Aliah

  Chapter 03

  The Temple

  Clutching the map in my hands, I took each step as careful as I could, thinking my pounding heart was going to seize and I would die before ever leaving the palace. The task seemed so simple, the hardest part was really in the poster: going to the forbidden temple. The journey itself was not an issue, I have traveled the desert before to rob caravans as they slept, it was more the fact that if you were caught in the temple you were put to death on the spot.

  Looking at the maps in my hand, I thought death would be better than not finding the lamp. And, that is all he wanted. A small lamp said to be deep within the temple. He wouldn’t say more, other than I would know I had the right one because the lamp I was searching for was the only one known to be made of glass. He said it sparkled like an emerald and was the only thing I was to touch. Tryphon was very clear on that.

  “If you touch anything other than that lamp, you will die.”

  There was no more explanation than that and I didn’t care. Go to temple, get lamp, touch nothing else, come back, be free for the rest of my life. It seemed like a good and simple plan.

  Looking up at the open door, I put the folded map securely in my shirt, against my breast where I could feel it and know it was safe. The guard next to me, the kind guard from before, made a noise and I glanced up at him to see his eyes on me. He stopped walking so I did as well, sure he was going to say something even more lecherous than the false prince had said.

  “You should redo your wrap before we exit.”

  It was my turn to be shocked. Hiding my blush with the wrap and hood, I cast my eyes down out of embarrassment. The way he had been looking at me, his eyes still holding shock and something I couldn’t read, I had thought he was in the same camp as Tryphon.

  “Thank you,” I said in a low voice.

  He let out a short laugh as we began walking again. “I’ll just say, I know a little something about hiding who you are. I admire your courage; I wish I had the same.”

  From under my hood, I pursed my brow at him but he didn’t say more. He was not like any other man I had met who knew me to be a woman. He was kind, but held no sexual interest in me. Not knowing why he was the way he was, but figuring it had to do with his odd comment, I smiled to myself and hoped there were more men like him in the world.

  We had exited the palace from a different way than I had entered so that the guard could take me to the stables to gather a camel for the trip. Once Tryphon had learned I was a woman, he too became a little nicer about my endeavor—though for him, the leer in his eyes made it obvious as to why he was so nice—he offered to give me a camel to make the trip easier and more expedient. Considering I did not like the prospect of, eh-hem, “borrowing” one, I took his offer with thanks.

  “Karim, what brings you to the stable?” A man about the height of the guard, but not as muscled, approached him. Their hands grasped each other’s forearms in a handshake as they greeted one another.

  “It’s good to see you here, Piruz. Tryphon has instructed me to gather a camel for this boy. I would like our most rested for his journey.”

  Piruz’s light brown eyes took me in. “This boy, eh?” He laughed and entered the stable making my heart about jump out of my chest.

  The way he looked at me, I thought I had been discovered. Karim laughed with the stableman and the two gathered a camel and began readying it for me. Tucking in against a wall, out of the bright desert day and out of sight of any passerby, I watched the two banter as they prepared the animal. It was clear they were good friends. Once the camel was done, Karim thanked Piruz, promising to get a drink that night, and brought the equipped beast to me.

  “Good luck, boy.” The way Piruz said boy and laughed made me sure he knew I was not a boy. How he knew, was beyond me but he let me be so it was fine if he did know. Nodding to him—Karim had filled him in on why I needed the camel—I said my thanks and mounted the animal.

  Once near the gate, Karim stepped back and bowed. “Good luck, Aliah. Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta.”

  With that, I was off. As I left the back gate of the palace and entered the empty street, which dumped me in the desolate desert, I pondered why he would give me such a farewell. To remind me of good thoughts, gestures, and deeds seemed a little redundant considering the journey I was undergoing required me to steal from a temple forbidden by the king.