A wish so free, p.1
A Wish So Free, page 1
A Wish So Free
SLAVES OF SANDSPIRE
Z.R. ABADDI
Copyright © 2024 by Z.R. Abaddi
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
28. Alaric
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Also by Z.R. Abaddi
About the Author
Chapter
One
Reema’s feet touched sand.
As she emerged from the mines, her gaze lifted to the canopy of stars overhead. If she were anyone else, she'd stop to marvel at them, letting the awe burn her eyes with tears.
But she wasn’t anyone else. She was the Ifrit, gang lord of the mines. And she’d come back to the surface for one reason only: to undo the damage she’d done by releasing the Djinn into the world.
To her, the stars were only worth noticing for how they lit the night around her. They illuminated three small buildings made from sandstone, and beyond that, far in the distance, she saw the silhouette of Sandspire, the second greatest city in the desert of Sundara.
After a lifetime in the cramped tunnels, the ability to see so far felt strange. It left her feeling adrift, like she was dreaming.
Her attention shifted to a hand reaching out of the Hole. She helped Alaric to the surface, her eyes catching on the burn scar that striped across his face, from where the Djinn had removed the steel band that once obscured his eyes. But now, his brown eyes glowed as nearly as bright as the stars themselves.
“Finally,” he breathed.
She nodded, looking back toward the nearby buildings. It had taken close to two weeks for the slaves to build their way out of the mines. It had been harder than she imagined.
Mining marble was easy; they had been doing it for as long as she could remember. But building something stable and tall enough to climb fifty feet out of the Hole? That was the tough part, and none of them were architects. Every time they failed, they lost several lives. And yet, each time, the miners picked up their pickaxes and went right back to work. They were used to collapses, to the loss of lives. They weren’t about to give up when freedom was right at their fingertips.
Asif was the next to touch sand.
Like Reema, his gaze did not find the stars or the city in the distance, but rather the buildings nearby. His lip curled back over bared teeth.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” he growled as he gripped his pickaxe in hand.
Reema narrowed her gaze. When she climbed her way to the surface, she expected to see sands burnt black from the Djinn’s passing, or to see guards to come running with their swords in hand, ready to slaughter any miner who dared taste freedom. Instead, she was met with endless quiet and the calm that came with it.
It fueled her rage, hot enough that even the soft brush of desert air couldn’t cool it.
Her fists clenched, jaw tight.
Renfri emerged from the mines, stepping between Reema and Asif. Unlike the others, she was speechless, her eyes wide with awe as she stared at the night sky. Reema studied her, surprised that the former gang lord would gawk at the sight.
“It’s been that long, huh?” Reema asked.
"You have no idea," Renfri whispered.
"Then you can wait a little while longer. We've got work to do."
Renfri blinked, looking down from the sky to the fire burning in Reema's dark eyes and the shiv in her outstretched hand.
"Those buildings over there?" Reema gestured toward them. "That’s where the guards stay."
Renfri's smile widened as she took the shiv from Reema. "Say no more."
While the rest of the miners climbed out of the Hole, the four of them raced across the sands, soft crunching underfoot.
Alaric was the fastest, still somewhat accustomed to the desert sands compared to the others who had spent a lifetime walking on solid stone.
He reached the first building, pressing his back against the rough sandstone as he peeked around the corner. He signaled it was clear to Reema, who stepped ahead of him, holding her relic pickaxe at the ready, gleaming with the Angel’s magic. Renfri and Asif flanked them, their expressions mirroring hers. They, too, were thinking of all the times Captain Hamza had mocked and tortured them, reducing them to something less than human.
They slipped inside, brushing past a heavy fabric curtain blocking the doorway. She led the way, scanning the room, her heart deadly calm. Shelves lined the walls, stacked high with sacks of lentils and dates, dried meat, and jars of water. A lone lantern hung from the ceiling, casting dim light that made the shadows dance.
"Empty," she whispered, frustration clear in her voice.
"Look at all this," Asif said, lifting a sack of lentils. "There’s so much food. And the bastards let us practically starve down there."
Asif tossed the sack aside.
She watched it land, feeling the painful emptiness in her stomach more than ever. She buried the urge to stuff herself full of dates and drown herself with water. There would be time for that soon enough.
They crept out of the building, moving toward the next one. The silence was unnerving, broken only by the soft whisper of the desert’s howl. But Reema welcomed it. It covered the sound of shifting sand as they ran across it.
They approached the second building, and Reema signaled for them to stop. This building had a door. She pressed her ear against it and listened. She heard the soft rumble of a man snoring. After a moment, she nodded.
"Someone’s inside," she mouthed.
The others readied their weapons as she pushed the door open slowly, the hinges protesting softly. They slipped inside, the room as dark as the mines. It was only with the glow of Alaric’s eyes that they were able to see the Captain sprawled in his bed, his chest rising and falling in deep sleep.
