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He woke up with the pearly light of dawn. Khanda was still peacefully nestled against him and he brushed her cheek with his finger, still incredulous she was now his rightful wife. Her brown hair was spread like silk around her face and one of her hands kept his chest warm.
He looked at the carved wooden ceiling to distract himself from lustful thoughts. He needed to find a secure place to live. Lakresha was too close to Agharek, and Khopesh's revenge might easily reach them.
They must go farther away if they wanted to live in peace and start a family. He frowned, pondering the options, but he must find a way to keep her safe.
"Good morning, dilbar." Her voice brought him back to reality. She hadn't moved, but she was now staring at him. "What worries you?"
"We should leave before the house awakens," he answered. "It's either the nomad tribes of the desert or the northern towns beyond it. Which is the lesser evil?"
She pulled herself up, still staring at him, and pondered.
"Let's go north," she said. "We can buy a camel and trade it for a horse when we get to cooler countries."
He sat too. "I will sell my ornaments. You keep yours while you can," he said, determined.
"No, we will sell everything except our weapons," she replied. "We'll hide the coins in our sashes. I shall wear male clothes for traveling. Let me get my things and we'll meet in the main courtyard."
He had to retrieve his clothes and weapons, so he nodded and quickly kissed her before heading back to the lower floor where the bedrooms and guest rooms were. He tiptoed into his cousin's antechamber to recover his clothes, pole-arm and dagger. He still had the silken noose around his wrist and put all his rings and other jewelry in a small pouch that he hid in his sash.
Khanda had changed clothes too when they met in the courtyard in front of the palace main door. She had retrieved her own dagger and had braided her hair.
Even unadorned and with male clothes, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And she put her hand in his, staring at him with her trusting smile.
"I bought these from one of the servants," she whispered. "Now let's go before the masters awake."
He briefly squeezed her and they exited the palace. The sun was up by now and the shops were beginning to open for business. They found a jeweler who carefully checked their gold and silver ornaments, then gave them a fair sum of money.
They divided it in half and hid it in their sashes, leaving out a minimal amount before heading for other shops. They bought flasks of water and provisions, then wrapped their heads in turbans to protect them from the heat. Khanda even covered her face, hiding her braid in her tunic, so she'd look like a boy.
The animal pens were outside of town. They needed a camel because it was the ideal riding animal. If they could find one that was strong, slender and long-legged with thin, supple skin, they'd go through the desert with no problems.
They found a camel owner willing to part with one of his herd and bought a saddle for two along with the animal.
"Can you take care of him?" the man asked gruffly.
"We are used to camels, don't worry," Talwar answered. "We won't force him to run much, walking is fine."
The camel owner watched them tie the saddle to the single hump of the camel and climb onto it. He reluctantly gave them a stick to guide the camel and observed as the animal got to his feet, obeying its new master.
Talwar patted the brown coat of the long, curved neck as Khanda's arms wrapped his waist. Clicking his tongue, Talwar pushed the dromedary out of the cattle market and towards the desert. They had the lone mountain to guide them, and even though it looked distant in the morning mist and distances in the desert were hard to determine, they knew they'd reach it eventually.
Talwar covered his mouth and nose like Khanda had done. The camel might have natural protection from sandstorms, but they didn't. His swaying gait took them away from Lakresha and towards their new life.
***
The next few days they mostly followed the River Pila so they'd have water and find gazelles or antelopes to feed on. The green ribbon of vegetation on the river shore sometimes was thick and sometimes sparse, so every now and then they lost sight of running freshwater.
They were lucky that the summer was over. The days were still sunbaked and the nights quite cold, but they wore the perfect clothes for desert survival and the camel trudged on, resting under the stars with them.
The pole-arm turned out very useful in killing their prey and Khanda built herself a bow and made arrows to help. But she refused to eat birds' meat, and never shot towards the sky. She named the camel "Dromy" and she petted him as soon as they got off the saddle to eat or sleep.
When they reached the first mud hut village, she introduced Dromy to the children who came over to see the strangers stopping among them. Talwar watched her tenderly as she answered their questions on city life. They wanted to know if the young couple was married and where they were headed and if they'd have children of their own and what their family thought of their adventure and why was she dressed as a man?
As the sun set, they were invited to the chief's house to dine on vegetable curries, rice dishes, lentil soup and fresh breads, which made a change from the meat they had cooked over a fire of camel dung. They sat on mats with the chief's family and ate from the central dish.
