With some effort, I walked to the screen and behind it. A female servant stood waiting, her eyes on the floor. I recognized a copper pot similar to those I had seen during my time in the eighteen hundreds and quickly relieved myself, disgusted when I peed black oil. My body was purging the pills that put me under, and it was really gross.
She washed me down with a sponge, an act that would've had me in stitches had I had full confidence in my body. As it was, I felt a little wooden, in need of a good hour or so of yoga or hot bath to bring my muscles back to life.
Drizzling scented oils over me, the servant then helped me into a long, black flowing gown and draped a lace scarf in black over my hair. She braided my hair next and tied the scarf at the base of my neck.
Walking was getting easier. Mahmood waited for me, his gaze out the window at the dark night sky. I joined him. For a moment, I forgot to breathe. We were in a white tower. Beyond low buildings of the small city was a wall and past the enclosure, campfires dotted the horizon as far as I could see.
"There must be thousands," I said, surprised.
"Tens of thousands. They will burn the city to the ground and kill every inhabitant."
The city itself didn't seem very large, maybe a few thousand people, but the savagery he described seemed almost … impossible. Or surreal.
The sense of not quite being a part of my world sneaked over me, and I was on my knees before I realized the spell was coming. Taylor once told me it was a side effect of time traveling, a sense of displacement or perhaps, the trauma of travel.
"Moonbeam, are you well?" Mahmood asked urgently.
"Yeah. Sorry." I shook my head and took several deep breaths to clear the sense. "So … are we going out there to talk to them?"
His dark eyes studied my features with worry. "The scout we captured remains in our custody. I had thought, if you were to meet him, and he knew your legend …"
"… then he might be able to get us out of here."
Mahmood nodded.
"One way to find out," I said cheerfully and pushed myself to my feet. "We don't have much time, do we?"
"We do not know why they have waited this long. The armies have been at our walls for three days. It is likely they will not wait much longer, or possible they are waiting for the command to attack."