Free The Edge of the World by Kevin J. Anderson Page B

them, though she looked everywhere.
    The soldan-shah burst back into their private quarters, his face flushed, eyes red and irritated from the smoke. Perspiration
     sparkled on his shaved scalp, and his voice cracked with alarm. “Asha, tell your servants to pack your things! Grab only the
     possessions you value most and get down to the docks—hurry! I have already sent men to prepare your ship for immediate departure
     to Olabar.”
    Asha was bewildered. “How can I possibly take everything? I’d need days to.—”
    “
Now
. Only what you need, only what you value the most, only what you cannot replace. You have less than an hour.” Throughout
     their marriage, Imir had done his best to keep her happy. He denied Asha nothing and had never raised his voice to her—she’d
     given him no cause—but now he was brusque. “With the winds whipping up, nothing can stop this fire. Ishalem will burn to the
     ground.”
    Asha gasped. “But that’s impossible! This is… this is
Ishalem!
”
    Imir headed for the doorway. “One hour, Asha. Be on the boat, or be left behind.”
    “But if it all burns.—”
    “It
will
all burn. One hour.” He marched into the corridor, and guards quickly folded around him.
    Her small dogs wouldn’t stop barking, and she shooed them away as she called for her handmaidens. The serving women had already
     recognized the danger and started throwing their own possessions into trunks and baskets. Now they flurried about gathering
     her silks and jewels with a grim efficiency.
    From the balcony, Asha saw the fire advancing like a golden army, orange flames moving from street to street, sweeping up
     the side of the hill to the sacred Arkship. In the streets outside the residence, horsemen galloped, people shouted or screamed.
     Seeing that the Aidenist side of the city was also on fire, she was surprised that sparks could blow so far and so swiftly.
     Even the Saedran houses and shops had caught fire. The entire city! Imir had not exaggerated the danger, and she realized
     how little time they had.
    “Forget the silly possessions! We must take my pets. Grab the bird cages. Put leashes on the hounds, and bring my little dogs
     in their baskets. Oh, how are we going to catch the cats?” Asha turned around, desperate for help. “Get carters, find wagons—we’ll
     make a procession down to the harbor. Our boat is waiting in the main canal.”
    The handmaidens were startled, their arms heaped with bright cloth, embroidered cushions, ornate golden ewers. “Go!” Asha
     cried.
“The pets!”
They burst into motion, though a few of them pocketed jewels and gold chains, not even bothering to be surreptitious about
     it. Asha didn’t care, so long as they rescued the animals.
    Asha joined the women, carrying two cages of shrieking birds out of the main entrance to a waiting cart. Despairingly, she
     called for her cats, but they did not respond. The little dogs yapped, poking their heads out of the baskets, but handmaidens
     nudged them back down. Well-muscled manservants struggled to lift the larger animal cages onto carts. The hounds pulled against
     the leather leashes, straining at their collars; one of the straps snapped, and the dog raced into the streets. Asha shouted
     after him, but the hound vanished into the smoke and chaos. The manservant looked at the frayed end of the leash. “Shall I
     catch him, my lady?”
    “We cannot wait, Lady Asha,” cried one of the handmaidens. Tears filled Asha’s smoke-reddened eyes, and she knew the woman
     was right. Two wagons had already departed into the tortuous and crowded streets toward the harbor.
    Nearby, the Urecari prime church was a towering bonfire, fueled by the sacred pennants and tapestries. Asha mumbled a prayer
     to herself for the church, for Ishalem; she couldn’t believe Ondun would let this happen. How could Ishalem, the holiest city
     in the world, be allowed to burn to the ground? Only an hour before, she would have asserted