Aame and Alee

Katana On Trial: Episode 30

Read episode 29 here and episode 1 here.

Thump, thump, thump. My camel dug its feet into the sand: thump, thump, thump. My heart beat as I kicked its ribs urging it to go faster. I was so blinded by the worry of losing Beatrice that I did not realize the thump, thump, thump sound I was hearing ahead of me had quieted.

I was rabid, chasing after the wind for a long while until my camel could not take the strain anymore and it crashed, throwing me into a ravine where my head hit a rock with a thump and the lights went out. I had thought I had joined Hani and Uncle Ayaan’s men by the soft voice that started speaking after some time had passed.

“This one will ride himself to death looking for that girl of his,” someone said.

“And here I thought I had a chance with him. Perhaps we should just let him die in this waste of sand,” another voice, equally as soft cooed.

“We should! He is another mouth to feed, another body to drag along and he just looks like trouble. We should have done away with him in the tent,” the first one said while unsheathing what sounded like a blade.

“He is too handsome for death, even with the wound on his head he still gives me butterflies. Let’s keep him,” the second voice said.

“Men are not pets,” the first voice said.

“Pretty please,” the second one chimed.

“Good luck with him. Just remember all three of them will be eating from your plate,” the first voice barked with finality and I heard the thump, thump, thump of footsteps as they receded away from me before I became unconscious again.

With a lot of strain, my eyes finally opened. I felt weak and there was a burning sensation on my head. I touched it and felt a cloth. I was laying on what seemed like a mat on the grass and my surroundings had changed. Where camels had been, there now stood two donkeys with a cart.

Whereas I had been used to sand, rock, and shrubs, an expanse of greenery now stretched as far as my eyes could see. Next to me was a girl in a grass dress feeding me a kibuyu of water. I immediately moved away from her when I realized she wasn’t Beatrice.

“Welcome to the land of the living,” a soft voice boomed. “You have been asleep for 7 days. Alee your savior has been giving you water throughout. I told her you were dead and we should bury you but she could have none of it.”

“Don’t listen to Aame,” she’s always angry, the girl beside me said.

Cimdi’s twins. It hit me instantly. The ones that were presented to Uncle Ayaan and the ones he presented to me instead. While they were dressed in long frocks then. They were now garbed in short grass dresses, fastened with a belt that carried their weapons, and on their feet were sandals. They wore matching ruby necklaces and above that were angelic faces with a mane of dark hair that even a sorcerer could not tell apart.

It took some time but I eventually understood how they had outwitted Ayaan’s men. With their warrior blood, beauty, and confusing similarity, they were a handful.

 “Where is Beatrice,” a hoarse voice escaped my mouth.

“Damn! That one has to hurt. You have been tending him for 7 days and the first name that escapes his mouth is not yours?” the girl I had learned to be Aame said while fastening a collar on one of the donkeys as Alee threw a berry at her.

“There she is, safe and sound next to the giant,” Alee pointed. I glanced at Beatrice, “They are coming, they are coming,” she talked softly in her sleep and Bobobo chased a butterfly with his eyes that eventually sat on the bridge of his nose.

“Cheer up, we are in the land of the prophets. A few religious quotes and your wife will be as good as new. Heck! Your fool might find his tongue,” Aame said and laughed after noticing my dismay after seeing Beatrice’s condition had not improved.

“She’s not yet my wife,” I said mistakenly, trying to distract her from my sorrow.

“Your girlfriend then?” she asked and I remained quiet. “You are just as confused as my sister Alee. I suppose that’s why you get along,” she said and laughed and Alee threw a large berry at her, hitting her head with a thump.

*

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image credit: karl magnuson