Mazin shivered after his bath. A cloth, bucket, and a tiny brick of soap. Not enough for his entire body, but he scrubbed his crevices. His stink waned rather than vanishing. He felt grimy still, and the clothes they gave him irritated his skin. It was stiff and crude, one sleeve shorter than the other, yet too long past his waist. The pants were snug, still, he was grateful to toss aside his rags.
The days passed without event. His eye remained dark, and Mei’s face decorated his dreams. When his nightmares weren’t haunting him. It remained quiet in the void, thankfully with none of the previous pain.
Mei came twice since her last visit, though they hardly spoke a word to each other beyond greetings. He couldn’t place what caused the return of silence. She denied knowing who he was. Perhaps they told her.
He might have been a prince, but not an heir. They wouldn’t get much for him.
“You look a little better,” Mei said, and Mazin jumped, snatched back to reality. “I thought I pushed my luck when I asked.”
“I’ve grown so used to my stink I’d forgotten it could bother others.”
“Oh no, that was never the case. I thought fresh clothes and clean flesh might lift you. Do you like it?”
“Your handiwork?”
“I have improved.”
“Fresh clothes, a bath, and I thought you were their prisoner?”
“Do you think I’m a woman incapable of getting what I want?”
Her eyes narrowed at him. The torch at her ankles cast a favourable shadow upon her near perfect face.
Mei pouted at him during the following silence, and he was glad she couldn’t make him out in the shadows. His face tingled with the warmth.
“Too much?”
“I uh…”
“You are far too easy to tease, Mazin.”
“Teasing with the truth?”
“Oh?” Mei snorted. He noticed an involuntary hand adjust the cascading jet-black hair over her scars.
What is happening? Why are you so weak?
Mazin was ready to claw his heart out.
“May I ask you questions?”
“Depends on the questions.”
“You spoke, shouted about a potential ransom for yourself,” Mei leant forward. “Who is your ancestor?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You’re clearly a noble, a Lion, and from what I’ve read, you all claim relation to your founders. Osiris, Shu, Isis and the others… oh goodness, I am explaining what you already know.”
She bit her lip as she rambled. He heard the wheels churn in her mind even as she silenced herself.
“They haven’t told you who I am?”
“Difficult to believe many of the claims about you. They say they slau… murdered your Feline, though I’ve yet to see a trophy.”
“What have they said about me?”
“Nothing worth listening to.”
Mazin struggled to read her smile. Her absent scent made it worse.
“So, which are you?”
“Aten.”
“Ah, just like the Tenth Medjay?”
“You know that story?”
“There isn’t much to do here. Sometimes they give me books, or when she demands it. It is quite a grim story. Of the few that I have read, the ending grieves me still. I’m yet to revisit that end.”
Mazin bit his tongue, letting her musical voice flow without interruption. He waited for her questions, for he feared what he might let slip.
“There is one detail that befuddles me. She is said to be an Aten, despite her disbelief, then dies at the end. How is it then you can claim Aten as your ancestor?”
“She wasn’t the only Aten, and Aten was never a founder, nor does Aten worry about bloodlines.”
“You speak so vaguely of Aten.”
“Aten was an enigma. They say Aten is the ancestor of all Lions without name. For Aten touches all.”
“Forgive me, but how can you expect a ransom if Aten is the ancestor of all? How does that make you a noble?”
“My mother claimed Aten and rose to high standing amongst the other nobles.” Mazin placed a hand over his heart, hoping to dull the fearful rush.
“I didn’t mean any offence. I apologise.”
He grunted.
“Is Osiris still an enemy?”
“Depends on who you ask, I suppose. I might say no, my brother,”
“Your brother?”
You fool!
Despite his silent admonishing, Mei appeared curious, but without her scent, he feared trusting her intentions.
“Yes.”
“Hmm,” her eyes lingered on his ruby red one for a moment before falling back on him. Whatever question arrived upon her tongue remained there. She adjusted her cloak instead.
“Do you know the Lion and the Tiger?” Mei asked
“Mmh.”
“That one I love, two powerful men battling their enemies, sharing a romance for the ages. Vanquishing their enemies together, oh, the prose is magical!”
Mazin smirked, then dropped his gaze towards his worn boots. It couldn’t have been a coincidence she mentioned those stories. One from Ma’s side, the other from Da’s. He wasn’t sure whether her wonder was true.
“Does the pharaoh’s pyramid really have a diamond tip?”
“I’ve heard yes. Hopefully, it is still there.”
“Still there?”
“The emperor sacked it before I was born, and we haven’t returned since.”
“Oh.” it was Mei’s turn to lower her gaze.
Does she know of the civil war?
