Thorn put on a burst of speed as we approached an oasis. Yes home! I thought as we made our way through the trees to the waterfall.
"Welcome home boys!" I called to my crew. I dismount and lead Thorn through the halls. I make it to the dining area, which was deserted except for Emun. "Thanks for waiting up sis." I say handing the reins to Ishaq, who came running in, and the bag of loot to Hanif, who had already returned his horse to the stables. They both went off to put the horse and gold away.
"How did it go?" She asked suppressing a yawn. It was well after midnight and she had to be very tired.
"Very well, the place was poorly guarded." I say sitting down as Sharifa came in with a plate of food for me. "You know a woman of your age shouldn't be keeping such hours."
She just scoffed "Right, and who would take care of you?"
"I'm a grown lady of 17; I don't need you to baby me."
I finished eating as Ishaq came back from taking care of Thorn. I stand up as he approached, he gave me a hug, picking me up and spinning around. He sets me back down. "I'm glad your back."
"Right, like I would get caught." I retort giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Well, you never know. You should be more careful in your targets, what would any of us do without you?"
I burst out laughing. "You would appoint a new leader and thank the gods you don't have to deal with me anymore."
"Well, yes we would have to get a new leader but none would compare to you. And who would care for Tarik?"
"You know that you would take him in. He looks up to you, you know, almost like a father." I head off to my room with a wave to those still up. Ishaq followed me out and started walking with me, casually grabbing my hand.
"You know that I love you and Tarik and that there are few things I want more than for us to be a family, so why do you keep refusing me?" Ra not this again!
"Ishaq, please, I have asked you to stop doing that. I care about you, really I do. You are a great guy and I'm glad Tarik has someone like you around, you're very sweet but I'm not interested in marrying anyone right now." He sighed and dropped the subject. "How was he today?" I asked to prevent an awkward silence.
"Good, Emun was depressed again so he spent the day with me mostly, he was a great help cleaning out the stalls."
"Wonderful, I know he loves being around the horses. Did Sharifa have any problems getting him to go to bed?"
"Well, I put him to bed and he had a hard time falling asleep without you so I stayed with him 'til he was asleep." We had reached my room, still holding hands I pulled him through it to Tarik's room. I left him in the doorway as I went to my son's bed. I brushed his black bangs out of his face and gave his forehead a kiss. Ishaq came over as I watched my baby sleep, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and pulling me back into his chest. "He looks so peaceful." he whispered, resting his chin on my shoulder.
"I know, he's the best thing that ever happened to me." We stood there in silence watching the 5 year old sleep. He then broke the silence.
"Have I ever told you how much I enjoy moments like this?"
"No, but I do too. Have I ever told you how much you mean to me? You're my best friend." I paused for a second not sure of what his reaction was going to be." And at this point you are the only guy I can see myself marrying."
"So you have been considering it?" He asked kissing my neck. I pulled away and turned to face him.
"Well, yes. I mean Tarik needs a father and of the men here you would be best for him." We go back to my room, closing Tarik's door softly. "Plus I can't deny that you are the best looking as well." I say smiling at him.
"Well I should get some sleep; he tends to wake up early." I say as I walk him back to the hallway. I lean up and lightly kiss him, he responded almost instantly, wrapping an arm around me deepening the kiss. When his tongue asks for entrance I pulled away shaking my head. "Good night."
I go into my room and shut the door. I go into my washroom and begin the process of heating water for a bath, it was a slow, tedious process but well worth it. While doing that I thought about my son. How I found him, how close to dying he was, the weeks spent nursing him back to health worrying that he wouldn't get better. He truly was a gift from the gods. He was only 3 when we found him and it broke my heart to see that someone would strangle and leave a child in the desert hoping they would die. Normally when we find kids that young we take them to the nearest village, I have connections with an innkeeper there and she helps me find homes for them. Somehow Tarik was different, I couldn't let him go. I worry about him a lot, I mean I am the Desert Rose, one of the most wanted thieves in Egypt; I can't get caught, not with him counting on me.
