Sandiirah awoke to a dark wooden room on top of some rather soft furs. In a panic she reached out with her senses – He’s here, she thought to herself. Her thoughts overwhelmed her, my patron, my majesty, I’m so sorry for whatever I did to displease you. Squeezing her book to her chest in a vice grip hug, her eyes shot open, remembering what she’d seen when she first woke up. What looked to be a small woman laid in front of her, she scanned the room slowly so as to not alert anyone. Directly behind her sat a man in a rocker, her gifted preternatural senses could smell the silver stronger than she ever had before, but most of it didn’t seem to be coming from any particular direction. Reaching up she felt at her nostrils and found the main source, the rest of the smell definitely came from the man sitting at her back. Sandiirah held in a low growl, and scanned the rest of the room. Under an overhang at the far end of the room lay another man, clean smelling and much smaller than the guy in the chair. Taking a deep breath and tuning into her gifted hearing she listened, steady heartbeats and even breathing for all the three of them. Having confirmed her privacy she sat up against the wall silently and opened her book onto her lap. She pulled an enchanted sliver from the tomes spine and began writing in the book.


    “Patron, why did you leave me? What did I do?”


    Words appeared on the page as if written just as hers disappeared.


    “I never left you, I merely needed something the two next to you have.”


    “Tell me what it is Patron and it shall be yours.”


    “In time dear, in time, for now make nice, they will not part with my gift in short order.”


    “Patron please, I will kill them and send it to you now, just tell me where it is.”


    Suddenly in her ears all around her Sandiirah could hear her patron’s voice booming.


    “FOOL GIRL! IF YOU COULD GRAB IT NOW I WOULD TELL YOU TO DO SO! DO YOU SEE ME AS STUPID, ANOTHER UNGRATEFUL WORD AND I WILL LEAVE YOU FOR FAR LONGER THAN THE MERE MINUTES YOU SPENT WITHOUT ME! YOU BEGGED FOR SERVITUDE AND I HAVE GRANTED IT, DO NOT MAKE ME REGRET YOU!”


    The voice died to a whisper, Sandiirah was sobbing and shaking as silently as she could, her knees folded into her chest, her head tucked into her lap.


    “I chose you dear, I saved you, do as you are asked and make nice with the mercenaries. My favorite of all my followers, in time things will become clear.”


    The book began to warm in her grasp, a sign his words were coming through the tome again, without hesitation she opened the book to answer her patron. On the page lay one single sentence, “the girl is the key, keep her close” . She composed herself the best she could. He’s never yelled at me before, he’s only ever used his real voice to cherish me, what did I do? Writing in her book with tears still streaming down her face. I will do as you bid my Patron, questioning you was never my intention, I only wish to serve you to the best of my ability. Once more she felt her Master’s presence all around her much softer now.


    “I know.”


    Sandiirah felt a warm brush against her cheek, not a brush, a kiss! Her hand flew to her cheek holding it in shock, the tears stopped and her face flushed with warmth. She sat there for several minutes basking in the sensation, he had never kissed her before, she dared let the words leave her lips even in the presence of her disobedience.


    “My love…”


    —


    “my love”


    He had said it back, his love, what did that mean? Not what she meant, surely? His love? Her heart beat as fast as it ever had and this time the tears fell for a different reason. His love. He had meant it, he didn’t say things he didn’t mean, he never praised when it wasn’t due. He loved her, and even if he didn’t love her the way she loved him, he would, she would earn it. Looking at the book she read over the still warm sentence, warm for reiteration she knew, this was important to him. “The girl is the key, keep her close.” the girl? Looking to her right she once again remembered where she was, time to put on a show.


    ____________________________________________________________________________


    A cry rang out through the cart''s inner room, followed by soft sobbing and a small voice in the darkness.


    “Hello? Where am I? Please don’t hurt me, I don’t have anything of value, I’m not young nor pretty, please just let me go.”


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Sandiirah heard stirring in the shadows from the far side of the room and next to her on the pile of furs. She wasn’t using her dark sight, to help sell the fear and uncertainty. Feeling a brush from the rustling in the furs next to her, Sandiirah yelped and scooted away in a faux panic.


    “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, please please just don’t hurt me, you can have it, I shouldn''t have stolen it.”


    “Wha-”


    Kim reached to her hip, twisting the top of her essence lamp, activating it and illuminating much of the cart in a soft blue light. Seeing a crying scared girl pressed into the wall, huddled into a fetal retreat Kim scanned for Braun, her eyes fell on the limp arm hanging from the rocker next to the girl. Shaking her head in disappointment but not surprise, she scanned for Baylen. In short order Baylen was on his feet activating his own essence lamp, a deep sunset orange color lighting up the other half of the cart, as he did the girl that was crying against the wall yelped again, her head darting back and forth from the two light sources.