“Sinh’Chattaan is a grand city of wondrous sandstone, with the upper and lower city split by Tefnut’s Jewel. The bazaar dominates most of the lower city, but Horus’ Shield is its true beauty.”
“No, you tease me. This is painful for me, dear Mazin,” Mei laughed. “The wonder you speak with makes me yearn for the impossible.”
He hardly realised he rambled, nor that she listened. Yet her heart fluttered in his ears while he spoke.
“Impossible?”
Mei’s smile faded. She glanced at the door, then leaned forward.
“Wanderlust is inevitable for a woman like me. Forever trapped in her tower and guarded by monsters to deter any rescuer. It's difficult knowing there is more beyond this place. To learn details only twists the knife.”
“I… am sorry.”
“Please do not stop. I will gladly bear this pain. It’s my sole window in this vast prison. A chance to free my mind of these shackles. However, it is something I should enjoy sparingly, lest I…”
Mazin’s head darted towards the door while she spoke, heeding the approach of boots and the following jingle of keys. Mei paused when she noticed him.
“Fascinating,” she muttered to herself.
His mood dropped when the door screeched open. The gruff call afterwards was a twisting knife of its own.
“Until next time,” Mei whispered as she rose.
You are a weak, pathetic fool.
Zaki berated him as the darkness deepened.
The prince awoke in the void after flashes of Mei in his dream. Its echoes lingered behind his shut eyelids. Her sun kissed tawny skin with hints of rosy pink undertones. Her blacker than black straight silken hair cascading over the jagged scars on the left side of her face. Somehow enhancing her beauty beyond its lofty heights, despite the pain she must have suffered.
Mazin sighed once her grey-eyed smile faded from his mind. The whispering noise of the void floated around him uninterrupted, swirling like a cool breeze on a calm day. He blinked open his eyes to the nothingness and rose to his feet.
The serene eternal darkness didn’t remain. His ears focused on the swirling whispers congregating to his left. They came together into a loud grunt and a grand silhouette of darkness formed, with hints of silver streaking its fur.
“Boy,” the dark Bagha blinked its scarlet gaze at him, glaring down at him. “The fog has cleared.”
“Where are you?”
The Bagha’s eyes narrowed down at him and the void warbled with the dark Feline’s confusion.
“You carry a taint, boy.”
“I cleansed myself. The void is clear now.”
“I smell it on you, boy, you have not my nose. Cleanse yourself as you did here, for I cannot trust open words while you carry this strangeness.”
“Wait, do not leave!”
The void rumbled again, and the dark Bagha blinked for an age.
“We must speak carefully. I have found you, along with friends who followed in secret. When you vanished, they panicked, and we sought each other.”
“What is my prison?” Mazin asked.
Did Ma send Tamers to watch me?
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“A tainted place, yet something changed not too long ago. There is a Sanctuary garden here.”
“There is?”
“Once it is safer, I will make physical contact, ensure there is darkness wherever you are.”
“Wait!”
The dark Bagha was gone before his exclamation echoed. Mazin sighed non-existent air and collapsed down in defeat, his legs crossed and hands resting on his thighs. It wasn’t long until the void’s endless blackness faded and he sank forever into the nothingness of the void below.
Days after, and another bath later, with lukewarm water from the bucket they provided, Mazin sat on his stool across from Mei. The cell bars half an arm’s length away and his entirety within the fire of her torch. Her perfume of sweet lavender wafted into his nostrils whenever she shifted her furred yet worn cloak.
“I don’t know how you do it. I could make you a blanket to cover yourself?”
“No, no please no, for all the horridness of these cells, I am still quite warm.”
“The cold doesn’t agree with me. I overdress and shiver regardless. I hate the winter, hate the snow.”
“It snows here?” Mazin asked.
“You’ve never seen snow? Your reaction betrays you. That white ice may be beautiful, but it is harmful.”
“I haven’t heard you speak of your captors this harshly.”
“For good reason, you don’t know the horrors of the frost.”
Mazin’s snort made Mei chuckle, and soon they laughed together. Her joy died on her face and her eyes dropped to her boots. It wounded him to see her mood dip. Her scent might have evaded him, but when her emotions showed on her face, they screamed at him.
“Do you remember your life before here?” Mazin asked.
That will only make her feel worse, you fool.
Mazin struggled to suppress his thoughts.
Regret soiled his chest, spreading as the silence extended between them. Her fingers fiddled aimlessly in her lap. It took an age for her head to rise, but it turned towards the closed door. She lingered upon it, expecting one of the Bannerless to return, but he heard nothing.
“I remember little, not since…”
Her hand jerked towards her scars. She bit her lip and resumed her whisper.
