84. Road (Patreon)

The promised date soon arrived. Though dreadful would fit the description better.

Aloe had done her best to ready the palace for her absence, and Rani’s. She personally discussed with Fayruz and Idris so they could maybe deviate the weight of audiences towards themselves and prepare some public works in advance so the focus would be on them rather than any new petition. Mostly an excuse than actual productive work.

But Rani’s absence was what mattered the most.

Not only did the emir herself make her own preparations, but even Tamara and Nuha were busy the coming days before the departure. No one trusted Naila to run Sadina during Rani’s absence. The imperial scribe was green, far more than Aloe. Whilst she didn’t doubt Naila’s education was far superior to hers, the sultanzade had no working experience nor administrative skills, two fields that Aloe’s banker apprenticeship had filled in earnest.

However, what most feared wasn’t the lack of skills of the regent emir, but her temperament.

A hot-headed child was the best description.

For lack of better words.

“Well, girls, I bid you a fare well,” Rani told the scribes who were lined up. The morning sun barely showed its head from the horizon, lightly backlighting the emir. “And Naila, please don’t ruin the city whilst I am gone. This city has already suffered a lot in the hands of negligent sultanzade.”

“You can trust me, sister.” The younger princess bowed. “Sadina will hold to your arrival even if the northern hordes attack.”

“I rather for that not to happen, but I will take your word for it.” The emir turned, showing her covered back to the scribes, and started walking down the palace’s stairs. “What are you waiting for, Aloe? Follow me.”

“Yes, Rani.” Aloe bid farewell to the rest of the scribe with a shallow bow and followed suit.

Down the stairs, a whole convoy waited for them. Four guards were mounted on different camels whilst one stayed on foot with the leashes of another two in hand.

“I have not asked this before, but you know how to ride, right?” Rani asked Aloe as she took one of the leashes for herself.

“I have ridden before...” The standing guard gave her the other leash, but as she approached the animal, the magnitude of the creature dawned on her. “...but none as big as this.”

“Oh well, it is not like there is a problem.” The sultanzade mounted the mount taller than Aloe with a single jump. “If you cannot ride alone, then you will have to go with an escort. That would free a camel to take more load. I guess a guard could go with you, or even me.”

“A guard is more than fine in such a case, Rani.” Aloe reasoned. “I would not want to pester you with my presence.”

Rani didn’t bother to respond; she simply snickered and took control of her camel. “Guard, help my scribe mount the beast.”

The guard who had given them the leashes nodded wordlessly and approached Aloe. The woman caressed the camel’s head, and the animal complied, crouching and kneeling down.

“Is it low enough for you to step on the stirrup?” She added politely.

“Y-yes, I think so.” At the best of her abilities, or rather her body’s, Aloe put her feet on the step-like contraption that she supposed was the stirrup. Dweller saddles didn’t have that part as their bodies were too close to the ground to need it. Unfortunately – and mostly embarrassingly – Aloe didn’t quite reach the other side of the saddle with her legs.

“May I?” The guard offered her hand and Aloe nodded.

But she didn’t expect the woman to grab her by the armpits and shove her on top of the saddle as if she didn’t weigh anything. Dunes, I feel like a child. A look at the sultanzade showed that she wasn’t the only one who thought so. Instead of being embarrassed, Rani was amused by the sight.

Before her shame could settle in, the camels started moving through the main avenue. The entourage mounted silently to the city wall, where the standing guards didn’t dare to stop the emir for any reason.

“It has been long since I have formed part of an escort this big,” Rani mentioned once they left Sadina. Two guards rode ahead of them and the other two behind, it was obvious who she was talking to.

“But did not you go to Asina multiple times a year whilst you were the imperial scribe?” Aloe tried to keep the conversation alive, otherwise the emir wouldn’t have started it.

“Yes, of course. But you said it yourself, whilst I was the imperial scribe.” The princess’ eyes shone with authority and glee. “Alas, I am now the emir of Sadina. My life is more valuable than before. I have gone from being one of dozens – maybe even hundreds if we count Aaliyah’s siblings – of sultanzade to one in a handful of emirs. And sultanzade are not as valuable as emirs, even if we were less.”

