Ayira The Princess #2
This is where the men of the palace could be found, sneaking around the city at night while their wives remained tucked away with the children.
It was not a world I cared to explore, but I continued on, passing up the growing buildings reaching tall with balconies and lights.
The motor bikes cluttered the streets and even old parked cars hid tucked on the side of homes that were covered with sheets.
I saw young girls who were still in their school uniforms, covered from head to toe with the men walking barefoot carrying inventory from one store to another.
The Kingdom of Khamar was always thriving and yet as I went further in, it became quiet.
People were far and few in between. The busy night life suddenly became distant as I passed a woman sitting on the ground with empty eyes and wrinkled skin.
Minka kept close behind me with her tail high in the air as we walked further down the cracked stones and tiles that lined the streets.
The outskirts of Khamar where there were little to no lights.
I stopped when I came across a dark alleyway between homes, feeling the aura and energy of something familiar.
Something was calling to me, almost as if it whispered my name, daring me to step.
Curiosity got the best of me as I turned into the dark path that smelled of urine and smoke.
The damp tiles that decorated the clay ground were split underneath my sandals, but the aura felt further down the more I walked.
I looked back, hearing the distant sound of a bike roaring from its motor rode by before turning back with a shriek as a woman stood directly in front of me.
Her dark skin filled with wrinkles as she carried grocery bags in each hand.
She was hunched over with matted braids, wearing a long black kaftan with sandals and dark feet covered in red sand and clay dust.
“You shouldn’t be out here by yourself,” she said, voice hoarse and strained as she slowly turned to walk deeper into the alley. Was it her? Was it her voice that I heard call out to me? “It’s not safe for women after a certain time…”
“You are a woman out here,” I shot back.
“I belong here…you do not…”
The small shuffling noise of her feet sliding against the earth made my shoulders relax as she moved at the pace of a mother’s mother. With her head sitting low against her shoulders, she stopped for just a moment.
“So where do I belong?” I asked, feeling my heart in my ears as I watched her carefully. She remained still, matted braids falling against her shoulder as she tilted her head to the side.
“Outside of here,” she whispered. “You have life outside of here…”
My eyes widened as the sound of drums in the distance began to beat.
“Ayira!” Minka hissed, trying not to say my name too loud. “We need to leave before they start to look for you!”
“What do you mean!?” I called out. The woman took two steps before pausing as she slowly turned around with her bags to stare at me.
She had black pearls for eyes and a mouth that hung open, showing no teeth.
She was dark, born of the sun but there was no light in her anymore.
Whoever or whatever she is has long left her body.
She is now nothing more than a shell of her former self.
“My mother is a witch…She is from the highest and oldest forms of magic,” I threatened.
“She has taught me everything I know. Speak,” I commanded.
The woman looked me in the eyes, black pearls searching for something in my gaze.
“You are lost…Princess,” she said as she lowered her head. When she didn’t pick it up, I felt myself become agitated as my chest began to heave up and down.
“SPEAK!” I demanded as the drums began to beat louder. The laughter and music grew from the main streets, and I could only imagine my mother was calling for me. The woman began to hum as she shuffled her feet, moving aside me with her bags.
“Do you wish for another life outside of this?” She asked as I quickly caught up with her. I stopped her from walking further as she remained still, head still hanging low since she refused to look at me.
“What life are you speaking of?” I questioned. “This is all I know–––”
“No, it isn’t… You were born with a split soul,” she said as she pressed her two fingers together before pulling them apart. “I was there the day you and your sister were born together.”
“Princess!?” Minka called out as the crackling sound of fireworks went off. I looked up through the narrow buildings in the night sky, seeing sparks of fireworks in the distance.
“A sister?” I repeated. “I…I have a sister?”
“The alchemy of souls,” she murmured. “One soul split into two different paths made for the other…from the moment you and your sister were born…”
The woman slowly moved to the side of me as she started to shuffle again, humming a little melodic tune as I stood, stunned. Minka’s heaving chest and wide blue eyes stared at me. Her fangs were exposed, and I could see the guilt in her eyes.
“You knew,” I whispered.
“Your mother made me promise not to say anything to you–––”
“Where is she?!” I shouted as I turned around. The woman had almost disappeared into the shadows of the alley when I quickly came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder.
“She is alive?” I questioned.
“I warned your mother that she cannot keep fire from flame and flame from fire for too long…I warned her,” she said with a fading tone.
Thoughts of a sister living in the outside world began to flood my mind. What was she like? What was her life like? Did she know about me? Did she have friends outside of a cat? Did she know anything about this place?
“Do you wish to see her?” The woman asked.
“Princess, pleaseee,” Minka pleaded as the drums grew louder. “We have to go! Now! We have to leave! I can explain everything–––”
“Tell me,” I demanded. “I wish to see her!”
The woman released a slow eerie smile stretching from ear to ear with not a single tooth exposed behind her lips.
I felt my heart racing. I backed up when she balled her hand into a fist and blew red dust from her mouth as the smoke puffed out against my face.
I began coughing while hearing Minka scream out for me to run.
She scratched at the woman’s ankles, ignoring her cackling as I continued to cough and grip the wall for balance.
“Your mother will pay for her sins, princess! The so-called queen will get exactly what she deserves!” The woman shouted, voice no longer weak and feeble.
She’d been waiting for this moment her entire life.
Whatever my mother did, she decided to use me and as I stumbled out of the alley, I could see my vision becoming weak.
I called out for Minka who dashed across me like a white fabric before yelling for me to follow her.
My eyes became hazy with the view of the city constantly folding into itself like a kaleidoscope. One side turned into the other, creating another pattern that only folded into another. I felt sick, and dizzy as I managed to keep my focus on Minka with tears slowly coming down my cheeks.
“What has my mother done?” I asked out loud as the sound of music became deafening.
The desert was celebrating the arrival of someone or something.
Everyone stood outside of the palace while we stumbled back in, barely making it back to my side of the chambers before I collapsed onto my bed.
I turned over on my back, feeling my body grow stiff as my lids felt the weight of my world crashing down.
“I have a sister outside of this place,” I whispered with my tearful eyes staring at the ceiling.
“Wake up…”
The deep voice from the woman in the alley echoed in my head as I fought back with a shake of my head.
“That woman put something on you! I told you we should have just left!” Minka yelled. “Princess?! Princess! Wake up! WAKE UP!”
Everything suddenly warped into blackness as 3 loud horns broke the silence.