Desert Queen

by Nuit du Loup

This story is plot heavy and the 2nd chapter is a direct continuation from the first.

A bright golden sun beat down relentlessly onto the desert city of Al-Sharif and in the midday light, it was shining golden. The massive city straddled a large, slow moving river, sprawled over wide area and was divided into three areas by two golden colored stone walls. That river emptied into a wide bay that was filled with ships, both under sail and docked. In the middle section, known as the Ring and teaming with throngs of people, several female figures were running lithely over the sun-baked rooftops at a steady, unhurried pace and with the practice grace of long habit.

In the lead was a relatively tall girl in her upper teenage years. She wore a pair of bright red, loose and flowing pants that tucked into her sturdy but flexible boots and had on a complicated arrangement of a shirt, a open coat coat, several sashes and a leather chest piece over the shirt that showed the curves of her form. All of it was in bright, ostentatious colors. Like all in the group, she also wore a black, masking veil that covered her face from her nose down. Above that cloth glowed her golden eyes. Her cinnamon brown hair, that had a tinge of red to it, flowed behind her in a tail that was interwoven with beads of varying shapes, sizes and designs. On her back was a short, curving sword in a white cloth wrapped scabbard. Her name was Teya and with her were three others.

Like Teya, they were garbed strangely and had beads interwoven in their hair, but none had as many or as complicated a set-up as their leader, though their outfits looked a bit second-hand and worn. The three were shorter and if someone looked close they would have seen that they were also visibly younger.

Teya raised a gloved hand and her companions stopped with her on the rooftop of a two-story shop and apartment. Like most roofs in the city this one had a raised edge wall that stood at about knee-height. Teya crouched down and the others followed as she crept to the edge of the wall. Looking over the wall carefully, she smiled widely as she saw her prey.

Standing in the middle of the crowded and bustling Sharez Market of the western Circle was a recently arrived caravan of pack camels. They had come in from the west gate an hour ago and her eyes and ears in the city had let her know about it. It was guarded of course, she counted six brutish, sweaty looking men with scimitars in their belt sashes, but that just confirmed that there was something valuable to be had here today. And through a few unique avenues she had gleaned the exact animal she needed to hit.

There were ten pack camels and two more for riders. Their remounts had been left behind. At the moment they were all drinking their fill from the large public fountain in the center of the market. Around them were the throngs of shopping men and mostly women as they shopped at the plethora of stalls that offered almost anything someone might desire. Al-Sharif was a healthy trade city-state and the bounty below her was a testament to its riches. Riches she would share in very shortly

She flicked a gesture with her right hand and her three followers slipped away, their footsteps silent. They knew what they were about and she was confident they could pull off the results she wanted.

Several minutes later the first cry was raised.

"Thief!"

A large, portly man in the flour dusted apron of a baker shoved out into view on the far side of the large market area and Teya saw the slim form of one of her subordinate girls running from him and drawing attention. Then the second girl struck the same baker's shop and the man let out an enraged yell of frustration. The crowed was now fully attracted to the scene and even the vigilant caravan guards were turning to watch the commotion. Teya grinned and slid a small, very slim blade from a hidden niche in one of her many sashes. Then the last girl struck and when she fled with her prize of a sticky bun, she darted right in front of the guards. Unable to help themselves, they started to move to intercept the thief, and then Teya moved.

With casual familiarity, she dropped straight down from the roof to the ground, and then zipped across the dusty, paved market like a liquid shadow. This was her talent, her element, and she would have the big prize today. Before anyone could remark on her passing she was already at the fourth camel in the line and her hand with the blade snicked out and quickly cut the lashing straps of a small pack. The pack settled into her hand and she quickly slipped it up and behind into the sling scarf across her back. Once it was in place she turned to check on the guards and slid her blade back into its hiding spot.

"Sand in your eyes!" she cursed silently when she saw that they had seen her. They were already shouting and drawing their swords as they broke into a run.

Hissing once in displeasure, Teya also took of running. She had lived on the streets of this city almost all her life, and her familiarity with every stone and every shadow tipped any chase in her favor and heavily so if she being honest about it. She grinned at the thought.

Teya took off away from the market as fast as her strong legs could carry her and when she reached the spot she wanted she dove into a space between buildings, ignoring the shouts coming from the shoppers she agitated in her flight. They didn't matter. Most were happy to ignore her and her business and the rest were probably entertained by it.

