Where the Desert Blooms by Elliott Sierra A

Author:Elliott, Sierra A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

Seshat

Seshat crept along the dark wall, fingers tracing the plastered bricks to ensure she stayed her course along the hallway. Fully aware of how loud her breathing was, Seshat tried to focus on keeping each footfall light. She couldn’t afford to step on a cat’s tail or crash into the household altar to the gods and give away her position.

Nights like these were always stressful, but she was also getting adept at being invisible. Though she couldn’t hear her, she knew M was an arms-length ahead, just an outline visible in the thick darkness.

To the kitchen, Seshat thought. It was too risky to raid a bedroom right now since the owners of this home were asleep down the hall. Although jewels always yielded a high reward, there was no way they could get in and out without being caught.

Food, on the other hand, was easy to find, usually available, and unlikely to be missed. Plus, with Deshret back at camp sick tonight, they needed something to eat now, not tomorrow when the markets opened and they found a vendor who would trade two street girls for stolen gold. Even if they went to some of their regulars who were known to deal in goods of questionable origin, the plan was always risky and time-consuming.

So jewels and gold weren’t an option. If they were caught tonight, they would be beaten by the owner of the house, no doubt. The swelling that accompanied a black eye was never comfortable. Neither was the embarrassment from the black and blue brand that lasted a week.

“Seshat,” M whispered over her shoulder. “This way.”

“Coming,” Seshat said, following her friend down a skinny hallway to the left.

The kitchen was usually attached to the back of the main house, with grain silos outside near the servants’ quarters. When M had first taken Seshat and her brother under her wing last year, she’d shown them how to climb up the silos using the curved bricks as footholds. It had to be done by a small person with no shoes, simply gripping stone with one’s toes alone. They quickly discovered Deshret was the perfect size.

But tonight, M had suggested looting a kitchen for some fruits and vegetables, maybe even some medicinal herbs for Deshret.

“I think we made it,” M said, peering into a room with a sliver of moonlight shining through two square windows high on the walls. “Keep watch.” M looked back at Seshat once before slipping under the curtain separating the kitchen from the rest of the house.

Unlike the kitchen, the hallway was pitch black. Seshat backed up against the wall and felt around until she found the back door. Her eyes were wide, trying to soak in any bit of light that came through. Noticing her audible breathing again, she switched to breathing out of her mouth—long, slow breaths.

There was a shuffling that sounded like a bowl of nuts followed by a thump in the kitchen.

Seshat pulled back the curtain and called her friend’s name as quietly as she could, “M?”

“It’s okay,” M said.

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