Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

‘She is responsible for countless deaths,for killing your friend and my countrymen.’

‘Why do you sound so insulted? Have I done anything to you?’

‘I was stolen from my family, raised as a god and used as a puppet. Even now,I am a toy for Canyon and the likes of you. My life was stolen and I know nothing about common people or their lives. All I see are the ghosts of their fears and ambitions, played out in their colourless dreams. I can see the lives of those around me, butInever participate, because I don’t know how. I have spent every moment in some temple or hidden away, practising pointless rituals. Why should I not be insulted? All I want is for someone-anyone-to be honest with me. You were the last person in the world that I had any faith in. Is it so much to ask?’

Samuel had no comforting words for her and he lay back down as best he could, with his knees bent up to keep his feet from pressing against the wall of the tent. It was much later before she did the same, wordlessly shifting down beside him. After several hours, the hum of the storm still sounded, but Samuel guessed it was now night time above them.

‘Can you not even make a light for us?’ she asked, but Samuel did not even try. Everything she said seemed designed toirritate him.

He awoke many hours later and listened for the storm. It was very dim, but he could hear it just on the edge of his perception, droning far away. Her steady breath sounded beside him and he guessed she was asleep. There was a weight across his chest and it took him a moment to realise it was her arm. His own arm was leaden and bristling with pins and needles, for she had rolled upon it. He tried to pull it out from beneath her, but it caused her to stir and she rolled even closer,with her nose against his shoulder.

He could smell scented soap in her hair and he was wondering if he should just ask her to move, when she sidled against him and kissed his cheek. Again, he was not sure if she was awake, so he froze still. Again she kissed him and he felt her fingers crawl up to his chin, where she pulled his mouth against her own. The warmth of her lips was welcoming and he began to kiss her in response. She hugged him properly and he then knew she was no longer asleep. Wordlessly, they lay together, embraced in darkness.

Voices and rough scratching against the outside of the tent roused Samuel and a brilliant slit of sunlight fell in upon him.

‘Samuel!’ came the voice of Utik’cah. ‘I-’ but the voice stopped and the opening was shut again as quickly as it had opened, leaving Samuel blinking at the dim light that found its way through the coarse material. ‘I will give you a moment.’

Samuel realised he was still intertwined with the Koian woman. Her eyes were wide open, and she was looking at him-horrified. She squirmedaway fromhim and he found his clothes scrunched up behind him against the wall of the tent. It was difficult, but he managed to wriggle his way into his robes while she held her own clothes across herself, watching him all the while.

He scrambled out of the tent and almost tripped over the lip of the incision that Utik’cah had made, crawling along the short tunnel that had been burrowed through the sand. Outside, it appeared as if he had emerged from the side of a dune, and the desert had moved completely from its place before the storm, leaving them at the base of an enormous wall of white sand, rising almost vertically above them. It seemed remarkably lucky that their tent had only been buried a short distance from the edge.

It was early morning, but already the sun was gaining inheat, punishinganything caught beneath it. The other desert-men all seemed accounted for, but the camels were nowhere to be seen.

‘It isgoodthat you survived,’ Utik’cah noted. ‘These sudden storms can be ferocious and deadly.’

‘Did everyone survive?’

‘Yes. We know the ways of the desert well. I was only afraid for you. I thought you mightdo something foolish and bring your roof down upon your head. I trust you found a way to pass the time.’

Samuel ignored the remark, peering out at the other men as they continued to pull their belongings from beneath the sands. ‘What of the camels?’

‘We set them loose. They also know how to weather these storms and will eventually make their way back to the city. Unfortunately, this means we must continue the rest of the way on foot. It will not be comfortable but,now that the storm has passed, we are safe.’

A grunting sound followed and the Koian woman came stumbling out from the tent, as if ejected from the side of the dune. She adjusted her clothes, looking indignant. Noticing Samuel and Utik’cah looking at her, she threw them an evil glare.

‘Avert your eyes!’ she hissed and they both did so, before her temper waselevatedany further.

‘No mentioned of this, please,’ Samuel whispered to the man beside him as the Koian woman strutted away in no particular direction.

‘There is nothing to mention,’ Utik’cah responded.

There was no doubt the Koian woman avoided him in the days after thatepisode in the tentand Samuel was glad for it. Upon arriving at the palace, he had told the Emperor of his visit with the Empress,and the man had been elated to learn that his wife and child were well. Samuel returned to visit the Queen on subsequent nights and she was attentive but,for some reason, shehad lost much of her passion and attended to him without the spark that had first enticed him. Either that, or perhaps he had lost his interest in her-he could not be entirely sure.

It had been some time since he had ventured into the catacombs and earlyonemorning hecreptaway stealthily, knowing full well that the Koian woman next door would not be awake at such an hour.

He had found an abandoned room in the palace where the floor had fallen in and, as luck would have it, the hole led into the tunnels beneath the palace. This entrance, too, had been covered with a spell of detection, tuned to catch the passing of any living creature but,of course,it slipped over him as if he did not exist. He could enter and exit this way asoftenas he pleased, and he did not have to bother finding ways around the fearful guards. It wasaless direct route, for he first had to navigate a twisting spiral of cobwebbed tunnels beneath the palace before he could enter the mountain proper, but he was in no particular hurry.

He kept a map of his explorations in his head and,on this occasion,he delved further and deeper into the mountain than he had ever beenbefore, but still without any sign of Balten. With each trip,he hoped to reduce the number of tunnels that he had not yet seen, but each trip only revealed more endless passages that required exploration.

He found all manner of cells,ranging from comfortable furnished rooms, to broken and abandoned holes in the floor. Some were filled with torturous devices or had been flooded with water and he guessed there were perhaps hundreds of prisoners held within those dungeons. He dared not free any of the poor souls he found, or even give away his presence, for he did not want to risk anything that would give his actions away. Only if he was eventually successful in finding Balten and in regaining his ring could his plans come to fruition.

After several hours, once again defeated, he returned to the surface and madeitback to his room.

He was surprised to find Utik’cah waiting for him there.

‘Out walking?’ the Paatin asked.

‘Yes,’ he replied plainly.

The desert-man accepted the answer at face value and continued, ‘Alahativa summons you. I would be quick, if I were you.’

That was all he needed to hear and Samuel started off at once to see why the Paatin Queen had called for him so early in the day.

On reaching her hall, it was immediately apparent that something was wrong. She was standing upon her dais, waiting angrily. The Emperor, who stood below, waited patiently,his hands clasped by his front.