Crimson Threads ♡Sinbad X Oc♡

Chapter ten: Eyes of fire

"Music?" Yunalesca tilts her head.
"Yeah. Like with instruments and stuff." Sinbad nods, playing with the frayed end of his pillow. Having bid their farewells to the king apon returning from their walk, they returned to their room to discuss the kings advice.

Flopping down on her back next to Sinbad, Yunalesca stares at the ceiling. "Where would we even get instruments? Let alone people who know how to play them." She says through a yawn. She was exhausted after everything that happened that day, and Sinbads business discussions weren't helping to keep her awake. "Harun did say musicians are fairly rare. But I'm sure we'll find them near the theatre." Sinbad answers. Unlike his companion, he was still wide awake, the adrenaline of excitement pumping vigorously through his veins. "And how do we get them to play for us? I'm pretty sure they're not going to do it for free." Another yawn escapes Yunalescas lips, her eyes becoming heavier with each passing second.

"We still have some money saved, so we can use that for the time being. As more people come to watch, we'll use those profits to pay them." Sinbad says, placing his hands behind his head. "Though I don't know how much a musicians fee will be.." Sinbad furrows his brows. "How do we get additional income?" Sinbad groans, sifting through his past conversations with Harun. Suddenly, an idea popped into Sinbads mind.
"I got it! Let's publish written versions of my adventures! We'll make separate volumes so that it becomes a collection of stories rather than a complete novel. What do you think, Yuna?" The room was silent, except for the soft sound of breathing. "Yuna?" Sinbad props himself up by his elbows to look at Yunalesca. She had fallen asleep next to him, her face perfectly serene in the moonlight. The sight gave Sinbad goosebumps. "I never noticed Yuna was this pretty before..." The words bubble up in Sinbads mind, an intense heatwave crashing onto his face.

This whole situation felt unusually foreign to him. He'd often used his charisma and good looks to beguile women into doing what he wanted and he'd flirted with many beautiful women before, but never once did his heart beat as wildly as it did now, watching the moonbeams play on Yunalesca long eyelashes.
Feeling his heart hammer against his chest, Sinbad ripped his eyes away from her, forcing himself to sit up. With one hand on his chest, Sinbad tries to calm himself down. Trying to find a way off of the bed, he glances at Yunalesca. She had since moved and was lying on her side, blocking any way off the bed without waking her.
"Oh, come on!" Sinbad mentally scolds her. Though his heart had calmed down, the heat on his cheeks hadn't subsided.

Shaking her leg, Sinbad tried to wake Yunalesca up. "It'll be better to wake her up intentionally rather than accidently." His attempt failed when all she did was groan and nuzzle up closer to him. With a defeated sigh, Sinbad smiled tenderly. "I guess she really is tired. I'll just let her be for tonight." Pulling a blanket over the both of them, Sinbad layed down next to Yunalesca, his face only inches away from hers. Closing his eyes, Sinbads mind floods with the events of the day, the memory of Yunalesca smiling under the market lanterns his last thought before succumbing to the gentle embrace of sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Walking down the brazier lit hall of the colosium, Yunalesca heaves an irritated sigh. She still couldn't get what happened that morning out of her head.
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Sinbad, his face so close to hers she could feel his breath on her nose.
The memory of Sinbads ruffled bed hair and sleepy eyes paired with his luscious voice asking how she'd slept sent goosebumps trickeling up her spine. Stopping dead in her tracks, Yunalesca turns to the wall and bangs her head against it.
Though she had thoroughly scolded him, her heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

"It's not fair!" She glowered.
"How could he act like nothing happened?! Nothing did happen, but still! I woke up in his arms!" Yunalesca could feel a vein on her forehead threatening to burst. All throughout their day, Sinbad acted completely normal, as if his day started like any other. It irritated Yunalesca immensely.

