What am I doing? Ako thought as she sat back and studied Jakub. He'd had a nasty fever during the night, and she'd used more of her precious water supplies to keep her rags wet. She'd eventually had to stop for fear of using too much of her water. She prayed that it would be enough. It had to be enough.

Please let him live, Goddess, Ako mentally prayed to Noam. Please let this man live.

Jakub had sweat through his blankets in the middle of the night, tossing and turning and mumbling to himself the entire time. He had been speaking so lowly Ako couldn’t understand him, even when she had lowered her ear to his lips. Still, he seemed to be getting better. His fever seemed to dramatically lessen a few hours prior, when the sun had first begun to rise to mark a new day. While it was getting better, it hadn’t broken yet.

I have also spent too many resources on this man to abandon him, Ako thought, wincing at the idea. It was cruel to think like this, but the desert was cruel and took much more than it gave. If Ako let herself, the desert would consume her and Jakub both, as it had consumed countless others without a trace.

“Sara?”

Ako looked down to see Jakub’s wide eyes. She narrowed her eyes and peered down at Jakub, but his expression wasn’t clear. A fever dream, perhaps.

“No,” Ako said softly. “I am not Sara. I am Ako.”

“Not Sara?”

Ako swallowed and closed her eyes, unwilling to watch despair cloud over the old man’s face. “No.”

“Sara…” Jakub whispered. His voice sounded a little clear but not fully alert. “Oh, my Sara…”

Jakub closed his eyes as his shoulders began to shake. Tears trickled down his wrinkled face as he silently wept. “My love,” Jakub cried. “Sara!”

Ako didn’t know what to do as Jakub mourned his lost love. She dabbed at his face with a rag and gently brushed his hair with her hand. She didn’t speak, only waited as Jakub sobbed.

Jakub eventually stopped crying, and Ako only briefly left his side to ensure that her camel and supplies were still there. She also took the time to search her vast empty surroundings.

So far, she hadn’t seen or heard anyone, a small comfort considering how Jakub had presumably been nearly killed by bandits.

Bandits coming so close to home, Ako thought angrily as she petted her camel, who preened at the attention. Bastards.

“Ako?”

Ako turned back to Jakub and quickly made her way to him. She weaved her way through the blanket cover and knelt beside Jakub, who was wide awake and appeared to be lucid.

“Jakub?”

“Thank you,” Jakub said. He took her hand and covered it with his other hand firmly. There were tears in his eyes as he smiled up at her but, this time, they were tears of happiness. “Thank you, Ako. You saved my life.”

Ako smiled back, patting his hand with her own before she withdrew both. “I could not leave you here to die,” Ako said.

“Many would have,” Jakub said. He frowned as he stared at the blanketed ceiling. “Are these your blankets?”

“They are,” Ako said. “I used my supplies.”

“I’m even further in your debt,” Jakub murmured. He began to try and sit up. Ako let him try, ready to spring to action if Jakub needed any help. He didn’t.

“That took much more effort than I thought it would,” Jakub said, frowning down at himself. He looked back up at her with a startling clarity. “What time is it, and what day is it?”

“It is the twenty-fourth day of March,” Ako said. Jakub’s eyes widened at this. “Midday will be a few hours from now,” Ako continued, wanting to get it over with all at once. “I’ve been looking after you for the past day.”

“Two days,” Jakub said softly. There was a glint in his eye that made Ako want to hold onto her dagger that was tucked into her boot. “It’s been two days since I was attacked.”

“Do you know why you were attacked?” Ako asked.

Jakub shook his head and winced at the action, his hand going to touch the side of his head. “They spoke in Kulok,” Jakub said slowly, his eyes clouding over in memory. “I’m not wholly fluent, but they yelled at me and called me names, telling me that my white skin shouldn’t be tolerated in the Huzha.”

Ako’s heart sank at those words. “There are those who think the Huzha Desert should be closed off to everyone,” Ako said slowly, biting down her anger. “Most of us treat them as the fools they are.”

“Those fools weren’t laughing when they left me to die,” Jakub growled. His hand came down from his head red with dried blood. “There was a score of them on horseback riding toward me and screaming for my death, so I fought them as best I could. I had a sling and enough rocks to make them pay. I killed one, probably two. They were angry when they left, but at least they were no longer mocking me.”

He slew two Kulok on horseback? Ako thought in wonder. Who is this man?

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“Why did you fight?”

“Because I wanted to die on my feet,” Jakub growled. He calmed and looked her over with a considering eye. “You’re on your own, aren’t you, girl? What manner of weaponry do you wield to protect yourself?”

Ako straightened. Jakub was still weak, and he was old, but even in his weakened state, this was someone she felt obliged to answer. She felt again as if she were a small girl being trained to use a bow by her father.

“A knife and bow,” Ako finally said. “I am good with a knife, but it is with a bow that I am truly at home.”

“A bow?”

“Yes,” Ako said, pleased at his curiosity for some reason. “I am very good with a bow.”

“I believe you,” Jakub said, his eyes flitting down to look at Ako’s arms. “You have the build of a bowman.”

“Thank you,” Ako said. She frowned as a thought struck her. “What were you delivering?”

“Silks,” Jakub said. He bowed his head. “I am a trader of silks. It wasn’t much, but it was a business that I built. I don’t know what to do now that it’s gone. They took everything, I assume?”

“Yes,” Ako confirmed. “They took it.”

Jakub bowed his head. “It is gone, then,” he lamented. He looked back up and peered at her. “My throat is dry, drier than it should be. Did I talk in my sleep?”

For a moment, Ako was tempted to deny him, to say that he had said nothing. But with Ako under the old man’s penetrating gray eyes, she slowly nodded. “You did,” Ako said. “You spoke of a woman. Sara.”

