With a dead man and a newly orphaned boy in my Readorium, a guard that saw my face and injuries that I couldn't explain away, I was completely screwed. It took most of the night for me to regain any sort of critical thinking, I was still badly shaken but at the very least I had enough sense about me to try to find a way out. If only I had left the father's corpse outside, the sands would have taken care of one of my problems. The boy was devastated and stayed curled up in the corner, I didn't blame him. I gave him hope that everything would be alright and then took it away.

Things were worse than if I hadn't interfered. I killed a man, aided a 'criminal' and couldn't even save the father. As soon as I saw the man's wounds I should have left, it was easy to see that he wasn't long for this world. The boy couldn't go back to the slums now and he couldn't stay here. By dawn, I had to think of something. Hann had only been gone for four days, even if she arrived a couple of days early she was still a week too late to help me.

I needed to conceal the corpse and fingertips until night, keep the boy hidden until Hann got back, somehow disguise my injuries and avoid the one guard who could identify me. It was too much, I knew that I stood little chance of getting away with this but I couldn't just give up.

First, there weren't many places where one could hide a body in my tiny building, only my earnings barrel was large enough. I dragged the body to the back room and dumped the contents of my barrel onto the floor. I lined the bottom of the barrel with bandages in hopes of stopping blood from leaking out and began stuffing the man inside. It was hard, not just because one of my arms wasn't working but because of the dreadful act of desecration. I had hoped that he would fit in neatly but when I realised that he would need to be forced in it took a toll on my sanity. Hitting someone and feeling something break was much less horrifying than dislocating joints and willfully snapping the bones of the dead. I scooped as much salt as I could back into the barrel and put a thin layer of preserved yams on top.

Even after the remains were safely stowed away, the image of the corpse twisted by my own hands was burned into my eyes. If I hadn't experienced death in the slums before now, I would have been broken by the experience. I was barely able to function, only my fear of consequences kept me moving.

Second, I needed to treat our wounds. Unfortunately, I was already at a loss, my limp arm and sand abrasion across my body and clothes couldn't be covered up. I did my best to treat the boy but I wasn't as skilled as Hann, I just rubbed him with ointment and wrapped up my ruined arm with salve soaked bandages.

Third, I had to keep the kid hidden. As far as I knew, no guards had visited this place before, they wouldn't know what the layout was supposed to be. Instead of the three bookshelves laying flat against the walls I put one bookshelf against each corner of the room and hid the boy in the space behind. Before sealing the kid up I attempted to console him and explain the situation but he was unresponsive. All I could do was leave him some of the food that couldn't fit in the barrel and get water to him later. If I had thought of this idea first I may not have needed to use my storage barrel in such a heinous way but it was too late to worry about that now.

Fourth, I needed to conceal any traces of blood and check if there were any remains outside. When I felt like the storm of sand had calmed down enough to venture outside I opened the door and surveyed the scene. Hann's warnings were unbelievably correct, it was still hard to see but as far as I could tell there wasn't even a drop of blood or scrap of clothes outside. I pushed the bloodied sand that was indoors back outside and hoped that the remaining moonlight was enough to dispose of the evidence. Any blood that stained the rocky floor I tried to clean up with spit and rags that I hid behind another bookshelf.

To my eye, there wasn't any obvious evidence left but I had been wrong too many times to trust my first impressions. I carefully inspected everything multiple times until I noticed that the doorway needed to be cleaned. There were bits of blood and flesh that had been trapped when the guard's fingers were severed. By the time the sands had settled, I believed that only my wounds and bloodied, tattered clothes were going to give me away.

Before the city had fully woken, I hurried home to fetch clean clothes. Many guards were patrolling the streets already, so my progress was slow. I had to check every corner and take a long and winding route back. People started getting up and leaving their houses for work. With the large number of people walking the paths, my progress ground to a halt, there were moments when I had to wait in an alley for extended periods. I was thankful for all of the time I spent sneaking around when I was younger.

I made it back to my house and it didn't look like I had attracted too much attention. I wasn't able to avoid being seen on my journey, there were times when I needed to brave a walk in public to avoid a patrol of guards blocking my path. Injuries from fights probably weren't rare among us commoners and my tattered clothes looked suitably poor, so the handful of people that spotted me didn't look interested. I slipped inside and rummaged through Hann's room. I knew I shouldn't be snooping through her belongings but I was desperate for anything that could heal or conceal my wounds. The first aid that she had prepared was almost useless for the severity of my injury.

