Ma'in, the Imperial city-state along the coast of the Arabian Sea
Mari unconsciously tightened her grip on Nayif's mane, carefully watching the meeting under an open canopy between the young Shammar leader, Lo'gan and Harabi, while she pet the magnificent animal a short distance away. To her non-surprise, Harabi did most of the talking, but it was clear by the way Sheik Shammar kept looking over at Lo'gan that the conversation was not really what was going to determine if he was going to help smuggle them out of Ma'in or not. Mari had come to that conclusion all to herself while the men talked.
It was pretty apparent by the way the Shammar's camp was set up that they would be leaving Ma'in that very morning. They were partially packed and loaded, the only tents still open being the sleeping ones. What's more, when they initially approached them, a fair amount of the tribespeople were already awake and stirring, more so than any other cluster in the vast field. It was a sure sign that they would be heading out into the open desert soon.
Mari saw the movement of women nearby and instinctively drew into her cloak a little more, but too concentrated on watching the interaction between her brave Bedouins and the young Shammar leader, she failed to notice that her outer robe was fluttering in the rising wind. Unnoticed, a little boy was watching her with just as much interest. Catching sight of the pale skin of her ankles when the robe eventually parted, he let out a piercing scream.
Startled by the break in the early morning quiet, everyone in the general vicinity jumped up and ran to the screaming child. Caught up in the sudden flurry of movement, Nayif also reacted, whinnying loudly and bucking his front legs up high. By his side, Mari startled too and pulling back from the scared animal, tripped and fell on her backside when her sandal caught on the horse's dragging lead.
All at once, Mari found herself to be the center of attention. Her fall had caused her hood to fall back and reveal to everyone there her uniquely exotic features. The crowd of people, including the little boy who was now firmly grafted onto his mother's leg, let out a collective gasp as they stared down at Mari's horrified expression. Recoiling visibly at their wide-eyed reaction, Mari clutched at her hood and scrambled to her feet. Every instinct in her body told her to run away and turning to do just that, Mari only stopped when she heard her name.
"Mari! Wait!"
It was Lo'gan, looking angry and scared, but as safe as ever. Mari rushed out to meet him as the crowd parted to let him through and practically jumped into his arms. Lo'gan took a quick assessment that she was all right and turned to face Shammar, who was approaching them with an alarmed expression.
Sheik Shammar had been keeping an eye on the mysterious hooded figure by the horses while they spoke, but nothing gave him the impression that she would cause his visitors to turn so defensive. Lo'gan had heard the commotion and leaping to his feet in an instant adrenaline induced rush, was at her side before he had even gotten to his feet. Staring at the girl Lo'gan protectively hid from the crowd in the crook of his arm, the young Shammar leader tried to put the pieces together. He had heard the rumors of the two men that defied the Sultan and lived, and he had his suspicions the minute Lo'gan and Harabi had shown up at his campfire, but the girl was definite proof positive. Pushing past his curious tribespeople, the Shammar Sheik tried to approach the man who was now backing away slowly and snarling menacingly at the crowd.
"Wait! You are……"
Shammar's words were cut short by the glint of Lo'gan's Khanjar in the dawn light. The crowd around him drew a collective breath and Shammar wondered if he had made a mistake in approaching the warrior. He was obviously highly protective of the girl and prepared to fight. If he was to get anywhere at this point, he had to slow down and show he was not a threat.
"I mean you no harm, friend. I know who you really are and……I will help you if you let me."
The growling emanating from Lo'gan stalled as he thought that over. Mari was practically shaking in his arms and Harabi looked panic stricken from where he was trying to calm Nayif down, but somehow he believed the Sheik. He was too young to lead and had a reputation for being too damn soft, but he had been smart enough to see through Harabi's intricate lies and looked nothing but sincere at the moment.
"What do you know?"
