A Priestess for the Blind God (Legends of Rahasia Book 1)

Chapter Ninety

The Epic of the Kindhearted Guard (e.g. the Adventures of Riyad)

One day, Riyad would be able to laugh about this.

Not today.

No, definitely not today.

One moment, he'd been handing his water canteen to an old woman riding a beaten down mount, the next thing he knew...

He shrugs, takes out his canteen, and goes to the traitors' well to get something for the old beggar woman to drink.

"Here you go, mother."

He bows respectfully when he hands it to her. His mother taught him his manners. Respect your elders. It usually led to good things in your future life if you obeyed them.

Usually.

The woman raises an eyebrow, almost confused.

"Thanks..." she says, slurping at the canteen. Water sloshes over the edge of the rim. She wipes her mouth and prepares to hand it back to Riyad with a simpering grin. "Thank you."

But she doesn't let go of it right away.

Riyad looks up in confusion. "I'm sorry I have to do this."

She rammed it over his head, and when he woke up, he was tied up in the traitors' home. He had a huge knot on the back of his skull, and he couldn't find that jackass Khan, the one who was guarding the Ngayoh Estate with him. Khan's absence didn't really bother him that much. The guy always called Riyad a skeleton because he was so thin. Then, he'd go ahead and flex his muscles. It wasn't Riyad's fault he was born to poor village parents. He bet he'd have an eight pack and a tight bum if he had half the money that the rich bastard, Khan, had stashed from his father's merchant wealth.

He hoped that something bad happened to Khan.

A strange woman with a colorful dragon veil and a slight lilt in her accent had fed him flatbread, rice, and water. She hadn't spoken much. He'd heard that witch woman Ode, the one they'd been warned to guard against, call her "Ratu."

Riyad hated to admit it, but he had a slight crush on that Ratu. He would've told her so if she didn't glare like she wanted to kill him every time he attempted conversation.

Then again, he also claimed to love honey cakes. That didn't mean he wanted to marry honey cake. It was probably the same with Ratu.

And then, when he wasn't eating, the gag would go right back.

There'd been some drama when the important man, General Ibrahim, had stormed into the house. Riyad had hoped to be set free. But then, for some reason, there was screaming and crying. And when the General came back, he was all buddy-buddy with the witch and had a pet ghūl. Just Riyad's luck.

He probably wouldn't even be able to make it back in time for the gift swap during the Rahasian Festival of Shab (شب), or the Festival of Night.

Basically, it was the night festival where, traditionally, all the gods took a break from squabbling with each other and playing war. It started long ago when Aziz, tired of fighting, tricked their other two brothers into partying the night away with them by getting them super drunk one night of the year.

Ever since then, the Three Brothers begrudgingly got together, ate baskets of sweet food offerings from their worshippers, drank good cider, fell asleep, and invited humans to bask in revelry with them. Riyad wanted to eat some honey cake and figure out a way to guilt his captain into buying him new bracers. This was the year he'd find a girlfriend to stop his mom from pestering him about grandchildren! Not that he really wanted a girlfriend... or a boyfriend... or a lover of any sort. He was more about friendships than lovers.