It bit his head off. Aisha stared up in open mouthed horror. Her father’s blood rained from the sky as did the dragon’s milky eye. Red dragon tears covered her in a coat of thick crimson. It wheeled above, and she thought it might come down and snatch her up as well. There was so much blood. She thought it might die from her father’s glorious wound. But it did not die and it did not swoop down and pick her up, but flew far away screeching in terrible agony, and was seen no more.
Neema let her go. “You have the blood of the dragon in you. That is why you are stronger than any woman. You have a great destiny.”
“I didn’t ask for that. I’d rather have my father back.”
“We all want what we cannot have. An end comes to all things in this life.”
“He didn’t have to die,” lamented Aisha.
“We all die sometime child. You had something stolen from you but were given a great gift in return. Appreciate that. Use it.”
Aisha turned away, holding back the river of tears that threatened to spring forth.
Neema stood and said, “Now you know. But what you do with that will establish your character and your fate.”
“I don’t care about waking a mountain. I have another mission. The damn Kathulians are threatening to invade my nation and cast us into the dark worship of their vulgar goddess. I have them to fight.”
Neema gave a low chuckle. “Why not both?”
Aisha shook her head in disbelief. “You just said we have to choose.”
Neema nodded. “But sometimes the gods help us along when we forget. That’s the fate I speak of. You’ll do the right thing. I know it.” She walked away.
Aisha sat there a long time wondering at this strange revelation. She hadn’t been ready, but would she ever have been? Then the thought came. What if Neema was right about the dragon sleeping, what if she could find the one that had slain her father? She could get her revenge.
She pondered the old woman’s words another moment then got up. As she stood she saw Diamanda sitting up against the corner of the adobe building. She looked surprised at Aisha spotting her. Had she been listening to all of that?
“What are you doing?” Aisha asked.
“Nothing. Just looking for a place to be away from those pigs,” Diamanda said. She got up and strode away.
Aisha didn’t believe her, but there was nothing to do about it now.
5. Friends Close and Enemies Closer
As dusk crept over them like a dark tide, the horses were stabled and half of the Umoja took up positions high upon the cliffs for the night watch. Aisha guessed that despite Catlo proclaiming this the most wonderful of hidden camps there was a very real worry that they might be discovered by the non-renegade Umoja or perhaps even other bandits. Something or someone made them nervous.
Ole made sure Aisha was well fed and then sourly informed her of where she would have to sleep. “Climb down the ladder into this pit house. I am ordered to lift the ladder out til morning so that you cannot escape. I am sorry.”
“Don’t be. I know you’re just a lap dog,” said Aisha, as she looked into the gloom of the pit house.
He grimaced at her words. “You don’t know the full story yet, so I can let that slide for now. But I ask you to trust me and know that there is a good reason for everything.”
Aisha determined there was nowhere she could run now. She would have to endure this humiliation and abide here for the night and get some rest—that is unless she could reasonably escape under cover of night. She begrudgingly went down the ladder. “I already trusted you once and look where it got me,” she said, standing in the dim light of the pit house.
“Aisha,” he pleaded.
“Spare me.” She stalked off to find a bedroll on the dirt floor.
Aisha found a pile of furs and silk blankets and made a grab for them when Diamanda cursed her from underneath them. “These are mine!” she hissed. “Get your own!”
Aisha pulled away, not realizing another person was there. She stepped back and found another pile of blankets and furs. “I didn’t know you were there.”
Diamanda grunted.
Aisha made herself comfortable in the dark and looked up at the squared hole in the ceiling. Stars hung high overhead, the sky looked much the same everywhere she slept except for the city. It reminded her of the countless nights at sea. She almost shed a tear for those days and how they ended, but now was not the time for tears.
She waited some few hours, then decided to find a way to climb out of the pit house. She stood and looked up to the lip of the threshold. It was too high to jump, but she guessed she could fashion something to gain a bit of needed height.
“There is nothing down here to aid you,” said Diamanda.
Aisha was startled at the so-called princess being awake, but she wouldn’t show it. “I’ll wager you aren’t here by choice, either.”
Diamanda shrugged but cast an angry glare in the moonlight to her prison. “Of course not. I have tried everything to escape at night myself. I have piled all the blankets and furs but cannot get enough of a step to climb out while they sleep. So I have been biding my time.”
“How long?”
“They captured me a week ago. It is useless, we cannot get out. We will have to find another way come daybreak.”
Aisha grinned. “There is always a way. You could not escape on your own, but we are two and now we can.”
“How?”
Aisha gestured for Diamanda to climb upon her shoulders. “I can lift you some five feet, you must jump and clasp the edge and climb out then get me a rope, if not the ladder.”
“That might just work.” Diamanda half smiled.
Diamanda struggled to retain her balance upon Aisha’s shoulders, but Aisha was more than strong enough to bear the pampered woman’s weight. After three failures, and with Aisha pushing her ankles to her full reach, Diamanda succeeded in climbing out of the hole.
