"Sometimes a journey has many answers for the simplest of questions. Who you are, is one of them."
- Jiji
Chapter Four: Masghati
"The beats on fire, our hearts ignite…" She murmured under her breath with a hum, lounging out in the back of the wagon hiding away from the mornings sunshine for just a while longer. They were about a day off from Qishan and she couldn't wait to hit the town, get a bit of information from such a tourist pocket, the market city presented. She slid her fingers through the long sooty strands of her hair as she stretched out, it was about time to get up anyways.
"Emotions flying so high…" The lyrics but a whisper as rubbed her face along her sleeves, tugging open the tarp as she greeted the morning.
"Shirin! Bought time you got up, you lazy cat!" One of the older women, Mila, called out to her from the campfire the smell of sizzling meat filling her nose.
"Now, Now Mila," The caravan head shook his finger childishly at her, "Shi-Shi is a growing girl, sleeps good for her!"
"Some meat on those bones of her's is good too," Chided Mila as she waved Shirin over, "Hurry up before the men eat it all child!"
"I'm coming Mila," She yawned out into the crook of her elbow, shaking the tiredness from her as she jogged over towards the fire, "Thanks for saving me something Mila."
"Best I could do, the men caught some desert Hares for lunch and some field rats." Mila shrugged as she handed the girl the skewered rat. Shirin laughed softly and twirling the skewer began to nibble into the meal.
"So you gonna help Jamil with his swordsmanship later?" The Caravan head asked peering over the young girl's head as she ate, "It's good training for someone near his height."
"I'm not that small!" She cried, sending the man, Korian, and Mila into a fit of laughter.
"Kat." A voice choked out as the room grew darker, she hummed softly reaching out towards the voice.
"Oh god! Call an Ambulance! Somebody help!" the voice screamed, someone pulled her up but everything was too loud, too much, and she slid into unconsciousness.
"Don't leave me baby please.." The voice sounded like it was under water, the last time she'd hear his voice…
What was his name? Who was he…?
"You have to keep your guard up, Jamil." She instructed as the duo moved around each other, "That's it, now parry."
She lunged out, her sword flashing in the dying light of the sun striking against the quick desperate parry of Jamil who fell over from the force of her swing. He scowled up at her from beneath his dark bangs, cheeks inflating into a pout.
"I don't know why someone taught a girl how to use a sword," Jamil scoffed standing up, "I'm done listening to you, I don't learn anything!"
"You let your hilt slide too much Jamil," She sighed, "And what did I say? You need to-"
"Hike up the hilt when parrying!" He shouted over her, "I know! Okay!?"
"Fine, brat." Shirin stuck her tongue out at Jamil who huffed and glared at her, "Dinner should be ready anyways."
"All you care about is food." Jamil huffed.
"Are you calling me fat?"
"... No…"
"I didn't think so…"
"Hey!" She screamed pointing into his face, her finger gently booping the green eyed male's nose.
"Wha-"
"You're a crazy bitch," she yelled out spinning to flop with her back in his lap, gazing up at him with a silly grin on her face, "But you fuck so good, I'm on top of it!~"
"When I dream, I'm doing you all nightttt," Her voice growing sensual causing a rather naughty smirk to curve his mouth.
"Scratches all down my back to keep me right on," His baritone finished off the chorus, their lips meeting in kiss.
Why can't I remember who you were?
"Shi Shi!" a rather intoxicated Korian yelled around the budding bonfire as Jamil and her crossed the slope of dunes towards the caravan grounds, "Ja-ja you came back!"
"Dad-" Jamil started but blinked as Shirin placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing him back from the camp, "Shirin?"
"What are you doing?" She asked accusingly, "What do you think you guys are doing!? Don't you know what lives out here!"
"We tried to warn them," Mila called peering out of the caravan tarp, looking harried, "Ain't no good coming from it though!"
"Shi Shi?" Korian tilted his head at the girl, his dark hair falling into his face only the firelight illuminating his hazy amber eyes, "Just some fun, right boys?"
"Should come join us Shirin! Loosen up, girl!" Another man called from the fireside.
"You're going to lead them here!" She spat, "Nothing good comes from drinking in the desert! Hyacinths always show up!"
