Fortune Favors the Cursed
the-reticent-seer
diverselit
diverselit
1.3K5
An orphan girl with questionable morals. A scarred prince with two lives. One relic to change their world.
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Badriya As-Sahra is sick of piling up camel dung and ...Chapter 3
Badriya and Rashid were moving once more, with the latter pulling the former in tow. Not a minute passed when they arrived at a wide sand clearing in the center of the chaotic tents and stalls of the souq. But the plaza was the one filled with crowds of people today. Men and their families stayed in groups and talked among themselves. Children roamed around as they played and screamed where their mothers could see them. A congregation of desert nomads milled at the far side of the square. Even the very few nobles who lived in the province were there, lounging under a canopy erected by their slaves.
It seemed that everyone was present, and that Badriya and Rashid were the last ones to come.
Several men wearing brass chest plates and gripping curved iron swords held their ground as a young man in simple finery stepped onto a platform in front of the audience. He might have passed for a regular nobleman's son if it weren't for the oblique-angled square branded in his forehead. It was the diamond, the symbol of wealth, prosperity and luck. The symbol of the sultan.
"Citizens of Klalasha, province of the southwest," the messenger began. "I have journeyed from Zarab with a divine decree from the sultan himself. Hear my words and you shall be enlightened."
"We hear," the crowd said in unison.
"Sultan Shahrayar asks his people—all of you—to help him in his grand quest to wage war against our oldest enemy, Khadys," he said. "But, I am not here today to ask you to leave your homes to become soldiers. The sultan wishes you to find the coveted Jewel of Opulence in his stead."
A wave of murmurs rippled among the crowd.
"Zecaj's Jewel?" Rashid whispered at Badriya. "But that thing is not real. Why is the sultan even looking for it?"
"I don't know," Badriya replied. "He's probably gone mad, if he wasn't already."
"The Jewel is an item known for its countless abilities told in myths," the messenger continued. "The sultan wants it to grant him immense wealth to aid in the war effort. The one to present the Jewel to him shall be rewarded with a tower of gold."
Almost everyone, including Rashid and Badriya, gasped. A rarity nowadays, gold was something that could get a person above and beyond the country, and even the other nations. People would pay you to become one of your servants, and with the enough amount, it would be possible to buy a whole country for yourself. It was that precious to everyone, and the sultan knew that.
If Badriya had the gold, she wouldn't have to worry about her next steal. She wouldn't have to sleep outside the cold nights in the desert and shiver till morning. And she certainly wouldn't have to smell like dung ever again.
She had to get the Jewel, even if it didn't exist.
"If you wish to volunteer, you may approach me or one of my escorts to help you start on your hunt," the messenger said. "You may return to your business."
As soon as he stepped down, the crowd began to dissolve. Some of the people remained and walked over to the messenger's tent behind the stage. Badriya and Rashid lingered somewhere in between.
"Can you believe it?" Rashid said. "The sultan is that desperate to go to war? He could just use the gold reward to start it if he wanted to. Why does he even need to get the jewel?"
"For the wealth, obviously," Badriya said. "One way or the other, we were born with greed in our hearts, and that doesn't exclude the sultan."
It didn't exclude her, either. She wanted to be rich.
Rashid crossed his arms. "Well, the hunt sounds outright absurd. It was a waste of time coming here. Let's just get back to Mustafa before he beats our asses."