Aisha cracked her knuckles, bounced on the balls of her feet and then chewed on her lip as she waited for a rope or ladder. She had just about decided that the princess had betrayed her when a silken cord dropped down. Aisha was suddenly aware that it was Diamanda’s own gown torn into long strips. The silk was strong enough to hold Aisha as she climbed hand over hand and out the pit house’s opening.
“I couldn’t find anything else.” Diamanda now wore only her girdle, slight pantaloons, and veiled headdress. Her pale naked curves stood out in the moonlight.
“Thank you,” said Aisha.
“Don’t. I would have left you there save that I need a barbaric woman like you to get me back to my people.”
“Where are they?”
“They must be nearby. They will not give up on finding me. I am sure they will find us if we can but signal them. It is why Catlo has men on watch, my warriors could easily defeat his men even in this advantageous position.”
“How many men do you command?”
Diamanda chuckled maliciously, “At least a thousand cavaliers of the White Peacock order. They live to slay dogs such as these.”
Aisha guessed that was a lie and likely overestimation to strike fear into her captors, but she would certainly have had enough men to destroy Catlo’s band. Perhaps at least fifty to a hundred?
Diamanda continued. “Let us light a fire and my cavaliers will come here when they see the smoke and slay these pigs.”
“Are you a princess of Avaris?” asked Aisha, feigning ignorance so that she might stall and gain more knowledge for use later.
“Ha! No. I am a princess of Irem. My father Sulieman Tarja, is a sultan of Irem. The prophet made him a general in the crusade. I went with the crusade to conquer these lands all the way to the sea, that we might baptize the whole continent in blood for the worship of the one true goddess. My father sent a scouting party to advance into Valchiki territory and take the fortress of Jepra. We were waiting for the rest of the advancing army when a sandstorm took us. We became separated not far from this can
yon and these bandit dogs found me.” Diamanda started gathering tinder to light a fire beneath an ox cart. “After I fire this we can run down the canyon and hide until my cavaliers come. My Captain Xargon will eat Catlo’s entrails! And then the armies of the great sultan will sweep this land clear of all who would stand in the way of the prophet! That will be a great day indeed! Cybele will reign supreme and all knees shall bow and every tongue confess unto the one true goddess.”
This changed everything. As much as she wanted this Xargon to eat Catlo’s entrails, Aisha could not let this woman just go back to her Kathulian scouts. She shouldn’t even let this invading woman live. Aisha despised Catlo but Diamanda’s plan would only jeopardize herself and her mission. She needed to dispose of this problem immediately.
“Ole! Catlo! Come quick!” cried Aisha.
The panic and shouts of men erupted throughout the camp and the jabbering of the Umoja and the flickering torches converged on Aisha and Diamanda.
Diamanda wheeled on Aisha and screeched at her like a hell cat. “How dare you betray me! You! I will have you flayed alive when my men come!” She bore her long-nailed fingers up like an attacking cat. But Aisha easily caught her wrist and twisted it, taking her opponent to the ground.
The bandits gathered about with torches, spears and swords, surprised in the gloom at the two women struggling there. There was fierce appreciation on the women’s state of undress and Galtier said, “Let them fight. I should like to see some sport this night but make them strip down to their undergarments first.”
Hodari said, “They have no undergarments.”
“So much the better,” laughed Galtier.
Aisha ignored them, for in her own mind, this was no fight at all. She spoke as if she had just climbed out of the pit house. “I caught her trying to escape. I didn’t want anything to jeopardize my share of the treasure and adventure to come.”
Catlo kicked the clutched tinder from before Diamanda. “Get her back into the pit house!”
“And her?” asked Galtier pointing at Aisha.
Catlo looked her up and down. “At least now we know she is as interested in getting the treasure as the rest of us. She could have escaped but didn’t. I can appreciate that.”
“I don’t trust her.” Galtier frowned at Aisha.
“Neither do I,” said Catlo with a tired shrug, “but it is still the better alternative to her trying to knife one of us in the dark. Ole will handle it.” He and Galtier walked away in the darkness.
Ole nodded at Aisha. “And just how did she suddenly escape? The opening must be ten feet high.”
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose not, considering you were on watch,” he said.
Aisha bargained. “Perhaps now, you can trust me too? And I won’t have to share a chamber with her down in the earth?”
Ole grinned. “Ha! I don’t know what game you’re playing at. You could have escaped with her, why didn’t you?”
Aisha regretted not just breaking Diamanda’s neck and running off in the dark. But in the heat of the moment she panicked, and now had doomed herself to linger with the bandits. “Like I said, I didn’t want anything coming between me and my share.”
Ole laughed and she knew he didn’t believe her. “You better get back into the hole.”
“Ask Neema, I want this as much as any of you.”
“The old woman? What does she have to do with any of this?”
“Just ask her. Why won’t you let me stay up here?” Aisha pleaded.
“Because if I can’t trust you yet, Catlo sure won’t.”
Aisha said, “You asked me to trust you, but if you can’t trust me, we’ll never get along.”
Ole grunted, beckoning her into the pit house wherein Diamanda still wailed at the two Avarans forcing her down the ladder.
Aisha waited a moment for the two Avarans to rush back up the ladder as Diamanda cursed them. Once they were up, Aisha slid down, anticipating the worst from the fuming princess.
