Read Online Desert Stars by Joe Vasicek - Free Book Online Page B

hair made Mira tense, though what she was
afraid of she didn’t quite know. She took care to avoid meeting
anyone’s eyes as they passed.
    “ Stay close,” said Jalil.
“I don’t want us to get separated.”
    Mira was all too happy to
oblige.
    Inside the town, the tall white
buildings cast long shadows that shrouded the ground in cool
darkness. The road, now paved with a strange black substance, was
only wide enough for two or three caravaneers to pass abreast, and
that only if the way was clear. With all the people walking back
and forth, the vehicles had to slow down or wait for them to
pass.
    Mira tensed at the uncomfortable
closeness of the place, and she kept close to Jalil, careful not to
lose him. Although she wanted to slip her arm in his, she
hesitated, not sure if it would be too forward.
    With each passing step, the road
became more and more crowded. Soon, she was bumping shoulders, more
people around her than she had ever seen in her life. The rumble of
hundreds of myriad conversations filled her ears, along with the
whine of the passing hovercraft. Up ahead, the road widened, and
the noise and bustle got significantly louder.
    “ What’s that?” Mira
asked.
    “ What?”
    “ That,” she said louder,
pointing as she pressed against Jalil to keep from getting swept
away by the crowd.
    “ That must be the town
center,” he answered, practically shouting over the noise. “It
looks like some kind of open-air market. A bit packed, isn’t
it?”
    She nodded mutely.
    He stopped and hefted both bags over
one shoulder, holding on with one hand. “Here,” he said, “better
take my hand so you don’t get lost.”
    Mira slipped her hand into his,
interspersing her fingers and squeezing tightly as she followed him
into the busy market. The feel of his touch gave her a secret
thrill; she wondered if he felt it as well.
    With the cool of the evening quickly
coming on, the marketplace bustled with activity. Merchants beneath
wide red awnings sold dates and almonds, plump juicy peaches and
plums, and watermelons almost as long as Mira’s arm. Others sold
exotic spices from giant burlap sacks, the contents piled into tall
cones of brilliant saffron, deep crimson, and a dozen other shades
of dazzling color. One particularly large booth sold computer
circuits and data chips, their green and blue boards contrasting
starkly with the dusty clay urns that held them. Local merchants
dressed in tan and white bartered with the traders in their high
boots and leather vests, while children in colorful clothes ran
about playing games beneath the feet of passersby.
    “ Masha’allah,” Mira
whispered. She squeezed Jalil’s hand, and he squeezed
back.
    A fountain bubbled with water in the
center of the square, with a large globe of polished granite in the
center. As they came closer, she made out a number of geographic
details carved in relief across it, with unfamiliar writing etched
in gold and copper. A little ways off, a tall, white clock tower
rose above the bustling mass of humanity, the topmost part shining
deep yellow in the light of the evening sun.
    “ This is where Sarah
agreed to meet us,” said Jalil, letting go of Mira’s hand and
dropping their bags at the base of the fountain. A few beggars
huddled on the concrete steps a short distance from them, but the
crowd here was otherwise sparse.
    “ Do you know what she
looks like?”
    Jalil shook his head. “I hope she
recognizes us.”
    Mira settled down on the lip of the
fountain and ran her fingers through the clear water. Hundreds of
sparkling coins shone up at her through the rippling surface, while
the spray felt pleasantly cool against her cheek.
    When she looked up, a short
middle-aged woman in a maroon dress and white blouse approached
them from out of the crowd. With her narrow face, thin build, and
keen eyes, she looked a little like Amina. Though she wore a
red-and-white checkered bandana over her head, her long dark hair
spilling out over her