The sun rose over the east as it had done every day since the beginning of time. It started with a soft glow of oranges and yellows across the eastern sky, casting out the darkness with a swift hand. In a matter of minutes, the dark tapestry above Cehhfasat's head was ripped down and replaced with a furnace of bright colors. The cold air of the nighttime was replaced by hot breath on his skin. The cool breeze was substituted for a hot, driving wind. It carried sand among its arms, which wrapped around the solitary rider and pummeled him ferociously.

The hills of Sinai seemed to go on until they dropped off into space. Neither a patch of green, nor a flash of sun reflecting off a body of water could be seen anywhere.

But there was something on the horizon. It moved sluggishly in the morning winds. It lifted itself from one foot to another, and guarded its face against the stinging wind. It was dressed in rags and had neither a horse nor camel. A small bundle of supplies was roped to its back. Cehhfasat had spotted it even before the sun rose. It was slowly following him from the east.

A groan had left his mouth when he saw the girl. He did not stop to let her catch up to him, though. While she trudged doggedly on behind him, only propelled forward by the strength of her two feet, Cehhfasat rested casually on the back of his powerful horse and continued traveling west.

As the day dragged on, he expected to look back and see her turning back. He expected to at least see her collapsed upon the sand. Yet she didn't turn back and she didn't collapse. She continued to fight off the heat of the day and the fatigue she must be feeling, and she followed Cehhfasat across the desert.

She wasn't within earshot, otherwise Cehhfasat would have told her to turn back himself.

Toward the end of the first day, her presence on his far rear was beginning to annoy him. She was going to kill herself out here. When she finally did run out of water, and it couldn't be long now, she would slowly dehydrate. She would be unable to make it back to that pitiful village and would be unable to find water by herself out here.

Why did she want to come with him anyway? She knew that he had killed that man, who had apparently been her grandfather. Why did she want to take up company with a killer? Especially the killer of her only family. She must be a bigger fool than he at first thought.

But Cehhfasat didn't really want to know the answer to his question. He didn't intend to let her follow him into Cairo. It would not be very pleasant at all to have a teenage girl tagging along with him as he went about his business. But that wasn't something he had to worry about, because it looked like she would be dying soon anyway.

A smirk spread across Cehhfasat's face as he imagined the foolish girl lying dead on the sand. Her body would be just a husk. All the water would have been gone by that point. A few vultures pecked delightedly at her stomach. There wouldn't even be anything left after a day or two. Maybe some bones. But those would get buried in the sand.

After a moment's thought, Cehhfasat decided that the girl shouldn't die in vain.

He decided then that if she made it to his camp that night he would tell her to go back, so that she would at least die facing east – toward her home – instead of west. Maybe he'd have to kill her himself.

Despite all the killings he'd performed over the centuries in service to his master, Cehhfasat didn't like the idea of having to kill this girl himself. She reminded him too much of Teyda. It was her small face and curious eyes, always darting about, set above the mouth that could break into a smile any second.

Cehhfasat coughed, and scratched the back of his neck. It was better not to think about such things. After all, it had been over three hundred years. He had work to do. Thinking of long past events would get him nowhere now. So instead of looking up at the sky and remembering the sky on that awful night, Cehhfasat pulled his cowl lower over his eyes and bent over his horse. With rough hands he urged the horse a little faster and didn't look up again until the sun was setting.

The sunset was much like the sunrise. The lights of the sky held on as long as they could, gripping the fringes of the horizon with red fingers, but were as last cast out by the growing darkness. In a few minutes the blackness of space covered the Earth, and tiny puncture wholes showed where stars brilliantly shined.


His camp was set at the base of a low cliff. A fire burned and cracked, sending up showers of fire, and a single figure was sitting next to it. The horse stood awkwardly off to the side and stared off into the darkness. It looked like a sentinel, guarding the rider from intruders. It saw Lira creeping up along the cliff and whinnied a warning to the shape at the edge of the fire.

Lira froze and stared at the man, who didn't move at all. He merely sat motionlessly at the fire's edge.