Shammar straightened out his posture a little and turned his hands at his side to show that he was not reaching for his blade. Looking from Harabi's confused expression to Lo'gan's cautious one, he cleared his throat and discretely signaled to his clan to leave them be. The members of his extended family slowly moved from where they were clustered around them and slowly inched away to continue on their duties. Mari relaxed visibly now that so many eyes were not on her anymore, but still held on tightly to Lo'gan, face buried in his shoulder to hide herself from the world.
"Come sit and we can speak. You are in no danger here. She……"
Shammar glanced at the huddled shape attached to the gruff warrior and wondered how to begin. Before she had gotten to her feet, he did catch a glimpse of the pale skin all Ma'in was talking about. She had brown hair, the color of tamarinds and was light as cream, but he had not seen the eyes that were according to most reports, green as emeralds.
"She is safe here. The child was startled is all, but I will help you. You have my word."
Lo'gan looked the Sheik over and glancing at Harabi to see him nod slightly in agreement, reluctantly brought his blade down from his warning stance.
"Fine. But she stays with me."
Shammar bowed slightly to show he conceded and slowly turned to head back to the fire's side. Harabi followed with his hand still on his Khanjar. Lo'gan stood away a second longer. Nudging Mari's face up to see that she was scared but all right, Lo'gan eventually resheathed his L shaped dagger and followed too. Sitting on high cushions by the crackling fire in the canopy a few minutes later, Harabi spoke out first.
"What exactly have you heard?"
Shammar reached for the coffee urn resting by the fire and poured it out into four shallow bowls on a nearby platter. Harabi watched in amusement. It was important that a hosting Sheik offer food, but he had never heard of a Sheik himself serving it. It not only meant that Shammar did not have a woman, but that he had no servants either.
"What everyone has been saying. That two desert dwellers defied the Sultan in his own celebration with quick wit and even quicker swords."
Lo'gan watched the Sheik's every move and when he was handed a cup, sniffed at it gingerly before passing it along to Mari. Mari took the cup and spurred on by the intense smell, brought the hot liquid to her lips. Lo'gan watched her grimace at the bitterness but knew she must have been hungry by the way she quickly drank it without any further preamble. He was passed butter biscuits next and breaking off a piece for himself gave it to her as well. Mari nibbled on the welcome food with her head down to keep from view and tried to decipher what was being said, embarrassed that she had created such a fuss, but grateful that she at least was by Lo'gan's side.
"And what do you think of that?"
Harabi dipped his bread into his coffee, more relaxed now that Lo'gan seemed to have eased off and was eating too. Shammar raised his eyebrows with a smile and motioned to the camp at large.
"The same that everyone else that crosses those deserts thinks. It's about time that someone stands up to that ignorant jackal. He does not belong on the throne and his move to choke the very lifewater out of us Bedouins, proves it."
Lo'gan snorted in the memory of the Sultan's defeated expression when his very own subjects demanded that they be let go and handing another piece of bread to Mari, finally added to the conversation.
"Doesn't mean he can't make things hard. He'll keep choking until there is no choice."
Shammar nodded gravely and tossed his final piece of bread into the fire. Fighting was not something he particularly approved of. Tradition dictated that he maintain his twelve horsemen and his father's Khanjar at his side, but he didn't like it one bit. Unfortunately, Lo'gan's words rang true. In the huddled whisperings he had seen run through the camp the previous night, it was clear that the clans were seeing it as the only way and knowing what he did of queen Zainab, he knew it to be true as well.
"Will there be a majlis council called?"
Lo'gan nodded thoughtfully and unconsciously placed a hand on Mari's waist now that he was done eating. Finished with her meal as well and suddenly sleepy, Mari leaned her hooded head over his shoulder and eased into the hand at her side. Shammar watched the tender exchange with a bit of awe, satisfied that the rumors of Lo'gan having taken the Sultan's latest addition to his harem from right under his nose were true. He wanted to see her eyes for himself, but something told him it was not a gesture the Jabir would like very much. Noticing that Shammar's train of thought was veering into dangerous territories, Harabi wisely interrupted before his short-tempered partner noticed Shammar's interest in Mari.
