The Zodiacs

31. Intercepting Knight

Zahra gasped, stumbling forward when she suddenly found herself on firmer ground in a much cooler cell than the desert they'd just stood in. She tripped over the long white dress, lifting her arms up in time to catch herself on the wall before her nose could break against the solid stone. Lotus groaned from behind her as she watched Zahra's knees drop to the ground with a new clumsiness. "Sorry," the ex-soldier quickly tried to lift herself back up. "I'm sure I'll get used to it sooner or later."

"Did you stain your dress?" Lotus glanced over when she'd risen from the floor, making sure that her comrade's awkwardness hadn't ruined the gown she'd managed to borrow for her earlier that day. But it didn't seem ripped or stained.

Running her hands over the multiple layers of white fabric that fell smoothly down her body, Zahra shook her head. "No, I think we're good. I couldn't live with myself if I ruined the best thing I've ever worn," she said, running her fingers over the golden necklace around her neck that held the dress up without the use of sleeves. Around her waist, another golden belt slightly tightened the dress, sprouting toward her head and feet with royal decorations.

But it was an inch or two too tight around her stomach, making it difficult to stand comfortable without the metal piercing into Zahra's spine.

"I'll go then," Lotus glanced around the abandoned Quarters where the girl had directed her to appear. "If you need anything just call out, and I'll hear it, okay?" Zahra nodded. "And be careful, I don't need the others hating me more than they already do."

With a sigh, Zahra frowned. "They don't h-."

"Bye."

And she was gone, leaving the girl alone in her old room. Glancing around, Zahra's eyes landed on the mirror hung on the wall with a new realization she hadn't pondered much on before. She looked so much more different now, in this dress and with most of the black resting at the tips of her hair as the blonde chased it away from her roots. Even though the girl blinking back at her now was the same person she had been before, not much relationship could be drawn between them at one glance... which made her safer in the castle walls.

"Okay," she sighed, turning toward the door and lightly grazing her fingers against the blade of the dagger secured beneath its first layers. The girl nodded and confidently began to push the door open with a new purpose. "Let's go kill us a Pha-," but it didn't budge and her forehead made solid contact with the thick wood. "Pull, right," she quickly tugged it and rushed out in flustered embarrassment.

Zahra walked through the familiar corridors, the click of her sandals sounding through the narrow halls that gradually opened up to the main walkways. She continued up the stairs, taking the same three flights that many around her were toward the King's Ballroom.

She pressed her lips together in content; it would be easy to slip in with all the others around her as just another Royal that had come to do nothing more than enjoy the Egyptian Pharaoh's ball.

When she stepped through the open doors into the familiar room, a wave of nostalgia overcame the girl as she remembered her first time in this room. Her memories seemed to overlap to when she watched the Pharaoh silently from the right corner in her wooden armor --a soldier. He'd nearly caught her then... which means there was a chance he might recognize her face, along with the wife sitting alongside him.

So she would have to be much more careful to stay out of their sight and the attention of any significant soldier or knight.

Quietly, the girl made her way over to the royal line of snacks and hors d'oeuvres, turning her back to the large side of the room. She melted into a crowd of other ladies discussing something about the food in front of her that she couldn't bother to pay much attention to because Zahra had never even seen such exotic food choices. As long as she blended in with the five ladies as a sixth, there was no need to converse and draw their attention to herself any more.