Free Lady of the Star Wind by Veronica Scott Page B

treated Rothan’s wounds under Lady Tia’s close scrutiny, Mark left Djed sitting with the unconscious man. Mark and Sandy escorted the noblewoman outside to the patio for something to eat. Tia accepted a leafy plate full of fish, fruit, and berries from one of the soldiers and then sank cross-legged onto the terrace across from Sandy.
    Mark brought her a drink of water. “When you’ve eaten, we’d appreciate knowing what’s going on. Why were you here in the desert? And why did these soldiers try to kidnap you?”
    “We’re on our way to the Lost City in search of the Crown and Scepter of Khunarum. If we can’t locate the treasures and convey them to Nakhtiaar in time, our failure will mean disaster for my brother Hutenen and our people.”
    When he translated for Sandy, it was plain from her expression that the summary failed to enlighten her any more than it had made sense to him. “Do you understand the significance of anything she said?”  
    “I’m missing words here and there,” he reminded her. “Let me try for a more complete explanation.”
    “There’s a usurper on the throne. How is it you aren’t aware of this fact?” Tia’s surprise betrayed her puzzlement at being asked for a lesson in current events. “You’ve been absent from this land for at least three thousand years. Not a single mention of you in the scrolls of recent history. Yet here you are, in the Oasis of the Traveler. You chose to come to our rescue—unless this is all a dream or a vision. But you know nothing at all of what has been transpiring? You don’t even speak the language as we do today!” She made a graceful hand gesture toward Sandy, who sat with a smile plastered on her face as the discussion occurred in a language she didn’t comprehend. ”Please don’t mistake me. I’m grateful to meet you and find you kindly disposed to our cause. But I’m perplexed nonetheless.”  
    Mark pondered how best to answer their guest’s qualms. “Are you, then, one of those who fled this Lost City?”
    “Of course not! The fall of the city occurred many generations ago.” Tia laughed merrily at the idea. “Some three thousand years or more.”
    “Well, she isn’t the Lady of the Star Wind who lived then either,” Mark said, pointing at Sandy. “And I’m not the warrior from that legendary time. The events happened a long time ago even for my people. And we’ve been busy with other concerns in far-off places.”  
    This explanation appeared to satisfy Tia. “Nakhtiaar needs your help to free the people from those who oppress and enslave them, so you’ve timed your return well.”
    Mark decided it might be best to let the discussion end there. Sure that he could obtain more intel the longer he spent with the Nakhtiaar, he didn’t see a need to push the issue now.
    He volunteered to sit with the injured man through the night. Sandy had discovered how to raise and lower the ambient lighting in the various chambers, so he had enough illumination to see the man’s face. The patient lay under the folds of his own deep blue cloak in the bedroom. The women were asleep in the dining room, and the troopers were bivouacked outside in the oasis. A single man was stationed below with the horses.
    Somewhere in the wee hours of the night, Rothan stirred. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times, moving his head restlessly on the makeshift pillow constructed from another cloak. He licked his cracked lips. “Water?”
    Djed had filled a crude canteen at the tiny lake earlier in the evening. Mark offered it to the patient, holding the waterskin so the other could drink. “Just a few sips. You don’t want to be sick.”
    Obediently, the man gulped a small amount of the water. “Thank you.” Mark put his arm behind the man’s shoulders to assist him in reclining.
    “How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?” Sandy had left Mark with a short litany of questions to ask if the patient