"Hyacinths? That's a folk tale to scare kids from going out to the desert to hide their booze!" Another male called as he walked over, Jamil hiding behind Shirin's leg as the drunk leered down into the older girl's face.
"Your going to-" Whatever she was going to say was drowned out by a screech and an explosion of dirt, sending the trio falling back as large tentacles darted out smashing into the ground, curling and dragging anything it could reach towards its gelatinous petaled maw.
It's like everything is against me…
"Katar-!" A voice called along the house, it was dark and she was hiding trembling underneath the desk.
"Come now," The voice simpered, "you can't hide forever…"
"You can't hide," The voice was too close…
I'm going to die…
"Not from me." His face appearing before her caused her to scream bloody murder, head hitting the back of the desk even as the man leaned into her space, the glint of the moonlight hitting something reflective.
Riv… help me…
"Shirin!" A voice shot her out of her own head quickly, blinking as she noticed how she was being held upside down, a body pressed to her front.
"Jamil…" She breathed, her arms curling around the boy just as the two fell into the pit, surrounded by others as the petals began to close.
It's going to fill up… and we're going to drown…
I can't die here, I won't die here…!
Think K...Shirin, fucking think!
She pulled Jamil close shoving him upward as he took in some air as she struggled against the slippery smaller filament like tentacles in the ground of the flower. She jerked up gasping with Jamil before she was dragged back down. She could see that some men were setting fire to the plant, Mila and the women were wedging wooden beams into the split of the flora, trying to leverage the petals open. A flash of something in the water caught her attention and she lunged for it, Jamil falling into the acidic water as her hand grasped the hilt of her sword. Twirling it into a reverse grip she slashed through the filaments raising up enough to gasp out a lungful of air. Jamil scrawny arms locked on her shoulders as he coughed out water, drawing in air like he was starved. Her feet kicking to stay afloat as she hacked at anything that came close to her.
"We're gonna die." Jamil sobbed into the side of her face, nails digging into her arms.
Not again… never again…
"No we're not." Shirin grit out before she thrust her sword into the petal just as the water reached above their heads. She kept shoving until finally her sword punctured through, a filament grabbing onto her leg and tugging her down. Keeping her hold on the sword, she let the flower do her work for her. Her sword dragging down until the water splattered out of the opening along with the her and Jamil. She curled around the younger boy who was spluttering out water, as they rolled out. With a shrill echoing shriek and it's vines smashing against the dunes of sand as it shot downwards and away from the group.
She choked out a mouthful of the water, hacking, until similarly to the young boy besides her knocked out as beautiful fresh dry crisp desert air filled her lungs.
She woke up slowly into a new place, high columns and shelves filled with books and other shelves completely empty of any scripture. A clicking noise had her head whirling around and she stared at a screen as some sort of projection played before her.
"So pretty when you cry…" A man whispered to a sobbing brunette who was curling away from the man, blood running in rivulets down her arms, "I just wanted to love you, Kitty Kat. Precious Katarina… but you never noticed me. Always too locked onto him. What did he have that I didn't have?"
"My heart." The woman spat at him, "River was always so much better than you could have ever been Ian! He loved me! Not this...this is crazy! You're obsessed!"
"Just thinkin' about you baby," The man sang in a playful tune, "Got me twisted… in the head~"
"And I don't know how to take it!" The man began to scream as he raised the knife, bringing it down on the female who choked out a scream, he kept pulling the blade clean and then repeating the motion stabbing her over and over, "But it's driving me so crazy!"
The brunette ceased moving, coughing gurgles spilling like the blood from her body pooling around her.
"Kat?" Ian whispered dropping the knife to the floor, "Kat… please, no… no what did I do!? Katarina, please!"
"STOP IT!" Shirin screamed whirling away from the sight, tears streaming down her face.
"Peace, Shirin." A voice whispered and she jerked away whirling to see the same woman on the screen standing before her, "So you've remembered."
"Why? He was my friend! He's known me since we were five!" Shirin screamed, pulling at her sooty hair.
"I am not you, and you are not me." The woman stated and Shirin glanced up at her, tears streaming from both of their eyes, "But we can be so much more Shirin, my life ended that day… but yours is still starting."
