A sudden burst of dry, hot wind surged through the desert, stirring up sand on the dunes, sending some of the grains swirling up into the yellow-blue sky. From atop her perch on a tall, lonely watch tower, Tizrah shut her eyes tightly against the scorching air as it blew across her face, burning her lashes and heating the surface of her smooth, bronze skin. In its rush, the sudden gust whipped her short brown hair into a frenzy, while her thin skirt flapped and fluttered around her thighs without restraint.
Tizrah gasped. The extreme heat of it nearly stole her breath away.
Even though she had been born and raised in the land of Nur -- even though the desert had been the only home she'd ever known -- the scorching-hot desert winds were still enough to electrify her senses.
When the wind abated, and the swirling sand settled back down into the desert valley below, a shaky breath of exhilaration escaped her lips. As the quiet returned to the barren desert landscape, Tizrah settled back down onto her heels and squinted her auburn eyes, continuing her scan of the area surrounding her lone tower. From her vantage point the only things visible for miles in every direction were sky and sand. Rolling dunes rising up and down for miles in every direction, stretching on past the horizon. The brown, arid desert of Nur. Nothing could be less enthralling. Good thing Tizrah wasn't here to admire the desert. She was searching for something. Searching for answers.
"Oh, Great Creator of Nur," she threw a quick prayer out into the stillness of the desert air, hoping some of her words would stick this time, although given the track record for her prayers being answered, her expectations weren't high. "Please give me a sign. I'm sure you've long since grown tired of my requests, but please hear my prayer. If you are there... If you even exis-" She stopped herself there, unable to push past the stigma attached with disbelieving in the existence of The Creator, even if there was no one else around to hear her.
"S-sorry," she winced, as though being chastised by some invisible wagging finger in the sky. "I know the distasteful irony of doubting you, even while I am in preparation to become the next High Priestess of Valhil. But you don't give me much to work with, you know."
Tizrah directed her gaze implicitly toward the sky. "I realize it's a lot to ask of you, but i just have to know... Was my father right? What did he really know? Am I still right to follow his path, or was his death in vain? Yes, I know what your Sacred Scriptures say, I've read them cover to cover a million times over. But how do you expect me to believe that there is no one else- That the entire city of Valhil and this god-forsaken desert of Nur are all there really is in this world? Because if so, what is the point of anything?
"I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for out here. All I know is that I need a sign. Something. Anything. please," she begged. Then quickly ended her prayer with "uh, in the Holy name of The Creator through whom all blessings flow in abundance forever, amen," just in case The Creator decided to strike her dead on the spot for lack of proper reverence.
When she had finished her unbridled prayer, Tizrah was awarded a few brief moments of superficial comfort. Her gaze slid along the burning, yellow sky and back down into the desert below. She strained, peering as far past the horizon as her youthful eyes would allow, hoping to see something, anything, but not knowing exactly what that thing was, except for a "sign" that her prayers had been answered. But seconds dissolved into minutes, and her desperate plea to God was meet only by the silence of the desert, and eye fulls of sun-blanched sand.
"Great. Well, thanks for nothing, I guess," she sighed despondently. "I'll remember this the next time I'm sending up offerings at the temple. You'll be fortunate if I even- Oh no, the temple!"
Remembrance hit her like a slap across the face. Tonight's ritual practice at the temple. The offerings. How could she forget? A small gasp escaped her lips. "Mother is going to flay me alive like a sandstorm if I'm late."
Tizrah scrambled to her feet, swatting away loose sand that still clung to her knees.
'And I hope Gulz didn't get too tired waiting for me,' she thought with a spasm of guilt in her chest.
Quickly, she swung her legs over the weather-worn edge of the sandstone watchtower, and cast her eyes down toward the ground which lay only a few feet beneath her dangling feet. This watch tower was centuries old, erected many generations ago by Tizrah's ancestors. Well, at least that's what her father used to tell her. But the once tall structure was now half-buried by time, and the ever-shifting sands of the desert.
Tizrah slid silently over the ledge, and with a muted crunch she landed easily onto the hot, slippery sand below.
And then she was moving. Arms pumping, chest heaving, feet pushing through frictionless dunes, sending grains of sand flying into the air behind her. The city of Valhil was not too far from the watch tower, only a few miles, and Tizrah had made this forbidden trek countless times before. Still, it was imperative that she be back within the city perimeters before her mother, or anyone else noticed she was missing.
Fat chance of that happening now.
The large orange-yellow sun hung low along the horizon by the time the city of Valhil came into view beyond the last rolling sand dune. But a sudden warning glared at the back of Tizrah's mind, for with sundown in the desert came the emergence of unparalleled danger. She quickly smothered the warning, knowing she would be well within the safety of the city walls before the Shadow Stalkers came out to hunt.
