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    Chapter 1: FairyTale
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    " Stop thief!"
    The familiar alarm sounded out from the swiftly growing distance. Her feet- already accustomed to moving on uneven surfaces- gripped at the gritty sand that threatened to swallow her whole.
    There was the usual clamor from neighbours as they rushed out to their friends aid. Only to find the thief had disappeared into the inked cloaking of night. I snickered haughtily at their seemingly mechanical response.
    My feet sank softly into the sand but before it could break through, my other foot carried me nimbly to the next small dune. People wouldn't expect that a person would be searching for warmth when she was running through a vast land of nothingness that was the product of thousands of year of seering heat. But as my eyes scanned the bleak horizon, I spotted an abruptly rising rock that would play well the role as guard against the savage sand storms. Which ravaged the land often in this season.
    A vague movement against the rock told me that he was probably awaiting my arrival. My legs picked up and she nearly danced across the desolate wasteland. As I neared the boulder I could see the silhouette of a fire dancing against the solid wall and I swerved expertly before landing gracefully alongside the steadily growing flame.
    Nearly like a phantom, Maleki slid immediately over to my side.
    " What'd you get?" He demanded, his voice rising an octave in concern.
    I shrugged. " The usual, I guess." I hadn't had time to pay attention to what I was plundering. Before I had half-filled the worn sack, the father had torn into the room, weapon in hand. Before I knew it I was out of the window and padding frantically towards safety.
    A shock of dusty brown hair that had lost its shine from being exposed to the sun for too long brushed softly against my shoulder. He took a long intake of breath before murmuring several curse words.
    I braced myself for the furious chastisement that was sure to erupt from him within a few moments. I had snuck out of camp while he had slept soundly in a tomb of sand and had stolen from an uncharted house.
    " It was all for you, you know!" I stammered in hopes it would assuage his steadily growing rage. He lifted his head and eyed me incredulously. " It was!" I persisted.
    " How so?" He asked mildly, brown eyes expectant.
    " Well..." I began. " I noticed you've been kinda under nurished lately. And I thought maybe I could help out by getting a little extra." I sped up due to his skeptical expression. " And its not like your my dad! Sure, you found me when I was little but I should still have to pull my own weight!"
    I winced, waiting for the fury.
    " I'm happy..." He breathed in a strained voice. " But I'm the one who took responsibility for you, and I'm the one who is obligated to feed you. You help enough by serving as the distraction."
    Scowling, I told him mentally of how I hated being the distraction. The way the men always eyed me greedily as I pretended to be a down-trodden maiden looking for an open household to stay in for the night. The way they took in my long, cascading bronze hair, or my thickly lashed hazel eyes with the look of a wolf sizing up its dinner. It disgusted me to my very core.
    Since I had been deemed the "distraction" by Maleki, I had harboured an unchangeable hatred for anything man. Of course he was the exception, asides from my odd attacks when he drew close from behind.
    " But I hate doing that!" I whined plaintively. Maleki was about to make a retort when an unexpectedly close howl burst through the crisp night air. The sound of atleast twenty feet muffled by the sand spread out around our camp.
    They were no threat, lingering only in the darkness beyond the protection of the fire. But they did make me and Maleki uneasy as they regarded us with their eyes which glowed eerily in the darkness.
    Wandering towards our bag of fresh foods, the sound of Coyotes licking their lips eagerly sent shivers down my spine.
    " Stupid Coyotes." Growled Maleki as he threw a handful of sand into the face of the nearest. A yelp and profuse sneezing followed as the stricken dog tried to shake off the sand that gripped savagely at its russet fur.
    The demons heart that was encaged inside my by only my ribs beat wildly with delight at the animals suffering. And with it, unwanted feelings of animosity seeped through me. It was a well known story amongst the residents of our barren home.


    A child was born with a heart that beat weakly and it could not carry the child through a healthy life. Torn with grief, the infants mother prayed fervently to the gods to spare the life of her child. Instead of a god, or a saint, a demons voice rang calloused and filled with contempt through the delicate womans head.
    " What is it you need?" Cackled the voice. She refused to answer, for it was the deepest of sins to even speak with a devil. The devil felt this and she could feel its savage lips part in a gnarled smirk.
    " Answer me, and I will give your child a heart." Bartered the devil, knowing of the womans weak point. Her resolve wavered almost immediately and her lips parted to seal the tempting offer.
