Chapter 19: The Parting of the Paths
For long minutes, silence reigned over the group. It was as though a heavy woolen blanket had been lowered over the City of Faces, smothering all sound and deadening the air with a preternatural stillness. Even the small sounds of respiration seemed strangely absent, as though everyone in the party was afraid to draw so much as a single breath.
Then the sound of sobbing shattered the stillness. The sudden reaction jolted the others from their shocked silence and they looked quickly around, only to see the faint figure of Selima collapsed on the ground in a heap, shaking uncontrollably. Prince Ahmad was at her side at once, kneeling and yearning to put his arms around her if only such a thing were possible. “Be brave, O Selima,” he murmured tenderly.