“I think my mother died in childbirth. I remember nothing about her. Not a smile, nor a voice, not even her warmth. My father…”
She trailed off again, and Mazin had no intention of asking again. Her eyes glittered with fresh tears. She sniffed and turned away, then returned with a forced smile.
“What of yours?”
“Oh, they’re kind, I suppose. We didn’t make our mother’s life easy in the beginning, with our constant forays into the city.”
She surprised him. His chest pounded and mind toiled for vague words.
“The city, from where?”
“Bil’Faridh, and uh, from the palace,” Mazin muttered.
“Ooh, the palace of the capital, no less. The Atens have risen since the Tenth Medjay.”
“A temporary location for the nobles of the Lion Clan,” Mazin rushed. “Until they restore Sinh’Chattaan.”
“Mmh.”
“Bil’Faridh is beautiful despite its chaos with the amalgamation of all the districts. The mountain of Sanctuary rises behind it like a grand shadow of perfect nature. A silky wisp of paleness coats its flat peak, no matter the season, barring the eyes of the unworthy.”
“A wonderful sermon,” Mei clapped. “Sanctuary. What is that?”
“You do not… oh, of course. Tamer business eludes you the most, understandably.”
“Tamers seem to believe themselves beyond common folk.”
“I thought you didn’t heed what the Bannerless say about me?”
Mei smiled at him, then sucked her teeth.
“Tell me about this Sanctuary.”
“Surely you have heard of such things in the stories you read?”
“Indeed, though I thought little beyond their suggestive names. What are they, beyond gardens?”
“Memories of the Great Beast’s creation of San’Sara. Scattered all over Ko’Eri, where flora grows evergreen. There’s one here as well.”
“What?” Mei’s eyes widened.
“I’ve been told,”
Mei shushed him and her eyes darted for the door. This time, there was enough noise to warrant it. He didn’t need her scent to know her fear.
Keys jingled on a belt before grinding in the lock. He sighed before Mei’s following whispers escaped her lips. The call for the end of their discussion followed, and for once they shared a look that didn’t scream regret on her part.
Mazin sat in the middle of his lumpy mattress with his legs crossed. His mind drowning in Mei’s sudden fear. He wondered what he might have let slip, any offence he may have caused.
So focused on Mei, he didn’t notice the flickering torch shrink to the size of a candle. The darkness taking hold wasn’t the usual sort that he welcomed. Shadows stretched their black tendrils from the cell across his own. Until a grand figure formed within the dark cloud.
Silver stripes sparked like lightning in the blackness. The last of the torchlight’s fire fizzled out into nothing when the dark Bagha’s ruby eyes blinked open.
“Boy!”
Mazin jumped and turned to acknowledge the beast in his presence. The darkness it arrived with was all-encompassing and remained as the dark Bagha stepped out of it. He rushed from his bed and stood before his cell bars.
The dark Bagha’s eyes narrowed at him.
“You came,” Mazin said.
Focused on the beast’s eyes until the bubble of a temporary bond grew.
“Who are the Tamers?”
“You are still tainted boy, there are no safe words between us.”
“It is a poison unlike the void taint,”
“Poison, cleanse yourself. Then I will tell you.”
Mazin was too tired to complain. His mind returned to Mei, but his right eye itched when he sat on his rickety bed. The torch fire grew to its usual strength once the dark Bagha vanished.
It seemed an age until Mei returned. When she did, he watched her hide a limp on her way to his cell. She buried her teeth in her lips. Mazin watched her drag the chair closer, place down her torch after lighting the one in the sconce. Laboured breathing, but Mazin feared asking when she cleared her throat and managed a quivering smile at him.
“My favourite companion!”
Mei sighed to hide her pain on her slow journey to sitting down.
“Your only companion,” Mazin muttered.
“That’s the pattern, another Lion as well. Don’t ask, the pain still prickles me many years after the fact.”
He frowned at her honesty, despite the lack of a confirming scent as usual.
“You’re in pain Mei.”
“Hmm?”
“You need not have come. I can smell the blood from your bruises.”
“Oh, I thought my shedding was coming earlier than usual.”
“What, I would never… my senses wouldn’t,”
“My favourite companion indeed.” Mei’s devious smirk sparked his heart into a rush. “It’s nothing really, before you ask.”
“Does it happen often?”
“Oh no, they’re commonly gentle when they’re not draping themselves in the furs of dead beasts, and donning necklaces of teeth and paws.”
“I uh… I’m sorry.”
“No Mazin, I am. Their treatment took me aback in… I didn’t even do anything wrong!”
“What happened?”
“They accused me of encouraging the gardeners, as if I can sprout plants from barren soil by existing.”
