Kala breathlessly slipped through the room, her hungry eyes darting all around the furniture and walls. Took’s quarters were littered with a peculiar assortment of tools, many of which looked like torture devices. There were numerous books scattered around, too, and pinned on one wall were several maps. One looked to be a roadmap of Chen. One of them was a floor plan of JaniHarrii. The south tower was annotated with particular care, but there were other notes, too. She stepped closer to peer at them.
“Well, well, well. Look who it is.”
Kala might have jumped out of her skin. She spun on the spot.
Sahin was standing about 10 paces away, and in his hands he held a large, live serpent, which coiled around his arms. He toyed gently with it, as one would a pet. The snake, for its part, seemed agitated.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Sahin purred, his eyes glinting eerily.
Kala swallowed, hard, and drew a steeling breath. “What is it you do for Took?” she asked abruptly.
“Whatever my master requires of me,” he said silkily, though there was an edge of menace to his voice.
“Including killing trespassers.”
Suddenly, he whipped out of sight, and in the next moment, he was right in front of her. Before she could react, he shoved her against a table, sending a sinister looking instrument clattering to the floor. With one hand he pinned her wrists over her head, forcing her to bend backward painfully over the edge of the table, and for good measure, he pushed his knee into her groin to keep her from slipping away. With his other hand, he pressed a blade into her throat.
Kala gasped and attempted to struggle, but Sahin continued to push his weight into her.
“How long did you think you could continue sneaking around before you got caught, hmm?” Sahin snarled in a deathly whisper. “You think this is some kind of GAME? You are a stupid, insolent little girl. How DARE you enter my master’s quarters, while Lanthriel agonizes over your protection!”
Kala shuddered and writhed, trying to twist her neck away from the bite of Sahin’s knife. But at the mention of Lanthriel’s name, she froze and met Sahin’s piercing gold gaze.
“Do you ever think what your moronic escapades inflict on him?” he continued, still in his intense whisper, eyes agleam with malice. Kala gagged as Sahin pushed harder on her. “You have no idea what terrible suffering awaits you, you sniveling brat! You think you can worm your way out of your inevitable fate by snooping around, but all that you are accomplishing is digging a deeper grave for both of you.”
Sahin seemed positively frenzied now. He leaned right into her her face and growled through his teeth, “if you have single shred of intelligence in your abomination of a body, you’ll KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN. You may gamble your own life all you wish, but I swear to God–”
A floor below, the whirring of the aegis sounded. Took had returned.
Kala’s heart fluttered frantically. She looked wildly up at Sahin, whose furor had subsided into indecision. Kala attempted to wriggle away from him just as he made up his mind. Her grabbed her roughly by the hair and dragged her, gasping fearfully, toward a large cabinet. A moment later he had shoved her inside, nearly slamming the door on her tail. Her cry of alarm was barely muffled by robes that hung within.
Mind racing to understand all that had happened and the predicament she had found herself in, she struggled to turn around in the tiny enclosure. She lost her balance on the jumble of shoes and crumpled awkwardly into a heap. A narrow shaft of light gleamed into her face as her struggle accidentally bumped the cabinet door, opening it a tiny crack. Her mouth went dry and she crammed herself as far back into the cabinet as she could get, hoping against hope that Took had not seen the cabinet shift.
“Djinni!” Took’s harsh voice snapped as he came up the stairs.
Through the thin slit, Kala could just see Sahin tense visibly and bow. “Yes, Master?”
There was a clunking noise as Took set something down. “What have you been up to?” he asked suspiciously.
“I…” Sahin faltered.
Why did he hide me? Kala wondered suddenly, feeling blood seeping from the narrow cut Vahaadi’s knife had left in her neck. What in the world was going on?
“Djinni,” Took growled in warning. “Don’t you dare lie to me.”
“I found a snake,” Sahin said quickly.
“Excuse me?”
“Here,” Sahin said, and Kala saw him teleport over to the spot she’d first seen him. He gingerly slid the snake out from under a couch and caressed it as it writhed.
Took swore in repulsion. “How did it get in here?! Kill it!”
A brief expression of pain crossed Sahin’s face. But almost immediately his eyes shone smoky white. Kala, realizing what she was about to see, hurriedly turned her face away in horror. There was a sickening crack.
“Ugh! Disgusting vermin,” Took grumbled, striding across the room. “This fortress is ghastly. The sooner we can get out of here, the better. Speaking of which, I’ve got a job for you.”
Sahin did not respond. Kala could no longer see him, as much of her very limited view was obscured by Took’s cloak.
“Did you hear me?” Took pressed, his voice edged with anger.
There was a sound like a whip and a startled gasp.
“Pay attention!” Took snapped. His voice dropped threateningly. “Are you going to cooperate, or am I going to have to Compel you?”
When Sahin replied, the anxiety in his voice was apparent. “No…whatever you ask…”
“Good. Listen carefully…”
* * *
The door of the cabinet wrenched open. Sahin looked down on Kala, absolutely livid. Eyes ablaze, he held out his hand a deliberately dropped the dead snake on her. It fell on her head and crumpled into her lap. It’s head was twisted at a grotesque angle, its eyes staring vacantly.
She felt like she would retch at the sight. She looked up at Sahin shakily.
“If I ever find you out of line again, I will snap your neck,” he breathed.
“GET. OUT.”
