Sands of Solitude (Cyno)

Chapter III - A grain of hope

A new day begins again in Caravan Ribat. Masud has decided to find his Princess by himself or die trying. Yes, that would be the best course of action, as turning back empty handed and having to see the disappointment on his Lord's face, or even worse, living a life without the Princess that everybody loves, gives birth to an uncanny agony in his heart. Yes, an agony he's felt before...

Resigned, he heads outside in order to start the preparations. But when he gets outside, instead of being welcomed by the usual lively crowd, a suspicious and unusual feeling is lurking around the village. A huge crowd is gathered around the tavern, people are hanging their heads in curiosity up from their windows. 

Masud makes his way through the people and manages to reach the centre of the crowd. Two inebriated men hang around the table and, on the ground, gravely injured, their clothes stained with blood. 

"The General has given his judgement..." 

"I wonder what their sins are ......" 

People are whispering all around in terror. The gruesome image remained marked in Masud's mind and convinced him yet again that his best course of action is to search for the Princess himself. Afterall, only a demon devoid of any emotion would give such a silent yet bloody testimony of his power. 

He decides to go back in his room and wait for the waters to calm down before he can continue with his preparations.

As he enters his room, he immediately notices a carefully written letter on the desk. 

"Head back whence you came from as soon as possible. I'll be taking on this case from now on. Report to your Master that I'll personally see that this case is solved. My coming with you all the way to your village would only be an unnecessary waste of time. I'll bring his daughter back dead or alive. Don't try something foolish, you'd only inconvenience yourself with danger.

Signed, The General Mahamatra."

The official sigil of the General Mahamatra is also stamped on it.

Masud covers his mouth with his hand in a gesture of surprise, theatrically.

"Ah! Lesser Lord, what predicament is this? That psychopath will scare my lady..." he complains dramatically as he starts to imagine different unrealistic yet terrifying scenarios.

"Allah Allah...Masud, get your act together. This one's going to kill me if by tomorrow evening I won't be gone from here."

He turns in his bed, muttering curses. All the night, he is troubled by nightmares of The General Mahamatra hunting him down.

The morning comes, and Masud departs Caravan Ribat in his carriage, fanning his sweaty face and cursing between his teeth. 

"Allah Allah...I don't like this...I swear I don't like this at all. If that brute dwarf ever touches my Princess, I swear I'll rip his testicles and feed them to the crocodiles. Hmph, yes. That's exactly what I'm going to do." 

At the outskirts of Caravan Ribat, the General is busy interrogating a group of Eremites.

"I... I swear I'm telling the truth!! Our brothers have gone after her but came back empty handed. W... we are the only ones left. We don't know anything about her whereabouts much less about her...p,,please, have mercy!! We promise we won't ever try to find her again."

The General kicks them with his foot one last time, muttering: 

"Very well, vermin. What lowly existence one of your likes must be dwelling in...to be able to think of such a disgusting plan."

The General walks away, as the Eremite gang is left on the ground, howling in pain.

Somewhere in a desert bazaar, the mysterious woman with her cat peeking from her white cloak walks cautiously. 

"What do you think Luxor, did they cease the search?"

"My Lady, unfortunately I can't possibly fathom Rahim giving up on his ambitions anytime soon."

"Ugh, I guess you're right. I swear sometimes I imagine him tripping over some of the Palace's stairs and breaking that deformed bald head of his..." 

"His arrogance might render him to not gaze at his own steps and only towards the grandiose sky, so that is certainly a possibility my Lady."

The woman and the cat look in each other's eyes as if reaching a mutual, silent understanding and start to laugh in tandem. As they walk, a commotion is approaching their ears.

A decrepit, shabby woman lies on the ground, threatened by a vendor.

"Woman, I told you I never want to see you here again! You always come here and steal my goods. This is it, if you can't pay with mora, you won't mind paying with your body...!" 

The old, obese vendor approaches her with a sick grin, almost drooling.

"Lux, lay low." the cat immediately disappears in her cloak, as she approaches the vendor. 

"I'll pay you for the goods."

"Huh?" the vendor mutters.

"Here. Take this gold. Now let her go." She reaches her hand, uncovering an exquisite ring adorned with Lapis Lazuli. The vendor's eyes are shining at the sight as he greedily snatches the ring and disappears with it in the back of his tent.

"Are you alright?" She reaches her hand towards the poor woman, helping her to get up, with a sincere smile on her face. 

"You have to feed your children, right? Here, please accept this gold." She offers.

"How...how did you know?" the woman replies, shocked.

Smiling, she answers: "I have my own ways."

"T...thank you!! Thank you so much! May Lord Kusanali bless you!" she yells between tears, as the mysterious woman slowly walks away. 

Suddenly, multiple voices can be heard yelling:

"She's got gold on her!! Did you see that ring?? AFTER HER!!"

"Oh no..." she starts to run, bumping into people and wreaking havoc through selling stalls on her way, apologising and briefly stopping to right her mistakes. She is now being followed by a group of thieves who just stole the old vendor's ring.

"My lady, there is no time for that! Keep running!"

"Right. Sorry for that!" She resumes her run while apologising left and right as she demolishes multiple stalls.

Hiding at the back of a rock, she finally rests her breath.

"Lux, let's get away from here and find a camping place."

The stars seem to be guiding her steps and judgement as she safely departs the market.