Masque

Chapter 6/Part 2

Fasili slumped against a plant box. Little white crocus buds were ready to bloom in time for winter. But as he leant over to take in their perfume, a horrid screech frayed his nerves.

"Pasha!" squealed the Zuli girl. Her little feet pattered over the cobbles, dodging every crack between them with a gait as awkward as a new-born foal.

"Nuru." Fasili tsked and idly plucked a few buds from the planter. "I need your Papa's boat. And how sneaky are you?"

She snapped off some extra flowers for his bunch. "God doesn't—"

"You're too young to worry about what He doesn't like. Make up for it when you're old."

"I can sneak, Pasha."

"Have you ever worked in a bathhouse?" Ulaf was saying to Mustafa on his return. His arm had moved from the eunuch's shoulders to the small of his back.

"The harem bathhouse and sometimes I visit Paja's to listen to viziers' gossip. Why, Effendi?"

"Know much about massages? I've had a terrible—"

"We've got some extra help," Fasili said before they rushed to sucking each other's tonsils out. "This is Nuru."

"You're wearing the wrong hat," she snapped at Ulaf.

"You recognise me without it?"

"Yes. You're Fasili Pasha's tall guard." Her frown passed over to Mustafa, then up to Fasili. "You aren't going to force Papa back to Zuleya are you?"

"No, you're to stay in Subajan for this," Fasili said. "But I need that silk, so don't tempt me."

"I can see why Fasili Pasha likes you," Mustafa said, as unimpressed with her as she was with him. "Where are your manners?"

She pouted and looked to Fasili for support, which he refused to give. "I'll make up for it when I'm old."

The little devil.

"Don't take advice from the Pasha or you will have to make up for a lot when you're old. Why do you think he always looks so tired?" The cutting remarks earned Mustafa more points with the captain, and the damned eunuch could tell. He drew himself up, as confident as anyone who knew they had a lover on the hook. The introduction had been a terrible mistake.

"If I look tired, you're not doing your job well enough," Fasili hissed, feeling the burden of a bag of bricks under each eye but there was no time for restorative mud before the night's outing.

"You wake Fasili Pasha every day? You should let him sleep in sometimes so he's not so grumpy."

"The Pasha could sleep all day for a year and he would still be grumpy."

"Of course he would be if you didn't wake him up for a whole year," Nuru fired back with a roll of her eyes.

"You have met your match, Mustafa. And we must call the whole plan off. I've not had time—"

"Stop worrying, you're still a fine man under there," Ulaf said and split from Mustafa to urge Fasili along to the docks.

He couldn't keep himself away when the masts came into view. Countless ships swayed at their moorings. From simple fishing boats, to the ugliest hulks and sleek xebecs. Merchants and states alike adorned the port with their best. Laden with treasures from every land across the sea, they begged to be raided.

Merosa's contribution to the vista stood out in a coat of gold frills. But it must have stung to have only the second largest ship in port. A galleon from Relais floated proudly beside it, and likely with no business in Subajan beyond delivering that insult.