"I don't understand, I don't… None of this was supposed to happen." Shirin whispered, a sob choking her up as she gazed up at her, "You were pregnant… We-You were gonna have a baby... "
"Life isn't fair, Shirin," Katarina sighed before she drew her counterpart close, kissing the top of her head, "My life… my baby are gone… but you are still here.. You can still be something. You have to accept that… that Katarina is gone."
"If I just accepted you were gone, then nothing will change! You are still apart of me!" Shirin snapped furious suddenly, "I can't forget him! I promised I wouldn't forget him!"
"This is the problem… I never promised to remember River…" Katarina stated calmly, always so calmly.
"No… I… I promised… I.. Yaqut…" Shirin whispered softly, her anger leaving her suddenly, "But if I accept you… then you'll be gone… and I'll be alone."
"No, you'll never be alone… because our souls are one. I may not be you, and you may not be me…but here." Katarina placed her hand on Shirin's heart, "We are the same."
"The same… I..I am the first Princess of Samaria, Shirin Samar. My best friend is Yaqut, a fanalis five summers over me. My father's name is Ali Shar and my mother was Talora Amun-Ra. I was supposed to have a younger brother named Zayn Samar, the first Prince of Samaria." Shirin told Katarina firmly holding out her hand to the young woman before her.
"I was Katarina Meraz, I was a college student studying to become an veterinary technician. My best friend and murderer was Ian Hemmings. My lover and fiance was River Yates. My father was a dock worker and my mother was a receptionist. I was going to have a little boy, his name was going to be Jordan." Katarina smiled as she reached out their hands touching before the woman burst into golden rukh swarming around Shirin, I will always be here, watching over you…
"I'm so glad you've finally decided…" A voice giggled out behind her, turning she was pulled into a soft warm neck. Candy pink hair shielding her gaze from view, as slim yet strong arms held her close, "I'm so proud of you Shirin Samar…"
"Who-"
"Help me realize his dream…"
"Why me?"
"Because… you're my singularity…"
I keep waking up feeling like shit…
Shirin stared up at the warm orange light of the sun drifting through the tarp of the cart, her tongue was dry with a disgusting taste as she groaned turning to her side. As she made to get up a hand gripped her hair and slammed her face into the ground, making her release a gasp of pain. Her throat sore with thirst scratched at the pained noise that tried to escape.
"A runaway slave, hiding out in my caravan." A voice growled next to her ear and she glanced to the side to see the man that had started towards her before the Hyacinth had appeared, "To think that Korian is dead because of you… you orphaned poor Jamil!"
"Kish-" She graveled out, coughing into the wooden floor of the cart before grunting as her face was dragged against the floor.
"That's Master, from now on slave." He snapped before he ripped her up by her hair, her hands grabbing at the strands, "As it stands you'll be paying for Korian's death, with your body."
"Show the bitch her place boys!" He called out before he threw her out of the cart at the feet of the men that she had once joked with days ago, "A good Sheeva girl knows her way around warming someone's bed!"
"I've never had a Sheeva girl before," One murmured reaching down to jerk at her top, that she now saw was a flimsy white top that slaver girls in the western parts wore the jerk ripping it open to flash her collar bone.
"Mufid please…" She cried pulling at the cloth trying to keep it from ripping fully, a hand smacking her to the ground as she stared dully up at the men who were appreciating her form in a disgustingly familiar but for them new way.
"Jamil!" A voice called, Mila's voice, just before the men jerked away from her as the little boy swung his sword at them, clumsy with a jerky movements.
"You stay back! She's mine! Mine!" The boy screamed and the men watched him cooly.
"Jamil, son…" Kishon started only to jerk back from the sharp edge of the blade.
"I'm not your son." Jamil edged closer to Shirin, his shoulders trembling, "My dad is dead… I'm nobody's son!"
More of the men were creeping closer to Jamil, hoping to catch him unaware their eyes drifting off of Shirin.
I could run right now… I… I could leave…
She watched as Jamil escaped grasping hands, his body shaking tears dripping in the sand and she knew that she couldn't leave Jamil on his own anymore than he could sit back and let them… use her. As Jamil's heels edged against her stomach she swung up, stealing the blade and pressing Jamil's sobbing face into her side. While Jamil's emotional swing of his sword was jerky and reckless, Shirin's was a guarded snake flaring up, graceful yet biting.
