Prince Incognito

by Rachelle Mccalla

  Alec and the merchant exchanged words, and the prince smiled his approval. “You have a good eye. This horse was never in the race. He’s bred to carry heavy loads, not for speed. An excellent choice.” Alec patted the animal on the neck.

  The merchant tried to recommend a couple of other animals, but Lily led them to the one she’d selected for herself, a dappled gray filly whose high-arched tail and mane were as white as the desert sand. The animal raised her delicate head as they approached, and snorted at them, as though warning them away.

  “She’s pure Arabian,” Lily marveled, extending her hand toward the spirited animal.

  Immediately the merchant began talking to Alec, and though Lily didn’t understand a word of Arabic, she wasn’t surprised when Alec informed her of what the man had said.

  “She’s still wild, Lily. They can’t even get a saddle on her. She’s only ever been halterbroke.”

  “I’ll ride bareback.”

  “You can’t.”

  She looked up at him and grinned. “I’ve been doing it since I was twelve, when I begged my father to give me a horse allowance. He was stingy even then, so in order to afford more than one, I bought yearlings and broke them myself. If I couldn’t get a saddle on them, I rode bareback until they adjusted to having me around.” The memories welled up as she spoke, and she caught herself before she said too much.

  “An unbroken horse is a liability,” Alec argued, “one we can’t afford right now.”

  “None of the rest of these animals have the strength to make a hard ride after what they’ve already been through. I know she’s got spirit. That spirit might be our strongest asset when it comes to getting out of this desert.” She saw his resolve weakening, and she grinned up at him. “Besides, riding bareback will save us the cost of another saddle.”

  Alec shook his head. “We don’t have time to argue about this.”

  “Perfect. Can we afford two horses, along with everything else?” She gestured to the pile of supplies Alec had accumulated, including several canteens of water.

  “It will drain all our funds. We’ll be down to enough money for a few meals, maybe hotel rooms if we ever reach a town, but we won’t be able to afford plane tickets.”

  “We don’t have passports anyway.”

  Alec let out a resigned sigh. “Try to get on her first. If she throws you, you’ll have to pick another animal.”

  “Thank you.” Lily felt so delighted, she nearly hugged him, but caught herself just as she threw her arms up. Alec met her eyes, and for an instant she suspected he knew what she’d been about to do. Rather than think about her increasingly complicated feelings for the man, she untied the rope that bound the filly to a date palm, and led her to an open stretch of sand.

  One of the Bedouins, his face alight with the prospect of seeing her attempt to mount the horse, trotted out with a mounting block and set it on a level spot. He nodded to her with sporting challenge dancing in his eyes.

  She led the prancing horse to the spot, and ran a hand down her neck, murmuring her plans in a soothing monologue. “We’re going to show these men what we can do, girl. We’re going to get out of here and run free. Are you ready to run?” Nervous energy rippled under her palm. “Yes, you’re ready to run.”

  Lily got up on the block and leaned her upper body across the filly’s back. The animal pranced backward, and Lily stumbled off the block, knocking it sideways. She set it upright and met Alec’s eyes.

  “We don’t have time to mess around,” he warned her, his expression more concerned than impatient.

  She couldn’t help grinning at him, the thrill of working the fantastic filly overpowering any chagrin she might have felt. “Have you got your horse saddled? When we take off, you might have to hurry to keep up.”

  Alec took the warning seriously, and while Lily leaned on the filly again, letting the animal grow accustomed to her presence and some of her weight, Alec paid for their purchases and prepped the Belgian for the ride. Then she offered to put some of their food and water supplies on her horse.

  “You don’t even have a saddle,” Alec reminded her. “Let’s see if she’ll even carry you.”

  “Mount up,” Lily suggested as Alec secured the last of their supplies to his horse.

  He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Get ready to go. When I go, there won’t be any waiting. In fact, you might want to get a head start.” Lily could feel the nervous energy of the Arabian filly. The animal sensed that something was about to happen, and Lily knew enough to guess how the horse would react once she jumped on her back. She’d have her hands full just holding on, and hopefully keeping her pointed in the right direction, though the oasis valley was rimmed on both sides by steep sand dunes, so other than going backward, there was little chance her horse would try to run in any direction other than the one she wanted her to go.

  Alec grinned. “I’d hate to miss the show.”

  Lily gauged the filly’s readiness with her hand on the horse’s neck. The animal’s pulse was leveling off slightly. She wasn’t quite so nervous. Now was her shot. “Don’t blink,” she told Alec, before swinging a leg over the filly’s back.

  The animal reared before she got her leg all the way over, but Lily held tight to the rope halter and put her weight on the filly’s neck. “You didn’t mean that,” she whispered toward the horse’s ear.

  As if to prove she had, the Arabian took off down the valley, her speed from the start something to be reckoned with. If Alec was behind her, he’d have his hands full just keeping her within sight.

  The filly tore up the ground as she pounded in a dappled streak down the desert, the soft sand flying behind her. Tears streaked from Lily’s eyes as the wind tore into her face. She stayed tight to the filly’s neck, high on her shoulders, gripping the galloping steed with her knees and swallowing back the whoop of exhilaration that rose within her.