    The devil interjected abruptly. " But! You must give me your heart in exchange, for I cannot reside anywhere if there is no heart to beat inside me." Eyes wide in disbelief, the woman felt herself sink deeper in the desert depths. Either way, she did not long for this world more than she longed for her child to live a healthy life.
    " No thank you." She whispered softly. The demons mood fell but he kept his spine-chilling demeanor.
    " Very well, let your child die an animals death and pray back to your "god" with the details." Sniffed the devil and the headache that followed was surely a token of his wrath.
    And she did watch, drinking in every second of horror as the childs health fluxuated often. One moment it would be sleeping peacefully, and then the next it was writhing in true blood-curdling pain. Sobbing and crying out for its mother to save it, but she could do nothing.
    Days passed in rising despair. It was now that the mother had to decide, she could kill the child and spare it a life plagued of heart disease, or she could be the martyr and commit suicide so that her offspring could live.
    Another heart-wrenching wail escaped the childs lips and the mother flinched. " Alright..." She whispered, tired and haggard. " Alright, you win."
    Seeming to have lingered off somewhere, the demon returned with a surge of blood-curdling delight.
    " And your heart will be mine?" Smiled the devil, nothing more than an insane image in the mothers head.
    " Yes." She whispered, head bowed in shame.
    " Very well." Replied the demon nonchalantly. " You may leave your child now."
    She gasped in horror. " This was not our agreement!" She cried.
    " Yes. It was. You are to give me your heart." He grinned wickedly. " And we can't allow such a young babe to view something so grotesque, can we?"
    She turned to her daughter, a small bundle with only a few strands of ebony hair on her head. She gasped roughly for breath only a few hours after birth.
    The mother shed a few tears in remorse that she could not live to watch her soon to be fit child grow and blossom, but she dutifully rose and headed slowly into the desert.
    She never returned.

    Or atleast that was the story which spread like wildfire across the vast desert. Each town seemed only to have its own version of the story and everytime I thought only of the smooth scar that served as the only evidence to the exchange. I wasn't grievious over the sacrifice my mother had made, I hadn't known her enough to be.
    The only thing that mattered was the primordial need for survival that pulsated -even stronger than my sadness at never being able to meet my mother- through my the veins that this demons heart kept alive.
    One other matter that I was aware of, was that sooner or later, the demon would become tired of my mothers heart. And expect its own back so I had to make the most of this shortened life I had.
    Maleki looked from the small glowing spheres to my face.
    " I'm not mad." I started and turned to face him.
    " I know." I mumbled, looking back into the flames that sprang forward and licked excitedly at the air.. " I'm just thinking about something."
    " Tomorrow we're going into town." He informed me cheerfully, hoping it would raise my spirits.
    I gasped. "Really?!"
    " Yup."
    Going into town was the one thing that gave me happiness in the past few months. Since I was young, dancing had been something of strong interest to me. Although I was not trained like many of the noblemens concubines, " I was graceful in my own way." or so Maleki would state.
    The usual cotton shirt and shorts that was my wardrobe would be removed and an ornate gypsies dancing garment would be worn. Where he had found this outfit was a topic of heated debate which usually ended up with a red-faced Maleki and a suspicious me.
    " She was beautful." I would begin, the yearning of a lover saturated my voice. " With long, beautiful, tendrils of golden hair and skin soft and radiant as the su-"
    I would be spitting sand from between my teeth after he had bombarded me with handfuls of the stuff. Willing me physically to shut my mouth.
    Maleki strumming on his ancient guitar was also a sight, his fingers moving expertly across the chords as he flicked his fingers and beautiful music resonated from him. People would gather around us, a mere pair of panhandlers, and gape at the gaudy costume and the rugged man.
    Half the time it was me prancing around due to the intense heat of the sand against my bare feet. But people seemed to find it exquisite, so I continued with my makeshift dances and mindless swirls and dips.
    Maleki laughed at me as I dreamed. " Your dancing is definitely very... unique." My reply was a grimace and me snatching the food sack away from his hands.
    " No food for you." I punished, spitting onto the sand by his feet.
    " Why!" He whined.
    " Because you just made fun of my dances!"
    " You were setting yourself up for that." He pointed a tanned finger.
    " Yes, but you could have kept it in your head!"
    " You look like a married couple." Scoffed a nearby voice. We whirled and searched the darkness warily.
