Always Golden

by Gina Dickerson

  What had she promised? Her life for lives of others. Pain crawled across her forehead, spiking into her eyes. Would Hashir accept her bargain? Did he think she was worth enough? Would he be as true to his word as Vilas insisted? Would he be content with waiting to see if they could care for each other, could love each other? Oriana rubbed her eyes. She already knew her own answer to that question.

  She could never love Hashir.

  Pacing the length of the veranda, Oriana watched the still line of trees at the edge of the dense forest. Two figures on horses emerged from the gloom. Shielding her eyes against the sun, she held a hand over them and squinted. On one horse sat Vilas, rigid in his armour, and on the other was Karima sitting side-saddle and dressed in a long, peacock-blue dress which billowed around her legs. Oriana jumped down the veranda steps and raced through the field to meet them.

  ‘Oriana!’ Karima squealed, sliding down from her horse while it was still trotting. She burst into tears.

  Flinging her arms around her friend, Oriana kissed her profusely, her own tears mingling with the other woman’s. ‘I was afraid I would never see you again. It broke my heart to leave you in the castle!’ She examined Karima’s throat. ‘How does it feel?’

  Karima touched the red ring mark around her neck. ‘It is a little painful but I’ll survive, thanks to you. How did you get that monster to agree to release me?’

  ‘Never mind that now,’ Oriana replied hastily. ‘Come inside and tell me what happened to you.’ She looked to Vilas. ‘I do have time to talk, don’t I?’

  Vilas nodded. ‘I can give you an hour.’

  ‘An hour?’ Karima parroted. ‘What do you mean, an hour?’

  Vilas dismounted, his sword jangling against his side. ‘The princess must return to the castle.’

  ‘No way!’ Karima shouted. ‘Oriana, you can’t!’

  Oriana linked her arm through her friend’s, leading her to the house. ‘I must.’

  Karima stopped walking. ‘That’s why he released me, isn’t it? You have to take my place.’

  ‘Not exactly,’ Oriana said, hoping she sounded brighter than she felt. ‘All I have to do is agree to meet with him, to get to know him.’

  ‘But I don’t want you to!’

  Making soothing noises, Oriana took up the lead again. ‘Let’s share some wine while you fill me in.’

  ‘Wait.’ Vilas held out a bag, keeping his gaze lowered. ‘This is for you, Princess. You must change into an outfit befitting your status before you meet with King Hashir.’

  Oriana slipped her arm from Karima’s and approached Vilas. His arm stiffened when she laid her hand upon it. ‘Thank you.’ Tiptoeing, she kissed his good cheek before he could protest. His eyes caught hers as she pulled away. A lump of pained emotion balled in her throat. ‘You’ll be released from your promise soon.’

  Vilas nodded tightly. ‘I’ve never been so excited in my entire existence,’ he snapped, stomping off in the direction of the nearest soldier.

  ‘Am I missing something?’ Karima asked, following Oriana inside the house. ‘Is there something going on between you and that man?’

  ‘His name is Vilas.’

  Oriana, knowing where the wine was kept now, uncorked a fresh bottle. She carried the bottle and two cups to the table, indicating for Karima to sit.

  ‘Well?’ Karima prompted, taking the bottle from Oriana and filling the cups. ‘It would appear I am not the only one with news to share.’

  ‘It’s nothing,’ Oriana lied. ‘Vilas is Hashir’s army commander. There can never be anything between us. He is also Anearr’s son.’

  ‘Anearr?’ Karima took a gulp of her wine. ‘He looks nothing like him, I would never have guessed he was his son.’

  ‘He is, unfortunately. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Vilas, I need to forget him. Tell me what happened after you were captured.’

  Karima shuddered. ‘I was treated well. He kept me in a room—your room to be precise. I was given food and wine, it wasn’t so bad.’

  Oriana pulled a face. ‘What do you mean, not so bad? I’m sure I overheard King Acapf saying you would make a good start to his son’s collection. Maybe I misheard.’

  ‘You didn’t, Acapf did say that but I was treated well, even if I was a prisoner.’ Karima reached across the table and squeezed Oriana’s hand. ‘Don’t go to Hashir. I don’t care what Vilas says about Hashir, I think he’s wrong. What if Hashir has fooled them all?’

