“I don’t actually. I’m from another planet. I just arrived here about a week ago.”
Her gloved fingers curled tightly over the colorful coral hues of her skin-tight pants. “That may be true. However, that doesn’t explain why you snuck into my husband’s castle disguised as a dog.”
My teeth ground against each other.
“Besides, there’s no need to lie to me, Hayden. I know you’re connected. What I don’t know is how.”
Electricity crackled across my spine as our eyes met once more.
“I’ve been having these odd dreams lately. Of a girl in a beautiful library whose stories are written even across the pillars that support its glass ceiling. Of that same library crumbling into millions of ashes that sank into a dark ocean. Of my book, of a family of rooks, and you.”
In her eyes, I would have sworn I saw the reflection of the stunning library I’d visited in my own dreams.
“Oh,” I said softly. Our assumption had been correct. I cleared my throat. “Then I change my answer. I do know what that is.”
“Then tell me,” she commanded.
“It’s an item possessing a remnant of that girl. A tiny fragment of memory still shattering and desperate not to lose any more pieces.”
She caressed the cover gently as though she could soothe the fragment within. “And what does that have to do with you?”
“I’m on a mission to collect them so one day they might be restored.”
“A worthy goal.”
Silence fell over the cell. For minutes, she fumbled with the book, stroking it like a pet. Her fingers finally stopped minutes later, and she said, “I can’t give it to you yet.”
Ice clawed its way around my heart, and I found myself replaying the events of my last theft in my head, wondering if it would work again.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“However, I believe I can make a deal with you. If what you say is true, then according to my dreams, I have a strong reason to believe this rook is connected to all this, somehow. It also happens to be interfering with one of my…trade routes, you could say.”
Sinbad had encountered the rooks in his second voyage during the novel and had not only nearly lost his life in the process but had accidentally cleared the route for Shahrazad’s weapons smuggling to the local rebellious populations.
“So you want me to take care of them for you?” I was careful not to slip and say ‘us,’ unsure if she knew about Sinbad and Cove at this moment.
“It will give something for you and your crew to do while I find another way to postpone my immediate execution. Once I am no longer in danger of being executed every morning, I will happily hand her over. Until then, I cannot continue to watch the world burn beneath his rule.”
Clearly, I needn’t have been so careful in my words. “And what if I insisted you hand her over first?” I wondered.
Shahrazad’s eyes hardened, and the hands of the mamluks behind her tightened on their weapons. “You can try,” she said coldly. “Unfortunately, your story would end here.”
She meant it. I backed off for now. “I accept.”
[Shahrazad’s Quest Accepted. Clear the eastern trade route.]
Her lips quirked up in a quick half-smile. “Very well.” She rose from her seated position and snapped her fingers once. The door opened once more, the mamluks and the guards stepping to the side to allow passage. She sauntered out of my cell, lingering under the doorframe. “Are you coming, Hayden?”
Mindful of the glares from the mamluks and the guards, I warily stood, following her from my cell and through the twisted castle. If I hadn’t had the map, I would have gotten lost. As we drew closer and closer to Sinbad and Cove’s indicators on the map, it dawned on me that I had underestimated Shahrazad. She’d been a fierce protector of her people, working tirelessly to earn their freedom from the Mad King’s reign. But she’d remained a side character in Sinbad’s novel, shadowy and mysterious, her story in the novel a mere taste meant to tease her expansive storyline in-game. I hadn’t known enough about her. I still didn’t. Was she as kind as she seemed, or were the rumors of a kingdom cursed with mad rulers true, setting up the next expansion?
I had a bad feeling about this task of hers I’d agreed to.
Her room appeared empty of Sinbad and Cove’s presence at first glance, the shadowy walls and large furniture, coupled with a likely bout of magic, doing a fantastic job of hiding their figures. She knew they were there already, however, and it wouldn’t last.
With nothing more than a pointed glance, the mamluks began systematically moving through the entire room, checking every space large enough for a person to hide and some smaller. It was the slightest rattle of a wardrobe door in the quiet room that gave them away and two of the mamluks yanked open the heavy doors of the wardrobe simultaneously, letting Sinbad and Cove topple out onto their feet. Sinbad gave me a jaunty little wave, unphased by the situation.
More nervously, as he still wasn’t entirely used to interacting with new locals as often, Cove brushed himself off. “Hello there.”
Shahrazad smiled once more, the edges not quite reaching her eyes. “Hello.”