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Cries issued from the crowd.
The force between her and the stranger lifted and flashed out, harnessing the shayatin in a net of light, enmeshing him to the spot, and forcing him down into the sand from which he had formed. The demon fought the interference, bony fingers locked into the glowing light around him, mouth open in an angry sneer.
The crowd huddled back, as light arced between the hooded figure, the crouched demon, and Elishiba.
Her limbs were shaking, her chest now painful with the force that was running through her. She lost sight of the crowd around her, aware only of the hooded man and their joined purpose. All of her desire to protect and love her people was funneling out of her into the atmosphere, and challenging the demon. She felt the resistance of the demon attempting to feed back into her heart.
Two against one, the hooded figure was using her.
But who was he? The words flitted through her mind even as she wilted under the force of the experience. In her heart she knew, but before she had time to acknowledge the truth of the matter, the power reached a sudden, higher pitch. Her arms shook, her body surging with energy.
The creature's forearms bent backwards, its hollow eyes turned toward her now, its mouth open in a fierce grimace. The arc of light strengthened, she felt the hooded figure forcing it so, and her body shuddered, her head spinning. A scream emerged from her mouth, a violent release of emotion, a shout of fury and victory.
Grains of sand spilled from the demon's head. It was disintegrating before their eyes. As the demon sank into the earth, becoming nothing but dust, the boy beside him moved, his body jerking, breath sucking back into his lungs. He sat up, coughed and spewed dust and bile.
His mother rose to her feet, staggered forward, as a cry of joy lifted from the crowd.
Elishiba gasped for breath, triumph flooding her senses, her attention on the hooded figure. He had drawn her into his actions, used her and shown her what she wanted to know—how to help. He seemed to be alone now, for the older man had disappeared from his side. He pushed the people who clustered around him away, directing their attention to the young boy.
The stranger walked in her direction. As he closed on her his head lifted, and he grabbed her by the hand, drawing her away and directing her behind a cart laden with goods.
Her legs were weak and her feet heavy. She staggered after him, her scarf slipping from her head as she went. She clutched at it with shaking fingers, trying to pull it back into place.
"Hurry,” he said when they got beyond the cart. “Leave this place before your identity is revealed."
The sound of his voice ran over her, calming her spirit like cool water to burning skin. For a single moment she caught sight of those now familiar hawk-like eyes within the gloom of his hood. Her heart leapt with certainty, with sudden understanding.
"Be on your way now,” he urged.
"But Amshazar, you saved the boy,” she stated joyously, breaking into a smile.
"We saved him,” he responded, securing the scarf where it had fallen from her face, his fingers brushing the side of her cheek as he did so. “Now go, back to the palace. We must not be seen together."
She felt tenderness in his touch, her senses heightened as they were from what had happened. And then he was gone, moving swiftly away, taking the opposite path to her. She wavered in his wake and clutched at the edge of the cart for support, watching as he disappeared.
"You knew it was me,” she whispered to herself, taking in the implications of all that had happened. Her skin was alive with sensation, her mind humming with possibility. Inside, a fragment of that hot rock still flamed in her chest, and with it the certain knowledge that she must find out who he really was, and make him teach her to use the power.
Chapter Six
The sound of the horn echoed down from the tallest spires of the palace, alerting the people of Suzin. It was mid-afternoon, the sun was past its zenith, and the moment of the emperor's daughter's departure was almost upon them.
Elishiba ignored the mournful sound, focused as she was on Amshazar, and the activity surrounding the departure. She looked for Amshazar's face in the crowd. Questions, unresolved plans, and above all hope, echoed through her mind. When she had returned to the palace the day before, he was nowhere to be found and she never had a chance to speak with him, to question him about what happened in the market place. Word had quickly spread about the occurrences in the city. It seemed that some of the onlookers were now calling the mysterious salvation the work of a lord-sorcerer, an expert magus. Was that what he was? she wondered, her belly fluttering with expectation. She bided her time because she knew instinctively he had meant only her to see and to know more. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone, not even Yoshi or the twins. However, the strange, incomplete knowledge the day before had brought about made her stronger.
The vast traveling party was almost fully assembled inside the palace gates. The retinue of servants and equipment for the trek, together with the vast amounts of possessions that seemed to have been arranged to make her future life more acceptable, had taken hours to organize. The caravan included both Karseedian guards and a troop of The Immortals headed by Xerxes, as well as her intimate courtiers—Elra, Amra, Yoshi and now Kerr, too. She had told Yoshi and the twins to stay in their homeland, but they would not be parted from her. Even Yoshi, who hated to travel—and was currently causing chaos in her efforts to mount the large, docile camel that had been organized for her to ride—even she was ready to leave, but also determined to return to Suzin. She had sworn to Emperor Ramsis that she would return to him with Elishiba by
her side.
Elishiba hoped it were true.
Leaving her father was the hardest to endure. He reassured her that they would be together soon, but she found little comfort in his words. At least Yoshi and her closest companions were with her.
And Amshazar?
Again she scoured the faces of those gathering to leave, and her heartbeat tripped when she saw his figure cutting a path through the crowd. He strode to a large white horse and mounted. As he lifted the reins in one sure hand and stroked the horse with the other, he looked her way. Their eyes locked. He nodded at her quickly, almost imperceptibly, when they made eye contact.
Her blood heated instantly, and a sense of surety descended on her. For the first time she felt truly ready to take this task on, deep down, like a certainty she was doing the right thing. She needed that surety, she realized. Turning to Xerxes, she signaled she was ready. Her father hastened to her side and her young half brother, Tariq, with him.
"You must keep Aleem safe, while I am gone,” Elishiba whispered, as she bent to kiss her stepbrother.
