the city wall. “We were to meet here at sunset. Are you hurt?” Sabit opened her parched mouth to speak. What had happened to her? She had been in the bazaar. She had looked for provisions. She had met Kehnan. … Read more
In the deepest reaches of the night, Sabit dreamt. • • A battlefield—littered with bodies, flowing with blood. The acrid tang of smoke. A vicious war-cry. Numberless ranks of foes. The taste of copper at Sabit’s lip. A brutal charge. Everywhere, the dance of battle. Sabit’s spear—long and sharp and cruel. The iron tip piercing … Read more
The man in the cloak lunged at Sabit, his bronze blade whistling toward her throat. Sabit dropped to a crouch, the strike that sought to take her head sailing uselessly above. She punched the man in the side with a fury that sent him lurching to the ground, vomit spewing from his mouth. Kehnan dodged … Read more
“I have been dead these six years and never knew it,” Kehnan professed as he and Sabit wound their way through the tight alleyways of Bahteel. “I swear I have not felt my heart beat with the thrill of true life since we parted, Mongoose. But to see you make those blades dance again, it … Read more
The crowd roared as the thrown dagger sunk deep between the eyes of the dead boar’s head propped up on a table at the far end of the bar room. Kehnan raised his arms, beckoning the crowd to greater acclaim. The cheers rose to chanting as he lifted his mug to his lips and swallowed … Read more
Sabit looked askance at the muscular man before her. Unclenching his fists, he slipped the hood off of his head. A mane of thick, black hair covered his head, with a single streak of grey shooting back from the left temple. At the base of the streak, an ugly scar continued down his tan forehead, … Read more
Sabit stumbled from the cool shelter of the tent into the sun’s harsh glare. The noise and the stench, even the weight of the crowd, were mere annoyances next to the weight of the older woman’s words. As a warrior, Sabit was well accustomed to her actions condemning her foes to a quick and bloody … Read more
Sabit pushed aside the diaphanous drape of silk that covered the entrance to the older woman’s stall. Swirls in the fabric, dyed blue and green, tinted the sunlight a vividly aquatic hue. The cool, refreshing air within the little tent, rich with the scent of coconut, added to the sense of an oasis in the … Read more
“You will suffer for what you’ve done, witch!” bellowed the man in threadbare robes. He faced a small woman of matronly years, wearing a dress the color of blood. She kept her chin high, her piercing gaze unafraid of his threats, even as another man—bearing a family resemblance to the first—loomed behind her, blocking her … Read more
Sabit hated crowds. The press of unwashed bodies, the stench of human sweat, the unrelenting din of mindless chatter assaulted the spear woman’s senses on every front. Pushing her way through the grand bazaar of Bahteel, Sabit struggled to keep her revulsion under control, like a murderous beast on a short tether. If she caught … Read more