Nadia - Narratives
Nadia's story
yes I remember... We were just a small oasis town not much more than a village. A rose in the desert. As I said before, we lived in peace, even with the west threatening and looming over our lands, as a child I was blissfully ignorant. My mother treasured me, my grandparents doted on me and my father Rashaan was the biggest mystery to my young mind. Magic was alive. Etaph blessed us with our oasis, cool evening breezes and even seasonal rains. When Austuria marched against the eastern lands, the tribal elders and leaders gathered to join forces to defend our God given lands. Alqirim had a silver tongue and persuaded many to form a delegation to attempt to make a deal with the west. He always came off as a coward, so my grandfather would say. Many tribes resisted this idea and the majority disagreed, when the time came to defend our lands 5 of the Eastern most tribes fought bravely, but lost the first battle.
At the next council instead of joining our cause Sala Alqirim degraded our sacrifice and convinced former allies to surrender instead of aiding us. He made our cause sound so hopeless and at the same time made his own plan and himself sound so flawless, by the end of the day, two of our allies agreed to his plan and only one other tribe sided with us. These four faithful tribes were not enough to fight our enemy and we knew it. My grandfather and the other elders warned that the rigid followers of Metris would not be tolerant of those blessed by the warm eyes of Etaph. They didn't listen, instead believing the lies and empty promises of the betrayer. So the "Deal" was made and "you know who" soon became our grand Sultan. He arrived home with his own crimson guard and announced that worship of Metris would begin in every city with large temples being built and we would be privileged to contribute to their grandeur and magnificence.
The strangest thing happened that day, the Sultan himself, by himself, came to our tent, he asked me to marry him and become his sultana and head wife. I had only ever seen him at the two council meetings that my grandfather hosted in Cordoba. Every time that man spoke every hair on my body stood on end. He was at least 20 years older than me. I had only just turned 17. I was shocked and speechless. He told me he would come back in the evening for my answer and meet my mother the next day. I did not even speak to my mother, I just ran out to sit on "my rock". Artaxes was already sitting there. I hadn't seen him since the last council meeting and we had not spoken since before the first battle. I stopped, he looked at me and I just burst out crying.
My childhood friend assured me that I did not have to do ANY thing I didn't feel was Etaph's will, especially marry a man I didn't love or respect. He confessed to me that he felt like a coward for running off the battle field with his wounded cousin and not running right back. He was the fastest runner in Cordoba. I told him it was stupid to feel guilty about being a hero. He just whispered "I am not a hero." I yelled angrily at him "YES, YOU ARE!" He just looked down at me as I glared up at him and burst out laughing. We made a promise each other that day to serve Etaph until the day we died.
The sultan did come back that night "Well?" he asked looking at me greedily. "I do not believe it is Etaph's will." "Curse Etaph," he spat. "So you won't?" "No" I responded coldly. "Very well" he muttered menacingly and left. If only I had stabbed him in the back as he walked away! To this day, I do not know what I could have done to earn his attention or his hate filled scorn. I couldn't have guessed what would happen next. The next day it was announced that Cordoba was harboring spies and traitors to the Sultan and all of Austuria. It is true that Cordoba was one tribes that was vocal against the western alliance, but we did NOTHING, ... they.... did nothing to deserve what happened to them. Many people were arrested, good people who had done nothing wrong! And still they weren't satisfied. No one knew what was going on, we were all scared and confused.
One night Artaxes came to my tent, startiling me awake with a harsh whisper, he told me that he thought they would try to arrest him soon, and that followers of Etaph would soon be persecuted, I didn't want to believe him. Surely that couldn't be true, that couldn't happen. The Eastern tribes would not stand for it. He asked me to watch and pray. That morning it was made clear to us that the rebellion was finished and Artaxes was to be handed over as a traitor to be punished or all of Cordoba would suffer. I looked for him all day and I found him hiding in that tiny cave his goat got lost in. He told me that he knew that I was the only one that could find him there and he had been waiting for me. That he was going to turn himself in. I begged him not to. "I am not a coward. I will be the hero that you believe I am." I'd never seen such a look in his eyes, but I knew well enough how stubborn he was so I gave up. Before he left he gave me this" Nadia pulled the small box out of her tunic. "He had given me this small box he made himself on my 13th birthday and I had carved that flower on it and given it back to him a month later on his 14th birthday." He handed me the box. inside was the smallest Cordoban rose I had ever seen, but it wasn't simply white it had the faintest shimmer of pink and the edges of the petals were pink. I looked up, his brown eyes stared right into mine. "I found the most beautiful rose in Cordoba." My heart pounded. "How can I lose my best friend like this?" "Don't worry he retorted, "I'm fast, I'll escape and we will meet again." He put his paw on mine as I closed the box and we stayed in that tiny cave all night talking about the stupid things we did when we were kits. Eventually I fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone. True to his word, he turned himself in.
That night Austurian forces marched in and declared Cordoba an affront to the Empire, full of rebels, a threat to Metris, and would be made an example of. It was as if they wanted to wipe it off the map, and as you can see they were successful. Most of the men, many women, and even kits were killed or captured. All we could do was snatch four of Artaxes youngest cousins out of a burning house and run to the dunes. I watched in horror as our beloved city was laid waste and burned to the ground. There I made another promise to fight with everything I have in me until I see Artaxes free or until I meet Etaph.
