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Ben lifted an eyebrow. “The king’s proclamations of late have been numerous.”
She bowed her head. “We apologize for the inconvenience, sir, but we cannot go against our king’s wishes. Should you choose to remain here any longer, we will be forced to make you leave.”
I felt Ben tense beside me, though he kept his smile on his lips. “That won’t be necessary, ladies. We’ll leave of our own accord.”
He turned and led me away from the trio. I glanced over my shoulder for one last glimpse of the women, but they’d already vanished. “They’re fast,” I commented as we rounded the corner and the grotto was hidden from view.
“Each of them are of the grandest houses on the island and have a great gift of magic,” Ben told me as we reached the wagon.
I turned to him and lifted an eyebrow. “So like your cousin’s family?”
He draped his arm over the box and nodded. “Yes, but their magic is less detection and more protection. I wouldn’t want to be around to see them use their magic, and to be on the receiving end would be rather dangerous.”
“Even for the Dragon Thief?” I asked him.
He knitted his brow. “I’d rather not do a headlong assault on anything there. We’re one of the few foreigners, and some may deduce my identity if I was to so brazenly show myself.”
A deep sigh escaped me and I folded my arms over my chest. “So what now?”
He nodded at the distance where the towering obelisks rose from the sands. “Now we see about this Kneeling Stone. I’m curious to see how it works.”
I scowled at him. “Don’t go tossing yourself on a rock and having your magic sucked out of you just to satisfy your curiosity.”
He flashed me a grin as he offered me a hand up. “And leave my fiancé all alone?”
I rolled my eyes but accepted his help to climb back aboard the wagon. “You know, if you keep that up I’m going to expect to see a ring in the near future.”
Ben plopped himself down in the seat beside me and took up the reins. “Perhaps you shall.”
My eyes widened. “What do you-”
“Ha!” he shouted as he cracked the reins.
The qasi shot off down the sand and I was flung back so that I was forced to grab a hold of the arm of the box to keep my balance. Ben directed the beast off the road and onto the virgin sand, giving us a straight shot toward the columns.
I righted myself and glared at him. “Don’t think trying to toss me off will distract me.”
His eyes twinkled as he nodded at the way ahead of us. “I think the view of the Thaqiba will do just that.”
I hated when he was right.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
We sailedacross the sands and over a few orphan dunes toward the towering obelisks. Nothing existed out here save for a few small oases where wild qasi drank up the crystal-clear waters beneath the shade of a few struggling divine trees.
That changed as we approached the Thaqiba. I found myself tilting my head back as we drew nearer to the towers. The white walls of the towers turned as I had seen them move from the steps of the palace, but to be face-to-base with those huge spinning columns was something else.
The Thaqiba stretched some five hundred feet above the desert floor and their long shadows stretched across the sands. The countless grains of sand that made up their bodies turned at a slow pace, never wavering even an inch out of shape. A complete rotation of the two columns took only about thirty seconds, and every moment was completely silent. One could have heard a pin drop at the bases of the sand towers.
The very roots of the sand towers sank into the desert, but a large stone platform sat atop the sand some twenty feet in front of the columns. The six-inch high platform was made of some deep-black stone, and the weathered edges of the rectangular rock denoted its great age.
I gaped up at the impossibility presented to me. “These towers are made out of magic?”
Ben, too, admired the columns as a gentle smile graced his lips. “The strongest kind. There’s no greater magic than that created from a noble sacrifice.”
“You said some magicians gave their lives to create it?” I recalled.
His attention fell on me. “A trio of the most powerful on the island. Legends say they were the most powerful the great families had ever produced, and wiser than the wisest. The men gave all their magic to create the Thaqiba and protect the island from the storm.”
