The Desert Falcon

Chapter 15, Uneasy Truce

I violently jolted awake, my mind panicking as it struggled to understand what was happening. Hands reached forward to ease my panicked state and my eyes, widening with fear, shot to Amar who sat beside my bed.

"Shh...easy, my lady," Amar spoke solemnly.

My lady?

"What...what is happening?" I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. My throat was parched from the trek through the desert and the roaring need to quench my thirst erupted. However, I tamped the instinctive need to locate a source of water as another instinct took over. I was in a lavishly-decorated bedchamber, lying in a massive bed, piled high with furs and cushions that was situated low to the ground. Large tropical plants, with wide flattened leaves decorated the area and just beyond, held two beautifully carved doors that led to an outside balcony. Warm evening air wafted through, as the sun began to set.

It was clear that I was back at the palace, for there was no other place in the empire that was this magnificently outfitted with treasures and ornately-decorated furnishings of impeccable craftsmanship, than in the palace.

Immediately, a sense of anger, intermingled with deeply embedded sense of despair, roared through me like a never-ending, destructive, merciless heat.  After all I had done to escape, Allah had somehow sought for me to come back here.

Around me, I watched as four servant girls stood anxiously at the foot of my bed, peering at me in curiosity. The presence of these strangers gave me little time to stew in my feelings surrounding my dismally, unfortunate predicament.  They refrained from addressing me, standing in deference for orders. 

"I have been ordered to see to your health," Amar explained, drawing my attention towards him.

"How very kind," I added dryly, my expression hardening.  "I cannot imagine being in any healthier of a state than unconscious in a palace run by a man who has a habit of decapitating men at any whim.  How blessed I must be by the merciful one."

I sat up, groaning, feeling sore from the journey, every muscle protesting in their stiffness, as Amar frowned disapprovingly at my tone.  One of the girls hid her smirk, while the taller one nudged her with her elbow to keep her composure.

Pity, she refrained from expressing her laughter.

Despite, my accustomed riding habits, the journey here had been long and unpleasant given the company. I tensed my muscles, stretching to ease the ache. I glanced down, noting my attire. I wore a heavily, pleated skirt, with decorative beading and stitching, with a shortened, cropped beaded top of the same rich, purple-pink color, exposing my abdomen and the tops of my bosoms. I did not have time to linger upon my clothing, for I was too hyper-aware of my new surroundings. "Where am I? What has happened?"

Amar held my wrist, checking for the silent beat of my heart. His assistant stood beside him, as Amar nodded to him to record whatever it was that he wanted him to. I was confused. "What has happened?" I asked him. "I sense the passing of time, but I cannot recall how I came to be here."

"You are at the sultan's palace in Zoreb," Amar explained. We were a day's ride away from Tazim, in the capital. "You collapsed from the heat on your way here."

I frowned. "You mean to tell me I suffered the same heat fatigue as the Sultan?"

Amar nodded, as he leaned back and apprised me. "Yes."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked him, astounded that I had succumbed to the same sort of illness that affected the sultan so. I had taken great pride in knowing that I could manage against the desert heat, only to embarrassingly fall under in the same manner as the sultan. I suppose after all, it was a reminder that Mother Nature was dangerous.