The high walls of Valhil stood with singularity against a vast, barren sea of sand. As Tizrah drew near to the city, dusk was already bathing the desert in a haze of crimson-purple. And already, a few lights flickered on in the city, twinkling like stars as nightfall drew near.
Along the rough, sandstone surface of the city wall was a small wooden drainage grate that lead directly through the wall and into an alleyway behind the market. It was not exactly an ideal entrance, but no one would suspect the daughter of the High Priestess of Valhil to make use of it. Carefully, Tizrah jarred loose the grate which was not supposed to be loose, and crawled nimbly into a cramped, dank tunnel. She replaced the grate behind her and ascended the unlit passageway, fingertips grasping, sandals slipping against the wet, slimy walls, inching further ahead until her head poked through the other side overlooking a narrow, dirt road.
"Well, well, well," came a voice from above, and she startled, nearly sliding back down into the narrow tunnel. "Look, who's finally come back," the voice teased.
Tizrah snapped her head up, wide eyes meeting with a pair of familiar brown ones that glistened with mirth behind a fringe of shaggy, black hair.
"Nur's bones, Gulz," Tizrah breathed. "You nearly scared the life out of me!"
A wide grin split across his face as he extended a hand to help Tizrah out of the hole. "Gee, I didn't realize I could surprise a mind reader. Didn't you sense my presence here already? I assumed you'd be able to hear the way my thoughts cursed for having to wait in the alleyway for so long."
"For the one-millionth time, Gulz, I am not a mind reader," Tizrah said, exasperated as she stood to her feet brushing sand and grit from her palms. "I'm an empath. I can only sense feelings and emotions, remember?" There's a difference."
Gulz shrugged. "I think there's more to it than that, but suit yourself. Hey, I'll bet you can sense your mother already. I'm not even empathic, and I think I can still feel her fiery rage burning from a mile away."
Tizrah rubbed her temples. "She's mad, isn't she?"
"Infuriated."
Tizrah groaned.
"Livid. Enraged. Seething-"
"I get it!" Tizrah hissed.
"Hey now, Miss Snippy. I'm not the one who went traipsing out into the forbidden desert wilderness today." Gulz folded his arms across his broad chest, standing nearly three heads higher than Tizrah.
"Still not helping."
"Look, I tried to stall her as long as possible," he said. "I even came up with this whole elaborate story to cover for you; something about the livestock quarter and old farmer Din, a cat and a bucket of curdled goats milk." His eyes sparkled with mischief.
Tizrah arched an eyebrow. "Wait... what?"
"Yeeeeaaah, well when I put it that way, I guess it DOES sound a smidge outlandish. Yo just had to be there." He winked. "You should have heard it. It was a brilliant story. Totally fool-proof."
"And yet..?"
"So here's the thing. Your mom didn't buy a word of it. Which is shocking to me, but she's a sharp woman, that one. I can definitely see where you get your supreme sense of skepticism and superiority- Hey!"
Tizrah shoved against his sturdy shoulder with hers, slipping past his athletic form and into the alleyway. "Just take me to her already."
"A simple please and thank you would suffice," Gulz complained, spinning on his heel to follow along after her.
The burning orange sky melted to black, bringing welcomed coolness to the sultry land. The first stars of night poked through the shroud of darkness overhead as Tizrah and Gulz made their way through the streets of Valhil. And as they walked side by side together, Tizrah felt a sudden shift in Gulz's countenance. Something solemn was brewing at the center of his normally jovial heart. But she dared not ask. She knew a great many troubles weighed on him.
Eyeing him from her peripheral, she couldn't help but notice how suddenly grown-up he seemed. The shape of his chiseled body outlined against dim torch light. His form broad and muscular, with a set square jaw and strong facial features. Exactly when did the boy from her childhood become a man? She hadn't noticed.
"Hey, Tiz," he finally spoke uncharacteristically softly, not looking up from the ground to meet her gaze. "I really was worried about you, ya know. Out there in the desert alone with those... those monsters. I kept wondering if you'd end up dead, or lost in the desert just like-" He hesitated.
"Like my father?" Tizrah finished bluntly.
Gulz grimaced visibly, and she could sense guilt blossoming in his chest.
"Gulz, thank you," she said more gently this time. "Thank you for standing watch for me. For dealing with my mother. For putting up with me especially. I've dragged you all across Valhil and back with my endless antics. Yet you're still my friend. So thank you... for everything."
A bit of the usual spark returned to his eyes, and the corner of his mouth cocked up into a boyish smile. "By the desert, what else are life-long friends for?"
Then Tizrah sensed a deep warmth that began to radiate out from the center of his heart with such strength it made her whole body tingle. She whipped her head around just in time to catch his gaze averting hers. Unexpectedly, she found herself pushing down an inexplicable heat rising to her own cheeks. A heat she could no longer blame on the desert sun this pleasantly cool evening.