Second Chapter
If at first you do not succeed,
At least consider a new option.
Sabiya speaks…
How is that in one night, I can travel farther than I have ever been from home, and yet come morning, I am back where I started? Will I ever be free of this gilded cage? Must I forever be imprisoned or will I manage to escape and never look back?
Sabiya
A thick darkness swallowed the shadows cast by the single torch in the hallway. The guard lay asleep, always the case so late in the early morning, before the sun arose to scatter golden flakes amongst glowing stars.
Sabiya’s skirt made a swooshing sound with the shifting of her legs and she choked on her own breath. She peered over at the guard as her heart raced; his head lolled. She wrinkled her nose when she noticed the trickle of spittle slipping from between his parted, cracked lips. A drop of alcohol dripped from the lip of the jug toppled next to him.
She tiptoed down the hallway with the smell of spilled alcohol and vanilla incense bombarding her nostrils.
She paused at another section in the hallway where another guard lay. His eyes were closed and he snorted as she crept past his body, barely missing his leg as it twitched. A sharp intake of breath escaped her dry mouth and she froze. Her head didn't move, only her eyes, swinging towards the slumbering drunkard still lost in sleep. Sabiya darted on, giving a moment of thanks to the Great Sia for allowing the guards to be lazy drunks and not dutiful young men.
She came to her father’s apartment and, holding her breath, turned the brass handle, pushing inward. It swung easily and noiselessly. She exhaled, mentally sending Sia another thanks for letting the door be as open as it was when she’d left. Once within, she locked it; her father wouldn’t look for trouble if nothing seemed peculiar.
Sabiya crept across the floor and parted the curtain that led into the room she shared with her sisters. Dawn kissed the room with pale pink light from the sheer silk draped over the single window, reflecting from the mirror nailed above the doorway.
A paradise compared to the bloodied tent. Home used to make her stomach churn, but she would’ve traded her soul for the chance to never leave.
“Where were you, and no lies?”
Sabiya brushed a strand of hair back from her face as a smile touched her lips, but she tried to sound annoyed, fashioning a pout. “I never lie!”
Shana sat up in the bed that stretched along the back wall beneath the window. The lump in the silk sheets beside her didn’t stir, lost to sleep.
Sabiya stripped off her gritty clothing and climbed into the bed beside her younger sisters, the sheets exotic against her hot skin. Shana combed her fingers through Sabiya’s tangled tresses, sand tickling her shoulders.
“Who was it?” Shana whispered.
The image of Uthias flashed behind Sabiya’s eyes. Shana couldn’t know about him. “Who do you speak of?”
“The man, Sabiya! He stole you off with him atop his great camel, didn’t he? Mama is so certain that you’re with child and Father will have to send you away like what happened to Mama’s sister, the one we can’t talk about or we’ll be beaten and all. Does Father have to send you away, or is the man still but a mere lover to you? You know this is why you shouldn’t take a lover. Babies happen.”