Her mouth was dry and her skin burned. She looked around for water. A small spring glowed in the soft moonlight just on the other side of the fire, nestled into the side of the cliff. If she moved very quietly, and took care not to go too fast, she might be able to make it.

Before she started toward it, she looked to her left, at the motionless man, and then began inching her way along the cliff wall. When she was about halfway to the spring, she accidentally kicked a rock. It bounced forward a few inches, making the slightest of noises, then came to a rest. Lira winced, and looked back over to the fire.

The man still didn't look in her direction. The horse watched her curiously, not moving from its spot or alerting the man.

After a moment without a sound, except for the crackling of the fire, Lira continued. In a few minutes she had made it to the small spring and with one look back, bent down to drink.

A cold piece of metal pressed against her neck. Lira froze and said a silent prayer to Allah. Her heart started pounding faster. It felt like it would burst from her chest. Next was the cold sweat. She swallowed hard and slowly straightened her back. When she was standing up straight, the cold blade's edge at her throat pressed a little harder. A sharp pain. She felt something begin to run down her neck. It was warm, and the smell—

Oh, Allah. It was blood. Her blood.

Another silent prayer.

Now the tears started. At first it was just one lonely scout that ripped down her face, but it led the way for a whole stream of tears. They wouldn't stop. As much as Lira commanded them to stop, they wouldn't listen. If she was going to die here, she wouldn't die crying. But she was crying now.

Lira didn't say anything; didn't beg for her life or mercy.

She wished she hadn't come out here. She was going to die. If only she had just stayed in the safety of her village. She was going to die. A whole day of walking in the endless desert, and now she was standing at the edge of a blade. She was going to die. She didn't want to die. She had so much more to do, to see. She was going to die. An image of her dead grandfather flicked through her head.

She was going to die.

It took her a moment to realize the blade had been removed from her neck. When she did, though, the tears abruptly stopped. She swallowed and took a few deep breaths, testing to make sure she could still carry air to her lungs. She rubbed her neck and her hand came away red. But she was alive.

"Turn around," said a deep voice behind her. She did.

Sure enough, it was the strange dark man who had killed her grandfather. He must be devilishly quick to have moved from the fire that fast. Lira's eyes darted over to the fire. She was surprised to see the shape of a man still sitting next to it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Another swallow and she tried again. "How…?"

The man looked her in the face, sighed, and turned. He walked to the edge of the fire and sat down. Lira stared at him a moment. Now that the adrenaline had worn off a little, her awful thirst returned. She turned back to the spring.

After a long, satisfying drink, she stood up and walked slowly to the edge of the fire. When she got close enough to see clearly, she saw that the "man" next to the fire was actually just a rock with a cloak thrown over it and a few saddle bags loaded inside it. Clever. That meant that the man had been expecting her. She felt even more foolish.

Turning slightly toward the man, she began to speak tentatively.


Cehhfasat now sat at the edge of the fire and listened to the girl's question. When it reached his ears he thought about it for a few minutes, wondering how to answer her.

"Who are you?"

The fire cracked. The wind had settled down for the moment. The moon was setting. Dim light was strewn throughout the campsite. The horse shifted uncomfortably, and stomped its feet. The girl, still standing across the fire from him, stared at Cehhfasat until he answered. At last he did.

"If you're wondering as to my name, that's an easy enough question. Cehhfasat."

He knew that's not what she meant. She had meant to ask something else, like what and why and how.

The girl sighed and sat on the cold sand.

"I'm Lira."

Cehhfasat nodded slowly but did not respond. So he knew her name now. It didn't do him any good.

Across the fire, Lira was rubbing her neck and inspecting the blood. She looked up a minute later and stared into Cehhfasat's eyes.

"You cut me," reminded Lira.

Cehhfasat shrugged. So he had.

"You were intruding in my camp," pointed out Cehhfasat.

"I was going to die of thirst! Your camp had the only spring that I could find!"

Cehhfasat smiled and leaned forward, staring mercilessly at the girl across the fire. "You didn't have to follow me."