"So then you'll make sure we get to attend that meeting?"
Shammar snapped back into himself and grinned widely.
"Absolutely, Harabi. We leave in about two hours time. If you allow yourselves to be hidden in a camel's pull, you can make it safely past the city walls."
Lo'gan nodded with a hint of shame in having threatened the man who proved to be just as honorable as his reputation claimed he was.
"We thank you. Once we are two days away we can manage on our own."
Lo'gan then glanced at Harabi, who already knowing how to read Lo'gan a mile away, quickly dug into his sash for the leather purse that contained the rest of the small fortune they had won in the gambling tents a few days back.
"We fully intend to pay for your troubles."
Shammar did not even glance at the offered purse and stood up, shaking his robes free of sand with a half smile.
"It is the least I can do for the noble Bedouin heroes all Arabia will be talking about for years to come. Lo'gan, when my father was alive, he spoke of yours with great respect and it is only right that I help you with this small favor after you risked your lives to stand up for our rights. I will return shortly when everything is ready. What is mine is yours."
Bringing his right hand over his closed fist, the Shammar Sheik bowed slightly at both Harabi and Lo'gan before leaving. The Dawasir and the Jabir offered their own clan greetings silently in exchange and watched Shammar walk away. Reaching over for more aromatic coffee with a surprised smile, Harabi leaned back to sip his brew and rest a little before leaving.
"That was simpler than I thought. A few hours and we are back on familiar turf."
Lo'gan wondered if the strange inflection in the Dawasir's voice meant he missed Miznih and nodding tiredly, turned his attentions to Mari, who despite her best efforts to understand what the Shammar leader had to say, had fallen deeply asleep at his side. Lo'gan felt something in his chest pull at the sweetness in her face when she slept and easing back a little into one side of the canopy, brought her head to rest directly over his heart.
The auburn hair she had tucked primly into her hood cascaded out a little and fingering the silky locks, Lo'gan finally let himself relax a little. That incident earlier had terrified him. Not just the fact that Mari could have been hurt, but the fact that he had reacted so strongly. It seemed like all reason abandoned him when it comes to Mari and that was a scary thought if nothing else. Running his gaze over the immediate camp, that was now bustling with movement as the rest of the Shammar clan woke up, Lo'gan determined they were in good hands. Shammar was honorable and that was a strike to their favor.
Some people were still looking at them from their corner of their eyes, however, and spotting the boy that had scared Nayif and Mari peeking at him from under a rolled up tarp, Lo'gan bared his teeth at him and watched with satisfaction as he scampered away. Harabi let out a snort and took another sip of his coffee. Lo'gan smirked too and tightening his grip on Mari's hip, leaned his head against hers.
They would be in the dunes soon and that was a welcome thing after being in a city for close to a week. Of course it also meant that Mari was one step closer to her home, but that was not something he wanted to think too much about. Bringing the long lock of auburn hair to his lips, Lo'gan kissed it reverently before going back to finger it softly. A few minutes later, Harabi was snoring, no doubt having gotten no sleep whatsoever at Miznih's and he himself felt his eyelids getting heavy. Only there was no way he could let his guard down. As the fire died down in the growing wind to leave the three-walled canopy in practical darkness, Lo'gan struggled with the tiredness of the last few days.
Running smooth circles over Mari's jutting hip, Lo'gan did stay awake and watched as the nomad camp woke up slowly to the new day. Regrettably, it was not getting much more brighter than it already was. The dark storm clouds Lo'gan had seen billowing up on their escape from the palace, were now fully formed and stretching across the entire sky, blocking out the early sun and threatening with heavy rains. In a few days time, that really wouldn't be an issue for the Bedouins because the rain never strayed far from the coast, but it would mean strong kaus winds in the desert. He had seen it coming for months and the timing couldn't be worse.