“Sara,” Jakub said thickly. The pain in the voice returned. “It’s been years since she was taken from me, and yet, it still hurts just as much as the day that she died.”

“Who was she?” Ako asked, curious at what could make this man—who was strong despite his age—feel so deeply. “Was she your wife?”

“Would that she had been,” Jakub said, smiling lopsidedly as his eyes gained a far-off look. “She was beautiful, a jewel. Never my wife, but someone who I treasured above all else. She didn’t see me as I saw her at first, but eventually, she came around. When I left, I always came back as soon as I could, and eventually, I stayed with her.”

“You left?” Ako asked, surprised. “Your Sara seemed like a remarkable woman. Why would you leave her?”

Jakub stared at her for a moment in what looked like disbelief and then laughed. “How refreshing!” Jakub said, smiling widely. The years and stress and his pain seemed to melt away as he grinned like a boy. “Allow me to show you why, Ako.”

Ako watched the old man push himself to his knees. The old man was under a great deal of pain, but he bore it stoically as he pulled himself to his feet, pushing the blanket out of his way. He blinked as the sun swept over him, raising a hand to shield his gaze from the blistering sunlight. Ako followed him, tossing the blanket along the side of the cart.

A change seemed to come over Jakub as he pulled something out of his pocket. Ako watched, bemused as he pulled out a handful of brightly colored balls out of his pocket and began to juggle them.

“I was once known far and wide as the finest bard in all of Diev,” Jakub said, his grin turning mischievous. Somehow—even though Ako didn’t see it—a fourth ball entered into the mix. Then, somehow, a fifth. Jakub didn’t look as though he was straining at all, even as the balls blurred. He kept going, and Ako found herself smiling too, clapping and cheering as Jakub managed to make the balls twirl and create alternating shapes and colors until he caught the balls and bowed theatrically.

“I cannot believe it!” Ako said, completely caught up in the moment. “Your actions made it seem so effortless!”

Jakub stuffed the balls back into his pocket. The exuberance and youthful vigour that Ako had seen drained from him, although a spark of it remained as he walked back to the cart and leaned against it.

“Whew,” Jakub said, mopping away some sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “That was almost too much for me.”

“It did not look like it,” Ako said, calming herself down. While she had never seen anything like it, and it had been incredible, this was still basically a stranger, and she didn’t want to relax too much around him.

“That’s part of the secret,” Jakub said with a wink. Ako smiled again despite herself. “I didn’t just juggle either. I played all manner of instruments, I sang, I tumbled, and I told stories. These weren’t just any stories, though,” Jakub said, flourishing his hands. “When I tell a story, it’s as if you are there, watching it unfold before your very eyes.”

“Tell me a story, then,” Ako said. “Tell me many stories as we ride to Esai to pass the time.”

“Esai,” Jakub said, stroking his whiskers that were still in their infancy. “A small town. Large for the Huzha, but small and relatively unremarkable. Do you have a destination in mind?”

“No,” Ako said. She gathered up the blankets that Jakub had been lying on and straightened them over the cart where they could dry in the sweltering sun. “I have no real destination in mind. I escaped a betrothal to an idiot, and now I wish to do whatever I want.”

“A betrothal to an idiot,” Jakub said, raising his eyebrows. He smirked. “I assume they were disappointed.”

Ako smirked back, and she knew that Jakub could see the coldness in her eyes. “They were.”

“A girl after my own heart,” Jakub murmured, frowning for a moment before he straightened. “I would be delighted to accompany you to Esai, Ako. There’s nothing for me here, not anymore.”

Ako winced as she realized that she held a great deal of power over the older man. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I realize now that you don’t have much choice. Is there anywhere else you would like to go?”

Jakub laughed. “I’m a bard!” he cried, bowing again. “We go wherever we wish, guided by our hearts and the winds of fate. If Fate herself decrees that I follow you to Esai, then so be it!”

Ako smiled back. “Let’s go then, Jakub. You ride first.”

“I will not ride while the lady walks!” Jakub sputtered. Ako raised an eyebrow, and the bard eventually deflated. “I will ride.”

“Good,” Ako said sweetly. “You are still weak and need to gather your strength. It would please me greatly if you told me a story along the way.”

“Of course!” Jakub said as he walked up to the camel and let it sniff his hand. The camel took a long and suspicious sniff before he looked over at Ako.

“Your camel doesn’t trust me,” Jakub said.

“Maybe because you are untrustworthy,” Ako joked. She grinned when Jakub placed his hand over his heart and recoiled as if an arrow had struck him.

“Felled by the truth!” Jakub exclaimed, before he hauled himself onto the camel. Ako watched him as she tried not to laugh. Jakub’s mounting was as inelegant as it was inefficient. “Which way do we go?” Jakub asked.

“North,” Ako said, pointing northward. She walked over to her camel and gathered the reins in her hand. “I will hold onto the reins for now, as my camel is hard-headed.”

Jakub looked as though he desperately wanted to make a quip, but at Ako’s stern look, he bowed his head. “As you wish,” he said, settling back as Ako led the camel back to the cart. Ako quickly gathered her now-dried blankets, stuffing them into their pouches. She then gathered a few handfuls of wood from the destroyed cart, stuffing them into a few more empty pouches.

I am going to run out of pouches, Ako thought, eying her stuffed supply bags with some uncertainty. She shrugged. I will deal with that problem when I must.

“Are you ready?” Ako asked, turning away from the stuffed pouches. She looked at Jakub—who was an old man who had nearly been killed by thirst—with more than a little bit of doubt. “We could stay here for a while if you must.”

“A bard is always ready,” Jakub quipped with an offended looking, gesturing grandly northward. “By your leave, lady Ako.”

With that, Ako took the reins again and began to lead them north, toward Esai.