XL. BETWEEN TWO STORMS

  “Stop banging! I’m coming already!” Merka cracked open the door and scowled. “Stormlord below, I thought you were dead.”

  “Good to see you too, old friend.”

  Merka grumbled as he unlocked the deadbolt. “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “I had to make sure I wasn’t followed.” Nia answered. All week, Admrilia Hortus Ashiphiex’s presence had hung over her like a dark cloud. Between practicing for the hippodrome race and the last minute preparations for the Conqueror’s arrival, Nia had no time to break away.

  Merka waved dismissively as he allowed her inside. “Be quiet.” He hissed. “Everyone is asleep upstairs.” Nia entered the drab common room of Merka’s estate. He waved her to the low table and lit a lantern. She waited as Merka brewed a pot of warm tea and sat down. Merka watched her over the rim of his Pi-Yenjan cup. “You were gone a long time.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you arrive with Ashenian royalty on your doorstep.”

  “Yes.”

  “Should I be worried?” Merka asked warily.

  “Everyone should be worried where the Ashenians are concerned.”

  “Hm.” Merka huffed. “And here I was wondering if you have forgotten about your debt.” Merka held up his four finger hand to his temple. “I have not.”

  “You have a very sharp memory, Merka.” Nia begrudged. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “Yet, I need to modify the rules of our arrangement.”

  “Hya.” Merka spat. “Of course you do.”

  “I don’t need your money, or goods. I need grain, and fruit, cured meat—”

  Merka’s blue eyes narrowed. “Provisions? Your nine lives must have finally ran out.” When Nia was silent, he ran a hand through his thinning beard, contemplating. “Very well, I shall accept this. My terms are unchanging, I want information.”

  “Find me some papyrus, I’ll show you what I learned.”

  Merka was quick to grab his cartography tools. An hour later, Nia was back out onto the street, having arranged for Merka to drop the supplies off just outside the city’s gates. There was just one impossible task left before escaping; convincing her family to leave their house behind. When dawn greeted De-Asha, Nia was back in the stables of the Uro estate.

  “Baset please, you do not understand the level of danger we are in.”

  Her stepmother finished chewing. Nia grimaced as Baset devoured another fig with as much finality as the first. “I understand you perfectly. You are just like your father, called away by the dunes.”

  Cythe flinched sympathetically. She laid a delicate hand on Baset’s wrist. “Ma, please, hear her out.”

  The lines around Baset’s mouth were strained as her fingertips coaxed over the tattoo on her bicep. The doorway sealed with a snake. “I never claimed you as my own Nia, and yet, I spared you, I clothed you. I raised you out of the duty I felt towards my husband. I protected you even after you brought the legate’s mercy to our throats.”

  Shame coated Nia’s cheeks red. “Baset, I swear by my life, we must. The Empire is at our doorstep. The noose is already hung around our necks.”

  “Nia—” Lero said exasperated.

  Nia took a steadying breath and unsheathed the blade at her side. She placed the Peddler’s dagger on the table. Baset picked up the blade, turning it over in her hands. “What is this?” She asked cautiously.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “The star.”

  “The star? You found it?” Lero rushed forward from where he was leaning against the doorframe. He stared down at the dagger in Baset’s hands. Where?” He demanded.

  Her family's eyes widened in fear and awe as Nia recounted her exploration of the tomb, and then her encounter with the mysterious Peddler. “At first, I wasn’t sure what the blade was.” Nia admitted. “But then in Ash-Kai, when we were reading the legate’s journals, the pieces fell into place.”

  Cythe gasped. “The hand you stepped on in the tomb?”

  Nia nodded. “There’s more. I remembered what the Peddler said to me. He said ‘I stole directly from the goddess a shard of her mane’.”

  “I don’t understand.” Cythe whispered softly. “If you’ve had it with you the whole time Nia, why haven’t you handed it over to the princess. Or at least leave it somewhere where she could find it?” Her voice rose in pitch. “We are all sentenced if Clavo doesn’t turn the star over.”

