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stallion who can fly,” Talya said.
    I laughed, setting him down. “A stallion who can fly through the heavens.”
    Talya skipped away, arms stretched like wings, then scrambled up the nearest boulder.
    Saba dipped his head. “My queen.”
    I returned his greeting with my own. “My strength.” I walked up to him, smiling. “You are taking your student far, I see.”
    “He has far fewer lies to unlearn than any grown man.”
    “Perhaps too far for a little lamb. ‘A child will lead them’?”
    He searched my eyes. “The meek will inherit the earth. Only as children can we follow or lead.”
    Strange, to hear such words from the strongest and most skilled warrior in the desert. His entrance into any tent always commanded attention, for it was well known that he could take on twenty of the best in any camp and leave them all bloody on the sand if he chose.
    I looked toward Dumah, six hours distant.
    “The council has reached a decision,” Saba said.
    “Yes.”
    “And yet I see concern in your eyes.”
    I glanced up at Talya, who balanced along the rock.
    “We will march in three days’ time,” I said, “with all the people and no weapons, to camp at Dumah’s gates. If Saman refuses our request, I will offer myself in Judah’s place. He will set Judah free and take me in his stead.”
    So…there it was.
    When no response came, I turned back. Saba stepped forward and took my arm, nearly frantic.
    “No, my queen! I cannot allow this!”
    I was taken aback by the force in his voice. Saba the peaceful sage had fled.
    “Saman will put you to death!”
    “He will not,” I said, breaking Saba’s grip on my arm.
    Surely Saba knew this. Saman held Judah hostage because of my love for him, but his life hung in a precarious balance because Judah’s death would not inflame the rage of the desert.
    Killing me, the one revered among so many Bedu, on the other hand, would make me a martyr whose legend would outlast Saman’s, a fact that could not escape the Thamud leader.
    Once I was in chains, word would spread through the desert and many thousands would come to join our peaceful revolution. In the end, Saman would reconsider, surely.
    And if not…
    I gently placed my hand on his chest. “Listen to me, Saba. You must not fear for me. You must only think of restoring Judah to his full strength. You must think of the orphans and the lost tribes who have entrusted themselves to us. You must keep Talya in perfect safety, no matter what happens. I will need you to lead, and only you. Tell me you will not waver from this duty.”
    He spoke slowly, at a loss. “I will not waver.”
    I stared down the slope at the sprawling sea of black tents dotting the white sands.
    “I have seen death,” he said.
    I looked at him.
    “My death?”
    “Many deaths, like locusts upon the sand. Who is among them, I cannot say.”
    My mind spun with visions of battle and bloodshed, for this was the Thamud way. I pushed the images away.
    “Are you saying that going to Dumah is a mistake?”
    “No.”
    My irritation flared.
    “What’s your intent in telling me this? If we die in peace, we die for generations to come.”
    “Yes.”
    That was all. Just yes.
    “Then what is your point?”
    He faced me, and I saw his eyes misty with emotion. Fear, that ancient familiar enemy I’d held so long at bay, approached me.
    “If I am to be slain, or you,” he said, “then know that I would gladly give my life for yours. I have found my life because of you and would trade it for yours without a thought.”
    I studied his eyes for a long moment, seeing there an honor he had never given me before. More than honor. Losing Saba would be as painful as losing Judah.
    The thought surprised me. I couldn’t deny how close we were—after so much time with him by my side, I depended on him for more than guidance.
    But I loved Judah.
    I removed my hand from his chest.
    “Forgive me, Saba. Forgive me.”

Chapter Five
    PREPARATIONS WERE UNDERWAY for