She heard the huffing sound of heavy breathing coming from behind her and she knew that at least a couple of the guards had been fast enough to follow her. That was bad. Very few people could match her speed, but she'd be in trouble if she was cornered by brutes like these. She also thought very hard about how it was they were keeping track of her so easily.

Her eye caught what she was looking for a few yards ahead and she changed her stride slightly. Then she came to the building she'd been looking for. It had a wooden shed thing attached to it with very poorly made walls. Her fingers deftly found finger holds and she climbed like a spider up and onto the roof of the shed and then from there she leaped and caught the edge of another house's roof and hauled herself up. She heard the shouts from her pursuers and ducked instinctively when her eyes caught the gleam of reflected sunlight from a throwing knife as it was flicked up at her.

"Whoa'ho, they're getting serious today," she said humorously to herself.

She fled over the rooftops, traveling the Sky Road. Though most people didn't know it, people like her had set it up so that they could travel almost anywhere in the city by roof without setting foot on the ground. She moved that way now and adrenalin filled her blood as the excitement of the pursuit affected her.

The guards shadowed her from the streets and alleyways below and did a commendable job of keeping pace. One she saw, when she got a look at his rough face, looked almost desperate to apprehend her. But she didn't slow in the least; she had the endurance to outlast them. She had no fear of these men.

When she reached one of the main trade roads that spoked through the city at regular intervals she turned and paralleled along it. She made for the inner wall of the Circle, the very heart of the city, and when she reached it she dropped to the ground again and flicked a coin without even looking at man that seemed to me sleeping against the golden wall with a stall of rags piled up next to him. The man's hand snapped the coin from the air between two fingers and stamped his foot once. A hidden grate behind the stall opened upwards and without hesitating or slowing Teya jumped into the opening and heard the metal clang shut behind her.

She nodded her thanks to the man in the dark tunnel she landed in and flicked a coin to him as well. You always made sure to pay the tunnel man. Then she was off down the dark, lightless shaft.

She had to run almost four hundred feet before the tunnel cleared the wall above her. It was mostly used by smugglers and thieves like herself, but she had no idea who had originally built these underground routes. She came to its end where there was another man waiting on a small chair. The man reached up and pulled on a length of roped that hung down into the dimness without opening his eyes or putting aside his pipe that billowed sharp smelling smoke.

Shortly a shaft of light appeared and Teya climbed the ladder up into the Circle. The Circle was the innermost part of the city and it was inhabited almost entirely by nobles and the rich merchant families that equated to about the same thing. She didn't come here too often, that was a bit dangerous, but it was useful for throwing off the pursuit of guards that would have to go to a gate and ask for entry into this most privileged of areas. She didn't stay long when she came here though, because she stood out like a fire in the desert night. Teya looked nothing like a noble.

Inside the circle there were only the walled off compounds of the inhabitants and the streets were traveled mostly by the nobles and their servants. So the traffic was very low. She obviously belonged to neither group and would look suspicious if too many people noted upon her.

"There she is!"

Turning in shocked disbelief Teya saw a contingent of the Palace Guards moving toward her down the otherwise empty street.

The Palace Guard! Those bullies for the Raja rarely stirred themselves these days and they were after her? How? Why?! The questions raced through her mind even as her feet got her moving again. At least here the road was paved in yellow bricks.

This time there were fewer places for her try and divert or befuddle her chasers. The nobles all had large estates and this meant there were long, narrow open areas between them. The streets were constricted spaces that sat between each compound's walls. This gave her pursuers open sight lines almost wherever she went. But finally she saw a welcome sight. A large fig tree was leaning against a wall that was near a blindingly white wall that was in sharp contrast to all the golden stone or clay ones in the rest of the city. She quickly scaled the angled trunk and dropped over the other side of the wall into a large and plant filled garden space.

For a moment she stared and goggled at the wasteful use of water the place represented, ignoring the infuriated voices of the Palace Guards on the other side of the wall. Then she shook her head free from her woolgathering and carefully began walking down a garden path. As she was doing so, her mask/veil started loosening annoyingly and she realized she must have torn its tie somehow.