"Back off!" She barked out, her voice hoarse and deeper with her intentions causing the men to back away. While Jamil had been a child, easy to subdue they knew that taking her out would be a harder battle. She maneuvered Jamil behind her who was clinging to the back of her tunic now, she slowly moved them away from the group who followed slowly before her.
"Jamil…" She whispered soft, only confident as his fists clenched in the fabric at her back that he heard her, "Run… I'll be right behind you… We are not safe here… "
"Okay…" Jamil sniffled out, his hands releasing her back taking a couple steps back before he turned on his heel and raced away over the dunes. Like Shirin had said she was right after him, the snarls of surprise and anger weren't surprising. She caught up to Jamil her hand snatching his wrist and pulling him faster along.
"We're gonna have so much fun with you Sheeva girl!"
"Maybe Jamil can be made a man with you!"
"I bet your tight and warm, little slave girl!"
As the duo raced forward the winds began to pick up, jostling them a bit as sand hazed the air. As they did she spotted rukh fluttering in a direction, invitingly spinning in loops along the wind. She felt Jamil slip and she tugged him up into her arms, his head resting into her neck as her other with the sword raised to try and shield her eyes. She trudged on, the words of the men still echoing in the storm but sounded too far away to be able to make out.
"They are leading you… how strange…" A voice wondered and she jerked as Jamil shouted, both their eyes staring at a blonde haired male a hand on his pointed green hat that was threatening to blow away in the storm.
"Who are you!?" Jamil demanded one arm tight against Shirin's neck and the other shakily pointed at the man.
"Me? Oh I'm Yunan, I'm a traveler." The man's smile was kind as he tilted his head to the side, eyes closed in an 'innocent' expression.
"We're busy." Shirin replied as she began to walk towards the fluttering rukh, ignoring the swarm that was dancing around this Yunan man.
"You can see them… and they respond to you… very interesting that you can read the intent of the rukh. Are you a magi?" Yunan questioned as he followed along to her left, it was only then she noticed the weird stick in his hand.
"What's a magi?" Jamil questioned before he began spitting as sand got in his mouth, coughing into Shirin's shoulder.
"No." She grunted out moving after the rukh, trying to ignore the man beside her.
"Those men are of a rather nasty sort, aren't they?" It seemed the man could only ask questions, she shot a glance at him seeing his nose wrinkled in distaste from something.
"They didn't use to be…" Jamil whispered.
"If I showed you to a place where you can rest, a place that would grant you the power to rise above your station, would you do it?" Yunan asked moving so he standing before her, his eyes narrowing to a more serious nature. Shirin swallowed at that gaze and glanced away.
"What station?" She scoffed, standing before the man with an averted gaze.
"He means your slave status." Jamil pointed out.
"Jamil… Please." Shirin sighed before she pierced Yunan with a determined stare, "I'm not a slave anymore and I'm not sure I trust some wandering stranger."
"But we're already here!" Yunan exclaimed waving his staff and moving out of the way to reveal the opening into a large tower. Shirin and Jamil both gazed up at the large tower.
"Jamil… that wasn't there before was it?" Shirin asked faintly.
"I-I don't know!" Jamil denied but even he sounded weirded out by it.
"Oi Yunan!" Shirin moved her gaze from the tower only for the green wearing blonde to be missing.
"Where did he go?" Jamil whispered, "Was he a ghost!?"
"Ghosts don't exist Jamil…" Shirin stated even though she looked a bit pale at the thought, "Maybe he went inside?"
"I guess…" Jamil stated, even as he finished his thoughts the older girl moved them into the tower. As she fully entered both jumped as the chamber rocked and a slab slammed behind them.
Why do I get myself into these situations!?
Author's Note: So I completely changed this chapter. As I was reading over it, I realized that it was rather fast paced and half-assed through most of it. This is Shirin's first major cannon change, I'm kinda excited about it. Also the lyrics in the first part are from Max Van Fleet's "Under the Same Sky." The second lyrics are from "Crazy B*tch" by Buckcherry. And the last ones are from Franky J's song "Obsession."