"Hey, Lucky, I know you said you'd stab me in the foot or dig me a grave or something if I said this..." Ali grunts. I turn around, Kaliya's fists tugging at my scalp. I have to carry the little goddess on my back because otherwise, she'd whine about sand getting on her legs. "But we can't even see that army of Ode's undead limping behind us. Can we rest?"
"Kali, stop pulling my hair out," I hiss, turning back to Ali, draining the last of her flask. "You should stop drinking alcohol. It'll only kill you in this heat."
I look around me, to the endless hills of sand.
Gods, I thought I navigated well enough back on the ocean. The stars at night pointed this way, didn't it?
Or maybe it was the other direction.
Ali rolls her eyes and points over my shoulder. "That way." She grins cheekily at me. "I still remember where my first home is, Captain. A courtesan doesn't forget." She grimaces again, clutching her ribs. "Oh, if the heat doesn't kill me, I'll give up myself."
I look her over, searching for any blast wounds. "Were you injured by the ship battle?"
She hisses, digging her nails into her own skin. "I'm bleeding."
"Damn, I didn't mean anything by digging graves. You got to live, Ali." I place Kali gently onto the ground, and then whistle to signal to the rest of the group. "Wait up, I think Ali's wounded."
"I'm not wounded, I'm bleeding. There's a difference." Ali turns to me meaningfully, her dark eyes jabbing warily at me, tilted over the telltale Rahasian nose, the proud gaze.
No wounds, but she's bleeding.
She's... bleeding...
Oh gods, that kind of bleeding.
I resign ourselves to an early sleep today, leaning back in the sand and shrugging off my pack with blankets, scant biscuits, and all. "We'll rest then until you feel better."
I shrug off the fish scale jacket, waving for Ali to sit on it. She does, slowly, minding her sore back and the cramps. "Thanks, Captain."
I shrug off her thanks just as easily as I shrugged off my jacket. Instead, I tear strips of cloth from the bottom of my shirt, long enough to mimic a roll of healer's bandages. "For the bleeding. I'd get you hot stones for the cramps, but I feel like this desert's just one giant, hot stone anyways. Not much point in it. Any hotter, and you serve us up on a platter with an apple and stew for the main course."
Ali takes my flask and sips tentatively at it, raising a single, plucked-thin eyebrow. Row of daggers around her belt, thinner ones pinning back her mass of straight, dark brown hair. Nose that's curved outwards, sharp as a fish-hook, sharp like everything about her is sharp. Sharp tongue. Sharp wit. Sharp as her deadly knives.
She smiles, row of sharp shark's teeth, all in order. "Look at that, you told a joke."
A petite figure runs at us, black, choppy hair sticking out at all angles. Metal piercings and metal eyes. Our favorite con-woman. Kura suddenly flattens herself to the ground beside us. "Hide..." she hisses, clamping her hand down on her amulet, pointing wildly to the hill beside us. "Gods, hide!"
As she presses down on her amulet, her body shimmers, then turns invisible, blending in with the sand around her. More illusions.
But, as I follow where she used to be pointing, I see them. They're not illusions.
They're witches.
A whole coven of them, dressed in flowing nomadic robes and all.
"We sensed our sister Farzaneh's bangles." I get to my feet, shakily. No use in hiding out on an open arena. Not without Kura's handy amulet to summon. "Where is the witch, Farzaneh?"
"Ladies!" I raise my arms above my head to emphasize my lack of weapons. "Fari's not here. She sacrificed herself to protect her." I hold Kaliya's palm. She sucks her thumb, staring down the coven of women nonchalantly, even as their eyes tear our flesh to bits beneath their gazes. "I'm sorry. But you see the little girl's chains. They match hers."
"You killed our sister, pirate." The lead woman raises a single hand, cupping it quickly. "Now you must die, as the Matriarch intended."
All the air leaves my body. I'm choking, feeling invisible hands wrap around my throat. Squeezing the gap shut. Lungs. Crushing. Burning in pain. Heart going fast, then feeble. Frightened. Dying.
Help me.
***
Hey Pirates,
Looks like the witches are here.
Poor Lucky.
-Sophia