As she was removing it and stuffing it into one of her multitude of pockets she came out into an open area of many-colored flowers and found herself again in company. The center area was a paved circle of golden colored bricks and on it was a garden table and next to that was a lounge chair made of some kind of pale wood. Lounging comfortably in that in that chair reading a scroll was girl.

The girl heard her half-running approach and looked up. And that was enough to slow Teya down to a slow walk. The girl was stunning and she made Teya's mouth water at the sight of her. Something else started to water too.

The girl was the same deeply tanned skin as everyone else in the city, but she had long, thick hair of a charcoal black that hung down to her waist. It was tied in several places by blue ribbons and since she was lying on the lounger, it hung over her shoulder and front a little. She wore the lower leg-wrap garment favored by the city's elite and it was a powdery white color. Her top was a red, thin-strapped top that hung a little loose but still showed her small breasts and rode high enough to show off her firm belly.

Her face had delicate seeming features and she had a small mouth that Teya wanted a taste of. Her lips and nose were both small and when she met them; Teya saw that her almond shaped eyes were a brilliant jade. She loved those eyes.

"Who are you?" the girl said in a curious, unconcerned tone. Her voice was musical sounding with each word carefully chosen and annunciated.

"Nobody to worry about," Teya responded in her own confidant and silky voice. She had always liked her voice and some of her subordinates claimed, perhaps a little biased, that she sounded like a Rani Queen, not that there was actually a real one anywhere within a thousand miles of this desert city-state.

Teya found herself captivated by the girl. And girl she was, for Teya wouldn't have guessed the girl's age to be past fourteen or fifteen years. She had never been this entranced by a single girl before and she had experienced many. There was just…something. She approached closer until she was next to the seated girl. The girl just watched her approach curiously.

For a long moment they simply regarded each other, neither knowing what the other was thinking. But Teya eventually leaned in close until she was looking right into those green eyes that still looked at her without fear or concern. There was definitely something about those eyes.

But the moment was soon broken when she heard the echoing sound of guards coming their way. Teya smiled at the girl and cocked her head thoughtfully.

"You're quite stunning," she said to the girl, who seemed confused by the compliment. "Very pretty."

The sound of the guards drew closer, so unable to part without a memory of this beauty, Teya darted her head forward and gave the girl a quick, but deep kiss.

Then she was on the move again and running, crossing the garden as fast as she could toward the opposite wall and she smiled all the way.

******

Alimah touched stunned fingers to her tingling lips. Her mysterious visitor had disappeared almost as fast as she had arrived and Alimah felt at a loss.

There had been something between them. Something invisible and intangible maybe, but something had been there. She knew the other, strangely dressed but strikingly attractive girl had felt it too. During that long moment in which she had stared onto those deep, golden colored eyes, neither had moved. And some part of her regretted the coming guards for breaking that fragile moment.

But the rest of her was very confused. As the only living princess of Al-Sharif she shouldn't be. She was now fourteen years old and she supposed to be intelligent and composed. She was supposed to be the very image that her father, the Raja, wanted her to be. But she couldn't help it because she had no idea why she felt the way she did right then.

Her whole body seemed to tingle in remembrance of that brief kiss and that was odd. It was the same feeling she got when she once touched herself in the privacy of her quarters. It was just so very strange. She knew that it was a feeling she was supposed to have for the handsome suitors her father paraded in with annoying frequency, yet didn't.

"Does that mean…No!" she gasped aloud. She could not find pleasure in other women! It was forbidden by the teachings of the Sol Priests. But it was undeniable that her body had responded. Her visited had seemed so very good looking even if she wore men's style pants. And those hair beads had been very interesting. Even the shape of the older girl's body seemed impressed into her memory.

"My lady, are you alright?"

She turned toward the foursome of approaching guards in their red-on-white uniforms and armor as they entered the garden through the small door that led to the main house. The speaker was their Captain. Captain Rafe. She very much disliked the man because, like now, he was constantly leering at her. It was disgusting! At least that girl had looked at her in a manner that suggested true appreciation!

"Of course I'm alright," she said somewhat coldly. Rafe knew of her dislike so she didn't bother to hide it. "Why are you here where you shouldn't be?"

"Official business," Rafe said with an oily smile that made his long, greasy mustache lift at one side. She truly hated that the men were into mustaches again, they were so unsanitary. "We have an intruder and she came into the gardens."

