I’m alive. That was something.
A gentle hand landed on my back, rubbing slowly up and down, and tears pricked at my eyes. I was alive, and I wasn’t alone. I forced my eyes open.
They stung, rubbed raw by sand and salt, but when I looked blearily to my side, I could make out the familiar tattoos tracing their way over Aliyah’s head. Behind her there was a beach thick with black sand, and then nothing but water. There was no sign of the storm that had hit the ship, or the ship itself.
“Just sit still for a moment. Don’t try to speak,” Aliyah said in a croaking voice.
“Where’s–”
“I said don’t.”
I swallowed. Perhaps she was right. Even that one word seemed to have set my throat on fire.
Aliyah gestured behind me, and I turned. Kassim and Namir were sitting on a rocky outcrop at the top of the sands, facing a barren backdrop of pale, distant mountains inland. My heart swelled with relief at the sight of the sultan. He’s okay.
Kassim gestured wildly around them before flinging his hands up in the air and dropping them to his lap.
Panic ripped through me, and I glanced down at my own hands. Thank the spirits. The ring was still on my finger. I clenched my fists tightly, dizziness sweeping over me.
Struggling to my feet, I swayed on the spot.
“Sorcerer’s beard, can you not do what you’re told even for a moment?” Aliyah staggered to her feet beside me, wrapping one arm around my waist in support. “If you’d just listened to me in the first place, we’d be safe in the hold of the ship right now.”
I flinched, all too aware that it was my fault we were all stranded on the beach. At least we’re alive. I took a wobbling step toward the sultan, my foot sinking deep into the dark sand. What makes it black?
Sighing heavily, Aliyah walked with me, matching my steps so I didn’t falter as I struck out toward Kassim. He noticed us when we were about halfway to him, and he shot to his feet, striding toward us. The knot in my stomach grew tighter.
“Zadie.” Kassim grabbed my arms, his amber eyes burning. His throat bobbed, his brows knitting together. “What were you thinking?”
“Princess.” Namir appeared unsteadily behind the sultan. His curly hair was a wild tangle and purple shadows haunted the edges of his eyes. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry…this is all my fault.” Spirits, it still hurts to talk.
The sultan’s head snapped up, his grip tightening on my arms.
I swallowed, wishing it didn’t feel as though embers danced in my throat. “I should have just…”
He blinked, a surprised smile flickering across his face at my apology. “Listened to me for once?”
Tears pricked in the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t quash the shame churning in my belly.
I straightened up, looking slowly along the stretch of beach, and then inland. There was a small rise where the beach ended, the sand giving way to pale grasses and grey rock, the coastline curving sharply around either side of us.
“We’re here,” Namir said, following my gaze. “On Hidu. Even if it’s not exactly where we hoped to come ashore…”
I swallowed, and even that sensation was enough to send daggers down my throat again. Hidu. I supposed it wasn’t that surprising we’d washed up here. We’d been heading for the islands when we’d run into the storm.
But it was a miracle we’d washed up anywhere at all. I twisted my head, looking between Kassim, Namir, and Aliyah, grateful to have them with me still.
And it suddenly dawned on me who was missing.
“The vizier,” I said, panic rising in my chest again. “Is she–”
“She stayed on board the ship,” Aliyah drawled loudly. “Not that I’m surprised. I’ve met more honorable pickpockets than that date palm in a robe.”
“Aliyah,” Namir warned, his voice low. “That’s the Royal Vizier you’re talking about. Show some respect.”
“That’s rich.” Aliyah raised her eyebrows. “You don’t like her, either. I can tell from your body language. You’re even more uptight than usual when she’s around.”
“Namir…,” Kassim cautioned, “control your thief.”
“I’m not his thief,” Aliyah spat. “I’m not his anything.”
Namir pressed his lips together. “Is a gag necessary? Or are you done?”
“I’d like to see you try, spymaster.” Aliyah gave him a feral smile. She snapped her teeth together with a loud clack.
