THIRTEEN
Darkness had descended by the time Anahita headed back inside the city gates. The guards called a challenge, but the moment they spotted Haidar and Asad, they moved aside, bowing to let them pass.
Anahita cradled her new bird to her chest, stroking her feathers as the falcon slept off her fresh-caught feast. Anahita had never seen a bird fish before, but this one seemed born to it, plucking fish and frogs out of the oasis faster than she'd seen her little brothers gobble treats. The bird had laid the first corpses at her feet, and Anahita had thanked her, before telling her she could eat her fill today without needing to share.
As they passed through the bazaar, now lit by torches and busier than ever, there was a buzz that had nothing to do with some sheikh or rumours of dis