  ‘But Vilas said Hashir is different to his father. I believe Vilas.’

  ‘Over me?’ Karima asked. ‘You’re my oldest, dearest friend!’

  Oriana sighed. ‘You are free because I promised to meet with Hashir. I must honour my promise. Hashir wants me alive, Karima, he will not harm me.’

  ‘Just because I wasn’t harmed doesn’t mean it’s safe for you to go to him. You’ll become his prisoner!’

  ‘No, I won’t. Vilas told me Hashir’s different, remember.’

  ‘Vilas is right, Hashir is different to his father. He is kinder, in a way, I suppose.’

  ‘You said you were treated well.’

  ‘Me, yes. Your father’s subjects who refused to kneel before him, not so much. He has a collection of prisoners.’

  ‘Are you sure what you saw was not just Acapf’s collection of prisoners?’

  Karima shook her head. ‘I’m positive. Hashir had the prisoners brought up into the castle once it was quiet so he could appraise them. He has this one massive guard whom he entrusts with looking after the prisoners and the guard alone has access to where they’re kept.’

  ‘Where is Hashir’s collection of prisoners now?’

  ‘In the rooms below the castle.’

  ‘Where the fine wines were kept?’

  Karima pushed Oriana’s untouched cup towards her. ‘Below them.’

  ‘There are no rooms lower.’

  ‘Yes, there are. I’ve seen them. They are accessed by moving parts of the shelving in the wine room. There are steps leading down into a maze of rooms.’

  Oriana took a long drink of her wine. It was not as sweet as the bottle she had opened last night and it made her shudder. ‘My father didn’t build any rooms down there.’

  ‘I know.’ Karima helped herself to more wine. ‘But I know who did, I overheard them laughing and saying how the plan had all gone perfectly.’

  ‘It was Hashir all along, wasn’t it? He somehow had the maze of rooms dug out while we lived in the castle completely unaware.’

  ‘It’s been going on for years. Anearr led the excavation.’

  ‘He must have had someone on the inside who helped him,’ Oriana fumed. ‘A traitor within the walls!’

  Karima raised her eyebrows. ‘Hashir has had his prisoners beneath the castle for ages. Now he wants you and I don’t want him to have you.’

  ‘He wants me for my hair.’

  ‘Your hair? I thought he wanted you so all of the people would accept him as their ruler. He doesn’t want constant rebellion.’

  Oriana quickly filled her friend in on how her hair had saved her, several times. She thought of Vilas. ‘It would seem I fell for the lies of a man who claimed he was no longer as charming as he used to be. I’ve been an idiot, Karima, but it stops now. All this rubbish about Hashir being kind and just—I gobbled Vilas’ lies up because I fell for him.’

  ‘So you won’t go to Hashir?’

  ‘I must, for my father’s people. I must bring peace back to the realm for them.’ Oriana grasped her cup, lifting it towards Karima’s. ‘When I’m close enough to Hashir I will make sure he suffers as much as everyone in his sick collection.’

  ‘The prisoners, you mean?’

  ‘No,’ Oriana corrected. ‘Hashir’s obviously as much of a collector as his father. I even heard him say it.’

  ‘I wasn’t treated like an object in a collection.’

  Oriana smiled gently at Karima. ‘Because Hashir knew harming you would not make me go willingly to him. He used you,
Karima, to get to me.’

  ‘No—’

  Oriana held a silencing finger up. ‘Nothing you say will stop me from returning to the castle. It’s me or all of the innocent people… and their children. My freedom for theirs isn’t a high cost, is it?’

  Karima sighed. ‘Like I’ve always said, you’re braver than me. I understand why you will go to Hashir but it doesn’t mean I agree with you going.’

  Karima tucked in the end of thin plait she had braided in Oriana’s hair, securing it around Oriana’s head like a headband, leaving the rest to hang free.

  ‘Would you like me to pick flowers to put in the braid?’ Karima asked.

  ‘There’s no need to pretty me up.’ Oriana put on the dress Vilas had brought back for her. ‘I don’t even want to wear this. I’d rather be wearing something easier to move in.’