Namir glared at the thief, and she tilted her tattooed head to match his stare.
Privately, I wasn’t much happier than Aliyah about the vizier. I was sure she was behind the rope that had fastened itself around my ankle on board the ship before I’d tumbled into those cold, black waves… I repressed a shudder.
“So…” I broke the tension. “What now?” I glanced left and then right, at the identical stretches of coastline stretching away from us. “Do we have any idea where we are?”
Namir turned from the thief queen, his fists unclenching at his side as he shifted away from her. “We head that way. South.” He pointed to our right. “If we follow the coastline around, eventually we should come to a port. We can try and get word of Hepzibah and The Scarlet Dancer there if they made it, or else see if we can arrange transport to where we were supposed to meet our guide.” He paused, looking out at the landscape ahead of us.
I followed his gaze to the hazy purple mountains in the distance. I’d read that the craggy islands forming Hidu were built on volcanoes, lava-filled mountains that steamed and threatened fiery eruptions.
The spymaster continued in a resigned voice, “This part of Hidu is remote and desolate. A local would know the quickest route, but without knowing exactly how far off course we are, our best bet is just to keep to the coastline…”
I winced, guilt still echoing through my mind. This is my fault.
Beside me, the sultan pulled away before peering intently at me. Relief and outrage still battled behind his eyes. “Can you walk?”
I nodded, in spite of not being very sure that I could.
“Good. Then let’s go.”
A cool wind blew in from the sea, tugging at a loose strand of my hair. The movement of the dark waves made me feel like I was still bobbing up and down with the motion of the ship.
Aliyah and I trailed behind the others, the thief queen allowing me to lean heavily on her arm as we moved over the rocks. We’d been clambering over them for hours, and my battered body was exhausted, but it was easier than sinking into the black sand with each step.
I pretended not to notice that Kassim kept shooting me furious, anxious glances over his shoulder. Although I knew he was relieved to find that I was okay, I had a feeling he still had more to say about my plan with the harpoon.
“I wish he’d stop looking at me like that,” I grumbled. “It’s not as if it’s helping.”
Aliyah stopped abruptly, dragging me to a halt.
When I turned, the thief queen gave me a look that turned my insides to seawater. “You’re surprised he’s furious with you?” she hissed.
I swallowed, my heartrate climbing. “I thought… I thought I could help.”
“I’m sure.” Aliyah’s voice was icy. “And then what?”
“And then…I realized I couldn’t.”
Aliyah wrinkled her nose in disgust. “And you think that’s enough of an explanation? Because do you want to know what it looked like from our end?” Her almond eyes almost disappeared beneath dark brows lowered in fury. “You refused to come below deck, where it was safe. You insisted on going for a harpoon you couldn’t even use.”
“I didn’t think–”
“Then the next thing we know, you’d vanished overboard. One minute you were there with the rest of us, then suddenly you’re gone. The sultan jumped in after you, and that sand-for-brains spymaster went in after him. So don’t you think you owe all of us just a little bit more of an explanation than you tried to help but
couldn’t, Z?”
My throat constricted. I noticed Aliyah hadn’t mentioned that she had jumped overboard, too, in an effort to save me. “It wasn’t entirely my fault.”
Aliyah let out a low hiss, her grip tightening on my arm.
“Ouch. Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it was like…like the rope just knotted itself around my ankle. I mean, it wasn’t just tangled…” I quailed beneath the force of Aliyah’s glare. “It was the anchor that dragged me overboard. And I think it was the vizier who did it… I think she might be a sorceress.”
Aliyah was quiet for a moment. Then she lifted a finger, pointing it at me. “This goes no further than the two of us, understand?”
I nodded.
“The work we do for our benefactors is supposed to be confidential.”
My brow wrinkled. So the vizier really is one of Aliyah’s benefactors. At least the thief queen seemed to have forgiven me again.
Aliyah let out a heavy sigh, dragging me back into a slow walk again. “This goes against all of our principles…but I have to warn you, Zadie. You shouldn’t trust the vizier.”