  She hadn’t been on a horse in months—hadn’t thought she’d ever want to ride a horse again after watching her father’s herd die, but the fantastic animal beneath her changed her mind. They sped through the desert until Lily thought the filly would have to slow down or collapse from the effort.

  Not that she was about to complain about the speed. She knew the threat of her uncle’s approach was sincere. There was no other reason for the bandits to take their picture. She and Alec had no choice but to stay well ahead of her uncle’s men.

  Gradually, the sprinting horse eased her speed to a natural gallop, and Lily settled back, relaxing the tight knot in her shoulders, and turning her head to see how far Alec had fallen behind. She peered down the endless expanse of white sand, which seemed to stretch out behind her forever.

  Alec was nowhere to be seen.

  NINE

  As Alec watched Lily’s slender figure clinging to the half-wild horse as it tore off from the oasis encampment, he couldn’t help but be impressed by Lillian’s skill and courage. Besides that, the fine animal and rider were a picture of beauty as they sped through the barren desert.

  Realizing he’d have to hurry just to keep up, Alec hauled himself onto his patiently waiting draft horse, giving the animal a gentle prod with his heels to get him started. The horse clearly understood. Perhaps inspired by Lillian’s amazing show of speed, he accelerated to a canter as they made their way around the curving ridge of sand. Far ahead he could see Lillian’s figure clinging like a burr to the streak of silver lightning she rode.

  With his attention focused on Lillian’s horsemanship, Alec didn’t notice the stealthily approaching Bedouins until two of them, in a coordinated attack, pulled up even with him on either side, automatic rifles balanced across their horses’ withers, muzzles pointed at him.

  A glance behind revealed three more armed men on horseback, and the man who’d surr
eptitiously taken his picture riding close to his heels. Alec considered trying to sprint ahead, but any of the other horses could have likely outrun his, even if the draft horse hadn’t been weighed down with supplies. And the guns pointed his way clearly meant business.

  He slowed, and addressed the men in Arabic. “Can I help you?”

  “You’re coming with us.”

  Alec reined in his horse almost to a stop. “Surely we can discuss this.” As he prepared to dismount, he made careful note of each man’s position. Granted, he was outnumbered and outgunned, but Lillian was alone in the desert without water, on a horse she couldn’t really control. He didn’t have time to be captured and escape. The men would have to be dispensed with quickly.

  But he also wanted to know how much they knew. “Do you men know who I am?”

  “You’re my next paycheck.” The Bedouin who’d taken his picture held up the generous-size screen in his hand, revealing a picture of Alec preinjury, with a caption promising a reward for his capture, the bounty equal to nearly twenty-thousand American dollars—more than the average North African made in a year. The leering man leaned toward him.

  * * *

  Lily felt a rising sense of panic as she strained to see behind her. The Arabian horse had slowed her pace somewhat, but she was still at a full gallop, and focusing on anything was nearly impossible. There was no sign of the oasis in the distance, either. Apparently the valley of sand they were following had curved around enough that the spring and all its trees had bent completely out of sight.

  Telling herself Alec was surely just around the bend and would reappear any moment, Lily kept the horse on her forward course. She had little say in the matter. Tugging on the halter only produced an impatient shake of the animal’s head, whipping the white mane back into her eyes. Eventually the filly had to tire. Didn’t she?

  Glancing back several more times without seeing anything but endless white sand, Lily began to wonder if she’d somehow gone off course after all. But wouldn’t Alec simply follow her footprints and find her? Surely the gentle desert breeze didn’t fill them in that quickly, did it?

  Another terror seized her. What if Alec had been captured by her uncle? The men at the oasis had taken his picture, and presumably sent it to her uncle. The men might have been instructed to grab Alec. Was he even now being held by her uncle’s armed men?

  Lily pulled back on the halter, trying to stop the horse, or at least turn her around. “Whoa, girl. We need to stop. We have to go back.” Tears filled her eyes. “Please. My friend is back there. We need to make sure he’s okay.”

  Wrapping her arms around the horse’s neck, Lily pulled back. The animal fought her, and her pace slowed, but only slightly.

  Lily’s thoughts raced. She could throw herself down from the horse—the soft sand would cushion her fall enough that she might escape injury—except that then she’d be alone in the desert, without a horse, with no water and no supplies, and the spirited animal had already sprinted for several miles. She might not make it back to the oasis until sundown. Her uncle could have taken Alec anywhere by then.

  As she tried to think of what to do, a large shape appeared in the distance ahead of her. Unsure what to make of it at first, Lillian realized as they drew closer that is was a rock formation, jutting up from the desert like the ridges of the wadi, but alone in the sand, far from any other rock formations.

  There didn’t appear to be anything growing near it, no spring to water any plants, but the looming shape offered shade, and the midafternoon sun beat down mercilessly.

  “There, girl. There’s shade up ahead. Let’s rest there. It will be cooler there.”

  To her relief, the animal must have felt the same need for cool shade that she did, because she made her way toward the rock, slowing to a canter and then a walk, before coming to a complete stop in the shadow of the formation that stretched high above their heads.

