read part one The wind had died down and Josephine decided to stop to clean the sand off herself and take a drink of water. She looked back toward the vast nothingness behind her, wondering where the tracker was. Theirs was an unlikely friendship—he being hired to track her and report back to the man who was trying, undoubtedly, to kill her—but one she’d come to relish. She looked forward to the days when she could stop long enough for him to catch her. They would share dinner quietly before walking together to set camp out of sight. She usually prepared tea, a luxury a tracker could not normally afford. She did not need fire, however, having enchanted a small kettle years ago. Some nights ago the tracker had reluctantly admitted that it was his birthday. She had immediately wanted to give him the kettle as a gift but he’d refused until she’d given up. At dawn she’d woken up and rummaged through his bag to find the beaten old clay mug he carted. Then she sat down to pray for a few minutes. She needed peace. She wanted to enchant his mug; after all he couldn’t refuse his own belongings. The problem was she had not even attempted an enchantment for three years. She might well make the mug get up and walk. She crossed her legs and put the mug out in front of herself. She closed her eyes and began the old incantations. The old familiar state of concentration she so relished when she was younger washed over her. She took her time—so much so that when she was done, the sun was much higher in the sky. The tracker looked at her, visibly worried. “Happy birthday!” she said, “Your very own water boiling mug.” He’d looked at her with a broad grin and given her a hug. “I thought you’d gone mental or something, worshiping my mug.” She hated that he too had to endure the journey through the desert. She’d told him not to follow her all the way to the gate but she wasn’t so certain he would listen—he had constantly tried to dissuade her after she told him her destination. She was afraid he might decide she needed protection. Their friendship had made him forget who she had been and perhaps was. Only a few weeks ago, he himself had called her the Emperor’s "devastating weapon". read part three...