LITMIR.BIZ

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He took a step forward, then in a gesture of unthinkable familiarity, he covered her circlet with his palm, his fingers tracing its script. “The First Oralist of Hira should know the penalty for theft.”

      Khashayar struggled against the men who held him.

      “Kill him,” Najran said.

      “No!” Arian cried. “Wait! Tell me the penalty you speak of.”

      Najran’s cool fingers trailed down Arian’s arm to her wrist. The contact left her shaken; the Claim she harbored in her deepest self recognized that the danger he represented was something new, the aura of death around him so pervasive that she felt it sink into her bones. And yet his touch was an affront—to both the First Oralist and the woman, awakening her anger.

      “Your hand, sayyidina.” His hand closed over her wrist, as he fingered the emerald dagger. He moved close enough for her to count the flecks in his eyes. The green flecks had spread … they were glowing … just as his emerald dagger began to throb with light. She could feel the heat of the dagger, stark coldness from the man himself.

      Wafa let out a whimper, but Arian held her ground.

      “What law commands the loss of my hand, sayyid?”

      His headcloth brushed her ear. “Shall I show you the verse of the Claim?”

      She shifted the tiniest fraction closer to Sinnia, touching Sinnia’s circlet with her own.

      “Could you?”

      She was well aware that he couldn’t. No one could, save for the One-Eyed Preacher, who now possessed the Bloodprint. When the flecks of green in his eyes faded, the light from his dagger dulled, and she knew her guess had been correct.

      But it likely didn’t matter—she recognized the echoes of the One-Eyed Preacher’s law, a code proclaimed by the Talisman. It seemed it was now the code of the Rising Nineteen as well.

      She faced the Shaykh, buoyed by her bond with Sinnia.

      “A boon that is granted to Hira will be remembered. My need for transport was urgent, and I feared my escort would not meet with your approval.” Then, to Najran: “The law of the people of Marra does not sanction aggression. Yet here is your army, ready to begin hostilities. What should be the penalty for that, I wonder?”

      The words seethed with scorn at the hypocrisy of the sayyid’s application of the law. She caught sight of Wafa’s frightened face. She could sense his confusion, made all the more apparent when he whispered to her in the dialect of Candour, “Make them sleep. Let’s take the horses and go.”

      She couldn’t take that risk. She knew more about the Nineteen’s facility with the Claim than Wafa did. It might turn out to be disastrous to test her skills against the Nineteen’s commanders at once.

      The Shaykh jerked Wafa close, ignoring his panicked yelp. Holding him by the chin, he examined Wafa’s face.

      “Najashi I know. Talisman I know. First Oralist I know. This I do not know.”

      “Hazara,” Arian answered. “A noble tribe of Candour.”

      The Shaykh’s eyes flicked to Khashayar. His rugged features hardened.

      “The Zhayedan’s man stands no chance. But grant us the boy and I will gift two of my horses to the Negus. If that is where your journey takes you.”

      An unexpected opportunity presented itself, an advantage she had to seize. Arian stilled Wafa’s struggles by raising her hand. “Yes. The Companion Sinnia returns to pay her respects to the Negus.” She spread her hands. “But I cannot give you the boy. He is my ward. He is under Hira’s protection.”

      She didn’t mention Khashayar. She would have to try to save him by stealth.

      The Shaykh held on to Wafa. “What would you give, then? For safe passage across the Rub Al Khali?”

      Pain struck her heart at this echo of her journey through the Cloud Door. Daniyar had offered the book of the Guardian of Candour to the Lord of the Wandering Cloud Door in exchange for safe passage through the Ice Kill.

      In the end, however, she had spurned Daniyar on the slightest of excuses, leaving him to the Conference of the Mages, while she charted her course on her own. She had made him believe no sacrifice he made would ever be enough, when in truth her certainties about her course seemed far less certain now.

      Sinnia sensed her emotion through the bond of their circlets. She squeezed Arian’s shoulder. Then she altered her voice so that she spoke in the accents of a woman from the Sea of Reeds. “We can make a suitable bargain, Shaykh. But we will need our escort’s assistance to cross the Rub Al Khali.”

      “No.” A flat denial from Najran. “There will be no bargain. Your man is an enemy combatant; he will be treated as such.” He shifted the glaive so that the spike was aimed straight at Khashayar’s heart. “No doubt there is much he can tell us about the Zhayedan’s defenses.”

      Khashayar spit at Najran’s feet. A single thrust drove the sharp-edged spike through the surface of his armor. A grimace that passed for a smile settled on Najran’s lips.

      “No one has failed to speak under the persuasion of the glaive.”

      And Arian knew in that moment that no matter what else happened during their confrontation, she would not permit the torture of a man who acted in her service. She marked Najran for death.

      “Will you not at least hear the bargain, captains of the Nineteen? If you will permit me, Shaykh.” Sinnia’s voice was sunny and confident, such that the Shaykh released his hold on Wafa, who clung to Arian’s side.

      “What will you give me, Najashi? What might a woman, unencumbered with goods, offer in exchange for a man, a boy, and two of the finest horses bred in the Rub Al Khali?”

      Sinnia’s bright eyes touched each man in the circle, lingering on the belts at their waists.

      “‘Over this are Nineteen,’” she quoted. “What if I give you Nineteen?”

       5

      THEY WERE TAKEN TO A DESERT TENT, SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE IN ITS CONSTRUCTION, a guard assigned to each member of their party, only Khashayar bound. As they had been pushed forward along the sand in the shadow of the dune, Arian had brushed Khashayar’s hands with hers, a message of comfort, encouraging him not to despair.

      But Khashayar was a captain of the Zhayedan, brutally honed in battle. There was no fear in his eyes, nor any need for reassurance. He simply remained watchful and alert, waiting for his moment to act.

      “Wait,” Arian said quietly. “Wait until I give you a signal.”

      Whispering to Sinnia, she switched to the language of the Citadel. “What did you mean? What are you offering to trade?”

      Sinnia shook her head, her smile bold and confident. Arian was taken aback. The threat was all around them, the danger to Ashfall ever-present, yet Sinnia showed no hesitation. What had persuaded her she could bargain her way out of this? Arian was still mulling over the Shaykh’s decision to offer hospitality instead of death. But then such were the customs of the people of Al Marra: honor before everything, hospitality before all, even when those who broke bread together were otherwise mortal enemies.

      They were taken to a pump to wash their hands, then invited to sit in a circle in the center of the tent. Wafa and Khashayar were pushed into place on either side of Arian and Sinnia, the other men keeping some distance. In a large black cauldron, pieces of camel meat bubbled in water and salt. The pot was tended by a herder not much older than Wafa. The boy served the meat onto heavy platters, his thin arms hardly seeming capable of the task, as he stole admiring glances at the Companions of Hira.

      A platter was nudged in front of

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