Chapter 27
Nahlah
Dropping my satchel into the sand, my gaze lingered on Rami as we settled beneath the honeybelle trees. Even if I hadn’t witnessed him clutching his chest, looking pale and unwell, Huriyah’s distressed behavior was a confirmation that something was wrong. He obviously wasn’t telling the truth; the heat was unrelated to whatever was happening.
“Here,” Rami broke the silence, handing me a canteen of fresh water, then summoning another for himself and a water trough for Huriyah.
“Thank you.” Gratefully, I accepted it, the cold liquid soothing my parched throat. As my stomach growled with hunger, I dug a plumelon from my satchel, its juicy sweetness bursting across my tongue as I took a large bite.
“Can I ask you a question?” Rami hedged.
”Um, alright,” I reluctantly agreed.
“How’d you know what story to use for the Zephyr?”
“Oh,” I leaned back against a tree trunk, stretching my legs out in front of me. ”Well, I noticed that there was only a solitary, worn path leading from her throne to a hallway. There was nothing else to suggest that she visited the other entryways.” Shrugging, I took another bite. “She’s lonely.”
“Wow,” Rami rubbed a hand over his chin. “You’re incredible.”
Frazzled by his unexpected praise, I struggled to gather my thoughts as a blush crept up my cheeks. “The Painter’s Freedom holds a special place in my heart,” I replied awkwardly. “It’s a story passed down to every newcomer at the Mirage, serving as a beacon of hope for those seeking to escape the shackles imposed by others.”
“I understand that perfectly,” he said, a small smile touching his lips.
For a moment, we sat in shared silence, the weight of his words lingering between us. But as the midday sun burned hotter, pressing upon us with an urgent reminder to act, I asked, ”What”s our plan?”
Shaded by the tree’s fronds, he turned his thoughtful gaze to me. “Have you checked the tome?”
Scolding myself for overlooking the obvious, I retrieved it from my satchel, flipping to the next blank page. Instead of a clear map or a riddle, however, it was a chaotic mess, the page behaving in a bizarre, almost sentient manner. Words shifted before our eyes, forming and reforming as letters erased themselves only to be replaced by others.
“What’s happening?” I asked, squinting. It was as if the tome was in a state of indecision, unable to settle on a message or a path for us.
”It”s almost like it”s recalibrating, or maybe,” he paused, his voice taking on a speculative tone, ”it”s reacting to something unpredictable in our path.” For the briefest moment, a map formed on the page, showing our location with a line stretching north. But just as quickly, it redirected, shifting again and again in rapid succession. Rami’s gaze remained fixed on the page, watching the map’s repeated self-erasure and reformation before his eyes lit up with understanding. “It’s moving!”
“What’s moving?”
“Whatever our destination is—it’s not static.”
“How are we supposed to find a moving location?” I asked in frustration.
“Try touching the page,” he suggested. “Your touch ignited a reaction that first time.”
Hesitantly, I reached out, barely grazing the paper when the letters swirled around my fingers, a sensation similar to a static shock pricking my skin. Recoiling in surprise, I withdrew my hand, only to see a clear outline of my palm imprinted on the page. Within it were the words The Whispering Dunes.
Rami frowned, folding his arms across his chest. “I’ve never heard of the Whispering Dunes,” he murmured, abruptly reaching into his satchel and producing a map, spreading it out before us. As I noticed the Sultan’s seal adorning the corner, my eyes narrowed—how had I not seen this map before?
We leaned in, our heads nearly touching, as we studied the parchment. As time passed and our search turned up empty, a knot of apprehension formed in my stomach. Tracing the familiar territories with my finger, I murmured, ”There”s nothing in our sultanate or the others.”
He gestured to where Nephria”s border met Sahrandia. ”Or in the other domains.”
“I don’t understand,” I sighed, the pieces refusing to fit together.
“Neither do I,” he admitted, flipping the pages back, glancing at the previous revelations it had offered us—the Marasynth desert, the Shadowed Sands, and the Zephyr’s Lair. “What are the Whispering Dunes?”
“And why are they moving?” I added softly. A tense silence enveloped us as Rami leaned back, his gaze distant, while I remained hunched forward, my fingers digging into the sand. Even Huriyah was uneasy, his tail flicking agitatedly. “Can you use your powers to guide our route?”
He shook his head. ”No, the defenses around the Heart and within the tome are much stronger than my own powers. That’s why I couldn’t just summon them for Sultan Ghazi.”
“What about the pixie dust?” I asked hopefully. “It led us to the Zephyr!”
“No,” he shook his head again. “The Sultan used three pouches when trying to decipher the tome. Only your presence as a Heartseeker revealed its secrets.”
“Well, my presence isn’t helping now,” I muttered, placing my fingers against my temples. The Whispering Dunes—the name echoed in my mind as a distant memory tugged at the edges of my consciousness, just out of reach. If it wasn’t part of the sultanate or the wider realm, then it had to have come from... Shooting upright, I gasped, making the connection at last.
Rami glanced over at me. “What?”
“It’s a bedtime tale,” I exclaimed, the words tumbling out as the memories solidified. ”Amu Sinbad used to tell me about a beautiful oasis that revealed itself only to those who can hear the whispers of the dunes!”
“Is it wise for us to chase after bedtime stories?” His skepticism, though not entirely unwarranted, grated on me.
“If the Shadowed Sands and the Zephyr Wraith are real, then we shouldn’t discount bedtime tales.” I fixed him with a glare, my conviction firm and rooted in the belief that our journey so far was proof enough of the validity of legends.
“Okay,” he conceded, raising his hands in the air. Now knowing what I did, I looked at the tome, watching with bated breath as the line oscillated like a pendulum before stabilizing, a clear path emerging.
“It must be remaining in place for now!” I announced excitedly.
Rami glanced up at the sky. “We should head out immediately. We don’t know when it will move again, and we still have hours before nightfall.”
“Are you okay with that, Huriyah?” I asked, needing reassurance that he didn’t require rest. In response, he tossed his head enthusiastically before prancing in a circle, and I jumped up. ”Let”s go!” I quickly gathered my belongings and was already mounting Huriyah before Rami had even stood up.
As he climbed on behind me, I clutched the tome close to my chest, my heart racing with anticipation.