“So you were working for her.”
Aliyah nodded slowly. “The sultan doesn’t know, as far as I’m aware. Look, Zadie, I work with Kisrabah’s underworld on a daily basis. I keep secrets for a lot of dangerous people, and the vizier is the worst of them all.”
I chewed on my lip. “Aliyah, can I ask you about a few specific jobs you might have done for her?”
“What do you want to know, exactly?”
I took a deep breath. “The book I helped you steal from the Order of Scholars… That was for her, wasn’t it?”
Aliyah nodded slowly.
I considered. “And when I first moved to Kisrabah, I know you broke into the palace treasury…”
Aliyah shot me a sharp look. “She was desperate for a ring you brought with you in your dowry from Khiridesh. She’d already hired a pack of common bandits to intercept you on the road, and when that didn’t work, she paid us to steal it from the palace treasury.”
“About that ring…” Moving very slowly and deliberately, I lifted my hand and twisted the ring on my finger.
The thief queen’s eyes widened, then narrowed in thought. “So that’s where you got your djinni.”
“Anyway. Listen, last week in the palace–”
“Princess!” Kassim’s deep voice carried back to us like the waves washing over the black sand.
I snapped my head up, squinting to try and make out what he wanted. He’d raised his arm, beckoning us over.
“We better see what he wants.” My gaze slid back to the thief queen. “And Aliyah… Kassim doesn’t know about the djinni…”
She nodded.
We hurried forward, picking our way over the rough rock until we caught up with the sultan and the spymaster.
“What is it?” I paused to catch my breath. “Have you spotted the port?”
“Look.” Kassim grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face out to sea. He pointed up to the dull clouds. “Can you see?”
“What?”
“Ah!” Aliyah cried from beside me. She took a step closer, her head tilted back. For once, her expression was one of pure delight.
The ghost of a smile played around Namir’s lips, then disappeared when he realized I’d caught him staring at the thief queen.
He coughed, then moved to my other side. “Up there, princess? Can you see that bird?”
I squinted, trying to make out where he was pointing.
A bird rose and dove, cutting graceful arcs through the sky as it wheeled and banked.
“It’s huge,” I marveled. “Is it…?”
“A roc,” Namir confirmed.
I stared, watching the magnificent bird dance on the wind.
Then the sound of birds shrieking close behind us wrestled me from my daze, and I twisted around.
Two much closer rocs hurtled toward us, their yellow beaks sharp as blades.
“Kassim!” I cried out in warning, grabbing for his arm.
The first roc dove toward us with a shriek.
Caught off guard, we could do nothing but drop down low, knees and palms scraping over the rocks as we scrambled out of the way, the roc’s beak clacking furiously as it passed right over us, our clothes ruffling in the wind beneath its wings.
Before we had a chance to recover, the second roc swooped toward us with a shrill cry.
“Down – behind these rocks!” the sultan shouted, dragging me over the side of the rocky shelf and down to the sand beneath. I landed hard, the sand grinding into my side.
Aliyah threw herself after us, then the spymaster thudded to the ground next to her.
A shiver ran down my spine as I felt rather than heard the wings of a roc directly above us.
The wind tugged away its shrieks, the sound fading as it wheeled higher again. My heart hammering in my chest, I shifted upright, looking to see whether they were coming back for us.
My gaze snagged on the dancing bird we’d seen above the waves, now shooting toward the shore, coming to help its brethren.
“Down!” Aliyah cried, slamming her palm into the back of my head and forcing me facedown into the sand. I winced as a whoosh of feathers streaked past us. “That was too close!”
I groaned, black sand crusting onto my face and stinging my eyes.
More shrieks sounded from the clouds above us.
Spirits, how many are there?
Five more rocs shot from the clouds in a tight V-formation, heading straight for us.
I ducked back down, pressing myself against the rocks.
“What do we do?” My fingers brushed along the rough rock, feeling for anything I might be able to use as a weapon. We had nothing to defend ourselves with.