Shaking his head to free it of the negative thoughts already swirling in it, Lo'gan pushed concerns of the weather out of his mind and slowly nudged Mari awake. The Shammars were quick, not as quick as his own clan, but quick nevertheless and like promised they were almost done packing in an hour and a half. Bringing Mari's face up to his own, Lo'gan kissed the corners of her mouth until Mari fluttered her eyes open and with a slightly annoyed moan, buried herself back into his shoulder. Lo'gan chuckled at that and overcome with immature mischievousness looked around to check that no one was watching them before sliding a hand into her black cloak. Moving slowly, he brought his hand to cup her breast and watched with amusement as Mari startled and blinked at him with a reddened expression.
"Lo'gan!"
The Jabir answered Mari's exasperated whisper the only way he knew how and swept down to kiss her. Mari responded just like he wished she would, but feeling the hand at her breast get a little more urgent as they deepened their kiss, Mari brought her own hand over Lo'gan's and separated from his lips with considerable effort. Lo'gan pulled back an inch from Mari's face and stared down at the angelic face lit up with the eerie glow of her eyes and smiled.
Mari smiled back and feeling too drawn to Lo'gan's intense gaze, did not feel him shift their hands so that his was over hers on her breast. With a wicked gleam in his eye, Lo'gan used Mari's own hand to knead the flesh there and pinch at the nipples now firmly making themselves felt through the fabric of her dress. Mari gasped at the deft manipulation and turning a bright red again, didn't even have time to brace against Lo'gan's lips as they crushed onto hers once again. Bringing his other hand to Mari's neck to keep her firmly in his grasp, Lo'gan ravished her mouth for endless minutes.
When they couldn't breath any more, they broke apart, both flush and panting and grinning like fools. Reluctant to let go, Lo'gan pecked Mari's cheek and slowly moved his hand from under Mari's cloak.
"We have to go soon, darling."
"Okay, go. Lo'gan and Mari go."
Lo'gan resisted the urge to just kiss her again and rubbed her cheek instead. Mari stretched into the caress languidly and figuring to hell with schedules, they could touch just a little bit longer, Lo'gan bent down to kiss little spots on Mari's outstretched neck. Mari held her breath when she felt the warm lips touch her skin and reaching up slowly to feel along his chest like he had done to her, closed her eyes to savor the exquisite feel of Lo'gan's touching. But just then a loud snore came from the other side of the canopy where Harabi was still napping.
Mari pulled back and giggled at Lo'gan's irritated growl. He looked at the offending Dawasir reproachfully and tempted to throw something heavy in his direction, decided that Mari stirring in his arms was a better use of his time. But the time for cuddling with Mari was over anyhow, because someone was coming straight for them. Lo'gan cast one last sorry look at Mari's beckoning laughter and stood to his feet, bringing her with him.
By the time Shammar peeled back the canopy flap, they were almost straightened out. All except for Mari's hood that is. Reaching for it the second she heard Shammar's feet ground to a halt at the canopy entrance, Mari turned around to avoid his stare. But it was too late. Shammar had gotten a clear look at the growing legend of the green eyed girl and at a loss for words, stared dumbly at the hooded form as she retreated to the darkest corner of the structure. Luckily, he remembered Lo'gan in time and turning to meet his unreadable expression, quickly stammered out why he was there.
"Ahh, we're ready to leave, so……"
Momentarily interrupted by Mari's crossing over to nudge Harabi awake, Shammar quickly snapped his gaze back to Lo'gan just as he crossed his arms.
"So you can meet us……outside."
Turning on his heel, the youngest Sheik in the entire Khali desert walked out with his mind swirling with images of the beautiful girl he had just glimpsed. Rumors had credited her with being exotic and strangely haunting, but no one had really said she was beautiful. There must have been almost five hundred guests and servants at the Sultan's birthday the day before, and already twice that amount were swearing to be eyewitnesses. Only he knew now that they were all liars, because if they had really seen the girl, that would be all they would be talking about instead of the fight between Lo'gan and the captain of the guard.