Taking a calming breath, Yunalesca took a step back, her palms flat on the cool stone wall. "Don't let him distract you. You know what he's like." She says, recalling the moment they first walked into the colosium that afternoon. "He's a womaniser. A man who abuses his charming demeanour to manipulate women into doing what he wants." It stung Yunalesca to say that, her heart aching with denial, but she couldn't ignore the way Sinbad took that girls hand, placing soft kisses on her knuckles before asking her about the colossal colosium.
When she saw that, Yunalescas' heart ached, and she let her feet carelessly carry her away.

Now, she was wandering around in the halls of the colosium, hoping to find some semblance of activity, but despite her best efforts, she was still lost. "Forget about that for now and focus on getting back to civilisation." Yunalesca clears her mind with another deep breath. Turning to face the seemingly endless hall, Yunalesca notices something strange. "Bars?" She walks closer to inspect the thick metal rods. It looked like a prison cell. "Why would this even be here?" Yunalesca questions in her mind as her hand slides over one of the rusted bars. Peering into the dark, Yunalesca squints her eyes. She could see something at the very back of the cell.
Moving her face a little closer to the bars, Yunalescas blood ran cold when a low growl drifted from the darkness. Frozen in place, Yunalesca felt every muscle in her body tense up, ready to run at a moments notice. With her eyes fixed on the shadow in the darkness, Yunalesca felt like a small and defenceless rabbit as an ominous air settled around her. In the darkness, Yunalesca saw the creatures glowing yellow eyes. It blinked once, twice, and before it blinked a third time, it lunged at Yunalesca, who leaps back in fright, a tiny shriek escaping her throat before she clasps her hands over her mouth.
Falling on her backside, Yunalesca stumbled backwards until she was a safe distance away from the cell.

Taking short jagged breaths, Yunalesca watches the creature, its eyes pinned on her. "Your face." A voice startles her. "My face?" Yunalesca thinks to herself, her fingers smearing a warm sticky liquid across her cheek.
With shaky hands, Yunalesca pulls her hand away from her face to look at the liquid on her hand. Blood.
Turning around, Yunalesca saw another cell. Still scared, she opens her mouth to speak, but only a soft shrill sound escapes.
Forcing herself to take deep breaths, Yunalescas waits for her eyes to reajust to the darkness of the cells.
At the very back, she saw the silhouette of a person.
"Who are you?" Her question was shaky and lacked her usual confidence. The silhouette gave her no reply. Repeating her question, Yunalesca picks herself up, her legs still trembling. "It smelled the blood on your face, so it attacked you." The voice explains.
Walking closer to the cell, Yunalesca lets out a loud gasp. Inside the cell was a child, a bit younger than Ja'far, chained to the wall by his neck and ankles.
"What.. who.." Yunalesca couldn't even form a full sentence. "He's a slave. This child is a slave." Yunalesca could feel tears well up in her eyes as memories of her time on the slave ship resurface.
"Hold on, I'll help.." Yunalesca starts but is quickly cut off by the boy. "If you release me, they'll charge you with theft, and you'll most likely lose your hands for that." Yunalesca looked at the boy in disbelief.
"So you want to stay in here?" She almost shouts the question.

"No. I just don't want your pity." The boys' words caught Yunalesca off guard. "Pity?" She repeats the word in her head, anger beginning to bubble up from her stomach. "For your informa.." Yunalesca stopped herself when she saw the boys' deep crimson red eyes. Though he was shackled, his gaze was proud, bordering on a kind of simple-minded arrogance. He looked like a beast even more dangerous than the one who scared her. "If you want to find an exit, just follow this hall and turn right at the third staircase. Those stairs will lead you to one of the main halls." The boy says, turning away from Yunalesca.

Taking that as her que to leave, Yunalesca stepped back from the boys cell, her anger completely gone. Instead, it was replaced with a proud kind of loneliness. She was proud of this boy, and yet her heart ached for him. "For the record, I don't pity you. I empathise with you, and those are two completely different things." Yunalesca says softly before walking away.