I flinched lower at the sound of their fierce cries.
“Kassim – look!” Namir called.
I risked a glance up. The spymaster and the sultan had scrambled back to their feet, peering over the rocky shelf.
Above us, the rocs still shrieked and soared, their sharp beaks wide and their talons outstretched. But they no longer seemed concerned with us. Instead, the three rocs who had attacked us appeared to be fighting the five who had just arrived.
Hesitantly, I got back to my feet. Have they just forgotten we’re here?
A human voice yelled something from high above us, and two birds in the rear rose higher, preparing to swoop down on the rocs below them.
I sucked in a breath when I saw the tiny figures on the birds’ backs.
The human voice sounded again, then one bird shot forward like an arrow. It spread its wings at the last minute, hovering just before the other rocs and lashing out with its talons. At the same time, the others dropped from where they had risen up moments ago, claws outstretched.
Dark feathers filled the air, spiraling to the ground as the wild rocs retreated, heading for the distant mountains.
“We should hide,” Aliyah said from beside me, her eyes trained on the humans riding the huge birds. “We couldn’t defend ourselves against wild rocs. We won’t be able to against trained ones, either.”
But there was no time.
The five rocs sped toward us, landing in a cloud of black sand.
Kassim and Namir exchanged a glance, then clambered back up onto the rocks, walking across the dusty plain beyond them to meet whoever our mysterious saviors were.
Or our attackers. I shot a sideways look at Aliyah. The thief queen pursed her lips as the two men ignored her instruction to hide, striding out ahead of us. I moved to follow them, but she grabbed hold of my arm.
I shook her off. “Even if we stay here, we’ll never outrun them on their rocs.”
With a low growl, she followed me after the sultan and the spymaster. I hurried to catch them up, not wanting to be left behind. Kassim waited, reaching out a hand to draw me closer as we approached the group of roc riders.
A petite woman leapt from the largest roc’s saddle
, landing lightly on the ground.
Kassim tensed beside me as the young woman’s wide, gray eyes slowly raked over him. She was dressed in rich, well-tailored clothes, her glossy black hair braided close to her scalp, then knotted into a thick, high ponytail. Something about her made my chest tighten immediately.
There was something about the way she held herself. The way she stood before Kassim, her shoulders back and chin raised…
Kassim’s hand dropped from my back.
“Kassim!” A familiar voice called from the rocs, and my brow furrowed as the vizier dropped from behind a rider on one of the other rocs.
What’s she doing with these riders?
“Sultan.” She smiled broadly. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am to find you well. And I have a surprise for you.”
But Kassim wasn’t looking at the vizier. He hadn’t taken his eyes from the fierce, beautiful rider who was staring right back at him.
“Princess Makani.” Kassim’s voice sounded unusually strained as he swept forward into a respectful bow.
Princess?
“Sultan.” Makani didn’t return his bow, or even curtsey. She cast her eyes over me and the rest of our group, before turning back to Kassim. “Welcome to Hidu. I’m your guide.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kassim looked slightly dazed as he followed the vizier and Makani. We’d been walking in silence across the dusty plains, the rocs flying free above us, until a distant fort came into view. The dark gray stone blurred into the light gray skies above it, both melting into the barren backdrop of Hidu’s plains and distant mountains. From what little we’d seen so far, this kingdom seemed leached of life and color.
I dropped back to walk with Namir and Aliyah.
“I thought the royal family of Hidu declined our request to pass through their lands?” I whispered to the spymaster. “Isn’t that the reason we came here undercover?”
Namir looked straight ahead, his solemn face giving nothing away. “I’m sure the vizier will explain.”
Aliyah scoffed from beside him as we walked under a large gate, the raised portcullis framing the arch like teeth. All harsh lines and stocky turrets, the gray stone fort was clearly built for defense. We filed into a small courtyard where camels were tethered to posts in a makeshift pen. The air was ripe with the musk of animals.
Palace of Wishes (2020 Reissue) Page 17
