Daggers in the Dark (Book 3 of Hanthalah)

Chapter 20

I impatiently studied the position of the moon in the sky, my hands clasped behind my back.

Night had long since fallen upon the island of Crete. It had been hours since the escort had set forth, making for Gortyn. The signal had not yet been delivered.

I shivered as I felt freezing cold hands resting on my shoulders, caressing my upper back.

"You saw the city in flames in your vision," I groaned. "The only flame I see is the flickering of torchlight."

We didn't have much time to spare in Crete. We needed to regroup with Abu al-A'war back north to board the ships again and make for Rhodes. In the meantime, I had marched my body of men to the city's gates in preparation for a brief siege. Or rather, the illusion of a siege.

And I had a daughter inside.

Sa'ad...

"The gods do not lie," Amina the witch responded in her cool, emotionless voice. I could feel her red eyes on me, curious and unrelenting. "You deny their power?"

"If I'm not within the city by sunrise, they can kiss my cock," I replied.

"Is this worry I see on your face, warrior?" the smoothness of her voice sent a chill down my spine. I clutched my dead son's stick, seeking comfort from this intermediary to the gods. It was an idol of sorts to me now.

"Worry?" I echoed. "A leader must take the best interests of his men to heart. But he must be willing to brave through should a misfortune occur. Such is the nature of our profession."

"It is not a leader's mind that wakes you this night, child of the gods," she responded almost immediately. I remembered the knot she was blowing on the other day, the spell she seemed to be casting. "It is a father's heart. You feign disgust for this daughter of yours, but your heart aches for her presence in harm's way and your mind is eating you from within. You are afraid, son of Ka'b. Afraid to lose another child."

My neck whipped sideways in an instant and my hand did not lag behind. I coiled it around her throat, growling like a wolf enraged.

"I never told you of my son," there was a sour feeling in my gut. A knot formed in my throat at the memory of Sa'ad. I felt his stick gracing my chest.

"You forget who I am," Amina managed to croak beneath my grip. Her milk white complexion was rapidly shifting to a pomegranate red. "Of course I know of Sa'ad. I know of those who came before. I know of those who are yet to come."

"I never want to hear his name on your tongue ever again," my arm fell back to my side, allowing Amina much needed breath.

To my surprise, she chuckled.

"Be sure to do that next time you fuck a vision out of me," she rasped, caressing her neck.

I shifted my focus back to the city. Amina's words lingered in my mind. Was it a father's heart that kept me up rather than a warrior's anxiety? I had never paid heed to this Umaymah of mine. She was an abomination, after all. I would have much rather sent my son, 'Abd al-Ka'aba, instead. But I knew the boy was far too volatile. The mission needed stealth and patience rather than brute force.

And besides, I was sending too many valuable men anyway. Umaymah was expendable.

Or was she?

Foolish little girl, I thought. How did she manage to get on this island?

Whatever reservations I harbored for her lifestyle, did I truly want her gone? She was my daughter, the spawn of my loins.