    A blob appeared from underneath the stars and obviously the dogs had left since they had no trouble making their way to the camp. " Sorry for that." Apologized a lanky young man. Within seconds Maleki was on his feet, body tensed and ready. But he loosened when he saw how frail the enemy seemed.
    Maleki stood protectively over the firelight and eyed the boy cautiously. His bulk made the man look like a pole in comparison, and evidently the boy knew it.
    " Please." The boy pleaded, brown eyes afraid. " Just for one night I need a place to stay! The bandits, they attacked our caravan and they made off with everything. Nobody was killed but we were seperated trying to search for food!"
    I looked up at Maleki, who was pondering the story but still kept livid. My eyebrows raised. " Tourists?"
    " Tourists." Agreed Maleki in amusement.
    We often found ourselves making snide comments about tourists, who knew nothing of the ways of the desert. And going off in different directions to find food with any way of knowing how to get back, you would have to be even a stupid tourist to do that.
    " Where are your friends?" Maleki asked the beanpole.
    The boy gulped. " I dunno." He shrunk away when Maleki took a step closer to him.
    " Pretty stupid for a foreigner." I snorted. He turned a horrified expression towards me. " But then again, you can't really expect a girl to be able to find her way about the desert, can you?"
    His face turned beet red and he shifted uneasily from one foot to another. He wore long black hair and brown eyes that squinted in the light of the flames. His was either malnurished or the boy simply lacked masculinity, either way he was an easy target for teasing. This new, enjoyable prospect brightened up my opinion on us helping him.
    I stood up and slipped softly towards him. He didn't cringe away like he did with Maleki, but he did watch helplessly as I neared. Holding out my hand towards him, I scowled at him expectantly.
    " C'mon, I know you've got something." I persisted impatiently. He produced a small bag from his pocket and reluctantly placed it in my palm. My hand sunk under its weight and I pryed it open greedily.
    Several strange coins glinted in the fluttering light, I passed the bag to Maleki, who's eyes widened as he scanned the contents.
    " Alright, you can stay with us." He smiled and turned to throw the bag into our larger one. The boy watched in dismay as his last remaining money was being swept away before him.
    I flopped onto the ground and buried my toes into the sand. Maleki resumed his sitting position and we nonchalantly went back to our usual routines. Confused, the boy tried to figure out where he could fit temporarily into this routine.
    " Whats your name?" I asked absentmindedly, watching my toes wriggle from underneath the sand.
    " Colin." He replied shakily. " Colin Cadeston." I snickered at the childish name but soaked it in none the less.
    " Well, Colin. I suspect that you will be staying at hotel nothing for approximately one night?" Questioned Maleki in a business-like tone.
    " One night?!" Squeaked Colin. " But I need more than one night! I need help finding someplace to live!" He rambled in panic, his words merging together as he tried to get them out. Maleki shrugged. " Sucks to be you. Now make yourself a bed and shut up. That was pay for us not killing you on the spot, got it?" Colin gulped.
    We would never actually kill him, but the threat coming from two hundred and fifty pounds of pure desert moulded muscle made it real.
    " Your really mean you know that?" I told Maleki as Colin floundered around, trying to dig himself a sleeping hole. The outer layers of sand tended to get hot as the day wore on in the mornings as the sun fired unrelenting pistons of heat onto its naked surface.
    " Not as mean as you." Retorted Maleki. He held out his hand in a sarcastic imitation of me when I was taking Colins money. " ' C'mon, I know you've got something' my a**!" He snorted. It was me who turned red this time, I had hated being a girl my whole life so trying to act as masculine as possible had become a natural goal for me. It odviously didn't look as good as I thought it would.
    " Why don't we just bring him with us when we go into town?" I pitched.
    " No."
    " But why not?"
    " No."
    " Whats the harm?"
    "... No."
    " Your caving." I predicted with a wicked grin.
    He looked around nervously. " No."
    " You want to bring him."
    " No..." He sighed.
    " Just bring him."
    " And you'll shut up?"
    " Posilutely absotively!"
    He pondered for a moment and turned to me, his eyes dancing. " No."
    I rolled into my sand bed, muttering an acidic. " I hate you."
    Maleki laughed. " I love you to."
    I kicked sand into his hole, sending one of the sides caving in. He groaned and I imitated his annoying laugh.
    " Good night." Whispered Colin from the other side of the fire.
    " Shut. Up." Me and Maleki snapped irritably. Colin grunted fearfully but kept his mouth shut.