But it could be worse, my gang is a good group of guys, we have a pretty clean hideout compared to others and we are kind of like a big family, plus I have rules, only a few but they are strictly enforced. I'm not too concerned about my men being a bad influence on him but he really needs a father. I add some scented oils to the water, Mmmmm strawberry and vanilla, and get in still thinking. He really likes Ishaq, who is great with him. Well, Ishaq does want to marry me, my son loves him, he's brave, strong and caring. And he is very good looking with his fantastic muscles from working with the horses, his warm brown eyes and his chin length black hair, hair like Tarik's. Now that I think about it they could easily pass for family, the only big difference is the eyes, Tarik's are a gray that have a hint of lavender to them. I start washing my hair, still contemplating this. I don't want Tarik to know how I found him, it might make him feel unwanted, or that he isn't really mine but is that a good reason to marry someone? Yes I care about Ishaq but do I love him? I finished up and drained the water drying off and wrapping my hair up in the towel, I threw on a tube top and a pair of loose pants. I then climb into bed and drifted off to sleep still lost in thoughts of Tarik and Ishaq.
I was awoken a few hours later as a small body cuddled up next to me. "Good morning Tarik. How's my man today?" I ask wrapping my arms around him, eyes still close hoping to get a bit more rest.
"I'm glad you are home mommy, I was worried about you!"
"Oh my little man is sooo sweet! I bet you want breakfast, should we go get some?" He jumped out of bed, and grabbing my hand pulled me down the hall to the dining area.
"I wasn't expecting you to be up yet." Emun commented as I sat down next to her.
"Ugh, what time is it?" I asked groggily as Khalid appeared with a bunch of food for those who were there.
"Ra was up about 2 hours ago." he stated plopping down on Emun's other side. Everyone started grabbing food and eating.
"Aren't you up a bit early? We did get back very late last night." I say noticing he seemed to be in an extremely good mood, even for him.
"Well... I couldn't sleep last night really. I was too excited about how well last night went for my first raid." He said with a huge grin.
I laughed at this. "Yes, definitely something to be proud of. You handled yourself very well." He looked smugly at Emun as if expecting her to praise him or something. She ignored him and asked me what the plan for the day was.
I have been wanting to take Tarik into the village to get new clothes since he is out growing what he owns, so I figured I should do that today. I informed her of this and said that she would be in charge as usual unless she wished to come with, she declined. I grabbed Tarik and started heading to the stables, Khalid followed me out asking if he could come with but I told him to stay and see what he could do to cheer Emun up. We made it to the stables and I was preparing Thorn for our trip when I hear "Well you're up early."
I turned to see Ishaq leaning against the archway. He comes over and takes over with Thorn. "Where are you headed?"
"Just into the village with Tarik. Oh bloody Ra! Sorry can you watch him for a bit while I go see if Adofo or Musim can escort us?"
"Um, sure I guess, but you know I can take you instead if you wish."
"Ok, great! Thank you so much I want to leave as soon as possible."
"Ok I'll just go get another horse ready."
"No need, we can all go on Thorn." I say hopping up onto him. Ishaq hands Tarik up to me then climbs on behind me. It's a three hour trip.
As we drew near the village entrance I remembered what I was wearing. "Sweet mother of Isis!"
"What?"
"My tattoo, I forgot to bring a cloak, just great we now have to go home empty handed." I say pouting a bit.
"Hang on a second." I felt him remove his hands from my waist and shift around a bit. "Here use mine." He said placing it around my shoulders.
"Thanks. I can't believe I was so careless."
"Well, I don't think it really matters that much. The people of this village are loyal to you, plus your hair is still very visible." He was right and his cloak didn't have a hood. Great! The two things that identified me as the Desert Rose were the black rose tattoo on my left shoulder blade and my bright red hair.
"Well hopefully no one will think anything of my hair without the tattoo being seen." I say praying that nothing would happen.
We rode through the main square to the inn. Ishaq jumps down and I hand Tarik to him before sliding down. "Let's get some lunch." I say grabbing my boy's hand and pulling him into the inn, leaving Ishaq to tie up Thorn. I scan the room looking for Omorose. I notice a pair of cloaked men in a corner talking, normally I would think nothing of it but they were dressed a bit oddly, one was wearing a red cloak and the other's was purple both with hoods up, but I also felt sure that the red one was watching me. I quickly looked away and spotted Omorose wiping down a table, Tarik pulls me over to her.
