The City of a Thousand Faces: A sweeping historical fantasy saga based on the hit podcast Tumanbay by Walker Dryden

Author:Walker Dryden [Dryden, Walker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409187042
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2020-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

48

Shajah

‘The city is so empty now with all the soldiers gone,’ Shajah said as she soaked in her bath. Sarah was filling a jug with her favourite unguents, a mixture of dried carrow flowers and rose petals. ‘It’s quieter too – it must be the men who make all the noise.’

As the girl started to pour the mixture into the bath, Shajah watched her carefully.

‘What’s the market place like? Is it quieter there too?’ she asked.

‘I haven’t been to the market, my lady.’

‘No? You don’t go out? You don’t have any . . . friends that you meet?’

Sarah put down the empty jug, crossed the room and started filling another.

‘Yes, in the end, it all comes down to who your friends are. And to loyalty.’ She waited for Sarah to return with the second jug. ‘You remember what I said about loyalty?’

‘Yes, my lady.’

‘It’s important that you look after your own people and that you know you can count on them. Do you remember when you first came to me, what I said?’

Sarah nodded.

‘What did I say?’ Shajah asked.

‘You said, if I was loyal . . . you’d be kind to me.’

‘And if you are not loyal? Do you remember what I said?’

She could sense the girl’s discomfort, even though she remained composed. Shajah was impressed. Most of her slaves would fall apart at the mere suggestion of betrayal but then, of course, the girl was betraying her, certainly to Gregor, probably to Cadali. That was no problem, it was how things happened in Tumanbay; the thing was to ensure that, in this great game of move and countermove, her main loyalty lay with Shajah.

‘I think you said you would be . . . unkind to me.’

She was a clever one, this girl, trying to defuse and soften. She would need to be disciplined at some point soon, broken in – shown, through the lesson of pain, where her interest truly lay. She was still too brash.

‘No,’ Shajah corrected, sitting up. ‘I think I said . . . you would suffer like you’ve never suffered before . . .’

She lay back in the water. The truth was she had been unsettled by Cadali’s visit earlier in the day. Something was going on in the palace and she didn’t know what. There were always attempts by senior palace officials to outdo each other, to claw a bit of knowledge that might give them an advantage or help them survive a little longer, but this felt different. If anything were to happen to the Sultan, her position as First Wife – her life perhaps . . . no, certainly – would be in danger. Cadali was up to something, she was sure, and with General Qulan and the army far away she felt vulnerable to attack.

‘I see you looking at me,’ she said to the girl. ‘You keep a close watch.’

‘Of course, my lady.’

‘To serve me better?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you are being watched too, you know?’

‘My Lady? I don’t—’

Shajah placed a finger to her lips and shook her head.

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