Palaces of Smoke

Chapter 1 - A Curious Patient (revised 4/26/20)

It was a chilly, rainy night when she left him to die.

The downpour masked the splashes of her quick escape, and the darkness of the night hid her from her pursuers. With nothing but the clothes on her back and her bag of medical supplies, Noor Abbas slinked through the alleyways of Kennett to avoid the White Triangle hot on her heels.

Woken up in the middle of the night to perform surgery and extract a gaping knife from the stomach of a high ranking member of the most notorious drug cartel in Kennett, her hands moved methodically from experience, but her mind was cloudy with anxiety and, Noor hated to admit it, disinterest in this particular patient's outcome.

So when he continued to bleed even after the knife was removed, she knew there was something she missed, and that something resulted in his glassy eyes and still heart. She also knew that the White Triangle don't take kindly to mistakes, and had exceptionally cruel methods of punishments.

She was going to be tortured and killed.

It didn't help that her distaste for the White Triangle's drug, Bliss, was widely known for its effect on her other patients. Nor did it help that Alphonso Durante, the high ranking member in question, had always been at odds with her since they met. To make matters worse, their leader, Mark, had accompanied him to the sudden, midnight surgery with two other goons.

She had to run away.

Noor remembered vividly, dark blood pooling under Alphonso, his eyes growing dark and cold and then turning to Mark, who was watching Alphonso intently. She remembered the split second decision of leaving the operating theater under the vague excuse of getting more materials and then sprinting out of the hospital before they realized what happened. And then the roar of shouts and demands of her name when they did.

She ran and ran until she couldn't no more, finding herself at the docks. No police would help; too many were under the White Triangle's payroll to take the risk now. As one thing led to another, she knew that boarding one of the cargo ships was her only chance of escaping a gruesome death.

As she crept behind the shipping crates, she heard a sound and ducked behind them. Suddenly, she was cornered by Alphonso's brother, Lucas. He was steps away from her, the scent of wet wood being mixed with her own sweat and anxiety as he stepped closer, her heartbeat beating in her head like a drum as she prayed that he wouldn't find her.

He seemed to change his mind and turned away. The relief propelled her to stow away on a ship and get back home as soon as possible.

And that is she found herself, two months later, walking alone, tired and ragged, through the streets of Lakash: her gold necklace sold for passage and her fingers clasped tightly on the dupatta on her head in one hand and on her medical bag in the other.

She now trudges wearily in the night, thankful for the cover of sleep and darkness to protect her from many prying eyes. It had been six years since she's returned to her hometown, but she's grateful that, unlike her, nothing in the seaside city has changed much.

Her neighborhood's houses still rose up like colorful flowers, illuminated by the full moon on this quiet summer night. Her house, a blue colored, modest merchant's home that smelled of jasmine, was at the end of the road, and her heart swelled at the sight of seeing it.

A few more steps and then I'm...

"Yusuf?! Yusuf!"

Noor hears someone cry out in the alley she is passing. With caution, she peers around the corner and sees two men, illuminated by a neighbor's torchlight. One brawny, tall man was yelling for help, looking frantic as another man lay unconscious against him.