"Omorose! Guess what! Mommy is taking me shopping!" He cried happily.
"Wow Tarik, that sounds like fun. What are you getting?" She asked him as Ishaq joined us wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close.
He leans over and whispers "There are two guys in the corner watching you." I sighed, throwing my hair over my shoulder, wrapping an arm around him.
"Well hopefully they get the message." I whisper back, kissing his cheek.
Tarik finished telling Omorose about all the things he planned on buying and she turned to talk to us as Ishaq held Tarik's hand. "Oh my Ra! Are you two..." she started as I quickly placed my hands over Tarik's ears, glaring at her.
"Not in front of him! We will talk later."
"Ok, sorry Kiya."
"Don't apologize to her. It isn't your fault that she is touchy about that subject." Ishaq says with a chuckle as I moved my hands from the boy's ears to his shoulders and steered him to a seat at the table we were next to.
We told Omorose what we wanted and she headed off to get it. As we wait I thought of something. "What has been upsetting Emun lately? She doesn't really talk to me anymore." I asked.
"I'm not sure. Yesterday I heard her crying as I walked by her room but she refused to talk about it." Ishaq replied shrugging it off.
"Great! What am I doing wrong!"
"Mommy, auntie thinks you don't care about her." Tarik said calmly.
"What she told you that?" I asked him.
"Yep! I told her she was wrong but she just pushed me out of her room." He said a little sadly.
"And that's how I found him yesterday." Ishaq told me.
Just then Omorose came back with our food. After setting it down she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen. We discussed how her business was doing, my most recent raids and of course Ishaq. "So are you guys together?" She asked practically bouncing off the walls in her enthusiasm.
"No, but he keeps asking me to marry him. It's getting really annoying."
"Why don't you talk about it in front of Tarik?"
"I don't want him to know he's adopted. Plus I don't want him to know Ishaq wants to marry me, Tarik really likes him and I not sure I can resist the little guy begging me to marry him so he can be his daddy."
"I see. Well you two look good together." She says with a hint of a smirk.
I rolled my eyes and playfully punched her shoulder. "I should let you get back to your customers." I go back to the table and notice half my food is gone. "Alright where'd it go?" I ask sitting down.
"He did it!" They both say pointing at the other. I couldn't help but laugh at that.
"Well doesn't really matter, the two of you need more than I do anyway." I eat fast and we head out into the market. We walked around for a while, Tarik between us holding one of each of our hands. We bought a bunch of clothes for him, a new necklace for me and a hooded cloak for Ishaq. That's when I spotted the most beautiful dress. It was halter style and went down to about mid-calf, pale green with pink along the hem and neckline.
I tried it on and, since no one else was around, I came out of the changing area and showed it to the boys. "Wow mommy you look beautiful!"
Ishaq just stood there in a daze, after a second her shook his head quickly, "Wow!" was all he seemed able to say.
"Hehehe thanks." I was starting to get the feeling I was being watched so went quickly to change, hoping that it was just a feeling and that no one saw my tattoo. I bought the dress and we continued to roam the market. About 2 hours later we headed back to Omorose's place to grab dinner before heading home when a kid, about 12, bumped into me, mumbling an apology. I looked up to see him badly beaten; he had cuts all over his arms and face, a broken arm, and a black eye.
"Hey kid don't worry about it." He started to walk away limping slightly. "Hey wait a minute I want to talk to you. Ishaq will you take Tarik ahead? I'll catch up in a bit." He nodded before leaving. "Who did this to you?" I asked ripping the bottom of my cloak to make a sling for his arm.
"My dad."
"What's your name?" I tied up his arm and ripped the cloak a bit more to clean up some of the blood.
"Fenuku."
"Does he do this often?" He didn't answer, looking at the ground. "Why does he beat you?"
"I don't know he just comes home drunk and starts hitting me. Today he pulled a knife." He seemed on the verge of tears. I convinced him to show me where he lived. He stood off to the side as I knocked on the door. A large scruffy man answered the door swaying slightly, after his eyes adjusted to the light he leered down at me.
