The Tale Of Qirmizi (Okay, now I'm just putting random things up here.)

First Chapter
Second Chapter
Third Chapter
Fourth Chapter
Fifth Chapter

The sun had just peeked out above the never-ending world of sand, lighting everything with furious shades of bright yellows, reds, and whites, but the town of Qirmizi had been waiting for it to come. The brighter the rays, the more the people began their scurries around town. Tom yawned, excited that daylight had come. The counting the stars soon bored him, and the night dragged on without interruption. Once he thought he spotted movement, but it turned out to be nothing. Alisha was peacefully and happily asleep still, unaware that the rest of the world had started.

Tom rubbed his eyes tiredly and walked over to her. He gently shook her awake. "Miss, I have to go. I don't know how long I will be, but I will be back."

She stared at him, only half awake. "Oh," she said with disappointment. "Can I come, Tom? Please. I don't want to stay here by myself. It's scary..." Alisha bit her lip. "Yesterday was the worst day of my life."

You get used to it, Tom wanted to say. "Yes. I'm sorry... But I can't let you. It's not safe. If anyone other than me comes, run. Meet me later either back here or where you were serving first."

Alisha stared at Tom, frightened. "O- okay..."

"Good," Tom said. He sighed. She was useless for anything other than a bargaining piece, which was obviously her father's plan. He certainly didn't grow her up to be a personal adviser to the throne. He left her where she was, assuming she would be okay. She had not been harmed yesterday in all of the fire mess, so she could make it today. No one seemed to come around the area. He wandered out of the house, wincing at the sun. He put his hand over his eyes to block some of the brightness. Maybe it was this blocking of his view or simply his tiredness, that caused him not to see the man.

Before Tom knew what was going on, he was shoved against a wall with a knife to his throat. Tom cried out and opened his eyes fearfully to see who it was. He almost didn't recognize the man. Dark purple circles lay beneath the cold, black eyes that dug into Tom's face, searching. His confident air had been stolen and replaced with an fearful, unknowing, and violently unpredictable look to his expression. But, no matter how haggard the man suddenly appeared, Tom was still about to connect him with the captain of the guard.

The man cackled sporadically. Tom prayed someone would come by and notice them, but no one did. "W- what do you w- want?" he stuttered fearfully.

"I want my life back!" the man growled with sudden ferocity.

Tom cowered and flinched, shutting his eyes tightly. The captain was drunk too. The smell was overpowering. He was shoved into the wall harder.

"Well! Are you going to do something about it?!"

"S-s-sir..." Tom moaned. What could he do? It wasn't even Tom's fault. How had the captain even survived the wrath of the Emir's advisers? The knife pressed deeper against his throat. No, no, he had to do something... "W-what did I- I do?"

The captain spat in Tom's face, receiving another flinch. "You ruined my life you little worthless piece of skin and bone! If I hadn't been busy dealing with you, I would have saved my job! It's all your fault!" he screamed.

Tom yelled. He had chosen a spot to put Alisha in too isolated... No one was around to hear them. The knife's pressure was taken off his throat. He sighed in relief, but before he had even finished letting out his breath, he felt a blow to the gut. He groaned and clutched his stomach, but the captain hit him again. Tom fell to the ground as he gasped for breath, but the man didn't stop. He began kicking Tom, as well as hitting him, and Tom couldn't recover enough to run or get anyway at all. He moaned and curled into the fetal position. No, not this... not again! He felt blood dripping down him from somewhere. Everything hurt.
And then it all faded.

The next thing Tom knew was he was staring at his blood stained hands. They really did have blood on them now. He hadn't moved from his curled up position on the ground at all. He was in too much pain. The curse. The stupid curse. He groaned. The sun was about in the middle of the mockingly pleasant looking blue sky. He closed his eyes and hugged his knees, his hands scratching against dried blood. He could tell his back was bleeding too from the way his shirt stuck to him. What had happened? The captain just starting beating him without reason...

He froze. The captain had to have followed him to the house and waited. He knew where Alisha was. He needed to get his job back, something to offer. Tom stood up, but his knees buckled. He grabbed onto the nearby wall and steadied himself. He moaned. He was incredibly stiff and sore. He lifted up his shirt before hurrying to put it back down. That was one of the worst he had ever been hurt. He stumbled back over to the house, wondering if Alisha had heard. She hadn't, because when Tom came in she was asleep again.

"Miss," he said with relief.

Alisha sat up and looked at him. "Tom! What happened?" she said in horror.

Tom's eyebrows met and he looked down at himself. He was covered in sand, blood, and bruises. He growled and began rubbing off the sand and blood without trying to press hard on the bruises. It didn't work.

"Tom!" Alisha pressed, standing. She frowned, unsure of what to do. He was in a filthy state and scared her slightly.

"What?" Tom spat, in an understandable bad mood. He finished brushing himself off and shook his head to fix his hair.

She bit her lip. "Are you okay?"

Tom pressed his stomach, cringing. "That doesn't matter..." he said gruffily. "Come on. We're going to the market." They had to get away from the house. He reached into his pocket; yes, he still had the coins he had gotten from the blacksmith the day before. One or two had been lost, but most of them were still there.

"You'll take me?" Alisha said, immediately brightening.

Tom nodded. “Come on,” he sighed and lead her out. If the place was being watched… He would have to find another place to hold Alisha, if he dared to leave her alone. Every step hurt him. He moved slowly, while Alisha was already walking far ahead of him. He frowned and told her to slow down. She sighed and waited for him.

"Hurry!" she said with impatient excitement.

"Yeah, yeah..." Tom growled. He winced.

Alisha watched with worry. "You never said what happened. What's wrong, Tom?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" he sighed.

She watched him for a moment before sniffing. "Fine." Her smile returned. "What's the market like, Tom?"

"Busy. Dangerous," he admitted. How was this a good idea? Alisha wasn't a good idea.

"Pretty?" Alisha said hopefully.

Tom pursed his lips. "You will see."

And it turned out that the market was all of these things. It was at one of its busiest times and Tom and Alisha could hardly lift one foot without getting turned in the other direction. Alisha could hardly take it all in, thinking everything the most amazing and beautiful thing she had ever seen. She would flitter from one stand to another, squealing at the seamstresses' dresses of thousands of colors to the small dolls the toymakers had.

Tom would watch, only hoping to keep up with her. He smirked at how easily amused she was, with a small wish he could be that way. Her deep violet eyes stayed wide and filled with pleasure the entire time. She lacked any sense of worry or danger. Tom ended up being so tense, and he spent his time looking for anyone that would want to hurt Alisha or him.

"Tom!" Alisha gasped, looking at another stand. He groaned and walked over, seeming shrunken in his condition. "Look..." she pointed. Tom followed her gaze to see a small clay molded elephant. It was painted grey with vibrant colors of purple and pink, with jewels painted on the top of the elephant's head. An intricate little basket was also on the elephant, and Tom would have almost believed it could all come to life. "Please?" Alisha said, staring up at him and biting her lip.

Tom sighed and smiled wryly, fishing a coin out of his pocket. "Fine. But that is it."

Alisha nodded. "I know!" she said happily.

The man behind the stand glanced between Tom and Alisha and received the coin, giving Alisha the elephant. Alisha squealed and held it in her hands carefully. Tom smirked at her, making sure as she walked so entranced in the little figurine she didn't run into anything. He began getting hungry so he bought them some honeyed bread. Alisha was so delighted in it, which amazed Tom continually. He didn't even know where they were going to spend the night.