The Desert at Thy Feet

Cassia headed deeper into the grove while the men set up their tents, inspecting the season's new growth. Their work was paying off - the trees were healthy and growing well.
"It would be a shame to lose this grove," Asima said quietly, as ever walking silently a few steps behind her mistress. "Truly its location is the real treasure of your mother's legacy."
Cassia nodded, unconsciously running her hands over the map-case that hung from her shoulders. It was in a code, of course, that none but Safa's most trusted allies had known. Yet if the map were to fall into the arms of enemies, they would decipher it sooner or later. The hidden spice grove, the secret to the wealth of the Baysan family, would be revealed.
"We shall not lose it," Cassia replied firmly. "Any who learn of it and do not seal a blood oath shall be killed."
Asima's eyes flickered momentarily back, to where the gatherers were already beginning their work.
"If a single one of them breaks from my service, they shall be fugitives from all men," Cassia said with an uncharacteristic fierceness. The map-case held the men's contracts too, signed with a drop of blood that sealed them to the oath until death. There were few laws more stringently upheld - an oath-breaker would be killed by any who found him. Asima nodded, but she was clearly not content. Cassia was not surprised - she'd known the woman since she was just a little girl, and Asima was never satisfied of her ward's safety.
"Master Baysan!" Cried one of the men, interrupting their discussion. Cassia went to where he crouched at the side of a cinnamon sapling. Before he even spoke she saw the problem - the bark was slashed all along its length, and bore but a few leaves and berries.
"Sabotage?" Asima suggested in a low voice, as ever present at Cassia's shoulder.
"Perhaps."
The other gatherers were watching her, too - what did they expect of her? To fly into a rage? Safa would have, undoubtedly, but Cassia was not so like hermother when it came to temperament.
"Work fast," she ordered. "The sun sinks soon and I do not wish to linger here many days."They jumped to obey her as if they expected to feel a whip sting their hides. There was a whip; it hung from Cassia's saddle, another thing left by her mother. The fearful respect they had shown had always amused Cassia as a child. These were men who boasted and bragged and could kill in mere seconds, and yet they had cringed and cowered at the feet of a woman.
"I miss her," she told her bodyguard. The other woman did not reply but Cassia knew she was there. "She was wise and strong and beautiful. I don't think I will ever be these things."
"You're a child yet, Cassiara," Asima replied finally, ducking into their tent ahead of her, ever wary. "Give it time."