Two figures emerged on the top of a large sand dune. They were covered tight from head to toe. One mounted a robust camel, behind the ochre veils were the eyes of a girl. Beside her strode a lengthier figure, similarly dressed. Undulating sandy hills surrounded the two, and further right was a plateau ruffled with cliffs.
Rooftops appeared far in the distance, glistening in the sunlight like a mirage. It was the small town of Qara. The girl and her companion continued, gently prodding the camel forward down the slope. Her name was Baya, and she was determined to explore a rumor she had heard about this town out in the eastern desert.
When they arrived at an old hostel near the outskirts, Baya sent her companion to gather intelligence.
"What about the camel?" he asked, hesitating.
"I'll take care of it!" Baya said, "go!"
She booked their rooms there. The hostel was carved entirely out of slick pink rock. A swath of deep green foliage climbed up a trellis that encircled its entrance and continued into the low lobby. Inside, the hostel served breakfast and wine and had cats running all over. The steps leading down to the lobby, as well as those leading to the chilly basement room Baya had selected for herself, were sharp and speckled in reed-shaped notches.
After bathing, she waited for Kotem in her chilly chamber, sitting on a small fountain that protruded out of the wall. In her hands she held a cup of mistwine. She wore a deep purple gown with an embroidery of a large yellow sun on her chest. Baya stretched her neck and thick locks of hair fell from her scarf. The exhaustion of travel was still on her, but she looked as much a princess as she ever had.
The fountain barely gurgled. Etched along its sides were symbols of old families -- an eye, a sunbeam, a moon, three curved lines indicated a house so ancient it only lived in tales, and the sun of Hadan House, which she presently wore. Her mother's family emblem, the moonbeam, was there too.
I will make you happy, mother, she thought, I will show them what happens when you mess with the daughters of Duyin.
***
YOU ARE READING
At Last a Proper Brute to Redeem House Hadan
AbenteuerBaya is a young noblewoman on a mission to redeem her family's honor. Her first task is to kill a mage. But finding a proper champion -- and hiring him -- has proven far more difficult than you'd expect. This story is under 10 thousand words. It ta...