  Karima picked up the trousers Oriana had taken off earlier and shoved them in the bag the dress had been in. ‘Take them with you. You can change into them if you need to.’

  Oriana nodded tightly. ‘Any ideas on how I can end Hashir for good? Is he always surrounded by guards?’

  ‘Most of the time but he likes a good drink.’

  ‘Wine?’

  ‘As far as I could gather anything that gets him laughing.’ Karima perched on the edge of the bed. ‘The last time you and I were in a bedroom together it didn’t end so well. I don’t want you to go back to the castle.’

  Oriana sat beside Karima. ‘Believe me, I don’t want to return but I have to. My father would not like Hashir ruling his people; he would want me to carry on as he would have done. He never saw it as ruling, only as looking after them. What will become of them all if Hashir is as terrible as his father was? What would he do to anyone who spoke against him? Keep them locked up with those magical rings around their necks, I imagine. No-one should be made to live in such a way.’

  Karima was silent.

  ‘I must do this. You know I must.’

  ‘Don’t let them put a ring around your neck.’

  ‘I’ll try my best,’ Oriana replied. ‘What trickery lives within the rings?’

  ‘Not trickery, magic. Real magic like we’ve never seen.’

  ‘Does he make everyone he collects wear one?’

  ‘As far as I could see.’

  ‘And only magic can remove them?’

  Karima nodded.

  Oriana leant over and kissed her friend on the cheek. ‘Time for me to leave. Go home, Karima, return to your parents.’

  Karima’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Will we see each other again?’

  On shaking legs, Oriana stood and slung the bag over her shoulder. ‘I hope so.’ Her feet were heavy as she walked to the bedroom door. Looking back at Karima she said, ‘Remember how much I care for you, Karima. You are my best friend and I will always love you.’

  ‘And me, you.’ Karima wrung her hands in her lap. ‘Wait...the rings can be removed without magic...there’s a key, a golden key!’

  ‘And let me guess, this gigantic soldier who Hashir trusts with his collection of prisoners, he is the one who has the key?’ Oriana smiled wryly at Karima’s nod. ‘Typical.’

  Chapter Ten

  Vilas

  In her dark-blue-grey satin dress adorned with pearls, and her long blonde hair freshly brushed, Oriana looked every inch the princess. Vilas led his horse and the one Karima had ridden on, towards the farmhouse. He hung back as Oriana hugged Karima goodbye.

  What was he doing?

  Oriana’s skirts rustled as she walked towards him. She could not have looked more different to when he had thought she was a farmer’s daughter named Maerie. Yet, when she lifted her eyes to look at him, she was somehow both but above all else she was the woman who made him want more.

  To be more.

  It was difficult to speak, words which usually would be simple to say lodged in his throat. ‘Oriana,’ he managed.

  ‘Vilas.’ A smile lit up her eyes. ‘Don’t look so serious.’

  Wanting to kiss Oriana, to tell her not to go, Vilas clenched his hands at his side. ‘You don’t have to do this. Karima is free. Take her and leave, start a new life.’

  He stiffened as Oriana laid a hand against his undamaged cheek.

  ‘You did your job, Vilas, you charmed me into agreeing to go to King Hashir. You will be released from your father’s oath once we reach the castle. You should be happy.’

  Vilas had never felt so torn. ‘Let me help you onto your horse,’ he said instead.

  Kneeling, he cupped his hands together for Oriana to stand in.

  Lifting her skirts, Oriana placed one foot in Vilas’ hands. She was still wearing the leather boots which made him smile.

  ‘I’m not sitting side-saddle,’ Oriana said once she was astride the white horse. ‘I don’t care if I’m showing my thighs.’

  Vilas mounted his horse, patting the animal’s chocolate mane. ‘It’s not as if I haven’t seen them before.’

  ‘You’re not supposed to be looking!’ Oriana replied with an indignant tone. ‘I am reserved for your king.’

  Vilas groaned. ‘Why couldn’t you have been Maerie from the farm?’

  ‘Right now,’ Oriana replied, prompting her horse into a trot. ‘I wish I was.’