“You wretched cow! How dare you betray me! When my men get here I’ll have you skinned alive!” shrieked Diamanda.
Aisha remained calm. “I had to do it. Couldn’t you see them?”
“See who? What are you talking about?”
Aisha moved in closer and whispered as Ole took away the ladder. “The Umoja tribesmen on watch had already spotted us. If I didn’t act like I was setting the alarm and betraying you, it would have gone worse for both of us.”
“How could it be any worse? We’re still prisoners,” said Diamanda, with a mouth full of scorn.
“They would have killed us if you had lit the fire. The big Northman told me so.”
“I don’t believe you. It was too dark; they couldn’t have seen us.”
Aisha shook her head. “You forget, black-skinned people can see better in the dark than you people of Kathul and Avaris. And much better than the pale-skins of Tolburn and Vjorn.”
Diamanda cocked her head sideways. “I’ve never heard such a thing.”
“It’s true. And the those ebony skinned Umoja’s can see better than I can.” Aisha hoped her bluff would work, but she wasn’t sure how gullible the princess could be.
“You can see better than lighter skinned people in the dark?”
“I can.”
Diamanda held up a hand in the darkness. “How many fingers am I holding up now?”
“Three.” It was a guess, but Aisha gambled that there was a twenty-five percent chance she would be right with any number.
Diamanda made a satisfied sound. “I had no idea you people had superior senses.”
“Yes, we do,” affirmed Aisha.
Diamanda sat and threw up her arms. “What’s next then? You still must wish to escape as much as I do. We can’t stay here and rot. They are preparing for something, but I know not what yet.”
“Nor I,” Aisha lied. “But there will come a new opportunity to escape, so we must work together and trust that I will look out for you and you for me. But for the moment we may as well let them think that we hate each other, then they won’t suspect our collaboration.”
Diamanda agreed. “That is wise. We must come up with a plan soon.”
“Yes, soon,” said Aisha, grateful that her bluff had worked. She still had to use any means at her disposal to escape, and using the princess might yet come in handy.
6. The Quicksand Gets Deeper
Catlo woke the hideout at dawn, cursing and tearing about like a man possessed. He unceremoniously dropped the ladder down into the pit and Diamanda leapt at it, climbing up and out like a rat escaping a sinking ship. Aisha leisurely went up after her, curious at finding out what Catlo’s tantrum was about.
“That woman is bad luck!” shouted Catlo toward Ole and the others. Then he stormed off, disappearing behind one of the adobe buildings.
Aisha wasn’t sure if he meant herself or Diamanda or who. “What’s his problem?” she asked Ole.
“It’s not just his problem its all of our problem.”
“Well? What is it?”
“Down there,” he said, pointing his meaty fist and forefinger at the valley floor.
Bright blue pennants emblazoned with a white peacock waved in the wind. Morning sunlight danced on the glittering points of hundreds of spears. White horses, arrayed for battle, stamped and snorted in place while their imperious riders looked on with long drooping mustaches over their frowning lips. Behind the horsemen were five large war elephants too, each arrayed with iron upon their tusks and spiked mauls on the end of the trunks. These were dangerous beasts.
“Damn Kathulians,” swore Aisha.
“They are not Kathulians, but my own people of Irem,” argued Diamanda. She ran to the top of the rampart and cried out, “Ho, my brothers! Come and slay these dogs of a nameless God!” A pair of the Umoja grasped her about the waist and legs and tore her away from view.
Aisha shook her head in disgust. “Irem, Kathul, it makes no difference. Once they lay cla
im to your soul by being a part of their righteous band, it’s all the same thing. Anyone that serves their prophet is a Kathulian as far as I am concerned.”
“At least I know you are telling the truth about your feelings now,” joked Ole.
“I told you I’m scouting to watch for the zealous bastards. I don’t want their fanaticism in my country and I’d kill every single one of them if I could.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Well, there’s a lot of them.”
“How did they find us?” she asked. “It couldn’t be because of last night could it?”
“Not exactly,” he said, running a hand over his blond hair. “There is only one person missing from the camp.”
Aisha furrowed her brow in question. “One of the Avarans was a traitor then?”
“No,” he said pursing his lips. “The one person you told me would vouch for your trustworthiness.”
“Neema is gone?”
Ole nodded.
“Why”
He snorted. “She said something cryptic to Musa and Nyo last night. Last time anyone saw her. Said she had to start the destiny. They thought she was mad. We all did. We only put up with her because she was the only person who knew where to find Zahur.”
“She sold out her own brother?”
“Yeah, but again, she said that was his destiny too, last time I spoke to her about it,” he said, as he drew his sword. “She was crazy.”
“What are you doing,” she asked.
He ignored her and walked past. The clacking of hooves sounded upon the flint lined ridge as a horse climbed the steep embankment of the canyon trail.
Aisha followed, only a few paces behind Ole as he stood in the gap facing the very fine specimen of a Kathulian knight. The knight wore gilded shining armor, accented with ornate designs entwined throughout. He had a long-feathered crest upon the peak of his spiral helm and carried a huge spear covered in the sacred glyphs of the Kathulian holy book.
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