Renfri stalked toward him, drawing the shiv back so that she could bury it into his neck. But Reema grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop.
Renfri’s eyes flashed with anger, but Reema shook her head.
"Not yet," Reema mouthed.
She passed her pickaxe to Alaric and took the shiv from Renfri’s hand. She snuck forward, fighting the urge to plunge it into his chest, to see that glorious crimson blood paint these shadows red. The tension in the air was thick, threatening to snap at any moment. But this time, she controlled it.
She pressed the marble shiv’s edge to the Captain’s throat.
His lips curved into a frown, hands instinctively going to his throat as his eyes slowly opened. He drew a sharp breath, his eyes jolting wide open in fear. He reached for something in the shadows, but she pressed him back into the bed with the shiv. Blood slowly ran down his neck.
His gaze flicked from her to the others behind her, the whites of his eyes flaring with even more fear at the sight of Alaric’s glowing eyes. Even if Alaric’s stare wasn’t terrifying enough, the glow of his eyes in the shadows was.
Reema lifted a finger to her lips. “Quiet, or I’ll cut you open. Understand?”
Captain Hamza’s tongue brushed across his trembling lips. Nervous beads of sweat ran along his brow. He nodded.
“Stand.”
He shifted slowly, the covers falling away to reveal a pouchy stomach littered with burns. She suspected they were from sparks off his emberdust pipe.
He opened his mouth, but a firm press of the shiv silenced him.
“What’d I say?”
He swallowed, his throat bobbing over the shiv, drawing a small cut that made him wince.
“Turn around.”
He obeyed, holding his shaking hands up. Reema wrinkled her nose at the bitter stench of piss. She glanced down; sure enough, his trousers were soaked.
She felt no pang of pity. She could only remember the time that he unzipped those same trousers, pulled out his dick, and pissed down the Hole while his guards laughed.
She looped her arm around his throat, holding the shiv to it still, and whispered in his ear, “Now walk.”
Renfri, Asif, and Alaric flanked them as Reema led Captain Hamza to the third and final building. The Captain opened his mouth again, but she silenced him with a sharp jerk.
When they reached the building, she motioned for Asif to brush aside the heavy fabric covering the door. Asif drew it back, and with the Captain as her hostage, she entered.
She expected to hear the rumbling snores of sleeping guards. Instead, she was greeted with shadowed rows of empty bunks and silence. The hairs on her neck rose, prickling fear spreading goosebumps along her arms.
Reema spun the Captain around and held the shiv to his throat again.
“Where ar e they?” Her voice boomed in the small space.
“They’re not here,” he said, his gaze focused solely on her and not the fuming Renfri and Asif. “That’s what I was trying to tell you.”
“Where are they?” she asked again, pressing the shiv deeper.
“The slave master called them back to the city!” he whimpered. “Left me here alone to guard the mines.”
Sweat dripped off him. A spineless man without an ounce of dignity or kindness. He disgusted her. Killing him would be a mercy to the world. At the thought, her lips drew back over her teeth.
He shook, leaning forward despite the shiv pressing into his neck. Something sparked in his gaze. Hope?
“I know what you want, Reema. You want revenge. I can help you get it. Let me take you to them. I’ll give you each and every man.”
“You think you know me?” Reema asked, her voice low and soft. Somehow, that made the Captain only shake more. “If you did, then you’d know what’s coming for you.”
He opened his mouth to say something. She drove a punch to his face, hearing the satisfying crack of a broken nose. He cried out in pain as he fell back against one of the empty bunks.
“Renfri,” she called, staring down at the Captain as he rolled on the ground, holding his hands to his gushing nose.
"Yes, Ifrit?" Renfri answered, a gleeful note in her voice.
“Take this dog back to the Hole and toss him down into the mines. Let’s see how he likes the dark.”
Renfri laughed. “Oh, it’ll be my pleasure.”
The Captain scrambled back, screaming for Reema to kill him, to show him mercy. But he asked the wrong person. Alaric was the one with goodness and compassion in his heart. Not her.
She turned toward Alaric and Asif. “Let’s get the food. We have hungry miners to feed.”
The Captain’s screams followed her out the door.
Chapter
Two
Reema sat by the crackling fire with her inner circle. Thanks to the starlight, they no longer needed it for the light, but after so long in the mines, it felt wrong to not have a fire nearby.
The twins, Omar and Ra’ad, scooped lentils into their mouths while Reema, Alaric, Asif, and Renfri rested with hands over their full bellies. It had been a long time since Reema didn’t feel any hint of that biting hunger. She’d forgotten how sundamned good it felt to be free of it.
She glanced at the nearby fires, where miners circled around, eating their rationed shares of lentils and dates. Their faces lit with smiles, voices upbeat as they gazed up at the stars, still reveling in the taste of their newfound freedom.