  “Because this weapon is from a mane of heavenly fire.” Baset looked up and met Nia’s eyes. She nodded her understanding. “The Ashenians can’t have it.”

  “Ma! It’s only a matter of time before the princess takes it.” Cythe whispered fiercely.

  “She’s not wrong. Her guards have been trailing me all week.” Nia took a deep breath. “Please. We need to flee now. We need to get to Aker-San. I know the way, we will make it.”

  “We won’t, Nia.” Her stepmother whispered. “The House of the Doorway may not be your flesh, but it is mine. I will not leave.”

  Nia looked to her brother. He shook his head. “They are my people, I will not abandon them. But we must hide this immediately. Somewhere safe, out of the city.”

  Nia felt the crushing weight of defeat on her shoulders. “I know just the place.”

  “Then I’ll join you.” Lero said.

  Baset handed back the star. “Then it’s decided. There is nothing to do now but face what is coming with dignity and trust in the Goddess and her Ten.”

  The watchtower’s sharp lines broke from the earth. The sky rumbled ominous as Nia dismounted Ajaxi and unfastened her bag. Lero followed her into the watchtower. “I always wondered where you ran off to, when, well-” He ran a hand along the ancient brick. “What was this place anyway?”

  “Xur watchtower. It didn’t survive the war.”

  “And you are the only one who knows of its existence?”

  “Goddess willing. Come on-” Nia shouldered the heavy pack. “We need to go upstairs.” Nia led her brother up the narrow ladder to the second story. Her eyes adjusted to the dark room, making out the cedar chest. She knelt on her knees and heaved the heavy lid open.

  Her brother’s hands tightened around a clump of bundled fabric in the corner of the chest. “What’s this?” Lero lifted the gold cape into the air. His eyes alight as he held it up to the window and Nia saw her brother then in a world without the Conquering, without the legion’s occupation, without his birthright being stripped decades before his birth. The proud Barron of the House of the Doorway. Protector of De-Uro.

  The air sizzled and popped, her hair stood straight up on her forearms. The sky erupted into brilliant light. Nia covered her ears as the air sizzled. Her mouth tasted metallic and bloody. She propped her head through the narrow window. A great black scar scorched the side of the watchtower where the lightning had struck.

  Outside in the Dunelands two storm clouds rumbled against each other, the rain sounding like the marching of armies. The sky cracked and rain fell onto the dunelands.

  “Holy Lady.” Lero said. “Are my ears bleeding?”

  “Not yet.” Nia brought her head back inside as the first raindrops hit her cheeks. “We need to hurry.” Nia returned to the chest and knelt. She withdrew her maps from her pack.

  “What are those?”

  “The pathia.”

  “Praise be, you actually found it.”

  “I did.” Nia placed the maps in the chest and withdrew Peddler’s lamp. She held it close to her chest. “Peddler, I’m sorry I cannot return the star to the goddess yet. Please, protect it.”The sky grumbled overhead as she placed the lamp beside the scrolls. Nia unsheathed the dagger and held it aloft.

  “Stop right there!” Nia glanced over to find herself at the end of Admrilia Hortus Ashiphiex’s spear. The princess was drenched from forehead to sole, her voice brimming with cool fury. “So you did have it after all.”

  Nia raised her hands. Behind her Lero croached, reaching for his khoshep. Admrilia’s eyes darted over to him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Hand over the star Nia. We have you surrounded.” So they were. Admrilia shuffled aside, pinning them further into a corner as Alexandros and Flavius climbed up the ladder. The aker roared to life at the treat. Her neptori brandished their spears.

  “No.”

  “Don’t make me do this, Nia.” Admrilia said. “You are stuck here with us.”

  Nia rose to her feet slowly. Admrilia flashing in and out of her vision with the Tuat. “That’s where you are wrong, Amdrilia.” Nia said as the Tuat greeted her. “You are stuck here with me.”