Nimah Eze | Ten
INTO THE DESERT WE DROWN
—
I always considered myself immune to canal impurities.
I did not crave it, nor did I entertain such vanities. I was an exemplary worshiper, and it grounded me to know my faith was unwavering and unshaken, regardless of how hard I was tested. It made me believe I could trust and believe in myself, even if I stared into the eyes of a tempting devil.
That night, with my face between her legs, my lips a few inches away from the forbidden flower of life, sacred for only the bonds of marriage, my faith wavered. In a matter of seconds, a new goddess had claimed me, and she rested in between the legs of a strange servant girl whose attraction to sin knew no bounds.
Fidgeting, I lifted my gaze to look into her eyes, staring down at me across the tip of her hard nipples. The side of her lips twitched when she beheld my gaze and the shivering of my body intensified a great deal. I wondered if that would be the moment I destroyed my oath of purity. The question ran through my head as I battled to remain chaste.
"R... release me, I beg of you. Else... I will forsake myself," I stuttered against her skin. The hot air from my mouth caressed her flower and my face.
We remained locked in a deep stare in silence as I prepared myself to lose our unspoken dare. Her face was plain and void of any hint of what would become of me. I wasn't incapable of simply turning away and racing to the door. That scared me the most. The bondage in my freedom of choice.
The room was silent enough for the drumming of my heart to deafen me. Our breathing moved in sync, and the world around me faded away.
It would have taken her only a whisper of another command to break me and force me into burying my face into her wetness. Nothing would stop me from riding the high.
I had never tasted a woman or man. Amongst servants, there was gossip of how it tasted against one's tongue, where to suck or lick, where to touch, rub. I listened in every now and then for the giggle and silliness, amusing myself with thoughts of how my wedding night would be. I sometimes prayed my partner wouldn't be a virgin like me. It would be no good if both of us had no knowledge the human form.
There were far more important things in life than fornication, and in my eyes, nothing triumphed giving myself to someone completely under the oath of a life bond. But in that moment, there was a wish, a regret of sorts. If she did give the command, I would be no good, and she'd certainly be disappointed with my performance.
She sat up just a little, pulling back her jeweled feet, covered in gold and silver anklets. Gently, with her feet on my forehead, she pushed my shivering body away from her and pulled her robes together, crossing her legs. Her stare was a flaming weight that burnt my flesh. I swallowed and lowered my gaze.
"First," she began in a quiet sweltering tone I knew was not intended to convey seductiveness, but did anyway, "I will make you my husband." She leaned forward. "Then I will make you a whore. My. Holy. Whore." A chuckle escaped her.
She was as audacious as she was beautiful. I couldn't bring myself to stare into her eyes again, but from the corner of my eyes, I watched her regal form rise from the cushion and strut towards the door with swaying hips.
"Before I leave you," she swayed around, her robe gliding in the same manner of grace, "if you did not come to assassinate the queen. Whose life then is at your mercy?"
"Uhm... I..." My brain was in a fog, and the words, though I knew them, were not coming easy to me. "They... umm... I mean... he... he... the commissioner of trade." I swallowed, squeezing my gown.
"Intriguing." She opened the door and the moaning noises grew louder in the room. "The commissioner is a rather dull man. His death will drive no real change."
I whipped my head in her direction. "You know this commissioner?"
"An old friend."
"Friend?"
"Your legs appear solid. Run west against the moon," she said, pointing her chin west.
"Run? Why would I–"
"Guards!" she screamed and I sprang from the floor.
"What are you doing!"
"West, Little One." She turned into the hallway with a smirk.
Shock and confusion of what to do next froze me eyes wide, until I heard the stomping footsteps of guards marching towards the room. I hurried to the door and poked my head into the hallway. The servant girl stood with enforcers, pointing towards me.
With a gasp, I slammed the door shut, locking the bolt tight. How could she? Why would she? I pulled my hair back and slapped my mouth for its foolery, revealing way too many secrets to a stranger, a complete stranger who had made her loyalties very clear. I bit my lips and kicked the cushion, pacing back and forth as I contemplated an escape plan. There wasn't much of a choice. The room was quite small with just one door and one window.
A hard knock sounded through the door and I jolted to the window. "Open up now!" the angry voice came.
The decision to jump was made for me. It was about a story high and the ground was covered in raffia palm branches. If it was just a pile of raffia, then it should be a smooth landing I considered. I would just fall through.
Still, I hesitated, groaning in anticipation of the amount of pain I'd have to endure if I was wrong and something else was hidden away beneath the raffia. More banging came, then a thin piece of wood was pushed through the door cracks to unhook the bolt.
I sighed, took a deep breath and a few steps back. "I, 2, 3!" I jumped out the window with a scream, folding my body together to protect my face from the crash.
I crashed through the raffia roof and into a chicken coop, housing more chickens than I could count. The angry chickens attacked me with their beaks and flapping wings, screaming distressed squawks. My mouth was stuffed with feathers and hay and I was both coughing and waving my hands to fight the chickens away.
"Intruder!" shouted an enforcer from the window above.
I looked up and without taking a moment to recover, jumped out of the chicken coop, breaking into a frantic race, west against the moon.
Seize him! Intruder! I could hear their shouts, then the neighing of horses. With every bit of strength, I ran west into the cold desert night, my sandals filling up with sand, lips drying up from the air. I tossed away my veil and then my mask once I could no longer see the torches from the temple so I could breathe. Deep into the dessert I ran.
It wasn't until I could no longer hear the shouting and galloping of horses that I realized I had blindly followed the instructions of a girl who sold me out to enforcers, after deceiving me into believing she was just as taken with me as I was with her.