“Gardeners?”
“They aren’t common? When you described those pieces of Sanctuary, I assumed gardeners were common?”
Mazin frowned at her as she bent over to massage her shin. She stifled a groan before sitting upright.
“Certainly, opened my eyes towards why I enjoy the garden. A slice of peace away from,”
“From the endless judgement that never leave you.”
Mei’s eyes jumped towards his red eye for a moment before turning away. Warmth emanated from her knowing smile.
“I might have a personal question Mazin, if you do not mind,”
“Before you do, I think it’s only fair if you tell me yours as well.”
The warmth shuddered for a moment, but she kept her smile. Mei nibbled her lip and drummed her fidgeting fingers on her thighs. Her mind churned, and something poked at his heart. A move that would have made Zaki proud, but his brother’s congratulations didn’t come.
“Since I’m the host,”
“Wait,” Mazin blurted out before he could stop his guilt. “Forgive me, that was manipulative.”
“It’s only fair, though I must ask you something else, a reassurance if you don’t mind, again?”
“Why are you whispering?”
“Is there anyone else here with us?”
“What do you mean, Mei?”
“Are we alone here? No one is listening, right?”
She oozed open fear, washing away the warmth decorating her face. The smile remained though it tainted her expression.
“Yes.”
Mei almost wept the moment the words vacated his lips. He didn’t know where this came from. When her eyes glistened with fresh tears, Mazin waited.
She raised a trembling hand to the sheet of jet-black hair covering the scars. The shaking continued as she revealed the black jagged scars, still open yet somehow scorched dry upon a sun-kissed face.
His opinion didn’t change since the first time he saw her. He still hadn’t the courage to speak it, but those three jagged claw marks, beginning above her left brow to her jaw, enhanced her magnificence.
“I was nine when she seared my face. My recollection of it is sparse. In my memories there is mostly pain, searing torture scorching along my cheek, drowned out by my own screams. As if a knife from the hottest forge carved this. It seemed a dream until I gazed into a mirror afterwards. Trapped in my room.”
Her left eye was remarkably untouched by the dark gashes splitting her dainty eyebrow into three clumps. Mei whispered with shame and her eyes remained glued down to her restless fingers. He listened to the chaotic rhythm of her heart as she dabbed at her drooling left eye. She flinched with every touch of her ruined flesh. Mazin stopped himself from reaching out towards her.
“This woman, is she called the Wise One?”
Mei tensed at the mention of the name King spoke, remembering his threat when they poisoned and captured him. Her nod was slow to follow.
He didn’t know what to believe. Was this Wise One a beast? How could such a thing be done with a hot knife? The wound was closed yet wide, refusing to heal.
Another lengthy silence followed, and Mazin did not know where to plant his eyes. She squirmed before him, but her loose hair remained behind her ear. Words dried in his throat before they fell upon his tongue, and his want to comfort her twitched his idle limbs.
“Well,” Mei sniffed, ending her whispering. “Enough about me. It is your turn now.”
Mazin flinched when his right eye itched, drawing his hand towards it to remind him of its blindness. It cooled beneath his palm, though Mei’s innocent gaze tossed his hand aside.
“Does my right eye look strange to you?”
Mei frowned at him, then narrowed her gaze at it.
“May I?” She pointed at the torch beside her boots.
Mazin leant forward and suffered the bright warmth of the fire closer to his face. He shut his ruby, and the world went dark.
“It is strangely dark, bruised, perhaps? I haven’t your eyes.”
He grunted and leant back, catching her steal a glance at his red eye when it opened.
“I was born with mine, and to have the eye of a dark beast in the capital, well, the fear of others was a constant.”
Confusion danced on Mei’s face. The crystals of unshed tears gone from her eyes.
“Not a normal thing amongst Tamers, I take it?”
He nodded.
“How is it for your brother?”
“He was lucky, I suppose, the golden pr… child. A source of awe rather than fear.”
“Why?”
Mazin paused.
“He just is.”
“But I don’t understand, unless he does not have your red eye?”
“He doesn’t.”
“I see. Do you resent him for it?”
“Never, I could not. He is my twin. There is very little that separates us and I wouldn’t allow the prejudice of others to sway my opinion on him.”
“Twin?”
“Did I not say?” You fool! “He is.”
Mazin was ready to cut his tongue and stitch his lips together. The woman knew how to get him to talk when he didn’t mean to. He said more than he intended without realising and wanted to say more.
She can’t be all bad, especially if she is their prisoner as well.
She claims Mazin, she claims, without a scent.
Mei murmured something about her interest in him being a twin, but said nothing more. She sensed his nervousness and became silent with him.