"Intruder? I haven't seen one?" She said in the tone of purest innocence. "If she was here she didn't come through this part of the gardens."

"Not surprising," Rafe said, this time sourly. "This thief is known to us. She is supposed to be wily and near impossible to catch. But we hope to prove otherwise."

"Then by all means, search the gardens, but please do so without damaging anything. And quickly if at all possible," she didn't know why she was covering for her visitor, but a very insistent part of her wanted to make sure that girl stayed safe.

"Of course," Rafe said with a small bow, he touched his right hand to the pommel of his scimitar. Then he turned. "Men, quickly now, search carefully and call out if you see anything.

In the end they found nothing. Not even a trace and Rafe's disappointment was visible. But Alimah was glad when they were gone. She didn't know why her father let men like that into the Guard. But he was getting on in years, so maybe his judgment was weakening?

She had originally come out here to enjoy the afternoon and to relax for a bit before she returned to her tutors and lessons, but it been none of that. She sighed, laid back into the lounger and closed her eyes in resignation of a ruined rest period, and sighed again when golden eyes rose unbidden in her mind.

It was going to be a long day.

******

Several hours later Teya finally made it back into home territory in the outer fringe of the city. Once there she made her way carefully toward the rendezvous point with the three girls who had aided her on this job. She had no idea how the guards had managed to find and pursue her so quickly, but she was taking a few extra precautions now.

When her feet settled onto the dusty, sand strewn roof a large pottery business, her friends and subordinates were sitting there waiting behind the cover of the walls.

"Did you get it?!" asked the shortest and also the youngest of the trio. The girl was probably no older than twelve or so, but Teya wasn't picky with who she associated with. Younger or older, she didn't much mind.

The girl in question wore her clothes loosely and they looked like someone had worn them before her. But like all the others she had a brace of knives hidden about her person. A girl had to be safe even in a city as lawful as Al-Sharif.

"I did," Teya said, gesturing at her holding sling on her back. "I just had a bit of a guard problem on the way out." She smiled a wide grin. "Now lets head back home, you three are probably even hungrier than I am!"

Laughing and joking with each other, they bound over the rooftops to their hidden den.

******

"You lost it?!"

The shouted question came from a very tall and imposing man that stood in a sumptuously appointed room. Around him were a large number of hangers on, half dressed women, and soldiers. Kneeling prostrate was a large, shirtless man in baggy pants, now devoid of the scimitar that had hung at his belt.

"Yes sir," the man said quickly. Fear laced his words like a thin smoke. "A small group of thieves came at our caravan in the west market in the Ring and cut the pouch containing the item you wanted from the camel and ran. We pursued them, but lost them once the leader entered the Circle and Palace."

"I see," the tall man raised a long fingered hand and stroked the long pointed beard and mustaches that hung down from his chin. "It was not vital to my plans but it is very vexing. It would make things to much easier for me. But I guess fate wants me to do it the messy and hard way." He made a flicking gesture with one hand. "Leave me."

At once the room emptied of all except the soldiers.

"All of you listen to me," he said, it rang with command. "You know what to do. Once the others get here we going to get started and it needs to go as smooth as possible. You fuck up, and I'll personally stake you out in the sun for the bone scorpions to pick over. Understand?"

Heads nodded.

"Good," he pointed at a random soldier. The indicated man stood a little more at attention. "Take care of those caravan guards; use as many men as you need as long as you're discreet. Don't tip our hand early."

"Yes sir," the soldier replied.

"Good," the man repeated again. "Now get to work.

******

For the first time in her life, Alimah was terrified down to her very bones. Her muscles quivered in fear as she hid inside a cavernous cabinet that sat dusty and unused in one of the many storerooms of the Raja's Palace. Even in here she could hear the metal on metal clanging as the fighting continued. Everyone so often there would be a shouted scream.

Just this morning she had been eating breakfast and daydreaming of the mystery girl that had visited her a week ago. No matter what she did or how much mental haranguing she did, nothing seemed to be able to make her forget about that girl. In fact it had just made it all the worse.

But this evening, as the sun had just begun to slide behind one of the domed towers of the Sol temples, chaos erupted everywhere.

At first she hadn't noticed anything beyond a strange dearth of servants and the like roaming the halls, bit that was because she had been more concerned about going to the dinner she was supposed to have with the suitor from the Yuralef family. She had still been thinking of polite ways to turn him away when she entered the dinning chamber dressed formally for the occasion and stopped numbly.

