[◈] Curse of the High Priestess

1 | 5 ⌋ Window to the Soul

Bedouin Trading Post

By the time the sun began to wake up, the group had landed at the trading post. The Warden wandered off to get something to drink while Hasina spoke to a few women and asked them for clean clothes. They immediately took the girls away from the men, giggling.

"Where are they taking us?" Evelyn asked as they entered a building with the women. The girls were separated until they finished getting changed. Evelyn wore a traditional black Bedouin dress with a black laced veil covering the bottom half. Hasina wore hers with emerald tones, which darkened her eyes. When the two laid eyes upon each other, they gasped. "You look stunning," Evelyn squealed before they walked out to meet the boys.

"Um, Evelyn, wait." The medjai had no choice but to follow the librarian until a shadow caught her eye. Instantly, Hasina looked over in Rick's direction and froze. Had he seen the shadow, too? She tried to calm her nerves, "I'm going to use the restroom. I'll meet you in a few minutes, okay?"

"Are you okay?" Carnahan whispered. "Did something happen between you and Rick?" The lightness in her words widened Hasina's eyes, catching onto the implication. "You seem a little pale, is all."

"I'm fine, I promise." Hasina smiled and walked away before more questions rose from the sand. Quickly, she ran towards the empty property with a sliver of hope that the silhouette was a friend rather than a foe. "Hello?" Hasina was greeted with silence, beckoning her to call again. "Hello?"

"Do you have the key?" The figure asked her.

"You don't look like a medjai. Who are you?"

The figure lunged at the girl with the knife. She stealthily dodged the first attempt by running over the bar and hiding behind there for a moment. As her attacker strolled in her direction, he made clicking noises that she didn't find comforting. Hasina sacrificed a nice bottle of bourbon by throwing it in his face, jumped over the bar, and kneed him in the stomach.

He fell backward but retaliated quickly by grabbing another knife from his boot. Hasina took the one he dropped and twirled it in her hands before they began dancing again. Even though this man towered over her, the medjai managed to block most of his attempts. Hasina managed to cut his arm and face, but that wasn't enough. She aimed for his stomach, but he kicked her backward into a set of stools.

The pain paralyzes her, which seems to work in the foe's favor. "I need the key - where is it?"

"I'll never tell," Hasina spat at the man. He retaliated with a heavy punch to her stomach. "Shit, that hurt." He pulled her hair back, exposing her neck to his dagger. "Why do you want the key?"

"He needs to live, Nabila." The name made her cold. "He wants to live again. He needs the key and dagger."

Hasina grabbed one of the stool legs and slammed it hard against his temple, causing him to stagger enough for her to escape his grip and trap him. Her arms tightened around his thick neck while he flailed around the building to push her off. He uncoiled one of her arms, twisted it, and threw Hasina over his shoulder. The fighter tried to continue the fight, but the oncoming concussion left her helpless. The room began to move while her enemy straddled her.

"What do you want?"

"Sehkmet's dagger, where is it?

"I don't know," she grunted. That wasn't the answer the attacker expected, sending another blow to her stomach. She hissed at the pain, then bit her tongue while glaring at her attacker when he asked again. "I don't have it!"

He took his knife and began to cut into her stomach - the wounds weren't deep enough for her to lose blood; he made sure it felt like that was what he was doing. She tried to kick him, but his weight wouldn't allow it. He asked again, and Hasina gave him the same answer. He gave her another cut as if keeping a tally of how far Hasina would go to keep a secret.