    “It’s okay, we won’t hurt you, my name is Ki-”


    “What’s this about stealing, girl.”


    “Baylen not now, she’s clearly in a panic, you can’t ask her questions till we calm her down.”


    “What’s this?” Baylen finally noticed Braun slumped in his chair, silver smeared across his mouth and nose. “Good for nothing junk heads, the lot of you, can’t trust a merc to do their fucking job if their own life depended on it!”


    “I’m up Baylen, I’ve got this.”


    “You?!” Sighing in exasperation and dropping his head. “I guess you are the merc that actually came recommended not him, still, I should dock your pay for this!”


    “That’s not how this works, Baylen, there isn’t a merc crew that doesn''t use, and if we got docked for that we’d all need to find different jobs.” Kim knew he was blowing off steam, but they’d both eaten through more of their stash than they meant to on this job already, half pay wouldn’t cut it.


    “What about the girl?”


    “I’ve got that too Baylen, go back to sleep, I’ve got plenty of red leaf.”


    Baylen grumbled but ultimately he turned off his essence lamp and crawled back into his bed. Taking in the surrounding mess of Braun and their packs, Kim knelt on one knee and began picking up and organizing the not so uncommon scene. While she did so she spoke softly to the girl.


    “I don’t care what you’ve stolen, I don’t remember if I got it out or not but my name is Kimmy, people just call me Kim though.”


    Baylen chuckled from across the room, mostly to himself but it was audible nonetheless. Shaking her head and ignoring the asshole Kim continued cleaning up the mess.


    “The point I was making is just that you are safe here…well I don’t know your name but you’re still safe here as long as you’re next to me.”


    “My name’s Sandiirah, but you can call me sandy.” The voice was small and soft, frightened.


    “Truly you are safe here Sandy, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”


    Finishing packing up the bags and reorganizing Brauns silver and her leaves, she picked up her pipe from the floor next to B’s hand, checking to see if any red leaf remained in it, unsurprisingly he’d barely smoked a third of what he’d stuffed in there. Pulling a pick knife from a strap on her wrist, the girl jumped a little, moving slowly Kim used the knife to scrape and pick off the burnt resin to get at the usable leaf underneath. After she’d finished she put the knife back, looking the girl up and down. She was standing now, walking slowly along the wall of the cart. She was stunning, her feet were completely unblemished, a near impossibility for a barefoot girl abandoned in the wilderness. Her legs were lean and long leading up to a small waste, the scar on her left calf was almost completely healed already. How was that possible? Kim eyed her in a bit of a trance, Sandy swayed a little with the movement of the cart, her thin frame stealing Kim’s focus. Her shoulders were all bone, her arms weren’t in proportion with her legs being slightly less long than her frame would suggest. Her face wasn’t as sunken in as the rest of her, her eyes a startling purple, brighter than the shade of her skin, but just as beautiful. Her hair was a shade of blue, like snowfall but silkier, long and draped partially over one shoulder and down her back to about her midsection, but looking a bit longer Kim noticed one side of her head was shaved, no braided. Kim lingered, her eyes landing on her neck, her skin was so perfect, the soft purple hue was alluring, the texture looked flawless, her eyes dropped to her chest for a few moments, the fur she wore barely covered her at all. Kim snapped away from her staring, noticing as she did that Sandiirah had caught her in the act.


    “I’m sorry, you’re…not wearing much.” Kim blew on her essence match to help calm herself. “Would you like some of my clothes? You’re a bit taller than me, but it should help keep you warm.” Hesitating for a moment more Kim took a small hit of her red leaf, feeling some of her tension fade away. “I need to take watch over the cart, you can stay in here if you’d like, but-”


    “No! I mean um, I think I would rather go with you.” Sandiirah paused for a bit to let the tension hang in the air. “You said something about warmer clothes?”


    Kim laughed, propping her pipe between her lips and began digging through her pack, pulling out her longest pair of pants and her baggiest shirt, shuffling a few more things around she also pulled out her backup coat, then tossed the lot over to Sandy.


    “Hopefully the fit isn’t terrible, all I packed was my merc clothing for this trip, sorry if it isn’t all that comfortable.”


    “I’m sure it will be fine.” Sandy let a small smile spread across her lips. “I really appreciate you doing this for me.” Not waiting for Kim to look away, Sandiirah slipped out of the fur skirt she was wearing, letting it drop to the floor. Kim’s face reddened as she slightly looked away and took another hit of her pipe. Sandy pulled the pants on turning enough to hide her slight smirk. This is going to be the easiest task He’s ever given me.