Shaking his head at the unfairness of the much, much, much older Jabir somehow being the lucky one, Shammar trotted over to where one of his younger charges was incorrectly strapping a pack on a camel and looking back for a split second to the three strangers bustling to gather their things, wondered what exactly the connection between her and the Jabir was.
Lo'gan saw the look and pulling on his sandals a little too forcefully turned to see what Mari was up to. Harabi was showing her how to take apart the canopy, but seeing Lo'gan's look, quickly found something else to do. Mari looked at the Dawsir a little awkwardly before shuffling over to where Lo'gan was snuffing out the remains of the fire. He looked a little tired, but otherwise too inviting to pass up. It seemed they were always on the run and it was horribly unfair to exist on just stolen kisses alone.
Adjusting her black cloak as best as she could, Mari reached out to Lo'gan with a full body hug from behind. Lo'gan took all of two seconds to lose his grumpy attitude and hug her back. He had quickly learned that things always looked better with Mari in his reach. Taking her hand after placing a lingering kiss on her head, Lo'gan grabbed the rest of his gear and with a quick nod to Harabi, together headed out towards Shammar.
Fifteen minutes later the three refugees were tucked away among dozens of coffee bean sacks. It was not easy going in the pull cart being dragged by a jostling camel, but it was better than nothing. Bringing a piece of sackcloth to Mari's chin, Lo'gan looked over at Harabi who was already drifting off where he was sitting. The Dawasir was completely covered and confident that Mari was sufficiently disguised too, he leaned back and let her reposition herself against his chest. Through the flap that covered the wagon, he could see their animals being led by an elderly woman on a dulah camel. It took some convincing to get Nayif to follow the cart without his master on him, but he eventually understood that Lo'gan was just ahead of him and still within smell's reach.
Content that he was following a good pace and was in competent hands, Lo'gan turned his attentions back to Mari. Her hood was pulled tight around her, but he couldn't rest and not see her. Pushing the black fabric delicately away from her face, he smiled down at her before repositioning his hand back where they gravitated to naturally. Mari welcomed the weight on the curve of her hip and nestled even closer to smell the scent that was all Lo'gan. The strong smell of coffee pervaded her senses, but she knew she would sleep a lot better if he was as close to her as possible.
Lo'gan smiled proudly at the fact that she chose to be so curled into him and resumed the playful twirling of her hair in his hands like they had been under the canopy. And like the brief rest they had earlier, Mari was fast asleep only a minute after Harabi started snoring. And like before, Lo'gan settled in for a long wait. They would be approaching the Ma'in port of exits in under an hour and they were far from being safe until they were well past them.
Remembering the true dangerous nature of their escape, Lo'gan gingerly eased Mari to his side in the aromatic cart and carefully pulled out his weapon. If things looked suspicious, the guards at the city wall might demand a search of the Shammar clan's goods and he had to be ready for anything. Forgoing sleep at least for another day, Lo'gan kept an eye on his stallion as the wind continued to increase all around them.
He hadn't noticed in the hurry to get packed up and hidden, but he now saw that the sky had actually darkened since daybreak. And as if on command, a thunderclap broke not too far away. It lit everything and hung painfully in the air. Lo'gan looked down to see that Mari was still soundly asleep, but gripped his dagger a little tighter, his senses now fully alert to the rain that started to fall heavily down on the tarp that covered the cart.
The heavy drops quickly increased in tempo and before long, sheets of rain beat down on everything within sight. At the head of the long procession working its way to the city gates, Shammar thanked the gods for the good fortune. With adverse weather, the guards would most likely usher them through quickly and with minimal questions.
Little did he know that under the queen's orders they would question no one that day. She had other plans for Lo'gan and his companions and watching the rain from her place by her window, queen Zainab twisted the blue silk gown she wore anxiously in her hands. Waiting was never her strong suit, but to catch this particular nuisance that was exactly what she had to do. Ignoring the fat wet drops staining her blue gown a dark navy, the twisted old woman reviewed her plans methodically in her head. It was only a matter of time.
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