Internal: Viperpath (volume 1)

(31) New Leaf

Having dutifully attended the morning repast, Rashid had then invited himself to the palace's training grounds to polish his skills with the throwing-knives, set in the form of a belt, that the artisan Vars had especially crafted for him. This the boy prince had performed for the next hour--at about the same time as Mirani was making one of her most explosive confessions--and managing to hit about forty-five percent of the straw targets at this first try, in various distances and stances.

"Whew! Not very bad indeed for a first-timer..." he remarked as he retraced his steps back into the palace to get changed. "Next time, let's try and have an attendant count how many hits I could score in, say, three minutes... Then one..."

At that time, his path crossed that of Zal and Das, coming the other way from the dungeon-like chamber. Being in such good spirits, Mustafa's true brother thought to greet them.

"Why, hello there-"

Zal heard that, and characteristically did not bother to respond... but that had not been the only peculiarity. Rather, upon closer look, it was her gaze: so spitefully cold, a glare that would have given credence to the fairly-common saying 'if looks could kill'. Nor was Dastra's any brighter.

"Stay clear from us from today on, would ya, Pipsqueak," Zal spoke up, her tone thick with venom, and her true brother gave a subtle nod in agreement. "Last chance to stay safe. Let yer pup of a sis know that, as well."

"Hey," Ras blinked, looking around and beginning to realize what was missing, "why am I not seeing your mother around? Usually you're nigh-inseparable..."

The word 'mother' brought fire to Zal's eyes. Glancing at the belt of knives that Rashid was wearing, she deftly took out one of the daggers and held it aloft across his heaving, still-sweating neck.

"Whoa..!"

"No longer," she growled, "and I'm nowhere as practiced at this knife-handling as her, thanks very much. Don't want any slips now, do we? Akhi's gonna freak out, bet yer butt he will." The princess lowered the dagger, her eyes narrowed. "Nother bitsy tip, 'cause I'm feelin' generous: never keep a freakin'-weapon ya're too chickened to use. Das!"

"Lead on, Sis."

Here again Dastra's apparent passivity--in place of his usual eagerness to correct his true sibling's rougher edges--startled his counterpart.

As they passed, Rashid could not help but shiver slightly. "What was that all about..?"

Halfway to his own chambers, this prince wondered if he ought to relate such discovery to anyone else despite Zal's earlier warning. That one's little better than a bossy loudmouth, alright, and the situation just now looked off indeed...

"Ah, but so too was the case with our late Prime Vazir: I did warn that he had been 'in mortal danger'," Ras said to himself with remembered chagrin at his own mother's biting remarks back then. "Nobody had bothered to listen to me, not even Big Sis Lei, and now he's truly gone..."

Ought he really be making the same mistake again now? Would he not be accused as being too dense?

All the same, he knew only too well that staying mute when apparent mischief was unfolding right before his eyes, would not be an advisable course in the religion. Besides, that would have been Azalea's way of seeing things...

It could be that, intensely proud as she was, Zal would not admit herself to be in some real hot spot this time around... and Dastra was visibly taking after this.

And those stares! Something was clearly afoot, something foul, and as he finished changing on to his daily garb Ras found himself wanting to help in whatever small way he could. Had his true brother not given that example so many times before?