"Well hello beautiful, what can I do for you?" He asked pulling me into the house.
"To start you cannot touch me, and you can stop beating your son." That is when he noticed Fenuku in the doorway.
"What the hell boy! You can't fight your own battles; you have to get girls to do it for you!" He advanced toward his son, but I punched him in the face before he could reach him. I felt his nose give way before he stumbled back falling on his ass.
"Fenuku you might want to close the door, we don't need the whole village seeing this." He quickly complied. His father staggered to his feet.
"You little whore! Who the hell do you think you are?" He charged at me but I easily dodged and kicked him in the stomach. He pulled a dagger from the pocket of his pants and went on the offense again. I easily dodged and pulled my own blade, and after a few more attempts to kill me on his part, I stabbed him in the chest just missing his heart. "Who are you?" He asked shakily, bleeding profusely. Well at least I hit an artery.
"I'm the Desert Rose, not that it matters to a dead man." I retort pulling my dagger out of him and wiping it on his shirt before he fell to his knees then onto his face. "Come on, let's go." I say to the stunned boy. I open the door and start going to the inn, him following in a dazed silence.
"Are you really the Desert Rose?"
"Yes, but please call me Kiya."
"Thank you, he would have ended up killing me sooner or later."
"No problem kid."
"So can I join your gang?"
I sighed before answering, "You don't want to do that, this isn't exactly an easy lifestyle. But I can find you a job and a place to stay."
"Ok."
"And next time I'm here I can teach you a little about fighting if you like."
"I'd like that." he stated as we reached the inn. I go in and start looking for my friends. I see them and head over, as I reached them I hear Omorose.
"Oh my Ra! Kiya, what happened?"
Before I could answer Ishaq was hugging me."Are you ok?"
"Mommy why are you covered in blood?"
"Damn. I'm fine, I'll explain later. Omorose can I borrow some clothes?"
"Um sure, you know where they are."
"Oh and this is Fenuku. Can he stay here and work for you? You know you could use the help."
"Sure."
"I'll get him a room and clean him up." Ishaq said leading him away. I grabbed Tarik and headed off to Omorose's room, her following closely behind me. She handed me some clothes and the two of them sat in silence as I changed.
"Great these are ruined." I say throwing out my old clothes.
"Kiya, what happened?" I explained how I found Fenuku and his dad beating him. I told her about going over to his house when Ishaq came into the room.
"Kiya, please tell me you didn't!" He said staring at me like I had grown a third arm.
"Yes I did and the bastard deserved it! You saw how badly injured that kid was, and this wasn't the first time. How is he?"
"Well he sprained an ankle, lots of shallow cuts, the arm and black eye, and at least one broken rib. He's sleeping now, he said you agreed to train him."
"Only a little when he is healed. I'm glad he isn't worse and he needs his rest."
"Well we should go; it's a long trip home." He said picking up Tarik and heading out.
"Thank you, Omorose, please take care of him."
"You are without a doubt the softest hearted thief I have ever met." She said in an awed tone. I gave her a hug and left.
We rode in silence back to the hideout, Tarik had fallen asleep. When we arrived Ishaq climbed down and took the sleeping child from me and carried him to his bed for me.
He sat down on my bed. "Why?" He asked after a few minutes.
"No parent has the right to treat their children like that. He's better off with Omorose."
"Well I don't agree with what you did, but I understand what you mean."
"Thank you, and thanks for spending the day with us, Tarik had a good time and that means a lot to me." I say smiling at him as I sat next to him.
"You're welcome, I like spending time with you guys. And if you ever need anything you know all you have to do is ask."
"Thank you."
"Well, I should go, good night." He says giving me a kiss on the cheek and standing up.
"Wait, please, could you stay with me, please? You know how I feel about killing. I just know I'm going to have trouble sleeping." I say in a barely audible whisper.
"What about Tarik? He might ask questions or talk."
"I'll take care of him, don't worry about it. Please, just sleep." I say lying down. He stood there for a second thinking, then laid down next to me wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. I turned to face him and snuggled into his chest. "Thank you." I whisper as we drifted off to sleep.