Heart of the Desert: Sun Chaser

Ch. 4

And so following their arrival to the castle, Amina shrugged back behind Marx, pulling her shoulders inward and attempting to look smaller. A look of innocence and ignorance, that was what she would have to master to sneak her furtive spying past Sivan. She had yet to be punished harshly by him, if you didn't consider coerced sexual acts as punishment. Would he be cruel, or would he cast some mercy her way, a fair warning and let her off easy?

She could not have prepared herself for the reality.

Marx gribbed her by the arm roughly, and dragged her to the courtroom. With three hard knocks, he announced his presence. The guards aided in swinging open the large obsidian doors.

She trudged slowly behind the advisor, only when he deserted his position in front of her did the feeling of vulnerability fully set in. Her hands were clasped tightly together, and she refused to cast her gaze up from off the ground. But she could certainly feel the dagger like eyes of the Overseer penetrating her.

"Marx, I send you into the city on court matters, and this is who you bring back?" There was heavy tension laced in his voice. Amina winced, reluctantly pulling her gaze off the ground to meet Sivan's intense stare. She never thought to liken his orbs to blue flames, but there they were, gazing at her like the hellfires themselves.

"Explain yourself." He commanded, knuckles turning white from gripping the throne. His voice boomed over the courtrooms architecture, echoing into the sandglass and obsidian structure.

"I-", Amina's voice was a feeble whisper, but she was cut off by the irate tone of Marx.

"I intercepted our dear Courtesan in a backalley, where she had been corned by our common acquaintance Kalel Draven, Lord."

The room turned deathly silent then, you could hear a pin drop. "Kalel Draven..." He mused.

"What was he doing?" Sivan perched forward on his chair, suddenly more absorbed in the small tidbit of information that mentioned Kalel Draven than the fact that his precious personal human toy attempted to sneak out of the castle. "Was anyone with him? Was he armed?"

Marx balked, and shook his head. "The mercenary? God if I know, he was with a small child, could not have been older than the age of eight if I guessed. And you know him sir, of course he always has those ridiculous hunting knives strapped to him."

Sivan pursed his lips, "Interesting."

"You are lucky that I found Amina when I did." Marx stuck his chest out, feeling a sense of pride for saving the Lord's precious courtesan.

"Yes, and why exactly is it that Amina is the only one standing before us?" Sivan's tone was teetering on the edge of something cruel.

"Excuse me, Overseer?" Marx's body language immediately deflated.

Amina found herself unknowingly shrinking back, anticipating the severity of Sivans impending blowout.

"Did I not give you the explicit instructions to apprehend any individual acting suspicious and bring them forth for investigation Marx?" Sivan leaned forward in his chair further.

Marx stuttered, "Your courtesan was in danger-"

"Would you not define the act of following a woman, one who belongs to the court and is highly esteemed, into an alleyway, as suspicious behavior?"

Marx was silent. His face had gone unnaturally pale, and his adams apple bobbed as he swallowed. This was the first time Amina had witnessed Sivan get angry with one of his advisors. She never would have anticipated Sivan taking out his frustrations on someone as close to him as Marx. It was apparent that no one was safe in this courtroom.