Page 20 of Blood of the Sands

“I don’t know how,” I nearly shouted back.

He grinned. “Neither do I, but that’s not really the point.”

I found myself smiling and nodding back, letting him take my empty cup to set on a nearby ledge before leading me toward the center of the courtyard, near the statue where the dancing was most lively.

Following the lead of the figures around me, I started swaying gently to the beat. The man moved with me, and I found myself grinning, my heartrate quickening to pump in time to the drums. As we began dancing in earnest with no real finesse, I threw my arms up in the air, and a laugh bubbled up. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the feeling the queen’s tale had roused in me, but I felt more alive than I had in a while—since a strange man held my throat in his hand, pinning me with an intensity that turned me to fire.

As I twirled in delight, purple silk forming a swirl around me, my eyes caught on the imposing statue once more. My gaze met his sightless eyes, and something shifted—something that had lain dormant inside me since my exile and had only began to move again recently. My partner’s hand on my hip suddenly felt overwhelming once more as touch had been when I first arrived in the city. Instead of being carried away by the beat of the drums, they pushed in on me, more tightly than the thick stone walls of Aderyn’s home when I was alone in the dark.

I tripped over my feet in the too-small sandals, smooth silk rubbing against my skin like hot sand. My dance partner caught me by the elbow before I fell, but I jerked away stumbling once more. He frowned, but his expression was one of concern.

“Too much laka?” he shouted over the crowd. “Let’s find somewhere for you to sit down.”

I nodded, not sure if it was the alcohol or something else entirely making me feel as if I were about to burst out of my skin. The man cut a swath through the crowd, but the dancers were densely packed, and the going was slow. Bodies bumped and jostled me, and I flinched away from each touch as if it burned. The edge of the courtyard where I spied a bench seemed miles away, and even there I would be surrounded by this constant noise.

I couldn’t wait for my partner to edge through politely anymore, striking out on my own as shoved through the crowd. I needed to get out. Now.

Unsure how it happened, I broke free of the dancing horde and stumbled toward the open front door of the palace. Guards flanked it, shouting at me that guests must stay in the courtyard, but the hallway called my name as there were no revelers within.

Too-small sandals pinched my feet as they smacked against the stone floor of the palace hallway as I ran deeper. I had only made it twenty yards before I tripped and fell to my knees with tooth-jarring force. The sudden pain in my shins and palms almost ripped me from my fugue, but it was not enough.

My vision narrowed, and at first, I thought the guards shouting after me stopped, but as they barreled down on me, I realized my hearing had disappeared. Instead, I felt the vibrations from stomping feet through the stone beneath me, and the air whispered over my skin like a physical touch.

The heartbeats of hundreds of people echoed in my head, just as loudly as the shuffle of a Fennec fox burrowing in the sand miles away. My surroundings fell away, and the sensations in my mind grew until I was sure my skull would explode, if I even still had a physical form.

A blast of scouring wind and a piercing scream brought me back to myself with a snap. I was on my knees, in the palace hallway, and the screaming came from me. The guards who had chased me lay on the floor, as if knocked over by a sudden earthquake. Everything was preternaturally dark and quiet as the wind stopped, having extinguished all the lanterns hanging from sconces on the walls. The only light came from the braziers outside the distant door, barely penetrating the shadows.

As I blinked, trying to clear my head, the guards stared at me. I swallowed, my throat raw. A shuffling broke the stillness as a figure approached from the still open door.

Panic gripped me, threatening to paralyze me, but I forced myself to move. I looked up to find the queen staring down at me, eyes dark in the shadow, something unreadable on her face.

Chapter Nine

The Viper

Clan Tibel’s encampment was quiet as I approached. I half expected a greeting with more soldiers and walked beside Alza with my saber drawn, but no riders charged me. However, the camp was much larger than I’d expected, even larger than the one I had left, of Clan Katal joined with three others.

Standing at the edge of the tents lining the camp stood five figures, three men and two women, all wearing leather armor and bearing swords, although none were drawn. They all had their hands clasped behind their back, posture stiff. I walked right up to them, not halting until I was a horse length away.

“I come with an offer for Clan Tibel from Lord Alasdar of Clan Katal,” I started without preamble.

“We know why you’ve come, Viper.” The man in the middle practically spat my title. His blue sash marked him as a belonging to Clan Tibel, and the gold inlay on the handle of the dirk at his waist made me guess he was the lord I had come to treat with. The others all had different color sashes, and I frowned beneath my mask.

“Then you will also know that it would be unwise to refuse me.”

The falcon chose that moment to emit a soft squawk and ruffle its wings, as if in reminder of the fate that met his former master. The lord of Clan Tibel glanced at the bird, expression hardening even further.

“And you would be unwise to assume that the remaining clans of the Ballan Desert will be so easily bullied,” cut in one of the women bearing the maroon sash of Clan Padra.

“The five clans of the Ballan Desert that have not joined with Lord Alasdar stand together. We do not wish to join your war,” cut in another of the men, a scar running across his jaw giving him away as a hardened warrior.

I stared, realizing that the five people before me were the five lords of the remaining clans, all gathered before me in a unified front. Magic surged within me at the realization, anger that they would stand against Clan Katal, against the Viper, bubbling beneath my skin. Sand at my feet began to rise unbidden, the start of a whirlwind forming around my calves.

“If you raze our encampment, it will not sway us to your cause,” the lord of Clan Tibel claimed, even as the whole group stepped back from the crackle in the air around me, the earthy smell of magic rising. They could likely sense the magic of the desert and harness it to some degree, the lord of Clan Padra better than most if I were to judge by the glimmer of blood glass on the hilt of her saber. Still, while they had the prowess to lead their clans in battle, none of them would be able to stand against my fury if it came unleashed.

I blinked to clear my vision, which threatened to blur out in the flare of magic I fought to contain. While I held the hilt of my saber in one hand, I gripped the blade in the other, squeezing until the sharp edge bit into my palm, pushing away the sensation of the desert in my mind that threatened to overwhelm me. I could not fail in this mission and destroy those I needed to be my allies.

“If you know of my cause, then you know why Lord Alasdar seeks to unite the clans,” I grit out.