◤"This was how you would face the world. You would wear his horrors like the nobility did their jewelry. Proud. Unbroken. And you would see to his downfall, even if your initial plan had failed."
After a siege goes wrong, the general hastens to remedy the disaster and find the lost victims while the rogue dancer left behind continues to fight the ghosts of her past.
◤Disclaimers: From the world of (no need to read beforehand). Fantasy inspired by Arabian mythology. Lots of angst, no fluff really. Includes descriptions of violence and injury, as well as murder and death. Please proceed with caution. Depictions of a human trade. Alludes to mature themes (not explicit) and recalls occurrences of sexual assault (not romanticized, obviously). This does not refer to a historical event of my knowledge, nor does it reference real life nations or people. Female reader insert. View the glossary . .
◤Word count: 13.6K
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"Mawlati!" Jeongin crashed through the door of the elegant office, terror making disarray of his appearance.
The queen stood from her ornate velvet chair, both startled and confused. She didn't recall seeing the general perturbed like that before. "What's wrong?"
"We need...to send a message to the governors," he spoke through strained breaths as though he'd run across the palace to find her.
"Of course." she motioned for her messenger, though the frown of confusion never left her graceful features. She knew that the general had an important mission that night. "What happened at the Junayna?"
He looked at her as though it shamed him to admit his next words. "They abandoned it. I've dispatched several squads to find them. We need to alert the other cities and the harbor before they make it too far."
She slid a piece of parchment toward him and Jeongin began writing his note instantly. There was no time he could waste on formalities. Important fugitives have escaped the crown city. Hold anyone who tries to leave or enter. They must not get out of Darilmalek.
After signing the note and blowing on it twice for the ink to dry, the general rolled the parchment and handed it to the messenger.
The man's tall figure drowned in heavy green robes. He seemed to look at the world as if he saw more than the rest of them did, eyes always wandering. The messenger received the note and pounded the staff he held against the floor, muttering a short incantation.
In a blink, a creature of fire and blood materialized next to him. Its ebony horns and wicked claws made an unwelcome sense of Deja Vu wash over the general. A Jinni stood in the room.
The queen had introduced magic to the court like no one had done before. Sahara had become an integral part of the royal clinic, the Architects' Association, and the budding team of inventors and engineers. The messengers could've been her most valuable addition yet. Men and women who used their knowledge of Jinn to deliver messages across the kingdom at incomparable speeds. The note Jeongin had scribbled would reach the harbors and every established city in a matter of moments.
