Master Malik and Miss Isis had looked cheerful as they left the room. Master Malik had excitement glowing in his eyes, brighter than the glow of candlelight. He wanted sunshine. He wanted the noise of colorful streets. That was why Rishid helped to try and cover for the two siblings while they were gone. That was why Rishid had at that time also felt warm. Nervous but warm. Not all that much later Master Ishtar then entered the room.
But it was Master Malik and Miss Isis leaving the room that replayed inside Rishid’s head. It was them preparing Master Malik’s bedding to look occupied that replayed inside Rishid’s head.
Now Master Malik was thirteen years old and him and Rishid were in a strange city away from home and Miss Isis wasn’t here. Blue light fed into the room from the window. A cobweb glittered in the upper corner of the window. A thumping noise dripped. Master Malik was stabbing the sharp knifed end of the Millennium Rod into the side of a wooden dresser over and over again. Not angry but bored. Rishid thought about the Rod’s point becoming dull sometimes but every cut it left always seemed crisp.
“I’m hungry,” Master Malik said.
And Rishid would cook dinner for him.
And when Master Malik asked Rishid to drive him somewhere, Rishid would drive him somewhere.
Now Rishid was preparing potatoes and broth at the little kitchen corner.
And the second and final time Master Malik had left the dark underground home of the Tomb Keepers, it hadn’t been with Miss Isis. It had been with Rishid. He demanded Rishid steal a car in the nearby town. He demanded Rishid drive, just drive, anywhere.
Master Malik and Rishid ate the potato stew side by side at a table at the inn. Fruit juice shined in their glasses, reflected small patches of pale purple light on the table.
At night, sometimes Master Malik would slip away and disappear for a walk in the city. Master Malik was young and Rishid felt strange about Master Malik walking in the dark alone like this.
Tonight Rishid was awakened by the sound of shuffling and the sound of light steps and doors closing as Master Malik left for a night walk and Rishid lay in bed with his eyes open for a while.
A blade of shimmer slipped through the curtains into the dark room. Rishid finally got out of bed and he peeled open the curtains. A streetlight glowed like the moon. And tonight Rishid decided to go for his own night walk.
And the city was strange and artificial light pooled in patches on the dark sidewalk. A spatter of shadow fell from a tree beside another streetlight. The sky was a patchwork of clouds and bits of stars. Some small animal scurried into an alleyway.
And even now Rishid felt the moment replay, as Master Malik left him to see the brighter world. As Rishid failed to protect anyone.