It was also a full moon night, so after the meal there was music and dancing around bonfires. Khanda showed off her dancing skills while Talwar watched, his heart swelling with pride. His wife was the most beautiful woman of the land and he'd have to guard her closely. Already young men of the village fought to dance with her and he had to interrupt their bickering to take her out of the dance ring.
"Are you jealous, Husband?" she teased as she sat next to him among the elders. "If I wanted to marry a dancer, I'd have agreed to Khopesh's proposal, remember?"
He pulled her closer and muttered, "I don't want them to touch you, not even for a dance."
She giggled. The way she looked at him sent shivers down his spine. He wanted to take her to the hut they'd been assigned and undress her and make love to her until dawn, but it would be disrespectful to their hosts.
They waited another hour, watching the fire dance of the maidens of the village, then finally retired. With mud walls around them they felt secure enough to give vent to their passion again.
Talwar fell asleep with Khanda nestled against him. Life might be harsh away from the towns, but he felt blissfully happy.
***
She had been told the desert was bleak, but it wasn't too bad along the river. There were places where water was lacking and Dromy trudged on until he found the next well, oasis or mud village, but it wasn't as empty as expected.
The small villages seemed to follow the old traditions of hospitality, probably because of the harsh land around them and in spite of the presence of warring tribes. Two people weren't a threat, but still...
She was also glad that they'd left behind the tribe of Kareena and Shahid's father, where Roshan had been trained. It was most certainly supportive of the Assassins' Guild's, and those people would have reported them to the fortress, if not Agharek.
The world was a lot bigger than expected, thank the gods. Soon they'd be out of their parents' reach. How soon was hard to tell, but she knew they would make it.
The next morning they left the village and resumed their journey. Dromy took them further north, swaying through shrubs and flat plains, sometimes getting away from the green patch of vegetation of the Pila.
It was the first time either of them realized the extent of the desert. It had been created a century earlier by two angry dragons that burned down the jungle around the Lone Mountain, causing the destruction of the Kingdom of Arquon, but also of the northern part of Akkora and southern Rajendra.
The only big and long river that came from the Lone Mountain was the Pila, along with the Zara, the shortest one that came out of the northern slope to flow directly into the sea. The Bhoot came and went like a ghost and the other two, that used to form the borders of Arquon, had completely vanished underground.
Talwar and Khanda didn't cross the river. It was getting narrower as they approached its source, while the desertification increased with every day they moved away from the former capital. The desert was huge and had sand dunes, broken rocks and scanty vegetation, rough shrubs and sporadic trees. Stretches of sand were interspersed with hillocks and gravel plains.
Khanda learned to cook and hunt, but never tried to fish. The water from the wells the camel found tasted strange, but it was better than nothing.
And birds guided them to the next village, oasis or night camp on the river shore. It was funny to pretend to be inspired to go somewhere not knowing what lay ahead, while she'd been told exactly what to expect.
Birds' vocabulary wasn't as wide as Humans', but her winged friends turned out to be excellent guides, along with their trusty mount.
***
Since the temperatures changed so much from day to night, Talwar started thinking they should get a tent in the next village instead of nestling against Dromy's warm body.
The stark landscape and pristine dunes became routine after a full week of travel, and every time they saw a tree, they stopped in its shade during the hot daytime. The desert might appear barren, but it wasn't lifeless and sometimes Khanda sang with the birds nestling on those trees.
"Where did you learn to sing like that?" he asked her one day as they rested in the shadows of an acacia tree and ate travel provisions. "I never heard anyone with a voice like yours!"
She smiled before looking at him.
"I wasn't singing. I was talking to that Rufus-tailed Scrub-Robin. There's a water pond ahead if we get away from the river, a small oasis where we could spend the night."
He stared at her, amazed. "You... talk to birds?"
"Yes. Don't ask me how, it's a gift I have and nobody could explain until a fortune teller said I have some Magical Race blood. I think she said Sila, which would also explain my keen eyesight."
He remembered how they'd called her Hawkeye when they were children, since she seemed to be able to see farther than any of them.
"Hawkeye, Tigress, Khanda... so many wonderful names for a wonderful woman!" he said, leaning towards her. "I can't stop falling in love with you more and more every day! The tomboy has become such a fine woman that I keep wondering why you like me!"
She blushed under his adoring gaze and playfully slapped his arm, hitting the hypertrophic scar hidden under his sleeve.
"Ouch. That deserves punishment."
He pulled her closer. She chuckled and he kissed her.
"I don't deserve you," he whispered, holding her tight. She was full of surprises.
"I'm yours, dilbar," she replied, squeezing him. "Shall we get to that water pond?"