There on the floor had lain Azif Yuralef, the young man who wanted to marry her and enter into the Raja's household. She remembered the shocking quantity of blood around his body and the memory made her feel cold. Sure the man had been a boor and overly ambitious, but she hadn't wished him dead. She had only wanted to be spared the ordeal of pumping out his brats while he went around screwing everything female in sight. Okay, so perhaps he had been a terrible excuse for a man, but still…

A soft knock on the outer door of the cabinet made her jolt in surprise. So much so that she almost wet herself in panic. That then sent ripples of shame that chased some of her fear away.

"My lady, please come out now," said an aged female voice. Alimah sighed in relief and slowly pushed the man-high doors open. Standing in the impeccably organized storeroom was the Mistress of Servants. She was a very old woman that life had visibly chewed over once or twice but still survived somehow. Her wrinkled façade glared at her and everything around her.

"What's going on, Sifah?" she asked as she stepped down to the floor.

"It's that goat born bastard, Mazim," she spat as she said the name of her father's head General. "He had men planted everywhere and they are killing anyone who resists them and they are hunting for you now. Your father is already dead, Mazim did that himself."

"Wh-what do I do?" Alimah asked. Fear again tried to well up inside her. There had been little love between her and her father. She had been the only product of four otherwise childless wives and she been had born with the sin of not being male. So he had spent the years, especially when one of his spies had told him she had flowered shortly after her thirteenth birthday, trying to arrange her marriage to one prominent family or another. She had spent them offending those same families. Before this coup she had been looking at the prospect of one of them swallowing their injured pride and forcing their prospective son to marry her and produce a proper heir.

"I'm getting you out," Sifah said with a vicious grin. "Follow me."

So she followed. Other servants helped direct them around knots of fighting between loyalists and Mazim's followers. Eventually they came to a tiny gate in the outer wall of the Palace, a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in decades since it was hidden behind a thick bunch of ivy.

"Here," Sifah said, pointing at the heavy door. "Just walk as calmly as you can into the Ring. Make them think that you're a servant and the city watch won't bother you. If they ask your business, simply say you're to purchase some fresh produce for your family. It's a common enough thing that they won't question it."

"But what about you?" Alimah asked, not wanting to go out into the strangeness of the city on her own.

"Sorry, but there are others to get out," Sifah said with a smile that said she had known Alimah's reasons for asking after her. "Just go, I don't know what you can find out there but it's better than dying here."

Alimah nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Sifah undid the complicated set of latches and bolts on the door and then swung it open. It's very recently oiled hinges slid silently and the darkening, lamp-lit street lay before her. Tentatively she walked out into the dusk bathed Circle streets and calmly walked away from the Palace.

It was unnerving that the city seemed so quiet while behind her the Palace was filled with the screams of the dying and the bodies of the murdered. The city had no idea what was going on and she hoped she would outrun the news when it escaped.

At the gate to the circle, the city watch simply waved her by, only writing down a name she made up and a House name. With that she had placed one wall between her and any of the men Mazim might send after her.

Now that she was in the Circle she felt a different kind of fear. It was a feeling of being overwhelmed. There just so many people around her now in the street that she started to feel closed in. Her mind started to play tricks on her and she began to think that some of the multitude of nameless men and women around her were watching her as she walked slowly down the wide street. She had no idea what many of them were doing since she had spent literally all her life inside the Palace.

She entered a wide and very open square and felt her knees go weak. So many people! She had no idea that this may people existed in one place. She also began to feel out of place and she saw that people were staring at her. She realized that she was dressed much differently than they were and that she looked like she was from one of the noble families. She needed time to think.

In the center of the square, like most such places, was a large public fountain. The rim of the basin was thick and inviting so she sat down to gather her thoughts and come up with something that would let her stay alive.

She had no idea where to start though and her mind was filled with the drizzling sound of the water pouring out of the fountain's spigot. This one was a hole in the mouth of some kind of leaping fish. Her problem was that she had no skills at all that anyone would find particularly useful. She couldn't do any trades and she now had no family in which to provide her a marriageable status.