Slowing down, I grunted and let out a loud scream, disappointed with myself for being so gullible and naive, and... and... the assassination! I halted and spun around when the whole purpose of the night came flooding back to me. No no no no! I kicked the sand in frustration. Iman, I had disappointed her.
I shot my gaze north, east, west, south. I was surrounded by complete darkness in every corner. I had run so far into the desert, there was no clue as to where I was. When I looked up at the sky, it was strange to not see the moon. It had been a full moon that night, and all along, the moon had been my guide and companion.
Not knowing where to go next, I stood still and listened for the wind. The wind came from the south, I took notice when I first arrived, opposite would be west. There was no wind, there was nothing, not even the faintest of sound. It felt like I had disappeared into nothingness, like I sank into a space where only sand and darkness existed. I shut my eyes and drew a deep breath, calming myself so I could find an inner voice to say a prayer.
Prayer always had a way of making things clearer to me. My racing heart beats and heavy breaths began to steady with every second I searched inwards. Taking my time to feel the presence of every part of my body. The blood in my veins, the quivering of my legs, the sting in my lower back. I was grounding myself with the earth.
Waves. Clashing sounds of waves.
It was soft and gentle at first. As if it existed only in my mind. With the passing minutes, the calm sounds of waves grew furious, louder and stronger. How could there be any water in the middle of the desert? I scrunched my forehead with the question.
Water washed over my feet and I snapped open my eyes. Water was quickly drowning my feet. Slowly I lifted my gaze, and before me stood a tsunami. An ocean so tall and mighty, it was dreadful and angrily coming down at me in a rubble.
There was fear in me, but hopelessness prevented me from feeling it. I believed myself already dead. Neither Mama or any of my siblings would ever know what took me. I was going to die in the middle of a strange desert ocean. Alone and cold. In all the ways I imagined my death, alone and cold was never on the list.
In the same second I released a little breath and closed my eyes, the tsunami came down on me, knocking me off my feet, roughly tossing me around. I was weightless and bamboozled. It was a fierce rush, rattling my body and overwhelming my senses.
There was everything. Then there was nothing but darkness.
***
"Nimah... Nimah," a strong female voice called my name and I shuddered awake, bursting into deep coughs and rapid spitting to free my lungs of all the water in it.
The tears in my eyes were hot but my body was shivering. There was no strength in me. I was numb everywhere, with no feeling of my legs and hands. The unkindness of cold wrapped itself around me. I slumped back and stared blankly at the blurry sky.
Gradually, the cloudiness in my sight began to clear and I was immensely glad to find the moon staring down at me.
"There you are," I whispered, every word hurting my throat.
The night had been both a nightmare and a dream. None of it made sense except for the moon. It was great company, a sign of goodwill. I remained still as my breathing slowed and my mind cleared. First, I tried to move my toes, then my fingers. When I could move, I sat up just enough to rest on my elbow. It was then I realized I was laying on the river bank of the snake mountain.
I sighed and turned right to find my horse exactly where I left it tied to a stunted tree. The shallow laughter that followed was that of disbelief and gratitude to be alive. I was sick of the night and ready for it to be over.
I laid back, listening to the quiet, the crickets, the nothingness of the seconds. My mind was blank until Iman's face appeared to me. The disappointment. The sacrifice. What was I to tell her? I, Nimah Eze, her trusted friend and member of the resistance, who preached holiness louder than the high priestesses, was distracted and out done by... lust? I creased my forehead in worry and shame.
What was I to do? Cross the mountain again and face the snake I had no idea how I overcame? Even if I made it past the mountain, the ghosts in the valley laid in wait for me. There were no soldiers to protect me against them. I had no combat skills, and even if I did, I couldn't face them alone, and then there was the issue of enforcers crawling all over that mountain and the deadline. Dawn was near. I needed to return to the colosseum before 5am. I turned to the moon and found the time to be very well past 5am.
I cursed the night as I struggled to lift my body off the ground. It weighed like the bells of stockfish I used to carry as a teenager. Nonetheless, I sprinted to my horse once I could stand.
My speedy race back was immediate. I hadn't even achieved a steady balance before pulling my horse into action. I was filled with fright and worry, pushing my horse to its very limit, praying Ala grant it strength. I rode the horse across the river, heading straight for the colosseum's sewer the little girl led me through.
A ray of sunlight from the breaking dawn illuminated the path ahead of me, in the short distance and I could see along the lines of the formidable structure. Abruptly, I pulled the reins of my house, compelling it to a halt. Enforcers.
I descended my horse slowly, gently patting to soothe it into silence. The enforcers patrolled the area with loud laughs and talking. I needed to change my fancy clothes back into the servant sacks and identification collar I left wrapped under a stone close to the spring.
"You'll be safe," I whispered to the calm horse, saying a prayer of thanks before smacking its butt to send it riding in the opposite direction from where I was. The only distraction I could think of at the time.
"Horse!" screamed an enforcer.
"Amadioha! Where did it come from?" another asked as they went running after it.
I snuck out and hurried over to the rock beside the spring, retrieving my clothes and collar. On the rock where I left the clothes was an arrow pointing in another direction. Was the little girl telling me where to go? Had she waited for me? I was supposed to have returned hours ago. Now the time was past six and dawn was fully upon me.
The clothes were damp and wrung. The little girl washed away the stench of feces and urine from my clothes. As fast as I could, I slipped them on and turned back to the sewer, ignoring her arrow.
I had come with Udume and needed to return with Udume, else a severe punishment was assured. But as I neared the sewer, I heard more patrolling enforcers approaching from the left. I had no choice but to take the little girl's direction.
***
Trigger warning for the next chapter. TORTURE. It might be uncomfortable for some.
Gentle reminder to vote by the tapping the star.