  Lily panted, patting the horse and wiping the sweat from her neck. “Good girl.” She soothed the animal and tried to think of what her next move should be. Much as she wanted to get the horse pointed back in the direction they’d come, no amount of urging would nudge her from her spot in the shade.

  Finally, Lily leaned forward and rested against the Arabian’s high-arched neck. All she could think of was Alec, and how badly she wanted to know that he was okay. She turned her head to face the direction from which they’d come, and though she could see her horse’s footprints stretching out into the distance, there was no sign of Alec anywhere.

  “Oh, dear God,” she prayed, biting back tears. “Please help Alec. Help him be okay.” The words sounded familiar, and she recalled the last time she’d prayed such a prayer—for her father’s horses. And they’d all ended up dead.

  Painful as that experience had been, she realized Alec meant far more to her than the beloved animals. He was brave and strong and, though she knew he was a prince and far out of her league, she couldn’t help the feelings she had for him.

  Strong feelings. “Please, God,” she whispered, pinching back her tears, wrapping her arms around the filly’s neck, as much to keep her tired body from slipping off as for comfort, “please let me see Alec again. Keep him safe.”

  The horse beneath her nickered almost as though she understood, and Lily sighed, letting her tired body relax slightly. She hadn’t slept since her brief nap the morning before, and between her dehydrated wanderings and the frantic sprint on horseback, sleep tugged at her from all directions.

  “Please, God,” she whispered again, not bothering to open her eyes, or even climb off the horse. After all, if she climbed off the horse, the animal might wander away and leave her. She couldn’t risk that, even though there was nothing more she could do to force herself to stay awake. Exhaustion reached its determined hands toward her. She would have liked to fight it, to stay awake long enough to search for Alec, but the heat and the long ride had stolen the last of her strength.

  * * *

  Alec sized up the photograph quickly, and caught just enough of the terms beneath his picture to know the men were required to bring him in alive if they wanted to collect.

  At least that was one thing in his favor.

  “Are you sure you’ve got the right man?” Alec leaned forward as though to inspect the picture. At the last second he turned his horse sideways, blocking the three men behind from reaching him, and vaulted from the saddle, slamming his would-be kidnapper midchest with his boots. The man keeled backward from his horse while Alec grabbed the rifle from its withers, whipping the stock toward the mounted horseman on the other side, slamming him backward as the man scrambled to point his own gun at him. His horse reared up, throwing him.

  Alec pointed the rifle at the remaining men, who gripped their guns and eyed him uneasily, as though unsure, after his show of power, whether the three of them ought to take him on.

  The man who’d fallen first yelled at them from the ground, demanding in angry Arabic that they go after Alec.

  The rider nearest him spurred his horse around, but before he got the animal facing him, Alec sent one shot into the man’s saddle horn.

  With a whinnying scream, his mount panicked, throwing himself backward toward the other two horses, who bolted in the direction of the oasis, quickly followed by the frightened animal whose saddle horn he’d nicked.

  Alec swung around to face the other two men. The second man had managed to get back on his horse again, and rode off after his fleeing comrades. The first of his attackers, the one with the tablet that held his picture, shuffled backward in the sand.

  Alec grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet. “Who’s offering the bounty?” he asked in Arabic.

  “Bardici.” The man pointed to the north, as though indicating the direction toward the Bardici compound.

 
“What do you know about him?”

  The man shook his head. “His money is good.”

  “What can you tell me about his compound? How many men does he have?”

  “I don’t know. Many men—armed, trained soldiers. Many armed guards.”

  “Have you been to his compound?”

  “I’ve seen it. It’s surrounded by high walls, on cliffs overlooking the sea.”

  Alec knew from experience that the Bedouin’s description was correct. “How do they come and go? Are there any roads?”

  “One road through to Benghazi. The men go back and forth. Also helicopters and boats.”

  “Is there a pier?”

  The man nodded. “On the northeast side, almost a kilometer from the compound. It’s the only spot away from the rocks.”

  “Good.” Alec took the man’s phone. It was an impressive newer model phone with a large screen, clearly quite expensive.

  Grabbing the man’s rifle and the handgun he carried in a holster at his hip, Alec shoved the Bedouin back in the direction of the oasis. “If Bardici finds out you let me get away, he will be angry. Don’t wait for him to find you. Run.”

  The man fled on foot through the sand in the direction his comrades and horse had gone.

  Alec turned to his own mount. He had no guarantees the men wouldn’t report to Bardici, but he felt confident the man understood his threat, and anyway, he planned to be gone long before David Bardici or any of his men arrived.

  Turning his horse in the direction Lillian had traveled, he nudged the beast back up to a canter and picked up the quickly filling tracks her sprinting horse had left behind. How far had Lily already traveled? Would his much-slower mount ever catch up to her?

  His chest tightened at the thought of Lillian running into trouble without him. Not only did her uncle obviously have a long arm, but the desert held plenty of other threats, from poisonous snakes to raiding bandits. But most unmercifully of all the heat that beat down on the endless sand. And Alec knew Lily had no water.