Escaping the King's Crusade

Chapter VI

Fatima walked sullenly down the hallway as she approached her sister's room. The slave girl had been tasked to deliver food to the king's hostages. Fatima trembled as she walked up to the guard outside.

"Excuse me, Sir," she said.

"What?!" the man grumbled.

"I'm here to deliver food to Princess Amira," the maid responded.

"Alright," the guard answered as he unlocked the door. "This better be quick."

"Quick?" Fatima thought. "I need time to talk to her."

"Um, I was also tasked with preparing her bed so I'll need time," she answered.

"Ugh, very well," the guard grouched as he opened the door. "You have fifteen minutes."

"Thank you," she answered as she entered the room. The guard indifferently closed the door behind her. Still nervous about reuniting with her sister, the maid remembered Minerva's words and mustered up the courage to speak to her.

"Hi, Amira," Fatima greeted quietly.

"Oh, hi," Amira replied as the maid placed her meal on a small coffee table. "Who are you?"

Fatima was stunned by her words.

"You don't remember me?!" she responded, hurt by Amira's words. "I'm Fatima! Your sister!"

"Oh, right, Fatima," Amira replied. "I'm sorry, it's just..."

"Don't bother," Fatima answered sullenly. "I know you don't care about me. No one in our family does."

"No, it's not that," Amira responded. "I never really got to know you. I only found out you're my sister a couple months before we got captured. And even then I never got to see you much."

"Yeah, because Father didn't care about me!" Fatima answered. "He always favored you. You were his prized daughter. You didn't even have to follow traditional gender roles like I did."

"What are you talking about?" Amira replied. "Of course I did."

"No you didn't," Fatima answered, starting to cry. "You weren't a slave like me. Father let you do whatever you wanted. He even let you learn archery and get an education; things that are normally unheard of for women!"

She burst into tears.

"You didn't even have to do the ritual!"

"What are you talking about?" Amira asked.

"You don't know?" the maid responded in shock. "Oh, wait. Of course you don't. I forgot that magi can't permanently lose body parts."

"Lose body parts?" Amira replied in horror. "What ritual was this?"

"You're so lucky to have the privilege of not knowing," Fatima responded. "You got to grow up sheltered away from the evils of this world. Meanwhile, I had to go through unbearable pain! All because the mullahs deemed it sinful for me to even enjoy it while my owner's having his way with me!"

Amira gulped, feeling as if she was about to throw up.

"He made you go through that?!" she asked in horror.

"No," Fatima answered. "My mother's husband did it to me. But Father didn't do anything to prevent it. He didn't even know I existed because he was too careless to check if my mother had conceived after he used her!"

"He used her?" Amira asked.

"Of course he did!" Fatima responded. "It's not like she was in a position to refuse! And even if it was consensual, he shouldn't have abandoned her after that. She could've been killed because of that."