  Riding beside the princess, Vilas soaked in the sight of her. Her ultra-long hair billowed behind her and the muscles in her thighs tensed with the motion of the horse.

  ‘Hashir will not force you to marry him.’

  ‘That’s what he told you,’ she said.

  ‘Hashir does not lie to me, we have been friends since we were both young. Much like you and Karima.’

  Oriana glanced at him and Vilas recoiled from the angry look on her face. ‘You knew about the rooms beneath my father’s castle, the ones housing Hashir’s sick collection of people. You are unbelievable...you...you monster!’

  Vilas drew his horse to an abrupt stop. Oriana slowed hers, circling around him.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he asked.

  It couldn’t be true.

  ‘You’re wrong. Hashir does not have a collection of people. Your friend Karima was the first prisoner he took. He collects valuable items, like jewels and precious artefacts.’

  Anger boiled inside Vilas. He was not sure if he was angry with Oriana for accusing Hashir of such a thing, or at himself for wanting to believe her so he did not have to take her to the king; that would be selfish of him.

  ‘He took Karima to make you, Princess, want to return. He thought if he could show she was unharmed that you would see how reasonable he is, how kind. He has told me he will never collect people like his father did. Hell, he doesn’t even collect horses!’

  ‘Karima saw them. She saw the prisoners your precious king has enslaved! Why do you think I am so readily returning to the castle with you? I could have hit you over the head with something, taken Karima and escaped but no, here I am. It is for those people and my father’s subjects I return. Hashir is not a good man; he will not treat my father’s people fairly. He will kill them and enslave them, the same as his father did.’

  Vilas bristled. ‘Karima is mistaken.’

  ‘Karima is not a liar!’

  ‘Neither is Hashir!’ Vilas nudged his horse into action. ‘You’re angry with me so you’re making up stories.’

  ‘What?’ Oriana shouted as the horses began to gallop.

  Wind whipped against Vilas’ wounded cheek, making it smart; still he did not slow his horse. ‘I heard what you said to Karima. You said you fell for my lies.’

  ‘You were eavesdropping?’

  ‘I was coming to tell you it was time to leave.’

  ‘But it’s true, isn’t it?’ Oriana’s hair moved like a thousand snakes, the ends snapping against Vilas’ armour as she guided her horse closer to his. ‘You knew who I was from the moment you saw me on the farm. You pretended like you didn’t until you saw the dye on the sheets. It was all part of your game, wasn’t it? To make me like
you...to make me want you!’

  Vilas slowed his horse, grabbing the reins of Oriana’s at the same time.

  ‘Don’t!’ she protested.

  Jumping from his horse, Vilas grabbed Oriana around the waist, pulling her from her horse. ‘You are the most exasperating woman I have ever met.’

  ‘Get off me!’ She struggled.

  Vilas set Oriana down and grasped her around the tops of her arms, forcing her to look at him. ‘Yes, I suspected something but I did not know who you were, not until the morning. I did not know you were you when I kissed you the first time. I did not know you were a princess when I pushed a soldier out of your bedroom window.’ He drew in a ragged breath. ‘And I still did not know when I held you in my arms as you slept. I thought you were who you said you were—Maerie from the farm.’

  Oriana stopped struggling. ‘From what the soldier said, you always seduce whichever woman takes your fancy.’

  Vilas could have shook Oriana. ‘And you’re willing to believe the words of a man who was in your bedroom uninvited over me, are you?’ He released Oriana, thoroughly annoyed with her and the whole situation. ‘Damn it, Oriana, can’t you see how much you’ve affected me?’ He took a deep breath. ‘How torn I am between you and Hashir?’

  ‘Hashir is a vile, cruel collector!’

  A muscle popped in Vilas’ jaw, making his ear hurt. ‘You are wrong about Hashir, Princess.’

  ‘Oh, so now I’m ‘Princess’ am I?’ Oriana clambered inelegantly back onto her horse. ‘I think you don’t know what you want...or even how to think for yourself!’ She took off in a clatter of hooves, her horse kicking dust up from the dirt road behind them.

  Vilas paced back and forth. He kicked at a rock on the side of the road, cursing when a sharp pain shot through his big toe.