"If I could've found water away from you, believe me, I would have gone there instead!"

No she wouldn't have. Something was drawing this girl to Cehhfasat. His sensitivity gave him an odd feeling about this girl. Maybe there was the same sensitivity at the back of her mind that Cehhfasat also had. His was drawing him to her. She was likely being led by that same feeling, unable to resist. She wouldn't even know why she had abandoned everything and come out into the desert after him. She would think it was her own free will.

"Tell me girl," began Cehhfasat, leaning back again and looking up at the stars, "have you ever had any experiences with demons?"

The girl was surprised. "Demons? What?"

Cehhfasat nodded. "Aksimaat"

"No," Lira replied uncertainly.

"Hmm." That was interesting. Maybe she had just come out here by her own free will after all. Stupid girl. "You didn't have to follow me into the desert at all, you know."

"Imagine you live in that village all your life, then just stay there when your one chance to leave comes!" She was getting annoyed. Perhaps she had figured out that Cehhfasat didn't mean to let her come along.

"You think that I'm your chance to have a new life?"

Lira paused. "Well…"

"What is it, girl? Why are you out here?"

Her eyes flared for a moment, then she seemed to calm considerably down. "There's something…"

Ah, so she did feel something. Just when Cehhfasat was beginning to grow tired of this girl. Now she could prove very useful indeed. He continued to stare at her as she talked.

"Something… compelling me to leave that village."

"Something like the uncontrollable desire to take up company with assassins?" He asked, spitting the word 'assassin' at her.

"No!" Her look of hostility had returned.

"Or are you just stupid, girl? Coming out here in the desert chasing after the man who killed your only family left!" He wanted her to admit the feeling. Admit that there was something in her mind drawing her to him.

"No…"

"Answer me this one question, girl, before I send you walking back to that godforsaken village alone. Is there something at the back of your mind leading you to me?"

Cehhfasat probed her eyes with his own. She looked first at him, then at the sand, then at the sky. She shifted uncomfortably on the sand, and thought for a moment. When she spoke it was very quiet, and Cehhfasat had to strain his ears a little to hear her.

"Yes."

"And you say that you've never had any experience with Aksimaat?" The stare continued.

Lira was very unsettled at this point. "None," she whimpered softly.

Cehhfasat sighed and fell onto his back, looking up at the stars. Interesting. Maybe he wouldn't send her crawling back across the desert alone after all. Perhaps he should just take her along with him for a while. Maybe that's what he had wanted to happen when heordered Cehhfasat to kill Lira's grandfather.

The sound of Lira's voice drifted over the fire and shook Cehhfasat from his pondering. "What happens to me now?"

That seemed like that was as close as the girl would get to begging for mercy.

"We're going to Cairo. Be ready to travel at dawn."


Lira didn't get to sleep for a long time. Her neck gave her some discomfort, but that was not the reason her dreams would not take her away. It was what Cehhfasat had said.

It was true, now that she thought hard enough about it, that she could feel a slight aching in the back of her mind that drew her to this man. It was not an aching of lust. It was as if she simply had to be around this man. She did not have any other options.

At first, she didn't know how to feel about that. If all she had done in the past day had just been a reaction to this feeling, then she hadn't really made any decisions at all. It was all just instinct. Was she just a servant of this ache, and did she have any freedom at all? Perhaps not.

The thought scared her. Maybe she was being controlled, and didn't realize it. Maybe she only thought that every decision she made was made by her own free will.

Cehhfasat had mentioned demons. Were demons controlling her?

Or maybe this was all just an act of destiny. Allah had destined her to find and follow this man.

The feeling could even just be a deep need to be away from her village. She knew that this man was the only one capable of taking her away and so she had followed him. It was her decision.

Yes, she thought, this was my decision.

And with that last thought, she turned over and went to sleep.


And there you have it! The second installment of Pact with the Morning Star. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did (and even if you didn't) make sure to submit a review! Stay tuned, more to come.

-Cehhfasat