Page 14 of Blood of the Sands

“My…” I swallowed, knowing that he wasn’t exactly my horse, but now wasn’t the time to broach that. “My horse.”

“He’s in the stables right next to Neven’s,” she assured. “Although it was no mean feat getting him there. It certainly seems you are the only person he tolerates.”

I blinked. He had seemed friendly enough to me, putting up with my undignified mounting and unpracticed riding. I hadn’t seen him around other people yet. Still, I was glad for him to be cared for after I dragged him away from his home and across the desert.

“Come,” the man beckoned, gesturing me over to a table he was currently setting with food. My eyes widened at the sight of fruit and roasted meat. Even bread—a rarely heard of luxury among the clans, where the nomadic lifestyle did not lend itself to farming grain.

I lowered myself to one of the cushions around the low table on shaky legs, balling my hands into fists and tucking them under my thighs to keep from immediately grabbing at all the food I could reach. My instincts told me to snatch as much as I could while it was in front of me, but it hadn’t been so long since I had been among my clan that I didn’t remember how civilized people behaved. Now that my brain was sluggishly recovering from my exhaustion, it latched on to the need to hide my status as an exile from these people. As far as they knew, I had a horse. I was a member of a clan. If they found I was an exile, they might ask why. If they found out what I had done, I might be cast from this incredible place.

“Eat,” the woman insisted. “You look like you have had quite a long journey and could use all the sustenance we can offer.”

My hand shot out and snatched the closest piece of meat, looking like the roast leg of some bird. I brought it to my mouth without bothering with the plate before me. I tore into it, hot grease dripping down my chin and my eyes stinging with unshed tears at the taste of spices and fresh meat.

“Besides, with your mouth full, it will give us a chance to introduce ourselves properly,” the man cut in, thankfully diverting attention from my behavior. “I’m Neven, and this is my wife, Aderyn. She serves Queen Ginevra and has been charged with keeping the city safe. I still don’t know why she agreed to marry me, a simple weaver.”

Aderyn smacked Neven on the arm, her expression softening into something akin to a smile as she chewed a bite of bread. “You act as if the queen’s dresses aren’t all crafted of the fine fabrics you make.”

“And who might we have the pleasure of having at our table?” Neven asked, turning back to me. I had already picked most of the meat off the bone in my hand, and my stomach clenched as it squeezed around the food, unused to rich fare after so much hunger.

“Keera,” I volunteered, expecting awkward silence after my name where I would normally announce my clan. I considered lying and naming one, but Neven and Aderyn didn’t even seem to notice. They had only given their own names too, I realized.

“And what brings you to Kelvadan, Keera?” Aderyn asked.

I swallowed, to dispel the tightness of sudden nerves in my throat. I had come this far to warn the Great City of what was to come. I couldn’t fail now simply out of fear of accidentally revealing myself as an exile.

“I was captured by Clan Katal. They planned to sacrifice me to the desert to please her.”

Aderyn frowned, and Neven shook his head, but neither interrupted.

“While I was captive, I heard their leader, Lord Alasdar, talking of his plans. He’s… he is uniting the tribes. Once he has all nine tribes under his banner, he plans to attack Kelvadan. I managed to escape and came to warn you.”

The plate Neven had been holding clattered against the table as he nearly dropped it, but the line between Aderyn’s brows only deepened as she frowned.

“Kelvadan is the only place where the tribes meet in peace. He will never be able to unite them,” she said, although a question in her tone betrayed her concern.

“Four clans have already agreed to his plans. I… I don’t think he is giving them much choice,” I admitted. The image of the man they had called captain, in his metal mask with his long saber, flashed in my mind. If he was the one sent to convince the other lords to join them, I didn’t think he would stop at peaceful negotiations. Then again, he hadn’t killed me when he had the chance.

“The queen will want to hear everything you know,” Aderyn said, and I stiffened.

I already felt out of my depth here in Neven and Aderyn’s lovely home. I hadn’t worn clothes that were not second-hand in over a decade, and the cloth looked even more ragged next to the lavish upholstery in Aderyn’s home. I didn’t know how I could possibly face a queen.

“We will get you cleaned up, no worries. And I’m sure I can dig up something for you to wear that will make the queen want to order an outfit for herself,” Neven offered.

“After you’ve eaten of course,” Aderyn added.

The ball of anxiety in my stomach only eased slightly at their reassurances, but I nodded all the same. If warning Kelvadan of Lord Alasdar was the reason for my years of survival, then I would face the queen with all the courage I had left.

I stopped eating after another piece of bread and a piece of fruit, the likes of which I had never had. When I looked at it curiously, and Neven showed me how to remove the thick rind to get at the tart flesh within, Aderyn explained that it was from traders who came through the mountains to the city. They wouldn’t venture out into the harsh conditions of the sands and chance the wrath of the clans, especially not without any way to navigate, but ventured to the city with increasing frequency over the past decades.

Even as I wiped my hands on the cloth Neven offered me, my stomach full to bursting, I eyed the pieces of bread and fruit remaining on the table. It went against my very bones to leave food uneaten, and I wondered if I could store a couple of the fruits in my shirt.

“I’m sure the queen will insist on feeding you too,” Neven said, giving me a knowing, sidelong glance.

I nodded.

“Let’s get you clean while Neven finds you some clothes that will fit.” Aderyn led me from the room through a hewn arch of a doorway and down a narrow hall to a small chamber. The gentle patter of trickling water echoed in the tight space. Even as I watched liquid trickle down from the ceiling in a fountain in wonder, my skin crawled. After years of sleeping under the open sky, only ever taking shelter in my lean-to during the hottest hours of the day and the occasional sandstorm, being encased by stone was unnerving. The weight of the mountain I knew the house was set in pressed in around me, and it took several seconds of focusing on the sound of water to center my thoughts again.

“There is soap over here.” Aderyn gestured to a ledge cut into the wall. “The water is cold, but it beats carrying buckets from the well for a bath.”