She had been schooled in the art of being a proper 'wife' to the man her father eventually sold her off to. That meant learning to paint, to sing vapid songs, learning to converse with stupid people without showing her feelings. She knew how to dress, how to discern the proper cut for cloth and to evaluate its quality. She knew a little bit about finances, but not enough to find work.

"Found her!"

Her head snapped up at the outcry and she looked at the street she had entered the square from and saw uniformed men running and pointing at her. The crowd, now interested in something that was going on naturally followed their pointing fingers and stared at her too. Like a scared rodent, she fled.

She turned off the main road and tried to lose them down the seemingly endless supply of small streets and alleyways. Some she was disgusted find were strewn with trash and refuse. But she ignored the steadily shabbier surroundings she was running through and concentrated on just getting away.

That was at least until she rounded a corner down a small side street at full speed and collided solidly with someone. Arms wrapped around her to stop her almost stumbling fall to the ground and she became still. Panic set in then and she thrashed and screamed for the person holding her to let her go. She knew that any moment now the soldiers would be coming around the corner after her.

*Smack!* A sharp sting bloomed on her cheeks strong enough that it stunned her into silence. She'd just been slapped! Confused and furious she stood up straight and finally looked into the face of the person she'd run into.

"Are you about done?" said a familiar voice that sent an odd, yet familiar shiver through her body.

Then she really took in who she was being held by and her mouth fell open slightly in shock. It was her! She was being held in the arm of the girl who had visited her in her garden a week ago. She locked eyes with those golden orbs and saw that the girl was concerned for her and the last vestiges of her effrontery bled away. And oddly enough, the arms around her began to feel a little comforting and nice.

"It's you," she said rather stupidly and needlessly.

"Yeah," the taller and slightly older girl said dryly. "It's me. Now why is a pretty girl like you running around in this part of the city?"

"I-I need to go, to run away," Alimah said, fear resurfacing as she remembered her danger. She could hear the heavy foot steps of running boots coming their way. "The soldiers are trying to kill me. So please, let me go!"

"Kill someone like you?" the girl said in an odd tone and a smile. "I don't think that should be allowed to happen. Follow me."

And Alimah found she was running at full speed again, except this time her mystery friend was leading her Sol knows where. She also began to feel tired; her long hair and leg wrap was slowing her down. But she didn't have any other alternative but to trust this person. Alimah had assumed from Rafe's description of her, that she was a thief of some kind. But from the way she moved and the equipment and clothes she wore, she now thought the older teenager had to be something more than that.

Very abruptly the girl grabbed her hand in her own and Alimah was yanked down a very narrow passage. Then they quickly crossed a busier street of people that looked a little less well off than anyone else she'd seen so far and then down another side street. It turned in an L and suddenly they were in a dead end. The passage stopped a large pile of moldering crates that sat against a building.

"Climb! Up to the roof!" the girl hissed quietly.

Not wanting to question her, Alimah scrambled up the oddly convenient stacked crates and when she reached the top she tumbled over onto a sandy rooftop. She stood up quickly and when she turned to check on her guide she saw that the girl was still in the passage. But she was standing strangely with her palm held out toward the passageway.

Alimah's eyes widened in shock when glowing bands of a strange, golden glowing script went up the walls to either side of the girl and a shimmering effect appeared between them. Almost as soon as it was done the soldiers came barreling around the corner. Alimah drew in a breath of fear for her helper and dropped down to hide, thinking the soldiers would cut her down, but they stopped short and stared around in confusion.

"Where in the worm pits did the brat go?!" shouted one. He was missing two teeth she saw.

Another pointed at the sandy pavement. "Her tracks go right to the wall; she must have climbed it and took to the roofs."

"Do we try and follow?" the third asked skeptically. "I don't think I can climb that."

Alimah was extremely confused. They should be seeing the strange girl right in front of them and her own head peaking from the roof. But they seemed to be unable to see past those glowing bands the other girl was making.

"No," grunted the second one that had spoken. She decided he must be the leader. "We'll just say she lost us in the crowds."

"Damn," the first complain. "I was gonna have some fun with her."

Almost as one they turned and walked back out of the passageway. A minute or two later and they could no longer be heard.

Alimah sat nervously for a few tense moments and then the strange girl let out a long sigh and lowered her hand. The glowing script and the shimmering in the air vanished at once. Then the girl turned and looked up at her. Alimah saw that her eyes were glowing gold, though it was rapidly dimming.