I emptied every container and looked under all of the furniture. There was a very long and smooth stone along with various floral oils under her bed but none of it was useful. The oils lacked the distinctive odour of the healing herbs and there were plenty of rocks outside. I found a couple of corked bottles of red stuff but I couldn't figure out what they were. There was no smell when I uncorked them and the liquid was thick like honey. I was desperate but not desperate enough to drink unknown liquids. The colour didn't match my memory of the healing potion so I put them back just as I found them.

There were a couple of drawers of her clothes, I felt stupid searching through them until my hand touched something hard and cold. It was a lockbox, a small iron chest with a brass lock. It was an odd keyhole, it had four curved lines which spiralled outwards from the hole in the middle. I wasn't about to try and smash it open so I put it back. I was pretty sure that I had looked everywhere but Hann didn't have anything useful.

I wanted to bathe and wash away the dried blood and sweat but that wasn't an option. The only place to bathe and drink in Crakston was a public bathhouse. I didn't know where they got water in the desert but I accepted that there must have been an underground spring. If I got into a public bath with injuries like this there would be an uproar so I used my already ruined clothes and what little emergency water there was to clean myself off. I still stunk like blood and iron but there wasn't much I could do about that until I remembered the oils under Hann's bed. Surely she wouldn't notice a little bit missing.

With no other options, I rewrapped my arm in a layer of clean medicinal bandages and then slathered a thick layer of floral oils over my body to mask my odour. My brown dress with the longest sleeves and white gloves were used to hide my wrappings. If anyone saw me now the only thing that would appear off was the way one of my arms dangled loosely by my side. I would spend most of today at home and only leave when it got late so that I could bring some water to the boy.

I waited with bated breath staring at the door as if someone would burst inside and apprehend me. My skin began to crawl as I anticipated all of the ways I could have slipped up, every inch of me felt uncomfortable and itchy. The feeling intensified with every passing moment until it felt like I was on fire. Beads of sweat began to drip from my brow as my body continued to heat up.

By noon my dress was soaked, my sweating wouldn't stop and I could only relieve the burning sensation by rubbing my skin. Anywhere I applied pressure felt cool and sent shivers down my spine but the moment I shifted my hands elsewhere the fire reignited hotter than before. Why did I have to get sick now? The strange fever was relentless, I felt like I would lose my mind if I didn't find some way to soothe the discomfort. In the end, I found some relief by squishing myself between the wall and my wardrobe. The almost full-body contact felt amazing and made my knees weak, I was content to stay like that until the fever passed but there was a shouting coming from just outside,

"Under the authority of the captain of the guard and the illustrious house Smythe all occupants are ordered to leave their homes! We will be searching each building, failure to present yourself is a treasonous and criminal act!"

I was in no state to flee and even if I was, the only way out was the front. I wiggled free of my confined space and the discomfort flared to unreasonable levels, I collapsed to the floor and tried to crawl out of my room. I didn't get halfway across the floor before the door was pushed open and two guards entered with singing swords drawn.

"You! Get up now before I–“

The man cut himself off, I looked up and was a little relieved that I didn't recognise either of them. I saw the concern on one of their faces and immediately tried to appeal to their sense of compassion.

"I'm sorry! I tried to get to the door, please don't hurt me!"

I didn't need to try hard to force myself to cry, I was already an emotional mess and two guards storming in was more than enough to push me over the edge.

"Mother, have mercy."

He leaned in close and removed his gauntlet to feel my head.

"She's burning up something fierce."

His partner called out to me,

"Do you live alone?"

"No, I live with Hann, my guardian."

The way I saw it there was no use lying to a guard that could easily check who owned the place.

"And where is she right now?"

"She said she was leaving the city for medicine. I'm sorry, she's been gone for a while."

The nearest guard picked me up and I went limp. He carried me over to my bed before saying,

"We will finish our search and be out soon."

The two guards conducted a thorough sweep of the building before leaving. As they exited I heard their conversation with an unknown voice.

"Report!"

"Sir, no sign of the attacker. There was one young woman but she was bedridden with a terrible fever and sores, her guardian left some days ago for treatment."

The third man poked his face in and saw me but didn't have any reaction.

"Alright, next one! Don't leave any corner overlooked."

"Sir yes sir!"

The voices said in unison. I waited for as long as I could bear to be sure that they had left before squishing myself into the gap once more. I had a cheater's luck but with all of the bad luck lately, I'd been in dire need of a change of fate. For now, I was above suspicion thanks to my mystery illness. I wanted to stay like this until I felt better but I couldn't leave the kid alone all night. When it started getting dark I would fill up a waterskin and sneak back to the Readorium. I pulled the wardrobe as close to my body as possible and waited out the discomfort.