She had a feeling that more than a few of them would soon wish that they’d stayed down in the mines.
“It’s time we talked about what’s next,” Reema said.
Omar and Ra’ad exchanged glances, setting their bowls aside. Along with the others, they gave her their full attention.
“When the Djinn removed the steel band around Alaric’s eyes, he said that he wanted Alaric to see the city of Zareen burn when he takes the Seat of the Desert.”
“He wants the Angel’s throne?” Renfri asked.
Reema nodded, “That’s what he said. If we want to stop him before he reaches Zareen, we’ll have to be quick crossing the desert.”
Her gaze passed over each of them.
“It’s not going to be easy,” she added.
“I could care less about that,” Renfri said. “What I want to know is how we’re going to do the Djinn in. You plan to kill him with that?”
Renfri motioned toward the relic pickaxe.
Reema considered the relic at her side. She lifted it, turned it against the firelight, watched the way that it gleamed. “I tried already. It didn’t work.”
“So how in the sundamned hells do you plan to kill him?”
Reema didn’t have an answer.
Renfri blinked, glancing between Reema, Alaric, and the others. “Don’t tell me that you want to chase after the Djinn and you don’t have a way to kill him.”
Reema turned to Alaric, who was focused on playing with a stick in the sand. He seemed to be lost in thought.
“The Commonborn Queen—” she started.
“Hold on, now you expect me to believe that there’s a Commonborn Queen?” Renfri interrupted. She stood, shadows gathering around her as she clenched her fists at her sides. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t gut you here and now.”
“Because it’s the truth.” Alaric’s voice stripped the shadows away, his glowing brown eyes boring into her. “Much has happened since you became a slave, Renfri. Sit down.”
Renfri glanced between Alaric and the others. Then she spat to the side and sat. “Let’s hear it then.”
“The Djinn told us that the Angel was dead. I don’t know how or why the Queen did it, but that’s not important. All that matters now is that she helps us bring an end to him. And she will.”
“And why would someone capable of killing the Angel going to help us?”
“Besides the fact that her city’s in danger?” The corner of his mouth lifted. “She owes me.”
Renfri stared at Alaric in disbelief before shaking her head. “So we march these miners across the desert, beat the Djinn to the city of Zareen, and tell the bitch to kill the monster? If that’s the plan, why do we need to bring the miners at all?”
"You’re asking a lot of questions," Alaric said, his voice low and soft. Reema could sense the frustration in it.
Renfri's eyes narrowed. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
Reema sighed and raised her hand, silencing both of them. “Enough. We bring the miners because we know it’s better to be prepared than not. Besides, something tells me the Queen will be more likely to listen to us if we’ve got a small army at our back.”
Renfri grunted, knowing that Reema had a point.
“If we want to cross the desert with these miners alive, we’ll need to ration the supplies,” Reema said. “We also need people we trust watching them. Last thing we need is someone going missing. That’d be the death of us.”
Renfri stood, scowling at them. She had clearly had enough of Reema and her gang. "I’ll handle that."
She turned and headed toward some of her own gang from the mines.
“Asif?” Reema asked.
Asif grunted, pushing himself to his feet. “I know. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
He followed Renfri, leaving Reema and Alaric alone with the twins.
“Omar, Ra’ad?” she asked.
“Yes, boss?”
“Piss off.”
A heartbeat later, they were gone.
Reema glanced at Alaric, who had returned to playing in the sand with a stick. The fire crackled, the only sound breaking the soft quiet as Reema waited for him to speak. But when he didn’t, she sat next to him.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said.
His stick spun, tracing intricate designs in the sand. She followed the patterns, as if they might explain the thoughts spinning in his mind. But they offered no answers.
“What is it?” she pressed.
“What if she can’t kill the Djinn? What if we show up, and there’s nothing we can do?”
Reema’s eyes flickered with concern as she absorbed Alaric’s fears. She scooted closer, her voice low and steady, though she hardly felt it. “You think it’s a trap?”
Alaric stopped his drawing, his gaze locked on the intricate patterns in the sand. “It’s not just that,” he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “We know nothing about the Djinn—no weaknesses, no tendencies. We are marching blind into what could be our end.”
“What other choice do we have?” she asked. “The only reason I even know about the Djinn is because I stumbled into an old man in the dark who knew of his myth. He’s long gone, and it’s not like there’s a store of knowledge on the Djinn.”
His silence stretched long enough that Reema looked at him again, her brow furrowing.
“Is there?”
He ran his hand through his tussled hair, looking more stressed by the minute. “There might be.”
“So what’s the issue?”
Slowly, he lifted his gaze to hers, tinged with worry. Her eyes went from him to the shadowed silhouette of Sandspire in the far distance, where the slave master ruled.
"Oh," she whispered, glowing blue eyes flashing in her mind, along with that cruel smirk and her sister’s dying scream.