"Come on back down," the girl said; now smiling victoriously. To Alimah that smile was beautiful.

Very carefully, Alimah climbed back down and let out her own sigh of relief when her feet were pack on the sandy ground. When she looked up and locked eyes with her savior her heart seemed to stop and her thoughts slowed as if encased in jelly.

"She really is so beautiful," Alimah thought to herself silently. Aloud she said, "thank you very much for saving me from them."

"No problem," the older teen said with a playful grin and a deeper look that Alimah couldn't read. "But we aren't out of trouble yet. We need to move away from here quickly, before the priests show up."

The girl grabbed her hand again. This time Alimah felt how strong and tough those fingers were. She was led back out into the main roads and she quickly became lost in the number of turns and direction changes her guide was making. In fact she had no idea where she was at all until they suddenly popped out of a particularly dirty alleyway into a main thoroughfare and then crossed under the massive arch of the outer city wall with its mammoth sized gates.

She had never been into the outer fringe of the city but she'd heard stories about how rough the people here could be. But her guide seemed unconcerned now and walked beside her at a casual walk.

"Can I ask for your name?" Alimah said, having finally gathered up the courage to ask.

Golden eyes slid ever to her and the girl smiled again in that strange and considering way, "I am Teya."

"Teya?" Alimah frowned at the name. It didn't sound at all like a local one. And from what she'd seen the girl to it made a little sense. "Well, I'm Alimah, I am, or was I guess, the princess of Al-Sharif."

Her guide jerked to a halt and Alimah suddenly felt tense again. Was she about to be betrayed?"

"I was in the Palace?" her guide said the tones of utmost disappointment.

"Yes, you didn't know that's where you were?" Alimah asked, confused by the girl's concern over this particular subject.

"Sand blast it!" Teya curse fiercely. "I always wanted to see the inside of the Palace. And there I was, and I didn't even know it. Oh well." She got them moving again. Alimah noticed that people were definitely looking at her now. She was dressed much more richly than anyone in sight. "So what was the princess doing running from her own guards?"

"They aren't mine, or my fathers anymore, he was just assassinated. Mazim is in control of the Palace now. They were trying to finish the job by killing me."

Her guide let out a low whistle and looked up toward the rapidly darkening sky thoughtfully. "So that creepy General is Raja now? That's good to know, I'll have to spread word of that quickly. "

They walked in silence again for ten minutes or so and Alimah took advantage of it to look around. It never occurred to her to let go of her guide's hand. She saw many people preparing for evening. Some were closing down shops. Others were herding animals in pens for market the next day. They past by a blacksmith and she saw a giant of a man and a crowd of young men and boys banking their forge's coals. The city out here teemed with more life than she had ever seen before. Night in the palace simply consisted of an evening meal, occasional entertainment of some kind and then bed. She never realized just how boring her life was.

Then her curiosity about the girl next to her arose again. "Is the reason we had to move so quickly because you're…" she trailed off, not knowing if she should voice it.

"You can say it," her guide said in knowing amusement.

"A sand witch?"

"Yep, sure am," the amusement was even more pronounced now. "Those wicked, corrupt priests would have happily raped me and then skinned me alive for what I am. To bad I don't feel like being caught."

Alimah had always heard that the sand witches were a crazed and barbaric people; nomads that wandered the desert and killed anyone who interfered in their business. And the priests had always called them heathens and sinners in the great eye of the sun god Sol. But his girl seemed genuinely nice. And not crazy either.

"I see that that revelation hasn't scared you away from me," Teya laughed. Alimah felt the girl's thumb stroking the back of her hand. "I really think that I could like you."

"But you don't even know me?" Alimah said, giggling slightly. She hated when she giggled, it made her sound like a child, but her guide's eyes seemed to shine in pleasure at the sound.

"Yes, you may be strange to me," her guide said, leading her down a very dark, deserted looking street. "But you wear your emotions and thoughts plain on your face. It's a very rare trait to see in a person these days."

Alimah blushed at hearing that, she really hoped Teya hadn't noticed how attracted she was to her.

As they walked down the dark street, Teya pulled something from one of her many sashes and Alimah's curiosity piqued. Teya held it up in her free hand and a light flashed briefly from it. Then Teya slipped it back into its hiding place.

"Come on," Teya said excitedly, increasing their pace. "We are almost home."