The ruler of Sadina normally gave an indecorous image, her body was as lascivious as they could get, and her usual didn’t exactly leave a lot to imagine. But now, as the morning breeze wavered her long ebony hair tied in a braid and her body was fully clothed in a thick, albeit expensive desert garb, Rani gave a more dignified image.

The image of what someone would imagine an emir to look like.

“These are a few of the things I have no control over.” Rani continued. “Is it not amusing?”

“I would say your safety is not a laughing matter,” Aloe added.

“Ugh, you sound like Tamara. This did not happen to Hassan, you know? Just because he was better in martial arts and overall stronger, they allowed him to travel alone. Sure, he could dispose of a band of bandits without breaking a sweat, but it is infuriating, nonetheless.”

So that’s the problem. Aloe kept to herself.

“Do you long for the time you could travel alone?” The scribe opted to leave out the princess’ brother out of the conversation. Rani didn’t tend to react well to him.

“I do not.” She answered with surprising confidence. “It is an annoyance, I do not refute that, but I would not trade my position for something as trivial as being able to travel without company.”

“I apologize for the stupidity of my question.” Aloe bowed whilst on top of her camel, grabbing the reins a bit too hard.

“I heard more stupid things before and on a daily basis, fret not.” Their eyes locked and Aloe couldn’t help herself but inspect those glowing amethysts. “And conversation is what will keep this travel from becoming stale. I would rather keep up with stupidity than boredom.”

“I can agree to that.”

Ironically enough, the conversation soon died after that. The entourage continued through the desert in silence. Whilst the road between Sadina and Asina was one of the most used in all of Ydaz, there were two of them. The principal route where all trade was centered was paved with either natural hard ground or handmade roads. That road though had the disadvantage of being long. Normally, it didn’t matter much as it passed through other important cities, mainly Aramita, an important coastal city and bustling trading hub in the emirate of Sadina.

But time was of the essence, and a route that long would set them back days, meaning that they would spend two weeks, if not more with the round trip, alone in the road. The power and new regime were still solidifying in Sadina, so the emir couldn’t afford to leave the emirate for that long.

So they took the straight route.

Unlike the main trading route, the short route was a straight line that had almost no infrastructure connecting the cities. There were shallow hints of a used trail, but those vanished easily. The reason why the shortest path between two of the most important cities of the country lacked any supporting infrastructure was simple.

Sandstorms.

Whilst Sadina and Asina weren’t known for such phenomena, the space between them wasn’t as fortuitous. That was the reason why they traveled so light, with no carriage even if a princess like Rani could afford one. Outrunning sandstorms, or avoiding them completely, was far more important than commodity and vanity.

Plus, it was faster this way.

Soon night came after a day of riding, they were expected to travel for two more days before arriving at Asina. The guards – or rather soldiers as they were no longer in the city – started mounting the camp without being ordered to. Neither Rani nor Aloe were expected to lift a finger. Once they finished mounting the tents, with Rani’s being the biggest one by far, one problem sprouted in Aloe’s mind as she counted the tents.

“Uhm... Rani?” Aloe asked nervously as the two waited around the campfire. The scribe played with her fingers nervously.

“Yes, Aloe?” Even in the dire conditions of the desert, the emir didn’t seem uncomfortable as she looked at the crackling fire, a surprising prospect for someone who was surrounded by luxury every living moment.

“I just realized... where am I supposed to sleep?”

There were three tents in total, two small ones and Rani’s. The small ones could easily house two adults with room to spare, but there was the small issue that all soldiers were men.

“Oh, right,” Rani commented lazily, her head resting on the back of her hand. “I have always traveled either alone or with sultanzade only, this I have never pondered over such logistics.”

Aloe was surprised that the emir admitted her lack of foresight.

“Then?” The scribe of commoners asked, her nervousness far from soothed.

“Is it not obvious?” The princess turned to face her; the flames reflected in her purple eyes. “You are going to sleep with me.”